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Are you tired of feeling disconnected in a world that is more connected than ever? Are you sick of the comparison and constant busyness? Do you wish you could be your true self without judgement? Do you want more quality family time? How about addressing those secret addictions and creating some wellness boundaries? In this podcast you will find realness and laughter from a recovering people pleaser and a straight shooter... our mission is to help you become intentional, free, and confident in the world that is addicted to comparison, busyness, and “the hustle”. If you are ready to laugh with us, break through some emotional baggage and rise to the occasion which you were created for, then welcome to the club!! We are Tracy and Tori, two moms who met and discovered we shared the same feelings of discontentment and loneliness after moving our families across the country. Stepping out in faith and believing that God calls the UNLIKELY, we created this podcast to share our personal stories and encourage women to step out of their funk, not allow culture issues to hold them back and to walk with the Lord into who God created them to be…. together in community. If you are ready to put on your big girl panties and acknowledge reality, it’s time to ditch the self-care for soul-care! Get ready for 1 small change to have a ripple effect across your marriage, your kids and your purpose. When you are set free from cultural lies and other’s opinions, you have the freedom to move beyond the status quo and into who you were called to be. Pull up those high waisted yoga pants, tighten your top knot, reheat your coffee for the 3rd time, turn up the volume and let’s go! Connect ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com Instagram ➡️ UnlikelyHousewives Facebook ➡️ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1216668055475274/
Episodes
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Hey Housewives!
Trigger warning: This episode is on suicide and suicide prevention. We discuss the loss of two teens and give hope and helpful resources for suicide prevention.
Join us as we have a candid conversation with two mothers who are turning their pain into a greater purpose.
Statistics show, often teens are choosing to end their life in a snap decision. Lost in a moment of darkness, many teens go from thinking about suicide to acting on it in less than 20 minutes. Just 20 minutes to decide life isn’t worth living. Both families realized they had to do something to educate teens and the people who love them. #GiveMe20 was born.
Two amazing Kansas City area teens, 17 year old Chad Harrell and 16 year old Regan Johnson, tragically ended their lives in 2017. Both teens were happy and making plans for tomorrow, next week, next year... yet both teens ended their lives suddenly and without warning. Their moms, Sylvia Harrell and BJ Thomas Wilson, joined together through the common bond of losing a child, began to ask questions and research things that would have helped their children.
We were so honored to have BJ & Sylvia share their stories, hearts and resources with us for this episode.
“Suicide doesn’t end the pain, it transfers all the pain to the ones you love.” -Sylvia
National Suicide prevention hotline: 800=273-8255 or Text HOME to 741-741
To learn more about Sylvia and BJ and their foundations, check out the links below to connect.
GiveMe20: Amazon Wish List
GiveMe20.LifeBox - Home Facebook
Keep The Spark Alive - Home | Facebook
Shifting Gears - Home | Facebook
Be sure to tune in next week for our final episode of Season 1! We will be revisiting some of our favorite moments (and bloopers) of our inaugural season. Don't get too sad because we will be back in June with our Summer Series!
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
Hey Housewives!
This week we had the pleasure of talking with Kaety Bowers, newly elected Blue Valley School Board member. If you are one of our local (Johnson County) listeners, you will LOVE getting to hear her heart and her story. If you are not one of our JoCo listeners, you will love the practical advice and suggestions she gives to us as parents how to be a better advocate for our children in their schools.
She shares with us a little about her background, her family, and mostly about her journey to running for a political office, the school board. But her desire for helping and serving others didn’t just start with a political campaign! She is a licensed cosmetic tattoo artist working with mostly cancer survivors who don’t have eyebrows after their chemotherapy treatments!
When she felt called to run for school board, she had so many feelings about it: she’s too young, not enough experience, her reasons for running not good enough, etc. But God! He orchestrated it the way it came together and she was elected in November 2021!
She shares with us 2 specific negative circumstances where God used them to spark her calling for school board! They will yank at your heart strings! But her reasons quickly grew when she started to dive into the campaign process. (Tori here! I’m tearing up just thinking about our conversation again)
➡️ Kaety shares the most practical advice on how to be the best advocate for your kid:
💙 it begins at home!
💙 get kids off of social media!
💙 check your kids parental controls on your kid’s devices
💙 be mentally in the game! Read ALL those emails they send!
💙 preview your kid’s library books
💙 be kind!
💙 learn to agree to disagree!
💙 share what is going on in your schools with your board members
💙 go to school board meetings
Want to learn more about the Blue Valley School Board members? Click here ➡️ Blue Valley School Board Members
Want to reach out to Kaety? Find her here on Facebook and Instagram
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Hey Housewives!
We hope you enjoyed Part 1 of this episode with our husbands. In last week’s episode we shared how we each met our spouses, grew in our marriages, struggled with letting our husbands be the spiritual leaders of our homes and last but not least, how the pandemic affected each of our families.
💙 This week’s episode focuses on some more in depth conversations around what our husbands thought when we said we wanted to start a podcast. You have to know, before we recorded with them we told them they could be honest and not hold anything back. (We've always got Craig in our back pocket if it doesn't go as planned, right? ha!) We bet you can hear us blushing when they started to share their perspective as they gave us some incredible worlds of affirmation. (Awww 🥰)
💙 We talk about how difficult it is for some couples to parent together as the parenting styles we each grew up with were so different. We also acknowledge that after the kids come along, the dynamic of just being a couple can be a challenge as it takes intentionality in dating and communicating. Each couple is stronger in one area than the other, listen in to find out which one is which.
💙 “Living for self” is a struggle we each had at one point and it really takes us each having a relationship with Jesus, and a stronger one at that, to really focus on our marriage. We also know how important it is for each marriage to talk through the hardships and continue to work at being a team during the tough parenting years.
💙 We each share some challenging conversations we’ve both had in our marriages around us putting our husbands on pedestals, putting them at a higher standard than they actually can meet. Believe it or not, our husbands are not our saviors.
💙 The messes and blesses in marriage go together…evaluate where you are and where you can go!
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
Hey Housewives!
Who’s ready to laugh? We laugh a TON in this episode!!
We are pretty excited for this week’s episode to finally be released. We had so much fun having our husbands on the show, and we truly know the message of our messes and blesses of our marriages can encourage you and your marriage.
💙 We of course had to start with sharing our stories of how we met our spouses and a few stories of how we have grown in our marriage. We will also point out that we haven’t “made it” yet…always a work in progress.
💙 If you have ever moved for a spouse’s job, there are so many moving pieces of managing home life, packing, emotions, and keeping the kids in a routine to help them manage the change. We each have a different story of moving…Chris & Tracy moved together while Andrew & Tori were apart for 5 months while Andrew started his job. Andrew & Tori have also moved twice, once without kids and with kids.
💙 Tori & Tracy share some of our personal stories of how we have maybe over stepped in trying to lead our husbands. We talk about the battle of wives sometimes thinking we are the only ones the Holy Spirit talks to, however, we know that’s not the case.
💙 We discuss all about how the pandemic changed our worlds…working from home, kids at home, homeschooling, stay at home orders, our husbands trying to work, and more.
Next week’s episode will be part 2 and we ask our husbands what they think of our non traditional jobs. Also, which couple do you think is a better parenting team or marriage team? We think the Stine’s and Shirah’s rock at both, however, we know that most relationships are more dominate in one area…tune in next week to find out.
Lastly Tracy’s husband, Chris, threw in a plug for his business of Foldies sunglasses. Don’t hesitate to jump over and get yourself a pair of shades with promo code: UNLIKELY or click on this link ➡️ Foldies
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
Hey Housewives!
Not too often is the confidence that women carry talked about... it is even perceived as a gift from God. For us, we fully believe that the confidence we have, in what we do, in who we are, comes from our creator and the act of obedience to what He has called us to. When you are out of alignment of your purpose and calling, confidence is the first piece that women feel in lacking in order to move forward to reach their goals.
Are you a confident woman? Are you confident in who you are? What you look like? Feel like? Are you confident in who you are becoming?
💙 In this episode we share some stories and encouragement to help you step into a confidence that is not arrogant but one that is unshakable…because between you and God, there’s no one that can come in between.
💙 We cover some of the largest confidence killers and for starters, it's the comparison game. Comparison is the thief of joy. We know it’s easy to walk around in your world trying to experience what everyone else is (from social media, keeping up with the Jones’, expectations) instead of living in the present. A few other confidence killers are when circumstances change, more money (the thought that more will be better), achievement (not hitting a goal or once you hit it, it’ll bring more confidence) and last but not least…other people will kill your confidence because you are waiting on their approval.
💙 We know that dreaming, goal setting, vision casting, whatever you want to call it, is a common source of seeking greater achievements. But our question for you is, have you prayed about it? What are the hardest things for you to pray about? Why? (emotions, sins, needs, dreams, desires, pain, gratitude). We encourage you to be courageous and pray about the hard things. Make a choice to trust God at the end of your prayer.
💙 Confidence doesn’t just develop overnight. It’s just like all disciplines in other areas of your life – eating healthy, working out, keeping in touch with friends and family, or finishing a book. Consistency is key, we are sure you can relate. Anything that has gone well in my life has been because I’ve stuck with it isn’t enough. We must do the same with God and believing our confidence lies in his hands.
💙 Where does your confidence lie? Find one scripture that aligns with building your confidence and seek His guidance through prayer.
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com
Tuesday Mar 22, 2022
Tuesday Mar 22, 2022
Trigger warning: Our guest briefly touches on a sensitive subject of sexual abuse. Trauma as a child, speak to women to help them drop the shame around having been sexually abused.
Hey Housewives!
We are so excited to share with you our dear friend, Christian life and business coach, Melissa Batt. She is a stay-at-home-mama turned top six-figure direct sales leader who found herself exhausted, checked out of life, and sacrificing her mental health and main priorities to chase success, status, and money. (Unintentionally, of course!) She spent years putting the hustle in front of her marriage, her family, and her faith until God let her fall flat on her face. Through that hard season, she learned to lean on Him for peace, rest, and rescue. Today, she is a life & business coach who helps women slow down, remember their purpose, and lean in closer to Him to live the life He is calling them to. She is super passionate about entrepreneurship because of the freedom and flexibility it allows for those mamas who need to work from home.
💙 We each have worked privately with Melissa as she has been our life coach helping us listen to what God has called us to do…and truth be told, led each of us to the discussion of hosting a podcast and in turn we created this incredible podcast and became the Unlikely Housewives!
💙 Melissa shares with us how she walked into the direct sales world as an outlet to get out of the house, meet new people and connect socially after moving across the country for her husband’s job. She’s always loved the industry and shared with her friends, but never wanted to do it. (So many can relate to this!)
💙 We love Melissa’s heart so much and how open she is about how her multiple moves & diving into her career to escape all the things really affected her marriage and kids.
💙 Once she took her foot off the gas of working her business, she started to see what she was missing in her marriage and with her kids. She started to set business hours, and it really helped. She finally started dreaming again, hearing what God had in store for her, & finally jumped in to starting a nonprofit. In 2020, she started reading “Jesus over Everything” (link below), and this book changed everything for her. She heard God say “You’re done, you are released” and it allowed her to go all in on her coaching. Melissa surrendered everything in her business: a full calendar of events, a six figure paycheck and accolades all in order to obey God.
💙 She walked right into life coaching and quickly added business coaching as she realized her experience and gift God has given her truly aligns within both.
💙 Melissa offers a few pieces of advice for someone who is “stuck” in their vision with their direct sales or network marketing business. Tune in to hear her greatest piece of advice that she truly believes equals peace in your heart.
Book we mentioned: Jesus Over Everything
Connect with Melissa here:
Real Talk Tribe Facebook Community
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Hey Housewives!
This week’s episode is going to cover a great deal of things as we address being overscheduled mamas and families. Our main goal with discussing this topic is to challenge you to ask yourself a few questions & determine if you are finding joy in all of the busyness or if you are living underwhelmed. Our hope is that you would bring awareness to some of these feelings whether excited for the next season of chaos or paralyzed by the thought that you don’t know how you’ll get everything done. Either way, there’s some encouragement on this episode for you.
When we sign our kids up for things whether sports, activities, camps, etc…we ultimately put ourselves in the position of being a manager, a chaos coordinator and for those of us who have multiple kids, we become carpooling schedulers.
At some point it becomes overwhelming and we do have to weigh the cost…not just money, it’s the time, energy, and what else we are sacrificing in our family.
While sports and activities are a huge part, what about the other things that happen to fill our calendars: birthday parties, play dates, homework, and keeping up with household chores such as: laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. The lists keep growing and the ability to keep up gets to be too much sometimes that we just shut down. Is that the way we are supposed to be living?
Even our society and culture is training us to stay busy…they have convenience options for us to do grocery pick ups, door dash for fast food to be delivered to you, and Tracy’s personal favorite: Instacart…groceries delivered straight to your door! (link below)
One thing we have each found important is setting boundaries. There needs to be room for white space in your calendar…the margin, between the busy schedule…to spend quality time in relationships: with your spouse, your kids, friends, other family members and most importantly, God!
We cover the common misused word “balance”. To us it is a double edged sword and for moms it’s undefinable. We like to say that the only thing you can truly balance is your priorities.
We ask these questions: Is it true that we have to be this busy? Or has culture created this and FOMO keeps us there? Are you feeling underwhelmed? What is your personal capacity?
The truth is that busyness will stick around if you have kids unless you do something different to change it…this is life. So consider this…have you decided what your world looks like with complete peace and joy?
💙 What brings you joy? Your kids joy? Your spouse joy? Where’s your peace? Your margin? Evaluate…are you living for the next event and activity or are you living with your family? If it’s on a calendar, is it required? Does it bring you and your family joy? How does it affect the rest of the family?
Instacart link https://inst.cr/t/UHV3NEg1NTV2
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com
Tuesday Mar 08, 2022
Tuesday Mar 08, 2022
Hey Housewives!
We had so much fun chatting with Ellen, a pastor’s wife in this episode! We absolutely loved hearing how she and her husband met, and how unlikely their path into ministry really was…and for those sports loving families, she has some truly incredible nuggets on being competitive!!
Ellen sheds some light on what it’s like to be a pastor’s wife and how she learned to extend grace and be flexible as her husband gets called away from home for counseling, prayer, sermon prepping, etc. God truly has given her an inner strength and she shares how she feels pastors wives are truly gifted to hold this title. We couldn’t agree more.
It’s not always easy to put your marriage first in any family network, and Ellen encourages every couple to make it a priority to have date nights and take trips together, apart from the children. She also dives into how parenting styles can affect the marriage relationship that sometimes creates a wedge, stressing how important it is to be intentional in communication.
Ellen is well known as not your typical pastor’s wife and has become one of the top leaders in a direct sales company. It’s common for some to judge such a venture, especially one that has been extremely successful yet this opportunity actually became one that allowed her to honor God even more than she could have ever imagined.
We loved how she debunked a few of the typical pastor’s wife myths such as they can’t be authentic or real. She and her husband are both enneagram 3’s and their love languages are words of affirmation so you can imagine how that can be entertaining and challenging yet of course she sheds light on how they bond.
Competitive nature is also an internal drive for each of them. Having an “I want to win” attitude and feelings being brought into a marriage and family is not an easy feat. Ellen shares how they have had to set some boundaries, and pull back some on the pushing in order to allow God to do the work in their kids to become who He intended them to become.
If you’d like to connect with Ellen, you can find her on instagram at @thefunpastorswife
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Hey Housewives!
Today’s episode is going to have a different feel…Tracy is going to interview Tori and help her share her personal journey with depression in order to encourage others who have experienced these feelings, especially after these last 2 years.
Depression looks different for everyone. For some, it’s seasonal or circumstantial. Others, it starts with sad feelings while being pregnant or after the baby is born. Some can’t get out of bed, while others walk around numb. People look on from the outside and have no idea. But there is hope. It will get better. And we hope Tori’s story will show that to you and encourage you in your journey.
💙Call to action: Open up…talk to someone. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Suicide hotline: 1.800.273.8255
Crisis text line: Text HOME to 741741
Disclaimer: This is Tori’s personal story and is for informational purposes only. We are not doctors and this does not replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should always consult with a physician or other health care professional first.
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com
Tuesday Feb 22, 2022
Tuesday Feb 22, 2022
Hey Housewives!
This week we have a fun and informative conversation with our guest, Andrea Studt, a mama of 7 boys and their family’s journey of homeschooling!
Homeschooling used to be just another option of schooling that only a few ever considered taking on for their family. The thoughts of so much extra time, effort, work, energy, emotions, & the added stigmas were all that you would hear in friendly discussion around this topic. That was until the pandemic hit a couple years ago and families were thrust into homeschooling their own kids! Parents found zooming with all their teachers, working on projects and assignments and discovered while that was stressful, there were some benefits that came with it as well.
➡️ We know more families than ever that have chosen to homeschool, but Andrea is one mama that was doing it long before the pandemic and their kiddos didn’t skip a beat when the world shut down.
➡️ Andrea shares her advice on those considering homeschooling and encourages others to let go of the typical classroom standards and find your way to enrich your kids' lives in a new way.
💙 Follow Andrea on Instagram @7boycrazy and her homeschooling, holistic-minded RN lifestyle.
Join our fast growing community on Facebook and connect with us on Instagram!
Write an apple review and YOUR review could be read on our next episode!
Hosted by Tori Shirah and Tracy Stine
Contact us ➡️ UnlikelyJoCo@gmail.com