Latest / All Mom Does Podcast with Julie Lyles Carr / A Heart for Middle Schoolers with Jen Weaver and Gayle Veitenheimer

Transcript

A Heart for Middle Schoolers with Jen Weaver and Gayle Veitenheimer · All Mom Does Podcast with Julie Lyles Carr

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Purposely, your life, God's purpose.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: More podcasts at Purposely.com.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: How can I discover this? How can I experience this?
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: And our mysteries are beyond Google answers. They have to
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  Speaker 3: use prayer. They have to use thought. They have to
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  Speaker 3: work on something together and put clues together. In book one,
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  Speaker 3: we have cipher codes and old journals and maps and
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  Speaker 3: symbols and.
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  Speaker 2: Hey friend, you have arrived. You are at the All
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  Speaker 2: Mom Does podcast. This is your time to sit back
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  Speaker 2: for a little bit, get that little fancy coffee or
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  Speaker 2: that hot tea, and we are going to be talking
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  Speaker 2: about all things mom. All the things that you do,
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  Speaker 2: all the ways in which you are growing in your
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  Speaker 2: own faith and understanding more about yourself, the ways that
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  Speaker 2: you are parenting your kids, all the great things that
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  Speaker 2: you're doing to nurture your marriage, all the stuff. All
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  Speaker 2: Mom Does. I'm Julie Liles Carr. I'm the host of
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  Speaker 2: All Mom Does, part of the Purple Sleep Podcast Network.
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  Speaker 2: And we are here today to talk about something that
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  Speaker 2: I think sometimes is hard for us to know as parents,
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  Speaker 2: how to help equip our kids when it comes to
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  Speaker 2: taking a look at some things in their spiritual lives.
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  Speaker 2: And my two guests who are on today are going
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  Speaker 2: to help us do it in a way that is
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  Speaker 2: so accessible to kids. It's such a great way for
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  Speaker 2: parents to be able to talk with their kids about
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  Speaker 2: some deeper spiritual concepts within the story, within the container
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  Speaker 2: of a story that I think is going to really
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  Speaker 2: engage your kids. So I want to say and have
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  Speaker 2: a big All Mom Does welcome to Jen Weaver and
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  Speaker 2: Gail Vittenheimer. Thanks so much for being here today.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for having us.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Well, I want to start with you, Jen. Let
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  Speaker 2: the listener know where you live, what you do, the kids,
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  Speaker 2: the dogs, the cats, the pet hamsters, what have you.
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  Speaker 3: So I am in the DFW Metroplex here in Texas,
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  Speaker 3: and I get to serve as a Bible teacher. So
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  Speaker 3: that includes writing. I write for YouVersion. So if you
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: enjoy the Bible plans on that app, they're free. I
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  Speaker 3: encourage you to check it out. I get to help
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  Speaker 3: people experience daily life with God. And my husband and
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  Speaker 3: I have two sons. They're currently ages eight and 11,
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  Speaker 3: and we're all made for life with God.
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  Speaker 4: And that includes our kids.
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  Speaker 3: And so this series that I'm partnering with Gail on
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  Speaker 3: is really started from some books that I wanted to
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  Speaker 3: find for my own boys. And so a lot of
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  Speaker 3: what I do looks at how to help an adult
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  Speaker 3: walk through life with God.
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  Speaker 4: And then as you're experiencing more relationship.
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  Speaker 3: With God, how to help your kids, if you're a parent,
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  Speaker 3: experience that at the stage and the age that they're
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  Speaker 3: at too.
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  Speaker 4: And so my boys are here with me.
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  Speaker 3: They are fully bribed to be quiet during this conversation.
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  Speaker 3: And then we have a rescue program. min-pin mix. And
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  Speaker 3: so our sweet little Penelope is also bribed with two
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  Speaker 3: treats right now.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 2: I like that we have the whole family circled around.
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  Speaker 2: And then Gail Vitenheimer, it's so great to have you
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  Speaker 2: on as well. I got to hear a little story
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  Speaker 2: about how you and your husband met because you had
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  Speaker 2: a W last name, he had a V, and there
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: you were in class together. And then you said one
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  Speaker 2: of the best lines ever before we started recording. Gail
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  Speaker 2: just moved, and she said that she, in her decor
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  Speaker 2: aesthetic right now, is in early cardboard. Early cardboard, yes.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I promise I will always give you credit for that,
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  Speaker 2: but I'm going to totally use that.
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  Speaker 1: No worries.
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  Speaker 4: That is fabulous.
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  Speaker 2: So Gail, tell us where you are in the world,
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  Speaker 2: where you've just moved to and all the things.
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  Speaker 1: We are now in Austin, Texas. We had been in
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  Speaker 1: Fort Worth. We are now in Austin where three of
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  Speaker 1: our four children live and six grandkids, seven, eight, and
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  Speaker 1: nine are on the way. Seven and eight are due
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  Speaker 1: in September. So that makes my heart hum. I, like Jen,
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  Speaker 1: am also a Bible teacher, a writer. I host the
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  Speaker 1: Christian Grandparenting Podcast, which helps grandparents share their faith with
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  Speaker 1: their kiddos. And discipleship, especially for children, has always been
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  Speaker 1: close to my heart. And so when Jen approached me
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  Speaker 1: to collaborate on a kid series, I was ecstatic. And
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  Speaker 1: one thing we do try to do is show real
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  Speaker 1: faith in real life in real time.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And Gail, I'm so glad
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  Speaker 2: that we're neighbors now because I'm also here in Austin, Texas. Oh, great. Yes, absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: So we get to have a meetup, a coffee, a
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  Speaker 2: whatever at some point once you are moving past the
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  Speaker 2: early cardboard stage. But I absolutely love this.
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  Speaker 1: And I also have a Belgian Malinois who is sitting
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  Speaker 1: quietly in his crate, hopefully, for the duration.
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  Speaker 2: You guys have much better behaved pets because you're probably
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: going to hear a cat start yelling at some point
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  Speaker 2: during this interview. It's going to sound like something very
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  Speaker 2: unfortunate is happening, and it's not. It's just how that
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  Speaker 2: cat sounds, traumatized. So that's what we do over here. Well,
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  Speaker 2: I'm so excited about this Kingswell Kid Detective series that
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  Speaker 2: y'all have put together. As I was looking at it,
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  Speaker 2: it reminds me a little bit of some of my
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  Speaker 2: kids were really into the Magic Treehouse series where the
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  Speaker 2: kids would transport to various times in history, things like that.
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  Speaker 2: There's something so magical to me about this idea of
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  Speaker 2: of engaging kids, whether it is Nancy Drew or it's
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  Speaker 2: something like Magic Treehouse, and letting them be the problem
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  Speaker 2: solvers and figure out what's going on. And the fact
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  Speaker 2: that you have taken these characters and you've put them
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  Speaker 2: into a position where they're going to be unpacking some
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  Speaker 2: things about faith and about spiritual issues. I just love that.
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  Speaker 2: So Jen, give me an idea in the Kingswell series,
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  Speaker 2: what some of the mysteries and spiritual topics that you
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  Speaker 2: wanted to approach were when it came to making these
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  Speaker 2: kinds of conversations more accessible to kids, more specific to kids.
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  Speaker 3: So where it started from was really as Gail and
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  Speaker 3: I would brainstorm and pray together about what the series
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  Speaker 3: could be. It was really this awareness that kids don't
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  Speaker 3: see faith as separate from real life. They see it
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  Speaker 3: all combined. They're like, okay, God is real.
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  Speaker 4: I believe that. God is here. He wants to have
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  Speaker 4: relationship with me. Okay, great. How do I do that?
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  Speaker 3: And as adults, we can sometimes compartmentalize those things. There's
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  Speaker 3: everyday life things on one side, and then there's spiritual
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  Speaker 3: things on the other. That's not actually how life works.
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  Speaker 3: Anyone who's been walking with Jesus for any amount of
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  Speaker 3: time is like, oh, I need him in my real life.
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  Speaker 3: I need him to help me in this circumstance. I
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  Speaker 3: need to practice hearing his voice. You say he speaks
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  Speaker 3: to me. How?
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  Speaker 4: How do I recognize what he sounds like? And so
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  Speaker 4: that was a big challenge.
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  Speaker 3: Pivotal awareness that we took into the whole of the
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  Speaker 3: Kingsville Kid Detective series. So each book focuses on a
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  Speaker 3: specific discipleship area. How can we help our kid characters
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  Speaker 3: learn this about relationship with God? And then as they're
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  Speaker 3: doing this, then the readers can walk along with Luca
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  Speaker 3: and Ember and be on the same journey with them.
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  Speaker 3: So book one, we're looking at hearing God and prayer.
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  Speaker 3: And we talk about it with both of those terms
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  Speaker 3: because even in the way I grew up, I grew
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  Speaker 3: up as prayer being kind of one-sided. I talk to
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  Speaker 3: God and I hope he somehow hears me. But it's
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  Speaker 3: actually communication. It's back and forth conversation. And so it's, okay,
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  Speaker 3: what are the ways that we see in scripture that
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  Speaker 3: God speaks with us? How can we practice hearing him?
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  Speaker 3: What do we do if we don't notice his answer
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  Speaker 3: right away? What do we do if we think God
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  Speaker 3: can't care about this? This is so little compared to
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  Speaker 3: everything in the world. So Our kid characters are going
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  Speaker 3: through questions that we as adults even walk through. And
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  Speaker 3: then they're going through and discovering these things and having
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  Speaker 3: these moments with God and seeing what he says in
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  Speaker 3: his word and how that comes into life.
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  Speaker 4: And so then the upcoming books in the series touch.
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  Speaker 3: On themes of identity and belonging and overcoming fear and
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  Speaker 3: how to know what's true in a confusing world. So
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  Speaker 3: each book has its own core theme. that then flushes
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  Speaker 3: out in the midst of an adventurous, high-energy mystery.
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  Speaker 2: I love that. And Jen, I'm so glad that on
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  Speaker 2: the topic of prayer for kids, you are incorporating this,
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  Speaker 2: that it is about also hearing from God. I do
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  Speaker 2: think that's something that we sometimes miss in the mix.
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  Speaker 2: We think a lot about how to compose our prayers
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  Speaker 2: and what to say and what's all right to say,
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  Speaker 2: but we sometimes forget that often the very purpose is
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  Speaker 2: simply to sit before Him and listen. So I love
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  Speaker 2: that you're including that. Gail, how did you and Jen meet?
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  Speaker 2: And then how did you realize that just maybe, just maybe,
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  Speaker 2: you might be good collaborative partners?
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  Speaker 1: Sure. Jen and I met at Writer's Group. So we
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  Speaker 1: had a critique group back in Fort Worth that we
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  Speaker 1: both attended. Jen was doing a lot of nonfiction, especially
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  Speaker 1: for women. And she knew I wrote for kids. And
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  Speaker 1: so she approached me with the idea of this topic
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  Speaker 1: and asked if I was interested. And it was like, Yeah, sure.
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  Speaker 1: And so as we began to pray about it, God
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  Speaker 1: led very clearly to mysteries, which I had never written before.
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  Speaker 1: And so we jumped in and started learning. And we
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  Speaker 1: found that plot and structure comes naturally to me and
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  Speaker 1: character development comes very naturally to Jen. And so it
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  Speaker 1: was a good blend, so much so that our critique
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  Speaker 1: group couldn't tell who had written what? Because it was
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  Speaker 1: so blended. And that's been fun.
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  Speaker 2: That's amazing. Gail, I want to hear from you when
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  Speaker 2: you realize that you've got sort of this place where
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  Speaker 2: maybe your strength is this and Jen's is that. Talk
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  Speaker 2: to me a little bit relationally about what it takes because,
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  Speaker 2: you know, sometimes we don't want it to be this way.
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  Speaker 2: But we can feel a little competitive towards someone when
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  Speaker 2: we're both trying to pull the oars for God, when
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  Speaker 2: we're both trying to do some things that are good.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes as women, we look at what this person can
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  Speaker 2: do and we think we should be able to do that.
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  Speaker 2: Or we look at what somebody's doing over there and
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  Speaker 2: we get a little bit distracted. How has it been
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  Speaker 2: for you just really letting yourself be good at the
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  Speaker 2: thing you're good at and let Jen be good at
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  Speaker 2: the thing that she's good at?
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  Speaker 1: Well, we pray together a lot. Anytime we are on
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  Speaker 1: and we are on frequent Zoom calls, We always start
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: in prayer, always, and are constantly praying for unity and
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  Speaker 1: harmony between us. For me, it's been an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: learn a lot from Jen. She's much more techie than
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I am, and she is very entrepreneurial. And so it's
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  Speaker 1: an opportunity for me to learn and grow as.
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  Speaker 4: We work together.
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  Speaker 1: We do obviously a lot of revision online and there's
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  Speaker 1: just a lot of back and forth, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: give and take. Jen might really favor a particular scene
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  Speaker 1: and it's just a lot of talking things out. What
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  Speaker 1: are you thinking in this scene? I'm thinking this.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
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  Speaker 1: I was thinking this.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: And let's massage that and get it to where we're
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  Speaker 1: both happy with it. And really, I feel like that's
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  Speaker 1: where the magic happens is when we're collaborating.
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  Speaker 2: I really appreciate you unpacking that because I think a
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  Speaker 2: lot of times in ministry, and let's make no mistake,
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  Speaker 2: creating a kids detective series for the purpose of growing
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: faith is ministry. This is a very important ministry lane.
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  Speaker 2: I often reflect on how the Apostle Paul had a
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: tough time sometimes getting along with his collaborators. I'm always fascinated.
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  Speaker 2: I think God used it. I think sometimes the gospel
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: was spread twice as fast because Paul and a buddy
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: just wouldn't be getting along anymore, and one of them
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: would have to go one way and one the other.
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  Speaker 2: But I do love that you recognize and you acknowledge, hey,
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  Speaker 2: this is how we're going to walk this out through prayer.
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  Speaker 2: You're doing the very thing that the first book of
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  Speaker 2: the series is all about, which is fantastic. We just
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  Speaker 2: love to see when people are actually practicing the things
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  Speaker 2: that they're writing down. That is awesome.
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  Speaker 1: We have so many God stories.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's incredible. So many. And the other thing
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  Speaker 2: that I love in your collaboration and your partnership is
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  Speaker 2: that you are representing two different seasons of life. I
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  Speaker 2: think we've had a long time in our faith circles.
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  Speaker 2: And listen, hey, I love getting together with my friends
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  Speaker 2: who are in the same season of life that I
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  Speaker 2: am in because there are things that we relate to
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: that are going to be different than a mom who's
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: just starting out, let's say, and just has little babies
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  Speaker 2: and toddlers. But man, there is something. And God's word
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  Speaker 2: talks about it. We're just not always so good at
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  Speaker 2: practicing it. in having these, if you will, multi-generational collaborations
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  Speaker 2: and partnerships together for the gospel. So I love seeing
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  Speaker 2: this in the two of you, that you have that
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  Speaker 2: kind of relationship. Just beautiful. Jen, tell me about the
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: two primary characters, because Gail mentioned that you're our character
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  Speaker 2: development gal. So tell me about these two characters, what
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: inspired them, what you wanted to make sure was on
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  Speaker 2: the page. to really engage kids and say to kids, hey,
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  Speaker 2: we see you. We know the season of life you're in.
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  Speaker 2: We know the things that you're struggling with. And so
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  Speaker 2: talk to me about these two characters.
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  Speaker 4: They're Luca and Ember.
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  Speaker 3: They are cousins. So they are the Kingsville Kid Detectives,
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  Speaker 3: but that is actually the name of the town.
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  Speaker 4: They live in Kingsville Falls.
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  Speaker 3: And as we started brainstorming through and talking through the characters,
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  Speaker 3: there were so many different facets that came into play
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  Speaker 3: I grew up loving Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys.
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  Speaker 4: Like I was deep into all the detective everything.
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  Speaker 3: And so one of the things I was like, I
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  Speaker 3: really connected with and wanted to portray a female character, Ember,
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  Speaker 3: that wasn't afraid to get into the mess too. She
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  Speaker 3: was just as invested in solving the mysteries, trying to
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  Speaker 3: find clues. We wanted to show cousins that had a
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: good relationship. So their cousins are the same age, roughly,
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  Speaker 3: and They're basically best friends. So they're going through establishing
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  Speaker 3: their agency, bringing unique strengths and personalities to the table.
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  Speaker 3: So Luca is modeling his detective skills and actually learning
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: from his dad, who is a police detective with the
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  Speaker 3: Kingsville Falls Police Department.
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  Speaker 4: And so he is.
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  Speaker 3: Way more logical, problem solving. Let's scan the scene. I'm
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: going to turn on my brain cam. Like, what can
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  Speaker 3: I notice? And Ember is way more creative. She's artistic.
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  Speaker 3: She loves nature. She's more whimsical. She's also more people-oriented.
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  Speaker 3: So where Luca can look for, what fact can I
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: find as I'm scanning the room? She's like, well, what's
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: that person doing? And I wonder what's going on in
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: their mind. What do I see on their face? I'm
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: going to go talk to somebody about this. And so
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: they're bringing different skills as well. And then Ember, her
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  Speaker 3: parents are.
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  Speaker 4: Around.
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  Speaker 3: They're involved in different aspects of the book. Her dad
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  Speaker 3: is a pastor. And so she's able to come in.
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  Speaker 3: And part of what she even wrestles through is some
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: of the assumptions that people have of her as being
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: a pastor's kid.
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  Speaker 4: And so we wanted to show these different dynamics.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: Luca is being raised by a single dad, which brings
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: a different flavor as we go through the series. His
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: mom had passed away when he was younger. And so
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: we wanted to represent diversity in the town, but also
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: diversity in every way. So what the family dynamics look like,
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: cultural diversity, differences in perspective, and even diversity in Christian denomination.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: So Luca and his family tend to be more, I
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: just lost the word.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Liturgical.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: Thank you. I was like, it's there. It's coming back around.
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  Speaker 3: Luca and his dad tend to be more liturgical, where
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: Ember tends.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: To be more charismatic.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: And so we see the beauty of different denominations even
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  Speaker 3: played out in the the strengths they have, the things
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: that are familiar to them in how to approach God,
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  Speaker 3: and the ways that they can offer questions and suggestions
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  Speaker 3: to each other and grow in things that might not
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: have been as familiar to them.
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  Speaker 4: I love that.
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  Speaker 2: And Jen, one of the things that I think is so,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I'm so glad you mentioned Nancy Drew. We talked about
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: different children's books already on the interview that we all love.
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  Speaker 2: It's so easy in some ways to, pun intended, write
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: off some of these children's stories or what we see
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: as children's stories. I've gone back and actually read several
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Of the books that I grew up reading that I
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: loved so much and would read again and again. And
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: what I find is how some of these stories, some
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: of the approaches, the dynamics, for example, in the Nancy
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Drew books between she and her two friends and the
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: things they were looking for and the ways they were
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: handling things. I mean, there is a whole lot that
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: I realized. became a foundational piece of how I saw
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: the world, how I saw some of my female friendships,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: the value of curiosity, the value of being independent and seeing, okay,
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  Speaker 2: how can I help fix this? What do I need
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: to be looking out for? How can I be observant?
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: When is it time to pull in another resource? In
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: my younger years, like an adult today, it's more like, okay,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: a mentor or something like that. Those rhythms really stay
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: with me. And Gail, one of the things that I've
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: noticed in the book is that there are these four
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: kind of core directives about how they run their little
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: agency and the way that they do things. Don't fight,
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: be kind, work as a team. I mean, that just
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: seems like something that should be on a post-it note
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: stuck to my desktop in general. So how did you
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: begin to develop as you and Jen were walking through this?
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: And you were thinking, of course, of the spiritual topics
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: that you wanted to unpack through the process of them
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: being detectives and solving these mysteries, but also the threads
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: that are going to go throughout like these four core values.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: How did you begin to determine what you felt those
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: should be? Because they are so important in these stories. Yeah.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Like I said, a lot of prayer has gone into
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: these books. And so kindness definitely was something we wanted
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: to emphasize. I also, in the first book, definitely wanted
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: to bring up a character who got offended and how
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: did they handle that? And what did that look like
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: for them and for everyone else on a spiritual level?
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Because I feel like that's something our culture deals with
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: a lot. Um, Prayer, obviously, is a key focus. But
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of times in our writing, and I know
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: especially in book two this was the case, we will
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: have an idea and we'll have a whole list of
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: different spiritual things that we're thinking about weaving in. And
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: then we go back and do another read, and all
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: of a sudden we see a thread that God has
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: put in. And it's like, oh, this is already there.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: We need to pivot.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: And that's happened.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Multiple times.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: I love that. I think that's part of the beauty
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: of the process that I'm sure the three of us
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: are familiar with, but that I always want to communicate
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: to people is you can have the outline, you can
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: have the plan, you can have all those things, and
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: you should. And it's always fascinating when the Holy Spirit
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: gets involved and there are just some things that you're like, oh, okay,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: I know that's not me. I know that's not me
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: on that page. That's something far beyond what I usually
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: could pull off. Here at the Almondos podcast, I am
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: so thankful for our sponsor, George Fox University. They are
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: so faithful to walk alongside with us and make sure
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: that this podcast is possible for you each and every week.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Their motto, their heartbeat is that your student will be known.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: that your student will individually receive the attention they need
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: to fulfill the calling on their life, to fully realize
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: the dreams that God has given them. Now, here's the
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: math I want you to hear, because I think this
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: is amazing. There are 60 undergrad programs for your student
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: at George Fox University. 100% of the staff, they are
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: believers in Jesus Christ. They follow the Lord. 100% of
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: undergrad students are glorified. to receive financial aid. But here's
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: the math that matters the very most. 93% of George
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Fox University students say that they are walking more closely
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: with Jesus than ever before, that their relationship with God
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: has never been stronger. And that's the kind of math
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: that has eternal ramifications. So I want you to go
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: check out Visit georgefox.edu, that's georgefox.edu, to see if George
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: Fox University is your student's next move. Jen, how did
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: you guys approach when I, again, as I think about
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: these other children's series that I love and on and on,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: here's what's wild to me. For example, when I was
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: reading the Nancy Drew books, obviously this was set in
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: a time before my early teenage years, late elementary school years,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: that kind of thing. But there was something still very
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: recognizable in the way that she would go about solving
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: mysteries and do things and drive around in her convertible.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: I was like, okay, yeah, this is all recognizable. One
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: of the things I've laughed about in my own life,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: I've talked to my husband about in some of my
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: fiction writing, I keep finding people who are setting mysteries
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: in a period of time before cell phones, before ring
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: cameras in terms of doorbells, before a lot of the
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: technologies today that sort of foil solving a mystery because
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: the digital records already there. So how did y'all go
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: about deciding where and when to set these kids in time?
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: What kind of technologies would be available? I mean, all
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: the things that I know that sounds maybe a little
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: over the top, but I do think about these things. Like,
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: how do we continue to create a sense of mystery
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: in a world that is so connected, in which there
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: is so much that you can follow the trail and
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: do this and that, that earlier generations of writers just
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: didn't have to deal with? I mean, there was just
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Sherlock wasn't dealing with some of this stuff. So Jen,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: how were y'all intentional to do that, to try to
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: create both a message and a time that is timeless
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: to some degree and recognizable, but at the same time,
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: it makes sense for kids today?
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: One of the big things we decided up front that
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: helped us with that is the relatability we wanted it
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: to have for the reader.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: And so that kind of decided a little bit for us.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: We needed to place it in a present time Because
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: if we wrote a book that was reminiscent of my
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: childhood even, it's not going to feel as relatable. They're like,
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: why didn't you just get your mom's cell phone? Why
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: didn't you just Google this thing? So that helped us
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: identify where to set it. Part of it was also
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: figuring out, knowing the time period we're setting it in,
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: how do we want to portray the use of technology?
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: How do we want to portray the way that that
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: could be used in a way that inspires kids toward mystery,
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: not away from it. And so part of that was
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: even our kids have cell phones, but they're not just,
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: let me just jump online and Google every little thing.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Or in the fourth book that's coming in this series,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: we're weaving in an AI component to that. And it's
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: part of how they're learning about how to tell what's
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: true in a world that has AI that's prevalent and
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: available now. And so it's how do we frame the
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: mysteries in ways that are relatable to the problems that
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: they're solving, but also they don't actually want to just
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: jump in and Google something. And there's an assumption that's
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: kind of built into these mysteries. Even if they had
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: done it, it's going to fall short of what they're
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: going to discover as they solve the mystery on their own.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: And that's true to life and faith also.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: I mean, I could be struggling with fear or anxiety.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: And I could Google a bunch of verses that tell
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: me about how I don't have to be afraid and
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: I can cast all my cares on the Lord. But
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: just finding a Google answer doesn't actually solve my problem.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: I just have a verse that I'm now looking at.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: How do I apply this to my life? How does
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: God enable me or empower me to receive that? What
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: does that actually look like? And so part of this
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: too is embracing the mystery that we have in faith
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: and the partnerships that we can have and the kids
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: can have with God. It's not just, well, let me
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: Google an answer and check a box, but it's okay. Well,
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: how can I discover this? How can I experience this?
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: And our mysteries are beyond Googleable answers. They have to
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: use prayer. They have to use thought. They have to
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: work on something together and put clues together. In book one,
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: we have cipher codes and old journals and.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: Maps and symbols.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: And so they're trying to figure these things out because
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: they haven't been figured out before. And that was one
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: of the other last pieces of that too, of kids
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: are smart. We wanted to show kid readers, kid characters
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: that are smart like they are and encourage and empower
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: them to be like, maybe I could take on a
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: question I don't have the answer to yet.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I think that is fantastic. I think that's such a
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: beautiful way to be quote unquote relatable, but at the
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: same time still invite the mystery of God and all
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: of the things that we really need just to keep
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: that openness to is really beautiful. Gail, what were you
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: going to say? I think I interrupted you. I apologize.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Oh, no, no worries. We also chose a present day
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: setting because we wanted our characters to demonstrate real faith
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: in real time. And I know parents rightfully so are
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: very careful in what their children read. And that they're
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: often fearful that there's going to be something in the
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: book that they don't want their kids to try. Well,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: ours is the opposite. We've planted all kinds of things
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: that you do want your kid to try. That at
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the end of the chapter, that the kid's like, I'm
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: going to talk to God about this today, just like
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: they did.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: I love that. That's such a great way of looking
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: at that. Well, Jen, where can the listener go to
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: find out more about the series and all the great
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: upcoming things you have? Where's the best spot?
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: Kingswellkids.com.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: So that's our series website.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: And you can learn all about Gail and I and
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: the series and The Mystery of the Missing Falls, which
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: is book one in the series. And then it's available
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: at your favorite book retailer, including Amazon, all of the places. Um, Yeah,
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: that's the best place. And I would also say for
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: anyone who's interested, go to kingswellkids.com and join the book
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: club because we have a ton of free resources that
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: we're going to continue providing that help bring your kids
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: into the world. A lot of them are play-based downloads.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: So Mad Libs and codes they can solve for, all helping.
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: Them grow in their relationship with God.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: So fun. And Gail, ideally, how many books in the
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: series are y'all planning on? Because boy, I can just
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: see the ideas popping back and forth right now.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Right now we are contracted for four and we are
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: working on four as we speak.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: That's amazing. Awesome. All right, Jen Weaver, Gail Vitenheimer, I
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: am so glad that I got to meet you today
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: and have time with you and talk about this incredible
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: new series. I really appreciate all you're doing to help
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: equip parents with Such an incredible way of being able
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: to talk about more deep spiritual matters, but to put
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: it in the framework, a parable, you know, a parable
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: about how to go deeper because that's how Jesus taught.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: It's such a powerful way when we're able to learn
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: that way. Jen and Gail, thank you so much for
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: being here today.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having us too.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. All right, friend, you know what to do. Show notes.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: That's where the links all are for all this great stuff.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Be sure and go check out all the fun things
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: that are going to be available to you as part
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: of the Kingswell Kid Detective series. And I love it
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: too when you hop over to Instagram and you come
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: say hi and you go in the DMs and you're like, hey, Jules,
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: have you ever thought about talking about this? Or I
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: have a question about that. Or what about having so-and-so
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: on the show? I love it when you do that.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: That's how we build the show so that it can
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: speak directly to you. Also, Amon Does, Amon Does on
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: the socials, AmonDoes.com. You'll find all kinds of fantastic resources
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: and encouragement for the life that you are living today.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: And I will see you next time on the Amon
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: Does podcast.