Did you hear the news?!
We’re starting a PODCAST!
I can’t believe it! I’m half “What the heck are we thinking?” and half “We’ve been dreaming of this for so long and it finally happened!”
How excited are you to hear my southern drawl when you wanna? (Oh em gee. I will NOT be listening to myself.) Caroline tried to do an impression of my accent once, and she made me sound like I had one tooth and just got back from WalMart. Y’all. It will be fun!
Speaking of Caroline, (who is author of In Due Time and the founder of Moms in the Making), she flew into South Carolina for my birthday week! We first met on Instagram two years ago. Can you believe that?! Everybody’s all hating on the gram and it gave me one of my best friends! After we met, we quickly became friends and she asked me to speak at her Moms in the Making Conference in Dallas, TX in 2017. We met in person for the first time then. Our friendship continued to grow (thank you Voxer). I flew to Dallas again in May to go to the Heaven Come Conference by Bethel, and then flew out again in October to be the keynote speaker at her conference in 2018. All of that to say, I was happy to have her in SC this time.
Heidi Baker and Will Hart from Iris Ministries were doing a short conference at my church for two days. (When I found out they were coming, I actually signed Caroline up to come without even asking her.) So we spent time with my family (my kiddos LOVE her), and got to sit under the amazing teaching of Heidi Baker, my favorite girl, ON MY BIRTHDAY. Literally, best birthday ever. My family, best gal, and Heidi all in one room!
While she was here, we took pictures downtown for our podcast. Having a photographer as a sister, definitely has it’s perks! (If you’re local to Greenville, SC she’s booking spring sessions! Click here for her website.)
Also, I don’t know how she put up with us. Because this picture was the story of our entire weekend! At one point, Caroline had stuffed pretzels in her pocket and found them a few hours later. I actually was so bummed, because my family had been really sick prior to her coming and the day she flew into town I started running a fever. So annoying. It didn’t stop us though. We had the best time!
We stayed at the cutest bed and breakfast, The Applewood Manor Inn, in Asheville, NC. I had never stayed in a bed and breakfast so it was so fun to experience it!
We literally walked in the room on Friday, and only left to eat. It was AMAZING. The room was stunning and feminine. There’s just something about being in a beautiful space that sparks creativity (this is why I told my husband we need to renovate our bedroom. I told him beautiful spaces make me creative.) And let me tell you, is was beautiful.
We made ourselves right at home, unpacked a little, and set up our things to get started recording our PODCAST!
We had the best experience at The Applewood Manor Inn and I would highly recommend checking them out if you’re looking for a place to stay in Asheville!
Literally, we stayed in our pjs all weekend, and I parked myself right beside this fire. Caroline fell out of a few chairs, and like I said earlier, we had the whole pretzel debacle. We laughed at ourselves all weekend, and found it so comforting that God chooses the most unlikely people to do things in His kingdom. Because man, we are something together and literally so unlikely to be doing the things we are.
We drank wine and margaritas and snacked. I think I went through an entire bag of beef jerky. But that’s beside the point.
We went out for dinner Friday night at a cute little restaurant, Early Girl Eatery. It’s funny, when you know how early Caroline and me eat. Like we could definitely be early enough for the senior citizen discount.
But the whole point of the weekend, was for us to record as many episodes of our podcast together as possible. And I was pretty proud of us! We recorded six! And it feels so crazy to say that!
You’ll find all kinds of things on our podcast, but mainly we wanted a space you could come and get your cup filled up with hope. So we named the podcast, A Cup Full of Hope, conversations overflowing with power and encouragement.
The first several episodes we share our vision for the podcast and then share our personal stories. I learned things in our interviews I didn’t even know about Caroline. We went to deep places in our stories are shared about how God has brought healing. And we even shared the places we’re still waiting for healing too.
This is where we stayed all weekend. Right in this spot. And it was so fun!
We came home Sunday from Asheville and Caroline spoke Sunday night at The Garden. It was so fun having her finally see something that is so precious to me. We loved having her in our community. She shared so beautifully her story with such vulnerability.
If you live in the Upstate of South Carolina, we would love to have you join us each month. God has been cultivating something so beautiful at The Garden. It’s been such an honor to watch Him heal both hearts and bodies.
The whole week was just so sweet. It’ll be a time in my life I always cherish. It was a slammed packed few days, but boy were they fruitful.
The word God gave me this year was birthing. It sounds really amazing and exciting until you think about what it takes to birth something. I haven’t birthed a baby yet, but I sure have labored with so many other things. I think there are things God has been growing in me for quite some time that will be released this year.
And to think, one of those things He birthed in the chair, in a little inn in Asheville, on my birthday weekend.
I’m so excited about this new journey. Things will stay the same here in this little space, but the podcast will be another avenue for you to be encouraged. Some of you have been meeting me here year after year. You’ve watched my children grow up, you’ve prayed us through really hard things, and kept showing up in this space that means so much to me. I’m so grateful.
Thank you for following along my journey. It really, really means so much!
You can follow along as this new “baby” grows over on Instagram, @acupfullofhopepodcast or on Facebook, A Cup Full of Hope Podcast.
You can find our website here.
We haven’t launched quite yet, but we’re hoping to soon! So following along there will be the best way to make sure you don’t miss anything!
I can’t wait to share more of my heart with you, but mostly more of the Father’s. He’s completely wrecked me in the most beautiful ways. And the things we will talk about on our podcast have been things we’ve lived. My heart feels so expectant about what Papa God is doing. Life with Him is so much fun.