Kids & Family
**Crazy Cool Family**

Want home to be your favorite place in the world? Want to see siblings get along like best friends? Want to send your kid off to college with hope instead of fear? At Crazy Cool Family, we can help you answer all of those questions with a resounding “YES!”

We have one simple mission: To show parents how to create amazing families by building their lives around Jesus and helping their kids to do the same. In Matthew 22, Jesus tells us that what is most important in life is our relationship with God and our relationships with one another. We believe that families are our most important relationships and their strength will determine the strength of your family. You will Rethink the Way You Do Family when you see God’s incredible relational design for your families.

God wants a Crazy Cool Family for you and we want to help you get there!

Latest Episodes:

#168: What if I'm Losing the Fight? (Feat. Madeline Jones) May 11, 2022

Show notes

Do you feel like "quitting the fight?"

Have you ever felt like throwing in the towel and quitting this whole parenting thing?

Madeline, our 2nd daughter joins us to share about her season of feeling like the is "losing the fight" with her family. Through sickness, trials, new work for her husband, and other things she found it really hard to feel like a success when it came to parenting, marriage, and her relationship with God.

Suz shared how she remembers countless moments of wanting to quit. It's a valid emotion and something each parent hits at some point in their parenting journey. She shares how these feelings are okay and even good. They are invitations from God to draw near to Him

Can anyone relate?

You are not alone! We unpack ways you can flip your thinking when the season feels like it holds more losses than wins.

A few ways to exchange the "losing mentality"

Talk to God
Go outside and get sunshine
Mindset of "allotted time" with your kids
Sit back and just be for a few minutes every day
Let go of your agenda and play with your kids

Parents, we are invited to soak of these seasons with our kids. We are hand-picked by God to love and raise our kids. No matter what difficulties you are facing in this season, God sees you and wants to meet you in the midst of the crazy.

Remember, joy comes in the morning and with each new day we get a chance to love and live again! We encourage you to stop, see what God is doing in this season, and let it energize you for the days to come. This season will not last forever and when you are 20-30 years down the road, you will see the fruit of your parenting. Keep investing in your kids and leaning into God's plan for your family.

Here are ways to win each day:

Laughter
Serve each other
Get our of your house
Play outside
Communicating with spouse

Crazy Cool Resources:

#167: Fighting for Marriage (Feat. Anne Evans) May 04, 2022

Show notes

What do I do if my spouse and I are not on the same page?

Unity within marriage is vital. God's idea of marriage is centered on unity. Is your marriage unified? What creates unity and what destroys it?

Anne Evans joins Suz to talk about unity within marriage. This week we are FIGHTING for marriage!

Anne and Tim Evans have 6 books about marriage. Their books are centered on sexuality, sexual intimacy, forgiveness, how to dream as a married couple, and so many more topics! No matter what season your marriage is in, these books will take your marriage to the next level!

Check out their books here!

How to build unity within marriage

"It took me seven years to be comfortable within marriage. I was conflict avoidant and didn't want to create anything bad in my marriage. Living in unity is all about living in unity with the Lord. Unity with our spouse is great but unity with God is our foundation we live on." - Anne

Here are a few main points of how to have unity in your marriage:

Learn how to include God in your decisions
Include others (community) in your life
Pursue the heart of God and be unified with Him

Building Unity

Teachability and availability are the two main ways unity is built. Marriages can be marked by differences which can create tension. A big distinction Anne makes is differencing absolutes from preferences. Often times we get bogged down with preferences and it causes fights.

Learn how to talk to each other
Learn how to manage our emotions
Find the best times to have hard conversations

The topic is unity but we are called to examine ourselves and develop our inner core. We can set ourselves (and our spouse) up for success when we do the hard work within ourselves. Then even if our spouse doesn't do exactly what we want, we are still able to grow with God.

We want to end with an encouragement. Your identity is first and forever found in Christ. Your marriage is marked by the love of God and His love covers a multitude of sins. As we fight for unity within our marriage, we encourage you to think about how God wants to strengthen you with unity so your marriage can be unified. It starts with you and God and overflows into your relationships.

Podcast Resources:

Real Life Ministries

Crazy Cool Resources:

#166: Fight for Generosity (Feat. Christy Gandy) Apr 27, 2022

Show notes

Mother's Day is coming up and we have the perfect gift idea! This week, Christy Gandy joins the podcast to help us Fight for Generosity. She unpacks ways her family chooses to be generous in every season.

Generosity is a value and something we are invited to build into our family culture.

"Generosity is an investment. It creates connection within relationships. Generosity goes straight to the heart and builds gratefulness." -Suz

The reality is, generosity starts with you. Proverbs 11:25 says, “A generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed."

A culture of generosity starts in our home. Do you have a culture of generosity?

Here are practical ways we have practiced generosity:

Buy things for others
Serve together
Buy presents for other members of the family
Write thank you notes or encouraging notes
Encourage the sibling to choose generosity!
Look at your budget and find the funds for giving
Have a basket or closet set aside for gifts!
Ask God how you can give today and then give

Generosity is from God and He knows it is part of who we are called to be as His children. When we give it stirs up our hearts to give even more!

Listen and learn how to start building a culture of generosity in your home! Take a few minutes to learn ways to model God-inspired generosity to your kids!

Podcast Resources:

Crazy Cool Resources:

165: Parents Who Fight for Truth (Feat. Julie Parido) Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

The fight continues, parents and this week we are picking up the Word of God to help us fight for our kid's hearts.

Julie Parido joins the podcast to share a God-inspired idea. She created a book called, Draw the Verse, which provides parents and kids with a simple and fun way to study scripture together. She felt like she knew the bible and grew up in the church but this class helped her have a passion to have her kids learn scripture by drawing the tree picture while they interacted with scripture. As the year went on, the felt like God called her to make a book for families to learn scripture together.

"Draw the verse sets our kids up to hear God, through His word, and have a relationship with us. This combo teaches them (and us) how to tie our actions, behaviors and our hearts to the scriptures. As our kids get older, it becomes part of the family culture and as a way to consistently talk about Jesus." - Suz

Do you want your kid to know God's word? Do you want them to learn to hear His voice through the Bible?

Then listen and be inspired by Suz and Julie! They will give you practical ways to start putting God's word into your family culture.

Recommended Resources:

Draw the Verse
Follow Julie on social media!

Crazy Cool Resources:

164: Being a Funny Family (Feat. Tim Hawkins) Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

Is your family culture marked by fun?

Tim Hawkins joins us this week to share how his family values laughter, jokes, and silliness. If you need a laugh or help creating laughter in your home, then this podcast is for you!

"Humor is a God-given quality to help us walk through life." - Tim

Don and Tim discuss the power of comedy within a home and all the ways parents can create fun in family.

Here are a few things they discuss:

How do you bring humor into your family?
How do you create humor without putting down others?
What does humor bring into your culture?
How do we use technology to bring humor into our home?

Creating confident world changer kids starts with creating culture in your home. Tim says he used humor to combat shyness and help his kids shine! He believes it’s something God puts in us to help us live life and embrace the unknowns.

As we fight for family, we know every parent makes mistakes. The point is not to focus on the mistakes but choose to be the real TODAY and show their kids an authentic you.

Tim Hawkins Resources:

Crazy Cool Resources:

#163: Step into the Spiritual Fight (Feat. Colleen Stickl) Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

When God gave us the word FIGHT, this is what we wanted to talk about! What we are called to do as parents is fight on the spiritual realm for our kids.

Colleen Stickl, the wife of our lead pastor at Valley Creek, and fighter for families all over the world joins the CCF podcast to equip us on the spiritual warfare FIGHT!

Basics of Spiritual Warfare:

Acknowledging we are in a battle
The fight is happening everyday and we walk in authority
Assume the battles are coming AND that we are never alone!
Remember who you are and who we are fighting

"Ephesians 6:12 says, Our fight is not against flesh in blood (or toddlers and teenagers), it is against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world... The biggest battle is not what we can see with our eyes but against satan and his forces." - Colleen

Here are great questions to ask yourself as you grow in awareness about the spiritual fight:

What do we know about the enemy?
Can he be resisted?
Does the enemy have power? Authority? What is the difference?
How do we define the specific battle we feel or see?
Is God bigger than this? Does he have authority? Do I?

How do we fight the spiritual battle as a parent?

Renew your mind, replace them with God's truth
Taking authority and teaching our kids to do it too!
Believing and speaking out our identity

As parents, we see the battle for our kid's hearts. The more we are equipped to fight the less the enemy can do! Our kids are warriors and their salvation is at stake. If they have salvation, then he goes after their hearts. If their hearts are secure, he goes after their everyday peace and joy. We are called to fight for our kids and help them fight against darkness!

There is TOO MUCH GOLD in this podcast! Listen and share, today!

Recommended Resources:

The Bible! The word of God is the sword of the spirit and a double-edged sword
Peace Soundtrack from Valley Creek – truth soundtrack
Follow the Cloud – by John Stickl

Crazy Cool Resources:

#162: Fight for Energy! Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

As a parent, do you ever feel like your kid(s) have SO MUCH MORE energy than you?

Often, we get asked the question,"How did you have enough energy to raise 7 kids!?"

The truth is, the kids do have more energy! "The reason kids have so much more energy is because they are carefree and have the freedom to play all day!" - Suz

Playing brings energy and life into family. We believe God calls us to work and steward our lives but also value play. We invite you to rethink the areas of "work" in your life and bring laughter and fun into them.

This week's podcast answers important questions about fun, energy, and relieving stress. We share practical ways parents can maintain energy and even create a culture of fun during the each season of family. If you feel like your family is running low on energy, this podcast is for you!

Here are a few questions we unpack:

Do you play with your kids? Do you make time to play?
How do you get on your kid's level and play?
What type of energy do you carry into the home? How do you change it if it's negative?
How do we, as parents invite God into our energy levels?
How is stress stealing your energy? What systems can alleviate the stress?

A Few Practicals:

Go outside!
See the day in two parts: morning and afternoon
Get creative with ways to exert energy!
Become aware of how stress drains our energy
Schedule clean-up times
Create systems to maintain energy
Find a village (or army) to build up your family
Refill your energy tank by getting time away

Crazy Cool Resources:

#161: Commit to Fight for Family Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

We are in the Fight for Family, are you with us? How do we take it to the next level?

"I looked at the fight for family and I decided... I am not going to lose this fight." - Don

Commitment is key and we are talking about how to commit to the fight. Are you in? Let's take this conversation deeper. We have talked a lot about how to fight for your family but in today's podcast we step back and share vision and practical ways we have learned to fight over the last 30 years.

Remember parents, in every season, your family is worth the fight. Let's dive in together!

What are our family goals? What are yours?

We wanted our kids to love Jesus
Create fun moments with our family
(Insert yours here!)

Three Commitments:

Pursue God
Build Relationships
Create Culture

Questions We Cover:

What do I need to conquer in my life to have an amazing family?
What parts of me is God trying to refine through relationships?
What do we do to change family culture?
How do you activate/apply culture in your home?

Keys to Winning the Fight:

When we pursue God, we get to hear God
When we hear God, we get direction for our lives
God is a God of relationships - He is ALL about them!
You've got to be healthy yourself to create a healthy family
We are empowered by God to create family culture
Relationships is a game, designed by God and EVERYONE can win!
Culture is about connection, not performance

Resources:

#160: Fight for Forgiveness (Feat. Julie Plagens) Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

Do you need forgiveness in your family?

Join us this week as Julie Plagens shares with Don and Suzanne about her book, Estranged and shares how forgiveness is essential to a healthy, whole family. If you need forgiveness of restoration in your family's relationships, this is just the podcast for you!

In this podcast, we unpack the power of salvation and how it can transform a family. A family without Jesus creates pain and family estrangement. Julie shared how her parents started following God and her extended family didn't approve. She experienced physical, emotional, and relational pain. It followed her into her marriage and parenting journey.

In the midst of a lot of pain and sickness, she had "a come to Jesus moment" and decided she was going to reconcile all the anger and strained relationship with her family.

Do you feel estranged from someone in your family?
Do you feel conviction from God to reconcile but have no idea how?
Are you a people pleaser and struggling to have healthy boundaries with relationships?

"Fear based parenting can overtake encouragement and stop it. Fear based life impacts every relationships in your life." - Julie

Forgiveness is about the offense and reconciliation is about the relationship. Forgiveness has ZERO loop holes and God calls us to forgive, no matter what.

Reconciliation is an invitation from God but it revolves the relationships. It is two-sided and takes both people to make reconciliation happen.

Forgiveness is between us and God, reconciliation is between two (or more) people.

Key Takeaways:

Forgiveness is a super power and we rely on the power of God to help us.
The process of forgiveness works on our stubbornness and we start with embracing God's love.
Prayer softens our heart and helps us choose reconciliation.
Counseling can help the process of forgiveness - it's worth it!
Rethink the lies you have chosen to partner with and replace them with God's truth.
As parents, we can all break generational "legacies" or strongholds.

Resources:

#159. Dads, Join the Fight! (Feat. Jeff Zaugg) Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

How do we, as fathers, win the game of love?

Does work feel like too much? Are you missing out on deep connecting with your kids? How do we (dads) invite God into our family and allow Him to teach us to be a provider? A protector? A friend?

Jeff Zaugg and Don unpack these question on this week's podcast. Jeff is a man of God and loves his family. He has dedicated his life to helping men walk about their God-given calling as fathers.

“My identity as a son of God, and my relationship with God is like a waterfall. The identity I believe flows from my life and into the next generation, my girls.” - Jeff

Hear from Don and Jeff on how they have learned to step into their God-given identity and follow His ways over theirs. This episode is for dads who long to know God and love their families. Listen as Jeff shares creative and spirit-filled ways he has learned to follow God and raise his kids.

"I can make mistakes but it doesn’t have to affect my sonship. The way I see myself will determine how I treat myself and others, especially my kids." - Jeff

LIFE stands for:

Love
Intentionality
Free (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Enjoy

Dads, your kids know if you love being a dad or not. How do you think your kids see you? Our Heavenly Father loves you and loves walking with you. When we spend time with Him, it overflows into our family, especially our kids. When you receive love from God, you will be more intentional, freer, and you will enjoy your family more.

Every family can be CRAZY COOL. Every family can have LIFE.

Encouragement from Jeff: Go after it! God has made your family unique and there is a spark inside you. Every kid (including you) has a place in God’s Kingdom and a place where your heart can align with God’s heart.

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Crazy Cool Family

Do you feel like "quitting the fight?"

Have you ever felt like throwing in the towel and quitting this whole parenting thing?

Can anyone relate?

A few ways to exchange the "losing mentality"

Here are ways to win each day:

What do I do if my spouse and I are not on the same page?

Check out their books here!

How to build unity within marriage

Here are a few main points of how to have unity in your marriage:

Building Unity

Podcast Resources:

Crazy Cool Resources:

Generosity is a value and something we are invited to build into our family culture.

A culture of generosity starts in our home. Do you have a culture of generosity?

Here are practical ways we have practiced generosity:

Generosity is from God and He knows it is part of who we are called to be as His children. When we give it stirs up our hearts to give even more!

Podcast Resources:

Crazy Cool Resources:

The fight continues, parents and this week we are picking up the Word of God to help us fight for our kid's hearts.

Do you want your kid to know God's word? Do you want them to learn to hear His voice through the Bible?

Recommended Resources:

Crazy Cool Resources:

Is your family culture marked by fun?

"Humor is a God-given quality to help us walk through life." - Tim

Here are a few things they discuss:

Tim Hawkins Resources:

Crazy Cool Resources:

Basics of Spiritual Warfare:

Here are great questions to ask yourself as you grow in awareness about the spiritual fight:

How do we fight the spiritual battle as a parent?

There is TOO MUCH GOLD in this podcast! Listen and share, today!

Recommended Resources:

Crazy Cool Resources:

As a parent, do you ever feel like your kid(s) have SO MUCH MORE energy than you?

Here are a few questions we unpack:

A Few Practicals:

Crazy Cool Resources:

We are in the Fight for Family, are you with us? How do we take it to the next level?

What are our family goals? What are yours?

Three Commitments:

Pursue God

Build Relationships

Create Culture

Questions We Cover:

Keys to Winning the Fight:

Resources:

Do you need forgiveness in your family?

Forgiveness is between us and God, reconciliation is between two (or more) people.

Key Takeaways:

Resources:

How do we, as fathers, win the game of love?

Does work feel like too much? Are you missing out on deep connecting with your kids? How do we (dads) invite God into our family and allow Him to teach us to be a provider? A protector? A friend?

LIFE stands for:

Love

Intentionality

Free (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Enjoy

Every family can be CRAZY COOL. Every family can have LIFE.

Resources:

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