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Guest Katie Lewis of Dear Mushka {Episode 230}
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In this episode, Bonnie & Audrey chat with Katie Lewis of Dear Mushka. Katie shares so much wisdom on entrepreneurship and motherhood. She also discusses her experience with adoption, and shares advice for anyone considering trans-racial adoption. She also had advice for young moms who want to start a visit. You will pick up so many nuggets of wisdom that you can apply today!
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About Outnumbered the Podcast:
Two moms, parenting a combined total of 19 kids and finding joy in the chaos.
Join Audrey and Bonnie as they share real parenting tips for real people through humor, advice and compassion.
Whether it's tackling how to teach kids to work or discussing where to turn when you're all out of patience, these two experienced moms are here to offer authentic tips for raising children joyfully.
Find our free episode guides here.
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Transcript
Introduction & Parenting Chaos
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Outnumbered the Podcast. I'm Audrey. And I'm Bonnie. We are experienced moms to a combined total of 19 children. In our weekly episodes, we explore relatable topics using our perspectives of humor and chaos. Tune in for advice and encouragement to gain more joy in your parenting journey.
Katie Lewis' Journey into Entrepreneurship and Adoption
00:00:32
Speaker
Hello friends, welcome back to the podcast. We're excited to have a guest today. We don't have tons of guests, but when we have them, they're good. And we're excited to interview Katie Lewis today. Hi Katie, how are you? Hi, I feel so honored to be a guest on here. Well, there's just two of us and we have plenty of chit chatting to do normally.
00:00:48
Speaker
But when we find a guest, we love having them because we can learn so much from other people's perspectives and their beautiful ways of mothering. So Katie is the owner and founder of the shop, Dear Mushka, and she's going to tell us all about her entrepreneurial journey and her adoption journey as an adoptive mom. So welcome. We're excited to have you. Thanks. Okay. So Katie, that was like a huge intro. So tell us more about yourself, like from your perspective. We want to hear about you.
00:01:16
Speaker
Yeah, so I am Katie. Yesterday celebrated 13 years of marriage, have five children. Our oldest three are adopted, which we can talk more about in a little bit if you want. And then God called us to something else. And so our youngest two are biological. And yes, we have this business, Dear Mushka, which started as an adoption fundraiser and is now our family's full-time thing.
00:01:38
Speaker
So fun. Awesome. Awesome. Tell us how old your kids are. Our oldest is eight and our youngest is six months. So the rest fall in line right in there. Yeah. Our last two were, our baby was a surprise.
00:01:53
Speaker
And so our last two are exactly 12 months apart. Irish twins, I guess they call that. And that has been a wild ride. People who do that voluntarily have their children very, very close together, which you guys might have. That is just a whole different ball game than like, you know, the two and a half, three year spread.
00:02:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. No, I knew I was going to have a large family. And so I kind of had a conversation with God. I was like, look, two years is going to be my minimum. Okay, I can't have them closer than two years. I'll lose my mind. And he agreed with me. So that was, that was good. Yeah, one year apart has been wild. You have any close ones, Audrey? Ours are close to start exactly two years apart.
00:02:28
Speaker
Um, and that like all the rest of them are like two and a half to three years apart and it's beautiful. It makes for this wide, widespread of age ages. It's so beautiful. But I was born on my older sister's first birthday. So I have some experience with that growing up. Um, I guess my older sister like wasn't even walking or out of diapers or anything when I was born. So yeah, that's totally something in my awareness as well.
00:02:54
Speaker
So tell us you guys are close or something, Audrey. Give us some ... Oh yeah. Yeah, we're best friends. Yeah. Good. So fun. Okay.
The Evolution of 'Dear Mushka' Business
00:03:06
Speaker
All right. So we're going to go back to the beginning a little bit here for you, Katie, or with you.
00:03:09
Speaker
And we want to ask you about the start of your business because we're both business owners. We love talking business, especially with moms, because it feels almost impossible sometimes to balance all the things. So from what I understand, your business began as a blog. Is that true? Did you have the blog first? Yes. So, and I don't even know that I would call it a business back then. So the short story is that my mom passed away right after Robert and I got married.
00:03:31
Speaker
She's who called me Mushka, which I know is a weird name. It means little one with big eyes, which is just the term of endearment she gave me. And so when she passed away, I started a blog like everyone did back then called Dear Mushka, Letters to My Future Mushkas. And that was just kind of where I processed life and shared about being a newlywed and what that looked like. And then when God called us to adoption, it just translated into an Etsy shop. I just kept the same name and it was like a tangible love letter all of a sudden.
00:03:57
Speaker
Oh, beautiful, beautiful. So the shop itself started to fend the adoption. Is that why you transitioned to the retail?
00:04:03
Speaker
Yep, that's why I switched over. Now, I also would say that even as a little girl, I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and I wanted a creative endeavor on the side to bring home a little bit of income. And so it kind of felt like it checked both boxes. Like, yes, I will do this. It'll be an adoption fundraiser. And I think there was a part of me that felt like maybe this is going to grow into something, though I never voiced that. That was never our plan. It did. God honored that. And it has been such a joy just to watch it unfold. Awesome. That's so fun.
00:04:33
Speaker
So Katie, talk to us about like, what has been the hardest thing about growing an online retail business? I had a little bit of experience, like I dabbled around in a couple of different puddles. And I found that when it was something that I had physically that I was selling, that shipping was like the most, the biggest hurdle for me. And so, but you talked to us about like, what was the hardest thing for you growing an online retail business?
00:05:02
Speaker
Gosh, shipping. I hadn't even thought about that. So we have been in business almost 10 years. That is taking me back thinking about just learning. How in the world do I ship this? Um, taxes about killed me at the beginning, like just figuring out, okay, I'm actually making enough money that I've got to tell the government about this. What in the world am I doing? I don't know. Maybe that's just worth quitting over. Um, you know, I think figuring out social media is constantly something I'm learning how to stay
00:05:29
Speaker
engaged and get myself out there just so new people can find us. I mean, that's just part of business, but I don't like to promote myself. It feels a little bit uncomfortable. I'm trying to learn how to make reels right now. Just kind of staying with technology is hard, especially when you feel like, oh, I'm a creative and I just want to stay in this little bubble and do my thing. But my business actually requires me to go in all sorts of directions, learn a lot of new skills beyond just my craft. I think that can be hard to adapt to.
00:06:00
Speaker
Oh my goodness. That is so relatable. Like all those things, like technology changes and then you have to like grow and flex. And it's just, oh, that is so relatable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you're reminding me that you really have two distinct roles. Well, you have lots of roles as an entrepreneur, but really two distinct ones. One is that of the CEO running all the things and making sure that
00:06:23
Speaker
anyone's getting paid, right? And then that of working inside your business of being the technician, being the whatever, you know, whether you're sourcing or making or
00:06:32
Speaker
coaching or whatever the skill is that you're selling or the product is you're selling, you have to actually produce that as well. So if you don't balance them well, everything falls apart. You either don't have a product or a service to sell, or there's nobody coming to it. So a great feeling. Yes, and it's so nice to be your own boss. I think that's why a lot of people want to start their own company, but then you're your own boss. Nobody is telling you.
00:06:55
Speaker
What to do, if you're doing it right or wrong, you're just kind of figuring it out when you go. There have been times for sure I thought, I wish somebody was just there to give me like my checklist for the day instead of me coming up with it myself. And to keep yourself accountable. How tricky is that, right? When sometimes you're like, no, I'd rather just snuggle my baby and read a book today. I don't want to go to work, right? That's a balance in and of itself. Like I need to give myself a mental break today, even though I know I'm not going to make
Balancing Business and Motherhood
00:07:19
Speaker
money. If I'm not out there promoting myself, I just know that this is the best thing for me.
00:07:23
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. So speaking of that balance, tell us, I mean, you're right in the middle of having lots of littles. We have bigger spreads, so we've gotten to the point where we have some teenagers around to help. But being that you're still a mom of little kids, what has been the hardest part about balancing both business and babies? Gosh, I mean, really, a lot of times my business has felt like a baby.
00:07:46
Speaker
And so it feels like I'm juggling a lot of babies, you know, which, which is going to get the best of me right now. If I've got this much to give, who is going to get my most creative self, my most energy? Am I waking up early in the morning and homeschooling or am I waking up early in the morning and trying to make graphics for the business or coming up with new product ideas? Um, so really just praying through that and figuring that out has been,
00:08:13
Speaker
the hardest thing to do and the most important, I think. And it's shifted. When we had just one or two children, I could really rely on them to take a good nap or to have a good quiet time. And I knew from one to three, that's my business time. I've got that. Now that we have five children, it's a little less predictable. And so there are some days that I'm afraid at this point, my business just doesn't give much of my attention and that's okay. I'm learning how to just kind of let it go and to trust that it'll be there tomorrow, but it's hard to release that.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, I love that you're saying that you have to decide what area of your life gets the most energy that day. I think we do ourselves a disservice when we talk about family work balance because it's not a balance so much as it is like a seesaw. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down, back and forth and back. The trick is to just make sure that it's even and that when something comes up on one side or the other that you are available to take care of that because sometimes your kids will need you more and vice versa. Yes, absolutely.
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah. And the, like the balance of like figuring out in your mind to like being there with your kids when you're reading them a book or getting them a bath or ready for bed and you're not over here like creating graphics in your mind. I would never do that. No, I mean, you're very right. You have to decide I'm going to be present in this moment right now and then I'm going to shift and I'm going to be present in this moment right now. And a lot of what we've done is tried to create
00:09:38
Speaker
a household rhythm that allows me to work. You know, we have tried to have some babysitters come in and it just, it's not a good fit for our family to have other people in and out of our home. And so instead we try to focus on like in our house, we have a quiet time so that mom can work or if she wakes up early, please don't come bother her right now. You can play in your room, those sort of things to help me get that time.
Faith and Business Challenges
00:10:01
Speaker
And then when I'm present with them, I try to be fully present. Here I am. I'm just mom right now, but it can be hard. Absolutely.
00:10:09
Speaker
Yeah. I think that one of our strengths as women that God gave us is the ability to multitask. And we can actually design graphics while we're reading, you know, redfish, bluefish, or whatever mind numbing book we're reading. Right. So I don't always see it as a bad thing that I'm like, sometimes it helps me be more pleasant and, and kind and present with my kids. If I know I have this more adult thing that I'm going back to later. Yeah, that's a really good point. And I think that a lot of times
00:10:40
Speaker
our role as mom fuels whatever we are doing creatively. I mean, so many product ideas have come to my mind because I've thought this is what I need right here in this moment. I want to be able to look over and see
00:10:53
Speaker
multiple verses that will help equip me as a mom. Oh, I can make that product. Let me just think about what I need and use it to fuel myself when I can. I've also noticed that I am so grateful for the blessing of having both something that fulfills me as an adult woman and something that makes me
00:11:11
Speaker
in tune with God and with my children and this family side of life. And sometimes that gets so overwhelming. And if I can just make it through the day, then I can go work on my business a little bit to kind of feel uplifted there and vice versa. It's such a unique tug of war, but I personally love it because it helps me feel really well rounded, right? When I've had too much of business and entrepreneurship, I go cuddle some babies and it's just a very pure,
00:11:38
Speaker
you know, love and feelings. I don't know if that makes sense, but just the kind of the having both in my life is really, really powerful. Sounds like that works for you too. Yeah. Yeah. I think one of the most beautiful things that those of us that are women entrepreneurs at home or from our homes are demonstrating to our, to our children and like our daughters is that it can be done. You can be a really good present, wonderful mom, and you can be
00:12:07
Speaker
working on something that brings some benefit to you or to your family as well. And I would love to see my daughters, my children, be able to have that and be that with their families as well. Yeah, I agree. We all have something really unique to give. And God has given us these good works beforehand, and it's our job to walk in them each day and to stay faithful to what He's called us to. And sometimes that's just
00:12:31
Speaker
making a zillion meals in the day. But a lot of times it's something beyond that. He has given us various ways to be creative. And I hope that we can all see that we have value there and that it has something to offer our children. Like you were saying, they can learn from us and find their own passions and skills and make something as they cultivate this land and offer it to the world. Okay, so I wanna ask you something. It seems like
00:12:56
Speaker
It's getting more and more oppressive for Christian or people who have strong faith beliefs. So how do you deal with the haters or the naysayers or the negativity coming at you online because your business is so strongly rooted in faith? Like what gives you the courage to keep showing up? Yeah. I mean, I guess what gives me the courage is that I read my Bible and I realized that Jesus said this would happen. You know, it's not a surprise to me.
00:13:26
Speaker
When people attack, it's not a surprise to me when people disagree. I know that it's going to happen. And so I feel like I just can root myself there and to trust that it means I'm doing something right in a lot of ways. If nobody was coming at me, then I think, oh gosh, I just am not speaking boldly enough. So that's what I try to remember.
00:13:45
Speaker
And you know, what's surprising is a lot of time when I get, I get flack from other Christians that just believe differently than me on some of those gray areas. And I think, guys, you are fighting the wrong person. We are all on the same team here. Just go use your energy somewhere else. But that's really,
00:14:02
Speaker
who I hear the most from. That is interesting and a little bit sad because I think if there's any, yeah, like you say, any waste of energy, it's going to be attacking someone else who's trying to put good out into the world for sure. Yes, it is. And I get that people have good intentions, but it's important to understand that the evil side of things wants us to do that, wants to pit us against each other.
00:14:26
Speaker
and stop putting good out into the world. So I love that you brought that up and a great reminder for us to just accept goodness in all its form. We might not agree with each other exactly. I'm sure all three of us have very different beliefs in some ways and a lot similar. So to just pull together on our similarities and be curious about our differences instead of attacking. Absolutely.
00:14:51
Speaker
Okay, so going back to adoption, you mentioned that you really felt that God called you to that. So tell us a little bit about that. What did
The Adoption Journey and Divine Affirmation
00:14:58
Speaker
that look like? What did that feel like? And why did you end up there?
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great question. And really I wish I could go back to this time in my life now that I am where I am as a believer and just relive it. I don't know if you guys have ever, if you have any moments in your life like, man, I wish I could do that over. I would say that I think I heard the voice of God, maybe for the only, the only time ever, but I felt like he said to me, your first child will come through adoption. Like I just heard those words. And at the time we had not even pursued biological children. We were just kind of starting the conversation. Um,
00:15:31
Speaker
And so I brought that idea to my husband and he was like, I don't think so. I don't think you heard that right. I don't know where that came from. We didn't know anybody who had adopted. That was such a new thing for us. And really we thought you adopt when you are walking through infertility. That was just the only story we'd heard. And so it felt very out of the blue for him. And so I committed to just praying about it until we were on the same page because obviously we needed to be on the same page. And I say that now because I know a lot of women may be listening
00:16:00
Speaker
feel like I have an urge to adopt. That is ruminating in my mind, but my husband is not on the same page or vice versa. And so just committing to praying about that until we could really move forward in unity was so important. And I can't imagine a better way to begin my journey as a mom than learning how to root myself in prayer. And so eventually
00:16:22
Speaker
The Lord changed my husband's heart and all of a sudden we were out on a walk and he was like, you know what? I think we should adopt. Let's start tomorrow. I was like, okay. Great idea, honey. That was great. And so we moved forward. You know, there's so much to work through with adoption, international, domestic. I mean, where do you start? What do you do? It can be really overwhelming for sure, but God directed every one of our steps and we were able to get where we are now.
00:16:50
Speaker
That's amazing. So what did you guys end up doing? International or domestic? We ended up doing domestic. Um, and actually we started the process and some friends we went to church with said, Hey, I, I know of somebody who has a little boy due in August. Are you interested? This is a cool story. I'm going to tell you this. Um, and we were like, yes, absolutely. And they said her only, her only request is that you use this name that she's chosen. It's really important to her. And we thought, okay, we, there's only one boy name we can agree on. It's the name Brooks, but
00:17:20
Speaker
we're just going to move forward. Obviously we're not going to say no to a child over a name. And she said, the name is Brooks. And we said, you have got to be kidding me. I mean, it's not like the name was John or something, you know, it was Brooks. And we just felt like God was saying, I told you your first child would come through adoption. I have called this child by name and he is meant to be yours. And I think we both needed that moment. Like, yes, we heard God correctly. We are going to continue moving forward and
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, so he ended up being a private adoption and then for our other two, we did domestic adoptions through an agency. Oh, that story. That is such a beautiful story. Yes, thank you for sharing that. So you mentioned also about adoption that your business grew out of a desire to pay for the adoption and subsequent adoptions as well, is that correct?
00:18:13
Speaker
So tell us more about that. Like, so you want to adopt, you've got it laid on your heart and now your husband is on the same path as you and then the money, right? So tell us how the business came up. Yeah. And then the money. So I actually started the business before he even agreed to adoption, uh, because I thought it would make my case stronger. You know, like, look at me, I'm making this money to at least help fund it. Uh, and so as it started to pick up steam, it was like, yes, God is really going to use this.
00:18:42
Speaker
to help bring every dollar that we need home. You know, we were able to sell a t-shirt. And for that, a first adoption, I think we raised within 12 cents of what it ended up costing us the whole process. Yes. It was like, okay, this business really covered what we needed. And then when it came to our second adoption,
00:19:00
Speaker
It was our most expensive one. It was higher than we thought we could do, but this is cool too. We found out that we were matched with a little boy with a really expensive adoption. We decided we were just going to say yes, because if we don't adopt him, somebody is going to have to raise those funds.
00:19:15
Speaker
And the next day we went and we did like a big market craft show, which we don't do very often, but over 50% of the funds were made just in that craft show. I mean, people were lining up outside our booth the whole entire day, which is not to say our business is that great. I mean, that really was God just saying, I've got you. Thank you for saying yes, I will give you everything you need. And so for all three of our adoptions, he just really helped bring in the funds we needed. And somewhere in there, I guess between child two and three,
00:19:43
Speaker
we realized, oh, this is actually growing. Our business is bigger than we need just for an adoption. I think we're going to make this our full-time business. My husband was able to leave his job actually and come home and to help me run it because I just couldn't do it with two children going back to how do you balance a business with kids. He came home and we just moved forward from there. So amazing. So awesome.
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, that is really beautiful. So we haven't talked about your business and what it is that you do,
Scriptural Inspiration and Product Development
00:20:12
Speaker
you offer for sale. So let's pause here from adoption and take a little detour and tell us about your business. So what we do is it started with jewelry. And at this point we do apparel and art prints and first cards and that sort of thing. But the heart really was jewelry. And the idea was that we could
00:20:29
Speaker
wear something inspired by scripture. So it wasn't like a cheesy, let me wear a Bible verse. Not that there's anything wrong with that for anybody who wants to, but I wanted something a little, um, a little more out there to just remind you of a specific verse of scripture. So maybe you're wearing a feather necklace, but it reminds you of Psalm 91. Like he will cover us with his feathers or, um, maybe it's a bar necklace, but it reminds us that he will make our path straight.
00:20:53
Speaker
So really my first idea was that it would just remind us of God's word. But what I quickly saw was that not only was it reminding my own self of these truths, but it was starting conversation. You know how women are. Oh, I love your shirt. So cute. Love your necklace. And I realized that could be a conversation starter. So when somebody would say that, I started saying, oh, thank you. This reminds me of this verse. Here's why I needed in my life.
00:21:17
Speaker
And sometimes the conversation would fall flat, you know, and people were like, more than I wanted. And sometimes people would say, wow, me too, or how interesting I've been wrestling with that or tell me more. And it became a way to really naturally share the gospel with strangers or even with my kids at home. And so that's really what I focus on now. How can we just tell our stories genuinely with these, just these reminders that we're wearing? Oh, that's awesome.
00:21:45
Speaker
Yeah. On just a personal note, I am a coach and I coach moms who are interested in starting a business because they feel called to do it. And this is kind of one aspect of it is that so many times we're just so much more comfortable staying tucked inside our homes and taking care of our babies because it is our first priority, because our families come first.
00:22:07
Speaker
But sometimes God nudges us to do something more. And very often, I think, especially for us women, it's because there are people who need to hear what we have to say. And I love that that has happened directly, that you are actually teaching people God's word through your products, which is so beautiful, and also helping other people share as well. So what a cool, cool thing to do. I love it.
00:22:33
Speaker
Yes, and you know, that wasn't on my radar at all when I started this. I just wanted to do something from my house creatively, you know, work with my hands and raise money for an adoption. And God has just blown it up and done so much more than I can imagine. Even more, I feel like my real ministry is on Instagram, just getting on there and sharing about my life. It has nothing to do with the jewelry necessarily, but I'm able to say, hey, yesterday we celebrated 13 years of marriage. Let me just talk to you about our marriage for a little bit and to hear women say,
00:23:03
Speaker
Man, I needed somebody else to tell me that their marriage has been hard to, or I needed somebody to say that their fifth baby was really hard and needed to sleep on them all the time. Just to meet other women exactly where they're at. And that's just a part of the business in the marketing that I didn't even expect. And God has used it. It's been so fruitful right there.
00:23:23
Speaker
That is exactly why Bonnie and I started this podcast and why we're still continuing this podcast. What? Are we four years in, Bonnie? Is because neither one of us has time for a podcast, but we have this message that has
Podcast Beginnings & Adoption Advice
00:23:38
Speaker
to be shared. It often comes about because we get asked the same question as moms of nine and 10 kids. We get asked the same questions over and over again. And so we're like, well, let's
00:23:49
Speaker
people want to know this. Let's talk about how laundry works for a large family, or that kind of thing. Just as if we were sitting on the park bench and chatting with some friends that we just met. Well, the kids are playing. So that's exactly why we're doing what we're doing too, is not because we have time or we're making money or anything, but because it's the message that we feel.
00:24:12
Speaker
that needs to be out there. Yes, and I'm so grateful you're doing it. I have a lot I can learn from you. Thank you, that's so kind. Okay, let's go back and talk a little bit about adoption because we want you to touch on what you would tell other families who are considering adoption. Oh gosh, yes. We could go a lot of different directions. I mean, if you are just starting the process and you feel overwhelmed, what I would say is to reach out to anybody you know who has adopted and just ask them
00:24:40
Speaker
how they did it, where did they start, which agency or home study group did they use, and just kind of follow in their steps until God tells you no. I think sometimes there are so many options out there. If you can just narrow it down a little bit, that can be really helpful. You know, attend an agency FAQ night. I think that God will make it clear how you should move down the path. I will also encourage people to decide if they are willing to open up their home to a transracial adoption or not.
00:25:09
Speaker
When we began the process, we were like, love is enough. We will accept any child into our home. And while that was a really sweet idea, I think we were very naive and we didn't do enough research and certainly we wouldn't change a thing. But as we have adopted now three children with dark skin and we have learned so much about what we need to do, how we need to change our lifestyle and our community to love them really well.
00:25:34
Speaker
I wish I would have known more on the front end. And so that's an encouragement. I would give somebody just know what you're doing and know that though love is enough, it really can serve your children well to read and to study and to make a community around you that will help them not feel so isolated or like they stand out in your family. Those are the first two things that come to mind.
00:25:58
Speaker
That's really great advice. Our family actually had a small experience with foster care. I also really felt like we were meant to adopt and then we went and looked into it and really felt called to do foster care. So we did foster care for a while. And what I learned was that it was so much harder and so much more work.
00:26:17
Speaker
pulled at things in my heart and mind that I had no idea could be tested. Obviously, we don't want to discourage anyone from going down that road because being a mother is difficult and beautiful no matter how you go about it. But yeah, to just be aware that there will be different challenges than you would ever expect with a biological child.
00:26:39
Speaker
and to learn and research and do everything you can to welcome that baby in. Or older child, right? Or older child. I mean, any adoption situation, trauma is just how it is birthed. Being separated from a biological parent, no matter the situation, is just a trauma that that child will need help walking through, either when they're little or as they get older or maybe their entire life. And so being willing and
00:27:03
Speaker
Saying like, I make a commitment to love this child through every bit of this when it gets really hard and I'm gonna be there and I'm gonna help them get the counseling they need or the equipment they need. Yeah. Love it. Okay, so again, back to balancing all the things. Let's go to your advice. What would you tell a mom who is maybe starting something new, a business or a service initiative or something she feels like she needs to put out into the world but is struggling to balance all the things?
Life Balance and Purposeful Living
00:27:32
Speaker
What would you say to them?
00:27:33
Speaker
Oh gosh. Well, I would, man, it really depends on the situation in a lot of ways, but if they feel like they are called to do this, then I think you have to trust that God will make a way. You know, if he has put an idea on your heart, then he's going to give you the time and the energy and the capacity to do it. And so to start making a plan for what that looks like, do you need to get regular babysitting in? Do you need to change your family dynamics or work with your husband to carve out time? Do you need to maybe
00:28:02
Speaker
turn off Netflix so that you can instead focus on this. You know, I think we have time in our day to make these things happen, but we've got to be intentional, especially if you have children around to really focus on when you can carve out that time to move forward. But I say, go for it. Do it. I can't wait to see what it is. It's going to be exciting. You know, if God has given that to you, just keep running forward.
00:28:24
Speaker
Oh, that is wonderful advice. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I think oftentimes we like so much of our entrepreneurship or our ideas is like so much of it happens inside of our head and like alone in the alone. And so just to hear somebody else, a mom who's a little bit farther down the path saying it and encouraging it and saying, come on, let's go do it. That's really, really neat. Yeah. Yeah. There's a Bob Goff quote that really encouraged me.
00:28:53
Speaker
right at the beginning of starting my business and he said, well, it says something along the lines of you can be captivated with your purpose if you aren't distracted by comparison. Yes, there are so many people creating things in the world. They might be doing exactly what you feel like you are called to do. Ignore them.
00:29:16
Speaker
move them aside and remember that if God has given you something, let that be your purpose. You know, be captivated by it instead of letting your eyes dwell back and forth on what other people are doing because you have something unique to offer. You're going to share it in a different way or you're going to reach a different audience. And I think the world needs what we all have to offer. That's why we're a body, right? Beautiful.
00:29:37
Speaker
Okay, Katie, we are so sad that we're almost out of time, but real quick, we have one more question.
Reflection on Faith and Daily Provision
00:29:42
Speaker
We want to know, what is your current favorite Bible verse? Oh gosh, my current favorite Bible verse. Man, I think about Lamentations 3 a lot about having new morning mercies and it says, the Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. I'm so tempted to make my portion other things.
00:30:02
Speaker
I mean, it could be anything. Like even today I was laughing. I just have lost a lot of baby weight and I feel like I want like a new wardrobe all of a sudden is on my mind. I'm like, if I only have that, you know, and I just laugh and thought that is not going to bring me joy right now. Like the Lord is my portion and I just need to rest in him and run to him because he's the only thing that's not going to fail me. So that's where I find myself dwelling right now.
00:30:26
Speaker
I love that. And what a good reminder as you try to balance all the things that God has you, right? In the hollow of His hand, it doesn't matter how overwhelming things seem or where your desires might be pulling you, right? But He's Your foundation. I love that. I just wanted to say, I love that you mentioned that verse because I just recently got done reading through Lamentations and I noticed that verse. Like, doesn't it say, new every morning are His mercies.
00:30:53
Speaker
Every day is a fresh start, and I just love that. It doesn't matter what happened yesterday and what I did yesterday. Today is in front of me, and it's clean. It's pure. Nothing's happened yet, and His mercy has laid a path before me, and I just love that first day. Oh, man. Yes. I need to remember that every day, but it just is brand new, and He's given me exactly what I need in this day. That was something as we walked through.
00:31:18
Speaker
our last season with our little girl, it was such a challenging season. And I felt like what he kept telling me was you get daily manna. It's not manna for your entire week or a month or year, even though that's what you think you want. I'm going to give you enough manna just for today so that you come to me tomorrow because I want you to come to me tomorrow. And if I give you too much, you're going to forget that you need me. And so yes, new mercies every day, new manna every day, just for what we need.
00:31:42
Speaker
Oh, where were you 10 years ago? The concept of manna for motherhood, daily manna for motherhood is beautiful. Do you have a t-shirt with that yet? There's a business or there's a product idea right there for you. You know, there were times when I would get overwhelmed and think, how am I ever going to do this for 15 years?
00:32:00
Speaker
How am I ever going to even make it through this week? One day. One day. But only if we come to him, right? It doesn't just rain from the heaven if we're not prioritizing God. So, oh, beautiful thought. Thank you for sharing that. I love it. Yeah. Okay. So before we say goodbye, Katie, tell our listeners where they can find you and learn more about Dear Mushka.
Conclusion & Contact Information
00:32:18
Speaker
Uh-huh. So you can go to just dearmushka.com. Dear, like you're writing a letter, Mushka. Or I'm on Instagram, at dearmushka. Simple.
00:32:26
Speaker
Awesome. Well, it was so lovely meeting you. You just have a delightful joy about you. If you're not watching this on YouTube, go take a look at Katie because she just smiles nonstop. She's been so fun chatting with today. Thank you guys for having me. This was great. Well, thanks for being with us, Katie, this week. We really enjoyed it and we know our audience did too, and we'll talk to you all next week.
00:32:48
Speaker
Thanks for listening friends. Click the link in the show notes to subscribe to our email and never miss another episode.