Your Joyful Order With Leslie Martinez

#117- Season 5 Finale: Takeaways, Recap & A Mid-Year Reset

• Leslie Martinez • Season 5 • Episode 117

Share episode

Send us a text

After 117 episodes, it's time to pause and reflect on the journey of Your Joyful Order podcast. This final episode of Season 5 is a heartfelt conversation about the power of intentional breaks and the importance of creating space for renewal.

Looking back at Season 5, we've covered tremendous ground – from Pastor Bianca Juarez-Olthoff breaking down spiritual gifts to deep dives into women's wellness and hormonal health that sparked countless conversations. We've explored boundaries with therapists, productivity with coaches, and leadership principles with experts. Each guest brought unique wisdom, creating a tapestry of insight that's helped our community grow in joy and purpose.

Now, as summer approaches, I'm embracing a season of rest and renewal. June brings my 30-day Mid-Year Reset Challenge combining strength training, whole foods, scripture reading, and a complete social media break. This structured approach combats that mid-year energy slump while establishing habits that foster clarity and growth. July delivers a dream European adventure through Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein – because intentionally creating joy through new experiences is essential to a meaningful life.

Season 6 returns in September with a focus on stories and testimonies. I'm specifically seeking listeners with compelling personal narratives of transformation, healing, and overcoming challenges. These firsthand accounts of breakthrough will create connection within our community and remind us of the power of resilience. Your story could be the exact message someone needs to hear.

Remember that order isn't about perfection—it's about creating space for what matters most. Whether you join the reset challenge, submit your story for consideration, or simply use this summer for your own intentional pause, I hope you'll find ways to strengthen your joy and purpose. Connect with me through the links in the show notes and let's continue this journey together when we return in September.

Join My 30-Day Reset Challenge- June 1-30, 2025 
Click the Link Below for the GroupMe App:
https://groupme.com/join_group/107846550/tnIRBKBr

Connect with Leslie:

Follow on IG: @yourjoyfulorderstyle

Website: https://www.yourjoyfulorder.com/

Email: lmartinez@yourjoyfulorder.com
to schedule- Speaking Events, Interviews or Life Coaching Sessions

Shop my SOAP the Gospels Journal on Shopify:
https://shopjoyfulorder.com/

Watch this Episode on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXoAYIM2mfclNtYiaOzIUw

Shop my Journal (Gratitude, Goals & Prayer Journal) on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/09Djvaw

Book a FREE 30 Minute Discovery Coaching Call: https://tidycal.com/joyfulordermedia/30-minute-meeting

Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, I'm Leslie Martinez and you're listening to your Joyful Order podcast. Each week I will bring you joyful stories that will motivate and inspire you and, at the same time, bring order to your everyday life. Let's just say the show will be a mixture of preaching and teaching, with a kick of motivation from your girl here. Welcome to your Joyful Order podcast. Hey friend, I'm so glad that you hit play on the final episode of season five of your Joyful Order podcast. I just want to first welcome you. Thank you for hitting play, thank you for allowing me to be in your ear, on your phone, on your computer, on your TV, wherever you're watching. But just thank you. I really, really appreciate all that you do for me because, believe it or not, just hitting play does so much for me. It allows me to know that what God put in my heart is being heard. What you guys don't know is, this podcast requires a lot of work, believe it or not. Thankfully, I have been able to streamline it in a way where it's something I enjoy doing and I look forward to doing. I look forward to bringing on guests, I look forward to creating content, doing research for the podcast to bring you the best episodes possible, but a lot of work requires some rest. So we are ending the podcast at season five, at episode 117. Y'all, I cannot believe that I have recorded 117 episodes of your Joyful Order podcast. It is insane. When I started this journey, I really had no idea where God was taking me with it, and if you told me three years ago that I'd be 117 episodes in and still going, I don't know that I would believe it. So, thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for hitting play, thank you for showing up, thank you for those of you that send me encouraging messages or DMs or emails, those that I see on the streets, people that I know. I have lots of friends and family that listen to the episodes and when I see them, they're like hey, I love your episode, but thank you for the encouragement. I just want to take this moment to give you, the listener, my most heartfelt gratitude, appreciation and just tell you thank you. Thank you for hitting play, thank you for allowing me to be in your ear, thank you for interacting with my content. For the three or four of you that send encouraging messages to me, thank you. There's not many of you, but you know who you are the women that will send me a message, that will send me an email, those that I know personally that, when I see them in person, will give me a word of encouragement and telling me, leslie, that episode was amazing, that you did, on whatever episode, it was those people that go out of their way to give me encouragement or to tell me how the podcast has impacted them. You, my friend, you're special, you're a unicorn, because there are so few of you that are out there, and I just want to tell you I love you. Your encouragement means more to me than you will ever ever know.

Speaker 1:

And, for the rest of the listeners, if you have never reached out to me on social media, if I don't see you in person, if you've never interacted, send me a text option. That is here on the notes. If you go to the notes, if you're listening here, you can go to the notes and there's a little link that says send me a text message. Y'all you do not know what that does for me. Okay, so I just want to encourage you to please engage and interact with me, because that is truly what helps me to keep this podcast going, and all I need is to encourage you to please engage and interact with me, because that is truly what helps me to keep this podcast going, and all I need is one of you, and every season I will get those one, two, three, four of you that send me a message, and it's always just right on time. It's when I start feeling defeated, when I start feeling you know that the podcast is just too time consuming, when God just needs to send me just a reminder to just keep going. He uses each of you to do that. So if there's ever a nudge or a tug on your heart where you listen to the episode and you're just like I need to let Leslie know that this episode was just like right on, please be obedient to that Tug on your heart and nudge yourself to reach out to me, please, because I need it y'all. I'm just being real, I need it, but I do promise you this Season six will be back. We will be back with season six and we will be coming back in September. We're taking a long break, taking three months off.

Speaker 1:

I love just being on the true teacher schedule y'all. The whole like academic schedule is just where I thrive. So, even though I'm not teaching anymore, this is kind of my work cycle that I love to be in. I love to use summer months to rest, reset and just renew myself, and that's what I'm doing. It allows me to prepare myself, to create and leave space for what God wants to do in the next season, and that next season will be in September. I cannot wait y'all.

Speaker 1:

I am gearing up already for season six of the podcast and next season. I am really looking to bring on some stories and I'll share with you guys about that a little bit later because I might be reaching out to you, my listener, to come on the podcast and share some special stories. Now, before we get into what is to come, I want to just start off with a little bit of a recap of season five. We have some amazing guests. My goal for season five was to just bring some fire guests. I made a list of people that I just knew would bring so much value to the podcast and the majority of those people I got. I'm just gonna say there are three guests that I did not get for this season, but I will say I actually put them on my dream board for 2025. So 2025 is not over yet. I still have a new season coming up and my goal is actually to reach out to them over the summer and hopefully get them on the calendar.

Speaker 1:

And one of them I'm not going to say who it is yet because I don't even know if this person will even say yes. But oh good Lord will even say yes. But, oh good Lord, I had to wait to get to a place where I felt confident and where I felt that the podcast was in a good place to even say that I'm going to ask this person to be on my podcast. This is someone that I have looked up to for years. For years like probably almost a decade I have looked up to this person. This person has been an inspiration to me. This person has helped me in so many ways that y'all just don't even know. This person lives a selfless, whimsical, joy-filled life, and this person, I will say he's a male. He has taught me how to chase joy and I don't know that this person is going to say yes.

Speaker 1:

And I am only sharing a little bit about this person because I want you to pray for me in this. I want you to pray and say God, I pray that this special guest that Leslie is looking to get says yes, that's. All I want is this person to say yes and all my dreams will be fulfilled of podcast guest. I'll just say that I've already had amazing guests and y'all. I want to aim big, but I also want to aim in people within reach that will add value. Now I can dream big and aim for some heavy hitter guests like Oprah or Andy Grammer. I mean, these are other people that I would love to sit and listen to, but I'm aiming for people that I feel that I have reach and connection with because they're a little bit easier to reach out to one and to get a yes from. So this person that I am aiming for, y'all just just pray, just say a little prayer, throw up some good vibes, some good energy and just say thank you, jesus, that this dream guest of Leslie's is going to say yes for season six.

Speaker 1:

Now that I have y'all on board with where I'm going for season six, I want to do a little bit of a recap. I want to get into the recap. I told y'all we had some fire guests, right, we started off the season really strong, and I want to recap a couple of these episodes because, guess what, there's going to be three months of no new episodes and if you are like twiddling your fingers and you're like, hey, I need some. You know, good, good joy. I need to bring some joy and order into my life, and you just don't know what to do without my podcast because there's no two episodes I want to recap, because I'm pretty sure you may not have listened to every single episode out there Now.

Speaker 1:

Season five goes as far back as episode 80. Episode 80, I talked about just strengthening your faith and building a strong foundation in scripture, getting into the word and y'all. My big guess that I had for season five I had so many amazing gifts, let me just put it that way but the one big guess that I had prayed for, like earlier that year, that I was, you know, just really in my heart I was like if this person says yes, it will just make my dreams come true for this season, kind of how, the person for next season I'm asking you guys to pray for, well, in season five it was Pastor Bianca Wise and Pastor B. She's my very own personal pastor, but she is an author, she is just a passionate person for Jesus and I wanted her to come on. I could have had her share about so many different topics and I actually waited a really long time to ask her to come on. I kind of knew that she would say yes, just because I know her, like I personally know her we sit, we've prayed together, I've been part of her church and in my heart I knew that she would say yes. However, I wanted to just align her with the right topic for the podcast and In that episode she talks about understanding your spiritual gifts.

Speaker 1:

And sharing about your spiritual gifts is a really hard thing to do, especially for people who aren't necessarily walking with the Lord, aren't planted in a church, really don't understand the Bible, and there are some of you listeners that are out there and I love you. You're here for a reason. And there are so many listeners that are out there and I love you. You're here for a reason. Pastor B breaks down the spiritual gifts in such a way that it's just so insightful. It's a very short episode but if you want like a brief intro into spiritual gifts and understanding your spiritual gifts, go and listen to that episode In September.

Speaker 1:

The episodes are geared at just prayer, life and spiritual understandings, growing spiritual resilience, also building your faith. I had a great episode with Dr Jarek Petros. We talked about apologetics. Y'all you might be asking what the heck is apologetics? Yeah, it's about defending your faith. That's what it is. And episode 84, we get into that. For the month of October I had a book club series and I brought on authors and then I shared some of my favorite books and you can go back and look at episode. I believe it starts at episode 85. And that's through. Episode 85 through 89 are all about some of my favorite books and I had great episodes with some authors of some great reads that are out In November.

Speaker 1:

We got into joyful productivity and I got to have a great conversation with another fellow life coach and teacher. Her name is Ariel Adams. We talked about overcoming procrastination and that was actually one of my higher downloaded podcasts last season, because y'all struggle with procrastination, like I do and like Ariel does. So we both kind of just went back and forth on giving some great insightful ways on how to overcome procrastination. And then I also shared with Bronwyn Lee. She was a personal coach of mine, literally when I went through the Propel discipleship. She was my coach for six months and we talked about aligning your goals with God's plan and that was just such a great, you know insightful conversation with Bronwyn. And then another one of my coaches from Propel that I got to have on the podcast was April Stallworth, and we talked about getting in position for what's next and that was under my joyful productivity in November. That was episode number 92. And y'all, there's so many great episodes out there.

Speaker 1:

We started off in January with a fresh start, talking about setting intentions and creating a blueprint for your life, also talking about time management. Time management is another huge topic that you all love to download and listen. That was another big episode that you guys listen to, especially in the start of the year, so many ways that you can just, you know, kind of master time management. And then we celebrated our 100th episode. Yes, in January we celebrated our 100th episode. I got to share lessons of just what I learned through this podcast and just the power of resilience, of keep going, and that was just a super fun episode and I just want to thank you guys for the immense support of 100 episodes in.

Speaker 1:

And then I did a boundary series. Also in February I had a couple of guests Stacey Echevera she is a therapist and she came on talking about healthier relationships and boundaries that you can have in relationships. Then I also have Brenda Rivera on in episode 104. We talk about breaking generational cycles with firm boundaries. And I get into March where I have my whole Women's Wellness Month and we talk about reclaiming your power and your peace. I also had another therapist on by the name of Chelsea Clifton and we talked about just creating boundaries, dealing with guilt and just finding balance in all of that the mental load that women carry, and that was such an insightful, another really highly downloaded episode and I'm certain it will speak to you. Then I showed up in bringing some great information for Women's Wellness Month and sharing about hormones, about perimenopause, about menopause, postmenopause, care, talking about hormones, health, happiness, what every woman should know.

Speaker 1:

I did a two-part series and y'all exploded. My DMs, y'all came with the questions the how, what, what does this mean? You guys were literally sending me your blood test results of your hormone panel and asking me what does this mean? Leslie, help me to understand this. What should I go and ask my doctor? I'm here for it. I could not believe the amount of questions, the amount of just lack of knowledge that you guys have and I am so glad that I shared, that I kind of went back and forth about even going down this because I'm not an expert, I don't know what the heck I'm doing, but I had to figure it out.

Speaker 1:

As I was in the thick of perimenopause myself, I had to do the doctor's visits, do the research, listen to the podcast, read the books, have the conversations with my doctors and just figure it out. Figure out what works for me. What supplements do I have to take? Where did all this weight gain from? How do I have to change my diet, my nutrition? I have to change how I work out. I need to add supplements, take away supplements, get my gut health right, get my mental health right Y'all so much to unpack.

Speaker 1:

I shared about my journey and decision to start hormone replacement therapy and those episodes just exploded and I realized the importance of women's health whole woman's health and understanding this for women in midlife. And it's so important if I have any of you younger ladies out there that are listening, that are maybe in their late 20s, early 30s, please listen to those episodes so you're not clueless when you get to that phase of life, like many of us women have been. It is so important for you to understand what your body is going through and know the signs when you are entering perimenopause, to start to change your diet, to start to change your exercise habits, to start to change your supplements. To start to change your supplements. Start to make sure that you're getting hormone panels done to understand where your FSH levels are, your LH levels, understanding where your estradiol levels are, your progesterone, your testosterone levels, where they should be, the symptoms that come with perimenopause, the symptoms that come with perimenopause. And there's so much. There is so much that we do not know and so many women get gas lit during this phase of life because doctors don't know how to support women that are in this phase of life, because they themselves did not learn this phase of life, because they themselves did not learn. So you, as a woman, please take the time to go and learn. Start with episode 108, 109.

Speaker 1:

And then I had Dr Sarah Bonza come on in episode 112. And we talked all about menopause. Menopause, the wake upup call. She gave very insightful information that is backed by research and science as to the do's and don'ts of perimenopause. I also went away to a three-day health and beauty and wellness conference for women in vegas, uh, this last month in or last month in April, and I won these tickets y'all.

Speaker 1:

I got to listen to Dr Mary Claire Haber live. She is the author of the book the New Menopause, which I highly recommend you go read Again. If you're in your late 20s, 30s and you're like I'm so far away from that, go and read it anyways, because you don't want to start getting into it and then learn all of this stuff. Because if you start before you experience these symptoms, if you start changing certain things in your diet, even just like gut health, in your physical health, and understand the signs before they come on, you will be that much better off in perimenopause and postmenopause than our generation is, because we had to figure it out for ourselves y'all and, like the generation before us, they just struggled like hell through it all. So make sure that you go to those episodes.

Speaker 1:

And then I wrapped up the season talking about leadership and I had some great guests. I had Dr Michelle Sehaz on. We talked about how leadership just starts with you. That's in episode 113. Israel Duran y'all. He was a gem of a guest. Oh good Lord, I wish I could have talked to him longer. I actually have invited him to come back next season and I hope he says yes. But he talked about how complacency is the enemy of leadership and that was such a great episode for me personally, that was something that just spoke to me. Great episode for me personally. That was something that just spoke to me and I really not just felt convicted with some of the things he said, but I also am applying some of his words and wisdom into action. And then conflict resolution that was a good one. Oh, my girl, lauren, she brought it yall in episode 115. She was such an amazing guest with so much wisdom. And I ended last week with my final guest, polly Payne, that just talks about leading yourself to dream big and she helped me to create my dream product and I hope that those episodes will just, you know, bring so much value. But you have so much to listen to over the summer because I know you haven't listened to every single episode. Okay, so now I did a full recap of the season, a pause. I am taking a pause to reset and to renew myself, to prepare for not just the next season but the second half of the year Also. I'll be coming back in September.

Speaker 1:

My theme for next season I want to focus on stories and testimonies. I want to invite you, my listeners, in to be part of next season. If you have a compelling story, if you have a testimony of how God has just showed up for you, if you have had miracles happen in your life through healing, through restoration, if you have overcome addiction, if you have overcome abuse, if you have overcome sin, I want to hear from you. If you have a powerful story of how God has moved in your life. I want you to be a guest on my podcast and I want you to reach out to me. I would love to feature you, my listeners, next season and that way we can just keep learning from each other and sharing stories.

Speaker 1:

I typically look for people to come on my platform that are well spoken, that have a following and, you know, a good social media presence, because I want to be able to connect my listeners with the guests that I have on Next season. I'm not necessarily stressing that, but I want to hear your story. If you feel that you are in a place, one where you can speak well and show up this podcast platform. We do video for those that don't listen on YouTube. I put this on YouTube, so you got to show up. You got to show up presentable, not like with your bedhead. You got to have some nice lighting so we could see your face. I don't want you hiding in your dark closet. But besides that, I want you to come with a great story, and if you have a compelling story, I want to set you up to come and share it here and we can put it together in a way that will just allow the listeners to just hear the goodness of God. And that's what I really want next season to be about our stories and testimonies. And in between that, I may drop some wisdom, share stories myself of lessons learned and I might just pull together a little bit of my own testimony and bring you guys some really insightful ways at how God has showed up personally for me in my life.

Speaker 1:

So now I want to share with you what I'm going to be doing during my summer break. Rest, reset and recharge is my focus for the next three months, and I am kicking it off with a 30-day mid-year reset challenge that is going to run June 1st through the 30th, and I actually want to invite you to come and join me. This is a time to get focused on building strength, clarity and growth, and I'm going to tell you what this Mid-Year Reset Challenge is and you can decide if you wanna join me or not. We're gonna be combining seven daily habits into this challenge. Now I want you to think of 75 hard, but it's not that hard. This is just 30 days first off, but we do have seven daily habits that you need to work your best at. This isn't like 75 hard where if you don't do one of the habits, you have to like start your 75 days all over again. We are just trying our best to reset and build strength and clarity and all of that during these 30 days. If you screw up one day, then you just do it again the next day. If you're only able to do four of the habits out of the seven one day, that's okay. You just keep going and do what you can. I want to do this.

Speaker 1:

First. Let me tell you it's mid-year. Oftentimes we get that like mid-year slump where we kind of lose our energy, our motivation and our focus. I know I do. Summer comes. Oftentimes we are out of our normal habits. You know the hustle and bustle, like if you got kids taking them to school and just the sports and all the activities and all of that stuff. So we tend to kind of just fall off our normal habits during the summer.

Speaker 1:

I want to do this challenge to keep me accountable and also to use it as a way to reset. So here are the habits. Number one is follow a whole food diet. And what does that mean? Basically, you are eating whole foods that were grown from the grass. If God created it, then you eat it. Basically, you're eliminating processed foods, so you want to fuel your body with all the good things that God made. This helps to reduce inflammation, improve mood and energy and, as you're going to be a little more active during this challenge, it's going to just help to, you know, give you the calories, the healthy calories that you need to sustain the activity that you'll be doing.

Speaker 1:

Number two, the second habit, is being active, and it starts with a 30-minute strength workout and then you'll be following it with a 30-minute cardio workout, which is just walking actually. So the slower cardio. This is going to be focusing on building strength and mental clarity. Movement is medicine and it's a beautiful time of year that you can get out and do a walk. I also am going to encourage you to use a weighted vest with your walks. I'm really focusing this to help women in midlife. Also, if you're not in midlife, you can still do it, it's not going to hurt you. However, building strength in midlife is so important for your bones, for your health. So many reasons why strength training during midlife is so important. I will get into that, those details with the people who choose to join me in this challenge. I shared a lot of it in some of the episodes that I did, so I won't get into it here. However, we will be doing strength and walking five days a week. Yes, five days a week 30 minute strength strength, 30-minute walk.

Speaker 1:

The third habit is reading 10 to 12 pages a day of a personal growth book, and that can be any type of personal growth personal growth, spiritual growth, something that's going to grow your mind, not just like trashy fantasy novels. I'm not saying that those are bad. Those are, you know, great for your spare time, but this challenge is geared to reset, renew your mind, body and spirit, and you need to, you know, read something that is going to help you personally or spiritually. So that is the goal. If you need a list of books that you could read during this. Reach out to your girl, and that's for those that choose to do this. I'll share more details. We're going to be having this off social media, basically in a GroupMe app, and all the details will be there. If you want some book recommendations, I will give them there. Okay, the fourth habit is reading a chapter of the Bible daily. We need to stay rooted. We're growing spiritually, physically and mentally reading one chapter of the Bible daily. We need to stay rooted. We're growing spiritually, physically and mentally reading one chapter of the Bible a day.

Speaker 1:

Number five here's the big one. I might lose you. I might lose you on this and you're going to be like I'm out of it, leslie, I'm out, no social media for 30 days. I know this is something I personally struggle with, y'all. I know this is something I personally struggle with, y'all. Yes, I struggle with that because my business is on social media, my podcast is on social media. So hence, while I'm taking a break from the podcast, I don't have anything to push from the podcast. I don't have any product to push right now other than my soap journal. Go, get yourself a soap journal. It'll really align with your daily reading of the chapter of this? Yes, click the link in the bio and grab yourself a soap journal. However, during the month of June, I am taking a complete break.

Speaker 1:

I oftentimes get very distracted from my phone and I've used the excuse a lot that I can't be off social media for too long because my business will be impacted. I am starting to believe that that is a lie from the enemy, because he wants to distract me. One of the things that I did recently, y'all is I created a new wallpaper for my phone. I have a picture of my family on it and I have this written on it. It says he's after your attention, guard it. Who's him the enemy? If the enemy can't get you to sin, he's going to distract you. I don't. You know, I don't live a sinful life. I don't drink. I don't the enemy. It's going to be very hard for the enemy to get me to sin in a way that doesn't align with God. So what is he going to do? He's going to steal my attention. He's going to distract me from things. How does he distract me?

Speaker 1:

Social media yeah, I'm very distracted by social media. I love to scroll social media and sometimes I just get on to make a post or engage with my audience, and then it's like two hours later and I've sent 20 reels or memes to my friends and family, because that's like a love language of mine on social media. So if you ever gotten a funny meme or funny reel from me on social media, you're my special people. Okay, but I get distracted easily. So this is part of the challenge.

Speaker 1:

Now, the sixth thing, the sixth habit that we're going to be doing is drinking half your weight in ounces of water. It's important that we stay hydrated. It helps with our energy, mental clarity, better skin. It also helps with good gut health too. So there's just good value in staying hydrated during this. And then the last one is taking your daily supplements, and that is just filling in the gaps. Care for your body proactively, for us women in midlife your magnesium supplements, your prebiotics, probiotics, creatine all the good stuff, your collagen I can go on and on.

Speaker 1:

So if you want to join the reset challenge, this is not going to be on social media. I will be advertising it on social media throughout the week leading up to it. However, to stay clean off of social media, I have created a group meet app just for this challenge, for those that want to stay connected and have accountability, and I will be sharing details in there. You know, food ideas for whole food diet recipes I will be sharing in there. Workout tips on things to do each day, books to read. We can be sharing some takeaways of our Bible that we did, and this is just to connect with people off of social media, to focus on just the challenge. Look in the show notes because there is a link there to the GroupMe app if you want to join, and I will be excited to have you during this time. So that's what I will be doing for the month of June.

Speaker 1:

Now for the month of July. Oh, I got something so exciting to tell you that I am going to be doing this summer. Are you ready for it? This is a big big thing and, oh my goodness, I still am like almost pinching myself that this is finally going to happen. Drum roll, please. I am going to be traveling throughout Europe for two weeks in July. Oh, I am so excited. It is so important for you to bring joy into your life in every single way that you can, and traveling is a form of joy that I love. I do not get to do it as much One.

Speaker 1:

Being a mom, we have a very limited time of when we can travel. Being a mom that had kids that also played sports during the summer, it allowed for very limited traveling, and we're the parents that we don't miss a kid's game. I've never missed any of my son that played football. I never miss any of his games and I never miss any events for my other son that does competitive cheer, and that's just our commitment. Well, this summer we actually are getting to travel with our youngest son. He is doing an educational trip with his school and I was invited to be a chaperone and my husband is tagging along also.

Speaker 1:

So we are going to be visiting Austria, germany, switzerland and Liechtenstein. I don't even know if I'm saying that country right y'all, but let me give you a little bit of insight as to what I'm going to be seeing this summer. In Austria, we are going to start in Vienna. We're going to get to see a classical music concert. I am so excited. I know that the kids are going to be very excited. These are all high school kids, by, by the way, and some of their families, so a lot of adults are going, but I really hope that they see value in us being able to listen to classical music in Austria. I mean, how amazing is that experience going to be.

Speaker 1:

We are going to get to go to Skonbrunn Palace I'm not saying these names right, I know it's not, but I'm reading them as best as I can. I don't have an Austrian or German, you know, kind of accent there. But Skonbrunn Palace, we will be walking along the Ringstrasse. We will be walking along the Ringstrasse and we will go to Salzburg also. We will get to kind of see like where Sound of Music was and just explore the beauty of Austria. We will be headed to Germany. We're going to go to Munich and we will be exploring historic landmarks like Marienplatz I don't know that I'm saying that right now, I'm totally butchering it. I know I'm saying this right. The Olympic Stadium Yay, we got to go to the Olympic Stadium in Germany. We also will be going to a concentration camp memorial there, so we'll be learning from from that. And then we'll get to see several fairy tale like castles throughout germany. And then we'll be heading to heidelberg in germany, going through and seeing some of their famous castles there as well and then taking a dinner cruise on the rhine river. I cannot wait.

Speaker 1:

In Switzerland, y'all. Switzerland has been a bucket list country on like my dream list for years. I have always dreamt of going to Switzerland and just seeing the Swiss Alps. And it's going to happen this summer and I am so dang excited this summer and I am so dang excited. So we'll be starting off in Lucerne. We are going to get to take a cruise along the Lake Lucerne. We'll get to ride up a Swiss mountain, exploring landmarks like the Lion Monument and the Chapel Bridge and just taking in the breathtaking views of Switzerland.

Speaker 1:

I might be just like singing with my hands out on a mountaintop in a meadow. Don't be surprised if you find me singing on a hilltop. Some you know song from Sound of Music or something I don't know Doe a deer, a female deer, ray a drop of golden sun. I know hearing me sing in your ear. You just love it. Do they sing beautifully? For those of you that took your earbuds out, please put them back in. I promise to not sing anymore on this episode of the podcast. That's why I talk and I don't sing. But you will find me singing in Switzerland. I don't care who hears me. I will sing like just so out of key, but you're going to find your girl singing the Sound of Music songs in Switzerland on a hilltop somewhere. And then we also are going to be our other country that will be listening.

Speaker 1:

It's called Lichtenstein. I'm not saying it right, it is a country. I have told so many people that I'm visiting Lichtenstein and they're like where's that at? I've never heard of that country. Oh, are you sure it's not a city? Are you sure? Do you know where you're going? Yeah, no, literally, literally. I had a fellow teacher that I was subbing with. He's like oh, I've been to Germany and Austria and all of that. And I was like oh, yeah, we're going to Lichtenstein. He's like oh, yeah, are you, are you sure you know where you're going? Literally, he asked me that. I'm like yeah, no, I know where I'm going.

Speaker 1:

Like our tour, it's called Lichtenstein. Oh, I'm pretty sure it's a country. I read all about it. It's on the map. He did not believe me. He pulled up the world map and he was like looking. He's like yeah, I don't see it anywhere on there. I was like zoom in. It's a really small. He had to zoom all the way in on the world map and then he saw it and I was like, bam, how you like them, apples full. He's like, oh wow, that's a really small country. Yeah, and it is a country full, I'm not lying.

Speaker 1:

Littlestein it is a small country between Austria and Switzerland and it is so small and teeny tiny that we're just spending one day in there. We're not even staying in there, so we are literally driving through, we get to get off, get our passports stamped as one of the countries that we visited, and then we're going to just, you know, take a little, a little tour throughout there, see some cool touristy places, and then head on our way, and that, my friend, is going to be our great summer adventure, and I am certain that there is going to be a podcast all about my trip. There may be one podcast, maybe even two podcasts all about it, so you'll want to come back again and y'all are going to hear my story of my European summer. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I cannot wait. I've been dreaming of this trip for a really long time and I am just so dang excited. So keep us in prayer, y'all.

Speaker 1:

Me, my husband Steve and my son Jacob will be gone for 12 days throughout Europe, almost two full weeks, and I just can't wait to see all the things, but then also just the experience of this, so I will be doing a lot of writing throughout this. We're going to be on the bus. We land in germany and then we're taking a bus to like touring through all these countries and then we're flying back out of germany. We actually are flying through canada also, so I will get a canadian stamp on my passport. We just have like we have like a four hour layover in Canada, but long enough for me to get a stamp and say that, oh yeah, I've been to Canada. We're flying out of Toronto.

Speaker 1:

I believe it is so super, super, dang excited and I share this all with you so that one you know what my summer is going to be looking like, to come and follow your girl. I'll be back on social media in July, if I am allowed. I haven't figured out the whole like Wi-Fi usage out there with my phone and stuff, but I am going to try my best to share some content on social media and kind of take you guys along with me. But either way, before and after the trip, I will be sharing lots of stuff, giving some travel tips and tricks on packing for traveling. You know kind of backpacking through Europe, and that's where we're at friends, that's where we're at. That's where we're at friends, that's where we're at.

Speaker 1:

I've gone way longer than we planned to on this episode, but just think of this episode as, like you and me are sitting at a coffee house, you're drinking coffee. I'm drinking tea because I don't drink coffee, but I love to go to coffee houses and just drink some fine teas and fine teas. Teas I really just mean green tea, because that's all I really drink. I'm being totally cheesy right now, but this episode was just a fun way to connect with you, my listeners, in a way, like I kind of had an outline of things I wanted to share. I didn't script anything out today.

Speaker 1:

I'm like I just gonna sit, hit record and just have a chat in my final episode of season five and I want to encourage you if you don't, you know, do the challenge with me. If you're not traveling this summer or anything, just take this time over the summer to rest. Just take this time over the summer to rest, reset, grow in joy and purpose, look for something that will keep you motivated to grow and seek joy this summer. And I just again want to thank you all for tuning into the season. Again, I want to invite you guys join the 30 day reset. Go and click the link in the show notes to join the group me app for this. If you choose to start kind of midway through, that's fine. If you just get 15 days in come and do 15 days, 15 days is better than no days. So come and join the challenge for the month of June.

Speaker 1:

If you have a testimony that you think will be a great story for next season, for season six, reach out to me. In the show notes there are several ways that you can connect with me. You can send me an email. You can send me a DM on my social media. You can send me a text. On the very top of the show notes it says text me. You can just send me a text and, yes, it comes directly to my phone and just let me know.

Speaker 1:

Leslie, I'd love to share my testimony with you. I'm actually going to create a form to kind of get an overall idea of what your testimony or your story that you would love to share and I will be filtering them through that way. I can't promise that I'm going to bring everybody that is interested on. If I have a connection with you and I know your story, more than likely I will have you come on and say, yes, I want you. If you are someone new that I've never met before, I will have you fill out the application process and, you know, I might do like a zoom call with you, a pre interview, just to make sure that your story is what I'm looking for for the next season.

Speaker 1:

And if you know somebody, if you have someone that you're like oh, you got to hear what God did for this person Send them my way.

Speaker 1:

Also, I want to connect with you, the listeners, in a way that I've never connected before. And if it is through your community and bringing them on here, what better way than to just connect with each other, than to sharing the stories of the people you know and love on this platform? And, lastly, look out for fun content in July, as I will be traveling and I just want to close with this I want you to know that order is not about perfection. It's about creating space for what matters most, and I want you to spend this summer just being in sacred spaces, creating strength within and looking for stories and finding ways of continuing to chase joy. My friend, thank you for listening, thank you for an amazing season five, thank you for 117 episodes. We did it. It's not just me. You, the listeners, are a part of this show and I want to thank you for that. So show up, show out the summer and I'll see you in September with season six. Bye, my friend.