Shay Shull is my guest for Happy Hour #82. You may know Shay from her very popular food and family blogs, Mix and Match Mama, or you may recognize her from her TV appearances when her brother was The Bachelor!
Shay and I talked about her journey through infertility. She shared with me what she learned, what people did and said that were helpful to her and what she would say if she were sitting down with a girlfriend in the throws of an infertility battle. We talk about after her two surprise babies, how God moved in her and her husband's hearts to adopt an orphan from China.
Shay and her family LOVE traveling. Her 6 and 7 year olds have been to SEVENTEEN countries. Yes, you read that right. I can't even name seventeen countries, and her little ones are actually going and experiencing these cultures all across the world. Because of her love for travel, she started her very own travel agency, where she is helping families plan vacations. If you are planning on a trip to Disney World, or a Disney cruise, you'll definitely want to check out Shay's agency here.
And of course, I had to ask her what it was like to watch her brother fall in love on national television. You guys are going to love this show. It was my first time to meet Shay, and by the end, I felt like I had a new friend. I know you'll feel the same.
{You can listen to the show HERE. And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends. Just use the FB & Twitter links at the end of this post!}
Links from the Show
Shay's Books: Mix and Match Meal Planner + Mix and Match Cakes + Mix and Match Mama Eats (coming in August 2016)
The Battle Plan for Prayer by Stephen Kendrick and Alex Hendrick + Elin Hilderbrand Books
Off Camera Podcast: #44 Connie Britton
What Shay is loving: Netflix (all of it), The Battle Plan for Prayer and Baseball Season
What I am loving: Rewatching Friday Night Lights with Aaron, my new Sseko sandals
Connect with Shay
Facebook // Twitter // Instagram
Sponsors:
Prep Dish
Prep Dish is a healthy subscription-based meal planning service. When you sign up, you'll receive an email every week with a grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. After a couple of hours on the weekend, you'll have all of your meals ready for the entire week. You'll save time and have some amazingly delicious meals like Smoky Paprika Chicken Legs with Roasted Carrots, Parsnips & Fennel or Turkey & Zucchini Lasagna. And, Allison is offering listeners a special rate of $4 for the first month – that's only $1/weekly meal plan! You can't beat that. Check out Prep-Dish for this amazing deal! Use code: HappyHour
Lily Jade
Lily Jade makes incredible bags at incredible prices. Normally, full grain leather premium totes would retail for hundreds more, but thanks to their unique e-commerce model, they able to get their gorgeous pieces into even more women’s hands. Every bag comes with a removable, washable 16-pocket organizer to protect your investment, and to organize your gear. Not only that, the heart of Lily Jade is to give back, supporting all women, and especially moms. Every month, for example, they give a bag away to a deserving adoptive mom, and run monthly campaigns on Instagram to celebrate the everyday stories of amazing women. Follow them on Instagram to join in and share your story!
Camp Well
Since it's inception, the creators of The Well Studio, they longed to physically gather dreamers and doers and entrepreneurs….to create a space where they can reflect, refocus and rest in the midst of their busy lives. Camp Well is just that. It's a four day faith filled venture for dreamers, doers and entrepreneurs in Denver, Colorado from September 18-21st. Camp Well is for the woman who need a break from the busy to rest and refocus on the big dreams she has in life, ministry and/or business. Camp Well will be four days of the perfect balance of workshops, breakout sessions, one on one mentor sessions, and outdoor experiences. The gathering is limited to only 30 campers and there are a few spots left. The Well Studio is offering Happy Hour listeners $100 off with code HAPPYHOUR. Head to their website for more details or check out them out on Instagram.
Jamie there is hope door you to become a morning person! I used to be far from a morning person, but a coffee shop job that made me get up before 5 often, led me to love mornings, and now 1.5 years after leaving I still love getting up early and having that quiet time before the world wakes up. You can do it! Don’t give up yet!
Yayyyy thank you Jamie, can’t wait to listen to this! I’ll stop my nagging now 😉
Jamie! I’m a huge fan of your show and I just need to thank you for having conversations like this one today. I’m a pastor to families and as a single woman I don’t have a lot of personal experience with things like marriage, infertility or raising kids. Your willingness to dive into difficult topics and share stories with your guests helps to give me language as I counsel and interact with families. I especially love when you ask what is helpful to say or ask in these situations. Thanks for opening my mind and eyes to others’ experiences! Love your show!
Oh my gosh Jamie, I just listed to this episode and just want to share it with so many people! Thank you for inviting Shay on and asking such great questions about her infertility, miscarriage, and adoption journey. It was so encouraging for me as I think back to my own miscarriage and pregnancy journey and was able to share the hope of her pregnancies with a friend of mine currently going through a miscarriage after a year of trying to get pregnant. Probably one of my favorite episodes so far especially as I sit with women each week going through a lot of the same struggles she talked about as a professional counselor. And total side-note, I continue feel more and more called to adoption so hearing how she and her husband spend intentional time for over a year praying for what this would look like was a huge encouragement for me as we consider if/when/how God might grow our family. So of course I then proceeded to watch your adoption story video from years ago and sat here bawling my eyes out…Not sure how I haven’t seen that yet but such a beautiful testimony to God’s faithfulness in your family!
Oh and for what it’s worth, there’s no way I’m waking up before 6:30am to be productive in any capacity so I totally support you in looking for other ways to find productive time if 5am aint cuttin it for you!