Affiliate links are used in this content. CTL is also brought to you by Plan to Eat meal planning service. Visit PlanToEat.com/LOVELY to start your free 60-day trial instead of the normal 30-day trial. Cultivating the Lovely is brought to you by Rockets of Awesome. Get 20% OFF your first order when you go to rocketsofawesome/lovely and use promo code LOVELY at checkout. This week’s episode of CTL is sponsored by Grove. As a CTL listener, you can get a FREE Mrs. Meyers Spring Scent cleaning set at Grove.co/LOVELY with your first order. If you want more ways to interact with these episodes, including discussion questions, behind the scenes information, and ad-free episode audio, be sure to check out the Cultivating the Lovely Patreon community! Show Notes- Today’s episode of Cultivating the Lovely, MacKenzie has a chat with author Lisa-Jo Baker all about her new book, The Middle Matters. In addition to being an author, Lisa-Jo is a wife and mother of 3 kids, as well as co-host of the new podcast Out of the Ordinary. MacKenzie and Lisa-Jo have an encouraging and light-hearted conversation about the “real” side of motherhood in the middle years, plus so much more! How and why Lisa started writing for moms in the middle years The strange stage of being in the middle of marriage and parenting The uniqueness of each stage of motherhood, from being a first-time parent, to a parent of teenagers and beyond The joys of having older kids and teenagers Lisa’s inspiration for writing The Middle Matters Shifting perspective to see the beauty in the life you are living right now How Lisa wrote her books as if it were a collection of photographs of her own life The reaction publishers had when Lisa pitched her book title and idea The format of the book in little essays on different subjects How Lisa approaches social media and real life friendship by prioritizing loving people Finding your pocketful of friends who will be with you through thick and thin Dealing with the complicated nature of faith in the middle season Realizing that God still loves us even when we mess up Lisa talks a little about her new podcast with Christy Purifoy, Out of the Ordinary A typical day in Lisa’s life Current Lovelies- Lisa-Jo: taking a walk through her neighborhood each day to take a break from screens MacKenzie: embracing her need for rest and not pushing herself to work out Resources Mentioned- Books: The Middle Matters Podcasts: Out of the Ordinary The Wally Show Movies and TV: The Princess Bride The Mission Strictly Ballroom Moulin Rouge Blackhawk Down Studio 60 Find Lisa-Jo- You can find Lisa-Jo Baker on her website, LisaJoBaker.com. You can also follow her across social media on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. Find MacKenzie- You can find MacKenzie Koppa on Instagram, Facebook, and the CTL Facebook Group, of course! You can also listen to her family podcast The Same Page! Listen to the CTL Podcast-    You just finished reading CTLP Episode 126- Motherhood in the Messy Middle with Lisa-Jo Baker! Consider leaving a comment!