Praise Through It

Jessica Alessio is a secondary school principal in the greater Phoenix Arizona area. Recently completing her fourth year as school principal, she has a passion for crisis leadership in schools and is currently working on her first book titled Crisis Leadership for School Administrators: Leading Authentically and Effectively Through Calamity. Areas of emphasis include building leadership capacity in both teenagers and adults, and incorporating sacred rhythms into her daily routines. Prior to her leadership roles, Jessica has served as a secondary Spanish and Psychology teacher as well as Curriculum and Instruction Specialist. She holds several degrees in education, including a B.S. in Secondary Spanish Education and B.A. in Psychology from Indiana University, Bloomington as well as a M.Ed in Instructional Design from Western Governors University. She shares her daily adventures in school leadership on her IG account (linked below).

Coming out of a school counseling career in November 2020, this conversation put me right back in the halls of my school. Jess talks about rootedness in Jesus as the number one key to survival these last 16ish months. Listen in for an encouraging, inspiring conversation on faith and schools and leadership and Jesus.

Connect with Jess on Instagram: @Principal_Jess

Is there anyone in your life you've watched and thought, "That is a beautiful human." That's Robin Eaton for me. I've known her for 7 years and I've learned *so* much from her personal and professional stories and experiences.

In today's conversation, Robin talks about parenting a child with exceptional needs. She talks about the challenges she and her family faced, but way more than that - she talks about the gift that Sam is and the gifts he's brought to the world.

Robin Eaton is a woman on the go... You can see her as a wife, mother, educator, or someone who enjoys staying active. But each area is a full time focus. She served as a classroom teacher for fifteen years & has spent the past eight years as a school wide technology facilitator ensuring students and staff success in a digital world. She believes in empowering learners of all ages. Her passion for children and education can be seen with her own two; a 20 year old daughter in college and a 17 year old son with exceptional needs. Her husband is a firefighter whose long shifts have always ensured she is prepped to handle any personal situation on her own. Robin also has two golden retrievers and she has just become a Gigi, or golden grandma. She enjoys cooking, kayaking, being on the beach, recently started running, and has a hard time saying no to a nap.

She talks about Tim Tebow's Night to Shine Prom, linked here.

There is plenty of advice on how, why, and when to offer forgiveness. And there is so much behind the act of forgiveness that doesn’t just include the offense, it can be tough to know which direction to go.

So ... What’s the thing that brings us to a point of forgiveness that is meaningful and lasting?

Honestly, the only thing I could think of over months of thinking about this, is committing to it. Deciding that once we decide to forgive, that’s it. We have forgiven and nothing may be held for that offense from that day on. How do we do that? Listen in for some thoughts.

Show notes:
Cain and Abel
Jacob and Esau
Joseph and his brothers
I Love Lucy
Tom Brady & the NFL
The Grateful Dead
Cookie Monster
Sally’s Baking Addiction Chocolate Chip Cookies (have I made these almost every single week since March 2020? Yes. Commitment.)

Resources:
Domestic violence
Emotional abuse
BetterHelp.com
TalkSpace

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Monday Morning Blessings: soulful meditations to start your week

Asking myself, What will this choice look like in 30 years? is one of my daily cornerstones that helps me live well.

In 30 years, you’ll have built on habit after habit and what you have is what you will have built, and I’m not talking about tangible things like a specific size house or brand of car. I’m talking about the status of your heart.

If I want my daughter to know she is loved at all times, I’ll teach rather than scold.
If I want her to know that her creativity matters, I’ll hold my tongue when that creativity takes us on a wild, messy ride.
If I want my own heart to know that God made me on purpose and for a purpose, I’ll write my words and nobody else’s.

I want a future that holds a long line of choices that point to all of the above, and more.

I do that by constantly asking and answering that one question:

What will this choice look like in 30 years?

If you’re wondering how to use that question for yourself, listen in here or read right here!

Show notes

Barn doorsMy favorite chocolate chip cookiesEnneagramKellie Haddock

Become part of my FRIDAY CREW - quick, actionable ADULTING tips, usually using the framework of the Enneagram. I promise interesting. I promise a GIF. I promise helpful. Right here or right down below.

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The capital-S Seasons of our lives are the most obvious ones that bring change. A new job, relationship, child, weather season... all of those usher in change in a big way, they define us and times in our lives very clearly.

Lately, I've been more interested in the little-s seasons of our lives. The seasons of joy and sorrow, grief and rejoicing, anxiety and confidence.

I think we too often fold those little-s seasons into the big-S seasons, conflating the entire season with only one feeling, assigning ourselves these absolute traits based on the ebb and flow of the human experience. I think we miss the fact that these little-s seasons could be looked at as STATES of our lives instead of TRAITS of our lives and our personhood.

If you're wondering how to move in and out of the seasons of your life with some sanity and grace, listen in.

Show notes:

My Holocaust-Survivor Grandmother Found Happiness Everywhere. I See Her in My Daughter.
Friends
Mike & Molly
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist
Psalm 48:14
Psalm 23
Ecclesiastes 3
My breakfast face

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