In this special joint episode of The Fresh Start Family Show, Wendy sits down with two incredible Fresh Start Family students, Cayla Schultz and Cristina Johnson, to share their inspiring transformations from overwhelmed, reactive moms to confident, connected parents. Cristina opens up about her journey through infertility, her introduction to positive parenting, and how shifting her mindset helped her break free from control-based tactics and embrace a relationship-first approach with her children. Cayla reflects on the early struggles of raising a strong-willed child while navigating postpartum challenges and her husband’s illness, and how discovering Fresh Start Family gave her the tools and hope she needed to parent with more peace.
Throughout the conversation, Wendy, Cayla, and Cristina discuss the power of self-awareness, faith, and mentorship in creating lasting change. They share real-life examples of their kids thriving—demonstrating peaceful conflict resolution, self-confidence, and cooperation—proving that the hard work of shifting generational patterns is worth it. Now, as leaders in their own families and communities, both women offer encouragement to parents looking to trust the process, embrace repair when things don’t go perfectly, and step into their full potential as loving, confident caregivers. This episode is full of hope, wisdom, and tangible tools to help you parent with clarity, connection, and courage!
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Episode Highlights:
- Transformation Is Possible, Even If You’re Deep in Reactivity
- Healing Yourself Helps Heal Your Family
- You Don’t Have to Be “Fixed” to Help Others
- Community + Mentorship = Fuel for Growth
- Rewiring Old Patterns Takes Time, But It’s Worth It
Resources Mentioned:
- The Full Mastery: Become a Parenting Coach Program
- Cayla’s on Ep. 218 Unlocking Peace and Empowering Families: The Parenting Coaching Revolution
- Find Cristina on Instagram
- Catch the full episode on YouTube!
Unable to listen, or prefer to read along? Here’s the transcript!
~First Interview~
Wendy (6:55.878)
Hello families and welcome to a new episode. I’m so happy you’re here today. I am thrilled to have our student and friend Christina Johnson on the show. Welcome to the show, Christina.
Cristina Johnson (7:7.096)
Thank you, I am so excited to be here.
Wendy (7:10.098)
Oh, I’m so thankful that you took time out of your busy day to come share your story with us. And I think you are just such a great example of a student who really just went all in over the last few years when it comes to Fresh Start Family, when it comes to expanding your heart, learning new tools, strengthening your family, Christina. So today, I just wanted to let listeners and viewers just get in on your story a little bit and hear about where you were.
before you kind of fully committed, so to speak, to positive parenting, powerful parenting. And I know you are kind of unique because you were always kind of like in this world. I feel like you’re person who kind of got the memo early on that you wanted to live this type of life. But I want to hear more about what that looked like before you found First Start Family and really committed with us. And then.
watching you like journey through all the steps and all the parts of our program through our weekend program, Freedom to Be, through our full mastery program, become a parenting coach, and now being at the place where you are now using your gifts and your skill sets and your ability to help parents in the Fresh Start Family approach through your own coaching practice. So just your whole journey has been really inspirational. But let’s backtrack and start with, when did you start?
with Fresh Start Family. Do you remember what year it was? Was it, I’m gonna guess, was it 2022 maybe?
Cristina Johnson (8:41.678)
think it was 2023. I think it was the beginning of 2023.
Wendy (8:43.888)
Okay.
Wendy (8:47.838)
And talk to us about how you were feeling in that season. Like I have my own memory, but I want to check myself and see if it’s right here. But like, what were you feeling? What had you tried before? Like when you came into the Fresh Dirt Family program, what was going on for you as a mom that kind of made you say, you know what, I really kind of want to like get some support here. I deserve this and I want to learn and grow.
Cristina Johnson (9:12.408)
Yeah. So if I can go back even further, I was first introduced to the concept of positive, I like how you call it, powerful parenting. In, I think it was 2017, long before I became a mom, we had an infertility journey, had quite a few miscarriages, and then started the adoption process. And when we were going through our home study, we were asked,
Wendy (9:17.510)
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (9:22.886)
Yeah.
Cristina Johnson (9:41.120)
our parenting philosophies. And I had no idea at that time. And it really caused me to dig in. My sister was such an inspiration to me. She had a couple of kids at the time and she introduced me to some Dan Siegel books. And so I read those as we were going through this home study process so that I could have a better understanding of how I wanted to parent. And we ended up not going through with an adoption and we did IVF and have
two boys now. And so I was introduced to this work long before I became a mother. I knew that I had tendencies to be reactive and I knew that was something that I wanted to change. I didn’t want to be a mom who yelled. I wanted to be a mom who responded with love and compassion no matter the circumstances. So I did, I’ve read well over 100 parenting books at this point. I’ve done all of the popular online courses that you’ve probably heard of.
And when I found Fresh Start Family in the beginning of 2023, everything just clicked. That’s where I felt like I had my biggest transformation. I had been through all of these courses and Fresh Start Family is what gave me my transformation and where I truly started to feel like I was coming into my own in this positive parenting journey. So I started in…
beginning of 2023 it was probably only a few weeks after I started that you started advertising your full mastery program and I wanted to do it. And so I interviewed with you and I go all in when I do things that’s just kind of my personality but I interviewed with you and knew I wanted to do it and it just didn’t feel like the right time and then I remember after it started you had posted something and I like really regretted not
Wendy (11:12.454)
That’s right! I remember that!
Wendy (11:18.500)
Yeah.
Cristina Johnson (11:33.966)
signing up. And so I reached back out and you were going to let me into the program a little bit late and then I decided to wait so I could have the full experience the next year. And in that time I was actually able to do another coaching program which hasn’t been offered again so the timing worked out perfectly. And then I think I was one of the first people who signed up for your 2024 cohort and I haven’t looked back.
Wendy (11:35.398)
Bye!
Wendy (11:43.206)
Smart move.
Wendy (11:56.218)
Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yes. And man, when we trust the timing, right? Like I’ve learned so much over the year. Well, I’d say over the last year specifically of how to like tune in and trust my body and like really be able to ask it. What it should I do it now? Should I wait? Right? Like, and that is a skill that I remember back when my teacher first asked me that years ago, we would do an exercise where Susan, my teacher, Susie was like, no, ask yourself, ask your body.
Should I go here for lunch or should I not? I just remember being like, this is hilarious. My body’s not telling me anything. This is dumb. And then I look back at the last year, and I’m starting to realize, oh, there’s intuitive hits. You just know. This is the timing. This is not. And to hear that you were able to do that other program and then even more poised and ready for the work that we did in the full mastery program, it just was perfect, perfect timing.
Cristina Johnson (12:48.226)
Yeah, I actually set up a schedule for myself when I knew I was going to be doing this to go through every single class that you had in the library. So I went into this, I felt like with a solid foundation and I immersed myself in it even before doing the full mastery program.
Wendy (12:59.238)
Oh yes.
Wendy (13:6.070)
Oh, such a star student, Christina. I love it. OK, well, when we go back to that time when you were like, you had done these other programs and we do hear this a lot. I’m like, I don’t know what it is about us. it’s like, you know, I was on a mastermind call yesterday and they were like, what’s your superpower? And I was like, maybe it’s like, think maybe. God bless me with the ability to create like vulnerable environments where
we really just talk about stuff, right? Like it’s not pushed under a rug or like candy-coated. Like we just, and I think hopefully coming to the table with my own flaws like really helps people to open up. Who knows what it is, but we do hear that quite often that people struggle to get the results and then they step into the Fresh Heart program and all of sudden they’re like actually implementing. So it’s been cool to look at that.
But when you think back to that time before, and you were doing these other programs, and you were having some stuff that felt kind of icky or off as a parent, how old were your kids? And what was some of the behaviors that you were like, gosh, this is tough, whether it was in your kids or yourself, that you wanted to change, but were trying to figure out how to make that happen?
Cristina Johnson (14:23.660)
In myself, my reactivity was the biggest. I remember when my husband and I were first dating, he would call me a fireball. And I am very passionate. I’m very, I love how you call it a justice button. I have a big justice button. And so that I knew was something that I wanted to overcome. I didn’t want to be a mom that yelled. I wanted to, like I said, to respond with.
Wendy (14:26.463)
Yeah.
Cristina Johnson (14:47.822)
calm and compassion. And then in my kids, I don’t know if you remember, but some of the first questions that I had were about at the time I would have had a three year old and an eight month old, I think. And my three year old, he would push his brother down all the time. And it just felt like something that I could not figure out. And I would jump to a place of reactivity so quickly.
Wendy (15:7.098)
Oh yes, yes.
Cristina Johnson (15:15.276)
I was worried about my baby and worried about my toddler. So that was probably the biggest challenge that I had at that point.
Wendy (15:25.700)
Yes, and again, so funny how many students we have that mimic the same stuff. That was exactly my story. Reactivity was my number one thing. I had no clue that it was my number one thing before I dove into this work and then once I realized. Stella was about three. Taryn had just been born. He was a few months old when I stumbled and really got into this work in a way that is the way we do it here now. OK, so you’ve got some reactivity.
Your kiddo has some reactivity. Surprise, surprise. And then as you started to learn different ways and like you had already been exposed to some of the concepts, right? So you started learning with us and I’m guessing it was just presented in a slightly different way or like our coaching sessions just engaged you in a new way. But like what were some of the things that started to change Christina within you? Let’s start with you first that you were like, oh.
Cristina Johnson (15:57.528)
I wonder where he learned that.
Wendy (16:23.664)
This is interesting. This is changing a little bit. Or I’m seeing this that I wasn’t quite able to see before. Or anything that you can speak to there that started to change for you.
Cristina Johnson (16:34.424)
Yeah, I feel like this is what, in my opinion, sets apart Fresh Start Family, is that it involves the life coaching work as well. You have lots of lessons on that. I remember I won one of the lounge chairs soon after I had started, and that was pivotal for me to get that direct one-on-one support from you.
But really, I think the key was that Fresh Start Family helped me understand that parenting was more about myself and controlling myself in my responses, my reactions, rather than controlling my kids. And when I changed myself, it was so much easier with my kids. They just naturally followed because I was modeling the behavior that I wanted them to exhibit. And we’re not perfect by any means, but we have come so far since I started with Fresh Start Family.
Wendy (17:28.518)
I how old are the kiddos now? Are they like seven and five or something? Five and almost three, okay. They’re not that old yet, yeah.
Cristina Johnson (17:32.136)
No, five and almost three. So they’re still young and I they’re not, no, they’re not that old yet and I’m already seeing so many, so many changes and just they’re such great boys and I think that this work is a big part of that.
Wendy (17:44.845)
Oh, yeah.
Yes, and tell me some of those. Let’s talk about the kids now. some of the things that, especially in your oldest, right? So your little guy is like my little guy, essentially raised with this stuff, right? But the older one, obviously when you came to us, it’s been a journey. Parenting is always a journey. And as you said, there’s no perfection, right? They’re still going to have moments and even seasons where they might regress a little bit. And then you just work through it because you.
Cristina Johnson (17:58.126)
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (18:13.926)
become empowered and believe in yourself and know that you can work through anything when it comes to life’s challenges. But what are some of the things that you’ve seen change in your little boy that you’re like, wow, this is really cool? So we said, 2023. So it’s been about two years, but you were studying it before, right? But yeah, and then you really did this deep dive.
Cristina Johnson (18:30.348)
Yeah, a little over two years, yeah.
Wendy (18:38.363)
that we’ll talk about here in a minute. But what are some of the things that you’ve seen in your kids or especially in your oldest change?
Cristina Johnson (18:44.974)
So before I answer that, I want to address another part of what you were just saying. And one of the big shifts for me was when I changed from thinking this isn’t working to what can I try next? And the work isn’t, it’s not that it is failing. Our kids are going through different phases of life. They’re having different challenges. So the strategies that we use on
Wendy (18:57.690)
Yes, I like that.
Cristina Johnson (19:12.136)
a four-year-old may not work on him when he’s six years old and we have to adapt. And so when I changed that mindset and I started thinking about what else can I try, then I started to really see results. And then in my kids, it was so fun. Ever since I started with Fresh Start Family, I have a Google Doc where I’ve written all of the questions that I’ve asked for coaching and then I’ve copied over all of the answers.
Wendy (19:34.266)
Nice.
Cristina Johnson (19:35.646)
and all of the successes. So I searched through my Google Doc for the successes that I’ve shared in the group and it was so fun to look back on those experiences. So just a few that have that really stood out to me are the situation with my my oldest who at the time was four and his cousin who I know I’ve gotten some coaching on them before. They are the best of friends. They’re so close in age. We live right around the corner.
Wendy (19:58.552)
Yes.
Cristina Johnson (20:4.268)
And because of that, they have more of a sibling relationship than a cousin relationship, which brings its own challenges. And so they know how to push each other’s buttons. And we were at my parents’ house and they were kind of starting to fight over a toy. And my mom asked me what I would do in that situation. And I said, you know, I think they’ve got this. I think that they know.
They know how to use peaceful conflict resolution to resolve this conflict. I don’t feel like I need to jump in. And Cash came over and whispered in my ear and he said, Mom, I want to do there are two kids and one Batman car. And so he knew the strategy that he wanted to use. And then he went over to his cousin and they did that and they resolved the conflict together. And that was just such a huge win for me. And so many experiences like that. Another one.
We were eating out and my kids were playing in the little play area. And one of the kids had told Cash that he was mean. And Cash came to me and he said, Mom, that kid told me that I was mean and I felt so sad, but I’m not mean, I’m Cash. I am calm. I am compassionate. I am loving and I am such a good friend. And just hearing him repeat these statements that we have worked on, as I have spoken truth over him and helped him to
Wendy (21:20.442)
Oh my gosh.
Cristina Johnson (21:27.168)
learn who he is, it just makes my heart swell.
Wendy (21:32.086)
Oh, it’s so good because we know most of the time, kids at that age especially, especially if their parents don’t know how to do it different and they’re modeling something different, like someone calls you mean, you smack back, right? Like you bark back. It’s like that my favorite story I always tell of like Stella when I went in to teach her kindergarten class back in the day. I mean, she’s 17 now. So this was a long time ago. And I came in to do this like stop sign activity, which is basically like a pause button, fun little craft and
you know, teaching thing for these kindergartners. And I said to the kids, so today we’re going to do an exercise. We’re going to activity where we learn how to respond to somebody when they maybe do something that’s unkind or something that hurts or just that you don’t like, but how to respond to that. And this little girl in the front, she was like this tiny little twin, this twin blonde. And she raises, raises her hand, Caroline. And she’s like, I know, I know, I know, I know.
Miss Wendy?” And I’m like, yes, Caroline, tell me. And she’s like, it’s like when someone says, your shoes are ugly, you look them right in the face and you say, well, your face is ugly. It was like, And I was like, thank you, Caroline. I’m like, that is one way to do it. I’m going to teach you a different way today, right? That like a way you can respond that respects yourself and others and like.
blah, And it’s just, I love that story because that is how most kids are doing it, right? And even those of us who are knee deep in the work, like sometimes our kids are still human and they might dip down, but for to hear that your little boy at the tender age of four or five years old was able to take a hit and respond with like confidence of like, that’s not who I am. And I’m not going to like bark back or say something unkind to this kid. I’m going to be at choice with how I respond. Like that is life.
That is world changing stuff. And no, he’s not perfect, right? Like he’s had many moments and he probably will still, but that is a big deal, Christina, that you have taught him that and that he has learned that. So that’s incredible. Okay. So we’ve talked about some shifts in you. I talked about some shifts that started to happen in the kids. And then, you know, a big part of why I think you’ve experienced so much growth and
Wendy (23:51.544)
and change is because you were willing to kind of go all in, right? So back when you think about when the full mastery program did open up and you did start to really consider it, what were some of the reasons why you said yes to that? it was, know, we have the first year experience, parents get beautiful results in there. As you said, you came into that program and you were like, wow, I’m starting to see some big things actually work. And then the full mastery program came along where
It’s a smaller group. It’s higher accountability. It’s direct access to me. It’s really beautiful, intimate conversations in our private messaging app. What made you say yes to that? What had you thinking, OK, I want to take this next step and commit even deeper to reach the full mastery that you want?
Cristina Johnson (24:41.870)
That’s a great question. I, because I was planning on it, I think I had decided long before, so I’m not sure if there was one specific thing that led me to that. But I like to do something for personal development, something for myself every year. And that’s what I had decided was going to be my all-in personal development for 2024. And I’m so glad that I did it. I wanted to really…
overcome some of the challenges that I was having and thought that having that weekly accountability would would really get me there faster.
Wendy (25:21.348)
Yeah, and you were, think, mix, a little mix between some parents do this program because they just want to fully speak the language, right? And be fully confident in their own home, with their own kids, be able to share with their spouse more confidently. Like, why are we compassionately disciplining versus punishing, right? To be able to just have that confidence and feel like your rate of effectiveness is just super high. And then others do it for that, but then also because they want to actually
create a coaching business and have a purpose-driven career and something that they build out that helps others and also brings in income. And you, Christina, were a little bit of both. Is that right? Or was it just with full mastery that you started? Talk to us about that.
Cristina Johnson (26:1.677)
Yeah.
No, for sure. was interested in both. And so I had actually been seeing some clients prior to starting the full master program with Fresh Start Family, but I really wanted to be certified in the program that had given me the biggest transformation so that I could lead people through that program as well.
Wendy (26:24.334)
Yeah, so cool. then your other program that you did, was more, was that like a life coaching program or more, what was that program?
Cristina Johnson (26:32.438)
Yeah, it was a transformational coaching program. So digging in and figuring out what the beliefs are that you’re holding and then shifting those to more helpful beliefs so that you can achieve your goals.
Wendy (26:45.614)
Yeah, so what a beautiful marrying of these two things, I bet. So now, being on the other side of this, having those two stack with each other, and really, so you’ve got the two certifications, you’ve got your own just high level of feeling, and maybe I’ll ask you that, like now when stuff happens within your own home, are you at a place now where you’re like,
the panic button doesn’t happen anymore, but it’s more just like, OK, we can figure this out. I know that’s been one of the biggest shifts for me, right? Back in the early days, it was still like, ah, panic, this is not OK. And now it’s just more like, OK, well, we’ve got a challenge to face. So we got to move into creativity. We might be triggered for a little bit. And then we move more into creativity and what’s some ideas that we could do? What could we teach tomorrow? Do you feel like that is now solid within you with your own children?
Cristina Johnson (27:41.238)
One of my favorite phrases is more often than not. And so I want to respond the way that is in alignment with who I am, the mother that I want to be more often than not. So I can confidently say that more often than not, I respond how I want to, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t feel triggered, that I don’t react sometimes. I’m a lot faster to catch it, even in the moment.
Wendy (27:44.452)
Yes, I love that.
Wendy (27:51.589)
Mm, yeah.
Wendy (27:55.650)
Yes. Yes.
Cristina Johnson (28:7.090)
And I feel like before I really was in this work, I would catch myself in the moment being reactive and I would push forward and do it anyway because I just wanted them to learn. just wanted I wanted to feel justified in the way that I was feeling and the way that I was reacting. And now, even in the moment, I had an experience just a couple of weeks ago where my two year old hit me and physical violence when I’m hit, that’s something that like
instantly can trigger me. And I had grabbed his hand, not roughly like I would have done in the past, but I grabbed his arm and I looked into his eyes and I was able to have that moment in my paws where I set the intention that I wanted to teach him. I wanted to show him love and compassion. He was doing the best that he could in the moment. He was having a lot of really big feelings and having that kind of a shift has just been life changing.
Wendy (28:37.222)
trigger.
Wendy (29:4.844)
Oh, so good. Yeah. Yeah, it’s like the, um, the intensity level just comes down just enough. Whereas that saying more often than not is so beautiful that you can catch yourself and just walk yourself off the ledge, so to speak, just more than you used to. Right. And again, it’s so important that we double down on that concept of like, there’s still those moments where you’re just, you just don’t do it the way you want, but to be able to have the skillset.
like that you now have from going all in and reaching full mastery to be able to clean it up later, right? So it’s like, you got the skill set of being able to pause more than not in the moment, but then when you do lose it, I think watching you over the years, Christina, really tackle that shame piece of like, there’s nothing wrong with you. So you messed up, right? So you’re imperfect. Doesn’t mean you love your kids any less. Doesn’t mean you’re failing. And now you get to have the responsibility.
tonight or tomorrow to clean it up, create a new neural pathway, to teach, right? Like, how has that been for you to have the ability to clean stuff up later and know that you’re teaching your kids just as much in those moments as you are in, like, the moments where you’re perfectly self-regulated?
Cristina Johnson (30:23.406)
That has been amazing and honestly that’s one of the things that I love the most about this work is I remember I wrote in my, when we did our graduation ceremony for the full master program, I wrote that I am a badass at repair. And I just feel like that is so true. I love having the opportunity to repair with my kids. I assign myself logical consequences. I create my own charts. I’m modeling to them how to repair and
Wendy (30:28.413)
Yeah, me too.
Wendy (30:37.508)
Yes, that’s right!
Cristina Johnson (30:52.374)
I feel like I have gone so much further than just saying I’m sorry. I love being able to admit my mistakes to my kids and where I’m at fault. I love that my five year old calls me out on things and he says, remember mom, we’re still little and things like that just to help me remember how I want to see them. And I am just so grateful that when we, when I have those moments where I am reactive and I don’t respond with integrity, I can clean it up.
Wendy (31:3.844)
Yes, me too, yeah.
Cristina Johnson (31:21.959)
and use that as a teaching moment and more most of the time it drives us closer together.
Wendy (31:28.206)
Yes, and it works, right? Like, I’m sure you’ve had moments where you’ve seen your kids now taking responsibility and without shame, right? And just being like, whoops, I made a mistake. I made a mistake. So my gosh, Christina, we love you so much. OK, let me see what else I wanted to ask you here. So cool just to hear about your journey. OK, so I want you to tell us about your coaching
program, like your practice now, how you’re helping parents. But first, if there’s anyone who is considering the full mastery program right now and they’re a little nervous because they’re like, I don’t know, this is a lot to commit to, just they’re feeling nervous. They’re not sure. And anything you could say to them to help them just be a definite yes or a definite no, we’re not about pressure here. But just any words of wisdom for someone who is kind of thinking about it.
going all in and committing to this high level mentorship program.
Cristina Johnson (32:34.424)
would just say that no matter how you use it, you’ll never regret doing it. That this, it catapulted my growth and just put me so much further ahead from where I would have been. I know I could have learned everything on my own. I did for a long time, but even after going through that year where I went through every single one of your videos, having that community just increased my growth.
Wendy (32:51.589)
Yeah.
Cristina Johnson (33:2.806)
so much. So I think the community having the other people in the program to be able to bounce ideas off of, to hear their successes, their mistakes, their you know just to know that we’re all in it together, it was really powerful.
Wendy (33:18.910)
That’s so cool. Yeah, I’ll never forget Terry. That’s basically what he had said to me when I was thinking about back in the day when I did my certification program. I was like, I don’t know, honey, should I? Should I not? Of course, there’s those feelings of guilt sometimes that you’re like, who am I? I mean, it’s been 14 years now that I’m like heavy on the personal growth, liberation, healing, right? And Terry has done some for sure.
He’s done a lot along the way, for sure. He’s always been super open. But I’m like you every year. I’m like, OK, who’s my mentor going to be? I’m going all in, right? And so sometimes there’s some guilt of, who am I to invest in myself? And we know that we often are the energetic and emotional leads of our family. So when mama’s happy, guess who else is happy in the home? When mama’s healed, guess everybody else has a better day, has a better year.
Cristina Johnson (34:9.646)
Yep.
Wendy (34:16.457)
But Terry said, I go, I don’t know, babe, should I, should I not? And he goes, honey, I have a feeling that no matter what you do with this, our family, this is going to benefit our kids and our family so much. And I look back at that advice that he gave me, and it was so true, because I just can’t imagine if I wouldn’t have gone down this route, right?
Cristina Johnson (34:37.998)
Yeah.
Wendy (34:38.790)
Amazing. OK, Miss Christina, so tell us about what you’re doing with your certification now. What kind of parents are you helping? What is your vision? Is your like kind of building up your coaching program? And what’s going on? us. Tell us. Tell listeners how they can come find you and viewers how they can come learn more with you. Tell us all the things.
Cristina Johnson (35:0.152)
So I love working with parents who have experienced an infertility journey because I have never parented without having gone through infertility, but I do feel like there are some additional challenges that come up with that. I worked so hard to get here and…
I just want to enjoy it and learning these skills, working on myself is what’s really allowing me to enjoy and I really feel like I am thriving in motherhood more often than not. So I love working with parents who have gone through an infertility journey and understand some of those additional challenges and then also parents who really struggle with reactivity just like I did and helping them to find that peace and connection in their family.
Wendy (35:48.038)
Amazing. And are you starting to do interviews like this on any infertility shows or anything? I mean, because that is like, you should go get yourself on those shows, because they would be so blessed by your story and your coaching services. Because I know that there’s probably a lot of podcasts out there that are catered just for those who have struggled, miscarriage, infertility, now.
Cristina Johnson (35:59.574)
I should.
Wendy (36:15.110)
I have a little cousin who just had a still burn and giving that, our little cousin, I’m the eulogy and deliverer in four days, I can’t believe it. What an honor, but intense. that community, Mitch’s Miscarriage Infertility, there’s gotta be a lot of podcasts and a lot of communities out there where once parents go on to have more kids, there’s just a lot underneath of there that you can help them with.
Cristina Johnson (36:20.440)
Yeah.
Cristina Johnson (36:39.278)
others.
Wendy (36:40.910)
I’m visioning that for you, that you’re just gonna land so many podcast interviews this year because you’re just so much fun to chat with. And where can listeners and viewers, because we’re on YouTube now too, where can they come find you, Christina, if they wanna touch base and learn more?
Cristina Johnson (36:55.586)
So on Instagram, I made my portfolio account that I did for the full master program. I made that one public recently. It’s growingup.mama. And then I am hoping to get on YouTube as well soon, but you can find me there and send me a message. I’d love to chat with you and hear about your journey.
Wendy (37:6.128)
So cute.
Wendy (37:10.694)
Nice.
Wendy (37:15.108)
love it. Christina, thank you for being here. We love you.
Cristina Johnson (37:17.474)
Thank you. I really appreciate it. It’s been so fun to talk to you, Wendy.
~NEXT INTERVIEW~
Wendy (5:51.517)
Hello families and welcome back to a new episode. I’m so happy you are here. Today we have a very special guest, our student and friend and mama extraordinaire, Children’s Ministry Director, Cayla Schultz. Welcome to the show, Cayla.
Cayla (6:22.814)
Hi Wendy, how’s it going?
Wendy (6:24.907)
It’s so good. I’m so happy to be here with you today. Oh, we love you so much, Cayla. You have been such an integral part of our community for, when did you start? Do you remember when you started with Fresh Heart Family?
Cayla (6:27.844)
I know, me too.
Cayla (6:42.257)
It had to have been beginning of 2021. you did the January challenge in 2021 and I joined through that. Yeah.
Wendy (6:47.454)
Okay.
Wendy (6:53.643)
Yeah. So it was like a year into COVID-ish, because I think COVID started like 2020, right? And it was a year in, and so that was 2021. Now it’s 2025. So four years, you took a journey with us, really dove in with all your heart to expand your heart, learn new tools, strengthen your family, went through basically all of our programs. You did the Fresh Art Experience. You did Freedom to Be. And then you went on to do our high-level full mastery program.
Cayla (6:57.452)
Yep. Yep.
Cayla (7:6.187)
Yeah.
Cayla (7:16.374)
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (7:23.519)
You became certified in the Fresh Start family approach and now you just said farewell. Well, I I’ve skipped a beat there. Then you became part of our coaching staff for the FreshShirt experience, which was just so delightful. And then you recently, we just said farewell because you landed an incredible role as your children’s children’s ministry director, right? At your church.
Cayla (7:27.203)
Yes.
Cayla (7:37.197)
Yes.
Loved it.
Cayla (7:51.959)
Yes, yes.
Wendy (7:53.073)
Oh, so, so cool. Today, I just kind of want to revisit, take like zoom out a little bit and just celebrate your journey. And I know that that sometimes is something that we don’t always slow down to do, right? Terry just got invited to speak at, there’s like a really beautiful art school up here in Laguna Beach or somewhere up there. And they, they asked him to come speak and he had his first interview with the guy that’s going to be interviewing him. And he was like, honey, it was so good to like,
Cayla (8:13.762)
Nice. Yeah.
Wendy (8:22.983)
zoom out and just look at my whole journey and, you know, just be wow. It’s it’s something to be just really take time to do and acknowledge. as Stella said this morning, she is 17 now, you know, and she’s like doing great. But for last semester, she was late all the time. And this morning she was like, hey, guys, she came down to breakfast. She goes, hey, good morning. She goes, can we just acknowledge that I’ve been on time like
Cayla (8:25.230)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Wendy (8:52.315)
every day this semester or something. And it was such an example of a kid who’s been raised with like acknowledging her journey growth, you know, of like, hey, and not being like, hey, are you guys proud of me? But more like she was slowing down to say, hey, I just want to put it out there. I’ve really grown in this area. And so I feel like that’s what we’re kind of kind of get to do today as we look at your journey,
Cayla (8:58.455)
Aww, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Cayla (9:13.655)
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (9:18.987)
And so let’s start back in 2021. And we’ve had you on the show before. are a repeat guest for us. some people may have heard your story, but maybe today it might be a little bit different because we’re looking at your entire journey from kind of start to finish, so to speak, even though we’re never really done in parenting. I mean, we’ll be parenting till the day we die, right? But back in 2021, let’s just kind of backtrack a little bit. And if you think back,
Cayla (9:19.214)
Yeah.
Wendy (9:46.475)
to where you were as a mom, how old were your kids, and what were you feeling in that season that when you heard this message of like, oh, Fresh Start family, they do things a little different. Like this sounds exciting, but what were you feeling? What were some of the stresses or yeah, age of the kids, some of the stresses that you were feeling as a parent?
Cayla (9:49.998)
Mm-hmm.
Cayla (10:7.692)
Yeah, so at that time, my firstborn would have been two and a half years old and my secondborn was three months old, maybe not even not even quite three months old. So yeah, it was a really, really rough transition to having my secondborn. My firstborn was, yeah, just not handling it well. I don’t think any of us were handling it well, but he was just having very
big reactions and unexpected behavior, a lot of like violence that I just really wasn’t expecting. And I just did not know what to do for my poor firstborn who was just, his world was being rocked, you know? And I have this precious baby and, you know, the paradigm at that time was definitely…
My this kid is out of control. He needs help. Something’s wrong with him. What do I do? I’m failing. Just yeah, lots of overwhelm, fear, and not knowing how to help this poor kid. And I was also nannying at that time and taking my kids to another family’s house. And I’m supposed to be like this expert on children with that being my job. And here I am with my child just like
Wendy (11:30.027)
You
Cayla (11:34.350)
flipping out and having huge reactions, scary behavior. So yeah, it was very dark. And on top of that, my husband was incredibly ill with Lyme disease. So I felt like I was, yeah, I was kind of grieving the loss of my best friend in a way and going at this whole postpartum parenting two kids that felt like solo. So it was, it got really dark there for a season and
Wendy (11:46.590)
Night.
Wendy (12:3.135)
Yeah, and it’s wild because that’s like the same, almost same exact time that I found this work and kind of went all in. So it’s funny how many people I meet, right? That like, you know, it’s when that second comes, some people it’s like their third or their fourth, but a lot of times, like the first one, you’re like, oh, I can do this. And then the second one, and you’re like, how is this humanly possible? Like when this kid is melting down, this kid needs to eat, like, and you were taking care of other kids too, like, wow.
Cayla (12:4.195)
Yeah.
Cayla (12:11.392)
Okay.
Yeah.
Cayla (12:20.482)
Yeah.
Cayla (12:26.550)
Right.
Wendy (12:33.676)
How is your husband, by the way? Has he had any improvements in his health? Is he doing any better? Okay, Lyme is tricky.
Cayla (12:39.030)
He’s managing, he just got, yeah, yeah, he’s seeing a neurologist right now, getting some conclusive results that at least validate like he’s having these weird symptoms and the results are now like, yeah, you do have some neuropathy and stuff like that. So it’s a continued journey for him, but he’s at least getting help and kind of staying on top of things. So yeah.
Wendy (12:45.845)
Okay.
Wendy (13:4.043)
Good, good, good, good. Okay, that’s good to hear. Okay, so you’re in, you’re experiencing this kind of pain and you’re just stressed and you saw that we were doing this challenge. You said yes to the challenge, right? Five day challenge. What started to happen within you? Do you remember that you were like, oh, this is interesting? Or maybe you started to like try a few things and especially once you joined the Fresh Start Experience, but.
What started to shift in you that you started to notice changes were happening? Like, do you remember what came first for you?
Cayla (13:34.219)
Mm-hmm.
Cayla (13:42.166)
Hmm. What came first was just hope. Just having this realization that like we weren’t doomed. I would say that it was just hope that there were things to try and that it wasn’t always going to be this way.
Wendy (13:45.908)
Yeah.
Wendy (13:53.331)
Yeah.
Cayla (14:9.462)
Yeah, and then in terms of behaviors, connection was definitely the first shift that happened in our relationship was not feeling like my firstborn Jackson, like hated me or like that we were against each other. But having these moments where we could connect even in his heightened emotional state.
just that like we were just this, yeah, hope that we were on a team and that connection was gonna get us through it, not me forcing him to get over himself, to get over it. It was, yeah, just, yeah, it’s fun to think back to those early moments of like, wow, this connection is what makes a difference.
Wendy (14:53.845)
Yes.
Cayla (15:8.072)
and not me being in control. So, yeah.
Wendy (15:12.105)
Yeah, mic drop. I love that because those of us who’ve been in the work so long, we understand that. But connection is such a, it feels like an esoteric, right? I feel like new people are like, what does that even mean? How do you connect to a kid that’s, and we get this question a lot from people we coach, right? It’s like, how do you even connect to a kid when they’re flipping out or misbehaving and then you start to learn how you do that?
Cayla (15:25.902)
Sure. Yeah.
Wendy (15:40.885)
just so beautiful and life-changing. So, and I find that it’s the connection builds the most in the worst moments, right? So it’s like before someone finds this work and really commits and gets into it, those moments of like disruption, disagreement, misbehavior, they have the opportunity to disrupt the connection the most. And then once parents learn a different way, they have those moments of like chaos or…
Cayla (15:43.966)
Mm hmm. Yeah.
Cayla (15:51.480)
Okay.
Wendy (16:10.207)
just they actually have the best ability to build the connection because you can build connection and like, I’ll sit down and play Legos with you and like, let’s go for a walk. And like, those are cool. Like spend time with your kids, quality time, but it’s when you learn to see the goodness in them, even in their worst moments, like boom, all of a sudden, and to do it in a way where you’re like, hey, you’re not crazy.
Cayla (16:23.394)
Right. Yeah.
Cayla (16:31.084)
Yeah. Yeah.
Wendy (16:36.671)
I’ve been in your shoes or I’m still in your shoes when I go here or there. It just doesn’t show up the same way, but I love that.
Cayla (16:43.554)
Yeah, yeah, just this sense of reduced shame or yeah, and you were saying something, hold on, it’s gonna come back to me. Just.
Wendy (16:48.491)
Mmm.
Wendy (16:55.145)
Yeah, as you think about that, I know that’s been a big part of your journey is that reduce all of our journeys. Come on, let’s be real. But I remember now like so much of your journey has been about that, which is so beautiful.
Cayla (17:1.857)
Yeah.
Cayla (17:7.150)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this humility that like, again, going back to it’s not us against each other. It’s like, I’m struggling too. You’re not alone. As you were saying, with like the connection really happens in those messy moments. It’s, it’s this humility that like, I can relate to you, you’re not alone. There is nothing wrong with you. Like, we are in this together. So yeah, I
Wendy (17:34.783)
Yeah, that statement alone, that statement alone, right? Like even if parents just took away one thing from the work that they do and study with us is like, there’s nothing wrong with you. Like, whereas many of us, not all of us, but everyone kind of had their own version of it, right? Like our parents did the best that they could with the tools that they had at the time, but a lot of us got the message of like, what’s wrong with you? Like it was a mystery. Like you punch, you know, you.
Cayla (17:35.956)
those early moments.
Cayla (17:40.716)
Yeah.
Cayla (17:58.168)
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (18:0.959)
whatever, you disagree with your brother or you give an attitude or you’re not home on time. And that was like, whether in my home, it was like actually said in that way, right? Like what is wrong with you? Shame on you is exact words, but other people just get the vibe. Like, oh, how could you do this? Right? Like it’s, and that we realized as we grow up is like really something that is sticky and it takes a long time.
to let go of that concept that something is wrong with us when we have imperfection. so watching you as you’ve journeyed to reduce shame as a mom has just been absolutely beautiful because our kids now are receiving this gift, yes, from what we teach them and the things that we say in the darkest moments, but also what we model, right? And like when you are not living with this concept that something is wrong with you.
it’s like osmosis or something. I’m still trying to understand the energetic exchange between parents and kids. I’ve been studying energy for the last year and it’s so interesting to me. I’m learning that the human is such an energetic beings, but they really do. They get it through osmosis. And if we’ve got shame deep down, they just inherit it. They just do. so doing the work is so important. Okay, so.
Cayla (19:12.832)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes, I agree.
Wendy (19:17.937)
Awesome. those are some of, so connection, we’ve got some shame reduction happening. And then do you remember when you started to see or maybe just speak to what are some of the things that you’ve witnessed in your kids that have changed? that, or started to change that you were like, dang, this is different, or this is interesting. Maybe if they started apologizing on their own or taking responsibility or being able to walk away when they were upset or self-regulate.
Cayla (19:33.218)
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (19:47.347)
instead of you having to make them calm down or anything, like what was some of the behavior that you started to see like, whoa, wow, this is working.
Cayla (19:56.679)
Definitely the self-regulation. Yeah, we it comes from me. I know but like we can be such a reactionary household when we’re at our worst. So yeah, in those early days, just my mind was blown to see my firstborn like do all of the things that we had talked about and practiced in a calm time and all of these strategies for self-regulating and what to do when you feel X, Y, and Z.
Wendy (19:58.752)
Hmm.
Cayla (20:25.496)
but to see him actually doing it, I was like, if you had told me six months ago that he was gonna stop throwing and hitting and screaming and you know, I wouldn’t have believed you. I thought this kid needed like very insane professional help. So yeah, just the like bare basic self-regulation piece in those early days is what blew me away to see that happening. And then, I mean, along with that just,
It carried over into so many other areas that he was no longer like spent neurologically or you I forget the word that you use all the time. Just his system was just in general, more regulated nervous system. Yeah, thank you. Just yeah, that it carried over into other areas that like it felt like he was
Wendy (21:4.693)
Yeah.
Wendy (21:14.623)
His nervous system maybe. Yeah.
Cayla (21:25.368)
freed up to in general be like a kinder, more generous, joyful little person, which was just so sweet to see.
Wendy (21:35.019)
And so he must be around seven now, is that right? Six and a half, seven? Yeah.
Cayla (21:38.606)
Six and a half. Yeah, yeah. He’s six and a half now. Yeah. Again, if you had told me back then that like my kids play together for hours without conflict, they solve their own conflicts, they talk it out, they problem solve, like, oh my goodness, I would never have believed you in 2021 if you had told me that like I would, I would be so bored with Naning because it was so easy that I decided to take a full time position outside the home. Like, that’s honestly, I…
I don’t know if Chelsea’s gonna listen to this, so we, yes, we share a sitter now at the family that I had been working for. yeah, in telling her like the sad news that I was no longer going to be nannying, I was like, honestly, Chelsea, I’m just bored as a nanny because like, everything’s going so well. So yeah, yeah, yeah.
Wendy (22:9.780)
We love Chelsea.
Wendy (22:14.173)
Oh cool!
What a cool full circle.
Wendy (22:32.107)
That’s so cool. Oh my gosh. Well, I know that part of getting there, like, and again, we all know, Hey, I’m guessing Cayla life isn’t perfect, right? Like these kids are still human. There’s still moments, but now it like doesn’t destroy your day. doesn’t like, and I, even me 14 years in, I still have moments where like, Oh, Oh, get out for like a day. I’m like off and I’m grouchy and I’m not ready for peaceful conflict resolution. And I’m just like stuck in a little old limiting belief. So it’s still.
Cayla (22:42.732)
Right, yes, absolutely, yeah.
Yeah.
Wendy (23:1.855)
happens, right? Like we’re human, we still revert, we blah, blah. But to have that like high level of fluency where you’re like, wow, we are on a roll. I can see there’s consistency here more times than not. These kids are thriving. I’m thriving all the things. And I know a lot of that was your willingness to like really go all in. So when it came time, when the full mastery program opened and you heard about this and you were thinking about whether you were going to do the full mastery program or not, do you remember like
Cayla (23:3.756)
Yes.
Wendy (23:30.825)
What made you say yes to it? Because, you know, we have so many students who do the full mastery because they just want to become fully fluent in their own home where misbehavior happens and they’re not like, ah, what do I do? It’s like a language, right? Like you moved to Mexico for a year, you’re probably gonna become way more fluent than if you just go there every month or something. So people, a lot of people just wanted to really be fluent, up their ability to remember everything and go through
for their own sake. And then we have a lot of parents who do it because they really want to coach. They want to build a coaching business or help other parents. And you were kind of a beautiful mixture of both of those things. And now you’ve gone on to use your certification in this beautiful new role. But do you remember what made you say yes to this full accountability, full mastery program?
Cayla (24:8.993)
Mm-hmm.
Cayla (24:12.450)
Mm-hmm.
Cayla (24:23.006)
Um, I think just because mostly because I was a nanny at the time and I felt like it was my continuing ed, so to speak, to be able to, um, feel like I could really bring high quality care for children, um, knowing how to help them emotionally and all, you know, in many areas of their lives. So, um, being a nanny at the time definitely helped. And like, I’ve always loved.
I’m an interesting mix of introvert and extrovert, but in general, I’ve always loved just chatting with people about how their lives are going. so yeah, the thought of coaching eventually like maybe felt far off at that time, but it was really cool to see come to fruition. don’t, yeah, I don’t know if you, if I, I don’t remember how I felt.
when I was considering the program, like if I thought coaching was attainable or not. But yeah, it was, it was primarily just to like be really good at working with kids. Cause I think I knew at that time that I would probably be working with kids professionally for as long as I could see in the foreseeable future. Whether it was nannying or teaching or some other profession. So yeah.
Wendy (25:33.963)
Mm.
Wendy (25:49.481)
Yeah, I love that you are such a child advocate to your core, which we all are, all of us who do this work, even though it feels like we’re not sometimes because we’re like, these kids drive us insane, but then we want the best for them, you know? But we all are, and you for sure so clearly are such a child advocate to your core. And so it’s about a beautiful mix because it’s like, you you learn the tools.
Cayla (25:55.211)
Yeah.
Cayla (26:0.970)
Yeah.
Wendy (26:16.135)
implement it with your own kids, implement it with these beautiful kids that were in your care. And then second step was like, okay, I’m going to help the parents. You went on to coach with us for, was it like a solid, was it a year, about a year that you were on our coaching team? Yeah, it’s so cool. Oh, it was such a, I know we miss you so much, so much too. Okay, cool. So yeah, full mastery. You said yes. And then,
Cayla (26:29.452)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I miss it.
Wendy (26:43.463)
Once you got into that program, what were some things that you enjoyed? Like, obviously, you know, we have hundreds of members within our Fresh Trade Experience program. It is a beautiful program. We get people radical results, and I just love it so much. But it’s a big group, right? And then you went down to this smaller cohort. I think the year that you were in the program, we might have had seven. Now we’re about, usually we have about 20 in the program every year. But what did that feel like once you got down to the small group?
with the higher levels of accountability and like the smaller group to discuss things with? Was that helpful? What was that like?
Cayla (27:22.604)
Yeah, I so valued those conversations. in, yeah, in general, I’m kind of someone who always loves being on a team. Like growing up, I was always on sports teams and stuff. So, um, yeah, I really valued everyone’s, um, varying perspectives and experiences and strengths that they had. It was just really cool to, um, converse with people on all of the topics that we cover in the program.
Wendy (27:26.091)
Hmm.
Cayla (27:52.398)
and to like gain wisdom. And it was, it just felt so beautiful and sacred to step into other people’s lives in this way. And to hear things or like see things through their eyes. So yeah, I really enjoyed the conversations and I enjoyed the challenge too. I think that we all felt that it was like,
Wendy (28:14.503)
Oh, yeah.
Cayla (28:19.208)
of nice high bar. it pushed us, it challenged us and I like being pushed and challenged. And so it felt like I was back in college in some ways just to be able to be a nerd a little bit and to really go for something that felt like a good challenge. yeah.
Wendy (28:23.146)
Yeah.
Wendy (28:36.734)
Yes.
Wendy (28:41.877)
Absolutely. Aren’t you like, don’t you have like bioengineering in your background or something? Like you are a smart cookie.
Cayla (28:48.368)
Um, yeah, I was pre-med in college and then changed my mind a little too late. So undergrad is molecular bio and chemistry. But yeah, yeah.
Wendy (28:57.429)
So cool. So cool. Yeah. I’m guessing, like, I know so many people in the program. was the, tell me, was this the part that felt the most challenging when you had to use your voice to actually start conveying the messages and the teachings yourself? Was that the part that challenged you the most?
Cayla (29:17.738)
Yes, that and yeah, maybe even keeping up with the lessons. Like, I’m not sure if that’s changed at all, being able to, okay. So yeah, being able to cover all of the lessons and the quizzes was like, it was so good and so necessary. Yeah. But yeah, I think like in terms of challenge of being pushed out of our comfort zones for me was definitely.
Wendy (29:25.868)
Yeah. No, it’s the same.
Cayla (29:47.690)
using my own voice with practice coaching and even before that the social media posts. I’m not sure if that’s still in the program or what, but yeah.
Wendy (29:59.871)
Yep, basically, we don’t have it a requirement on social anymore because I’ve like totally quit meta. I’m like dissented from social media. And we’ve had so many people over the years that were so uncomfortable with that. So I listened, I listened, I listened. And I was always like, you’re spot on. So now you can do it anywhere you want. You just using your voice, but it doesn’t matter where it goes. You just have to build your portfolio, right? Yeah.
Cayla (30:4.536)
Okay.
Cayla (30:8.824)
Sure.
Cayla (30:16.152)
Okay.
Cayla (30:21.934)
Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yes, that makes sense. Yeah.
Wendy (30:27.305)
Yeah. just knowing like, um, for so four years. So that would have been, I think two years ago, we were together in the full mastery program, like speaking with you now, Cayla, you’re like, it’s like, you’re like a different person, right? The way you speak. I remember there were times when, I mean, I would coach you and I would just be like, Hey, you’re, you’re brilliant just to make sure you know that. So when you speak, believe in yourself and believe that like what you’re saying,
Cayla (30:40.863)
Hahaha!
Wendy (30:57.035)
is so profound. I remember it’s like, it’s been a while, but I remember you were kind of like, eh, you know, or you’d second guessed yourself a little bit when you spoke, you remember this? And now I’m like, wow, here I sit with Cayla 2025 version, and it’s just so cool. talk to us about now as this, so you started coaching with Fresh Start Family, you were such an integral part of our team. And then this opportunity.
Cayla (31:3.565)
Yes.
Absolutely, yeah.
Cayla (31:13.913)
Yeah.
Wendy (31:24.203)
comes this next level to be able to use your certification, not just with your own family, not just in your career, helping another family with these kids that you care so much about, but now helping families through your church, which I know for me, having you be someone whose faith is so important to you and you and I had so much connection on.
our faith as it evolved and strengthened through the many questions we were asking and exploring and studying together and the theology and just really becoming more and more confident in compassionate discipline, right, that we teach, like especially in the church. It was so fun to have someone in the program and on our team who just really got that on like a very deep level with me and watching you courageously
Cayla (31:53.517)
Yeah.
Cayla (32:4.237)
Hmm.
Wendy (32:17.247)
be this person who was such a great example, in my opinion, of the light of Christ being represented in the Christian church, which, you know, there’s a lot of scary stuff right now within the larger church body. And it’s just been such a delight to watch you step in and shine. But what was that like when this opportunity came and you were like, wow, there’s a children’s ministry director position open. Do you feel like?
you were more confident because you had this certification, talk to us about when that opportunity came and why it felt right. And maybe just a little bit about what you do now that where you’re like, oh, I’m using this.
Cayla (32:59.564)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I had been, they call it an internship. I had been interning with them for a year. It was just very part-time one day a week, helping out with their team. And prior to that, I had facilitated a parenting group at the church. So through that experience, I was way pushed out of my comfort zone with public speaking. It was a pretty large group of parents for that first time.
Wendy (33:28.683)
Amazing.
Cayla (33:28.710)
Um, just felt really pushed out of my comfort zone and like I grew a lot and, um, but that I really enjoyed it and felt fulfilled with it. So yeah, then fast forward to working part-time at my church with the children’s ministry and, um, falling in love with like the team there and, um, being able to do resourcing for parents and.
Um, resourcing for kids. Um, what else did I do during that year? Um, like take home resources that they could do for back to school and holidays and, um, just providing the parents with activities and, um, and I don’t know resource.
Wendy (34:1.333)
Tell me what you mean by resourcing.
Wendy (34:17.045)
to strengthen their faith, like in their faith journey or in their parenting journey.
Cayla (34:23.926)
A little bit of both. yeah, was definitely faith-related resources, activities they could do with their kids. But then I would also write the parent blurb for the E-News, and that was kind of whatever I wanted it to be. My children’s pastor just kind of gave me a lot of freedom there to write whether it was about parenting.
Wendy (34:25.240)
Ooh, okay, good.
Wendy (34:41.683)
Nice.
Cayla (34:50.830)
It was often about parenting because that’s my wheelhouse. But yeah, some faith related things. And obviously they’re intertwined at our church. yeah, she was kind of just like, go for it. Show me what you come up with. yeah, so I did that throughout that year. And then when they opened the position for full time director,
Wendy (35:8.275)
Nice!
Cayla (35:18.262)
It was a really hard decision to make, honestly. Um, there was a lot of spiritual warfare there and a lot of mental gymnastics and, but ultimately through prayer and talking to people just came to the decision that I was going to move forward with applying and the application process went really well. Um, and now have stepped into this full-time role where, um, I’m taking over the weekend experience.
Wendy (35:25.055)
Yeah.
Cayla (35:47.630)
Um, so that looks like curriculum for all of the classrooms, um, training the, um, our serve team, our teachers. Um, and, um, Oh my goodness. What else do I do? We’re right now we’re preparing for a parent seminar event. So my, yeah, my brain is a little like, we’re, kind of all in that right now. So I’ve my, my usual things, uh,
Wendy (36:7.924)
Yes!
Cayla (36:17.176)
are a little bit on the back burner, but yeah.
Wendy (36:18.667)
I’m sure you do 1,000 things. So that’s amazing. And being there full time and just, yeah, I bet you that was a big decision because you had been home with the kids for, what would that be, six years? Yeah. And yeah, there’s so much. so now, being someone who has a purpose-driven career, can say that, yes, there’s times when you’re like, oh, I feel guilty. can’t just.
Cayla (36:32.705)
Yeah, yep.
Wendy (36:47.701)
pop over and be at a kid’s classroom party or volunteer as much as I used to. But I just think it’s so beautiful to model to children how to have multi-passions in your life, right? Like to be so passionate about your relationship with your kids and raising kind, good human souls. And then also to be so passionate about having a career where you help others and where you’re serving in that capacity, right? And so…
how beautiful to watch you step into that. And I know it’s probably a transition for sure. And there’s the moment. So you’re like, what am I doing? I I remember back when I was working full-time and the cost of just the nanny, right? You’re like, okay, I’m doing this because I love it. It’s not like once you take out the nanny fees, it’s not like you’re making a million bucks, but it is so, is it fun to be in that purpose-driven career really like from a full-time perspective now?
Cayla (37:21.678)
you
Cayla (37:28.534)
Yeah. Yeah.
Cayla (37:33.774)
Yeah.
Cayla (37:41.836)
Yeah, yeah. So it was bittersweet to say goodbye to spending as much time as I had been with all of the kids, because I love Chelsea’s kids as much as my own almost, you know. But I feel like I’m home and like our quality, the time I spend with my children now after work is a higher quality because I’m not burnt out. And I’ve just spent the whole day being really fulfilled with the
Wendy (37:49.745)
Yeah, yeah.
Cayla (38:8.216)
tasks and conversations and interactions with the church staff. I definitely feel like home life has gone up a notch with our quality time together.
Wendy (38:23.864)
That is so cool. Oh my gosh, Cayla, we love you so much. Thank you for sharing your story again. I feel like we did it in a little bit different way than when we interviewed you in the past. But we just love you and we’re so inspired by you and we are so happy that you are out there in the world representing the Fresh Start family approach. And yeah, it’s just always such a delight to talk to you.
Right now, I’m assuming you’re like full-time busy with your career and your home, but you’re not probably taking private sessions, right? Like for a little bit you were, but not right now. But yeah, thank you for being here. And listeners, viewers, if you’re watching on YouTube, I hope that you have enjoyed meeting Cayla again and hearing her story.
Cayla (38:54.956)
I am. Not right now. Yeah. Yeah.
Wendy (39:10.931)
Last question for you, Cayla, if someone is considering right now whether they want to do the full mastery program or not, any words of wisdom there that would just help them be like a definite yes or no. We’re not about ever pressuring anybody, anything that you would encourage them to think about or if they’re considering it or maybe if they’re considering it but they’re nervous, like, can I really do this? Is this?
too big of a ask for myself or anything that you would want to say, any words of wisdom.
Cayla (39:45.612)
Yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s always very personal to make those decisions. But I would just say that I was grateful that I took that leap. like, anytime you put in a burst of attention and energy on an area of growth, it’s obviously stretching during that time. But like, wow, to come out on the other side of it is so worth it.
Like, I’m so grateful that I um, poured that energy into, um, those seven months. It was seven months, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So it was so worth it for, to, to do that. Um, and to be able to come out of it just like very fulfilled and, um, and changed for the better. I’m a, I’m a big Wicked fan. So of course my mind went to that song. Are you, do you know Wicked very well? Okay.
Wendy (40:22.379)
Still is, yeah, yep.
Wendy (40:42.891)
I’ve not seen it yet. It’s so funny because we are not a musical family. But tell me, tell me the song. I know we’re like metalheads.
Cayla (40:46.606)
Yeah, I know you like metal instead. Yeah, well, the song that you won’t even be able to hear from Cynthia and Ariana until the next movie because it’s in the second half of the second act of the musical, but it’s changed for good. I’ll have to send it to you. I think you would like the song at least by Adina and Kristen. yeah, anyway, just changed for the better. Changed for the better. Yes. Yeah.
Wendy (41:2.803)
Nice! Please do. Please do, yes.
Wendy (41:10.633)
Changed for the better. I love that. Oh, what beautiful last words of wisdom, Cayla. Thank you again for being here. We love you.
Cayla (41:19.724)
Yes, love you too. Thank you.
