198. Big News! The New Christian Moms Café Website Is Live

[00:00:17] Hi friend and welcome back to Christian Moms Café. I am Demetria, your host, and this is our little corner of the internet where we gather as Christian moms to talk about faith, family, motherhood, identity, and all of the beautiful, messy, God-filled seasons of life that shape us into who we're becoming. And today's episode is a short one and it's a happy one because my friend, the café is open.

[00:00:44] Now a few episodes back I told you we were working on a brand new website and a digital magazine and that it was going to come sometime in October. Well, October showed up and so did we. So ChristianMoms.net is officially live. And I have to tell you, I felt like a full stack developer these past couple of weeks. I've been holed up in my office since late September, tracking my time, and I'm well past 40 hours on this project. I just wanted to be just right.

[00:01:13] Because this is the foundation and the starting point that everything else will grow from. So I built it with intention and with a lot of prayer. This website, this new space for moms to come and share their voices, it's been prayed over and loved. And I was excited to finally hit publish. Is it perfect? Nope. And it never will be perfect. You will probably find some things on the website right now that are just a little bit out of whack. Maybe not quite what it needs to be.

[00:01:41] But don't worry. You know, all of the wrinkles will get ironed out with time. But for the most part, this home base, it's ready. It's here and it's waiting on more voices to fill it. I can't wait to share it with you. So pull up a chair, grab something warm to sip on and let me tell you all about the Christian Moms Cafe.

[00:02:02] So some of you have been with me a really long time, like a really long time. So you might already know the story about how all of this began. But back in 2004, I started Christian Ladies Connect.

[00:02:36] And yeah, I said 2004. So that's a long time ago. And I'm dating myself for those of you mamas who are listening to this podcast today and thinking like, what was I doing in 2004? Well, I was tinkering around with what was brand new to us at the time, creating brands online and figuring out how to create spaces for us together and do things on the Internet when we didn't have social media.

[00:03:04] So I am talking about a time and an era where things were a little bit archaic. But Christian Ladies Connect was my very first digital magazine. And when I say digital magazine, I mean more like a blog or a website. So in 2005, it grew into the Christian Ladies Talk Radio podcast. And then fast forward many years, I had babies. I started homeschooling. And so in 2012, Christian Homeschool Moms came along.

[00:03:33] And that has been my home online for about 15 years now. Of course, I've started multiple projects and different brands and blogs and podcasts. But Christian Homeschool Moms was kind of a home base, a bread and butter type project for me that really I felt like was successful for what I wanted to do, which was to express myself in home education, to share what we were doing as a family and encourage other homeschoolers who were thinking about choosing that lifestyle.

[00:04:02] And choosing that mode of education for their kids. But over all those years, I've gotten to have conversations with so many of you. I've talked with you about faith, about lesson plans and long days of homeschooling, things nobody tells you about motherhood until you're right in the middle of it. And every one of those places started with the same simple belief that we actually grow better together. And so here's what's been on my heart lately.

[00:04:27] Launching ChristianMoms.net feels like a mirror image of what began for me way back in 2004. It was a digital magazine, a podcast, a place for Christian women to find each other. And it's all come back around because that desire to support and connect Christian women never left me. I can't seem to shake it. No matter how many other things that I try to do with my life, I've tried to make my life what I wanted it to be.

[00:04:52] Honestly, I have asked God for so many different things that did not involve doing this work. I actually thought it would be a lot easier for me to just go out in corporate and make my money there. And apparently that is not what God had planned for me. So this is where I am. And since I can't shake it, I've stopped trying. And I really believe this is a calling. So my journey hasn't been a straight line. There have been a lot of twists and turns, even some setbacks along the way.

[00:05:22] But here's what I've learned that when God has a plan for you, nothing can get in the way of it. So much of what began in the early 2000s for me has come full circle. And I believe that this project was meant to be. And I would love for you, my friend, to be a part of it with me. I call you a friend even if I haven't met you because I believe that's what we're supposed to be doing online.

[00:05:46] When there's so much arguments and debates and just a lot of foolishness out there today where it's frustrating to open your social media and have to deal with the negativity that's out there. I wanted this to be a space of positivity, a place where we can encourage each other. So yeah, I call you friend because I believe that as we walk together in motherhood and womanhood and being women that are seeking God's will for our lives,

[00:06:15] that we can befriend each other, even if it's virtual, even if it's long distance. And maybe who knows, one day, maybe we'll be able to come together and actually meet each other face to face. So again, the invitation is I would love for you to be part of this journey with me. If you'd like to know more about how I got here, I have a whole timeline of this journey on my about page at christianmoms.net slash about. So before I go any further, I want to say this clearly because I know some of you are wondering,

[00:06:45] Christian Homeschool Moms, which was, like I said, the project that I began this entire podcast with and how we got started, it's not going anywhere. I haven't shut it down. In fact, it's still alive and well. The blog is still active. It's still a resource for homeschool moms, but I'm not pouring all my energy there the way I used to because I'm not homeschooling anymore, but it's not going anywhere. And if that's where you found your encouragement over the years, it'll still be right there for you. Nothing is being taken away.

[00:07:15] What is changing is that we have a new home base and that home base is christianmoms.net. So here's the heart of why I wanted a new home. If you listened to my last episode, you know I'm in a brand new season myself. My daughter's off at college and it's just me and my husband right now. My life does not look like lesson plans anymore, but I'm still very much a mom. And I realized that many of you are in the same place or in a completely, maybe a completely different place and you still need somewhere to land, right?

[00:07:41] So christianmoms.net is open to all moms in all seasons. Maybe you're a brand new mom who hasn't slept since spring. There's a seat for you here. And maybe you've got little ones and you haven't finished a hot cup of coffee in three years. There's also a seat for you here. Maybe you homeschool or your kids go to school down the street, or you work outside the home or you're juggling all of it. There's also a seat for you. And maybe you're parenting teenagers or you're an empty nester like me, or you're a grandmother. There's a seat for you too.

[00:08:10] So whatever season you're in, you belong at this table. And I'm going to give you a quick little tour. Think of me as walking you through or showing you around and showing you where everything is. Okay. So first there is the online magazine. Christian Moms Cafe is now a monthly digital magazine or AKA our blog. You'll find essays and personal reflections, devotionals, recipes that come with the story and practical guides for life.

[00:08:37] Now, all of this is not in its final completion stage yet. Again, we just opened the doors a few days ago. So this is something that we're building. Okay. So we're going to talk about wellness, beauty and style, money, a whole lot more. We're still building it out as of this recording in October, 2026. It does look a little sparse at the moment, but not for long. And that's where you come into the picture. More on that in a moment.

[00:09:04] So our topics will cover your faith, identity, self-care and style, work and career, money and finances, your relationships and your home. All centered around our lives as women and our roles as moms. Okay. So we'll have a few bonus topics there too, but this is basically a grace-based lifestyle magazine where our reality as moms in each stage is taken seriously. We're not just young moms, not just midlife moms, but all of us.

[00:09:33] And the podcast also lives there too. So everything we talk about here now has a place to keep going on after the episode ends. So we're not just redirecting you back to the homeschool site anymore. Now everything is here at christianmoms.net. And the part I'm really excited about is that somewhere around early December of 2026, we're releasing a bonus holiday flip book. Now I'm saying this in faith, knowing that I have a lot of work to do and my work is cut

[00:10:02] out for me and I have to roll up my sleeves and get things started initially. But my vision for this is that it's going to be a beautiful page turning flip book that you can curl up with. And I'm hoping that starting this winter, it will come out every quarter. At least my initial plan is after the first issue. Of course, I'll have to reevaluate how often it comes out, but this is what my plan is. And then there's the newsletter. So that comes out every single week already. And that's been a thing for over 10 years.

[00:10:31] Right now I mostly send out updates. And so you'll know what's new at the cafe, like new podcast episodes, new videos. So if you're on my mailing list, you already know this. Soon I'll also be adding a couple of tips of encouragement from moms on your journey. But if you want the cafe to come right to your inbox, you can sign up on my website or on the link that I'm leaving, of course, in the show notes. Some of you already get my newsletter. You're already on my mailing list. And in that case, there's nothing to do extra except just watch your inbox for updates.

[00:11:01] And if you believe you signed up for my list a long time ago, looking for homeschool content when I focused on that, just double check your inbox for emails from me. You'll see my name plus Christian Moms Cafe. So in the send line, it should read Demetria at Christian Moms Cafe. And go ahead and whitelist me. So you'll be sure to receive all of my emails from now on. If you're not sure you're on the list, go ahead and get back on it. So there's a link for you to sign up for that as well.

[00:11:29] And now the part I really been wanting to tell you, remember when I said we'd be inviting guest writers? Okay, well, that door is open now. So if you're a woman of faith with a story to tell or a message that's on your heart, I would love to hear from you. You don't have to be a published writer. You don't have to be an official author. Your writing doesn't have to be extremely polished. It just has to have something that shows what's stirring in your heart.

[00:11:56] So when you pitch us, let us know why you're passionate about this article that you want to write. And that's reason enough to reach out. So the link to our writer interest form is also in the show notes. And once you fill it out, you'll get more information about our mission, how you can support the cafe and how we can support our writers. We're filling holiday and winter topics right now. So if you've been sitting on an idea, consider this your sign. If you've been wanting to start your writing career, then this could be your launch.

[00:12:26] So think about how all this fits into what God is calling you to do. And I would love to partner with you in that. So again, thank you so much for sitting with me today at Christian Moms Cafe. I've been dreaming about this new home for a long time, and I'm so glad to finally share it with you. So I'd really love to hear from you. Go take a look around the website. Tell me what you think. All right. If there's anything that you want to share in terms of what you'd like to see happening

[00:12:52] there, what you're most excited to read about, what you want to see us write about, please share it with me because I truly believe that we grow better together. If you know a mom who needs a place to land this season, send her this episode, send her to ChristianMoms.net. And until next time, my friend, take a breath, pour yourself something warm, and I'll meet you right back here at Christian Moms Cafe, where every mom belongs and every story matters.