Welcome back to Fierce Calling! In this episode #215, host Doris Swift is joined by returning guest Valerie Ellis—author, speaker, teacher, and founder of Our Everyday Parables, a multi-author site dedicated to bringing families resources where faith and fun meet. Valerie’s passion for connecting kids with biblical truth through engaging books shines as she shares about her journey, including inspiration from her own two boys and her background as a certified teacher. Doris and Valerie dive into the stories behind Valerie’s beloved children’s books—like Let’s Go Bible Adventures, designed for kids obsessed with trains, trucks, and ice cream vans, and Share the Joy: A Christmas Lift-the-Flap Book, which helps instill a spirit of giving during the holidays. They discuss Valerie’s newest release, Wild Faith Devotional for Kids, packed with fascinating animal facts and faith lessons, and explore how everyday moments and the wonders of creation can point children (and adults!) to God. You’ll also hear practical wisdom on helping your kids experience "Jesus joy," resources for parents and caregivers to make faith relatable, and tips for aspiring writers who feel called to create meaningful books for children. Tune in for encouragement, laughter, and a timely reminder that investing in the youngest generation can have eternal impact—even in the busiest seasons. We're Talking About These Amazing Books & More! Florida Women's Ministry Leadership Conference mentioned in the intro: Episode Highlights and Takeaways ... 00:00 Children's Christian Books and Devotional 07:06 "Supporting Parents in Faith Education" 09:42 Teaching Christmas Sharing to Kids 12:28 Promoting Christian Books in Libraries 14:44 "Books Adults and Kids Love" 20:15 Teaching Faith Through Everyday Moments 21:28 VBS Themes: Truth and Fun 25:02 "Catfish Devotion: Sense God's Goodness" 30:39 Joy of Writing Rhyming Books 31:44 Writing Children's Christian Books 34:53 "Get Excited Every Day" 38:07 Critique Groups for Writing Growth 42:19 Writing Journey: Faith, Fiction, and Nonfiction 45:01 Unrecognized Parental Impact 49:47 Sharing Faith and Resources Connect with Valerie! You can connect with Valerie and find her books and resources mentioned in the show, here: valerieellis.com Our Everyday Parables Blog Instagram: @iamvalerieellis Instagram: @oureverydayparables  Let's Go! Bible Adventures: Real Bible Stories for Kids Who Love Trains, Tractors, Ice Cream Trucks, and More  Share the Joy! A Christmas Lift-the-Flap Book Wild Faith Devotional for Kids: 52 Amazing Animals That Point to One Great God Listeners can find a free activity pack for Let's Go! Bible Adventures at https://valerieellis.com/letsgo/. and info & resources for Wild Faith, plus a YouVersion study for kids at https://valerieellis.com/wildfaith/. The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Valerie mentioned: https://www.scbwi.org More About Valerie! Valerie Ellis is an author, speaker, and founder of Our Everyday Parables, a multi-author online resource with book reviews and ideas for families pursuing faith and compassion. A certified teacher with countless hours in children’s ministry, Valerie writes books that serve kids at the intersection of faith and fun.  Valerie is a frequent speaker for The MomCo (formerly MOPS) and similar groups. She stays involved with her own local chapters of The MomCo, SCBWI, and the Texas Library Association as well. Valerie is also a nonprofit consultant, trainer, and grant writer in the Houston area, where she lives with her husband, Josh, and their two boys. An Ohio-born, Texas-raised TCU Horned Frog, Valerie loves live music and going on adventures—big and small—with her family and friends. What Threatens to Steal Your Joy? Check out Surrender the Joy Stealers: Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You 6-week Bible study rooted in John 15. You can find more info at https://dorisswift.com/book/ Let’s Stay Connected! Find my free resources including Fear Fighting Bible Verses, Simple Tips for Sharing Your Faith, Surrender the Joy Stealers, Step Out of Your Doubt and Into Your Calling ebook, and more on my dorisswift.com homepage! Love Fierce Calling? Did you know that following, rating, and leaving a review over at Podchaser or Apple Podcasts helps others discover the show too? I would so appreciate it, friend! Need a Speaker for Your Next Women’s Event? Now Booking for 2026! Check out my speaking page, grab my flyer, and let’s talk about me speaking at your next women’s event… Thanks for Listening! I hope this episode encouraged, inspired, and challenged you to cultivate community, live and walk in the value, purpose, and worth God gave you, and take action where your passion, compassion, and conviction intersect. If you're looking for a speaker for your next women's conference, retreat, luncheon, or workshop, reach out and connect with me on my speaker page at https://www.womenspeakers.com/florida/edgewater/speaker/doris-swift Let's have a chat about your next event! Stay tuned for more amazing content and remember to check the show notes for all the links mentioned. Thank you for being a part of our community. We are grateful for your continued support and encourage you to embrace the unique gifts that make you magnificently you. I hope you'll join me next time when I talk with another guest who is taking action where her passion, compassion, and conviction intersect ... Until then friend, have a blessed week, and I'll talk to you soon. With love and joy, Doris P.S. Don't forget to follow us on social media for bite-sized wisdom and inspiration from Doris and our incredible guests! Transcript Doris [00:01:56]:What is threatening to steal your joy? What is it that feels so heavy right now that you could barely stand? God has a plan, and his plan is to surrender it. Surrender it to Him. It might be a prodigal, it might be a relationship, a marriage, something with your job. So many things. We have so many amazing blessings, but there are so many things in our life that threaten to steal our joy. I'm Doris Swift, author of the award-winning six-week Bible study Surrender the Joy Stealers. Rediscover the Jesus joy in you. And it helps women rediscover the overflowing, ever-present Jesus joy within. Doris [00:02:41]:Using personal and biblical stories I share, how you can identify your joy stealers. Surrender them to God, reawaken the joy within, and share the joy with others. You can do it on your own or with a group. Check it out, friends. Surrender the joy stealers. Rediscover the Jesus joy in you. It's available on all the online retailers. It's time to take your joy back. Doris [00:03:10]:Welcome back to the show Today. I am excited to welcome back a good friend of mine. She's been on the show actually twice before. So this is exciting. Valerie Ellis, she is an author, speaker and founder of Our Everyday Parables which is a multi author site for families filled with amazing resources and book reviews and things like that to help families navigate, you know, and find good resources for where their faith and fun intersect. She's also a certified teacher and she writes books that serve kids in that intersection of faith and family and fun. And I love that because that's, you know, fierce calling the intersection where your passion, compassion and conviction intersect. So that word intersect is dear, near and dear to my heart. Doris [00:04:01]:She's also a nonprofit consultant and she is a trainer and grant writer. So that's cool. And she lives in the Houston area with her husband and their two boys and she's written some amazing books. We've talked about a few on the past episodes. I think she actually she was episode 106 and 168, so it was a little spread there. So we're spreading it out a little bit. But it's so great to have her on. She has several different books. Doris [00:04:31]:One of them is let's Go Bible. Real Bible stories for kids who love trains, tractors, ice cream trucks and more. And she has a book also that we talked about and since we're getting near the Christmas season, it'll be a cool one to kind of bring back up to the forefront, share the joy, a Christmas lift, the flat book. And I don't know who doesn't like Lift the Flat books because I love those. And her new devotional, which will be coming out October 7th, but by the time this episode comes out, it will be available. And it's Wild Faith devotional for kids, 52amazing animals that point to one great God. And I love this book so much. It's filled with fun and fascinating animal facts. Doris [00:05:16]:It's very unique and I've learned a lot of stuff from it already. So it's so great to have you back on the show. Welcome, Valerie. Valerie Ellis [00:05:25]:My pleasure. Thank you, Doris. I just love chatting with you. So I'm thrilled about what we're going to talk about today. Doris [00:05:32]:Thank you. Me too. It's always so fun to have you on. We go way back. We met through a book membership program called Book Camp. Yeah. Chad R. Allen, and he has, you know, coaching for writers and, you know, helps writers get their books into the world, basically is kind of part of what his tagline is, you know, helping us get books into the world, which he has. Doris [00:05:57]:And so we're kind of proof to that. And so, yeah, I'm excited to get into this conversation and talk about where your passion convat. I can't even talk. Your passion, compassion and conviction currently intersect through the writing and the things that you have going on right now. Valerie, since we last spoke. Valerie Ellis [00:06:20]:Yes. Well, I am, I guess, a little bit at loss for words because I have so many passions. And so it's like, well, how do they intersect? I mean,