Celebrating 100 Podcast Episodes with 100 of Greta’s Favorite things!

It’s the 100th episode of my podcast! When I started this adventure, I could hardly imagine finishing 10 episodes, let alone 100. I was awkward, sweaty, nervous, and really not very good at it. But here’s the thing: in order to get good at something, you have to be willing to be bad first. Of course, being bad in front of everyone is vulnerable and embarrassing. But again, sometimes that is the only way.

And I for one am glad I took the risk. And I am so grateful Christian Parenting took a risk on me too. Because now I am a big fan of podcasting! I really love it and have so much fun talking to all kinds of guests and also to all my listeners. What an absolute thrill it is to me that people actually listen to my podcast. Hopefully now that I’m 100 episodes in, I sound at least a little better than I did when I first started.

I struggled to figure out what I wanted to do to celebrate this monuments occasion. It felt like a big deal so I really wanted to do something fun and different. My darling husband, and biggest supporter, was the one who suggested the winning idea. “Why not share 100 of your favorite things?” he said.

I loved the idea and gave myself some categories to help organize my thoughts.
And then I quickly made my lists. I had an absolute blast doing it. It turned out to be a really fun exercise in self discovery. I suggest you do it too. Make up your own categories or use some of mine. But try it out and have fun!

Now, please enjoy my reading my list and then go listen to the podcast episode to hear more about some, not all, the things on the list! You can listen right here.
And then go hang out on Instagram where I am doing some giveaways from this list. It is going to be lots of fun!

Greta’s 100 Favorite Things:
10 Favorite (current) Worship Songs
1. My Testimony by Elevation Worship
2. Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me by City Alight
3. Scars by I Am They
4. I Thank God by Maverick City Music
5. Goodness of God by CeCe Winans
6. Sing Wherever I Go by We the Kingdom
7. Thank You Jesus for the Blood by Charity Gayle
8. What an Awesome God by Phil Wickham
9. Bless God by Brooke Ligertwood
10. Jesus Lifted Me by Cain

10 Favorite Bible Verses
1. “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
2. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” II Corinthians 1:3-4
3. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Genesis 5:20
4. “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19
5. “I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart. I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9: 1-2
6. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Act 4:12
7. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12
8. “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,” Joel 2:25
9. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4: 6-7
10. “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.” Ephesians 6:19

10 Favorite Treats
1. Milka chocolate bars
2. Iced lattes
3. Manzanilla green olives from Trader Joe’s (yes, specifically these)
4. Homemade popcorn
5. Coffee ice cream
6. Roasted and salted macadamia nuts
7. Kettle cooked potato chips
8. Kouign-amann pastries
9. Chips and salsa
10. Italian Confetti Almonds from Trader Joe’s (yes, specifically these)

10 Favorite Books
1. How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
2. Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
3. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
4. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
5. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
7. Persuasion Jane Austen
8. The Chronicles of Narnia (the whole series) C. S. Lewis
9. Rainbow Valley by Lucy Maud Montgomery
10. God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew

10 Favorite Movies
1. It’s a Wonderful Life
2. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
3. Napoleon Dynamite + Nacho Libre (cannot pick one and they are a pair to me)
4. My Fair Lady
5. Sleepless In Seattle
6. Little Women (1994 version)
7. Sense and Sensibility
8. That Thing You Do
9. To Kill a Mockingbird
10. Up

10 Favorite Places I’ve Visited
1. Cinque Terre, Italy
2. The Cotswolds, England
3. Big Sur, CA
4. Murren, Switzerland
5. Meteora, Greece
6. Olympic National Park, WA
7. Annecy, France
8. Hyderabad and Secunderabad, India
9. Reykjavik, Iceland
10. Glacier National Park, MT

10 Favorite Coffee Shops
1. Scout Coffee, San Luis Obispo, CA
2. Honest Coffee, Franklin, Tenn
3. Orange Inn, Laguna Beach, CA
4. Certified Kitchen and Bakery, Boise, ID
5. Merchant, Long Beach, CA
6. Giovanni Cova & C, Milan, Italy
7. Jo’s Coffee, Austin, TX
8. Barista Parlor, Nashville, TN
9. Hooray Coffee, Redlands, CA
10. Sant’ Eustachio Il Caffee’, Rome, Italy

10 Favorite Things That Were Also Really Hard
1. Natural childbirth
2. Writing books
3. Being a public high school teacher
4. Becoming a speaker
5. Sharing the most vulnerable parts of our marriage story publicly
6. Running a half marathon
7. Fighting porn
8. Parenting teens and young adults
9. Home schooling
10. Becoming a podcaster

10 Favorite Things from Nature
1. Giant Sequoia trees
2. Cardinals
3. Sea otters
4. California Poppies
5. Coast Live Oak trees
6. Moss
7. Tidepools
8. Red Tailed Hawks
9. Wild Mustard
10. Dolphins

10 Favorite Adventures
1. My Christian walk
2. Being married to Aaron
3. Becoming a mom
4. Spending 2 summers in my teens in India with my dad
5. Summering in Scotland with 25 teens + Aaron when we were newlyweds
6. Becoming an author
7. Family road trip from California to Minnesota
8. Home schooling our kids
9. Backpacking through Europe as a young married couple
10. Family trip to Italy

10 Misc Favorite Things:
1. The color yellow
2. My Blundstone boots
3. My Nugget ice maker
4. Wearing brand new socks
5. Watching travel shows with Aaron (especially Stanley Tucci, Rick Steves
and Travel Man)
6. Colorful bags from Orla Keily
7. My collection of Yearly bangles that Aaron started for me
8. Red shoes
9. Stickers – especially travel and encouraging words
10. My collection of Ronnie Kappos jewelry that Aaron started for me

I’d love to hear if any of these things are on your “favorites list” and which are new to you. I hope you made some good discoveries. *If this post resonated with you, or encouraged your heart, will you share it with someone else who might like to be encouraged too? Thanks for spreading the joy!
With joy,
Greta

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