Call Your Sister with Joy & Jinger

Hey guys, it’s Jinger! This week on Call Your Sister, Joy and I are talking about our first heartbreaks. Joy hasn’t had a classic heartbreak story, so she turned the tables and interviewed me. We start with our first crushes and Joy’s story of sitting through Austin’s plans to ask another girl out when she was 16, and how she tried to be supportive while hoping it wouldn’t work out.

Then I share my first real heartbreak: a long-distance friendship in my early teens that our parents wisely ended because we were too young.

We also get into growing up in a very formal courtship culture, when 20-plus guys would ask about the girls in our family over a couple of years, and why I turned them all down for a crush I barely knew. Then Jeremy came into the picture and changed everything.

We close with advice for any teenage girl going through heartbreak: find your identity in Christ, surround yourself with good friends and accountability, and reach out for help right away if you’re struggling with body image or food.

Topics covered: first heartbreak, teenage crushes, courtship vs. dating, Christian dating advice, body image and eating disorder recovery, finding identity in Christ, comparison and insecurity in marriage, how we met Jeremy and Austin, advice for teen girls, sisters podcast

🎧 New episodes of Call Your Sister with Joy and Jinger every week. Subscribe so you don’t miss out!

00:00:00 - First Heartbreaks and Early Crushes

00:02:44 - Joy’s Crush on Austin

00:06:44 - Jinger’s First Heartbreak

00:08:08 - How Relational Stress Affected Jinger’s Health

00:11:41 - Recognizing an Eating Disorder and Asking for Help

00:15:28 - Faith, Identity, and Recovery

00:17:48 - From a First Crush to New Possibilities

00:21:23 - Choosing Jeremy Over a Longtime Crush

00:26:48 - Learning to Accept Each Other’s Past

00:30:50 - Finding Freedom from Self-Criticism in Marriage and Motherhood

00:34:54 - Advice for Teens Facing Heartbreak and Body Image Struggles

00:39:28 - Trusting God’s Plan Through Heartbreak

00:41:52 - Lessons Learned and Final Encouragement

#Parenting⁠ ⁠#Motherhood⁠ ⁠#MomLife⁠ ⁠#ParentingTips⁠ ⁠#RaisingKids⁠

OUR INCREDIBLE SPONSORS:

COZY EARTH: Luxury Shouldn’t Be Out of Reach. Visit ⁠https://CozyEarth.com/jinger/⁠ and use my exclusive code JINGER for 20% off best-selling sheets, towels, pajamas, and more.

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This week on Call Your Sister, Joy and I are talking all things learning to drive. We grew up in Arkansas, where you can get your permit at 14 with a quick written test, and our dad taught us to drive long before any of that. We started on the weed eater, worked up to the lawnmower, then moved on to the golf cart and ATV, and eventually got behind the wheel of a car.

We swap stories about our driving tests and our first time on the interstate. We also talk about what it was like to be a new driver (or a passenger with a new driver!) in a 15-passenger van full of siblings, and about the near misses and close calls we've had along the way, including a very close call with a pole in a parking lot just the other day.

Then we get into cars. We talk about our first cars, including one I still have, why we're loyal to Toyotas, and Joy's insurance auctions and salvage-title finds that Austin fixes up in their yard. We admit to being terrible backseat drivers and control freaks who volunteer to drive on every girls' trip. We also talk about teaching our own kids someday, from Gideon learning to run a skid steer at eight years old to the viral stories of little kids driving themselves to McDonald's (please lock up your keys!). We finish with our favorite family road trip memories, from Cracker Barrel jawbreakers to the RV trip out west and the dude ranch.

If you remember your first time behind the wheel, or you're dreading teaching your own teenager to drive, this one is for you.

Topics covered: learning to drive, teaching teens to drive, driving at 14 in Arkansas, first car stories, backseat drivers, driving safety tips, road trip memories, buying cars at auction, growing up in a big family, sisters podcast

🎧 New episodes of Call Your Sister with Joy and Jinger every week. Subscribe so you don't miss out!

#Parenting⁠ ⁠#Motherhood⁠ ⁠#MomLife⁠ ⁠#ParentingTips⁠ ⁠#RaisingKids⁠

OUR INCREDIBLE SPONSORS:

BROOKLYN BEDDING: Brooklyn Bedding has been around for over 25 years, known for top-of-the-line comfort and quality without the luxury price tag. Go to ⁠https://brooklynbedding.com⁠ and use my promo code JINGER at checkout to get 30% off sitewide.

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FUNCTION HEALTH: Function because it’s the only health platform that gives you access to the kind of data most people never see—and the insights to actually take action. Learn more and join using our code JINGER at ⁠https://functionhealth.com/JINGER/⁠ for $25 off your membership!

TRUST & WILL: Protect what matters most. Trust & Will makes it simple and affordable to create your will or trust online in minutes. Visit ⁠⁠https://trustandwill.com/JINGER⁠⁠ and get 20% off when you use the code JINGER.
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This week on Call Your Sister, Joy and I are talking all things weddings — the details nobody remembers but felt huge in the moment, the stuff we'd actually change if we could do it again, and the behind-the-scenes reality of getting married while being filmed for TV.

I open up about a wedding-day timing mistake that cost us almost all our golden-hour photos and most of our time greeting guests at the reception, plus a moment of people-pleasing I still think about (we sent our favorite band's drummer home so the music wouldn't be "too much" for our guests). Joy shares the wedding-planning battle over her paper airplane send-off idea, the wedding favor almost derailed by a legal technicality, and what it was really like trying to live in the moment on her wedding day while a film crew documented everything — including a tense exchange Austin had with a crew member about whose day it actually was.

We also get into what wedding privacy looked like for us — the security check-ins, the magazine exclusives, and the delayed episode airings — and how that shaped habits we still have today, like never posting your location in real time.

If you're planning a wedding, already married, or just love hearing what really goes on behind the scenes, this episode is for you.

Topics covered: wedding planning, wedding day mistakes, wedding traditions, behind the scenes of reality TV weddings, wedding privacy and security, marriage, sisters podcast

🎧 New episodes of Call Your Sister with Joy and Jinger every week — SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out!

OUR INCREDIBLE SPONSORS:

COZY EARTH: Luxury Shouldn’t Be Out of Reach. Visit ⁠https://CozyEarth.com/jinger/⁠ and use my exclusive code JINGER for 20% off best-selling sheets, towels, pajamas, and more.

TRUST & WILL: Protect what matters most. Trust & Will makes it simple and affordable to create your will or trust online in minutes. Visit ⁠⁠https://trustandwill.com/JINGER⁠⁠ and get 20% off when you use the code JINGER.

ZENNI: Zenni because it's the only way I've found to buy sunglasses I actually love without the guesswork ... choose from stylish, affordable options with over 150,000 5-star reviews. Upgrade your glasses and use code PODCAST15 at ⁠https://zenni.com/PODCAST for 15% off your first order, plus free shipping on U.S. orders over $65!
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This week on Call Your Sister, Joy and I are talking all about sibling rivalry and what it was actually like growing up together in a house full of kids. We get into some of our favorite (and funniest) memories — like Joy's infamous fight with our brother over the school computer, and her reputation as the sibling who'd get talked into doing things she probably shouldn't have. Joy also owns up to being the one who body-slammed and pranked our brothers a little too much growing up!

We talk honestly about how conflict was (and wasn't) handled in our house, how birth order may or may not actually shape your personality and temperament, and the ways growing up avoiding conflict has shown up for each of us as adults — including in marriage and parenting our own kids. I share a story about my mom's kindness toward a stranger that shaped how we were taught to treat people, and we dig into people-pleasing, learning to hold your tongue, and figuring out how to disagree with someone you love without it turning into a blowup.

If you grew up with siblings, or you're raising kids who are constantly bickering, this episode is full of honest, relatable conversation about family, conflict, and grace.

🎧 New episodes of Call Your Sister with Joy and Jinger every week — SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out!

#Parenting⁠ ⁠#Motherhood⁠ ⁠#siblings⁠ ⁠#sisters⁠ ⁠#RaisingKids⁠

OUR INCREDIBLE SPONSORS:

TRUST & WILL: Protect what matters most. Trust & Will makes it simple and affordable to create your will or trust online in minutes. Visit ⁠https://trustandwill.com/JINGER⁠ and get 20% off when you use the code JINGER.

SKYLIGHT CALENDAR: Keep your whole family on the same page. Skylight Calendar puts everyone's schedules, to-do lists, and chores in one place everyone can see. Visit ⁠https://myskylight.com/JINGER⁠ and get $30 off your 15" calendar.
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This week on Call Your Sister, Joy and I are getting into some seriously embarrassing territory: our awkward teenage phase. We're talking bad fashion choices (hello, giant hand-me-down t-shirts and my infamous green linen tunic-over-skirt look — the one I was wearing the day I met Jeremy), disastrous hair experiments, and the crunchy-mousse curls and hairspray-soaked ponytails that may or may not have caused permanent damage.

We also get into the deeper stuff — how we each struggled to figure out who we really were as teenagers, jumping between personas, and how insecurity showed up differently for each of us. Joy opens up about a season where she equated spirituality with being "zero fun," and how her motivations for things like reading through the Bible in two months weren't always as pure as she thought at the time — but how God used it anyway. I share what it was like dealing with body changes, comparison, and dressing for comfort over style because I didn't feel confident in my own skin.

If you ever wore something you cringe at now, went through a hair phase you'd rather forget, or spent your teenage years trying to figure out who you actually were underneath the persona, this episode is going to feel very relatable.

🎧 New episodes of Call Your Sister with Joy and Jinger every week — subscribe so you don't miss out!

OUR INCREDIBLE SPONSORS:

COZY EARTH: Luxury Shouldn’t Be Out of Reach. Visit ⁠https://CozyEarth.com/jinger/⁠ and use my exclusive code JINGER for 20% off best-selling sheets, towels, pajamas, and more.

ZENNI: Zenni because it's the only way I've found to buy sunglasses I actually love without the guesswork ... choose from stylish, affordable options with over 150,000 5-star reviews. Upgrade your glasses and use code PODCAST15 at ⁠https://zenni.com/PODCAST for 15% off your first order, plus free shipping on U.S. orders over $65!

FUNCTION HEALTH: Function because it’s the only health platform that gives you access to the kind of data most people never see—and the insights to actually take action. Learn more and join using our code JINGER at ⁠https://functionhealth.com/JINGER/⁠ for $25 off your membership!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices