How Does She Do It? with Latasha Kennedy

How to Find Joy Again After Loss: Faith, Grief & Motherhood | Lori Layne
How do you find joy again after losing someone you love? How do you keep showing up as a mother when you're grieving, questioning God, and trying to make sense of a life that looks nothing like you imagined?
Lori Layne knows these questions intimately.
After a high-risk triplet pregnancy, the heartbreaking loss of two of her babies, and a 77-day NICU journey with her surviving son, Lori found herself navigating profound grief while continuing to care for her family.
In this deeply personal conversation, Lori shares the story of her daughter Calvary, the complicated experience of grieving one child while celebrating the survival of another, and what it looked like to continue pursuing God even when she was angry with Him.
She opens up about the role of prayer, therapy, grief support, and writing in her healing journey—and how creating devotionals for NICU families became a way to honor her daughter's legacy while encouraging other mothers walking through difficult seasons.
But this conversation is also about the life that continues around grief.
As a homeschooling mother, healthcare professional, wife, author, and ministry leader, Lori shares how she's learning to live intentionally without trying to do everything. We talk about protecting time with God, managing family responsibilities, navigating marriage through difficult seasons, and giving yourself permission to let go of expectations that no longer fit your life.
And perhaps one of the most meaningful moments comes when Lori reflects on a day she thought she'd accomplished nothing—until someone reminded her that watching Christmas movies with her children was exactly the kind of motherhood she wanted to experience.
It's a reminder that even in difficult seasons, there can still be moments of love, connection, gratitude, and joy worth recognizing.
As Lori shares:
"Don't do it all. Do what God has called you to do in the season."

Whether you're walking through grief, adjusting to an unexpected season of motherhood, or trying to reconnect with the things that matter most, this conversation offers encouragement, perspective, and practical wisdom for the journey.
Here's What You'll Hear
Finding joy again while grieving: Lori's high-risk pregnancy, the loss of two of her triplets, and learning to recognize moments of gratitude while grieving her daughter Calvary.
Faith when you're angry with God: How Lori continued reading her Bible, attending church, and pursuing her faith even when she struggled to feel connected to God.
Finding support after loss: The role of therapy, grief support, writing, and community in helping Lori navigate her healing journey.
Honoring her daughter's legacy: How Lori's NICU experience inspired her to create devotionals for other families facing medical uncertainty and loss.
Motherhood when life feels overwhelming: How Lori balances homeschooling, working in a Level I trauma center, ministry, and family responsibilities.
Protecting what matters in your current season: Creating non-negotiables, setting boundaries, releasing unnecessary guilt, and recognizing that you don't have to do everything.
Marriage and family through difficult seasons: How Lori and her husband, Fred, have navigated grief while protecting their relationship and making time for their children.
Recognizing joy in everyday moments: Why being present with your children can be just as meaningful as accomplishing everything on your to-do list.
Keep the Conversation Going!

Come Find Your Girlfriends!
You don't have to navigate every season of life alone, and the conversations don't have to end when the episode does!
Join our FREE Girlfriends Thriving community, a faith-rooted space for women who love God, want to enjoy life, and value genuine friendships.
Inside, we're having real conversations, encouraging one another, growing in faith, and making room for more connection and joy in everyday life.
We'd love to have you!

JOIN OUR FREE COMMUNITY

New Here? Start Here!

Welcome to Girlfriends Thriving! We're a community and media platform encouraging women to grow in faith, live intentionally, and enjoy the lives God has entrusted to them.

Explore our podcasts, helpful resources, community, and experiences. There's something here for every season of your journey.

START HERE

Meet Our Guest: Lori Layne
Lori Layne is an author, speaker, homeschooling mother, healthcare professional, and founder of The Layne Less Traveled, a faith-centered ministry.
A former paralegal who now works in a Level I trauma center in Virginia, Lori understands the challenge of balancing motherhood, professional responsibilities, and personal calling.
After a high-risk triplet pregnancy and the loss of her daughter Calvary to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), Lori began writing devotionals to encourage families navigating the NICU, grief, and other challenging seasons.
Through her writing, speaking, and ministry, she shares her Christian faith and the lessons she's learning about loss, healing, purpose, and living intentionally.
Connect With Lori
Ministry: The Layne Less Traveled
Book: Let Waves Draw You Near
About How Does She Do It?
How Does She Do It? explores a mother's journey at the intersection of faith, family, and calling. Through honest conversations with women building meaningful lives, we go beyond what everyone sees to talk about the decisions, faith, systems, sacrifices, support, and real-life seasons underneath it all.

Content note: This episode includes discussion of high-risk pregnancy, pregnancy loss, infant loss, NICU experiences, and grief.

Disclaimer: The experiences and perspectives shared are personal and are not a substitute for professional medical or mental health guidance.

You married your spouse years ago. But do you still know the person they are today?
Marriage coach Kameran Al-Areqi says many couples continue relating to old versions of each other while wondering why they feel increasingly disconnected.
In this episode of How Does She Do It?, Latasha Kennedy and Kameran unpack why longtime partners drift apart, what sits underneath repeated arguments, how expectations inherited from childhood enter marriage without our realizing it, and why curiosity can take a conversation somewhere defensiveness never will.
Kameran says “the problem is never the problem.” The fight about money may actually be about security, respect, or power. The argument about the phone may be about loneliness. And the thing your spouse needed ten years ago may not be what makes them feel loved today.
We also talk about personal growth inside marriage, recognizing emotional needs, navigating conflict in healthier ways, and the importance of continuing to learn the person you chose.
From recognizing the signs of drifting apart to understanding the expectations fueling disconnection, this conversation offers practical steps toward intentional reconnection, healthier communication, and renewed closeness.
For married couples who want to strengthen their relationship, deepen their understanding of one another, and build a marriage that continues to grow as they do.

Because staying married is not only about remembering why you fell in love.
It is also about remaining curious about who both of you are becoming.
What You’ll Hear:
Why “the problem is never the problem.” Kameran explains why an argument about money, the phone, chores or time may actually be pointing to something deeper, and we explore what might really be underneath the conflict.
How the marriage you grew up watching can quietly shape the one you build. We talk about the expectations, beliefs and definitions of love we carry from childhood, often without realizing how much they influence what we expect from a spouse.
Why your spouse may need to be loved differently than they did five or ten years ago. Children, careers, responsibilities and life experience change us, which means care, support, respect and connection may look different now.
How slowing an argument down can change what happens next. We talk about pausing, checking what the other person actually heard, asking better questions and recognizing when continuing the argument is only creating more damage.
How to stay connected without giving yourself away. We talk about maintaining friendships, interests and the parts of yourself that make you whole while still being intentional about the marriage you are building.
Marriage is not strengthened because two people never disappoint or misunderstand each other. It is strengthened in what happens next: the questions you ask, the things you repair, the promises you keep, and the care you take with the person you love. Because just as a marriage can be worn down by a thousand small cuts, it can also be strengthened by a thousand small choices to show up differently.

📣 Keep the Conversation Going! 

Come Find Your Girlfriends! 👯🏽‍♀️
You don't have to navigate every season of life alone, and the conversations don't have to end when the episode does!

Join our FREE Girlfriends Thriving community, a faith-rooted space for women who love God, want to enjoy life, and value genuine friendships. Inside, we're having real conversations, encouraging one another, growing in faith, and making room for more connection and joy in everyday life.

We'd love to have you!

→ JOIN OUR FREE COMMUNITY

✨ New Here? Start Here!
Welcome to Girlfriends Thriving! We're a community and media platform encouraging women to grow in faith, live intentionally, and enjoy the lives God has entrusted to them.

Explore our podcasts, helpful resources, community, and experiences. There's something here for every season of your journey.

→ START HERE

❤️ MEET OUR GUEST: KAMERAN AL-AREQI

Kameran Thompson Alareqi is a marriage coach and the founder of Recognizing Potential. Through coaching and her Married and Connected podcast, she helps couples understand recurring patterns, communicate more intentionally and create stronger connection.

LINKS/RESOURCES
Website: RecognizingPotential.com
Instagram: @married.and.connected
Podcast: Married and Connected Magic

DISCLAIMER: This conversation is educational and inspirational and is not a substitute for individualized therapy, mental-health treatment, legal advice or crisis support. Couples experiencing abuse or immediate safety concerns should seek appropriate professional assistance.

There is probably something you keep telling yourself you’ll get to when life settles down.
Maybe it’s a book you want to write, a business you want to start, something creative you want to make or a skill you’ve been wanting to learn. You mean it when you say you’re going to do it, but motherhood is full, life keeps moving, and “when I have more time” can quietly turn into years.
Kim Galloway has learned to work with the life and time she actually has.
Kim is a bestselling author of more than 20 books, book coach, publisher and mother of four. She is raising four young children on a ranch, homeschooling, running a business and navigating a marriage shaped by her husband’s rotating work schedule. In the middle of all of that, she continues to write, build and make room for the things that matter to her.
A big part of how she does it is knowing what deserves her time in the first place.
In this conversation, Kim and I talk about using small pockets of time to make meaningful progress, deciding whether the “juice is worth the squeeze,” protecting your priorities and giving yourself permission to invest time, money and energy into something that matters to you too.
Here’s what you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Kim decides what actually deserves her time: From her “half of the half” approach to asking whether the “juice is worth the squeeze,” Kim shares how she separates meaningful work from activity that only looks productive.
• How small pockets of time can move a big dream forward: We talk about writing in 15-minute increments, using everyday moments as thinking time and letting go of the idea that meaningful work requires hours of uninterrupted space.
• Why support matters when you’re pursuing something of your own: Kim explains why coaching, education and outside help can make it easier to keep going after the initial excitement wears off.
• What our children learn when they see Mom pursuing her own dreams too: We talk about the example we set when our children see us growing, creating and making room for the things God has placed in us.
• What changed after Kim nearly lost her life: A serious health crisis reshaped the way she thinks about time, postponed dreams and the things she no longer wants to keep pushing into “someday.”
One of the ideas I kept returning to after this conversation was how easy it is for a woman to become so committed to helping everyone around her grow that she keeps postponing her own growth.
We love our families deeply. We have real responsibilities, full calendars and people who genuinely need us. At the same time, there may still be something in you that deserves attention.
You may not have three uninterrupted hours today. You might have fifteen minutes, and fifteen minutes is enough to begin.
Used consistently, those minutes can become pages, a manuscript, a business, a new skill, a piece of art or the beginning of a completely different chapter of your life.
You do not have to wait until life becomes less full to begin making room for something that matters to you.
📣 Keep the Conversation Going! 

Come Find Your Girlfriends! 👯🏽‍♀️
You don't have to navigate every season of life alone, and the conversations don't have to end when the episode does!

Join our FREE Girlfriends Thriving community, a faith-rooted space for women who love God, want to enjoy life, and value genuine friendships. Inside, we're having real conversations, encouraging one another, growing in faith, and making room for more connection and joy in everyday life.

We'd love to have you!

→ JOIN OUR FREE COMMUNITY: https://www.skool.com/the-thriving-circle-5595/about
✨ New Here? Start Here!
Welcome to Girlfriends Thriving! We're a community and media platform encouraging women to grow in faith, live intentionally, and enjoy the lives God has entrusted to them.

Explore our podcasts, helpful resources, community, and experiences. There's something here for every season of your journey.

→ START HERE: https://bit.ly/GT-START

❤️ Meet Our Guest Kim Galloway
Kim Galloway is a bestselling author of more than 20 books, book coach, publisher and founder of New Frontier Books. She helps message-driven authors clarify the deeper message behind their work, write their books and share those ideas with the people they are meant to serve.
CONNECT WITH KIM
Website: newfrontierbooks.com
Resources and offers: newfrontierbooks.com/everything
ABOUT HOW DOES SHE DO IT?
How Does She Do It? explores a mother’s journey at the intersection of faith, family and calling. Through honest conversations with women building meaningful lives, we go beyond what everyone sees to talk about the decisions, faith, systems, sacrifices, support and real-life seasons underneath it all.
FROM GIRLFRIENDS THRIVING
Follow Girlfriends Thriving (@girlfriendsthriving) and stay connected for new conversations, resources and experiences created to help women flourish in faith, family, purpose and the life God has entrusted to them.
DISCLAIMER
How Does She Do It? and related Girlfriends Thriving content are provided for informational, educational and inspirational purposes. Guests share their personal experiences, perspectives and areas of expertise, which do not necessarily represent the views of Girlfriends Thriving or Latasha Kennedy. Nothing shared in this program should be considered individualized medical, mental health, financial, legal or other professional advice. Please consult an appropriately qualified professional regarding your individual circumstances.

What if building a healthier family didn't require you to do more, but to stop doing everything yourself?

Somewhere along the way, many of us learned that being a good mother meant being the person who remembers everything, manages everyone's schedules, prepares the meals, keeps the house running, and somehow still finds time to take care of herself.
But here's the question: What happens when the person holding everything together is running on empty?

In this episode of How Does She Do It?, I'm joined by Rachel DeSonier, a Registered Dietitian, Certified Personal Trainer, fat-loss coach, and mother of five who has learned that a healthy family can't depend on one exhausted woman doing everything.
With five children close in age, including children who joined their family through foster care and adoption, Rachel realized that trying to manage every responsibility herself wasn't sustainable. Instead, she began creating family rhythms that made room for shared responsibility, realistic expectations, and everyone's well-being, including her own.
We're talking about raising children who contribute to family life, protecting space in an already busy schedule, recognizing the limits of our capacity, and building health habits that actually work in the middle of motherhood.
And yes, we're getting into Rachel's 10-year meal rotation, because when you're feeding a family of seven, finding ways to simplify dinner is worth talking about!
What I appreciate about this conversation is that Rachel isn't asking mothers to become more disciplined so they can squeeze even more into their days. She's challenging us to rethink what a healthy, thriving family actually looks like and recognize that Mom's well-being matters just as much as everyone else's.
Here's What You'll Learn in This Episode
How to raise children who contribute to family life instead of depending on Mom for everything. Rachel shares why teaching children responsibility, perseverance, and teamwork benefits the entire family and prepares them for life beyond your home.
How to protect your family's time and your own capacity. Discover why Rachel intentionally leaves margin in her schedule, how she decides what deserves a yes, and why a mother's well-being should be a family priority.
How to build sustainable health habits without constantly starting over. Learn why small, consistent changes can be more effective than dramatic overhauls and why building strength matters for your long-term health.
How to simplify meal planning and take the stress out of feeding your family. Rachel shares her 15-minute planning system, the 10-year meal rotation that simplifies dinner for her family of seven, and her practical approach to picky eaters.
How to prioritize your marriage while raising a busy family. Find out why Rachel and her husband traded traditional dinner dates for monthly lunch dates and how making adjustments to fit your current season can help you stay connected.
.The Message I Hope You Remember
Our capacity changes, and our expectations can change with it.

Not everything good belongs on your calendar right now. Rachel reminds us that building a healthy family means sharing responsibilities, honoring our limits, and making room for what matters most.
Your children don't need to see you doing everything. They can benefit from seeing you care for yourself, too.

Because a healthy family should include a healthy, supported mother.

📣 Keep the Conversation Going! 

Come Find Your Girlfriends! 👯🏽‍♀️
You don't have to navigate every season of life alone, and the conversations don't have to end when the episode does!

Join our FREE Girlfriends Thriving community, a faith-rooted space for women who love God, want to enjoy life, and value genuine friendships. Inside, we're having real conversations, encouraging one another, growing in faith, and making room for more connection and joy in everyday life.

We'd love to have you!

→ JOIN OUR FREE COMMUNITY: https://www.skool.com/the-thriving-circle-5595/about

✨ New Here? Start Here!
Welcome to Girlfriends Thriving! We're a community and media platform encouraging women to grow in faith, live intentionally, and enjoy the lives God has entrusted to them.

Explore our podcasts, helpful resources, community, and experiences. There's something here for every season of your journey.

→ START HERE: https://bit.ly/GT-START

❤️ Meet Our Guest: Rachel DeSonier
Rachel DeSonier is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Personal Trainer, fat-loss coach and mom of five. Through Effective Fitness for Women and the Effective Weight Loss for Moms podcast, she helps busy mothers build strength, improve their nutrition and create sustainable health routines that work in real family life.
CONNECT WITH RACHEL
Podcast: Effective Weight Loss for Moms
Instagram: @effectivefitnessforwomen
Website: effectivefitnessforwomen.com

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
Rachel’s 100 Gram Protein Cheat Sheet
Rachel’s meal-planning resource

ABOUT HOW DOES SHE DO IT?
How Does She Do It? explores a mother’s journey at the intersection of faith, family and calling. Through honest conversations with women building meaningful lives, we go beyond what everyone sees to talk about the decisions, faith, systems, sacrifices, support and real-life seasons underneath it all.
FROM GIRLFRIENDS THRIVING
Follow Girlfriends Thriving and stay connected for new conversations, resources and experiences created to help women flourish in faith, family, purpose and the life God has entrusted to them.
DISCLAIMER
How Does She Do It? and related Girlfriends Thriving content are provided for informational, educational and inspirational purposes only. This episode includes general discussion of nutrition, exercise, weight management and health. It is not intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any medical condition and should not be considered individualized medical, nutrition, mental health or fitness advice. Please consult your physician or another appropriately qualified healthcare professional before making significant changes to your diet, exercise routine or healthcare plan. Guests share their own experiences, perspectives and areas of expertise, which do not necessarily represent the views of Girlfriends Thriving or Latasha Kennedy.

I spend this show asking women one question: How does she do it?

This time, my friend Cecelia Curtis, host of the Top 2% podcast The Heart of Friendship and owner of Ada’s Tea Cup, turned the microphone around and asked me.

Cecelia is also one of the women you’ll hear from on How Does She Do It?, but for this conversation, she stepped into the host’s seat.
How have I built a life that makes room for my faith, my marriage, raising two sons, creative work, entrepreneurship and the things I still feel called to become?
The answer isn't that I've somehow figured out how to do everything.
It's that I've become deeply intentional about deciding what matters.
In this conversation, Cecelia and I talk about some of the choices behind the life people see now: why systems changed motherhood for me, why my husband and I started raising our boys with the future in mind, how we intentionally taught them to use their voices and create value, what has sustained our marriage through changing seasons, and why I finally knew this was the right season to launch How Does She Do It?
We also talk about the seasons when none of it looked particularly polished.
There was a version of me with a toddler running the house, toys covering the living room, no real structure to my days and a husband coming home to a wife who knew something had to change.
That realization eventually taught me something I still believe:
Structure does not have to make life smaller. The right structure can give you more freedom to enjoy what matters.

Here’s What You’ll Hear:
Why structure changed motherhood for me: The small family bottlenecks I started solving and how simple systems created calmer days, greater freedom and more room to actually enjoy my family.
Why we started parenting with the end in mind: How my husband and I thought about the men we hoped our sons would become and intentionally taught them to use their voices, solve problems and understand how to create value.
Why faith and vision are connected for me: How “teach us to number our days” shaped the way I think about time, calling and stewarding the life God has entrusted to me.
What 22 years of marriage have taught me about choosing each other: Why friendship matters, how our emotional needs have changed over time and what walking through difficult seasons has taught us about staying connected.
Why I finally said yes to How Does She Do It?: Why I believe an idea can be right while the timing is wrong, and what made me realize this was finally the season to build the show.
And throughout the conversation, we talk about the real-life choices, adjustments and support that have helped me build a life that makes room for faith, family, marriage, motherhood and meaningful work.

This conversation is ultimately about knowing what matters and building your life around it.
Because when you are clear about what matters, it becomes easier to decide what deserves your time, what needs to change, and what you can let go of in each season.
My life isn’t perfect, but it is deeply intentional.
And I think there’s a difference.
📣 Keep the Conversation Going! 

Come Find Your Girlfriends! 👯🏽‍♀️
You don't have to navigate every season of life alone, and the conversations don't have to end when the episode does!

Join our FREE Girlfriends Thriving community, a faith-rooted space for women who love God, want to enjoy life, and value genuine friendships. Inside, we're having real conversations, encouraging one another, growing in faith, and making room for more connection and joy in everyday life.

We'd love to have you!

→ JOIN OUR FREE COMMUNITY: https://www.skool.com/the-thriving-circle-5595/about

✨ New Here? Start Here!
Welcome to Girlfriends Thriving! We're a community and media platform encouraging women to grow in faith, live intentionally, and enjoy the lives God has entrusted to them.

Explore our podcasts, helpful resources, community, and experiences. There's something here for every season of your journey.

→ START HERE: https://bit.ly/GT-START
ABOUT YOUR GUEST HOST
Cecelia Curtis is the host of the Top 2% podcast The Heart of Friendship and the owner of Ada’s Tea Cup, a tea brand centered on connection, conversation and meaningful moments. Cecelia is also a guest on this season of How Does She Do It?, but in this episode, she takes over the host’s chair to interview Latasha.
Ada’s Tea Cup: shop.adasteacup.com

ABOUT LATASHA KENNEDY
Latasha Kennedy is an award-winning filmmaker, strategist and founder of Girlfriends Thriving, a faith-rooted media and lifestyle brand created to help women flourish across faith, health, marriage and family, career and calling, and financial wellbeing. She is a wife of 22 years, mother of two enterprising sons and the host of How Does She Do It?

ABOUT HOW DOES SHE DO IT?
How Does She Do It? explores a mother's journey at the intersection of faith, family and calling. Through honest conversations with women building meaningful lives, we go beyond what everyone sees to talk about the decisions, faith, systems, sacrifices and support underneath it all.

CONNECT
Girlfriends Thriving: girlfriendsthriving.com
Instagram: @girlfriendsthriving
Latasha: @latashakennedy

DISCLAIMER
How Does She Do It? and related Girlfriends Thriving content are provided for informational, educational and inspirational purposes. Guests share personal experiences and perspectives that should not be considered individualized medical, mental health, financial, legal or other professional advice.