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Welcome to Out of the Ordinary, the show that helps you grow a daily life that matters. In a world that loves bigger, better, fast, and famous, longtime friends and authors, Christie and Lisa-Jo, are here to remind you that the very best stories actually grow out of the soil of ordinary life.

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Lisa-Jo Baker

Lisa-Jo Baker is a reader and writer, her favorite ordinary things include hot tea with milk and sugar, a good movie, her mom’s hand-me-down books and Sunday afternoon naps.

Lisa-Jo is a champion and cheerleader for women who are longing for connection over perfection and a big sister instead of a critic. In the past decade she has invited a highly engaged community of women into her completely ordinary life with humor, honesty, and camaraderie, through her blogdown-to-earth Instagram feed, and in real life at events across the country.

Lisa-Jo is the best-selling author of Never Unfriended and Surprised by Motherhood. Her newest book, The Middle Matters: Why That (Extra)Ordinary Life Looks Really Good on You just released this summer and invites us to get a good look at our middles and gives us permission to embrace them—because Lisa-Jo knows that the middle might be the best part of the love story of life, kids, faith, doubt, marriage, failure, wonder, and the muffin top—and that these are all good things.

See more of Lisa-Jo's daily, ordinary chaos over here.

Christie-Purifoy

Christie Purifoy

Christie Purifoy is a writer and gardener, her favorite ordinary things include strawberry jam, homegrown flowers, and old books with someone else's notes in them. She lives with her husband and children at Maplehurst, a Victorian red brick farmhouse in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Christie earned a PhD in English Literature from the University of Chicago before trading the classroom for a picket-fenced garden and an old writing desk. Today, she grows zucchini her four kids refuse to eat. The zucchini-loving chickens are perfectly happy with this arrangement.

Christie's first book, Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons, was published by Revell in 2016. Her newest book, Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace, released in spring 2019 from Zondervan and is available wherever books are sold.

Christie believes that life, in all its pain and beauty and mystery, is a journey of love. Writing keeps her eyes wide-open to this astonishing reality. 

See more of Maplehurst and meet Christie here.

Episodes & Show Notes

217. Beauty in the Messy Middle

January 25, 2023

216. Back to Ordinary Life: Lisa-Jo’s reentry from South Africa

January 18, 2023

215. Conserving Beauty and Community

January 11, 2023

214. A New Year’s “Yes” Part 2 of 2 (Podcast Vault Series)

January 4, 2023

213. A New Year’s “No” Part 1 of 2 (Podcast Vault Series)

December 28, 2022

212. Guardian Angels in Disguise (Podcast Vault Series)

December 21, 2022

211. The One Thing We Won’t Do This Christmas (Podcast Vault Series)

December 14, 2022

210. How Our Show Got Its Name: Origin Story Part 3

December 7, 2022

209. The Antidote to Dissatisfaction: Origin Story Part 2

November 30, 2022

208. Everything Big Starts Small: Origin Story Part 1

November 23, 2022

207. Get Cozy for these Recommendations Round 2

November 16, 2022

206. How Not To Be Held Hostage By Hallmark

November 9, 2022

205. How Not To Be Held Hostage By Guilt

November 2, 2022

204. How Not to be Held Hostage by Holiday Shopping

October 26, 2022

203. Get Cozy for these Recommendations

October 19, 2022

202. Muddling Through Faith

October 12, 2022

201. Muddling Through the Holidays

October 5, 2022

200. Muddling through…Transitions and Goodbyes

September 28, 2022

199. Muddling through…the Unexpected

September 21, 2022

198. Still Sharing a Seat at the Table

September 14, 2022

197. #8 – How to Hack BACK TO SCHOOL!

September 7, 2022

196. #7 – How to Hack a DEGREE!

August 31, 2022

195. #6 – How to Hack a PERSONALITY!

August 24, 2022

194. #5- How to Hack a CREATIVE PROJECT!

August 17, 2022

193. #4 – How to Hack FEEDING YOUR FAMILY!

August 10, 2022
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