MIXED: Lessons in Multicultural Parenting

Recently I had the opportunity to address my local church congregation about my faith. How I found it, and how I keep it. I decided I would also like to share it here. There is a lot going on in the world, a lot of hard and sad things. People are leaving organized religion and thanks to social media we get to hear all about it. More often than we used to. My experiences with my own personal revelation have helped me deal with all the madness in the world. 

Well I think this title speaks for itself. But seriously though, let's talk about Bruno and the entire Madrigal family, because Encanto is a smash hit and it's been stuck in my head since November. 

Birth story for Piedra baby #3!

Baby number three is here! A little over a month ago, I gave birth to my third child, a son! I decided to share his birth story here with all of you. 

Baby number three is here! A little over a month ago, I gave birth to my third child, a son! I decided to share his birth story here with all of you. 

I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and talk with Elizabeth Dobson, the author and voice behind Family Remixed.com; a blog she created to educate and empower a growing demographic of interracial and adoptive families. Liz is a biracial woman adopted into an all-white family who shares her story to help and inspire others. Liz built a career in marketing in New York city, is a Tedx speaker as well as the winner of season seven of BYUtv's Relative Race alongside her husband Devin. 

My thoughts lately on the persecution suffered by early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how it applies to me today. 

A little life update for you on what has been going on in our house over the last few months and weeks!

This week I want to focus an episode on blended families and the many shapes they take. I decided to talk to my cousin Whitney about her experience losing her father at a young age (my uncle) and what her life has been like since gaining a step father. 

Today's episode is a conversation I had with my new friend Kimberly Castaneda. Kimberly met her husband Felipe when they were fifteen years old. Since meeting Felipe joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, both have embarked on church missions, Kimberly has learned two languages and they are now married with two beautiful children. Listen as Kimberly shares the challenges and joys of being in a multicultural relationship and all that has happened along the way!

It's been a rough few weeks...not too long ago I experienced my first miscarriage, and shortly after beginning to process that we got to be part of history yet again and experience winter storm Uri, power outages and all. 

So it's been a while y'all...I can say y'all now that I live in Texas right? Let's check in with each other this new year...

Today's interview is with my new friend Lauren Cunico, who talks about her hispanic heritage, her global travels, raising bilingual children and serving a missing for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Honduras.  For those interested, here is the Facebook group that Lauren mentions later on in the episode, as a resource for parents trying to teach children a second language, just shoot me an email if you would like an invite to the group! Non-Native Speakers Raising Bilingual/Multilingual Children  

I've watched many movies during this pandemic (don't even get me started on Netflix's Love Guaranteed...bleh!) but felt the need to do a personal review of the 2020 Disney Plus Mulan. there are MANY opinions on this movie, but here is my take. 

It's been a while! I've been on a hiatus as my family and I moved from Washington State to Texas. Right before our move to Texas I got a call from my dad letting me know that my Grandfather who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma wasn't doing as well as we hoped. So I went out to see him and wanted to share my experience with you. 

I watched Hulu's, Little Fires Everywhere, and had some thoughts. A lot of thoughts.   

Here is a little Tuesday pick me up for you! Enjoy my ridiculously cute two year old singing a duet of You Are My Sunshine with me. 

On Good Friday, April 10th there was a worldwide day of fasting. This fast was announced by President Russel M. Nelson during April General Conference and the main purpose was to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a unique experience for myself, and I'm sure for everyone else who chose to participate. I decided to document my experience as I participated in the fast. 

This past Sunday was amazing, and I'll tell you why....and why this upcoming Sunday won't be one to forget!

Well, we all know what is going on, we've seen the news. There is lots of bad news, but there is also good news!

If you listened to my interview with my dear friend Aidan Stinger, you might remember that she gave me some book suggestions. One of those books was, "So You Want to Talk About Race" by Ijeoma Oluo. This book should be a mandatory read for every white person in this country. Aidan and I sat down for a book club discussion to go over our thoughts. You don't need to have read the book to listen to this episode, but I highly suggest reading it after if you haven't already. 

It's been so long! I want to recap some things that happened lately...poison control, Alaska, and the Super Bowl half-time show! So enjoy a little bit about my life lately. 

This is probably my favorite interview, because who doesn't like talking to their high school best friend for several hours? Aidan and I had some great times in high school, and now years later I realize there were a lot of questions I didn't ask her then that I wanted to ask her now. Listen as she talks about what being "mixed" means for her. We touch on childhood, high school, mental health, parenthood and more. 

Special episode! This week we are diving into a new topic, blended families. Nicole and Tate share their journey finding each other and becoming a blended family with their three kiddos! Tate also shares his experience in foster care and with strained family relations. 

Just a quick check in to let you know we are on break for Thanksgiving!

What does it take to have a childless weekend? A lot of preparation and support. Is it worth it? Yes. I believe that as parents we should all take little breaks from our children, with our spouses and without. This past weekend I had a little getaway with my sister to Portland, one of my favorite cities. 

I've been thinking a lot about minority representation in pop culture, politics and other arenas. My son, without any prompting from us, has been talking about and asking questions about his skin color. It is important for our children to have popular figures, politicians, leaders, and role models to look up to who look like them. 

Guys today is my 28th Birthday! Part of the reason why my birthday is so great this year is because I was able to accomplish a major goal by running a half marathon a few days ago. I felt compelled to share the whole story with you. 

In this interview I talk to Rachel a native of Washington who is engaged to Andrés Gomez, an international student from Mexico. She talks to me about meeting the love of her life, joining two families from different cultures and countries and the possibility of moving back to Mexico with her husband after graduation.  If you wish to support MIXED, please leave a 5-star rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Follow us on Instagram at @mixed_podcast or find us on Facebook here: MIXED the Podcast   Please subscribe so you can be alerted to new episodes weekly! If you have a topic you want me to cover, someone you want me to interview or any questions please feel free to email me at kristen.mixed.podcast@gmail.com.

Let's talk about mental health, because talking about it makes us better parents. We all have our own truths to share. 

In this episode I interview a dear friend of mine, Ashley. Ashley and I met back in college where we were both majoring in Broadcast Journalism. She is now working as an anchor and reporter for KSL 5 news in Salt Lake City Utah. Ashley grew up in Hawaii and has a Filipino mother and a Caucasian father. We talk about her childhood, her career, her parents, Donald Trump and motherhood. Plenty of exciting things are waiting for you in this episode so go ahead and push play already! 

My three year old and I have a discussion about current events, halloween, life and death and other important topics. But mostly he just wanted to spend time on google images. He will never know a life without google images, kids today!

Ever heard of the show Relative Race? Well you are about to. There is a reason why at home genetic testing kits have become so popular. We are naturally curious and fascinated about our family history, we all want to know where we come from! 

Some thoughts on ABC's Black(ish), how we talk about race and where we all fit in. 

In this episode my friends Kylie and Ricardo join me to talk about their lives. Ricardo was born in Brazil and moved to the country when he was four, then grew up in Florida about an hour away from Kylie. He and his family were undocumented for all of his growing up, which presented some challenges. Join us as we talk about race, culture and the joys of marriage and family life! 

A discussion on marriage discrimination and religious freedom. 

Here is a little recap of the recent trip we took to Phoenix, Cottonwood, Williams and North Rim Arizona. 

I decided I wanted my first guest interview to be with my husband Alex. This was a good exercise for us because in the past he hasn't been open talking about his life and it has been a therapeutic experience for him. It's been good for me because as a white woman from Idaho, it's difficult for me to figure out how to talk about race, politics and other issues that occupy my mind a lot. We are two imperfect people and this interview is just us talking about our truths, which may differ from yours. I'm just here trying to learn and make a place for an open dialogue and look forward to having more guest interviews!

There is a lot on my mind after recent events. There has never been so much diversity in this country and yet there is still so much hate. Here are my thoughts and reflections on the latest mass shootings. 

Welcome to episode one! This is an introduction to me, your host Kristen Piedra. 

Here is the trailer for Mixed! Enjoy!