Integrated with Angela Erickson

Preserving more than food.

I’ve been pretty quiet the last couple of months. My husband started a new job, and this transition has been demanding.

He works so hard, and we couldn’t be more blessed by his drive and ambition. He loves his job, and that’s the best thing anyone could ask for after a huge life-change!

But this shift has required me to step back from my podcast. I don’t have as much time right now to invest in interviews— and I’m okay with that. I’ve had to reorient and prioritize preserving what little time we do get together as a family and supporting our children because this change has been a big adjustment for them as well.

I’m not growing the garden I quite wanted this year, and I haven’t been able to preserve as much food as I wanted. Basically this summer hasn’t looked at all like I had hoped it would, but I’m leaning into it and focusing on preserving memories instead.

So much of parenthood is holding space for your children and gatekeeping time; protecting them from all kinds of things (as much as possible) so as to give them time to be children— carefree, curious, and secure in their own home.

I hope to be back more when things slow down at my husband’s new job, but I’m still discerning where God is calling me in this season. Please pray for me and our family!

Soli Deo Gloria ✝️

I’m sitting down with Theoni Bell today to talk about her experience (and resulting book “Jellybean: A Baby’s Journey to God”) with miscarriage and childloss. I know a lot of people who have very recently experienced this very brutal part of our fallen nature. I hope everyone in here who has experienced such painful loss finds even just a little consolation in this interview if only for the simple fact of knowing you are not alone. ♥️

I’m going to try to maintain some level of composure today, but this is a topic that brings me to tears pretty easily. Please say a prayer for the Lord to bless this interview and those who hear it.

Grappling with Miscarriage with Theoni Bell Theoni Bell is the co-author of the new book, "Jellybean: A Baby's Journey to God" and the author of "A Woman in the Trees," a novel about the first approved...

This mights surprise a lot of you, but I actually really enjoy being alone in silence. I *need* time alone. I know we’re told the extroverts thrive on being with others, but I’m a weird mix of extroversion that needs a lot of time alone. Time that I just don’t get as a mom with 5 kids and one on the way.

My interior life has been going through a lot of changes— mostly a need for more pause and restoration. I also have a deep need to reconnect with the part of me that’s creative and less pragmatic.

It’s easy for me to get lost in the demands of motherhood and to feel like I can barely keep my head above water.

I was able to go up north for a couple of nights alone. My husband is really aware of how exhausted I get, and encouraged me to have a couple days to myself before he starts his new job(!) on Monday. He does his best to protect my emotional/mental state by creating space for me to just be, and I’m so eternally grateful to have a husband that is such a strong support for me.

I honestly don’t know how I would survive without his love.

A little photo dump of where I stayed and my time away.

I do have a couple announcements coming up (I was able to get some things done that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time), and I can’t wait to share them with you! Make sure you’re subscribed to my email list so you stay up to date on the podcast and projects I’m working on.

♥️

I’ve been thinking a lot about Hope today.

Sometimes it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the darkness of our time.

The constant push for death is hard to fight against when it feels unrelenting. Abortion. Euthanasia. Divorce. Gender confusion. The erasure of women. So on and so forth. All of these things kill the family and kill the soul. It would be impossible to overstate how much damage the culture of death has wrought.

And yet— we have reason to hope. Even though God permits these evil things, we know that He loves us. He suffered and died for our sins— to redeem us. He is using these things to refine His people. He is teaching us compassion, endurance, faith, charity, and how to have hope.

When we entrust ourselves to His holy Will, we can be certain that He uses all things for the good of those who love Him. He is faithful, even when we play the harlot as a culture, worshipping ourselves and placing innocence on the altar of “liberation.”

Humans have never been more enslaved. Enslaved to convenience. Enslaved to technology. Enslaved to s*x. Enslaved to our emotions.

And God is doing something with it all despite our best efforts to let Him in.

I see a culture that is waking up. We are beginning to see the integration of the body and soul. We see how amazing our bodies are as God created them. We are seeing the value of motherhood and investing time in our children on a deep level. We are seeing that what God has made in man is “good” as we read in Genesis.

Hope is trust in things unseen. And I think as we continue to dive back into our roots— our Genesis— we will find so much more peace and healing.

A Culture of Life will win out simply because death has already been overcome by our Savior. ✝️ Praise be to God!

Word has been getting out like a slow trickle. Now that everyone in our families know, I figured it was time to share the news with you!

By the grace of God, another mini human has joined our family.

Due this October with #6 ♥️

What’s your guess?

Merry Christmas! Praying your soul felt it’s worth today. Thanks be to God for the incarnation and birth of our Savior! Soli Deo Gloria!

Pax ♥️✝️🎄

“When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.” —Venerable Fulton Sheen

These words sure ring true. We celebrated 10 years of marriage last week, and I’ve held so many things in my heart as I’ve pondered what a great gift this has been.

I am not the woman my husband married 10 years ago. Being 21 and very dumb, I was not ready for marriage. But are any of us ever really “ready?”

I have changed a lot. Mostly because motherhood is refining by nature. And as I have changed, so has my husband. His steady, unwavering love has kept me grounded in some of my most broken moments.

We have had our share of trials, and by the grace of God we have always come out stronger on the other side, no matter how lonely some chapters have felt.

His love has created, for the first time in my life, space for me to heal parts of my heart that I thought were broken— the parts that have made me feel unwanted and unlovable. He has been an example of Christ to me.

He’s the hardest working man I know, is the best father, and continues to show up for me day in and day out.

Lars— I have never deserved you. I can’t believe I get to grow old with you. You are my best friend and our marriage has been my greatest treasure. You have given me a safe home, sweet children, and exemplified sacrificial love unlike anything I thought possible.

I love you beyond words. I’m thanking God for you today and every day.

♥️

A Friday Intro 👋🏻

I’ve had a surge in followers the last couple of weeks, so I thought it might be time to introduce myself.

I’m a wife, a homeschooling mother of 5 children (+ 1 baby I never got to meet), and unabashedly Catholic.

In college I began getting involved as an anti-abortion activist. By the time graduation rolled around, I had a job lined up with Students for Life of America. From there, I ran a pregnancy medical center, and eventually did work for LifeSite News as a major gift officer.

Each of these jobs taught me a lot, and I’ve done a lot of public speaking and activism. But choosing to stay home with my kids quite literally changed my life.

Mothering has been unnatural for me, and I’ve had to learn a lot of skills that I didn’t realize were so necessary.

Integrated was born out of a chapter in my life when I was seeing how disintegrated I was. I was suicidal, overwhelmed, and feeling so lonely. At the encouragement of my husband, I started this podcast.

As I stumbled my way to healing, I realized so many of us today struggle to have souls/minds/bodies that are working together to draw ourselves closer to God. I’m still healing, and it’s certainly not a linear process.

A lot of things can be obstacles for our faith— mental health, trauma, chronic pain, spiritual warfare, culture wars and so much more.

I hope my podcast helps being a fresh perspective to the table and provide practical ideas for moving forward. More than anything, I hope this little apostolate brings hope and edification to your life. 🫶🏼

God bless you. Thank you for following me!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Humility. Accountability. Forgiveness. Reconciliation.

There is so much power in vocalizing our faults, and asking for forgiveness. I think that’s why the sacrament of Penance (Confession/Reconciliation) is so important. Our sin and the things we are struggling with manifest in our bodies, and vocalizing repentance is a physical way to rebuke our sins against one another and against God. This is very healing for our minds, bodies, and souls.

The enemy hates it so much. Satan deceives, divides, and diverts.

He deceives us by making us believe that we don’t deserve love and healing + by encouraging us to believe lies about ourselves, others, and God.

Satan also loves to keep us angry and divided. We were made for communion, so naturally Satan wants to prevent us from communing with God and one another.

And Satan loves to use our wounds to divert our attention from God to ourselves. He wants us to be focused inward on ourselves. When we only see ourselves, we are prone to despair and lose our ability to see God moving in our lives.

Be accountable to yourself and those God has given you a duty to serve. Ask for forgiveness when you are wrong. Be willing to forgive when those who offend you have contrite hearts. Seek reconciliation— with God, your spouse, your children, your friends where reconciliation can be found. And don’t be afraid to give God the pain you experience when you suffer rejection— because it will happen.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

I forget to post here on Facebook— my apologies! I have an interview today with former pastor/youth pastor turned Catholic, Keith Nester to discuss his conversion and his devotion to Our Lady.

Please join us on YouTube Live so you can ask your questions and hear his story at 1pm CDT.

Behold Your Mother with Keith Nester Angela sits down with former Protestant Pastor to discuss his conversion and why every Christian should have a devotion to Our Lady! You can lea...

It was such an honor to chat with Devin about the ins and outs of the fatherhood crisis today.

This was one of my favorite interviews! Give it a listen, and let us know what you think!

How Do We Restore Fatherhood? With Devin Schadt Devin Schadt, Executive Director for Fathers of St. Joseph sits down with Angela to discuss the fatherhood crisis in the culture and in the Church. More abou...

ICYMI—

Last week I published a really fun interview with Frank DeVito. He serves as legal counsel for Napa Institute Legal and writes for The American Conservative. We talked about his conversion, conservative politics (including a brief discussion on where libertarianism fails), and proper discernment of one’s vocation.

It was a really fun interview! I hope you enjoy it!

You can find it on your favorite podcasting platform, YouTube, and my website. Feel free to use the link in my bio to find it as well.

More coming up on Integrated! Stay tuned 📺

Today I’m thanking God for the sweet gift of Motherhood. I am forever unworthy of this beautiful vocation.

Happy Mother’s Day ♥️

This is amazing!

Boston doctors perform successful landmark brain surgery on preborn baby ✊ In an era when "abortion" is one of the chief medical buzzwords, it's good to see there are still doctors performing run-of-the-mill old-fashioned medical miracles like this:

I’m incredibly humbled to have my writing published in

“Time and time again, I have conversations with other mothers striving to raise their children virtuously but who are at a loss because they feel overwhelmed and ill-prepared. The stay-at-home mom identity crisis is symptomatic of a society that instills young women with the sense that true worth comes from being independent, economically productive, and achieving their “potential” through self-improvement and increased output outside of the home. Few consider that a woman might do the most for the world and her legacy by staying home to raise her children. As a result, there is minimal effort by parents or formal educators to prepare women for the monumental task of motherhood.

I am not surprised so many women my age find motherhood unbearable and overwhelming—we come by it honestly. The current generation of mothers was raised, in large part, by women who rejected any semblance of femininity and traditional mores. Childrearing, we have been taught, is limiting, oppressive, and unfulfilling.”

Use the link in my bio to read the entire article. ♥️

Stay strong mamas! You are not alone.

Join Nicholas Cavazos and I tonight on The Meaning of Catholic to talk about one of my favorite topics-- abortion!

The Assent: Antiabortion Apologetics 101 Today Angela and Nicholas will be giving a crash course on antiabortion apologetics with live examples of how to use persuasive arguments in conversation. Su...

I think this one speaks for itself.

Stop finding things in school that kids don’t need the newest gadgets in classrooms. We don’t need to be sending billions of dollars in proxy wars.

We need to invest in the physical, mental, and emotional safety of our children.

Training and arming staff so our kids aren’t sitting ducks when domestic terrorists decide to enact evil would go a long way in protecting innocent lives.

Guns haven’t changed much over several decades, but our culture has. We have lost God. We have lots an understanding of the dignity of every human person.

We have to stop indulging the insanity and start being serious about doing everything we can to restore our homes and our institutions.

This might be an unpopular thought in the prolife world, but I actually agree with pro-choicers about this: you can’t be a feminist and anti-abortion.

In my early 20s carried the banner of “pro-life feminist” very proudly. My views changed a great deal when I left the workforce, & I realized how incongruent these things are.

What no one wants to talk about is that women in the workforce en masse is only possible because of abortion + contraception. Supporters of abortion see this instinctively. Pro-life activists want to pretend that women can “have/do it all.”

While I agree that women *can* do a great variety of things like work outside of the home and be a mother, we should be asking if women *should.* So much of life is about making choices— sometimes hard choices.

No matter how had we try, “feminism” cannot be baptized. & no— I don’t really care what “wave” of feminism you want to be associated with. The s*xual revolution was driven by feminism, & the earliest feminists laid the groundwork through sowing discontentment and division in the family— the very bedrock of society.

I’m not saying in some cases they weren’t addressing real issues because they were, but I can’t help but wonder if the overall approach has ultimately been more harmful than helpful.

“Prolife feminism” insinuates that you can freely and fully be engaged in motherhood while also be fully and freely working and cultivating a career. Women (more times than I can count even in my own personal life) realize how difficult it is to do both, especially with young kids to tend to. Being a total mom girlboss isn’t nearly as fulfilling as we have been told, and the day we realize how much we’ve missed out on with our young children in pursuit of a career… well that day is sobering. I’ve experienced it firsthand.

This is my view now, & I’m open to changing my mind or someone making a sound argument that can reconcile being anti-abortion with being a feminist.

At this time, I don’t thing there is a consistent or cohesive was to bring these two ideologies together.

What do you think?

“Awake, O Sleeper!”

We are in a battle for our souls and for the souls of our children.

I’m reminded of how the leaders from the 12 tribes of Israel came back from scouting the promised land and told the Israelites that they couldn’t overtake their adversaries— even though God promised them He would be with them. Only Joshua and Caleb had courage and trusted the Lord.

What happened was a devastating blow to the Chosen people who had been wandering for the last year+ since their miraculous escape from Egypt. They ended up passing the battle that was for their own generation onto their children. Their children were the ones who would fight and conquer the Promised Land nearly 40 years later.

We need a generation to reject the lies of feminism— a generation who will reclaim the lost wisdom and communities that are so vital for raising families.

A generation of women who will reclaim truth, beauty, and goodness.

A generation of women who will stop believing lies about who they are and how they must strive to “meet their potential” in a fleeting world.

We need a generation of mothers who love— and are equipped for— their vocation.

Our legacy is not our careers. Our legacy is with our children.

“Only be strong and of good courage!” (Joshua 1:18)

“These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

I have a lot of new followers here, and I realized I haven’t made a formal introduction since I restarted my IG for my podcast.

My name is Angela Erickson, and I’ve been blessed to be married to my best friend for almost a decade. We have 5 little kiddos, and one sweet soul that I hope to be reunited with in my eternal reward.

I’ve been an anti-abortion activist for over a decade, and I’m a public speaker, writer, and podcaster. I homeschool and am discovering the wise traditions of old that women historically have known. I also am a huge advocate for homebirth + living life as God intended.

My Catholic faith informs and shapes every aspect of my life.

I started my podcast at the encouragement of my husband in the beginning of 2022. My goal is to have a variety of philosophical and theological conversations that are relatable and accessible, regardless of your state in life, about current issues and the human condition.

I think the biggest driver for faithlessness in our culture is the disintegration of the human person as we have destroyed our understanding of the nature of man, and as a result, have often unwittingly adopted a dualistic and materialist understanding of who we are and the world around us.

I’m here to challenge that ideology, and my hope is that we can together strive for the proper integration of the body, mind, and soul so we can love, know, and serve God the best we can in this life and next.

Thank you for following me! I’ve been deeply humbled by the number of you who have shared with me the impact my podcast has had on your life. My tiny brain can hardly comprehend such goodness has come from this work!

To God be all the glory for ever and ever!

*also— I have almost zero pictures of me or pics of my entire family 🫠😅 hope you don’t mind me reusing some 😂