Jen Hatmaker, Christian author, speaker and self-proclaimed “worst end-of-school-year mom ever,” begins a new reality home renovation show with husband Brandon, Thursday (August 7) at 11 p.m. Eastern time on HGTV.
“My Big Family Renovation” follows the Hatmaker family as they sell their Austin, Texas, home and buy and renovate a 105-year-old farm house in need of major repair.
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HGTV begins airing “My Big Family Renovation” Thursday, August 7. The show features popular blogger and author Jen Hatmaker and her family as they renovate an old farmhouse. |
Hatmaker gained national notoriety when her 2013 blogpost on the rigors of mothering school-age children went viral, landing her an interview on NBC’s Today Show. The author of many Bible studies, including the bestselling B&H Publishing book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, is popular among many evangelical women.
She shared on her blog at jenhatmaker.com how she was initially hesitant about the opportunity on HGTV.
“When HGTV came knocking last summer, our little family was really wobbly,” the mother of five wrote. “As I’ve told you, my travel schedule had taken a real toll on our marriage and kids. We were super, super shaky. I, personally, was on the verge of disintegrating. … At the close of [filming the HGTV] show, Brandon and I sat down to evaluate the experience, and he looked me dead in the eyes and said, ‘This show saved us.’”
Hatmaker’s latest Bible study, Interrupted: An Adventure in Relearning the Essentials of Faith, is also available at LifeWay. Her husband founded and pastors Austin New Church, blogs at brandonhatmaker.com, and is the author of Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture. Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, wrote the book’s foreward.
Baptist Press featured the Hatmakers in a July 1, 2011 story on the couple’s challenges in adopting two Ethiopian children. The son and daughter, Ben and Remy, are now part of the Hatmaker family.
Steven Lerner, HGTV senior vice president of programming and production, predicts viewers will enjoy the show.
“We fell in love with the Hatmaker family right away,” Lerner said in an official HGTV statement. “They [Hatmakers] wanted to treat this farmhouse renovation as a fun, family adventure, and these are the reasons that viewers are going to enjoy this show.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE – Compiled by Diana Chandler, Baptist Press general assignment writer/ editor.)