June 16, 2025 • 33 mins
What would you do if your family’s faith and business beliefs suddenly landed you in the national spotlight—and a courtroom battle—and you still had to homeschool your children through it all?
In this episode of The Colorado Homeschool Podcast, “From Courtrooms to Classrooms: A Family’s Homeschool Story,” host Kashia Davis sits down with Lisa Eldrick, a second-generation homeschool mom whose story is as courageous as it is inspiring. As the daughter of Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cake Shop, Lisa’s family has navigated more than a decade of high-profile legal battles—all while running a family bakery and homeschooling her three daughters as a single mom.
Lisa shares her unique perspective on raising resilient, faith-filled children in the face of public scrutiny and real-world persecution. You’ll hear firsthand how her family’s convictions shaped their homeschooling journey, why community and authentic faith matter more than ever, and how to shepherd your own children through tough seasons. Lisa opens up about the practical ways she comforted her kids during trials, the powerful legacy of faith her parents modeled, and the simple, actionable strategies any homeschool parent can use to build a strong, Christ-centered family culture—even in the toughest of times.
Whether you’re a veteran homeschooler or just getting started, this episode offers a treasure trove of encouragement, real-life wisdom, and the reminder that you’re not alone—even when the journey gets hard.
If you’re looking for support, resources, and inspiration on your homeschooling journey, visit CHEC.org. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and share it with anyone who might benefit from the wisdom shared in this episode!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I started reading the Bible and I was like, what does it say about it?
And then after reading about that, well, what does it say about abortion? What does
it say about marriage? What does it say about raising my kids? And it was
just, I couldn't get enough. And that's how it felt. That's how it
impacted me immediately.
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
(00:23):
Interviewing experts, parents, parents, graduates,
all here to help you navigate this incredible journey called
homeschooling. And if you're looking for resources, tips and help,
go to CHEC.org you'll find what you need. In the meantime,
subscribe, follow along. Well, hello and welcome.
Thank you for joining us today. My name is Kasia Davis. I'm your
(00:46):
host for this interview today. And we are going to have a great
conversation with my new friend, Lisa Eldfrich.
Maybe you don't know that name, but you might know her father's name.
Her father is Jack Phillips, owner of
Masterpiece Cake Shop. So Lisa is a second
generation homeschool mom. She has three kids,
(01:09):
ages, what, 16 to 10. So you're in the thick. You've
got some fun ages and some fun things happening. But I'm going to pass it
right to Lisa and help her and let her kick it off and tell us
what happened that so drastically and dramatically
changed your family's life and what made us all know who Jack
Phillips is in 2012. Well,
(01:30):
thank you so much, Keisha. And I love that you said like,
fast friend when we were praying earlier because
I just, when I met you, I was so thankful that I got to meet
you. I was like, this is a lady I would love to know because you
just shine. Jesus. So your friends
so, so happy. Well, in 2012,
(01:53):
it was July 19th, we had two gay gentlemen
came into our shop and it was a really,
really busy day. And usually
myself or one of our other girls that were working there, we would handle
all the customers, but we were all really
busy. So I looked over at my dad and I was like, hey, dad, can
(02:14):
you handle, you know, can you take them? And they kind of wandered over wedding
desk, which doesn't necessarily mean they're here to get a wedding cake. It might mean
maybe they were brothers and getting a anniversary cake for their parents or
who knows? You just don't know. So my dad goes over, you know, he
introduces himself. Hey, I'm Jack. And. And they introduce themselves
and they sit down at the desk and my dad sits down and he goes,
(02:35):
what can I do for you? And they said, well, we need, we Need
a wedding cake, we're getting married. And so my dad, he
just real politely said, oh, I'm sorry guys, that's just something I can't
do. And they said, what? And he's like, ye, I, I
don't make cakes for same sex weddings. But I have, you know, I can make
you anything else that we make in our shop. You know, we have birthday cakes,
(02:57):
retirement, graduation, all that kind of stuff. This is just one
of the cakes I, I don't do. And what
happened then is they stood up, swore at him. One,
you know, flipped him off, walked out one door, the other walked out the other
door and my dad kind of stood up going, well, that was weird.
We have turned down, turned away same sex
(03:20):
wedding cakes before. So this wasn't the first time. It's not something
that happens very often, but it was the first time. The
reaction was so strong. And so my dad walked over and he and I kind
of made eye contact and he's like, that was, that was different. And I was
like, okay. And pretty soon he got a phone call and he said it
was the mother of one of the gentlemen and
(03:42):
she asked him, are you the one who just turned, turned away the,
the two gay men? My dad said, I didn't turn anybody
away. I just couldn't make the cake they were asking for. And she said
okay and hung up. So you can see the whole thing happened within like
20 seconds. It was very short. And then he
started getting phone calls almost immediately. Just hateful,
(04:04):
hateful calls. Every phone call that he picked up. And normally
we would answer the phone. And after just a couple, my dad looked at the
girls, he said, I don't want any of you answering the phone. I will be
the only one to answer the phone. And so, and normally my
dad's the kind of guy who, if he's here, we're open. So if he gets
here at 7 in the morning and we don't open till 10, the doors are
(04:25):
unlocked, he's open. If he's here till eight at night, we're still open.
But on this particular day it had been so hard with all the hate
that had come at him that at, at that time we were open till
6 o' clock and he, at 6 o' clock he stopped answering the phone,
locked the doors. He was like, that's enough for today. And
so it was just a instant wave of hate. And I remember
(04:48):
him, he said that he had to run to the grocery store on his way
home. And when he got there, he said he
felt that Everybody here hates him. He's like, everybody hates me.
You know, that's just how it felt because he'd been hearing it all day long
and he remembered earpiece. And then God just
gave him such peace as like, no, they hate me. They don't hate
(05:10):
you. And this is not your battle. And
my dad just like, it just the fear went
away. And for the last 12 and a half years,
he's never been afraid. And he's just been able to calmly and
amazingly peaceful go through all of this. And.
(05:31):
And because God just gave him everything he needed to handle it
and within such a short time. So that's how
it started. And it sounds like it started. And it started
strong and started quickly. The persecution. And you
said it already. This happened in 2012, almost 13 years ago. This summer
will be 13 years. And this battle is really still ongoing.
(05:53):
Right. I mean, you've had some victories, but then some continuing
attacks. As of right now,
nobody's suing us. Our last
court case that we went to court for was the last
time we went to court was in October, and we won. That
was at the Colorado State Supreme Court, and we won there.
(06:17):
So right now we're still, I mean,
we're still with attorneys and everything. Alliance Defending Freedom is our
attorneys and they have taken care of us for 12 years and not charged
my dad anything. And he always says, I couldn't even take a
lawyer to lunch, let alone to the, you know, United
States Supreme Court. So it's amazing. But yeah,
(06:39):
so. So, wow. So, yeah, it's. It's not
actively going right now, but it is because we are still, you know, if
my dad needs to speak somewhere, we still have attorneys, have to check thing.
It's just. So we're still in it? Yes. Yeah.
Well, I mean, the story is it made national
news. So a lot of people are very familiar with the Masterpiece cake shop
(07:02):
and have heard it. And I hate that you guys became the
token case. I know that there have been others, but
what I really want to talk to you about is from a homeschool
perspective, from a mom raising children who had two at the time. Right.
And now you have three. And they were young. I think you were just, what
did you say? She was 5, your oldest when this happened. Yeah.
(07:23):
So you were maybe four, you were just. Yeah, they
were, they were just getting into seeing all this
and family run business. So that's what I really want to talk to you about
is how this impacted you. Because I don't
own a cop a cake shop. I don't have a public facing business and
many of the homeschool families that are listening to this won't necessarily
(07:45):
either. But we are all training our children in the way
they should go. Right. And the world is. It's topsy
turvy right now, isn't it? Where truth is being touted as
a, as bigotry. And so. Yeah. So
let's talk about that from that standpoint of your children. And how
many siblings do you have? I have two siblings. I'm the
(08:07):
youngest. We're like stair steps where there's a
point in the year where we are one age away from each other. So we're
very, very close. Okay. Okay. So. And this is a
family run business. So you guys are very knit together and dealing with
this persecution together. So can you remember,
can you bring me back? Like I love. I almost got teary eyed when you
(08:29):
said your dad immediately was like, nobody else is allowed to answer the phone. Like
he stepped into the fire. Yeah. For you.
That is my dad. If I could even back up a little
bit. This wasn't the first time that we've been called
a bigot or the first time that we've
had to stand up for our faith in ways that.
(08:51):
Anyways, so I was homeschooled in the 80s,
early 90s. And back then of course in Colorado,
homeschool was just not really a thing. But my mom,
so my dad had my mom stay home to
homeschool us. And so he worked hard to make
sure that, you know, I've heard you say, like we're living a one
(09:14):
income family and a two income world. And thankfully back then
we rented a duplex that we had an incredible rent
for like a long time. Our landlord was amazing.
Just small gifts like that that God gave us so that my mom could stay
home with us. But we
had to stand up, you know, early. I
(09:36):
remember my mom even at a homeschool group, you know, because
she disagreed with another family because they were going
against something the Bible said. Then they called her a bigot. And I remember that
I was like third, fourth grade when I first heard my mom,
you know, but my mom, it hurts, but she, that
didn't make her waver. And my dad, you
(09:58):
know, we, we don't celebrate Halloween. And when we opened the shop, we
opened it in 1993 and my mom and dad laid out some things
that they, you know, what are we going to do and everything. And one of
the first things they decided and believe it or not, they had already chosen not
to do same sex Wedding cakes way
back in 1993. And it wasn't even on the radar of Colorado,
(10:20):
right. Even when the couple came in,
same sex marriage wasn't legal in Colorado. I mean, like, so
they were. God had given them this decision already way back in the
90s. And also they decided, you know, we're not
gonna. Since, you know, we don't celebrate Halloween. We just don't see,
I don't see it as something that Jesus would do.
(10:42):
And, and so we had to right from the
get go say, well, we're not gonna do Halloween cakes. And
what's crazy about that is in the bakery business, Halloween is
like Christmas to everywhere else. It's one of the biggest
holidays. And we opened our shop in September
of 93. So Halloween was the following month. And so we were
(11:04):
tested like right away, if we're going to do this, our business
just might not even make it through till Christmas because, you know, we're giving up
what is, you know, we're just opening. We should do everything
to get us more business. And so. But of course, God
carried us through and honored, you know, I think because
we honored him. I know because my parents honored him.
(11:27):
And anyway, so I saw my parents model it from
when I was young, just, they just did. They
modeled it for my brother, sister and I and that was just our life. And
I was used to being not able to do what other
kids might be able to do.
And you know, I would when I was younger, you know,
(11:50):
sometimes I didn't like it or whatever, but I look back, I'm so thankful, you
know, because I just look back at the decisions they made and they made it
because they wanted us to follow the Lord. And they, and giving us this,
these small steps when we were younger made it so that when my
dad said, said no, I can't make that cake to that
couple, he wasn't like, this is a big deal. What am I going
(12:11):
to say? He was acting in obedience. This was who he was. This is, he's
follows the Lord. He's got to do what God tells him to. And
so it wasn't like, what am I going to say? He'd been saying it
forever, you know, since he'd become a Christian. And both he and my mom became
Christians after my brother and sister were born, before I was
born. So they were late coming into
(12:34):
Christianity, but man, they have lived it out since, since then. So.
Oh, I love, I love that I, I'm a first
generation believer. My family are still not believers.
And to see the quick impact and to see
an authentic life changed is really inspiring. But I was
just having a conversation with somebody where we were talking about how, you know, we
(12:55):
want to train our children to. To go and to walk with the Lord. But
there is no forcing anybody to. They have to have
a personal relationship. But oftentimes that faith can be
caught because we're being authentic. And that's what I'm hearing you say is
your dad was authentic. That was who he was. It wasn't surprising when he was
like, I'm so sorry, I can't make that cake for you, because it went against
(13:17):
who he was and what he believed. Right, right.
So how have you. What. Tell me how that has impacted you in
your. Your family's life, with your children, as
your going through this very long, drawn out
trial, which, like you said, just opening your cake shop, you guys were
faced with. We're gonna stand on this conviction to not make Halloween
(13:39):
cakes and see if the Lord blesses. Clearly his hand has been on
your business. And now not doing wedding cakes
because. Of this, it immediately impacted my faith
because at that point, when they came into the cake shop
back in 2012, I definitely would have told them no
as well, because I was under the umbrella of my dad.
(14:02):
So I'm at the cake shop. It's safe. This is what dad
believes. And so I can say it easily if they have a problem. Hey, dad,
come out here. Like, I didn't have to worry about me outside of the
shop, but when that happened, it really. I
was like, what would I say if I had? Because I saw the
immediate reaction this time. I was like, what would I
(14:24):
say? What does the Bible say? Would I say, like, say I have
a gay friend and they want me to go
to their wedding. Would I say no or yes? Would I
pretend like it's not a big deal? Would I live my Christian faith while
I'm in the eyes of my parents or while I'm.
Anyway, so a whole lot happened to me. And I went home that night and
(14:46):
I opened my Bible. I was like, what does it say about homosexuality? Because up
until this point, I felt like I had just been like, I know I'm saved.
Like, I got saved when I was seven. I've never doubted that I've been saved,
but I felt like up until this point, I was sleepwalking. Like, I was. I
was not. I was not living out my faith. God
was definitely not Lord of my life that
(15:09):
anybody could see. And so I started reading the Bible and I was like, what
does it say about it? And then after reading about that, well, what does
it say about abortion? What does it say about marriage? What does it say about
raising my kids? And it was just, I couldn't get enough. And that's, that's how
it felt. That's how it impacted me immediately. Because I knew
if I had not been under my parents and been asked the same question, I
(15:29):
would have been like, oh, yeah, I'll go to your wedding or whatever. I'll support
that. And that is not what the Bible says. And
I realized, huh, I'm saying I'm a Christian. I am,
but I am. Who would know? Who would know outside of,
you know, who my family was? And so I really had to start figuring out,
is this what I believe? And thank the
(15:51):
Lord it is what I believe. And I do love the Lord so much that
he just. I was, I couldn't get enough. And at that time,
we were not homeschooling yet. We started
homeschooling nine years ago. And through
all of this, I won't go
into detail right now, but I did lose my marriage
(16:13):
through all of our court case stuff.
But one of the best ways that I could see how it's impacted my
children and I is the day before we started
homeschooling is when my
ex husband left us. And if we,
if I had been still sending them to a school, even a great Christian
(16:36):
school or anything, if they had to be away from me during that time and
with all the court case stuff, it would have been too much. God
was so faithful to make sure that they were with me. They could have
hugs anytime they needed. If they were emotionally overwhelmed, we could just stop
and, you know, they got to be with Grandma and Grandpa. And even though the
court case and everything, they got to see Grandma and grandpa model how
(16:57):
to be strong but peaceful
and to pray for our enemies. Like, it was
a wonderful impact. If I could say, I don't know, my kids would
not be so strong in the Lord now if this all hadn't happened. Neither
would I. I just. It blows my mind. And
(17:17):
I think maybe it's because American Christianity is like, it's going to be
good, it's going to be perfect. You're going to be so blessed. But that's not
real Christianity. When you read the Bible countless times, we
see people who go through suffering. And you and I were talking about Joseph and
how he was thrown into prison, betrayed by his brothers, falsely
accused, then left there, even though people made promises to him
(17:40):
and the Lord and when he had a chance to avenge his Brothers. Instead,
he said, what you meant for evil, God used for good. And that
is the beautiful thing I'm hearing you say the
testimony of how your faith needed to become real and
authentic to you. Absolutely. And how did you. So you
said, gosh, just the day to day. Can you think back to.
(18:03):
And even still, because I know it's still fairly fresh
because the court process can be so long and tedious.
How did you practically comfort your children? Was there a
time when they were like, what do they call your dad? Do they call them
grandpa or papa? Grandpa. Yep, Grandpa. Do they say
Grandpa? Just, you don't have to fight this battle. Was there ever that
(18:24):
fear that you had to help them through? You're like, no way.
No. What was their reaction then? It's like learning
English. Okay. You. When you're born in an English speaking
family, you just grow up speaking it, right? And that's what
it. It's been in our family. It's been. You just speak.
(18:45):
Facing persecution. It's just a normal part of my girls.
In my life. It has been very. Norma. Um, back when.
So I. I was rethinking and it was. It was Summit, I think
was. She was almost four when it started. My
oldest, so she was even younger than I was telling you. I was trying to
think back. Um, but she within
(19:07):
between three and four years old or somewhere in there.
My dad so ever was up
in like a storage room in her little pack and play
sound asleep because she was just the baby. And Summit and I were
downstairs in our lower part of the cake shop working on some stuff.
And my dad came down and he just looked at me serious and he
(19:30):
said, lisa, I want you and Summit, you stay down here. Don't come
upstairs for anything. And he says, somebody just called me and they're on
their way to blow my head off. That's what they told me. And I need
you to stay down here. Do not. Do not come upstairs no matter what happens.
And I was like, okay. And of course he called the cops, but the
person was calling him constantly, giving him new updates on where he
(19:52):
was where, what street he's on, you know, as he's getting closer
to the shop. And so obviously
that's terrifying. And terrifying, I think,
crazy. It is crazy. But Summit. So we were just
down there and we just kind of sat together and we were praying. And Summit
goes, why does somebody want to kill Grandpa? And I said,
(20:14):
well, because he loves Jesus. And they don't like that. And she
says, okay. And so, like, that was her first. I
Think personal encounter with
having to. And I mean, she still
remembers it to this day. And.
But that was like the quick mom
(20:35):
explanation. You know, you do those things when, you know, you're homeschooling.
You're like, okay, I'm not going to go into detail about homosexuality and what the
Bible says and blah, blah, blah. And I. You know, it's like, well, he loves
Jesus. Some people don't like that, you know, and it was just like. And I
felt like. And that's what we've been doing this whole time is
whenever these situations come up or whatever, you just give
(20:57):
them the simple answer. And
obviously nobody came and killed my dad, and he's okay, so we're good
there. So. Wow. So in that moment, did you. So you guys
prayed? You prayed with her? Yeah. And were there other
moments where you did feel like, well, there's some fear and we need to deal
with this. Did they go to court with you and see this played out in
(21:17):
person? Yeah. So they've gotten to see so much. I
mean, there's like, my dad wrote a book, and
someday I need to write a book from my perspective, or maybe
my kids will write a book from their perspective because the amount of things they've
seen. And they sometimes are just the silent watchers
because they're always up in our front room, and so they've seen people
(21:40):
spit on our windows or, you know, come in and yell
obscenities at my dad or whatever. I
remember one time we had two people come in and they were just.
I don't know if they were.
Well, I'm just going to say possessed or maybe
drugged out or. I don't know. But they hated my dad with such a
(22:02):
vengeance. It was like you could see it in their skin. I don't know how
to describe it, but they came up and they were filming
us while they were asking us questions. And so I had my dad come over
because it was just him and I. And all I kept saying was like, are
you okay? Do you. Do you need something? Like, just because they were
so hateful that I. I don't know. But my
(22:24):
girls were sitting right there watching the whole thing. And, you know,
when they finally left, it was like looking at my girls and they're just like,
whoa. And it's like, yeah, let's pray because. And I mean, obviously
while they were in the room, we were praying. You know, you're just like, whatever
this is that they brought in, we need to pray. And
so the girls have seen that, like, yeah. So they've
(22:46):
seen a lot. Wow. Yeah.
So I'm listening to you and I'm thinking, gosh, a lot of us are not
going to relate to some people coming and calling and giving them a blow by
blow. I'm on this street. I'm coming with a gun to shoot you. But
we are seeing right now a lot of
persecution in our world. I mean, when we're recording this, just last week, there was
(23:08):
a slaughter of Christians in Syria.
And now, granted, we're not in Syria, we're in America. But in
America, just truth is being
undermined. And like you said, just the simplicity of what God says
and the way God ordains family and the way God ordains this
order, a lot of people are kicking against that. And so
(23:30):
your children are seeing that. And have you seen them? And because now they're 16
down to 10. Right, right. And again, we are trying to train
up our children in the way they should go. We're talking about leadership. And how
do you help your children step into leaders? So can you think of some
practical. It sounds like you had no choice, right? They
had to step into it, right?
(23:52):
Well, you know, it's kind of like the same when people come up and
they're like, I don't know if I could homeschool my kids. And I'm like, you
taught them to walk. Like, you've been homeschooling them since they were born.
Like, you've been planning their life since they were in your tummy. Like,
you're. You're already doing it. So the only thing is adding a couple of
academic books. And thankfully, nowadays there's so much, so
(24:14):
many resources, you don't even have to be like, the world's best teacher, you
know, but that's what it's like, you know, Oh, I wouldn't know how
to teach them. That is because they're already growing up in it.
And I'm so thankful that I have my mom and dad and my sister, my
sister and my brother. So both my brother and sister. My brother
is just about to graduate from seminary. He lives in California
(24:36):
with his wife and son. And then my sister is a missionary up in
Canada, in Montreal, with child evangelism fellowship. And
so through all of this, even though they've been far away, they've been
backing us with prayer. And you sent me questions and ideas of
topics we would talk about. And I sent it to my sister because
she knows me better than anybody. And she also is just
(24:58):
so gifted in organization. And she's
the director there in Montreal. And so she's, she
just loves the Lord. And I've had these people in my
life to influence my kids. So when we're teaching them about
leadership, I'm mom and so what
I say goes. But I have all these strong
(25:21):
wise people behind me, helping me to know what to
say. That's going to be the law in our house. And
yeah, my, so my kids, they, we love to
witness to the other kids in our neighborhood. Right now there's really no kids. It's
kind of sad. We're kind of on a slump right now. But that's okay. Kids
will come. But my, you know, my youngest,
(25:44):
she's led a little neighborhood kid to the Lord just from
being friends, inviting them to our home and just things like that. My,
my oldest, she does youth missions each
summer and she goes out and teaches kids Bible clubs and
stuff. And then ever she did it last year. But they're all,
you know, they help in Awana summits. The worship
(26:07):
leader at Awana ever helps with the little cubbies. She just loves the
preschoolers and just all of they have something
that's just exceptional. And it's because they're,
I don't know, they. Sometimes I say I got it really
easy raising my kids in this environment
because they've. I can't even believe you would say that. Wow.
(26:29):
Well, I mean, I would have had to do training on my
own. You know, thankfully though, I don't think anybody
has to do it on their own. God has surrounded us. You know, sometimes we
just have to go and find those wise people and you know,
the iron sharpens iron and we be careful of who we're yoked with. And
I tell my kids when God says to, not to be unequally yoked, that doesn't
(26:51):
just mean in marriage, that means in who we're confident, our
confidants and you know, who we seek advice from. They better be
pushing us towards the Lord. And so, I
don't know, somebody told me a long time ago to surround your kids with a
few other adults that you trust because one day they're
not going to talk to you. But if they've built these relationships with these
(27:12):
adults, they'll, they'll talk to them. And so like I've just always
tried to do that. That was the best advice I think I ever got because
just trying to make sure that the adults in my kids lives care that
they walk with the Lord and you know, challenge them to do that. And
then, you know, I don't know. So
Lisa, I Love it. Everything that you're saying, it's. It's so interesting. Like I said,
(27:34):
I can't believe you would say that. It was so great. And you're so blessed
to be in this situation because you're in the fiery furnace. You are.
But you're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, not just from the Bible, but
in real life with flesh. Praise the Lord. And that. That
testimony is obviously evident in your children
also being little evangelists and going out and sharing. It makes me think of
(27:56):
Revelations where it says they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word
of their testimony. Your children at 16, 13, and 10.
Is that right? Yep. Did I get the ages right? Yes, you did. Those
sweet young ages already have a testimony and a
witness. And. Yeah. Lisa, you're a delight. I really
appreciate everything you have to say. And I just want to add one little note.
(28:18):
You mentioned that your marriage, that you lost your husband right before
you started homeschooling, and that is where I met you, is that
we do an outreach called Caster Line Banquet, which was named after the family
that started this. It's just an outreach to single moms. Because
what you're saying is the most true. It's true. I think for single
moms and also families is find community. Find
(28:41):
community that will be iron sharpening iron. That's going to exhort you to continue
to stay strong and circle around you in order to
stir you up towards good works. Right, Right. And it
sounds like I love your community. Yes, me too.
I love it. I've heard the, you know, it takes a village to raise
a child, but I've seen the village, and I don't want them raising my kid.
(29:03):
That may be true of, like most out there, but I am glad I have
found a little village that does a really good job raising
my children with me. But I did want to. If it's okay, I'd like to
say one more thing about my marriage, please. Just the
man that left us nine years ago, he and I
would both tell you now that man is dead. And God has
(29:25):
worked so much in our lives. Mike, he's the
just, the most wonderful father to my daughters. He's a wonderful friend
to me. And he.
He worked so hard to be close with
us. I have full custody. I always have.
(29:45):
And he was completely on board with
homeschooling because we had talked about it before he left. And
still to this day, he is so thankful that we homeschool. Just so,
you know, we can breaks and stuff. He can come see the
girls or, you know, they can go over and see him, and we don't have
to worry about school schedules and stuff. I mean, it has made it
(30:07):
anyway, very cool. So I just wanted to make sure. Yeah. And they just love
him so much, so. Oh, that's awesome. And
again, it's the same thing. The Lord can redeem. He's totally able. He's on the
throne. He uses those things. Wow. Well, awesome.
I feel like we could. There's so many more things we can unpack, and maybe
we'll get to hear more of your story down the road. Thank you for being
(30:28):
a guest today. As we wrap up today, we're asking all of our
homeschool moms, what would you say is one
great, the best. Or.
Good homeschool tip that you received, whether it
pertains to this topic or not?
Oh, man. I know. Yeah. Put everybody on the spot at the last.
(30:53):
Well, one funny tip would be it doesn't matter how cute your little
homeschool room is, you're always going to end up at the couch. That I learned
when I was a kid. And I know it's true now, so, so
careful. That's tr. Invest in those school rooms because the couch.
Invest in good soft pillows and blankets because that's where you're going to do most
school. But it doesn't have to be perfect.
(31:15):
Every. And one thing I've realized just from being in the cake
shop, too, is everybody has a story. I have a story.
But somebody else who we've never heard of also has an
intense story. And each one of us, we need
encouragement from other moms. We need to not be judged. We
need to not judge other moms. I remember I was the perfect
(31:38):
mother until I had kids. And.
Exactly. That's how it is. And so sometimes just
making sure we give grace to other moms because
they're trying to survive the same way we all are.
And just. Yeah, I think having friends,
(31:58):
having somebody in your life like my parents or my sister, being able to
tell you you're doing good. Keep, keep, keep going. You're. This is worth it.
So it doesn't have to be perfect. That
is a great way to end our conversation. His mercies are new
every morning. His grace is sufficient. Amen. And amen.
Lisa, thank you for being with us today and thank you for our
(32:21):
audience. Thanks for joining us. I'm gonna put the link to the
masterpiece cake shop if you guys want to go check them out. They're up in
Lakewood, right? Yep. Yep. All right.
Yeah. No what were you gonna say? I was gonna say you
could put the link up. Our attorneys back during COVID they made
an online store for us which to help us stay
(32:43):
afloat, and that's masterpiececakeshop store.
So sometimes our website and the store website get mixed
up, but either one or both you could put up. People can navigate, but
sometimes it gets confusing, but. So anyway, I'll put both. We'll link
those. That's awesome. Because if somebody hears this out of state, maybe they'll order some
cookies. Maybe they'll order some brownies. I don't know. Yeah, I love it.
(33:06):
Okay. Thanks again, Lisa. Thank you, Keisha. This was
wonderful. I had such a fun time. Thank you so much. Thank you so much
for joining us today. The Colorado Homeschool podcast is a
ministry of Christian Home Educators of Colorado. We have been
motivating parents to disciple the next generation by embracing
home discipleship that is Christ centered, parent directed, and free
(33:28):
from government control. We invite you to join us in this mission. You
want to support homeschooling in Colorado? Go to CHEC.org
donate in the meantime, share this with your friends and make sure
you subscribe. That really helps us. Thank you.
(33:48):
Brought to you by the podcast upload.com empowering faith
driven voices.
I started reading the Bible and I was like, what does it say about it?
And then after reading about that, well, what does it say about abortion? What does
it say about marriage? What does it say about raising my kids? And it was
just, I couldn't get enough. And that's how it felt. That's how it
impacted me immediately.
Welcome. It's the Colorado Homeschool Podcast.
(00:23):
Interviewing experts, parents, parents, graduates,
all here to help you navigate this incredible journey called
homeschooling. And if you're looking for resources, tips and help,
go to CHEC.org you'll find what you need. In the meantime,
subscribe, follow along. Well, hello and welcome.
Thank you for joining us today. My name is Kasia Davis. I'm your
(00:46):
host for this interview today. And we are going to have a great
conversation with my new friend, Lisa Eldfrich.
Maybe you don't know that name, but you might know her father's name.
Her father is Jack Phillips, owner of
Masterpiece Cake Shop. So Lisa is a second
generation homeschool mom. She has three kids,
(01:09):
ages, what, 16 to 10. So you're in the thick. You've
got some fun ages and some fun things happening. But I'm going to pass it
right to Lisa and help her and let her kick it off and tell us
what happened that so drastically and dramatically
changed your family's life and what made us all know who Jack
Phillips is in 2012. Well,
(01:30):
thank you so much, Keisha. And I love that you said like,
fast friend when we were praying earlier because
I just, when I met you, I was so thankful that I got to meet
you. I was like, this is a lady I would love to know because you
just shine. Jesus. So your friends
so, so happy. Well, in 2012,
(01:53):
it was July 19th, we had two gay gentlemen
came into our shop and it was a really,
really busy day. And usually
myself or one of our other girls that were working there, we would handle
all the customers, but we were all really
busy. So I looked over at my dad and I was like, hey, dad, can
(02:14):
you handle, you know, can you take them? And they kind of wandered over wedding
desk, which doesn't necessarily mean they're here to get a wedding cake. It might mean
maybe they were brothers and getting a anniversary cake for their parents or
who knows? You just don't know. So my dad goes over, you know, he
introduces himself. Hey, I'm Jack. And. And they introduce themselves
and they sit down at the desk and my dad sits down and he goes,
(02:35):
what can I do for you? And they said, well, we need, we Need
a wedding cake, we're getting married. And so my dad, he
just real politely said, oh, I'm sorry guys, that's just something I can't
do. And they said, what? And he's like, ye, I, I
don't make cakes for same sex weddings. But I have, you know, I can make
you anything else that we make in our shop. You know, we have birthday cakes,
(02:57):
retirement, graduation, all that kind of stuff. This is just one
of the cakes I, I don't do. And what
happened then is they stood up, swore at him. One,
you know, flipped him off, walked out one door, the other walked out the other
door and my dad kind of stood up going, well, that was weird.
We have turned down, turned away same sex
(03:20):
wedding cakes before. So this wasn't the first time. It's not something
that happens very often, but it was the first time. The
reaction was so strong. And so my dad walked over and he and I kind
of made eye contact and he's like, that was, that was different. And I was
like, okay. And pretty soon he got a phone call and he said it
was the mother of one of the gentlemen and
(03:42):
she asked him, are you the one who just turned, turned away the,
the two gay men? My dad said, I didn't turn anybody
away. I just couldn't make the cake they were asking for. And she said
okay and hung up. So you can see the whole thing happened within like
20 seconds. It was very short. And then he
started getting phone calls almost immediately. Just hateful,
(04:04):
hateful calls. Every phone call that he picked up. And normally
we would answer the phone. And after just a couple, my dad looked at the
girls, he said, I don't want any of you answering the phone. I will be
the only one to answer the phone. And so, and normally my
dad's the kind of guy who, if he's here, we're open. So if he gets
here at 7 in the morning and we don't open till 10, the doors are
(04:25):
unlocked, he's open. If he's here till eight at night, we're still open.
But on this particular day it had been so hard with all the hate
that had come at him that at, at that time we were open till
6 o' clock and he, at 6 o' clock he stopped answering the phone,
locked the doors. He was like, that's enough for today. And
so it was just a instant wave of hate. And I remember
(04:48):
him, he said that he had to run to the grocery store on his way
home. And when he got there, he said he
felt that Everybody here hates him. He's like, everybody hates me.
You know, that's just how it felt because he'd been hearing it all day long
and he remembered earpiece. And then God just
gave him such peace as like, no, they hate me. They don't hate
(05:10):
you. And this is not your battle. And
my dad just like, it just the fear went
away. And for the last 12 and a half years,
he's never been afraid. And he's just been able to calmly and
amazingly peaceful go through all of this. And.
(05:31):
And because God just gave him everything he needed to handle it
and within such a short time. So that's how
it started. And it sounds like it started. And it started
strong and started quickly. The persecution. And you
said it already. This happened in 2012, almost 13 years ago. This summer
will be 13 years. And this battle is really still ongoing.
(05:53):
Right. I mean, you've had some victories, but then some continuing
attacks. As of right now,
nobody's suing us. Our last
court case that we went to court for was the last
time we went to court was in October, and we won. That
was at the Colorado State Supreme Court, and we won there.
(06:17):
So right now we're still, I mean,
we're still with attorneys and everything. Alliance Defending Freedom is our
attorneys and they have taken care of us for 12 years and not charged
my dad anything. And he always says, I couldn't even take a
lawyer to lunch, let alone to the, you know, United
States Supreme Court. So it's amazing. But yeah,
(06:39):
so. So, wow. So, yeah, it's. It's not
actively going right now, but it is because we are still, you know, if
my dad needs to speak somewhere, we still have attorneys, have to check thing.
It's just. So we're still in it? Yes. Yeah.
Well, I mean, the story is it made national
news. So a lot of people are very familiar with the Masterpiece cake shop
(07:02):
and have heard it. And I hate that you guys became the
token case. I know that there have been others, but
what I really want to talk to you about is from a homeschool
perspective, from a mom raising children who had two at the time. Right.
And now you have three. And they were young. I think you were just, what
did you say? She was 5, your oldest when this happened. Yeah.
(07:23):
So you were maybe four, you were just. Yeah, they
were, they were just getting into seeing all this
and family run business. So that's what I really want to talk to you about
is how this impacted you. Because I don't
own a cop a cake shop. I don't have a public facing business and
many of the homeschool families that are listening to this won't necessarily
(07:45):
either. But we are all training our children in the way
they should go. Right. And the world is. It's topsy
turvy right now, isn't it? Where truth is being touted as
a, as bigotry. And so. Yeah. So
let's talk about that from that standpoint of your children. And how
many siblings do you have? I have two siblings. I'm the
(08:07):
youngest. We're like stair steps where there's a
point in the year where we are one age away from each other. So we're
very, very close. Okay. Okay. So. And this is a
family run business. So you guys are very knit together and dealing with
this persecution together. So can you remember,
can you bring me back? Like I love. I almost got teary eyed when you
(08:29):
said your dad immediately was like, nobody else is allowed to answer the phone. Like
he stepped into the fire. Yeah. For you.
That is my dad. If I could even back up a little
bit. This wasn't the first time that we've been called
a bigot or the first time that we've
had to stand up for our faith in ways that.
(08:51):
Anyways, so I was homeschooled in the 80s,
early 90s. And back then of course in Colorado,
homeschool was just not really a thing. But my mom,
so my dad had my mom stay home to
homeschool us. And so he worked hard to make
sure that, you know, I've heard you say, like we're living a one
(09:14):
income family and a two income world. And thankfully back then
we rented a duplex that we had an incredible rent
for like a long time. Our landlord was amazing.
Just small gifts like that that God gave us so that my mom could stay
home with us. But we
had to stand up, you know, early. I
(09:36):
remember my mom even at a homeschool group, you know, because
she disagreed with another family because they were going
against something the Bible said. Then they called her a bigot. And I remember that
I was like third, fourth grade when I first heard my mom,
you know, but my mom, it hurts, but she, that
didn't make her waver. And my dad, you
(09:58):
know, we, we don't celebrate Halloween. And when we opened the shop, we
opened it in 1993 and my mom and dad laid out some things
that they, you know, what are we going to do and everything. And one of
the first things they decided and believe it or not, they had already chosen not
to do same sex Wedding cakes way
back in 1993. And it wasn't even on the radar of Colorado,
(10:20):
right. Even when the couple came in,
same sex marriage wasn't legal in Colorado. I mean, like, so
they were. God had given them this decision already way back in the
90s. And also they decided, you know, we're not
gonna. Since, you know, we don't celebrate Halloween. We just don't see,
I don't see it as something that Jesus would do.
(10:42):
And, and so we had to right from the
get go say, well, we're not gonna do Halloween cakes. And
what's crazy about that is in the bakery business, Halloween is
like Christmas to everywhere else. It's one of the biggest
holidays. And we opened our shop in September
of 93. So Halloween was the following month. And so we were
(11:04):
tested like right away, if we're going to do this, our business
just might not even make it through till Christmas because, you know, we're giving up
what is, you know, we're just opening. We should do everything
to get us more business. And so. But of course, God
carried us through and honored, you know, I think because
we honored him. I know because my parents honored him.
(11:27):
And anyway, so I saw my parents model it from
when I was young, just, they just did. They
modeled it for my brother, sister and I and that was just our life. And
I was used to being not able to do what other
kids might be able to do.
And you know, I would when I was younger, you know,
(11:50):
sometimes I didn't like it or whatever, but I look back, I'm so thankful, you
know, because I just look back at the decisions they made and they made it
because they wanted us to follow the Lord. And they, and giving us this,
these small steps when we were younger made it so that when my
dad said, said no, I can't make that cake to that
couple, he wasn't like, this is a big deal. What am I going
(12:11):
to say? He was acting in obedience. This was who he was. This is, he's
follows the Lord. He's got to do what God tells him to. And
so it wasn't like, what am I going to say? He'd been saying it
forever, you know, since he'd become a Christian. And both he and my mom became
Christians after my brother and sister were born, before I was
born. So they were late coming into
(12:34):
Christianity, but man, they have lived it out since, since then. So.
Oh, I love, I love that I, I'm a first
generation believer. My family are still not believers.
And to see the quick impact and to see
an authentic life changed is really inspiring. But I was
just having a conversation with somebody where we were talking about how, you know, we
(12:55):
want to train our children to. To go and to walk with the Lord. But
there is no forcing anybody to. They have to have
a personal relationship. But oftentimes that faith can be
caught because we're being authentic. And that's what I'm hearing you say is
your dad was authentic. That was who he was. It wasn't surprising when he was
like, I'm so sorry, I can't make that cake for you, because it went against
(13:17):
who he was and what he believed. Right, right.
So how have you. What. Tell me how that has impacted you in
your. Your family's life, with your children, as
your going through this very long, drawn out
trial, which, like you said, just opening your cake shop, you guys were
faced with. We're gonna stand on this conviction to not make Halloween
(13:39):
cakes and see if the Lord blesses. Clearly his hand has been on
your business. And now not doing wedding cakes
because. Of this, it immediately impacted my faith
because at that point, when they came into the cake shop
back in 2012, I definitely would have told them no
as well, because I was under the umbrella of my dad.
(14:02):
So I'm at the cake shop. It's safe. This is what dad
believes. And so I can say it easily if they have a problem. Hey, dad,
come out here. Like, I didn't have to worry about me outside of the
shop, but when that happened, it really. I
was like, what would I say if I had? Because I saw the
immediate reaction this time. I was like, what would I
(14:24):
say? What does the Bible say? Would I say, like, say I have
a gay friend and they want me to go
to their wedding. Would I say no or yes? Would I
pretend like it's not a big deal? Would I live my Christian faith while
I'm in the eyes of my parents or while I'm.
Anyway, so a whole lot happened to me. And I went home that night and
(14:46):
I opened my Bible. I was like, what does it say about homosexuality? Because up
until this point, I felt like I had just been like, I know I'm saved.
Like, I got saved when I was seven. I've never doubted that I've been saved,
but I felt like up until this point, I was sleepwalking. Like, I was. I
was not. I was not living out my faith. God
was definitely not Lord of my life that
(15:09):
anybody could see. And so I started reading the Bible and I was like, what
does it say about it? And then after reading about that, well, what does
it say about abortion? What does it say about marriage? What does it say about
raising my kids? And it was just, I couldn't get enough. And that's, that's how
it felt. That's how it impacted me immediately. Because I knew
if I had not been under my parents and been asked the same question, I
(15:29):
would have been like, oh, yeah, I'll go to your wedding or whatever. I'll support
that. And that is not what the Bible says. And
I realized, huh, I'm saying I'm a Christian. I am,
but I am. Who would know? Who would know outside of,
you know, who my family was? And so I really had to start figuring out,
is this what I believe? And thank the
(15:51):
Lord it is what I believe. And I do love the Lord so much that
he just. I was, I couldn't get enough. And at that time,
we were not homeschooling yet. We started
homeschooling nine years ago. And through
all of this, I won't go
into detail right now, but I did lose my marriage
(16:13):
through all of our court case stuff.
But one of the best ways that I could see how it's impacted my
children and I is the day before we started
homeschooling is when my
ex husband left us. And if we,
if I had been still sending them to a school, even a great Christian
(16:36):
school or anything, if they had to be away from me during that time and
with all the court case stuff, it would have been too much. God
was so faithful to make sure that they were with me. They could have
hugs anytime they needed. If they were emotionally overwhelmed, we could just stop
and, you know, they got to be with Grandma and Grandpa. And even though the
court case and everything, they got to see Grandma and grandpa model how
(16:57):
to be strong but peaceful
and to pray for our enemies. Like, it was
a wonderful impact. If I could say, I don't know, my kids would
not be so strong in the Lord now if this all hadn't happened. Neither
would I. I just. It blows my mind. And
(17:17):
I think maybe it's because American Christianity is like, it's going to be
good, it's going to be perfect. You're going to be so blessed. But that's not
real Christianity. When you read the Bible countless times, we
see people who go through suffering. And you and I were talking about Joseph and
how he was thrown into prison, betrayed by his brothers, falsely
accused, then left there, even though people made promises to him
(17:40):
and the Lord and when he had a chance to avenge his Brothers. Instead,
he said, what you meant for evil, God used for good. And that
is the beautiful thing I'm hearing you say the
testimony of how your faith needed to become real and
authentic to you. Absolutely. And how did you. So you
said, gosh, just the day to day. Can you think back to.
(18:03):
And even still, because I know it's still fairly fresh
because the court process can be so long and tedious.
How did you practically comfort your children? Was there a
time when they were like, what do they call your dad? Do they call them
grandpa or papa? Grandpa. Yep, Grandpa. Do they say
Grandpa? Just, you don't have to fight this battle. Was there ever that
(18:24):
fear that you had to help them through? You're like, no way.
No. What was their reaction then? It's like learning
English. Okay. You. When you're born in an English speaking
family, you just grow up speaking it, right? And that's what
it. It's been in our family. It's been. You just speak.
(18:45):
Facing persecution. It's just a normal part of my girls.
In my life. It has been very. Norma. Um, back when.
So I. I was rethinking and it was. It was Summit, I think
was. She was almost four when it started. My
oldest, so she was even younger than I was telling you. I was trying to
think back. Um, but she within
(19:07):
between three and four years old or somewhere in there.
My dad so ever was up
in like a storage room in her little pack and play
sound asleep because she was just the baby. And Summit and I were
downstairs in our lower part of the cake shop working on some stuff.
And my dad came down and he just looked at me serious and he
(19:30):
said, lisa, I want you and Summit, you stay down here. Don't come
upstairs for anything. And he says, somebody just called me and they're on
their way to blow my head off. That's what they told me. And I need
you to stay down here. Do not. Do not come upstairs no matter what happens.
And I was like, okay. And of course he called the cops, but the
person was calling him constantly, giving him new updates on where he
(19:52):
was where, what street he's on, you know, as he's getting closer
to the shop. And so obviously
that's terrifying. And terrifying, I think,
crazy. It is crazy. But Summit. So we were just
down there and we just kind of sat together and we were praying. And Summit
goes, why does somebody want to kill Grandpa? And I said,
(20:14):
well, because he loves Jesus. And they don't like that. And she
says, okay. And so, like, that was her first. I
Think personal encounter with
having to. And I mean, she still
remembers it to this day. And.
But that was like the quick mom
(20:35):
explanation. You know, you do those things when, you know, you're homeschooling.
You're like, okay, I'm not going to go into detail about homosexuality and what the
Bible says and blah, blah, blah. And I. You know, it's like, well, he loves
Jesus. Some people don't like that, you know, and it was just like. And I
felt like. And that's what we've been doing this whole time is
whenever these situations come up or whatever, you just give
(20:57):
them the simple answer. And
obviously nobody came and killed my dad, and he's okay, so we're good
there. So. Wow. So in that moment, did you. So you guys
prayed? You prayed with her? Yeah. And were there other
moments where you did feel like, well, there's some fear and we need to deal
with this. Did they go to court with you and see this played out in
(21:17):
person? Yeah. So they've gotten to see so much. I
mean, there's like, my dad wrote a book, and
someday I need to write a book from my perspective, or maybe
my kids will write a book from their perspective because the amount of things they've
seen. And they sometimes are just the silent watchers
because they're always up in our front room, and so they've seen people
(21:40):
spit on our windows or, you know, come in and yell
obscenities at my dad or whatever. I
remember one time we had two people come in and they were just.
I don't know if they were.
Well, I'm just going to say possessed or maybe
drugged out or. I don't know. But they hated my dad with such a
(22:02):
vengeance. It was like you could see it in their skin. I don't know how
to describe it, but they came up and they were filming
us while they were asking us questions. And so I had my dad come over
because it was just him and I. And all I kept saying was like, are
you okay? Do you. Do you need something? Like, just because they were
so hateful that I. I don't know. But my
(22:24):
girls were sitting right there watching the whole thing. And, you know,
when they finally left, it was like looking at my girls and they're just like,
whoa. And it's like, yeah, let's pray because. And I mean, obviously
while they were in the room, we were praying. You know, you're just like, whatever
this is that they brought in, we need to pray. And
so the girls have seen that, like, yeah. So they've
(22:46):
seen a lot. Wow. Yeah.
So I'm listening to you and I'm thinking, gosh, a lot of us are not
going to relate to some people coming and calling and giving them a blow by
blow. I'm on this street. I'm coming with a gun to shoot you. But
we are seeing right now a lot of
persecution in our world. I mean, when we're recording this, just last week, there was
(23:08):
a slaughter of Christians in Syria.
And now, granted, we're not in Syria, we're in America. But in
America, just truth is being
undermined. And like you said, just the simplicity of what God says
and the way God ordains family and the way God ordains this
order, a lot of people are kicking against that. And so
(23:30):
your children are seeing that. And have you seen them? And because now they're 16
down to 10. Right, right. And again, we are trying to train
up our children in the way they should go. We're talking about leadership. And how
do you help your children step into leaders? So can you think of some
practical. It sounds like you had no choice, right? They
had to step into it, right?
(23:52):
Well, you know, it's kind of like the same when people come up and
they're like, I don't know if I could homeschool my kids. And I'm like, you
taught them to walk. Like, you've been homeschooling them since they were born.
Like, you've been planning their life since they were in your tummy. Like,
you're. You're already doing it. So the only thing is adding a couple of
academic books. And thankfully, nowadays there's so much, so
(24:14):
many resources, you don't even have to be like, the world's best teacher, you
know, but that's what it's like, you know, Oh, I wouldn't know how
to teach them. That is because they're already growing up in it.
And I'm so thankful that I have my mom and dad and my sister, my
sister and my brother. So both my brother and sister. My brother
is just about to graduate from seminary. He lives in California
(24:36):
with his wife and son. And then my sister is a missionary up in
Canada, in Montreal, with child evangelism fellowship. And
so through all of this, even though they've been far away, they've been
backing us with prayer. And you sent me questions and ideas of
topics we would talk about. And I sent it to my sister because
she knows me better than anybody. And she also is just
(24:58):
so gifted in organization. And she's
the director there in Montreal. And so she's, she
just loves the Lord. And I've had these people in my
life to influence my kids. So when we're teaching them about
leadership, I'm mom and so what
I say goes. But I have all these strong
(25:21):
wise people behind me, helping me to know what to
say. That's going to be the law in our house. And
yeah, my, so my kids, they, we love to
witness to the other kids in our neighborhood. Right now there's really no kids. It's
kind of sad. We're kind of on a slump right now. But that's okay. Kids
will come. But my, you know, my youngest,
(25:44):
she's led a little neighborhood kid to the Lord just from
being friends, inviting them to our home and just things like that. My,
my oldest, she does youth missions each
summer and she goes out and teaches kids Bible clubs and
stuff. And then ever she did it last year. But they're all,
you know, they help in Awana summits. The worship
(26:07):
leader at Awana ever helps with the little cubbies. She just loves the
preschoolers and just all of they have something
that's just exceptional. And it's because they're,
I don't know, they. Sometimes I say I got it really
easy raising my kids in this environment
because they've. I can't even believe you would say that. Wow.
(26:29):
Well, I mean, I would have had to do training on my
own. You know, thankfully though, I don't think anybody
has to do it on their own. God has surrounded us. You know, sometimes we
just have to go and find those wise people and you know,
the iron sharpens iron and we be careful of who we're yoked with. And
I tell my kids when God says to, not to be unequally yoked, that doesn't
(26:51):
just mean in marriage, that means in who we're confident, our
confidants and you know, who we seek advice from. They better be
pushing us towards the Lord. And so, I
don't know, somebody told me a long time ago to surround your kids with a
few other adults that you trust because one day they're
not going to talk to you. But if they've built these relationships with these
(27:12):
adults, they'll, they'll talk to them. And so like I've just always
tried to do that. That was the best advice I think I ever got because
just trying to make sure that the adults in my kids lives care that
they walk with the Lord and you know, challenge them to do that. And
then, you know, I don't know. So
Lisa, I Love it. Everything that you're saying, it's. It's so interesting. Like I said,
(27:34):
I can't believe you would say that. It was so great. And you're so blessed
to be in this situation because you're in the fiery furnace. You are.
But you're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, not just from the Bible, but
in real life with flesh. Praise the Lord. And that. That
testimony is obviously evident in your children
also being little evangelists and going out and sharing. It makes me think of
(27:56):
Revelations where it says they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word
of their testimony. Your children at 16, 13, and 10.
Is that right? Yep. Did I get the ages right? Yes, you did. Those
sweet young ages already have a testimony and a
witness. And. Yeah. Lisa, you're a delight. I really
appreciate everything you have to say. And I just want to add one little note.
(28:18):
You mentioned that your marriage, that you lost your husband right before
you started homeschooling, and that is where I met you, is that
we do an outreach called Caster Line Banquet, which was named after the family
that started this. It's just an outreach to single moms. Because
what you're saying is the most true. It's true. I think for single
moms and also families is find community. Find
(28:41):
community that will be iron sharpening iron. That's going to exhort you to continue
to stay strong and circle around you in order to
stir you up towards good works. Right, Right. And it
sounds like I love your community. Yes, me too.
I love it. I've heard the, you know, it takes a village to raise
a child, but I've seen the village, and I don't want them raising my kid.
(29:03):
That may be true of, like most out there, but I am glad I have
found a little village that does a really good job raising
my children with me. But I did want to. If it's okay, I'd like to
say one more thing about my marriage, please. Just the
man that left us nine years ago, he and I
would both tell you now that man is dead. And God has
(29:25):
worked so much in our lives. Mike, he's the
just, the most wonderful father to my daughters. He's a wonderful friend
to me. And he.
He worked so hard to be close with
us. I have full custody. I always have.
(29:45):
And he was completely on board with
homeschooling because we had talked about it before he left. And
still to this day, he is so thankful that we homeschool. Just so,
you know, we can breaks and stuff. He can come see the
girls or, you know, they can go over and see him, and we don't have
to worry about school schedules and stuff. I mean, it has made it
(30:07):
anyway, very cool. So I just wanted to make sure. Yeah. And they just love
him so much, so. Oh, that's awesome. And
again, it's the same thing. The Lord can redeem. He's totally able. He's on the
throne. He uses those things. Wow. Well, awesome.
I feel like we could. There's so many more things we can unpack, and maybe
we'll get to hear more of your story down the road. Thank you for being
(30:28):
a guest today. As we wrap up today, we're asking all of our
homeschool moms, what would you say is one
great, the best. Or.
Good homeschool tip that you received, whether it
pertains to this topic or not?
Oh, man. I know. Yeah. Put everybody on the spot at the last.
(30:53):
Well, one funny tip would be it doesn't matter how cute your little
homeschool room is, you're always going to end up at the couch. That I learned
when I was a kid. And I know it's true now, so, so
careful. That's tr. Invest in those school rooms because the couch.
Invest in good soft pillows and blankets because that's where you're going to do most
school. But it doesn't have to be perfect.
(31:15):
Every. And one thing I've realized just from being in the cake
shop, too, is everybody has a story. I have a story.
But somebody else who we've never heard of also has an
intense story. And each one of us, we need
encouragement from other moms. We need to not be judged. We
need to not judge other moms. I remember I was the perfect
(31:38):
mother until I had kids. And.
Exactly. That's how it is. And so sometimes just
making sure we give grace to other moms because
they're trying to survive the same way we all are.
And just. Yeah, I think having friends,
(31:58):
having somebody in your life like my parents or my sister, being able to
tell you you're doing good. Keep, keep, keep going. You're. This is worth it.
So it doesn't have to be perfect. That
is a great way to end our conversation. His mercies are new
every morning. His grace is sufficient. Amen. And amen.
Lisa, thank you for being with us today and thank you for our
(32:21):
audience. Thanks for joining us. I'm gonna put the link to the
masterpiece cake shop if you guys want to go check them out. They're up in
Lakewood, right? Yep. Yep. All right.
Yeah. No what were you gonna say? I was gonna say you
could put the link up. Our attorneys back during COVID they made
an online store for us which to help us stay
(32:43):
afloat, and that's masterpiececakeshop store.
So sometimes our website and the store website get mixed
up, but either one or both you could put up. People can navigate, but
sometimes it gets confusing, but. So anyway, I'll put both. We'll link
those. That's awesome. Because if somebody hears this out of state, maybe they'll order some
cookies. Maybe they'll order some brownies. I don't know. Yeah, I love it.
(33:06):
Okay. Thanks again, Lisa. Thank you, Keisha. This was
wonderful. I had such a fun time. Thank you so much. Thank you so much
for joining us today. The Colorado Homeschool podcast is a
ministry of Christian Home Educators of Colorado. We have been
motivating parents to disciple the next generation by embracing
home discipleship that is Christ centered, parent directed, and free
(33:28):
from government control. We invite you to join us in this mission. You
want to support homeschooling in Colorado? Go to CHEC.org
donate in the meantime, share this with your friends and make sure
you subscribe. That really helps us. Thank you.
(33:48):
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