Love, Loss, And The Creative Spark Of Hicks In The Wild with Troy and Melinda Hicks

#189 - A cone head at baggage claim. A prank that makes a whole terminal laugh. And beneath the costumes and skits, a marriage held together by faith, service, and a fierce tenderness forged in grief. We sit down with Troy and Melinda Hicks—Hicks in the Wild—to explore how everyday adventure can coexist with loss and how playful creativity becomes a lifeline.

Their love story starts in college, survives a mission and distance, and grows into a partnership where roles fit like puzzle pieces: Melinda crafts the ideas and heart-forward projects; Troy builds the systems, supply chains, and giving model. That model was born from pain. They share the sudden preterm birth of their son Tanner at 24 weeks, three days in the NICU, and the sacred details that became anchors—a donated blanket and cap, a father who knew how to navigate the unthinkable. Melinda now sews tiny blankets and diaper covers for NICU babies, transforming sorrow into service families can feel in their hands.

The Hicks also walk through a second crucible: their five-month-old’s neck tumor and the week of terror before a successful surgery. That experience reframed hospitals as places of skill and hope, inspiring them to donate a percentage of their revenue to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. We dig into their mission-driven venture, Searching for Jesus, a Christ-centered Advent tradition that turned their December into daily wonder and helped their kids fall in love with prayer. Along the way, we talk viral moments, Lord Farquaad gags, a months-long “bird landing” quest, and the simple rule that guides their content—if it isn’t fun, they don’t do it.

What emerges is a blueprint for meaningful, joyful living: schedule delight, let faith hold your anger long enough to heal, make small things that help real people, and keep choosing each other through the messy middle of family life. Adventure, they remind us, isn’t a mountain or an ocean crossing—it’s a decision to move forward without knowing every turn, and to laugh together when you can. If this story lifted you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a smile, and leave a review to help others find our community. Give me a follow on Instagram @journeywithjakepodcast.

To learn more about Troy and Melinda give them a follow on Instagram @hicksinsthewild and to learn more about having a Christ centered Christmas with your kids or grandkids check out www.searchingforjesus.shop.

Want to be a guest on Journey with Jake? Send me a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/journeywithjake 

Visit LandPirate.com to get your gear that has you, the adventurer, in mind.  Use the code "Journey with Jake" to get an additional 15% off at check out.

Visit geneticinsights.co and use the code "DISCOVER25" to enjoy a sweet 25% off your first purchase.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
In this episode of Journey with Jake, I'm joined by

(00:02):
Troy and Melinda Hicks, betterknown as Hicks in the Wild, a
couple whose humor, creativity,and faith have inspired
thousands.
Their story begins back incollege where an unexpected
connection turned into alifelong adventure.
From navigating marriage andparenting to facing loss and
chasing dreams, the Hicks remindus that love, laughter, and

(00:24):
faith can carry us through itall.
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how through our
adventures we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will featuredifferent guests or guests as
they share experiences andstories from the different

(00:45):
adventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you'll also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
their way.
My goal is to take each of us ona journey through the
experiences of my guests withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day

(01:05):
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination, as it is about,

(01:25):
don't forget to subscribe toJourney with Jake wherever you
listen to podcasts.
And if you're enjoying thesestories, take a quick moment to
leave a rating and a review.
It really helps the show grow.
Today's conversation with Troyand Melinda Hicks from at Hicks
in the Wild on Instagram is sucha fun reminder that adventure
doesn't always mean climbingmountains or crossing oceans.
Sometimes it's about findinglaughter and love right in the

(01:48):
middle of everyday life.
And if you enjoyed this episode,you'll also love episode 53 with
Oak and Nelton, where we diveinto their adventures as
newlyweds.
Okay, let's get to myconversation with Melinda and
Troy Hicks.
All right, I'm excited todaybecause I have Melinda and Troy
Hicks with me today.
Welcome to Journey with Jake.

SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 (02:10):
This is fun.
I found you through Instagram,just you know, doing my little
wasting time scrolling, probablyis how I came across a post that
you did.
Hicks in the Wild is theInstagram account.
And I think it was the first oneI saw, I think was you went,
Melinda, you went to pick upTroy at the airport in Provo,
Utah, which is close by where Ilive.

(02:31):
And you had like a tattoo sleeveon your arm.
I think you said, Welcome homefrom prison, Troy, I think is
what it said.
And for whatever reason, it juststruck me.
I just, it was funny.
It was kind of the great Troy'sreaction.
It was just great, clean, good,wholesome fun.
And I thought, this is the kindof stuff I like to see on
Instagram.

(02:53):
It just made me laugh.
It made me smile.
So before we j dive into yourbackgrounds and who you are and
where you're from, I gotta askyou then, Melinda, do you ever
okay, do you ever get nervouswalking into these airports?
I mean, you were dressed in ahazmat suit once.
You were dressed as a cop.
What are your thoughts?
I mean, you must not have anyfear.
What are your what's going on inyour mind?

SPEAKER_02 (03:11):
I don't know.
I was I I was kind of nervousevery time.
The hazmat suit, I was shaking.
But the one that did it for mewas the cone head when I wore a
full-on cone head.
That was the most adrenaline Ithink I've ever experienced in
my life.
And it was because he was thelast person out of the plane.
So I stood there for a good 45minutes holding a sign that

(03:34):
said, marry me with a bald conehead.
And like a hundred or so,probably hundreds of people
passed me.
It was it was the mostembarrassing thing I've ever
done, but it was so fun.
Like, I just I don't know whythat stuff to me is really fun.

SPEAKER_00 (03:51):
And I love seeing people's reactions too, you
know.

SPEAKER_01 (03:55):
Yeah, yeah.
I got a lot of support, I feellike people were people.

SPEAKER_03 (03:59):
I don't know.
I think I'm seeing a new versionof my wife because over the past
five years since we've had kids,she's kind of been like at home,
chilling, and it's like the sameversion of her when she was uh
in school when I first met her,just kind of shameless and a
rebel, just like yeah, beingsuper funny.

SPEAKER_02 (04:19):
I like to have fun.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (04:20):
It's and it's good, it's good fun.
I laugh every time I see it.
I I mean I you wore like an oldman mask at one point, and I
think you scared like a littlegirl.
Like, there's like some littlegirl that got caught in between
the two of you, and she'slooking up like what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 (04:38):
So, yeah, that one was fun.

SPEAKER_00 (04:39):
Yeah, so just the natural stuff.
I love it.
So before we we dive in, and Iwant to hear your background and
your story.
So maybe we'll start with youfirst, Troy.
Just kind of who you are alittle bit, where you're from,
where you grew up, and thenwe'll jump to Melinda, and then
we'll kind of kind of go fromthere.
And then, of course, I want toknow how you two met.
So take it away, Troy.

SPEAKER_03 (04:58):
Yeah, I grew up in Gilbert, Arizona.
Pretty chill family.
Got brothers, one brother and asister.
Uh it's it's hot here.

SPEAKER_02 (05:07):
So we're both middle children.

SPEAKER_00 (05:09):
Okay.
So the middle children likeattract them, apparently, I
guess.

SPEAKER_01 (05:14):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (05:14):
I think it does help us get along better for sure.

SPEAKER_00 (05:16):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (05:17):
Because we both have older brothers who beat us up,
and then we both have youngersiblings who uh we kind of took
care of because we were gettingbeaten up by our older brothers.
Is that right?
Yeah, yeah.
And now we're all best friends.

SPEAKER_00 (05:30):
There you go.
So you're three kids in yourfamily.
Older brother, younger sister.
Say that again, what you have.
I'm sorry, I missed.

SPEAKER_03 (05:37):
I have an older brother who's two years older
than me, and a younger sister.
And the younger sister.

SPEAKER_00 (05:41):
All right, very good.
Gilbert, Arizona.
You're from the desert.
Excellent.
And Melinda, where are you from?
Where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_02 (05:48):
Yeah, I grew up in close to Seattle, city called
Everett, Washington.
Beautiful place.
I miss it so bad.
I, yeah, older brother, youngerbrother.
I lived there all growing up,and then he made me move down
here to the desert.

SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
So you have an older brother, younger brother, so
you're the only girl in thefamily.

SPEAKER_01 (06:05):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (06:06):
Probably a little bit of a different dynamic too,
being the only girl versus Yeah,I I'm spoiled, Rotten.

SPEAKER_03 (06:12):
Well, you what's share a bathroom and we did
share a bathroom.

SPEAKER_02 (06:15):
That was awful.

SPEAKER_00 (06:16):
You had to share you had to share with those gross
brothers the bathroom.

SPEAKER_02 (06:20):
Yeah, my own room, but not my own bathroom.

SPEAKER_00 (06:23):
Yeah, that's a bummer.
Very good.
All right, and how okay, onebeing from the desert, one being
from the Pacific Northwest, howdid you two meet?

SPEAKER_02 (06:31):
Yeah, we met at school, we met in college.
He had just got back fromArgentina.
He was living in Argentina as amissionary for two years, and I
was planning on going to be amissionary in Bolivia.
So we met and and we weren'treally planning on dating.
We didn't want to date because Iwas leaving.

SPEAKER_03 (06:49):
Well, here's what happened, okay?
Here's the show.

SPEAKER_00 (06:51):
Yeah, all right, let's get to the truth here.

SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
So I was walking around school, and this girl
just kept following meeverywhere I went.

SPEAKER_02 (06:58):
That's not at all bad.
I wasn't interested.
He had weird glasses.
I wasn't, I didn't think he wasthat cute.

SPEAKER_03 (07:04):
I was kind of chubby.

SPEAKER_02 (07:05):
He had a little face chub from Argentina, but I don't
know.
We eventually fell in love.
And the hard part was I wasleaving, and so I I that was a
struggle.
And then at the airport we saidgoodbye, and I thought I might
never see him again.
And what was funny is beforebefore that happened, before I

(07:28):
left to Bolivia, our familieskind of met and got together as
we were leaving school, and mydad met his dad, and as they
were saying goodbye, Troy's dadsays, Oh well, we'll see you
later.
And my dad goes, I don't thinkI'll ever see you again.
And um, he wasn't trying to berude, he just was like, I'm

(07:50):
never gonna see this guy again.

SPEAKER_03 (07:51):
Because she was leaving.

SPEAKER_02 (07:52):
I was leaving, I was going on a mission.
So then and and we really didlove each other, and so leaving
was super hard.
And I was gone for a year and ahalf.

SPEAKER_03 (08:00):
So after school, she came to visit me in Arizona for
three days.
Yeah, and while she was visitingThis was before you left on your
mission.

SPEAKER_00 (08:08):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (08:08):
Yep.
I had told her a couple weeksago, I love you, right?
Yeah, or a couple weeks beforethat.

SPEAKER_04 (08:16):
Probably.

SPEAKER_03 (08:16):
And and she's like, I don't think I can say that
back to you at the time.
But I'm like, okay, I think I'mjust gonna keep saying I love
you.
So a couple weeks had gone by.
She then finally said she lovedme to me, and then she came to
visit.
And during that time, it waslike, wow, this Melinda's we
were we got along so well, andshe got along with my family so
well.
When she was at the airport,this is when she was leaving

(08:39):
Arizona, is when it was ittotally hit her, like, I don't
know if I'm ever see this guyagain.
And that's after we both hadsaid, I love you, and we kind of
got really close during thatvisit, right?

SPEAKER_02 (08:49):
Yeah, and then it was hard, but I came home, we
got engaged really quick.
We almost broke up, and it wasFreddie Rocky, he's a very
jealous guy, and uh yeah, buteventually we got married, and
our marriage has been amazing.
We're best friends.

SPEAKER_00 (09:07):
How many years have you been married now?
Eight years, eight years, right?
All right, I understand thisdynamic a little bit just
because I'm a I'm a member ofthe Church of Jesus Christ
Latter-day Saints, so I kind ofunderstand that whole dynamic
with the missions, but this isincredible because you were set
to go.
And Troy, were you I mean,that's gotta be tough.

(09:29):
I didn't have that situation.
I didn't have you know, no onewaited for me, I didn't wait for
anybody.
I met somebody when I came back.
But was that like hard to likeknowing she's gonna be gone for
a year and a half?
I mean, that's not like a shorttime, that's a pretty good
amount of time.

SPEAKER_03 (09:42):
Yeah, I mean, I didn't think I'd be that guy
that's like, okay, I'm gonnahave a girl missionary out and
like he didn't wait for me.

SPEAKER_02 (09:50):
He did not wait for me.
So three months a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 (09:54):
I mean, it would have been a disservice to myself
to not date.

SPEAKER_02 (09:57):
Yeah, I told him I told him I want you to date.
I I can't promise you anything.

SPEAKER_03 (10:02):
But it was it was definitely difficult.
The first the first couplenights.

SPEAKER_02 (10:05):
So sad.

SPEAKER_03 (10:06):
Remember like just being super, super depressed and
sad that she's gone.
And then after a couple months,my dad says the best way to get
over somebody is to find a newone.
Maybe you can edit that out.

SPEAKER_00 (10:17):
That's staying in.
That's gotta stay in.

SPEAKER_03 (10:21):
So then we dated a bunch of people and we just kind
of wrote on and off.
But I kept thinking aboutMelinda.
Melinda was always in my mind.
Every person I met was like, Imiss Melinda.
And and then when she came home,I had texted her dad a week
before she came home and said,Hey, when Melinda comes back,

(10:42):
have her call me.
So I was like, Okay, we're good.
Like, her dad's gonnacommunicate this message.

SPEAKER_02 (10:48):
Then Melinda's side of the story when he when her
dad told her, Well, my parentsall thought I was over him
because I was like, Oh yeah, hehe he's dating other people.
So my dad kind of joked, like,Troy texted me, it's so weird.
And uh and he didn't know that Iwas still like really into him.
And so I was like, Oh my gosh,Troy texted me.
And I got home super late, so Ithink I called him at like 2

(11:10):
a.m., 3 a.m.
And he actually answered.
And so we talked for like hoursin the middle of the night, and
the first night that I got home.

SPEAKER_00 (11:18):
Wow, okay.
You're fresh home from Boliviatalking for hours to Troy.
Wow, okay.
I I love it.
I like how you started the storythough, Melinda.
You talked about how he hadthese goofy glasses, he wasn't
that cute.
He had a little Argentinian facechub.
I mean, what were you eating alot of Milanesas?
Like, I mean, I went to Uruguay,so I kind of know the

(11:40):
Argentinian thing, but 20, 30pounds out there.
That's where I gained a lot ofmy weight too, to be honest with
South America.
So, and now I'm just whatever.
It's that's a whole notherthing.
Thanks.
I look great right here.
Do I look tall too?
Do I because I'm only five'ssix, but people say I look tall
on camera.

SPEAKER_03 (11:57):
So I'll tall, muscle.

SPEAKER_00 (12:02):
I'll I'll roll with it.
But what was it, Melinda, thatgot you to like say okay to him?
Was it just his persistence?
Because, like you said, youknow, you weren't initially
attracted to him.

SPEAKER_02 (12:11):
Yeah, oh, he was very persistent.
My favorite thing about him washow he loved other people.
Like he is so good with people,he loves everybody, he sincerely
cares about people.
He he was like the popular guyin college, but he he wasn't
like the popular guy.
He like actually cared aboutpeople and he spent time with
people and he made everyone feelcomfortable.

(12:34):
I just I don't know.
I love his heart, he has thebest heart, and that won me over
for sure.

SPEAKER_00 (13:10):
Wow, that's yeah, that's pretty getting all like
emotional here.
Like, this is this is intense.
No, I I I love it, and that'swhat I think I love about the
videos too.
It's a lot of like goofing,pranking with each other, but I
don't sense any kind of likethere's no hostility, it's all
like just fun, and it's loving.

(13:32):
To me, it's loving because it'sjust how fun it is, and how I
can tell how much you guys careabout each other.
It comes across camera.
I think that's awesome.
What have you done since then?
Because you you get married, yougot engaged soon after you get
home, you get married, you'vebeen married for eight years
now.
What did you study?
What are you both doing forcareer-wise?
What's going on there?

SPEAKER_02 (13:50):
Well, I got a stupid degree.
I studied public health becauseI I was really into the
humanitarian type aid stuff, butyou can't really do that if you
want to be a mom and live in theUS and not get a master's
degree.
So I didn't really do anythingwith my degree.
Applied to a bunch of I appliedto so many jobs.

SPEAKER_03 (14:11):
Required a master's degree after you graduated.

SPEAKER_02 (14:13):
Yeah, anyways, so yeah, we we started a couple
businesses, or we've tried tostart a couple businesses.
Troy's my Troy's the he's theprovider, he's the good
moneymaker.

SPEAKER_03 (14:23):
I always tell Melinda, if if she was a single
woman and we never got married,she would definitely make more
money than me.
She's just better at whatevershe does.
And if I was the dad at home,she would also do that better
than me.
She's just amazing.
So anyway, so then I studiedbusiness management.
And I remember when I firststarted, I was praying in my

(14:46):
car, and I was thinking, okay,what do what does like God want
me to do with my life?
And while I was praying, I I sawlike this little kid who was not
didn't have enough money, likedidn't have enough food.
And to me, that like I wanted tomake a difference with my
career.
So my passion and my dream, andI'm probably haven't acted well

(15:09):
enough on this, has been how canMelinda and I, as we do
different projects, makedifferent make a difference for
good.
From certain experiences we'vehad after we graduated, kind of
losing our first son and thenour second son having cancer,
we've tried to do differentprojects where we give back from

(15:30):
some of the money that we maketo things that we're passionate
about.
Like I I've always wanted tostart a like a so a social good
business that is a cool project,but then also something that I
can do with my wife that thengives back to the community that
we're part of.
So every single project thatwe've done and business that

(15:50):
we've done on the side has beena failure, but that has been the
goal until now when we startedour last project is to give back
and help others while we umprovide for ourselves as well.
That's that's always been kindof my dream since I started
school.

SPEAKER_00 (16:06):
You started off by saying something.
You started off by saying youyou were praying in your car.
And I know faith for both of youis is something that's
important, faith in God, prayer,that sort of thing.
What is it about faith that thatis so important to both of you?

SPEAKER_02 (16:23):
I feel like it's been an anchor in every aspect
of my life.
Like Troy mentioned, we we lostour first son, and that was
incredibly hard.
And I have always believed inGod, I've had a lot of
experiences with him, but thatreally shook me.
I never doubted in God'sexistence, but I was so mad at

(16:44):
him.
I think he's the best person tobe mad at because he can take
it.
And um, I had to work throughthat, but I feel like the faith
that I had in him helped me getthrough it, helped us get
through it, helped us get closertogether.
And I feel like our my faith hasdriven me my whole life, has
given me purpose.

(17:04):
I it really defines who I am andthe choices I've made.
Now I make a lot of mistakes,but I feel like, yeah, faith has
just been an anchor for for me.

SPEAKER_03 (17:14):
And just because we've had a faith in Jesus
Christ, doesn't mean things arejust easy, right?
Like I remember for a yearprobably Melinda still has pain,
like from the trials she's gonethrough, especially with losing
our first son named Tanner.
But through time and throughusing the atonement of Jesus
Christ, we felt healed to apoint.

(17:35):
But I remember for a year wedidn't even want to talk about
it, right?
Or bring it up.
I had to I remember I wrote thestory.
He died, he passed away inJanuary.
And then five months later inMay, I wrote down the story of
what happened because I couldn'twrite it, write it down because
it was so painful.
And I wrote it once, roughdraft, and I sent it to my
sister and said, Hey, you haveto edit this because I'm gonna

(17:56):
save it for the future.
I don't want to reread this fora while.
Can you just edit this for meand then send it back?
Because it was just so painful,the experiences we had gone
through.
So just because that we hadthis, we have our faith in Jesus
Christ doesn't mean things areeasy, but it means there's a
path to overcome the the hardestparts of our life.

SPEAKER_00 (18:15):
I think what's amazing for me is when I sit and
I see these funny videos of youtwo and you know with your
family and goofing around.
And you, you know, in my mindI'm like, oh, this couple seems
like they've got it alltogether.
They're the perfect couple, thateverything's going great, and
you don't realize what's goingon, you know, your first son.
I mean, you're you're probablyfairly newly married at the

(18:35):
time.
I mean, and to have that kind oftrial with your son, Tanner,
could you kind of give just tellme a little bit about Tanner and
kind of what the situation was?

SPEAKER_02 (18:44):
Yeah, we were really excited and we wanted to be
parents.
We've been trying for a longtime to get pregnant, and so
excited.
Everything seemed fine.
We um were on vacation.

SPEAKER_03 (18:57):
24 weeks, 23 weeks pregnant.

SPEAKER_02 (18:59):
I was 23 weeks pregnant.
We were on vacation in Seattlevisiting my parents, and we just
walked in a grocery store, and Ijust like zero sixty went into
labor like immediately out ofnowhere.
Then we had to go to thehospital and try to hold the
baby in for three days.
I was like in excruciating pain.

(19:20):
I was on and off an epidural,had to deliver it without the
epidural.
So he was born.
He had about what is it, 25%chance to live and be a normal
kid.

SPEAKER_04 (19:30):
Oh, yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 (19:31):
And like 25% chance to live and be mentally
handicapped, and then, anyways,so we were like 25% chance is
pretty good.
We had some hope.
I was like, I had to beambulanced to another hospital.
I was having like my body wasshutting down, I was dying, and
Troy was with the baby, and itwas just an awful, really
traumatic situation.

SPEAKER_03 (19:51):
And he was alive for three more days in the hospital,
in the NICU.
And 24 weeks is the first weekof gestation where it's
survivable.
At that point, that's what thecommunity doctors had
communicated to us.

SPEAKER_02 (20:02):
Yeah, I delivered him when I was 24 weeks
pregnant, and yeah, he wasperfect.
There was nothing wrong withhim.
He he even cried when he wasborn.
He was the cutest little yeah,he didn't really have any
complications, it was just hewas too small, and it, anyways,
it wasn't working, so he passedaway.
And luckily, I I feel likelooking at the whole situation,

(20:24):
I can look at it and think Godwasn't there.
He left us.
Like it was awful, it was sotraumatic.
There were so many things thatwent wrong.
Or I could look at a situationand see you know, he was
actually there the whole time inlike all the little details.
And I was discharged from thehospital early finally, because
they let me get out so that Icould go see my baby, and I got

(20:48):
to see him once, and then Igotta actually sleep and eat a
meal, and then they called usand said he's gonna pass away,
you need to come immediately.
So it was like four in themorning, and I was at four in
the morning, so we rushed overthere, and I gotta hold him
while he died.
Like I gotta be there, and thatto me was like that meant the

(21:08):
world.
And someone had donated, we hadnothing.
I mean, we we were on vacation,we didn't have anything for him,
we didn't expect him to be born,we hadn't bought any clothes, we
didn't have a blanket, we hadnothing, and someone had donated
this cute tiny little blanketand a little hat and a diaper
cover.
And so after he passed away, Igotta give him a bath and I
gotta wrap him up and we gottahold him.

(21:29):
And um, that was so special tome.
That was the best gift I've II've ever gotten.
And so one thing that we areworking on is I make those now
for the little one-pound Nickybabies because they're too small
for premium clothes.
So I sew blankets and diapercovers and hats, and we just
donated a big box of them to thePhoenix Children's Hospital

(21:50):
where our second son was when westayed when he had cancer.
We donated to that hospital.
So I feel like that was some alittle bit of healing of the
trauma that that was thatexperience.

SPEAKER_03 (22:02):
Another tenant mercy, too, you didn't mention,
is her dad is uh in the funeralhome industry.
So he was able to help usnavigate okay, how you where are
you burying how how do you get atombstone?
Headstone, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 (22:18):
Well, because someone had he my my son had
just passed away, and the NICUdoctor came and asked what
funeral home do you want to use?

SPEAKER_03 (22:26):
And I'm a hard question.

SPEAKER_02 (22:29):
If I hadn't, if my dad wasn't there, like you know,
what do you say to that?
It's like okay, now I'm gonnahave to start Googling.
I don't know where I want to go.
Like like that to me would havebeen the hardest question, but I
felt like God lifted that off myshoulders because I have the
perfect dad who manages afuneral home, and I could just
say, please go talk to my dad.

(22:49):
He's gonna take care of it, andhe took care of our little son.
And that was the most specialthing.

SPEAKER_00 (22:55):
That's beautiful.
And it's a now, I mean,especially now looking back, you
probably it's gotta be easier,you know.
As time goes on, it's gotta getget easier.
But I love how you shared howthat was such a special moment,
being able to bathe him and gethim dressed and prepared.
And you had him for three days,and meanwhile, you just had a
baby.
I mean, there's that traumaticpart of the whole thing.

(23:17):
And just having only three days,though, how much love did you
have for for your son with onlythree days?

SPEAKER_02 (23:23):
Yeah, so much.
Yeah, yeah, we would do anythingfor that little point.

SPEAKER_03 (23:28):
Yeah.
Same same, same amount we havefor our two sons now.
Like it's just it's just amazinghow much uh you I for me as a
father can can love my kids, youknow.

SPEAKER_00 (23:41):
This brought back a lot of memories for me.
And I didn't I had no idea whatthe situation was, uh, but it
brought back a lot of memoriesfor me.
Our oldest son was bornpremature.
He was born at 29 weeks, doinggreat now.
He's okay.
He's got his own child now.
I got a granddaughter from him,that kind of thing.
So, but it was one of thosethings my wife, you know, 27
weeks, just boom, going intolabor.
And we're like, what is going onhere?

(24:02):
And we had nothing.
I don't think I don't even knowif we had a car seat yet.
I mean, I had nothing, I didn'tknow what was going on.
And they ended up having to flyher to St.
Joseph's Hospital in downtownPhoenix, and it was just oh my
god, yeah.
So it was that that was intense,and I was you know, we weren't
ready yet.
I was like, hey, this isn'tsupposed to happen for another
12 weeks, you know, what'sanother three months?

SPEAKER_03 (24:22):
Just well, you were probably on a roller coaster.
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (24:25):
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (24:26):
And in NICU, it's a roller coaster of emotions.
It's good, and then it seemslike the next day it's negative,
and from yeah, from other peoplethat is that correct?
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (24:35):
Well, the good part was she was you know, you were
kept him in just for a littlebit.
Two weeks, my wife went, youknow, so 27 to 29, which is
enough to get the steroids tohelp build the lungs up.
So he did really well.
He was in the NICU for threeweeks and they transferred him
to another hospital where itwasn't just kind of a regular
nursery and brought him homeafter a month.

(24:56):
You know, he was born at threepounds, a little over three
pounds when he was born.
So wow, just hearing your story,you're just kind of like, wow,
just a flood of memories.
I mean, that was over 25 yearsago, you know, just amazing.
You mentioned you mentioned youhave two sons now, and you
mentioned one of them hadcancer.
I mean, you guys, it's likethese trials just seem to keep

(25:17):
uh keep finding their way intoour lives.
Can you tell me what's tell meabout your two sons now, if you
don't mind?

SPEAKER_02 (25:23):
That cancer journey was hard because that was almost
exactly two years after our sonhad passed away that we were
admitted into the Phoenix FilmsHospital.
He had a 28 millimeter tumor.
I always forget the number.
I think it was 20 millimeter.
I don't know.
I don't remember.
It was a big tumor.
He was the chubbiest baby.
I never thought us skinny littlepeople would have a chubby baby.

(25:43):
He was so chubby, chubby as bigI've ever seen.
And he would always keep hisneck down.
Anyways, yeah, he had this hugetumor in his neck, and I had the
hardest time washing his neckbecause he like would keep it
down.
And anyways, we noticed that hiseyelid was droopy on one side,
and then it would just go backto normal.
And then when it would droop,his pupils were different sizes

(26:06):
just for a couple seconds.
And I actually got hit in theeye with a hockey stick when I
was little, so my pupils aredifferent sizes, and I've gone
to the eye doctor, I've heardall the things, I'm like, it's
not good that he has pupilsdifferent sizes.
So we got him into the hospital,and it was super traumatic for
me because for me, I thoughtthat you know, this is where
kids go to die because that'swhat I had experienced just two

(26:28):
years with another baby boy.
So I was not okay.
I was in a really bad state.
And Troy used to get horriblemigraines, so he would have to
go home and sleep.
So I was alone with the baby,not sleeping, because you can't
sleep in a hospital very well,and I was just a mess.
So that was really hard.
They ended up taking the wholetumor out, and he never had to

(26:49):
get chemo or radiation.
He's super healthy now.
We get checkups, ultrasoundcheckups, and everything looks
great.
The doctors don't think it'llgrow back.
So that one was really only hardfor a week, and then it was
really great news.
And that that helped me realizeokay, hospitals are actually
good places.

SPEAKER_00 (27:09):
How old was he when this happened?

SPEAKER_02 (27:11):
He was only five months old.
Yeah.
And then we had another baby,another baby boy, and totally
healthy, crazy little what youwould expect a little boy to be.

SPEAKER_03 (27:21):
He just likes to jump off of things and hit his
head on the ground.

SPEAKER_02 (27:24):
He had his head a lot, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (27:26):
We had to buy him a little hat.
Cushion hat when he was youngeruh to protect his little head.

SPEAKER_00 (27:32):
He's the daredevil of the group, huh?

SPEAKER_03 (27:35):
He is not cautious, whereas our first or second son
is is very cautious.

SPEAKER_01 (27:41):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (27:42):
Well, there's other similarities.
My first three kids were allboys, too, so I I'm kind of I'm
in the same boat with you guysthere.
How many kids in total?
Four total.
So the baby's a girl, so I didfinally get the girl.

SPEAKER_04 (27:53):
So there we go.

SPEAKER_00 (27:55):
Took a minute, so there's still hope.
So I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (27:58):
Yeah, that's that's what we're hoping for.
We're actually pregnant withthat.

SPEAKER_00 (28:01):
Oh, congratulations.
That's fantastic.
Well, I I appreciate you sharingthe this background because it
just kind of, you know, you whenyou see stuff out there on
social media and whatever, youyou don't really know kind of
what the story is.
And so I appreciate you yousharing that.
I do kind of want to dive intosome of these.
How the heck do you come up withthese ideas?

(28:22):
I don't know if it is it is itmostly Melinda coming up with
these ideas?
I mean, what's kind of the how'dhe come up with these ideas?

SPEAKER_04 (28:31):
They just don't hit.

SPEAKER_00 (28:32):
They just don't hit well you did dress, you did
dress up like Lord Farquad theother, you know, not too long
ago, I think.
So you did do that, which wasgood.

SPEAKER_02 (28:40):
Yeah, I think he did that too, because I had already
planned this whole Farquad prankon him, and then he does a
Farquad prank on me like thesame week.

SPEAKER_03 (28:48):
I really don't like Lord Farquad.
And in fact, she she really didpaint 10 years ago a painting of
Lord Farquad and gave it to mefor my birthday.

SPEAKER_01 (28:56):
Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_03 (28:57):
Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_00 (29:01):
For those of the people who are listening are
like, who the heck is LordFarquad?
Shrek from Shrek, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, Lord Farquad's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 (29:10):
I love Lord Farquad and I love you.

SPEAKER_02 (29:15):
I wasn't very romantic.

SPEAKER_03 (29:16):
He wanted me to paint him a cute romantic and
he's been staring at me in ourcloset for years.

SPEAKER_00 (29:22):
I love it.
And I saw you had a hugeblanket, I think, or something
that was on your bed of LordFarquad.
The toilet.
I mean, there's so many, you doso funny.
So how Melinda, where how do youcome up with this stuff?
How do you where's thecreativity come from?

SPEAKER_02 (29:36):
Um I don't.
I've oh I've always beencreative.
I love to be creative.
It kind of was oh, our countstarted because I created this
little box.
I wanted to do an elf on theshelf with my kids, but I wanted
a Christian version.
I wanted to teach them aboutJesus.

(29:56):
So I created like this this andMelinda's always created fun
activities.
Yeah, I just love to do it.
And so I I made this thing formy kids, and it was amazing.
It made our Christmas so muchabout Christ because it was
every day they got to learnsomething about Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 (30:12):
Well, last year you made your own little book.
I made, yeah, and you bought theHallmark version of the cute
this cute Jesus fell.
Yeah.
And you just we did it for 24days last year.

SPEAKER_02 (30:21):
It was so fun.
It was like just like thisadvent.
My kids began loving to pray,began loving talking about
Jesus.
It changed our whole Christmas.
It was amazing.
And Troy is my like biggestsupporter.
And he thought this was such agood project.
And and he has a genius brain.
He he knows how to create.
So he figured out you're verysmart.

SPEAKER_04 (30:41):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (30:42):
He figured out how to create, how to manufacture it
all so that we could sell it, sothat we could give it to other
people.
So that's how this Instagramstarted is we thought we we want
a place where we can kind of getfamily friendly people here so
that that we can we can talkabout our searching for Jesus
Box and get it out into theworld.
So we initially started we wejust want to do fun, family

(31:04):
friendly stuff.
And then it kind of turned into,I just want to do fun stuff that
I've always wanted to do, butnever actually done.
Like that weird Dementor thingthat was like we were we almost
didn't post that we made thisvideo of me flying a Dementor
with a drone, and we almostdidn't post it because we're
like, that's not really familycontent.
But I was like, but it's notfun.

(31:25):
So I posted anyways.
Anyways, it got the time we onlyhad like a hundred people, you
had like a hundred followers, itgot 71 million views.
As of right now, you know, andanyway, so it's I feel like a
lot of these ideas, some of themwere from my Pinterest board
from 10 years ago that I waslike, oh, that's funny.
And I and I just never did it.

(31:46):
So some of them are that, someof them like the cone head, that
was just pure, it's it'smidnight.
I need to come up with some wayto picture him.
Yeah, some of them were just funthings that I saw.
A lot of them were just random.
I don't know.
They're they're all differentinspir inspiration.

SPEAKER_00 (32:07):
Is there in is there one in particular that you were
just like, oh, I can't wait todo this one?
And it just, I don't know.
Was there anyone like that?
And then maybe one on your endtoo, Troy, that maybe you were
the receiving end.
I don't know.
What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 (32:19):
For me, all the airport pickups were like so
much.
I was so excited, or prankingTroy.
I get so like excited andadrenaline and like I can't
wait.
And I've done a lot of pranksthat don't work, and then I'm
like, I'm so mad at you, youwere supposed to think that that
was funny.
Or whatever.
The the airport pickups weredefinitely like the most for me.

(32:42):
I was like the most anxious andexcited about those ones.

SPEAKER_03 (32:46):
When I did the Lord Farquad costume, I like was
waiting for 30 minutes for herto come home.
And I I think I was more nervouswaiting for her to come home by
myself than she is in theairport waiting for me to walk
in.
So that can that might tell youhow nervous I get doing public
things that might lookembarrassing.

SPEAKER_00 (33:08):
Well, I think what I like too about the airport
pickups, because those werethat's the first one I saw was
the the airport pickup whereyou're you know, welcome home
from prison, Troy was the firstvideo I ever saw of you guys.
But I think it's it's thereaction of people.
I think you were with yourbosses, I think, when you were
wearing the hazmat suit,possibly.
I think I mean, and I I justlove that fact too, that's like,
hey, you know.

SPEAKER_03 (33:29):
My boss has said, hey, I don't want to be in any
future moves.

SPEAKER_00 (33:33):
He's gotta sign that.
That would be fun.
That would be fun.
That would so that leads me tomy my question too, then what
ideas do we have?
What are you know, what othercreative ideas?
I know like you you talked aboutthe the Christmas Jesus, which I
think is awesome that you kindof did that.
I think is it called Searchingfor Jesus?
Is that what the okay I thinkI've looked at that Instagram

(33:55):
account too that you you dothat.
But what is there?
Some other big projects thatyou're looking to do together.

SPEAKER_03 (34:01):
You got something about the police one too,
though.

SPEAKER_02 (34:03):
The police was awesome.
The pickup pickup with the withmy kids was amazing.
I we have our oldest son lovesto prank.
He gets that from his mom.
And so if I he was like, so Iwas actually saying, I'm kind of
nervous, like I don't know thatI can do this.
And he goes, Oh, I'll do it,mom.
And he just asked everybody.
Our four-year-old son.

(34:24):
Yeah, you've seen this guy, andhe would do it like a Doc.
You seen this guy?
Like half an hour, so that wasfunny.
But I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 (34:31):
We have I'm surprised how confident he is as
a four-year-old.

SPEAKER_02 (34:34):
Yeah, he's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 (34:35):
That's good.
And I you were wearing amustache in that video, Melinda.

SPEAKER_02 (34:40):
But we have some fun Halloween ideas coming up, like
silly Halloween things.
We have uh another well, we havesome fun ideas, can't we?

SPEAKER_00 (34:49):
Yeah, well, this is this is gonna come out after
Halloween, so if there'ssomething that's gonna come out
before, then we're okay.
But yeah, if you don't want togive away any of your surprises,
I don't blame you.

SPEAKER_02 (34:57):
Well, I don't know if it's gonna be good yet.
So I've spent I've spent so muchtime.
I'm I'm doing one that'sultimate bird watching, where I
have sunglasses and a bowl ofbird.
For six months, I've been tryingto catch a bird, not really
catch one, but get one to landon me.

(35:17):
And I've I've gotten to so manylocations.
Anyways, I finally got a bird.
It's a big deal, but the videomight be stupid, so I don't know
if we'll post it, but I was soexcited because I've tried so
many things.
We'll see.
I think I'll post it.

SPEAKER_00 (35:32):
Did you have the camera like right up?
Like, how did you do that?

SPEAKER_02 (35:35):
No, well, so I just had a camera like on a tree and
and so I was sitting there incamouflage with my little bird
ear bowl waiting for a bird toland on me.
I tried the beach, the seagulls,who I thought would be vicious,
one is vicious.
I tried so many places wherebirds are used to getting fed,

(35:56):
didn't work.

SPEAKER_03 (35:57):
She put out food in our backyard for a month so that
they would get used to thebiggest.

SPEAKER_00 (36:03):
Oh wow, okay.
Yeah, see you have thecreativity that I just I can't
even think of stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 (36:09):
Inspiration was the woman from home alone to the
pigeon lady.

SPEAKER_00 (36:15):
Amazing.
So I love it.
What's been some of the biggestchallenges as you guys have
moved forward?
I mean, you've obviously you hadthe major challenges with the
children, and but as you moveforward now, and you're now your
kids are getting older.
What kind of challenges do youtwo face as a couple and just as
you move forward?

SPEAKER_02 (36:33):
Right now, I'm I'm just barely pregnant.
I'm like 10 weeks pregnant, andI've been feeling awful, just
terrible, unmotivated.
That's our fitness challengeright now.
He's been amazing.
He does all my dishes, and Idon't cook dinner for him
anymore.
And he and he cleans the house.

SPEAKER_03 (36:50):
I get kind of stressed out about a dirty.

SPEAKER_02 (36:52):
He does not like the house to be dirty, so he angry
cleans, but he cleans.

SPEAKER_03 (36:57):
Angry cleans.

SPEAKER_02 (36:58):
He doesn't really get angry, he's like the
sweetest guy.
But but he gets a little angry,and I've just been sick, so
that's been hard.
We haven't posted in like acouple weeks because I've just
been so sick.
So being pregnant for me isn'tis I feel sick, but then I'm
also really anxious because ofwhat's happened in the past.

(37:18):
So that's that's our hard thingright now, right?
Any other hard things?

SPEAKER_00 (37:23):
I think that's the one.
That's the one.
How do you two keep the flamealive, I guess, between the two
of you?
You get no, you got young kidsnow.
It gets hard, you know, lifekind of gets in the way.
You get busy with kids, and howdo you find the time for just
the two of you to to have a adate night or whatever?

SPEAKER_03 (37:38):
That's a great question.
Yeah, well, we could do betterat date nights for sure.
But uh we have this foundationwhere Melinda and I are for sure
best friends.
We've always gotten along very,very well and very easily when
we when we make sure we havetime together.

SPEAKER_02 (37:56):
And that was what was really cool about this
Instagram account, is because itit kind of forced us to plan fun
things to do together.
So this was like our rule was ifwe're not having fun, we don't
do it.
So that was this Instagram waslike an excuse.
Let's just go have fun, let'splan things.
And then we had better datesbecause we were like, let's go

(38:17):
eat corn on paint rollers andlaugh about it together.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (38:22):
We actually said today this morning, I guarantee
Melinda, we need to have a datenight every single week.
I need to recommit to you.
Sometimes we do, sometimes wedon't, and then we'll recommit
again next month.
But we'll at least drive for it.
That's what's important.

SPEAKER_00 (38:38):
It's interesting.
There's for me, there was littlewaves because when the kids were
little, it was like tough.
But once my son became like myoldest son became old enough to
kind of babysit, it was like itwas awesome.
It's like we were dating again,like, hey, this is just go out
whenever you want, you know.
So so you might have a littlerough patch for a little while,
but then it'll get better again.

SPEAKER_03 (38:56):
And babysitters are not cheap, Jake.

SPEAKER_00 (38:58):
Yeah, that's true.
They are not cheap at all.
That would and that was hard.
You have to kind of figure outways to do it for sure.
All right, so if you were todream big, big as you want, go,
you know, pie in the sky.
Good question.
What would be the kind of theultimate, I don't know, legacy
of your work together, maybe theInstagram, or what would kind of
be the ultimate thing for bothof you?

SPEAKER_03 (39:19):
Want me to take a stab at this point?
Yeah, sure.
So I think this comes back towhat I said what our dream was
when we were, or I guess mypersonal dream.
Three things.
The personal dream is I want toprovide for my family, I want to
create businesses with my wifeand kids that sustain us, and I
want to give back while we'redoing that.

(39:39):
So if I could do those threethings from a business
perspective and from like aproviding perspective, that
would be just the best, right?

SPEAKER_02 (39:48):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (39:49):
Does that make sense?
Was that clear in how I saidthat?

SPEAKER_02 (39:51):
Yeah, specifically, I think like our searching for
Jesus, we would love to makemore things.
Like, I really want to make likean Easter, an Easter one.
We would love to be able toteach other families about
Jesus.
We would love to grow thisbusiness and we give two percent
of our proceeds to two percentof the revenue.
Revenue.
I never mean what word to use.
Two percent of something, money,we give to to well, we're doing

(40:16):
it now to Phoenix Children'sHospital, but we also have other
causes that we we would love todonate to.
And and so yeah, our dream wouldbe hopefully we can expand that
business and and um I don'tknow.

SPEAKER_00 (40:30):
While we're talking about that, the searching for
Jesus, yeah.
If someone's interested in like,oh, I love this idea, would love
to do it with my family, yeah.
Where can they do that?
Where can they find information?
How can they get a hold of that?

SPEAKER_03 (40:41):
So it's on the Zone.

SPEAKER_02 (40:42):
It's on Amazon, yeah.
But it's also our website issearchingforjesus.shop.

SPEAKER (40:47):
Searchingforjesus.shop.
Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 (40:51):
Yep, I can find it there.

SPEAKER_03 (40:52):
And then on Amazon, you can have in searching for
Jesus doll, and it will be oneof the first listings to show
up.

SPEAKER_00 (40:58):
Very cool.
Okay, I like that because Ithink that's that's great that
you're you're doing that, andthen hopefully you can keep
expanding that.
Other ideas.
I mean, you're so creative,Melinda.
I don't think that'll be aproblem for you.
I mean, it seems like you gotthat going.

SPEAKER_03 (41:09):
It is interesting because I Melinda and I are
puzzle pieces that fit reallywell together.
Everything she likes to do, Idon't really enjoy, and
everything she doesn't enjoy, Ifind very fun.

SPEAKER_02 (41:22):
Like he's my when it comes to creating projects.
He's the spreadsheet guy.
But sometimes that's hardbecause we can't carve pumpkins
at Halloween because he is not apumpkin carving guy.

SPEAKER_03 (41:32):
I did.

SPEAKER_02 (41:33):
He'll do the tiniest little face.
She'll be over there for hourscarving a pumpkin.

SPEAKER_03 (41:40):
For two hours carving a pumpkin, and I go, I
have this great idea.
I'm gonna carve a pumpkin, andI'm not gonna tell you what it
is.
So we had Halloween, was thisfour or five years ago, and then
I carved the smallest face intothe pumpkin I could.
I said, This is a tiny face,large pumpkin.

SPEAKER_02 (41:56):
He didn't even empty out the seat.

SPEAKER_03 (41:59):
It was I thought it was a great idea.
I saw somebody else do it, and Igo, This was inspiring.
I'm gonna do it.
And she wasn't impressed.

SPEAKER_02 (42:06):
But yeah, normally we work great together because
he does the boring analyticstuff and I do the creative
stuff.
The fun stuff.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (42:13):
Well, I love it.
I love your dynamic.
I think it's amazing.
Just watching both of you onInstagram has been a lot of fun.
I mean, I just it just makes melaugh.
And it, you know, and I think weall need that because I think we
need moments where you knowthings get life gets
challenging, life gets tough,and it's nice to be able to just
be like, uh, they're having fun.
They're being and you give otherpeople ideas.
It's like, okay, maybe I, youknow, I could do something.
Me and my wife could dosomething fun.

(42:34):
We're maybe not as young as youguys are now, but hey, we can
still do things, fun things, youknow, why not?
So I I appreciate you guys doingthat.

SPEAKER_03 (42:40):
I want you to send me a video, Jake, of you waiting
for your wife in a costume.

SPEAKER_00 (42:46):
Yeah, uh that probably won't happen.
And I it's usually me at theairport, so yeah, maybe she'll
have to show up in a costume.
I don't I don't see thathappening either, but who knows?
All right, so I've got somelightning round fun questions I
kind of want to wanna do.
So, all right.
If you had to pick one word thatdefines your relationship, what

(43:08):
would it be and why?

SPEAKER_01 (43:10):
Love.
That's the only word I can thinkof because I like that one.

SPEAKER_03 (43:19):
Do we need to come up with a different word?
Is that okay?

SPEAKER_00 (43:21):
Yeah, love if you're both good on love, that's that
seems like and I think that Ithink that fits.
Love.
That's a that's a good one.
All right.
What's a wild place, sinceyou're Hicks in the wild?
What's a wild place you've yetto visit, but you would like to
visit?

SPEAKER_02 (43:39):
Wild.
I really just want to go toFrance for some reason.
I'm trying to learn French.
I don't know.
I want to go back to Washington.

SPEAKER_00 (43:48):
That's pretty wild.

SPEAKER_02 (43:50):
Travel.
He wants to take me to China andall over the world, really.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 (43:56):
I I want to do a trip where we go to Australia,
China, and then Hawaii and bringher with me.
There you go.

SPEAKER_00 (44:03):
That's that's pretty wild.

SPEAKER_03 (44:04):
Sorry, that's super wild.
I know, I think.

SPEAKER_00 (44:06):
That's not a very good answer.
It can be wild, that's thething.
You just never know.
It depends what you do.
It can be wild.
You go to the Outback inAustralia, that's pretty wild.

SPEAKER_03 (44:14):
I feel when you go somewhere, you want to
experience it with somebodyelse.
So I've been to Asia quite a bitand I've never had Melinda there
with me.
I want to go to the Great Wallof China with Melinda and show
her things that I've seen.
Anywhere I go, I want her to bewith me because it's like she
understands everything about me.
But when I go on these solo ornot solo trips, there's business

(44:36):
things, and she's not there,it's it I come home and I go, I
just want to, I want toexperience that with you.
So anywhere we go, I just wanther there to experience with me.
I think she'd say the samething.
Because we understand each otherso well, and when we do things
apart, I I want to show her thatside of me.

SPEAKER_00 (44:55):
I love that.
All right.
What are who are not what arewho are two people alive or of
who have passed on that you wantto have dinner with and why?

SPEAKER_01 (45:04):
Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 (45:05):
Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 (45:08):
Um, two people.
Jesus and who's our secondTanner, obviously.

SPEAKER_04 (45:13):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (45:14):
That would be amazing.

SPEAKER_03 (45:16):
I don't think you'd come up with any other name for
the other.

SPEAKER_00 (45:18):
I don't know.
I mean, and and that fitsperfectly of what we've kind of
talked about today.
So I I think that's beautiful.
Tanner and Jesus can't go wrongwith that, without a doubt.
All right.
If Hicks in the Wild was a moviegenre, what genre would it be?
And who would play each of you?

SPEAKER_02 (45:36):
Ooh.
Well, I don't know.
Everyone says he looks like onlyyou know I'd be Glenn Powell.

SPEAKER_03 (45:44):
I'm Buff.

SPEAKER_01 (45:46):
I don't know.
I don't know actors.
I don't know who would be me.
What would we be?
Rom com?

SPEAKER_03 (45:53):
RomPow.
I'm Glenn Powell because I'mBuff and super good looking.

SPEAKER_00 (45:59):
Definitely a rom com.
I I could definitely see a romcom for sure.
You gotta be a rom com, right?

SPEAKER_03 (46:04):
I mean validating the comment there.

SPEAKER_01 (46:06):
Uh Glen Pal.

SPEAKER_03 (46:08):
I need somebody to validate it.
Glenn Powell.
Oh, Melinda.
You would be Anne Hathaway.

SPEAKER_02 (46:16):
Really?

SPEAKER_03 (46:17):
Is she she's in Francis?

SPEAKER_02 (46:19):
You think I'm Kletzy?

SPEAKER_03 (46:20):
Is she Kletzy?
I think she should act inmultiple ways.

SPEAKER_02 (46:25):
Yeah, that's true.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (46:26):
Dark hair.

SPEAKER_02 (46:27):
We don't really know act very much.

SPEAKER_00 (46:30):
I don't either.
I do know Anne Hathaway just indark hair.
I mean, I think that's that'sthe similarity I see.
They both have dark hair.

SPEAKER_03 (46:37):
Rock Johnson is who I would be.
Dwayne the Rock Johnson.
That's for sure me.

SPEAKER_00 (46:46):
Hey, there's no wrong answers here, so yeah,
that's that's perfect.

SPEAKER_03 (46:51):
Okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 (46:51):
I love it.
So Journey with Jake, it's anadventure podcast, but it's your
journey.
You shared who your journey,you've shared some adventures of
these fun activities you'vedone.
But I just kind of want to knowbetween the two of you, maybe
we'll start with Troy and thenMelinda, what does adventure
mean to you?

SPEAKER_03 (47:07):
What does adventure mean?
It means to me taking a risk andthen knowing that it's a risk
and still going forward.
And then not knowing whereyou're gonna end up on the other
side, but still moving forward.
I think that's what an adventureis.
And then the the experiencesthat happened to you that you

(47:29):
didn't know were gonna happen.
I I I think an interestingphrase is you you don't know
what you don't know when youstart out on these paths, but
you just have to move forward.
You can't know all of before youpull the trigger, and maybe
that's not the best phrase, butbefore you say, I'm gonna go
forward, you don't know like allthe risks that are on the road,
but you just gotta say, I'mgonna move forward and go and

(47:51):
and say, I'm gonna take thisadventure.
I don't know where it's gonnatake me, but I'm I'm gonna move
forward.

SPEAKER_02 (47:55):
Yeah.
I mean what comes in my mind ishaving fun doing something new.

SPEAKER_03 (48:02):
I like that.

SPEAKER_02 (48:02):
And it's best with a friend.

SPEAKER_03 (48:05):
Best with a friend.

SPEAKER_02 (48:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (48:08):
Life is journey, and it's better with a friend.

SPEAKER_00 (48:11):
I feel like we're coming up with things right
here.
This is great.
Uh I love it.
This was fun for me.
Melinda and Troy, thank you bothso much for coming on Journey
with Jake.

SPEAKER_03 (48:23):
Thank you.
Thank you, Jake.
Thanks for inviting us.

SPEAKER_00 (48:25):
A big thank you to Troy and Melinda Hicks for
joining me on the show andsharing so much laughter, love,
and faith.
I love how their story remindsus that adventure can be found
in the everyday moments when wechoose joy, creativity, and
connection.
Be sure to follow them onInstagram at Hicks in the Wild
to keep up with their hilariousand heartwarming content.

(48:46):
Also, check outsearchingforjesus.shop to find a
way to make your Christmas moreChrist-centered.
Thank you, Troy and Melinda.
And thank you to all of you fortuning in each week to Journey
with Jake.
I'm so grateful for thiscommunity and for the lessons I
learned from every guest whojoins me.
If you haven't yet, take amoment to follow the show, leave
a review, and share this episodewith someone who could use a

(49:08):
smile today.
Join me next time as I sit downwith Craig Dayhutt, co-founder
of Appian Media, who takes usbehind the scenes of filming
faith-based adventures acrossIsrael, Egypt, and beyond.
It's an incredible story ofperseverance, purpose, and
passion.
Just remember, it's not alwaysabout the destination, as it is
about the journey.

(49:28):
Take care, everybody.