Korie Robertson on: Raising "Strong & Kind" kids. Feeling the gratitude. Time to party. Mission Work.(#32)

We are super lucky to have Korie Robertson (@bosshogswife) from Duck Dynasty on todays podcast to discuss ‘all the things’!  Duck Dynasty aired on A&E in 2012 and America continued to fall in love with the Robertson clan over the next 6 years. Korie is the wife of Willie Robertson and mother to six children, adopted and biological, she is also an author and business woman. So you already know this is going to be a great episode!  FIRST THING: Amy & Korie talk about raising “Strong and Kind” kids, which also happens to be the name of Korie’s book! They discuss the challenges and the beauty of fostering and adopting children…and Dancing with Stars??  SECOND THING: Feeling all the gratitude! Korie shares the top 4 things that she feels grateful for in her life. THIRD THING: Do you have a party coming up and need some awesome party ideas and themes? Or are you feeling stressed at even the thought of hosting? Korie shares how to throw a party like a Robertson and how to make sure you’re enjoying the day as well. FOURTH THING: Mission work not mission impossible! Sometimes we need a reminder that keeping it simple and starting in our own neighborhood is just as important as going abroad. BONUS: Be sure to listen all the way to the end to get the first exclusive on the new Robertson venture! Also, Korie reads this weeks email shoutout and we’re so glad she did!!  

Books Mentioned: 

Children Around the World by Donata Montanari 

Woman in the Material World by Faith D'Aluisio 

(Episode 50)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, up a little food for you. So life. Oh
it's pretty bad. It's pretty beautiful that for a little moth,

(00:28):
you're kicking four. All right. I told you all, I
was super excited about this episode because Corey Robertson's here.
And I guess you would only know it is excited
if you listen to the last week's episode. And I
gave a teaser that she was going to be in
Nashville and she was gonna come sit down with me
and Corey, you're the first person ever sit down and
we're gonna do four totally different things with you. Oh

(00:51):
my goodness, I'm so honored. Yes, So Corey Robertson, you
probably know her from TV duck Dynasty, like crazy thing
that just happened to your life, that catapulted your family
into like fame. Crazy. Yes, you're also an author, a speaker,
an entrepreneur, You've got some fun things in the works,
and you know a mom and just like I said,

(01:12):
a normal person. So I feel like we have a
lot we can talk about. And the fact that you've
adopted and and foster care even and things that you're
passionate about. I feel like a lot of my people
are passionate about, and uh, I want to hear about
submission work you do traveling the world. But before we
get into, um, some of that stuff, I have a

(01:33):
debate that I want you to settle. Okay, Okay. So
I we talked about this on the Bobby Bones Show,
and none of the guys had my back, Bobby lunch
Box Eddie. They all sided with my husband. But this
was such a hot topic that I was getting texts
and emails from people that work in our building and
some of my friends that were listening, and I was like, okay,
like this is a thing. It's called the French Free Debates.

(01:55):
And so my son we were eating burgers. We had
people over at the house and there was a big,
big plate of fries that's that everybody was grabbing from
and we just hadn't had time to like put like
a serving spoon out there. And my son is making
his plate and he puts his hands all up in
there and dumps the fries on his I mean not
all of them, but he definitely touched basically all of them,

(02:17):
which is, you know, that's not cool. So we wanted
to teach him that it wasn't I didn't see it happen.
My husband saw it happened, so he took the lead
and he put all the fries on my son's plate,
all of them. And next thing you know, I'm in
the kitchen. I turned around and I see my son
with this little mini kids slider hamburger thing and a
mountain full of fries. And I'm like, what's happening. And

(02:39):
my husband said, well, he touched all the fries and
he needs to learn not to touch them, so now
he has to eat every single fry. Um. Okay, not cool,
not not cool at all. So I stepped in overrode
or over was that the right word. I'm not the writer.
The writer, I overrode my husband and in front of
our guests, and it got awkward because I was like, no,

(03:01):
that's not happening. Like our a year old son who's
teeny tiny doesn't have the stomach for that. I don't
want him eating a plate full of fried foods. Also,
he sort of might think that that's awesome that now
he gets to eat them all, but that might not
be such a punishment, right, But I mean, his goal
was it was so much like his little tell me
it would make him say and then he would never
want to do it again. And I'm like, no, what

(03:21):
we're gonna do here because I don't want I mean,
if it was a plate of strawberries, I might have
been like, okay, fruit, like let's go for it. But
fried food, that's just it just didn't seem no logical
to me. So I take the fries away. I dumped
them out. He's only left with the burger and we
throw the fries away, and I'm like, that will teach him.
But I mean I made that move without, you know,

(03:44):
consulting my husband. I just stepped in, handled it the
way I thought it should be done and which I
think was right, but not how I handled it. And
then you know, we we went on with it, and
my husband just kind of shut down, especially because he
felt like disrespected, especially in front of our us, and
then got awkward. I just didn't know how would Corey
and Willie Robertson handle this if one of their kids

(04:07):
had touched all the fries. So wow, that's a tough one.
I mean, I totally okay. So first of all, I
just want to say for the outset that I think
you did the right thing of dumping them out, because
I mean that you know, you don't want to eat
your old kid eating a whole plate, but the fact
that your husband started it and had already that's tough.

(04:29):
I mean I can remember when our kids were little,
Willie doing things that I looked at him like I
cannot believe you, just like he just dealt with them
a little, you know, a little harsher than perhaps I
would have. But I think that's why they have two parents,
because like you know, you've got you've got one that
sometimes will maybe handled things a little harsher, the other
that's a little softer, and it balances out. So um,

(04:51):
oh goodness. I would say, I'm on your okay, this
is tough because I'm on your side with the decision
for sure, but probably it's okay to not be on
my side with how I handled it. Probably, yeah, because
I would want your wisdom on that too, because I
respect you as a wife and a mother. So I
will say, like, the kids need to see a unified
front because they can. I mean, they sense, they sense

(05:12):
like whenever you're not together, and they will utilize it
to their best benefits. So like we did try to
like at least in front, Now we might go back
to the bedroom and argue like for an hour over
how we one of us handled it. But in front
of the kids, we tried to at least act like
like we agreed, even if we were like literally biting
our tongue. That's good advice, that is helpful. I will

(05:36):
say I had this experience of that son we had
taken him to So we go a mission trips a
lot and we would run the Medican Republic and we're
with all these kids from the children's home and our
son gets at the front of the line and there's
tortilla stat He starts rifling through the tortillas, like because
he wants to choose the biggest tortilla for himself. And
I'll walk up and I'm like, what are you doing.

(05:58):
You're touching all the tortillas and he's like, why would
that when the one that's like at the bottom of
the thing. And so I just like yanked him out
a line and made him get to the very back
of the lot of like you're going to be the
last one to eat now because you touch the tortias, which,
of course, I mean, we still like the tortias, right,
we touched them, but he had to get in the
back of the lad So that's how I dealt with that.
But well, he wasn't there to have an opinion, so

(06:18):
I know sometimes that's easy. If my husband been there,
he would have been eating every single tortio. But okay, yeah, no,
that's that's that's good. That's a good way to handle that.
And it's also good advice to have a unified front.
I think that's important. I think that is important. Not
always easy, but it's important to just know that that's
that's the ultimate goal. And we can settle it in
the bedroom. Settle it later. There, you go, settle it later. Okay, Well,

(06:41):
super excited to have Corey here. I think the first
thing we're gonna get into is I want to talk
about Strong and Kind, which is a book that you wrote,
and I just think that it's it's good for people
if they have kids or don't have kids. We'll kind
of touch on that, and then adoption and foster care,
and then I also want to talk gratitude with you
and how what role gratitude plays in your life and

(07:02):
just the importance of traveling and experiencing that and mission work,
and then how to throw a good party all right.
I've heard that Corey Robertson can throw a good party,
so I definitely want to dive into that. Sounds good.
Let's talk about the book that you wrote, Strong and
Kind and why. I mean, I know why you came

(07:22):
up with those things, but if people are listening, like
why would you write a book with those two words
as the title and and the role that the words
strong and kind play in your life and your family's life. Okay,
So first of all, why two things is because I
feel like I remember when our kids were little, and
I felt so stressed over like all the things, and
how everything felt like such a big deal, like when

(07:45):
to take the past far away, when to like start
them in preschool, like everything felt so big and like
the decisions are going to affect them for the rest
of their lives. And I remember just kind of come
into this of like, Okay, look, I've got to really
think about just the values that I want to put
in them, not all the little things, because the little
things can overwhelm you. And so I just sat down,
I was out of Bible study, and someone said, like,

(08:05):
what are the values you want to still in your kids?
And strong and con just popped into my head and
I wrote them down that night, and I was like, Okay,
like everything else can be. They can wear shoes or
not where shies, they can you know, like all those
little things really don't matter. What really matters is like
the values that I'm still in them. And so um
that's kind of how I came to it. Really was
just a feeling of overwhelming if feeling of as a

(08:26):
mom of like, okay, how do I just like bull
it down to what's really really important? And so, how
many kids have you? Race? Like you're a mom of six?
Six yes, coming to us from all different ways, so
and so talk about where they all come from. Okay,
so um, we have three biological children and mixed all
in there. Someone asked me about birth order and they

(08:47):
were like, oh, so you didn't worry about birth order.
Was like, actually no, because our our kids birth order
has changed over and over again as we added another child.
But um so um. Rebecca is our oldest and she
came just when she was sixteen from how one and
as an exchange student and just kind of never left.
We just fell in love with her and we're like
your ours, and she was like I'm yours and she stayed. Yeah,

(09:08):
she does have a mom and taw one. Her dad
passed away, but she has a mom intab one that's
still a really real big part of her life. But
she's been here, she's thirty, been here for since she
was sustaned with us. How did y'all decide to do
and exchange student program? Well, that was really born out
of um. So. We had four little children at the time,
and I have always really valued travel and just felt

(09:29):
like our kids saying the world was a really important thing.
And we had four little kids and not a lot
of money, so we couldn't travel. So I was like, oh,
we'll bring in someone from another country and it'll like
expose our children to the world, and maybe we'll learn Chinese,
which of course we didn't except for that city can
wrap in Chinese and singing the climb and Chinese. That's
about it. Yeah, I'm interesting. Okay, that's about all we know.

(09:49):
But um but so, I just I just felt like
I was always reading the book Kids of the Book,
the books of the kids from about other countries, and
how I just feel like it's a really importan and
that they understand that the world is much bigger than
our little space that we occupy, and so that's really
why we did it because I thought, oh, you know,
I'll expose them to something different. So she came and

(10:11):
Um could not speak a word of English, which was crazy.
She attached to me. It was like having another child
because she was succeeding, which it was like I'd have
another child, but it was like having another like five
year old. She was so attached to me, and I
had to read to her every night, but we had
little kids, so we just read every night, and that's
how she learned English. And Um about her second semester
here was she was, you know, started really kind of

(10:31):
making friends and everything. And we were like, oh, if
you want to come back for your senior year, you're invited.
And she did. And then sometime that next year, I
remember telling someone we had four children and our little
list Bella said no, we don't, we have five, and
it was just like, yeah, you're right. She saw her.
So she would school a l s U and has
lived in Louisiana. So she has a little Louisiana Chinese accident,

(10:53):
which is really cute and awesome. That's awesome, But and
she has a baby now, so we have a grand baby,
so to say, and she seemed made you with grandma. Yes,
I mean I'm sure that it's like that's like a
proud thing. And then your son is expecting to yes
in October. Yes, we have another grand baby coming in October.
So we are like over the moon excited. It's so
much fun. Before we started recording, Corey and I were

(11:16):
talking about Dancy with the Stars and you know, you're
definitely someone that could do it. But she kind of
had this she has this good plan where she's like,
you know, right now, I'm what if you're am I
on forties six, so like I'm kind of just in
that weird middle age that like if I'm not good,
I'm just not good. But I've had this thought. I'm like,
if I want to turn like sixty, if it's still happening,
maybe I'll do it. Because then they'll be like, oh,
she's so old and she's doing great, look at her,

(11:38):
she's amazing, because it won't even really you know, when
you're older and you'll have a way more impressive and
they'll be like, look at that grandma. Right, she's got
like ten grandkids and she's out there doing this. Wow,
And now you have you, so you have like what
like thirteen whatever, however many years to splits and yeah,
I should I should start stretching now. So we're going

(11:59):
to get back to the strong and kind with the
kids stuff, but UM and the family stuff. But first
I just wanted to finish some of the other the adoption,
UM and foster care, right, okay, So Rebecca came that way.
Then Will um is he's seventeen now, and we got
him when he was five weeks old. UM is a
domestic adoption and he was just like we got him

(12:20):
right before Christmas, and it was like the greatest gifts
you can ever imagine. UM that had this brand new
baby UM. And by chance we um actually had gotten
pregnant really easily with John Linkenseiti and then we decided
to adopt and got Will and had just not gotten pregnant,
been taken a little while. We got Will in December
got pregnant with Bella and January, so those two are

(12:41):
ten months apart. And they were like little We called
him Destructor one and destructive too. They were just terrors.
They were into everything. One would push up, window up
and the other would crawl out. It was just crazy.
So they were only ten months apart, and then um,
we settled down for a while, Um didn't have any
more children, and then we adopted Rowdy for years ago.
So he's now the baby of the family. And um,

(13:03):
he was twelve when we got him. He's sixteen now.
So yeah, that makes six and one grand baby and
one on the way and uh a new son in
law on the way too. We just said, so, I know,
congratulations to all the exciting things. So families growing, Yeah,
definitely a lot happening there. And so the what you
wrote in strong and kind now you can apply to

(13:26):
your grandkids. Grandkids and your kids have that to pass
down and it's something that you got from your dad
and your family. And what y'all would do is, you know,
on vacation, just y'all would sit down and talk about
your core values as a family, right, and you know,
what do we want to stand for? And every year
you would kind of update it. And so I guess
when you and Willie are sitting down, you're like, Okay,
what are the core values we want to see in

(13:47):
our kids? And strong and kind, like you said, is
what came to you in a Bible study. Yeah, that
was are like one of our things our family did
every vacation. We would just sit down and just really
talk through like what are the what's the legacy that
we're living and leaving as a family, and what do
we want to um, what do we really value? And
so yeah, that's where it came from. So strong was

(14:07):
for them because like I had lived enough life by
that time to realize, like, you need to be strong,
like you've got to. And I love that virus for
it says that God didn't give us a spirit of timidity,
but want of power, and like that we have a
lot more strength than we realize that we have because
we have the spirit of God, like the creative the
universe living inside of us. So I, um, you know,
it's like we need to be strong. We need to
understand that and have confidence in that. And so um,

(14:29):
strength was for them. And I always envisioned these like
a big tree with like really deep roots and just
kind of like for our kids, Like I wanted to
just help them grow their roots really deep so that
when tough times come, they would be strong enough to
withstand it. And so that's kind of like my vision
for the kids. It's just like a big tree with
really deep roots, because like the wind's gonna come and
it's gonna like knock some branches off, and it's gonna

(14:51):
you're gonna sway. But like if you're rooted deep, then
you have that strength that you're going to withstand whatever
comes your way. And it seems that you and Willie
have worked on keeping your roots strong. Yeah, so that
is a big thing, And I talked about that a
lot in the boat because it's like you can't ask
your kids to be like confident if you're not living
that you know, or be kind and you're like, oh,
I want you to be kind, and then you're like

(15:12):
snapping at the person at the grocery store line or whatever.
And so it is like kids definitely they live what
they see even more than what you say. Like they
can see right through it if you're not if you're
not being genuine and real, they can see through it.
I know you wrote that book strong and kind, but yeah,
I feel like there's so many times my kids could

(15:33):
just call me out on not being um, you know,
having joy joy something that we focus on a lot
in our house. What is your vice or sometimes where
you're just like literally not feeling it because we're human.
Oh yeah, yeah, we all we all hit those moments
and everything. So I guess my biggest advice that is
just apologize when you make a mistake, when you're not
doing you know, there's times when you're gonna not be

(15:56):
you know, the greatest you you can be, right, but
then whenever you come back to your senses, yeah, go
in and have a conversation about like, look, we're real
people and we make mistakes. And that's something that we've
really tried to do with our kids do is just
like be really real and honest. I've always told my
kids like, if you ask me something, I'm going to
tell you the truth, and I'm gonna be honest about it.
And so I think, you know, it's not covering up

(16:17):
your mistakes, it's just putting them out there and saying, yeah,
we make we mess up, we're not perfect, and let's
talk about that. And then and it's how you repair it.
It's what you do after too, you know, Like, um,
we talk a lot about taking risk. I think I
think being risk takers is really important and um and
not being afraid to fail, But it's what you do
after that that that's what's important right and how to

(16:39):
forgive to you know. I think there's something too. There's
this um you know, like when someone says you're they're
sorry and you're like it's okay, Well sometimes it's not okay.
Like you need to say, like I forgive you, and
they need to understand that, like, yeah, you did mess
up and you did her my feelings, but I forgive you.
You know. I think that's a greater and it's a
little uncomfortable because like you want to just like, oh,
it's okay and just plow it off, but you know,

(17:01):
they need to understand like the power of saying you're
sorry and forgiveness. Yeah, you know in the book, I
talk about like, you know, don't take my my words,
you know, like you're your kids, it's your family. What
are the things that yeah, what are the things that
are really valuable to you? You know? And um, yeah,
kind was the other one, and that was for other
people because I just feel like, you know, if we
were all a little kinder, this world would be a

(17:22):
much better place. And so kindness is is deeper, I
think than like being nice, because you know, we can
all be nice, but kindness is actually being really thoughtful
of others and their and their feelings and their opinions
and listening and all that that. I think that's all
intiled in kindness. In your book, you use an example
of like one of your kids going back to make
sure that you know their grandma wasn't walking alone. And

(17:44):
I just thought, like for a kid to be that
observant and then know that, like, hey, everybody else is
going to go on this bus, but like grandma's walking slower,
I can even go on the bus everybody else, or
I can go make sure that grandma's not by herself.
Like that's an example of yeah, and some kids wouldn't
even think of that, but when you know, when you're
instilling it, I was like, yeah, that's a really good example.

(18:05):
I started think, what would my kids do what my
kids do? But we are and I don't know about
with your your twelve year old son when you know,
getting him at twelve, Like my mom never instilled me
saying yes ma'am or yes sir two people, and so
it was harder for me to learn that. And some
of my friends, if they didn't say it, like they
were in trouble and their mom's made sure they always

(18:27):
said yes, ma'am and yes sir. And then with our kids,
we didn't start it right away when they got here.
But like our daughter, she's twelve now, and it's like, Okay,
I guess I'm looking to you for like, is it
ever too late? And some people listening right now might
be like, oh, well, we haven't. We didn't set our
family core values and our kids or teenagers, and what's
your advice to people where it's like you just feel
like it's a little overwhelming because you feel like it's

(18:48):
a little too late and you wish you're focused on
how you wish you would have started time ago. Yeah,
I think that is a hard thing because always, I mean,
you know, now anytime you can look back, and now
with having grandkids, I'm like, okay, am I going to
even do it differently with them that I did with
my kids? What did I wish I would have known?
You could always look back and think that. But I
don't think it's ever too late. And yes, but but yes,

(19:09):
I will say, um adopted a twelve year old. It's
different because a lot of those things are already learned
and so they're having to relearn, and so you you
feel compassion. I felt compassionate for him because I'm like, oh,
he's coming into this family that's so different and he's
having to just relearn everything. But at the same time,
you know, you want your like as a mom, you're like, oh,

(19:30):
I want him to do all these things. So um yeah,
for him, we really struggle with negativity. He was like
haw a real just so we had I don't know
how many talks about like look for the silver lining
and how do you find the good and let's say
that three good things that you see in this situation
rather than the three bad things. You know, So um,
it took. It takes a lot of like training and

(19:52):
retraining and a lot of talking and a lot of conversations.
So I just want to say, I don't give up.
I mean a lot of parenting is really just about consistency,
whether they're two or ten or fifteen, you know, and
it is hard because you get exhausted as a mom.
You're like, Okay, I give up, Like I'm tired of
trying to do this. I've been hanging the same conversation
for years now. But don't give up, you know, stay

(20:15):
consistent with it, keep your message consistent, and they'll get
it eventually. I really believe that they will. Okay, I
think even like for ourselves, like we can be so
stressed about all the little things in life and things
that don't even really matter at all, Like you're not
going to remember ten years from now, you're not evenna
a year from now. But it's those values that are
the things that we should like, that's what we should

(20:35):
be thinking about for ourselves as well. There's a um
I said something in the book about like I think
in our world today, a lot of times we value
like characters like on television and all that, Like we
love to see, like you know, people who are characters
and who are out their personalities and all this, But
like do we value character like having a good having
a good character like that inner self? And I mean,

(20:56):
that's the things that that make your life honestly better
and easier when where you you live a life that's
honest and truthful and it's joyful and that's with gratitude
and that's humble and and all these things that that
are strong and kind and all those things that are value.
Which is the next thing I want to get into
and we'll talk about in a second, is gratitude. That
will be our second thing that will cover and you know,
as we wrap up this little first thing, have you

(21:18):
that's the only book that I've read of yours. Do
you have another one? Yeah? So we did well. Whenever
the show first came out, we did the one called
the Duck Commander Family. That's just like our story, William,
our story of like and our whole family story of
you know, and y'all are both just so interesting to me.
So and even if you haven't ever watched Duck Dynasty
or anything like, y'all are just y'all grew up so

(21:41):
um differently. Yes, we did, and so and then you
combined your world and it's like, okay, there's just there's
y'all are interesting. Uh huh, yeah we we this will
be This is like the best demonstration that I can
tell you to see how different our families were. So like,
we both had faith at our core, so that was
the only the only thing that was alike. Like, they
lived out on the river and Willie says that when

(22:02):
he came to our house and he was like the
grass was mode. He was like all the grass was
the same length. He was like what you know, like
he didn't grow up in a subdivision or anything like that.
But when we so I was seventeen when we decided
to get married. Seventeen was eighteen, and of course, you know,
we told our parents, and my parents were like had
like a power point presentation about like, wow, that's probably
not a good idea at seventeen, you know, like they

(22:23):
set us down and like rationally or like trying to
go through like wow, what things we need to think
about and why that probably um might not work, you know,
all this stuff. We go to his parents and his
dad was like, we can get married at sixteen in Arkansas?
What are you waiting on home? So that that will
show you the difference, you know. So we compromise, and
I was eighteen, we got married. Okay, that's exactly so

(22:47):
nice of you. So in that first book does it cover?
We talked a lot about that, Yeah, about the differences,
and we get through things like a lot of it
is business because Willie and I have been a real
team and growing um duck under in the business, and
because you're heavily involved in that, I mean with them
every day. So some people, if they're not as familiar
that maybe I don't want that to be lost on them,

(23:08):
like you're you're kind of you got your hands in
it all. Yeah, we talked about that a lot and
what it's like to work together, and then and just um, yeah,
our family story. And then I've got a couple of
kids books, like devotional kid books. Okay, I love it
so so much to check out book wise from Corey. Thanks. Second,
the second thing we're going to talk about is gratitude.

(23:30):
So Burnet Brown says, and I say this on the
podcast all the time. People are like, Okay, we get
it already, but there is no joy without gratitude. So
something that we focus on here at times, you know,
trying to think of things that you're grateful for and
rattle them off. I had my kids on a couple
of weeks ago talking about the things they were thankful for,

(23:51):
and it was so sweet to see it come from
like a childlike perspective, because sometimes I think we can
get wrapped around that it has to be this grandiose
stuff that we're thankful for a really deep and complex yes.
But I mean, you know, my kids were like popcorn,
but were like, you know, a roof house, and because
they came from an orphage and they know that their

(24:13):
life is different. So there was some more like really
like kids, serious stuff. I'm thankful for shoes and cloth.
But then also my daughter was like for technology because
she loves Netflix. So how what role does gratitude play
in in your life and your family's life? And then
you know, if you just wanted to think of since
this is the Four Things podcast, if you just wanted

(24:33):
to share with us four things that you're grateful for today,
I love that. Yeah, I mean I think this gratitude
is everything. Like that is such a great point about
like joy, that is where your joy comes from. It's
what's what you're grateful for. And it's always held the
kids to when they were little, and we still talk about,
like you're what you think about is powerful. It's shapes
who you are and how you act and everything. So

(24:55):
if you focus on the negative things, then that's where
your life is going to go. You focus on the positive.
And I think that's a big thing about gratitude. It's
like if you look at the things that you that
you're grateful for, then you realize your life is actually
pretty good, you know, and um, you know, probably if
you're listening to this, then you've got some things to
be grateful for. You gotta you gotta you know, a

(25:15):
phone that you're listening to this podcast or whatever, so
you can start backtracking it that way. So anyway, gratitude
is used in our life. So four things. This is fun. Well, first,
I mean I gotta say my grand baby and went
on the way. I mean, it is like the most joy.
It's so much fun. It's all of the good and
none of the bad. You get to just love on
that baby, kiss on them and then like pass them

(25:37):
back and you know, but it's so much fun. I
am in love with him. If you haven't seen him,
you can have to go look at our Instagram because
you know it's quite a bit. I'm Boss Hog's wife
and um yeah, he is the cutest little thing. And
we have another on the way, so we you know,
just like staring at the ultrasound pics right now and
we can't wait for another one. So much fun. Did

(25:58):
you think you would be a grandma at you're so young?
Well we did start young, okay, that's true. Yeah, we
got married young. I had John Luke when I was
almost twenty two, so we started young. So yeah, I
thought and my mom was as a really young grandma
and so I love that. So it's it's a blast.
And second, well this is related is grown kids, because
grown kids are so much fun. Um. John Luke actually

(26:21):
wrote in My Mother's Day thing, he wrote, thank you
for having me so that now we can be friends.
And I love it because when your kids are grown,
you get to be friends with them. We just get
to have fun together. And I mean the parenting, like
you know, worries and things like that don't go away.
You're still even though you know your kids are growing,
you're still mom, Like you're still gonna worry about them
and think you think, you know, pray for the things

(26:42):
that they're going through. But there's just like a real
joy in it knowing that like, Okay, they're growing, they're
on their own, like they have a job, they're doing
the things that they're supposed to do, they're married, and um,
it's it's a lot of fun. I don't know where
it is that I heard this story about Sadie, but
just thinking of you saying you're thankful for own kids
and you've got to be proud of how they've all

(27:02):
grown into who they are. And Sadie I'll just you know,
single her out for a second because it's a story
I heard about her, and I don't know if it's
a podcast I was listening to that you were on
or something, but you talked about like when she was younger,
she would kind of preach on the coffee table or something.
And then now she's out, as you know, a grown
woman speaking and preaching and doing her thing, and she's

(27:25):
so awesome at it. But I mean she was doing
it at a young age too. Yes, I will say
I actually just pulled out a journal that I wrote
whene of our kids were little, and I was reading
them some of the things that they did, and it's
like they are the same people. Like it's just you
realize more how like God created us each so unique
and so originally and it's almost like I was like,
did I really just fed you all? That's pretty much

(27:47):
all I did, because like you were born who you are.
And so I've kind of come to this recently. I'm like,
you know, I think our jobs as moms is not
is really to just help them to be who they are,
you know, help protect them from the things of the
world that will can stop that the fears that stop
them from like being who they are and who they're
meant to be, stopped them, protect them from the things

(28:07):
that I guess not protect but I guess um, and
help them to learn how to deal with the things
that might stop them from like being who they are,
achieving the things that God places in them. But yeah,
she was like, I have a video. So he pulled
this out when she was sixteen. My dad actually pulled
it out and because we all remembered it, and she
was standing on the coffee table preaching, and she was

(28:27):
just so cute. I mean, she actually kind of had
some pretty good theology. She was like, I don't care
if you're a jail person or policeman. God loves you,
and she is just going after it. But the really
amazing thing because when we watched it, Duck Downasty had
just come out, and um, we had reached this like
crazy level of like fame that we had never dreamed of.
And she's standing there preaching and she says, and even

(28:48):
if I get famous one day, I will not think
of myself. I will remember God. And we just like
start bawling because we're like when she said that I
was a children minister a church will he was working
out a youth camp, Like there was no like indication
that we were going to be famous some day. So
it was like God just emplanted that in her and
prepared her for that, and and she made a promise
that she would not just think aboutrself to remember God,

(29:10):
and she has. And that's been a really cool thing
to say, goose funk, because it's just as a mom,
that's gotta be. Yeah, like you're seeing your grown children.
So that's the second thing you're grateful for him. What's
the third? So third is a husband who cooks Because
I am not a cook. I'm terrible, Like I'm so bad,
Like I just can't. I think I just get distracted.

(29:30):
And like so Phil's nickname for me is burnt toast
because like I will like literally burn the toast. But
Willie is a really good cook and he loves it,
like it's like his fun. Like even if we're not home,
he'll like cook something just really good for himself or
if like I'm home by myself, I'll eat ice cream
and so um. So I love that that he cooks
and that it makes for a lot of fun. Is
he beg into grilling or it's everything, Like he's just

(29:54):
that's how my dad was. He does it all like
he doesn't use asserts, but he does like really everything
and will he's kind of like he gets on one
thing and then he's like on it, you know, for
a while, and then he perfects that, then he moves
to something else. Just fun and feel really cooks too.
It's interesting, like all of all of the Robertson's, they
just really value good food and and they'll tell you

(30:17):
if it's not good too, like it's not don't worry,
what's happening? What happened to me? Like they made in
the fun of me. I'm like, fine, I'm good at
other things. I will do that. But so, yeah, that's good.
You know your strength, that's right, that you're not going
to that's a good thing. Yeah. I think I always
thought I would be this cook, especially once we got kids.
I think I cooked actually a lot more before we

(30:37):
got them because I had more time so working mom,
and there's a lot happening, and like literally I basically
want almost nothing to do with the food, which is
so not how I thought I was going to be. Yeah,
I thought that's just what I'm supposed to do. And
I realized like, okay, well that is not my strength, right,
It's it's just not so. But part of me, I
don't know, it's like this inner thing, like I feel

(30:58):
bad about it, but you're giving me valid It's fine,
let it go. So when ours were a little, I
remember we were sitting around and there's a bunch of
moms and everyone was complaining about that, about like the
meals at night and how stressful it was and how
we and I was like, you know what, I think
I can solve this problem for our family. So there
was a girl, a lady at charts. I was like
a friend of mine that I love to cook, and
I was like, could I pay you to cook for

(31:18):
us for like two nights a week and just bring
it to our house? And she was like, yeah, that'd
be amazing. I would love to make some extra money
and I like to cook anyway. And so whenever ours
were little, we didn't have a lot of money, and
it wasn't that much. I mean it paid her, like,
wasn't It was like what we would less than what
we would do have to eat out, But we had
a home cooked meal like twice a week. And it
was a friend of mine that did it and it
worked out great. Yeah, exactly. So it was like, you know,

(31:41):
sometimes it's like you can sit around and complain about it,
or you can just be like, Okay, I'm not good
at that, someone else is. Let them do it. You know,
when you do have a lot going on, you've got
to be resourceful and figure it out. And then if
you can help somebody else that loves to cook and
is looking to make extra money and you can work
it into your budget, like then yeah, I think home
cooked meals are good. We're not amazing at getting around

(32:01):
the table. How often when your kids were little we're
all eating around the table? We do. We have always
really valued that. Do you think that's something important? And I'm,
like I said, I'm thankful that really did and even
when they were little, like you know, I called together
some kind of meals to to make that happen. But um,
I don't really know. It's just different in different seasons,
and I don't think that there's yeah, there's not imagine nomber.

(32:22):
But I do think that is an important thing for
a family to sit around the table because that we
don't do it often, and I kick myself for not
doing it. Enough. But again, it's just the schedules and travels.
I travel, the kids eat at different times, and it's
just the whole thing. But when we do I feel it, Yea,
their energy is different. They laugh more, they share more,

(32:43):
We're all bonding more as a family. And I'm like,
we'll shoot yeah to figure this out because it just
is better. And I'm like, why is this only happening
once in a blue moon? Right? So I think that
that's something that's important. The third thing is that your
husband can cook. So what is the fourth The fourth
thing is Sunday afternoon, no ups, Like my kids know that,
like I'm going to get a good Sunday afternoon nap

(33:04):
in and something about it. It's like I've always done it,
even when they were a little i just made that
time and I took that time. And like, you know,
even if I don't sleep, I'll like late on a
read or whatever for a little bit on Sunday afternoon.
I just think I think you need that time to recharge.
And something about Sundays that just, you know, I just
kind of have always tried to protect that and make
sure and take a little time to just relax on

(33:26):
Sunday afternoon, I brought you another little I know we
shipped you a four things to like, um, a black one,
but I brought you this pink one, which is a
mother's day It was our mom guls tope, but now
it's not mother's anymore, so we're making it more of
like a life mantra tope, which I think is like, um,
love hard, have grace, um laugh often, and get sleep. Sorry.
I just thought, oh my god, and perfect inside of there,

(33:47):
there's some goodies and what to like two little bottles
of vital proteins um sleep juice. I don't know if
you've ever had that, but it's a shot and maybe
because you're traveling. This is a funny stir. And Sadie
was little, so I had like will and Belda Retiny
and we had four little kids and everything, and I
was like protecting that Sunday off your nap so on
Mother's Day. You know how the kids right, like you

(34:09):
know what your mom likes to do or what they
eat or whatever. And it was like your mom's ever food,
your mom's everything to do? Said he put sleep and
she drew me and she drew me in a bed,
and I was like, this is really embarrassing, but I
thank you. That's like, hey, right now, I know that
as a mom, like, well, shoot, I do so much
more than yeah, as a mom looking on too, like
that's so I'm like, goals, Yes, please let me be

(34:32):
known for that. At some point, let's go over how
to throw a good party, because I feel like you
put on fun parties and you're all about that, and
I think that sometimes we feel stuck and we want

(34:52):
to do something, but we need like a fresh idea,
and I feel like you've got some good ideas well.
I do love a good party, and like we party
a lot in our family. We have a big family,
so there's always something something to celebrate, I think. And
so yeah, we've always done like fun parties, but they're
not like big and like you know, not necessarily expensive
like one was. We've done this like twice. We did

(35:14):
it for John Lake whenever he was in high school,
and Bella too. We had this Jello party and so
like your entrance into the jello party is like you
have to bring like eight bags of jello, eight like eight,
Like you gotta make a lot of jello for this
to work. And then we put like big pools like
baby pools out you dump the jello in the pools
and you just like wrestle in the jello, which is

(35:34):
really fun. It's actually really fun for teenagers. And then
like I mean we've had some that have been a
little like two over the top, Like we had five
Night one time when John Lake was little, and like
someone broke their nose, like that probably wasn't a good idea. Gosh,
it was not a good idea. So um, but yeah,
so Sadie and Christians just got engaged and we um
had a big like kind of like a summer Olympics.

(35:56):
But it was just like weird sports that we did
and had two teams, and so I think the fun
thing about the party is like you just gotta think
of the fun little quirky things. So we had two
teams and they just were colored bandanas, but we made
shirts with just iron on. So like the winners got
the winner shirts that like had Satian Christians throwing up
a winner side, you know, and the losers got losers
shirts where they had like the L, the big L

(36:18):
and they're like looking sad, Yeah they're the losers, you know.
So like we just try to think of fun quirky
things to make the party like memorable and something that
you know you can do and the winner the loser
gets to walk away with that keepsake. Yeah, I remember
when you all got like I feel like that's the
fun thing that like twenty years from now, like remember
this from the engagement party instead of just the traditional

(36:39):
engagement party. You want to celebrate them in a more
fun I think that that's that's so not where my
brain goes is to like just do something really fun
like that and memorable and what are people really gonna
enjoy or you know, and not that the other parties,
which is typically what I would probably throw, are bad
because that's still good, but like ways to make it

(36:59):
an experience and it's it's about being a little bit
thoughtful ahead of time so that you can make it
a memory and so like, yeah, trophies are super cheap
to bus, so like we'll buy trophies and you get
a trophy if you do something you know and people's
memory somebody who would have to do to like win
a trophy. Well, one of the things we did we
have a pond behind our house, so we did like

(37:19):
a home run derby, but it was with golf balls
and bats and so like each team got like fifty
golf balls and so whoever you had to hit it
over the pond and like we counted it and all
that kind of thing to see who which team hit
the most over the pond, which they thought was really fun.
Are just like little you know, we played around the
world ping pong, and the last person standing, you know, wins,

(37:40):
and so those kind of things are just as simple
and not even hard. We played a game called water
bloon volleyball. You blow up volleyballs and like it's like
you've got to catch them. If it busts on you,
you're out, you know. Okay, so the water balloon is
the volleyball, yes, and you're like, but you have it's
really more like water balloon nukele because you gotta catch it, okay,
but if it busts on you, then you're out. But
also we do a lot of just like normal parties too,

(38:01):
you know, as far as like and it's and we
don't make a big deal about it. It It might just
be like, hey, you bring a salad, you bring bread,
you bring this, and we're going to make the meat
and it's get together. Yeah, you don't put all the
stress on yourself. But delegate, delegate all about that. Sometimes
when people are hosting, they just don't want people to
have to worry, so they want to try to handle

(38:22):
it all and then they're just flustered. I've been guilty
of that, and then you're running around and you don't
even really know if you're enjoying it. You don't know
where the day went because spent the whole day planning.
But that's right, I mean, yeah, yeah, make it easy
on yourself. I think it's really about being together. You know,
you need to remember that the party has about being together,
and so if it is about yeah, someone else bring
in something to make it easier to wear. And also

(38:42):
like Willie is a cook, so that's really nice. But um,
but you know, people will come and like we don't
have it already and set when they get there, like
it's like, hey, can you shop these vegetables? Can you
do this? And that just creates that environment where everyone's talking,
everyone feels a part of it. Yeah, it's more important
to have people together because I think some people probably
put off having people over. They want to be to

(39:03):
have people over people, but then they get too stressed
about it, but it's probably best just let that go
and don't worry about that and worry about the community,
the fellowship, the gathering. And I think that that's something
that you all have done so well and you've emulated
to other people that like this how it's done, and
that that's going to make your family and your friendships stronger. Yeah,

(39:24):
I will say so. You know, we talked a little
bit about our families being so different, and they were
like so different as far as the way we were
raised and everything in some in a lot of ways.
But the one thing that another thing that was super
consistent besides face was hospitality. Both of our families even
though Willie grew up without much. I mean they had
a two bedroom house with four boys and one bathroom
and a tiny kitchen and they were commercial fishing to

(39:46):
just make ends meat, but they would have fish fries
all the time down there, and like their house was
not perfect that all their kitchen was tiny, but they
were always having people over, Like if they had abundance
they caught a bund a fish, it was like, hey,
come down and we'll have a fish fry. And my
family was the same way, like we always had youth
group at our house. We always had we did have
us where we were last, we had a spare bedroom,
but it was like never empty. Someone was always living there,

(40:07):
like a family that needed a place to live for
a little while, or a single mom, or we had
foster kids we had. We always just kind of like
filled up our house with people and whenever we had
a little of our abundance, we used that to be hospitable.
And so that's how Bully's family was and that's how
mom was too, So we really did see that in
our homes. So you had the example of your parents
being foster parents, Yes, we did. Yeah, yeah, so, um,

(40:32):
they never went through the like direct foster care system,
but we had a couple of teenagers that live with
us that were needing places to live because they struggled
in their home. And then um, we had two single
moms that lived with us first into time with their kids,
and so had a lot of people in and out
of our home all throughout our life. And so you
kind of just saw that of like you know, like

(40:53):
if you if you have some to give, do it.
Why not? Yeah. Now, my mom was similar in that
and sometimes if she would she worked with a ministry
that worked with women that had been in jail, and
they would come and they know some women they were
getting back on their feet, and a couple of them
lived with my mom. I think I had already moved
out and I was like in college time, so I

(41:14):
didn't get to experience too much of it, but always
loved that she had that heart, because some people would
were judging her for it, like, oh, are you sure,
because you know, one of the women's boyfriend was still
in jail and they worried about my mom's safety. And
my mom is just like, I have this space, my
girls are grown and gone, and I want to use it.

(41:35):
So I guess what you're saying is you just gotta
you just gotta do it. Yeah, just started, don't worry
about Yeah we really Um. Yeah, our house is not
perfectly clean or anything like I tell people, like our floors,
kids roller blade on our floors or whatever. You know,
it's just like it's your house is meant to be
used and to be lived in and loved, and um,

(41:55):
I think having people over and just open it up
to others is a really important thing. So if you're
are hesitant about having the party, just have the party.
Just do it, that's right and tell people to bring stuff.
You don't have to do it all. Boom there yet. Okay,

(42:16):
let's talk about the mission work that y'all involved in,
and like you all have like the biggest hearts for others.
And I think sometimes people hear mission work they feel
like it has to be overseas somewhere, and it's just
not not the case. And I know that you're big
on exposure to the world and the needs of the
world and traveling the world, but some people listening it's
like that's just not where they can serve. Um. But

(42:37):
I want to touch on both of them because I
think that they're they're both important and you and you
do both. Yeah, there's no better person to kind of
bring in to talk about and encourage us to to
serve wherever we can. Yeah, I do think it's really important.
I think that, um, you know, it is a way
to like see that like it. Also I think it
helps with the gratitude like we talked about. And also

(42:59):
it just changed is your perspective of like, oh my goodness,
here I am complaining about this or that, and like
I have so much and I have so much abundance,
and it just will. I think it really changed your life.
Whenever you open your eyes to the needs of others,
you know, not looking at your own needs and your
own problems, and you open your use and needs others,
it just changes your perspective. So, um, I think internally
it's really important, but externally it makes the world a

(43:21):
better place and that's our responsibility. That's part of what
we're here on earth to do. You know. My dad
always has a saying, like all ships rise, when you
help somebody else, it helps you as well. And when
you help the community, it helps yourself. And I just
have a real you know, one of the experiences that
I had that I was really blessed to go to
Ethiopia a few years ago. And I've done mission work

(43:42):
before and gone to um seeing, you know, done things
in children's homes and all that, but this was a
chance where I was really with these moms and like
I was, like, I remember this moment this mom came
in and she was so like passionate. We were in
her home and the home was literally, truthfully smaller than
my bathroom. It was her whole entire high and um,
her little girl. They had prepared a little some tea

(44:03):
for us and we sat down, and Um, she was
just came in just talking, just like really passionately talking,
and I couldn't understand what she was saying because she
was talking to our translator that are actually the local
leader that we were there with. And Um, afterwards, I said,
what was she saying? And he was like, she wants
to open a business and she's like telling me her
idea and how like you know, what kind of funds
she needs and everything. And I was like, that's me,

(44:25):
Like that that mom is me. What if I were
that mom and I was sitting there trying to figure
out how I was going to feed my kids tomorrow.
You know, she's a mom that she was HIF positive
and she had lost her husband AIDS and she's trying
to raise her children and she's just doing the best
you can, trying to figure out how to how to
do that. And I just felt that like real connection

(44:45):
of like if I were that mom, I would be
sitting there trying to like pitch my business idea so
like I could get the funds to like do something.
And I think whenever you you realize that, like, you know,
we're so blessed. So like I don't know why was
born in Louisiana and America and had the lessons that
I have. I don't know why that happened, but I
know that I can do something to help someone else's

(45:07):
life be a little bit better. And so that's how
we live our life. And it can be going to
Ethiopia or it can be just in your hometown. I think, Um,
there's a verse that talks about like don't and we
just talked about parties in hospitality, and there's a verse
that talks about like, don't just invite over the person
that can give back to you. Invite over the person
that you expect nothing in return from, you know, invite

(45:27):
over the one that can't invite you back. And that's
where your reward. Because you invite the rich person over,
that's like, oh they can give you something back, then
that's your reward. But if you invite somebody over that couldn't,
then um, your rewards even greater in heaven. And so
that's why we try to live our lives. You know,
look to like look at who maybe doesn't have not
gonna spending time with someone at Christmas and invite them

(45:50):
to your Christmas or Thanksgiving. You know, holidays are a
really big thing. Tom that's lonely for a lot of people.
So we try to kind of look around and be like, Okay,
why don't you come and join our Christmas us. So
these are things that you can just do a little
bit in life that makes a huge difference for people.
So like my kids, I felt like, coming from Haiti,
they would come to America and suddenly just be naturally

(46:13):
be grateful for the things that they have. But their kids,
I mean, my daughter was tim when she got her
natal and then Stevenson was like seven and now he's
almost nine. So but that's that's God. I don't know
if they were appreciating a lot when they first got
here because they didn't speak a lot of English and
that was difficult. So I was like, I don't know
what you're saying, but you know, we got through that
in the first six months. We're pretty brutal, but you know,

(46:35):
we're now settled in and we're kind of English was happening,
which has been great, but you know, we're having some
learning moments where it's just like, guys, like, what, how
are y'all not grateful for this? Like in my mind,
I'm so perplexed, like how knowing the orphanage and how
it was there, you know, what life was like there,

(46:56):
and you know what it's like here. So why why
are we not having a grateful heart right as to
that too with our our youngest and and because he
came from you know, a difficult situation. But then I
think it's part of just our human nature. I guess
it's like how easily we forget, you know, how easily
we freak, especially kids, you know, we forget the blessings
that we have unless we were conscious about bringing them

(47:18):
through the forefront of our minds. This book called Children
around the World and We and it talked about like
I love that book. It talked about like you know,
like what they ate and how they lived and what
they did, how they where they got their water and
things like that, and just how like, you know, we
have to understand that, like we're all the same essentially,
Like we all want the same things like love, dignity, hope,

(47:38):
we all want we all want those same We have
the same basic needs, but we live really differently. You know,
if there's ways that we can help someone live a
little bit better than we should We should try to
do that. If someone's listening right now, they're Okay, where
do I start in my community? Like, do I see
if there's like a soup kitchen or somewhere to serve
or somewhere to pack food or at the food. I

(48:01):
think it's important to include them and the things that
you're doing. Yeah, because sometimes we can do it and
it's easier for like you do it yourself, but if
you include your kids in it, it just that is
where those teaching moments happen. So yeah, we you know,
when they were they were little, there are people that
maybe we bought for for Christmas or whatever, and we
take them shopping and like have the list of their
names and be really thoughtful about what they might want

(48:23):
or what they might like and how old they are
and things like that. So that's one way you can
do it at home. Are m the soup kitchen or
even little things like um. One of the things that
really started with them when they were little was they
would pick out the the house that did have the
best Christmas lights on our street and they would write
them a note and say, thank you for doing this.
Your Christmas lights are really beautiful, and they go put

(48:44):
the note in their mailbox, you know, just little things
to like be thoughtful about. Oh, someone else did something nice.
They put up great Christmas lights that we can enjoy.
Let's let's thank them, you know so, and having like
showing the like being thankful of your neighbors, are expressing
gratitude towards them, and a way of serving your community.
Because like sort of in theme with your um strong

(49:05):
and the kind but that's that's raising up kindness. And
when you have that kindness that's already kind of brewing
in you, then it bleeds into other areas of like
compassion and serving and wanting to be there for others,
even if it's just like your neighbor like that letter.
I mean, that's just such a good that's like sparking
so much in my head. I'm like, okay, Well, my
kids first got here, they were confused about neighbors, so

(49:26):
we had them baked cookies. They just didn't understand what
a neighbor was, Like, well, let's go meet the neighbors.
So we baked cookies and took the cookies to the neighborhood, like,
this is your neighbor here, give them the cookies, and
they were kind of they weren't totally into it, so
a little awkward, but they're like, here's cookies, Like we're
your neighbors love it, but like people put Christmas lides
whatever to make their house pretty. But like knowing that

(49:47):
your other neighbors like enjoy it and sending sticking that
note in their box then opens up dialogue and communication
and then friendliness and then you can build a relationship
and it's like if you ever need something. But I
guess at my point too, is like we did the
cookie and it didn't really like open that up. And
I know your maybe your neighborhood vibe might be different
because like it maybe a little bit more friendly or
Louisian and like something like I know we're in Nashville,

(50:09):
but my block isn't. I don't really feel like a
Noma neighbors. I do still, and I that bugs me
because growing up like this is gonna sound so cliche,
But like if we needed a cup of sugar, like
I lived in a cult to sack and I could
literally I didn't have to go to the grocery store. Yeah,
I would walk across street to the Wilson's or the
Andrews I still know them, and I would be like,
do you have a cup of sugar? My mom's out,
and they'd be like, here you go, here's two cups.

(50:34):
But we had that, but I don't know that we ever,
you know, did things with it, like my parents ever
did things with me to make sure we were thanking
our neighbors for like, yeah, having you know, a beautiful
Christmas lights. Because the Andrews definitely did shout out Linda
and Bill like they definitely did, but you know, it
probably would have created even more of a special relationship,

(50:56):
Like people would appreciate that and they're like, oh, that
few noticed our work and what we did and we
wanted it to look good. And but well, I think
I don't know why now this has made me feel
like I don't know my neighbors. But the thing is is,
like the kids still got the teaching lesson. I think
about doing that even if it didn't like necessarily spark
what you might have thought it sparked, but it's still

(51:19):
it showed them something, and I think that that's really
important that you made the effort and tried. But now,
because Willie, I think I might have them like leave
little notes in their mailbox. But honestly, they'll probably be like,
what's going on with these creepy kids? Yeah, but I think, yeah,
just find continue to find ways to engage. That's right.

(51:39):
I think it's just looking for the little things and
like and yeah, if you have the opportunity to go
somewhere and take your kids to travel to see the
world in a different way. We started double digits that
our kids went on like an avision trip when they
were after ten, Yes, after ten is whenever we started
kind of taking them with us to see things like that.
But part of that was because we couldn't afford to
take our kids or you know before that. So we're like, okay,

(52:00):
let's settle a lot of like when we will start
taking them and make sure we can save up and
and do that. But yeah, it's looking for the little things.
One thing that John Lukes so and that's part of
having grown kids and being like, oh, I'm so proud.
Like he has a jeep and one of his favorite
things that puth people out of dishes, which happens in Louisiana.
So like he like loves it when someone he sees
someone stuck, He's like, oh, I get to pull it out,

(52:20):
you know. And another thing. One day he liked in
his gulf compartment and he had some like little cash
in there, and I said something about I was like,
oh good, idea said some cash. He was like, I
just like to have it in case I want to
give somebody some money, So keep like in his glove
compartment in case he needs to which, don't you know
if he in case he needs to see somebody and

(52:41):
give him some money. You know, I just love that.
I at one point in time had snacks in the
back of my car for that reason. I'm totally guilty
if sometimes when I don't have anything, I just feel
awkward and I'm at the red light and I just
I'm like, well, you know what, I'm just not gonna
make eye contact because that's is better for me at
the moment. And then I will kick myself after I'm like,

(53:02):
why did I act that way? Because you know, if
all I had to give was a wave and a smile,
I should have given a wave and a smile, because
that is at least acknowledging that he's a human that's there. Yes,
that's so good. I love that because I do feel
that way too. You feel awkward because you're like, I
don't know what's doing this situation, but yeah, just give
them a smile, you or something like that. Yeah. So

(53:24):
the mission work could be going to Ethiopia. It can
be going to Haiti. It can be um sticking a
note in your neighbor's mailbox saying they have pretty Christmas
lights there. It could be smiling at the guy on
the corner. It can be pulling somebody out of a ditch,
like really, I mean that is true quote mission work.

(53:46):
That's right, literally loving your neighbor, whether it's next door
or from Afar, like really really far away, like Ethiopia,
which I went to Africa probably my gosh, what year
was it, I don't know, maybe two thousand twelve. I
think I went to Kenya and it was like one
of the best experiences of my life. And I was
there for two weeks. But it's just it's hard to

(54:06):
get there, and I like people won't. I feel very
lucky that I got to go and experience that because
a lot of people won't ever and it seems like
a lifetime ago and I can't believe that I did
get to do that, and I myself and I feel
the same way about Haiti too, But there was definitely
something special to me about Kenya, um, and that's what
ignited me even wanting to go to Haiti. And honestly
at the time was because Haiti was on my heart.

(54:27):
But we could get there so much easier and um
with work schedules and whatnot. But there is something about
when you find that place, if you can serve and
that you are supposed to be, like, it just feels
right and you just soak up all this stuff that
you know, the things that used to matter to your
Like God, that just really doesn't matter. I can't believe that,

(54:47):
like you were saying, I complained about that, Yeah, that
I complained about laundry when I have a washing machine,
you know, A complained about yeah. And you can see
the pictures. But like to be in a little village
in Kenya and see a woman that swalked, you know,
a mile and a half to get clean water, right,
and then put a bucket on her head and literally
walk a mile and a half back home and she

(55:07):
might make that trip multiple times a day. You're just like, Okay, Wow.
There's a book called Women in the Material World. It's
like a it's a photo book is beautiful and it's
about women in different parts of the world and like
how they live and their lives and everything. And I've
always loved that book I had. It's like a coffee
table book. I had a kind of our kids were little,
and if you know, if I got a little like

(55:29):
complaining about my life, I would just sit down and
look at that book and be like, you know what,
I have like nothing to complain about here, you know,
because we have we are so last, we do have
so much. And that was called women and women in
the Material World. Okay, I'm sure some people were like,
I'm about to rewind here, so you don't have to
women in the Material World. Well, I guess this is
kind of wrapped up our fourth thing. Were you staying

(55:50):
through the Ultra with me? I do an ultra every
episode and I read like I do an email shout out, Okay,
I wonder I'll pull it up and then I might
have you read it, because it's like someone that send
something in and then it's like special. If they're listening,
they're like, oh shoot, my my email just got red.
So because they send it in not knowing if it's
ever going to get shared or not so okay, So

(56:10):
Corey will be back for the outro and I loved
our four things yea, thanks you great. So that's a
wrap on today's episode. Still got Corey in here is promised,
and it's super fun because she's going to read the
email a shout out for today, which is who's the
email from Corey? This is from Nancy Tan Okay, Hi, Amy,

(56:31):
love you and your podcast. Thanks. I'm very interested in
fostering at some point. I'm currently married and have no kids.
I think we're at a good place that we could
offer our home and resources to a child. But I'm
twenty nine, have no experience raising kids, and I do
plan on trying to have kids next year, but I
still would like to foster. My husband and I don't
know when the best time would be to foster a child.

(56:52):
My husband thinks it would be best for us to
be parents first and have an understanding of being a
parent figure before fostering. I think now would be a
great time to foster. It also worried that we would
be in over our heads or I would make it
worse for the child. I would love to hear your thoughts,
advice experiences with adoption and jumping right into parenthood. Also,
I would love it if you had a four things
with Eddie's wife. I bet she has a wealth of

(57:13):
knowledge advice coming from social work and their current experiences fostering.
I would be grateful to get any advice. Thank you. Well,
if you're listening right now and you're like, who's Eddie
and who's Eddie's wife? Or Eddie's on the Bobby Bones
Show with me and he's a dad of two but
now a foster dad of two, so now technically a
dat of four, and I had him on to share
about how they went about doing it, and um, you

(57:35):
can go back and listen to that episode, and yes,
it's a good idea. I should definitely have his wife
on if she's willing to come on. But you know,
Corey has experienced with foster care and adoption, and you know,
for me and my husband, he always thought we would
have biological kids and then we would adopt maybe, And
I never had adoption on the radar. I just thought
we would pop out a bunch of biological children. My

(57:55):
sister has four. It seemed easy. All my friends have
a bunch of babies, and then we just couldn't get it,
and then my husband it took. I was on the
adoption trained way before he was. He just was not ready.
He was still holding now that we would get pregnant
and then that would be and then we would decide
about adoption later. And so then you know, that just
wasn't God's plan. And I'm you know, I've said this
multiple times, but I would pray every time I was

(58:17):
taking a pregnancy test that it would be positive, and
you know it, I couldn't see it at the time,
and I was getting so frustrated. But now that I
have Stevenson and Stashira running up and down my stairs
at the house, and like this was his plan all along.
And you know, we never even thought we would adopt
older kids for that matter, um, I guess always when
we started, we started domestic adoption with planning on getting

(58:38):
a baby, and then that detoured and somehow we ended
adopting older kids from Haiti. So you know that in
looking back now, I can see why my prayers weren't
answered because that just we weren't there yet. I love them.
So I don't know what would your advice Corey be
to her, because you know she's twenty nine, and she
doesn't know that they're ready. Are you ever ready? Yeah,

(59:00):
I was gonna say, that's my first thing is that,
like I don't know that you're ever really ready. I
don't know, like there's like ever this like perfect time
to have children or to foster or to adopt children,
you know. But I mean, I we'll say, I think
you and your husband should be on the same page.
So I think that you should start praying about that
about like that y'all are on the same page, because
it isn't easy. It is difficult, um, fostering, adoption, having
your biological children, there's difficulties that comes with all of that.

(59:23):
So I think you should be on the same page
with with your spouse about it before you go into it.
But and and one might be a little further along
in the process and the other. But um, yeah, there's
never a perfect time, but I do think it's but
the perfect time would be when you're both at least.
That would be Step one is getting on the same
page with your husband, and then step two would be

(59:44):
start reading books, start the proper paperwork that may need
to happen for the start researching how you get it done.
You know, it's state to state it's different or wherever
you live. Um, there may be some different guidelines and
stuff that you need to make sure that you're prepared for.
And I will say, make sure you don't have kind
of a fantasy expectation of what adoption or foster care
looks like, of like, oh, it's just me so great,

(01:00:05):
We're just doing something so great for someone. It's gonna
be so amazing because it is, and you are pouring,
you know, into someone that needs that, and you can
have that that you have some you feel like you
have so much love to give and you want to
give it, but there's it's a roller coaster. It is
a roller coaster. And I would say, yes, a round
yourself with other people who are in it and have
done it, because they can help you through it. You know,

(01:00:27):
I had friends that you know, would help me through
the tough times whenever we adopted a new sign that
was you know, bringing a whole another person into the family.
You know, you need to surround yourself with other people
who have done it and support to have a support
system and just ask, you know, ask for help and
encouragement and advice. Awesome, Okay, well thanks for helping out
with the email. Shoutout Corey, and just thank you again

(01:00:49):
for being here, Like, you're so awesome. You have so
many things going on. I admire you. I know so
many people are inspired by you and admire you. UM
listening and watching you on TV and then quickly to
can you tell me about y'all? Is it out that
you're doing like a production company like thing, Well it is.
We haven't I don't think we've actually like officially announced
it or anything. We got No, this is good, we

(01:01:10):
can we should talk about it. So I'm really really excited.
I mean, I think we saw whenever we did do Dynasty,
just the need for like positive, family friendly entertainment, and
we just saw the impact of that and realized And
I love actually the production side. I love the behind
the scenes. I love the creativity part of it and
coming up with the ideas and all of that, and
so that was fun for me and UM, we have
a lot of friends. You're really talented, and we were like, well,

(01:01:32):
we should tell their stories. So we started a production company.
It's called tread Lively. So it's like we're not gonna
tread lightly, We're gonna tread lively. In this world. Yeah,
and um so we start a production company and we've
got some really fun things in the work. So we're
very excited. Okay, now I can't wait. So that's something
to look forward to and obviously will be something that
I think a lot of my audience we love and

(01:01:52):
can be family type stuff, right. I think that that's
what we're missing sometimes, of stuff that you can all
just sit around as a family and not have to
be on guard of like what did they just what
did they try here? When did they just see and
what are they going to pick up? It's not going
to be something that we want them to be doing. Yeah,
so we know that tread lively family friendly. That's exactly right. Awesome. Well,

(01:02:13):
thank you, Corey and um, I guess we'll hopefully see
you around. Thanks. I'd love talking to you. Never lie, Okay,
cass up, bro, little food for you. So life ain't

(01:02:34):
Oh it's pretty, but hey, it's pretty beautiful than beautiful?
Laugh a little moths, tighten up. You're kicking with four
with Amy Brown