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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army in normal folks,

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Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation

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Speaker 1: with j. T Olsen. Right after these brief messages from

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Speaker 1: our generals sponsors, let's return now to JT on getting

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Speaker 1: their adoption in motion.

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Speaker 2: On December twenty sixth I remember it so clear. I mean,

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Speaker 2: like that, right away in the morning. My wife was

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Speaker 2: on it like a dog on a pork chop. She was,

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Speaker 2: I'm talking about she was on the phone calling Advassaards,

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Speaker 2: you know, I mean, she was all over the place

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Speaker 2: and it.

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Speaker 1: Was you just described the woman that you have said

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Speaker 1: is beautiful, hot, the most amazing thing in the world,

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Speaker 1: the sexiest thing that ever walked on two legs.

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Speaker 2: As a dog with a pork chob.

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Speaker 1: I hope she's not going to listen to this because

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Speaker 1: you're going to be in the dog house with port.

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Speaker 2: Okay. So she went after it with with with zeal,

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Speaker 2: with zeal. Yes, yes, so well, it's I mean through

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Speaker 2: a lot of stories. I mean it was, it was amazing.

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Speaker 2: I mean I remember her she did call uh. I

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Speaker 2: think it was Soudan because our church was doing. I mean,

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Speaker 2: one of the things that happened that caused me to,

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Speaker 2: you know, to do this, to have this attitude that

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Speaker 2: I had in the attic was we were given a

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Speaker 2: video from our church and the whole theme was less

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Speaker 2: under our tree and more into the world's tree. You know.

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Speaker 2: The picture wasn't upside down Christmas tree. And they gave

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Speaker 2: us a video of some people in Sudan, this village

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Speaker 2: that we were supporting as a church, and we had

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Speaker 2: made a difference and it had been there for four

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Speaker 2: or five years. But and and they had this one

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Speaker 2: part of the video that it was good for family.

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Speaker 2: Then they said this next part and you might want

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Speaker 2: to let your kids see it or not see it.

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Speaker 2: And our youngest I think was six, Max, and we said, well,

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Speaker 2: this is real. We're gonna make sure our kids see this.

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Speaker 2: And but it was it was sad because there was

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Speaker 2: a guy, you know, he said, now these kids, he said, now, unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: some of these kids you see probably won't be alive

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Speaker 2: when you see this video because they're being persecuted and

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Speaker 2: there's hunger and things like that. And it was kind

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Speaker 2: of a somber moment. And we're watching with our four

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Speaker 2: kids and my youngest, Max says, you mean, all those

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Speaker 2: people are going to die because they love Jesus or

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Speaker 2: because they don't have food. He said, yeah, well we

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Speaker 2: could be their mom and dad, couldn't we And it's

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Speaker 2: just like, okay, then let's see, let's let's get let's

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Speaker 2: get everyone. But it was one of those moments where

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Speaker 2: you just hit you like, Yeah, what we've been given,

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Speaker 2: what we've been blessed with, why why shouldn't we not

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Speaker 2: have less under our treat more in the world's for

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Speaker 2: That was just our attitude. But that's what one of

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Speaker 2: the things that hit me when I was in the attic,

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Speaker 2: and I just thought, what's wrong with using a life

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Speaker 2: savings to save a life? So eventually we ended up,

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Speaker 2: but I was going to go with that. The Sudan

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Speaker 2: she'd called the ambassador Sudan and she didn't mention we

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Speaker 2: are Christians or anything like that. She just said, wonder

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Speaker 2: about adoption? She says no, and that the ambassador somehow

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Speaker 2: she got him on the phone. I do not know.

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Speaker 2: That was another thing was kind of weird.

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Speaker 1: Same way she got twenty five people to come sell.

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Speaker 2: Books, kinda kindas I think zealous.

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Speaker 1: I think we've defined, I think we've decided that's the word.

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Speaker 2: Yes. People who know her would say, yeah, yeah, that

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Speaker 2: would describe her. But he did say, man, we've never

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Speaker 2: no one ever, no one adopts from Sudan. We don't

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Speaker 2: do that. And he said, but can I ask you

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Speaker 2: why do you want to adopt r Nan. She said, well,

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Speaker 2: we just we just wanted to adopt and make a

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Speaker 2: difference and help out. He said, well, thank you very much,

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Speaker 2: she said, and may God bless you. She hung up,

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Speaker 2: And it was weird. We never had a chance to

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Speaker 2: contact them again. But eventually, I mean we didn't if

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Speaker 2: we're going to domestic international, but eventually we read a book.

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Speaker 2: I can't remember any of the book, but it was

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Speaker 2: really gave a really clear picture what was happening in

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Speaker 2: China to these girls because of the one child policy

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Speaker 2: and all this other stuff. To be clear.

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Speaker 1: For those who don't know. When the one child policy

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Speaker 1: came through, families wanted men, and so oftentimes they would

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Speaker 1: throw infant babies literally in the river, or if they

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Speaker 1: didn't have the stomach to kill their child, they would

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Speaker 1: do what apparently was the kind thing and leave them

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Speaker 1: on the doorsteps of an orphanage. And at one time

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Speaker 1: in China, their orphanage is full of little girls because

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Speaker 1: of that policy, because Chinese culture wants a male to

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Speaker 1: take on the Chinese life. I know, I've done a

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Speaker 1: little research on that. I know a little bit about

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Speaker 1: that story, and I assume that's what.

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Speaker 2: You're talking about. Yeah, they don't have social security over there,

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Speaker 2: so if a family girls old, the families will live

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Speaker 2: together ti generational in.

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Speaker 1: The Senate, it is the sun's responsibility to take care

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Speaker 1: of and then if you don't have a son, you

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Speaker 1: may not be taken care of. So if you have

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Speaker 1: a girl, you rid yourself of that girl.

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Speaker 2: Got a little short term thinking there on there, But

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Speaker 2: they usually played the long game on a lot of

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Speaker 2: things China does, but on this one they weren't taking.

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Speaker 1: One of the problems that they figured out was, well,

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Speaker 1: all the girls are gone and we got all these guys,

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Speaker 1: how we're going top procreate. We might need to change

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Speaker 1: this up a little, And they eventually did, but for

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Speaker 1: a decade and a half, that was a real lot

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Speaker 1: of policy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's one reason why we knew so many

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Speaker 2: people who were adopting from China, I mean in our

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Speaker 2: community and.

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Speaker 1: Just around the girls.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, almost all unless they were special needs

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Speaker 2: or something. But even then, a lot of we were

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Speaker 2: special needs. But that's how that's how we got Gracy.

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Speaker 2: We ended up Gracey Gracy. Yeah, and we decided when

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Speaker 2: we adopted. Yeah, we always I love the name Gracy

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Speaker 2: and I'm a George Burns fan, you know, good night Gracie,

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Speaker 2: Say good night Gracie. But yeah, we named her that,

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Speaker 2: and it was one of the things that really hit us.

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Speaker 2: And how old was she when seventeen months? Wow? But

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Speaker 2: when we were getting information about it, I mean we

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Speaker 2: would wait a year, year and a half, you know,

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Speaker 2: a year, but we got we finally I think it

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Speaker 2: was in the two thousand twenty, no, two thousand and three,

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Speaker 2: in the summer or the first part of the summer.

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Speaker 2: We got word, here's you've been selected. Here's a child's

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Speaker 2: been selected. We got a picture of her, and we

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Speaker 2: got a little bit of a dossier and it came

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Speaker 2: in the mail and I was working. I came home

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Speaker 2: from work that day for lunch. All the kids were there.

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Speaker 2: You know, we homeschooled, and so the kids were at

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Speaker 2: the house my wife's we got all this information, come

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Speaker 2: on home and let's talk about it. So we looked

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Speaker 2: at it and oh, and my wife was I didn't

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Speaker 2: know this at the time. She did tell me later,

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Speaker 2: but she was having a lot of second thoughts about

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Speaker 2: this adoption, really yes, because she thought, did I do

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Speaker 2: this because I just wanted to be like other families?

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Speaker 2: Did I get us into this family? Is this the

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Speaker 2: wrong thing? Because we got this, you know, she said,

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Speaker 2: we can't have a baby. I don't want. I don't wanna.

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Speaker 2: We want an infant. We don't want one that's that's

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Speaker 2: older than seventeen eighteen months. We don't want one that's

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Speaker 2: born in May or April because May or April where

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Speaker 2: all our birthdays are. She said, I don't need another event.

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Speaker 2: I don't just not that. And there were two or

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Speaker 2: three other things said no, not this, and all of

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Speaker 2: them were this, this, this and this, and she said,

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Speaker 2: what have I done? And we gotta we gotta picture Grace.

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Speaker 2: We got the info on her, and my wife called

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Speaker 2: the adoption agency and said, I don't I don't think

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Speaker 2: this is our baby. And I'll never forget what my

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Speaker 2: wife said. The adoption lady said. She said, Sarah, you're

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Speaker 2: about to steal one from the gates. Eye Hel and

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Speaker 2: Satan is doing everything he possibly can to make sure

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Speaker 2: that doesn't happen. He said, I want you to pray

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Speaker 2: about this. I'm not going to put the refusal in yet,

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Speaker 2: you pray about this.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 2: In the meantime, we got the dossier on her and

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Speaker 2: we read it. Oh, she's got this, and Sarah was

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Speaker 2: looking for anything that says, yes, this is our baby.

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Speaker 2: And so I went back to work and then I

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Speaker 2: looked at the thing again, and I looked at the

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Speaker 2: very top, the one part I didn't cover. When we

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Speaker 2: went home for lunch, it said, Shao shoo, semi call

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Speaker 2: it Grace. And I called my wife and said, hey,

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Speaker 2: did you did you tell the adoption people that we're

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Speaker 2: going to name her Grace? She said no. I said, well,

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Speaker 2: look look at this, and she was looking at she says,

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Speaker 2: she said, And so she called and said, well, what's

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Speaker 2: this deal? As well, when the lady at the number

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Speaker 2: three school in her district found Gracie in a box

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Speaker 2: on the store's doorsteps with a bottle and a little rag,

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Speaker 2: they named her Grace and that's been her name. And

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Speaker 2: my wife was just lated. She said, there it is,

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Speaker 2: this is our baby. This is our That was kind

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Speaker 2: of a big deal. That's kind of a big deal.

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Speaker 2: That's and so when someone says, why do you go

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Speaker 2: to China, I said, because that's where Gracie was. That

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Speaker 2: you didn't go to China.

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Speaker 1: She brought you to China. Feel like opposed to a

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Speaker 1: cosmic magnet. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And because we have very generous friends and they loved

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Speaker 2: what we were doing and everything. One friend gave us

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Speaker 2: all his airline miles United. I mean, it's just we

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Speaker 2: were able to take all four kids to China with us.

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Speaker 2: And it was right after some virus things, so the

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Speaker 2: company was shut down for three months. The hotel rooms

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Speaker 2: are fifty bucks a month a night. I mean, it

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Speaker 2: was amazingly cheap. China was trying to get people in

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Speaker 2: and so we were able to take all four kids

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Speaker 2: to go get Gracey. It was a trip of a lifetime. Incredible. Okay, yeah,

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Speaker 2: so that's Gracy.

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Speaker 1: So now you're a family of five. You know what

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Speaker 1: it's like to be orphaned. You know what it's like

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Speaker 1: to be rescued. You've rescued mothers, pregnant mothers so that

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Speaker 1: they can have their children. You've experienced the life of

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Speaker 1: deb and her daughter and her two fathers, you've now adopted.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this twelve to forty two year world is crazy.

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Speaker 2: And then.

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Speaker 1: You've told the story about the golf tournament, and you

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Speaker 1: came up with this idea, and then you decided you

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Speaker 1: found a widow, and a bunch of people came up

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Speaker 1: and you raised seventy thousand dollars so that this guy

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Speaker 1: could adopt the four kids from Moldova. And at that point,

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Speaker 1: you've had a great time and it's time to just

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Speaker 1: raise Gracie, be grandparents, retire.

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Speaker 2: And live happily ever after. Right, Yeah, And you know

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Speaker 2: you use the word rescue. I probably wouldn't use I

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Speaker 2: use a word rescue when I refer to myself, because

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Speaker 2: I do feel I was. But I think we are

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Speaker 2: just doing kind of what anyone would in those situations.

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Speaker 2: I just you know, you don't I get it. I

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Speaker 2: just anyway.

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Speaker 1: But now you've seen the widow's house get fixed and

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Speaker 1: this guy gets seventy and the same entrepreneurial spirit that

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Speaker 1: happened in the book world, and in starting the recruiting company,

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Speaker 1: you have an epiphany.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean when we raised seventy thousand, I thought,

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Speaker 2: oh my word, I'm because I was expecting ten or fifteen.

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Speaker 2: I just I encovered it for the guy. Yeah, I

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Speaker 2: mean yeah. And well, you know, about six months after

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Speaker 2: that first product, another buddy of mine from Southwestern, uh

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Speaker 2: you know, he because my first one was a buddy

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Speaker 2: was one of my students who I actually managed and

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Speaker 2: worked with for five six years. So it was it

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Speaker 2: was a lot of connections. He said, I heard you

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Speaker 2: deal with Don Would you help me and Lisa, he said,

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Speaker 2: we're adopting from Guatemala, said yeah, let's do it again.

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Speaker 2: It was fun and we they need to raise about

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Speaker 2: thirteen thousand, and we had they had just they said,

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Speaker 2: we've already got the whillel picked out, you know, and

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Speaker 2: missed Diane. And Miss Diane we knew her. She was

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Speaker 2: actually the key, the worship leader at a church we

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Speaker 2: had gone to, and her husband had been tragically killed

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Speaker 2: in the car action seven months earlier. She had a

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Speaker 2: fourth In fact, her husband was one of my kids teachers.

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Speaker 2: At one point. She had a fourth grader and an

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Speaker 2: eighth grade daughter. Yikes, and she needed a new roof.

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Speaker 2: And you know, it's a nice house, but she need

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Speaker 2: a new roof. And I said, yeah, let's do it again.

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Speaker 2: And another. Here's another thing where just again it's a

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Speaker 2: tapestry thing. You wonder how is it all woven together.

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Speaker 2: As a recruiter the last couple of years I was

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Speaker 2: in the recruiting business, one of my areas of expertise,

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Speaker 2: so to speak, was the local commercial construction. I was

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Speaker 2: placing superintendents and project managers with these people. I happened

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Speaker 2: to know the presidents of all the local construction companies.

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Speaker 2: So she needed a new roof and I thought, oh man,

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Speaker 2: how are we gonna do that? And I said, well,

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Speaker 2: I'll just pick up the phone and call. We've got

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Speaker 2: to give people a chance to say yes. That's kind

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Speaker 2: of a zig zigular thing, right, And I called up

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Speaker 2: the first guy, Mike, and I said hey, Michael. He said, yeah,

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Speaker 2: what's up. Well, I just want to run something past you.

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Speaker 2: Just see we're doing something. We're fixing up this widow's

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Speaker 2: house and we're doing to raise money for an adoption.

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Speaker 2: He said, was that you and that video in church?

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Speaker 2: I said, you go to fellowship because he said yeah,

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Speaker 2: because at church after we did the first project, our

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Speaker 2: church has like three thousand members at the time, they

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Speaker 2: showed a video one Sunday and it was about the

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Speaker 2: Both Hands project and it was amazing. It was a

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Speaker 2: really cool video. He said, is that you? I said, yeah,

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Speaker 2: that's us. He said, what do you need? He said,

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Speaker 2: this is awesome. I said, well, we need a new roof.

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Speaker 2: He said, send me the dimensions, everything you need will

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Speaker 2: be in the front yard.

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Speaker 1: On Thursday morning.

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Speaker 2: Wow. I mean it's just a little thing, but man,

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Speaker 2: it turned out to be a big thing. And then

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Speaker 2: I talked to a pastor at a church. He said, JT,

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Speaker 2: I put on six roops. He was like the works

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Speaker 2: pastor at the handsom feet kind of guy. And he said,

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Speaker 2: I got six guys. We'll get you, get the supplies,

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Speaker 2: we'll get it done. And then I remember standing on

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Speaker 2: that roof that day of the project. Is a beautiful day,

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Speaker 2: April day, April two thousand and eight, and it's my

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Speaker 2: daughter's prom night. And I stood in that roof and

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Speaker 2: I looked out and I counted fifty two people. We

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Speaker 2: had transformed the back of her yard. We had transformed

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Speaker 2: the front of her yard, and we're putting on a

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Speaker 2: new roof. And I'm looking at Miss Diane. She's there

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Speaker 2: with Bill and Lisa. She's crying, she's blown away by

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Speaker 2: how much love so And then I count the cars

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Speaker 2: on this street and I counted nineteen cars, and I thought,

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Speaker 2: what a testament in the neighborhood. This is how you

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Speaker 2: serve a widow. This is how you bring comfort to

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Speaker 2: somebody who's going through a hard time. And it took

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Speaker 2: me back to the farm. I mean, I was still

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Speaker 2: there on that roof, and I remember getting off about

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Speaker 2: a month after the accident, off the bus beautiful April

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Speaker 2: day in Iowa. Our bus stops about a half mile

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Speaker 2: from the house. It's on a hill. You can see

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Speaker 2: a lot of the farm from our house. Stepped off

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Speaker 2: the bus and there were all our neighbors in our

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Speaker 2: fields with their tractors and their plows and their discs

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Speaker 2: and their planners. I mean Leland Meyer, Bob Grana, Everett Elfson,

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Speaker 2: Bert Juviich, Ed Cooper, Doc Ymeller, Jack Melcher. They were

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Speaker 2: planting our crops. These are all my dad's buddies making

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Speaker 2: sure their buddies kids were taken care of. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I know it's like to have your feet washed. I

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Speaker 2: know it's like to have something given to you that

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Speaker 2: there's no way you can repay it, and there's no

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Speaker 2: way that people who are giving it want you to

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Speaker 2: repay it. They're doing it because they just they want

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Speaker 2: to serve. So standing on that roof, that's what came

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Speaker 2: back to mew, I thought, this is living. We'll be

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Speaker 2: right back. My wife and I went out to eat

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Speaker 2: that night. Oh, I was excited. And I honestly, the

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Speaker 2: ten years I've been running the recruiting industry, that is

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Speaker 2: not in my gifting. It was fun building a company

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Speaker 2: that part I like, but the actual, you know, doing

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Speaker 2: that kind of sales, it's more that's more just selling.

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Speaker 2: It's not relational selling, it's more transactional. That's not my

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Speaker 2: sweet spot. My sweet spot is working with people, and

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Speaker 2: I can do with college students for twenty some years,

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Speaker 2: you know. And but this was fun. And my wife,

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Speaker 2: I remember a couple of things she said to me

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Speaker 2: at dinner that night when I was talking about it.

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Speaker 2: She looked at me and said, you are positively a glow.

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Speaker 2: And she said I haven't seen you this way in years.

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Speaker 2: This is and she said later she said, I felt

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Speaker 2: like I got my husband back. This is the guy

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Speaker 2: I married. And I said, I think I'm supposed to

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Speaker 2: do this full time now. She said, stay at home

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Speaker 2: homeschooling mom with five kids. She had questions like, have

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Speaker 2: you thought about health insurance? Have you have you thought

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Speaker 2: about like a paycheck? Have you thought have you thought

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Speaker 2: about this? I said, yeah, what would you think about

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Speaker 2: going to work outside the home. She loved what she

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Speaker 2: was doing, but you know, a couple months later, she

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Speaker 2: was working at Belmont. She's taking an universe Elmont University.

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Speaker 2: Took an entry level position in admissions, and she got

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Speaker 2: health insurance, we got tuition, and you know the advantage

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Speaker 2: of tuition.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 2: She started working and part of the story, a lot

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Speaker 2: of it is what she's done because she worked there

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Speaker 2: for seven years, three or four years in admission, in

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Speaker 2: three years in development, where we met some amazing people

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Speaker 2: who loved both hands and love Belmont. And then she

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Speaker 2: got recruited to Concern Women for America, where we met

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Speaker 2: some people who just believe in Godden and they believe

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Speaker 2: in our country.

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Speaker 1: When I read about your wife with four children and

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Speaker 1: an infant, Gracie leaving being a at stay at home mom,

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Speaker 1: homeschooling kids, raising kids, loving kids, going back to work

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Speaker 1: to get insurance so that you can chase the scream

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Speaker 1: that is why I said a while back, she's just

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Speaker 1: germane to the story because without her, it doesn't happen.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly right, That's exactly right. She's she's going to

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Speaker 2: describe her like a dog with a bone.

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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness of heaven, I don't know what to

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Speaker 1: say about you.

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Speaker 2: I alading gorgeous. Don't forget that, honey, don't forget that.

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Speaker 1: You didn't say that. So you transition and now Both

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Speaker 1: Hands becomes a career, a hauling and a thing. So

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Speaker 1: tell me about the first year.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, the first year, and I got to

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Speaker 2: tell you. I mean, I would be remiss. And I

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Speaker 2: think it really does give it a clearer picture to

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Speaker 2: make sure I effectively paint myself as the non hero.

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Speaker 2: Because somewhere after that first project, we had a good

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Speaker 2: The first pride happened in March of two thousand and seven.

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Speaker 2: I had a good friend of ours. She had been saying,

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Speaker 2: come on, I just I want to go around Christmas time?

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Speaker 2: She said, can I can I bring my Christmas card

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Speaker 2: over to you? I said sure, But Sarah was busy.

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Speaker 2: I was busy, you know, I was. This is before

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Speaker 2: we started Both Hands. She's got the kids, and finally

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Speaker 2: I said, yeah. She called me and say can you

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Speaker 2: meet me. I said, let's meet at the YMCA. You know,

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Speaker 2: we'll meet there. So I pull up. She's in her truck.

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Speaker 2: I get into her truck and she said here. She

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Speaker 2: handed me a card. Here's your Christmas card. I said,

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Speaker 2: do you want me to open it? She's yes. So

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Speaker 2: I opened it and there's a nice Christmas card, family

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Speaker 2: picture and this is the family we've probably done some

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Speaker 2: things with, you know, we help with something. And there

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Speaker 2: was a check for a fifty thousand dollars made out

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Speaker 2: to both hands, got made out to Jay Dilson, made

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Speaker 2: out to both hands. Scared that living daylights out of

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Speaker 2: me because I thought, oh my gosh, because I was

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Speaker 2: asking God, God, can you show me, give me a sign,

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Speaker 2: give me a sign? This is what I'm supposed to do. Well, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I've been praying, like, is this something you want me

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Speaker 2: to do? You talk about a sign, You talk about

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Speaker 2: putting a fleece out, and oh yeah, I leave that

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Speaker 2: part dry and this ground around. I mean, it was amazing.

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Speaker 2: But at the same time we started both hands, my

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Speaker 2: wife had questions. She knew that was in an account somewhere.

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Speaker 2: But she also knew that living where we lived, with

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Speaker 2: raising five kids, that's not gonna last forever. We're gonna

396
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Speaker 2: start a nonprofit we gotta, but I'm just giving you

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Speaker 2: there was a little bit of a net. I don't

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Speaker 2: want to make it seem like I'm.

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Speaker 1: That's not much of a net with five kids in a.

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Speaker 2: Nashville, but still there was a bit.

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Speaker 1: It was certainly something that said, go, yes, I'd see it.

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Speaker 1: Less of a net and more of a swift kick

403
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Speaker 1: in the rear.

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Speaker 2: Yep. So okay, so we started and it was it

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Speaker 2: was amazing. We get five products that first year.

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Speaker 1: So now let's let's redefine this.

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Speaker 2: Okay.

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Speaker 1: What we do is we get a bunch of people

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Speaker 1: to donate materials and time, and we find an UDWD

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Speaker 1: mother or a widow or something like that who has

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Speaker 1: issues at their home, and you go fix that home

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Speaker 1: with with volunteer people and hopefully as much materials as

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Speaker 1: you can get donated, and you get people to sponsor

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Speaker 1: that activity for the widow. But the money you raise

415
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Speaker 1: you then turn around and invest in families who are

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Speaker 1: having to incur these massive amounts of money to adopt

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Speaker 1: so that they can adopt. So you're creating funds for

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Speaker 1: adoption by caring for widows with the use of volunteers

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Speaker 1: and donations for the widows homes, and benefactors giving money

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Speaker 1: to support that cause understanding that their money to support

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Speaker 1: that cause is actually going to help families adopt children.

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Speaker 1: That's pretty close. That's pretty close.

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Speaker 2: What I miss well, about ten percent of our products

424
00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,600
Speaker 2: are not necessary adoptions. We do group projects or else

425
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Speaker 2: orphan care adoptions. Just I just want to make sure

426
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Speaker 2: people know that, Okay, because a lot of people love

427
00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:40,680
Speaker 2: this model. I mean, it's it's greatsistable non profit in America.

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Speaker 2: You're fixing two things at once. I know it's great.

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Speaker 1: And I think somewhere in some book it says take

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Speaker 1: care of the widows and orphans.

431
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, and it's doing both. So a lot of

432
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:58,600
Speaker 2: people see this and they say, what a cool thing.

433
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:00,879
Speaker 2: But I wish I was adopting. So what we've we

434
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,080
Speaker 2: pivot a little bit. I mean early on we said, yeah,

435
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:05,360
Speaker 2: if you want to raise money for an orphanage somewhere,

436
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,080
Speaker 2: you know, in muldov or in Honduras or Mexico or someplace,

437
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,400
Speaker 2: or you want to raise money for to help women

438
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,119
Speaker 2: who are in trafficked, trafficed women. If you want to

439
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,720
Speaker 2: do something for foster care, a foster care closet, or

440
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 2: any kind of thing that.

441
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:21,399
Speaker 1: So now you're able to use the same model to

442
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:23,560
Speaker 1: help in any number of needs.

443
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:27,480
Speaker 2: Anything that helps kids, anything to help kids and that

444
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:30,520
Speaker 2: helps kids, or these kids coming out of foster care,

445
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:32,480
Speaker 2: you know, things like that. So there's a lot of

446
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:34,040
Speaker 2: organizations that need money.

447
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 1: Because because the twelve year old you knows what that

448
00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:37,919
Speaker 1: need feels like.

449
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:43,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, somewhere there's a twelve year old crying on

450
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,200
Speaker 2: a Colt Smith floor wondering what the heck's going to happen,

451
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:52,360
Speaker 2: and there's heroes who step up and they answer the call.

452
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:56,159
Speaker 2: We want to do everything we can for people like

453
00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:00,880
Speaker 2: that because I know what it's like, and I'm blessed,

454
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 2: grateful for everything I was given, and it's just I

455
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:06,000
Speaker 2: don't know how you can be in my position and

456
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 2: not feel like, Okay, let's get back, let's do something.

457
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,880
Speaker 2: So we did. So that's when we started in wait.

458
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:14,400
Speaker 2: Oh and then you know another thing I probably ought

459
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,040
Speaker 2: to mention is that one hundred percent of the money

460
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:18,960
Speaker 2: that we raise goes to the cause. We don't take

461
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:19,879
Speaker 2: anything out for operation.

462
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,160
Speaker 1: How do you eat? I read that, I don't understand.

463
00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,880
Speaker 2: How you eat? Okay, Well, when we started this, I

464
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:29,399
Speaker 2: really I saw another organization life song for orphans that

465
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:32,520
Speaker 2: was kind of doing it that way, and I thought

466
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,439
Speaker 2: I liked that because I was just I just I

467
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:39,399
Speaker 2: just wanted to I wanted to make it irresistible, and

468
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:40,840
Speaker 2: I thought, well, the way to do that is one

469
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 2: hundred percent of the money that we raise goes towards

470
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,720
Speaker 2: the God. Let's not take anything out for operations. Because

471
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:48,600
Speaker 2: people always say, well, how much is the five will

472
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 2: one see three takeout?

473
00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,720
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a fair question, but there's a question five

474
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,920
Speaker 1: or one seed three's administration's costs for forty percent of

475
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,360
Speaker 1: the of the money raised. And I get things that

476
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 1: that feels to. But you've gone the complete other way.

477
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:04,960
Speaker 1: One hundred percent of the money raised when you're fixing

478
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,960
Speaker 1: these people's houses go for the kids, whether it's adoption

479
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:13,639
Speaker 1: or orphanages or exactly whatever. But how do the operational

480
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:15,880
Speaker 1: costs get covered? We'll go out and raise that separately.

481
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:17,439
Speaker 2: Yes, that's that's exactly what we do.

482
00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:17,680
Speaker 1: Now.

483
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 2: We don't do a concert, which we could do a

484
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:21,119
Speaker 2: cons because We know a lot of people in Nashville

485
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:22,080
Speaker 2: who could do a concert.

486
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:24,119
Speaker 1: Would be if you're going to do a concert, Memphis

487
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:26,480
Speaker 1: or Nashville would be two places you could do a concert.

488
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,080
Speaker 2: That's right, or else our auction bid silent auction. We

489
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 2: don't do that. What we do as our own Both

490
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 2: Hands project. Now every year it's got we.

491
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 1: Call PANS project and you tell everybody, and this is

492
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 1: for the operations of the organization.

493
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:41,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that is one hundred percent of what you donate.

494
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,240
Speaker 2: It's going to go to operations. Staying true to your focus.

495
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:46,600
Speaker 2: And it's and it's gotten out of hand. This last year,

496
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,440
Speaker 2: we had three hundred people show up at a church

497
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,880
Speaker 2: there in Franklin and we served twenty widows in Franklin.

498
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 2: How much money did you raise the over four hundred thousand.

499
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:57,760
Speaker 2: That's fantastic and which.

500
00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:00,359
Speaker 1: Gives you plenty to do what you got to do

501
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 1: operationally and pay yourself.

502
00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:03,800
Speaker 2: And well, yeah, we got the staff has grown because

503
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:06,040
Speaker 2: now we're grown, there's more people, there's more, it's just

504
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:08,800
Speaker 2: it's gotten bigger. And as in anything like I'm understanding

505
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:10,440
Speaker 2: I was, I ran a business. I understand when you

506
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:14,359
Speaker 2: grow there's expenses increases, like just getting audited. You pass

507
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 2: over a million dollars in revenue, all of a sudden

508
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 2: your audit and cost goes up at your mean, it's no,

509
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:20,679
Speaker 2: it's amazing how these costs go up. The bigger you

510
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,080
Speaker 2: get uh CRM software and there's a lot and then

511
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:26,960
Speaker 2: you got to pay people. But so that's one way

512
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,160
Speaker 2: we raise money. Another way we do it is monthly donors.

513
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:30,679
Speaker 2: A lot of people just love what we do. I

514
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 2: got a lot of friends in Nashville. They just love it.

515
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:34,639
Speaker 2: They said they and what they say is.

516
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:36,439
Speaker 1: A hundred bucks a month or whatever. But if you're

517
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:37,879
Speaker 1: good enough people doing that, And I.

518
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,399
Speaker 2: Had guys say, JT, you do the hard work. All

519
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 2: I have to do is cut the check. You keep

520
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:43,960
Speaker 2: doing what you're doing, and we'll keep support again, don't

521
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,359
Speaker 2: we worry. And then we have a lot of generous

522
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:48,359
Speaker 2: people a Christmas time. So that's just and then you

523
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 2: know that's raised advice two.

524
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:55,480
Speaker 1: Thousand and eight. Yeah, sixteen years later. Yeah, you've done.

525
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:58,320
Speaker 1: They may be old numbers, but I think they're right.

526
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,480
Speaker 1: You've done one thousand and three hundred and fifty two

527
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 1: projects and forty five states, fifteen hundred and forty one

528
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 1: widows have been served, fifteen hundred seventy one kids are

529
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,760
Speaker 1: no longer orphans, and you've raced it to date almost

530
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 1: twenty million dollars.

531
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is that those are passe that those are

532
00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:24,639
Speaker 2: passe stats. We got new stats. What are the new ones?

533
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 2: Fourteen hundred and we had five products this past week

534
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 2: fourteen fourteen hundred and fifty two projects in forty five states. Okay,

535
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:43,480
Speaker 2: one thousand, six hundred and thirty two widows have been

536
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 2: served and one thousand, six hundred and forty eight kids

537
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 2: and we just and we just passed twenty one million,

538
00:27:54,320 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 2: twenty one minute. All that get think you giddy? It

539
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 2: just makes me giddy.

540
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 1: But at all because some dude in Moldovia found out

541
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:07,359
Speaker 1: George had three siblings.

542
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's all because some dude took my letter

543
00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:11,919
Speaker 2: and sent it back to me, had the guts to

544
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:13,880
Speaker 2: send me a letter. I always think of Proverbs twenty

545
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 2: seven really started.

546
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,680
Speaker 1: I started because you were in a goofy golf thing

547
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 1: and your buddy said, no, I'm not going to do

548
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 1: if you helped a widow, maybe, but I'm not paying

549
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 1: you to play golf.

550
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:26,639
Speaker 2: Yeah. Proverbs twenty seven to six wounds from a friend

551
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 2: can be trusted. That's a great proverb. We'll be right back.

552
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:50,880
Speaker 1: So how how many people were inside this organization?

553
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,880
Speaker 2: Now we have nine employees, two of them part time.

554
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 2: We have a marketing person and that's someone who helps her.

555
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,680
Speaker 2: We have a financial guy who takes make sure you

556
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 2: know that we don't get arrested, and you know, he's

557
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:05,960
Speaker 2: really good. And we have an executive director. They changed.

558
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,200
Speaker 2: They took a lot a couple about three years ago,

559
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,360
Speaker 2: three a half years ago, they took all that stuff

560
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,719
Speaker 2: of executive director off my plate. They made me president

561
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,760
Speaker 2: and founder, which and then the whole thing was, Jake,

562
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:17,239
Speaker 2: you just do what you're good at. You do what

563
00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 2: you like doing. We're going to take care of all

564
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:22,760
Speaker 2: the details. And the executive director, Jared has done an

565
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,440
Speaker 2: awesome job. He's smart, he's young. And my wife met

566
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:28,880
Speaker 2: him when she was at Belmont. She was in charge

567
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 2: of the ruined recruiters, the ones who give to her campuses.

568
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 2: He was the president of that group. When we were

569
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 2: looking for an assistant, she said, you ought to talk

570
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,680
Speaker 2: to Jared. So Jared came on many years ago as

571
00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,240
Speaker 2: my assistant, my personal assistant, and now he's the executive director.

572
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 1: That is crazy.

573
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, you talk about my wife being germane to this

574
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 2: whole thing. Yeah, she's had a huge role. Tell me.

575
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 1: What a day looks like at a widow's house and

576
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: what people are doing, and what they are when they

577
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 1: show up and what they are when they leave.

578
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 2: I'm thinking about some of the messages I've got from

579
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,920
Speaker 2: volunteers and some of the things they say that some

580
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 2: of the things they say is this has been I'm

581
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 2: not exaggerating. They say this has been the best day

582
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:21,480
Speaker 2: of my life. I can't believe this. This was so

583
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:23,520
Speaker 2: much fun. I've never done anything like the speaker. They

584
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:25,680
Speaker 2: come back, Yeah, I mean if they have a chance to,

585
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:27,120
Speaker 2: but they're just you know, and a lot of them

586
00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,440
Speaker 2: end up being monthly donors, you know, or they give

587
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 2: at some point because they had a chance to experience

588
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:35,440
Speaker 2: it and they want to pass it on to give

589
00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 2: to other families. You know, a day in a widow's

590
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 2: house on the satur most it's almost always Saturday, between

591
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 2: ten to thirty or forty people will show up, depending

592
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 2: on the family. A lot of times the family will

593
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 2: be able to gather twenty five thirty volunteers you know,

594
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 2: those are folks that are really pretty involved in their community.

595
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:58,240
Speaker 2: They've got a lot of friends and but and prior

596
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:00,600
Speaker 2: to that, they've all sent letters out, well not all

597
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:02,840
Speaker 2: of them, you wish all of them would, but you know,

598
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:05,240
Speaker 2: you try to get about five or six hundred letters

599
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 2: out for every project. And the widow's there and people

600
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 2: are setting up, they have donuts, they gotta you know, uh,

601
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 2: they get their name tag and sign their non their

602
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:21,240
Speaker 2: their waiver, you know, for things like that. But then

603
00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 2: they circle around the widow. The widow just has a

604
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:25,880
Speaker 2: chance for four or five minutes to say thank you

605
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 2: and tell her story a little bit, and they just

606
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,000
Speaker 2: kind of pray and give out directions and here's what

607
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 2: we're going to do, and then they kind of down set,

608
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,240
Speaker 2: hut and break and everyone, you know, depending on what

609
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 2: they're doing. I mean, every project is different, but every

610
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 2: project is the same. You know. Sometimes they're just kind

611
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 2: of deep pleading widow's house. Sometimes they're i mean we've

612
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:45,400
Speaker 2: seen where they put i mean that's the one last

613
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,680
Speaker 2: year they put a retainer wall in and they got

614
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,560
Speaker 2: because somebody on the team had the equipment, said what

615
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:54,720
Speaker 2: do you need, Yeah, we'll put a retainer roll in. Yeah,

616
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 2: where do you want it? Okay, over here, we'll do it.

617
00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just the people with everything from roofs

618
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 1: or ten to paint to yes exciting stars, to drainage

619
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: to plumbing.

620
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,160
Speaker 2: And I tell people keep it simple when I'm coaching,

621
00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,680
Speaker 2: because I of all those sixteen hundred and some products,

622
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 2: I've personally coached all of them. Wow, that's what I'm

623
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 2: one of the main things I do. I mean, I

624
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,240
Speaker 2: love coaching. I love I mean I especially I love

625
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,120
Speaker 2: that first call of families where I'm getting to know

626
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 2: them a little bit and I say, Okay, here's what

627
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 2: we're gonna here's how you're going to recruit the team,

628
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 2: and then we talk about that, and then I say,

629
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,240
Speaker 2: here's how you find a widow in your community. And

630
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 2: I teach them on all that stuff. But uh, you know,

631
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,920
Speaker 2: I just, uh, I just I'm coaching about what do

632
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 2: we do in the widows house? I say, painting, cleaning, decluttering,

633
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 2: and landscaping. Now, some people, you look at both hands

634
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 2: video and there's you know, there's fourteen hundred of them

635
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,640
Speaker 2: out there right now. You'll see some that look like

636
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 2: an extreme makeover, and you just got to remember whenever

637
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 2: you see something like that, like they're putting on a roof,

638
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,280
Speaker 2: it's like someone in that someone on that team owned

639
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,080
Speaker 2: a construction company and they were able to get all

640
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 2: those supplies donated, you know. But most time I try

641
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:04,320
Speaker 2: to tell them to keep it simple, because we encourage

642
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 2: them to get all their supplies donated so they don't

643
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,320
Speaker 2: spend any money. In an ideal situation, and very seldom

644
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 2: do you have ideal situations, But ideally the only cost

645
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,840
Speaker 2: a family should have would be stamps for the letters.

646
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 2: I get it, but you know, sometimes they have to

647
00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 2: pay for motions sometimes, and sometimes you get families to say,

648
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,960
Speaker 2: I don't care what we're doing. You know, I love

649
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:28,440
Speaker 2: this widow. We're going to serve and we're going to

650
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 2: do this, or they'll go to home Deeple and I've

651
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 2: had home depots and give people twenty five dollars gift

652
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,720
Speaker 2: certificates that we've had Home Deeple and lows give people

653
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 2: eight hundred dollars worth the materials. Say that's free, take it,

654
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 2: go get it. We love what you're doing. It all

655
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 2: depends on.

656
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 1: I've heard that before, by the way, and similar stories.

657
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 1: It makes me feel really good about both those organizations.

658
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:52,440
Speaker 1: So what why write the orphan? The widow and me?

659
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 1: What was the inspiration there?

660
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,480
Speaker 2: Whenever I would speak someplace at a church or any

661
00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 2: kind of group, someone would always come up to me say, dude,

662
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:01,360
Speaker 2: you should write the book.

663
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:03,360
Speaker 1: No, okay, I'll write a book.

664
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:06,520
Speaker 2: Yes, the idea so okay. So we did, you know,

665
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,040
Speaker 2: and I had some help writing it. Sat with a

666
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:13,160
Speaker 2: guy for three full days and we talked and he

667
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:15,480
Speaker 2: helped me put it together. And then my team and

668
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:17,719
Speaker 2: I by then my team was I think we had

669
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 2: three people, four people on the team. That three We

670
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 2: went through every page and there's a couple couple couple

671
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 2: of chapters I changed, you know, but it was me

672
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:29,600
Speaker 2: put a lot of work and a lot of time

673
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:33,319
Speaker 2: into it because people just say it was you know what,

674
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 2: it's been a great story.

675
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:37,200
Speaker 1: Is it just the story of the story.

676
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 2: It's a story of my life starting from when I

677
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:42,240
Speaker 2: was I guess I started off when I was twelve

678
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:44,239
Speaker 2: talking about you know, I talked a little bit about

679
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:46,279
Speaker 2: the farm and growing up on a farm and what

680
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,399
Speaker 2: it was like living on a farm. But it's really

681
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 2: good because every chapter I just tell people, you know,

682
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,359
Speaker 2: read the first chapter, two give it a shot, see

683
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,960
Speaker 2: what happens. You know, it's a fast read. But I've

684
00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 2: had people besides my family say it's a good book.

685
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,799
Speaker 2: Yeah for you, And that's right. You can go to

686
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:04,240
Speaker 2: both Hands dot org. You can get yours today.

687
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,840
Speaker 1: Well, I was just about to ask you if somebody

688
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:11,480
Speaker 1: is interested in I mean, if someone's listened to us

689
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:15,000
Speaker 1: now and they love the idea and they know an

690
00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:17,440
Speaker 1: area of need for a child and they know a widow,

691
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:20,319
Speaker 1: they can call you and you will help facilitate this

692
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,280
Speaker 1: form I guess is that yeah, yeah.

693
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 2: I mean if they Yeah, if they're adopting, they can

694
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 2: go online. And if most people are adopting, especially if

695
00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 2: they're in the.

696
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:31,720
Speaker 1: So if they're adopting and they need help raising money

697
00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,400
Speaker 1: for the adoption, they reach out to you, find a

698
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:36,840
Speaker 1: widow and you guys all put it together.

699
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:43,279
Speaker 2: Yeah that's simplified. Yeah, right, But they contact us, there's

700
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:47,320
Speaker 2: an application on our website or emailing most of the

701
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,040
Speaker 2: time of email us because their adoption agency. They've sat

702
00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:52,920
Speaker 2: with their adoption agency counselor and so how are we

703
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 2: going to afford this? And they'll say, well, here's the

704
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,000
Speaker 2: list of a bunch of things you can do. And

705
00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,359
Speaker 2: here's some Christian organizations that you can work withoth Hands

706
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:04,279
Speaker 2: is on that group, you know, and Life Song for Orphans, Lifeline.

707
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:08,520
Speaker 2: I mean, there's there's several organizations, you know, religious groups

708
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:10,480
Speaker 2: that will do that. And that's what we that's that's

709
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:12,400
Speaker 2: where we fall. And you know, we've had a lot

710
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,880
Speaker 2: of people come to us because people said their adoption

711
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:17,040
Speaker 2: agency told us about them.

712
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,360
Speaker 1: You know, so how does somebody get in touch with you?

713
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 2: What is what is the email addresser? Well, I'm sorry, yeah,

714
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:26,399
Speaker 2: both hands dot org both in stod org.

715
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:30,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're they can find out more.

716
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 2: Oh, you will find out more. You can see some videos.

717
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 2: You can see all the videos. And you know, every

718
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:36,920
Speaker 2: year we every time we cross a million dollars, we

719
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:38,680
Speaker 2: do a kind of a Most of the time it's

720
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,799
Speaker 2: a funny video. It's entertaining, and we just came out

721
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:44,200
Speaker 2: with our twenty million dollar one, but while it was

722
00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:47,080
Speaker 2: in works, we crossed twenty one million, so it's kind

723
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 2: of our twenty twenty one. You know, it happens so

724
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:51,000
Speaker 2: fast we didn't have a chance to make another video.

725
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:51,440
Speaker 1: I get it.

726
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:53,640
Speaker 2: And so it's starting to we're raising like two million

727
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,520
Speaker 2: dollars a year. Now, that's fine. It is phenomenal, and

728
00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 2: it's where it started.

729
00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:02,640
Speaker 1: It's just phenomenal. I mean, and you know, I've never

730
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:06,520
Speaker 1: heard this story. But now after a year and a

731
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 1: half of an army of normal folks and continue to

732
00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 1: tell these stories, I can't tell you how many amazing things,

733
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:19,279
Speaker 1: just like both hands happen when somebody sees an air need,

734
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:22,719
Speaker 1: they have a passion and the ability and they collide.

735
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 1: And that's really what happened in your life. And as

736
00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:31,400
Speaker 1: a result, four hundred and fifty two projects, six hundred

737
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:33,520
Speaker 1: and thirty two widows, and six hundred and forty eight

738
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:38,239
Speaker 1: kids to date and growing with twenty million dollars twenty

739
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 1: one million dollars raised. It has happened, and I gotta

740
00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:46,719
Speaker 1: believe that it's probably been a bigger blessing in your

741
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:48,520
Speaker 1: life than any of the people you've ever served.

742
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:54,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's incredibly humbling, that's what it is. It's incredibly humbling.

743
00:37:56,440 --> 00:38:01,239
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just a small little cog in this thing.

744
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 2: I mean, if you look at my story, and when

745
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:06,439
Speaker 2: I spoke to a college group last week, a couple

746
00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:08,880
Speaker 2: classes some freshmen at found Mount University, because there's a

747
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:10,640
Speaker 2: professor there who loves He wants to have you come

748
00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:14,040
Speaker 2: and talk every year to his classes. But I remember

749
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:15,719
Speaker 2: telling him, I said, as I tell this story, you know,

750
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,160
Speaker 2: you might want to try and count the number of

751
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,279
Speaker 2: nonprofits that were involved. And if you go back and

752
00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:23,719
Speaker 2: you think about it, there's there's seven of them, like

753
00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:26,879
Speaker 2: the guy sent the letter to. The reason I knew

754
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:28,839
Speaker 2: him was I was in a Bible study, a two

755
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:32,040
Speaker 2: year Bible study with twelve men. I didn't start that

756
00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:35,640
Speaker 2: Bible study. HAL hadn't did forty years ago. And you

757
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:37,799
Speaker 2: know the Fellowship Bible Church, that's the group that took

758
00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:39,920
Speaker 2: the money that people. We had to have place for

759
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:41,759
Speaker 2: people to write the tracks because I wasn't a five

760
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:43,520
Speaker 2: O one C three. We did this first problem. I

761
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:47,440
Speaker 2: didn't start Fellowship Bible Church, you know. And Bethany Christians Services.

762
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 2: The reason I was on that board. I didn't start

763
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 2: Bethany Christimal Service. You can go down the line and

764
00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:53,640
Speaker 2: there's a whole bunch of things that were all set

765
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:55,400
Speaker 2: up for me. And I've always heard I don't know

766
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:57,279
Speaker 2: if it was Charlie Tremendez Jones. I don't know if you

767
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,520
Speaker 2: ever heard of Charlie Jones. The motivational speaker. He used

768
00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,439
Speaker 2: to come to Southwestern and speak. But funny guy. He'd

769
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 2: beat up people in the front row. He's shake you

770
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:08,840
Speaker 2: go up there, he'd just hit you. But I remember

771
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:10,399
Speaker 2: he would say something, I'm there for you. He said,

772
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:12,120
Speaker 2: you're going to be the same person today as you

773
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 2: are ten years from now, except for two things. The

774
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 2: people you meet and the books you read. And the

775
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:18,960
Speaker 2: people I've met, the people God's allowed me to be

776
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:20,920
Speaker 2: introduced to, and the books I've read, or you might

777
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:22,960
Speaker 2: say the sermons I've heard of, the podcast I've listened to,

778
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:28,120
Speaker 2: that's what's influenced it. And I just I just feel

779
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:33,359
Speaker 2: very fortunate. I'm blessed because you know, how did chance

780
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:33,759
Speaker 2: to do this?

781
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 1: Not bad for a twelve year old farm kid or

782
00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:37,400
Speaker 1: lost his parents at twelve.

783
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:39,880
Speaker 2: I just think God can take something that's hard and

784
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,600
Speaker 2: painful and turning into something that's beautiful. I just and

785
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,160
Speaker 2: I don't know what if it's the imagery that fires

786
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:49,240
Speaker 2: me up, the imagery I have in my head sometimes

787
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:51,839
Speaker 2: when I just need a little fire up, I just say,

788
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:55,000
Speaker 2: you know, when when Satan gets up in the morning

789
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 2: with his little minions and he's got his little list

790
00:39:57,040 --> 00:39:59,160
Speaker 2: and he gets to my name. I don't want him

791
00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:02,880
Speaker 2: checking the box says not a threat. I want to

792
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,440
Speaker 2: thinking he's up again, you know, And I just want

793
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:08,960
Speaker 2: to make an impact. I think we got to live

794
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:17,480
Speaker 2: for impact, not ease. We'll be right back.

795
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 1: When, you know, we talked about when it's over and

796
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:37,800
Speaker 1: the day is over and the widows served. I asked

797
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,920
Speaker 1: you to people come back, meaning do the people who've

798
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:45,439
Speaker 1: worked on a house do they do it again? And

799
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:49,719
Speaker 1: you know, I guess what I'm really asking is have

800
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:54,600
Speaker 1: you noticed a lasting impact on the volunteers themselves?

801
00:40:55,239 --> 00:41:00,359
Speaker 2: Yes? You know, I meet a lot of people, and

802
00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:03,359
Speaker 2: sometimes you meet people that they just do phenomenal things.

803
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 2: I think about my aunt and uncle doing a phenomenal

804
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:07,000
Speaker 2: thing by taking all five of us kids.

805
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:09,640
Speaker 1: Which is still incredible. The more I think about that,

806
00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 1: the more I'm like, holy moly, they were thirty three.

807
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:13,839
Speaker 1: That's incredible.

808
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:16,680
Speaker 2: And she just lost her sister, yeah, and her best friend.

809
00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:18,799
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just it's you know that, But they

810
00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:21,560
Speaker 2: stepped up. But sometimes and I get to go to

811
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:24,759
Speaker 2: these conferences where I meet some just phenomenal people, work

812
00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 2: with phenomenal people, you know when they do a project.

813
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:30,040
Speaker 2: But I remember meeting this one couple. They were like

814
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:33,319
Speaker 2: in their fifties, late fifties.

815
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:35,920
Speaker 1: I'm in my mid fifties. That's old. I'm starting to

816
00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:36,799
Speaker 1: feel old. Yeah.

817
00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:43,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they volunteered on house.

818
00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:43,879
Speaker 1: Is that the deal?

819
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 2: No? Well, so I met them at this conference and

820
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:51,399
Speaker 2: they're nice couple. Just come up and you know how

821
00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:54,960
Speaker 2: you doing, and start finding out they've got like a

822
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,480
Speaker 2: twenty eight year old, they've got a thirty one year

823
00:41:57,480 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 2: old and a thirty three year old.

824
00:41:58,800 --> 00:41:59,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, like people.

825
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:00,360
Speaker 2: And they're late fifties.

826
00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:02,719
Speaker 1: Yes, they're empty and they've earned it.

827
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:03,960
Speaker 2: And I said, what do you do with this? What?

828
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:06,279
Speaker 2: So what do you do at the conference? Well, we've

829
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:10,279
Speaker 2: got three kids. We just didn't think we had enough.

830
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:12,799
Speaker 2: And just I said, we tried retirement. I've had guys

831
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:14,920
Speaker 2: say we try retirement, but it's just I did it

832
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:16,440
Speaker 2: for a year or two. I just didn't like it.

833
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 2: So we've got eleven year old, a twelve year old,

834
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:24,520
Speaker 2: and a fifteen year old. Now are you? I am

835
00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:28,319
Speaker 2: not kidding. You talked about inspira inspiring. I get to

836
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:30,080
Speaker 2: go to conference. I get to meet people like this,

837
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:34,239
Speaker 2: people who just do crazy things because they just they

838
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:38,400
Speaker 2: want to live a life of impact, not ease, And

839
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:41,000
Speaker 2: I think that's how we're I think a lot of

840
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:43,439
Speaker 2: us are made that way. I think I think there's

841
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:46,640
Speaker 2: more joy and impact than there is an ease. I

842
00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:50,120
Speaker 2: love to golf, and I love it when a good

843
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:52,359
Speaker 2: shot hits and you can play a beautiful course and

844
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:54,799
Speaker 2: it's beautiful. You know, three good friends and you're having

845
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:59,360
Speaker 2: a great time. That's really fun to me. But nothing

846
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:03,839
Speaker 2: beats a widow's saying I thought God had forgotten all

847
00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:04,279
Speaker 2: about me.

848
00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:10,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's incredible, That is incredible. Do you stay in touch?

849
00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:13,239
Speaker 1: Does organization stay in touch with the widows and the

850
00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:16,080
Speaker 1: families at all that you serve? Is there a way

851
00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:19,920
Speaker 1: to I mean, do you get a five year follow up?

852
00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:22,120
Speaker 1: How's the kid going and how's the roof hanging out?

853
00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:24,560
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? I mean we haven't done

854
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,360
Speaker 2: that with widows. That's a little bit difficult. You know. Again,

855
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:30,279
Speaker 2: over fourteen hundred widows right now, I mean, so not

856
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,600
Speaker 2: all of them are still here. A lot of families

857
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:34,880
Speaker 2: we have, Oh there's some family. Oh yeah. Some of

858
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,320
Speaker 2: the these donors that we have that are monthly donors,

859
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:39,960
Speaker 2: those are famili who did Project fives ten years ago. No,

860
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:41,799
Speaker 2: kidding and they're giving. Oh yeah, they're giving the back

861
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:43,960
Speaker 2: just a little bit each month, you know, because they

862
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:47,480
Speaker 2: were blessed. I got a card. I just saw it.

863
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:51,080
Speaker 2: Two weeks ago. I got a card from a gal.

864
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:53,319
Speaker 2: She was eight years old or nine, but it was

865
00:43:53,719 --> 00:43:56,200
Speaker 2: she had some run and says, this is dear mister

866
00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:59,600
Speaker 2: j T. This is what I do. I'm in third grade.

867
00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 2: I'm doing and this. I like this, and this My

868
00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:04,799
Speaker 2: mom and dad did a project to eight nine years

869
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,360
Speaker 2: ago to get me home.

870
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:14,040
Speaker 1: Wow, that's enough, I mean at that point, well done,

871
00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:15,120
Speaker 1: good and faithful servant.

872
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's as good as thinking a thirty foot

873
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:22,040
Speaker 2: thirty any day. That's right, That's that's awesome. That's living.

874
00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:29,319
Speaker 2: And like the guy from Chicago, Bob Baseball Meselkowski, Yeah,

875
00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:32,440
Speaker 2: he always said, Hotel Earth, baby, Hotel Earth.

876
00:44:33,719 --> 00:44:36,439
Speaker 1: We're only here for a minute. Yeah, Hotel Earth's right.

877
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:41,719
Speaker 1: That's great. So JT. After all those numbers of the

878
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:44,040
Speaker 1: four and fifty two, we've gone over the six thirty two,

879
00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:48,520
Speaker 1: sixteen forty eight, twenty something. Man, I think it's an

880
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:52,560
Speaker 1: unfair question to say the favorite story, But share with us,

881
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:56,880
Speaker 1: just for perspective, one of your favorite stories that hide

882
00:44:57,760 --> 00:44:59,799
Speaker 1: the group of the work that was done for the

883
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:04,080
Speaker 1: and the family that was aiding the adoption. What just

884
00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:06,760
Speaker 1: give us a perspective of one of your favorite stories

885
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:10,480
Speaker 1: of how this really can work when it's perfect and beautiful.

886
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:12,920
Speaker 2: A couple things come to mind. One is a really

887
00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:15,160
Speaker 2: short story, but I remember being at a widow's house

888
00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:17,719
Speaker 2: when the product was just starting. It was a local one,

889
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:19,480
Speaker 2: so I could stop by in the morning and kind

890
00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:21,239
Speaker 2: of help kick the group off. But I talked to

891
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:23,319
Speaker 2: the widow, kind of went around back to the house

892
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:25,600
Speaker 2: and there she was in the kitchen and I went

893
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:29,840
Speaker 2: in and talked to her, and everyone else was out front,

894
00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,200
Speaker 2: and I said, I just want to say thank you

895
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:35,160
Speaker 2: for letting these guys work on your house. She said,

896
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:39,160
Speaker 2: thank me, and she started breaking down. She said thank you.

897
00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:42,799
Speaker 2: She said, I thought God had forgotten about me.

898
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:43,920
Speaker 1: Wow.

899
00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:49,000
Speaker 2: And she said, you guys have made this thing amazing.

900
00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:52,560
Speaker 2: And when you hear a widow say that to you,

901
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:57,120
Speaker 2: you just go you don't, you know, it's just you

902
00:45:57,200 --> 00:45:59,600
Speaker 2: realize the impact of it. So that's the And there

903
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:03,120
Speaker 2: we have several letters like that. We had some projects

904
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:06,320
Speaker 2: happened this last two weeks ago. They were just amazing projects.

905
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:08,919
Speaker 2: But one of my favorites is a family I think

906
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:12,600
Speaker 2: in California. They did a project. They were adopting from Ethiopia.

907
00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:16,160
Speaker 2: From Ethiopia, right, this is back in the early years

908
00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:18,799
Speaker 2: two thousand and nine, ten, eleven, twelve, when Ethiopia was

909
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:22,000
Speaker 2: open okay, and a lot of people were adopting from Ethiopia.

910
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:25,800
Speaker 2: This family did a project and the widow they served

911
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:29,680
Speaker 2: became like a grandmother. And I mean literally when I

912
00:46:29,719 --> 00:46:31,759
Speaker 2: heard from the oh yeah, grandmother to the kids they

913
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:34,960
Speaker 2: adopted Frompia, no, to the whole family, Oh your kid,

914
00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:36,560
Speaker 2: the whole family, and they had a I mean she

915
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:40,080
Speaker 2: was she became integrated in their family. Well, a few

916
00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:42,000
Speaker 2: years later, this family was going to do another project

917
00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:46,400
Speaker 2: to go back to Ethiopia to adopt again, and this

918
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:49,680
Speaker 2: time they served a different widow and they did a

919
00:46:49,719 --> 00:46:52,320
Speaker 2: both danced project. But when they flew over to Ethiopia

920
00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:54,800
Speaker 2: to get their child, the widow from the first project

921
00:46:54,800 --> 00:47:00,439
Speaker 2: flew with them. It's the grandmother that is phenomenal. No,

922
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:05,160
Speaker 2: and just the relationships, the things you see that before

923
00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:08,640
Speaker 2: and after pictures of these families, and just I mean,

924
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:11,279
Speaker 2: here's a good thing about both hands is that even

925
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:12,799
Speaker 2: when a family does a product and you know, our

926
00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:15,840
Speaker 2: average family right now is raising twenty one thousand. Wow,

927
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:18,240
Speaker 2: that's amazing. I'm just a lot of spaghetti dinners. Yeah,

928
00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:21,360
Speaker 2: you know, that's a that's a chunk out of the

929
00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:24,640
Speaker 2: whole thing. You couple that with a sixteen or seventeen

930
00:47:24,680 --> 00:47:26,680
Speaker 2: thousand dollars tax credit, people get all of a sudden,

931
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:29,040
Speaker 2: you're getting close to forty thousand you've raised, and that's

932
00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:31,560
Speaker 2: a chunk of what it's going to cost. So you know,

933
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:35,080
Speaker 2: it's good. But sometimes families don't raise that much for

934
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:37,319
Speaker 2: one reason or another. Most times because they don't quite

935
00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:39,399
Speaker 2: do everything the way I suggest they do it, which

936
00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:43,120
Speaker 2: is fine, and they only raise three or four or

937
00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:46,959
Speaker 2: five thousand. But whenever I talk to those families, they're

938
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:49,719
Speaker 2: never mad or bitter. It's funny. But the first thing

939
00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:51,759
Speaker 2: they say when they get on the phone with them,

940
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:53,640
Speaker 2: I said, well, how was he? Oh JT. Let me

941
00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:55,680
Speaker 2: tell you about this day. I mean, we've figured out

942
00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:58,160
Speaker 2: pretty quick this was not about us raising money. This

943
00:47:58,200 --> 00:47:59,880
Speaker 2: is all about this widdow. Let me tell you what happened.

944
00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:02,440
Speaker 2: And they're going to tell me the story, and there

945
00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:05,040
Speaker 2: you can feel the joy in their heart. And that's

946
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:07,080
Speaker 2: when I never realized when I started that there's not

947
00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,839
Speaker 2: a there's not a downside. No, everybody wins. Everybody wins,

948
00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:12,960
Speaker 2: I mean one hundred percent goes down. The widow wins,

949
00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,200
Speaker 2: the families to give their wife away wins, and it's

950
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:18,879
Speaker 2: just Ah, just fires me up. That's why I'm saying

951
00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:22,480
Speaker 2: it's the most irresistible nonprofit in America. I love it.

952
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:25,640
Speaker 2: So what's next?

953
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:28,440
Speaker 1: I don't know.

954
00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:29,839
Speaker 2: You know what I love to do. I would love

955
00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:33,960
Speaker 2: to tackle the foster care problem in the state of Tennessee,

956
00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:36,399
Speaker 2: in the country, and there's a lot of people working

957
00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:39,000
Speaker 2: on good men and women are working on it. And

958
00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:45,240
Speaker 2: A dream A dream job would I better not be careful,

959
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:48,279
Speaker 2: shouldn't I? I better be careful, But I dream. I think

960
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:50,439
Speaker 2: a dream job would be to go to churches all

961
00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:53,000
Speaker 2: over the state and tell them both hands the story

962
00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:55,760
Speaker 2: and talk about the importance of foster care and kinship

963
00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:58,480
Speaker 2: adoption and adopting kids out of foster care.

964
00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:01,799
Speaker 1: Just because you've an angel student about the church in

965
00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:02,600
Speaker 1: Possum Trot.

966
00:49:02,719 --> 00:49:06,840
Speaker 2: I have seen the guy talk three times at sessions.

967
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:08,000
Speaker 2: I haven't seen the movie.

968
00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:11,160
Speaker 1: That pastor has been a guest on our show, Oh yeah, yeah,

969
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:14,480
Speaker 1: and Possum Trock. And when you talk about the church

970
00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:19,879
Speaker 1: and foster care, Alex often will tell you that if

971
00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:23,600
Speaker 1: there are more houses of worship in the United States

972
00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:26,400
Speaker 1: and there are kids in foster care, and if eighty

973
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:30,040
Speaker 1: five of the house's worship in our country had one

974
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:32,520
Speaker 1: family to adopt one kid out of foster care, the

975
00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:34,600
Speaker 1: foster care system the United States would be over.

976
00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:36,920
Speaker 2: I know that's what the message I want to preach.

977
00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:39,600
Speaker 2: I want to preach that message because I think there's

978
00:49:39,640 --> 00:49:44,320
Speaker 2: a little church somewhere in McMinnville, Tennessee, or someplace in Chattanooger, someplace,

979
00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:47,480
Speaker 2: you know, an olive branch that they're not even aware

980
00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:51,160
Speaker 2: because that's just not what that's not the culture. Don't

981
00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:53,600
Speaker 2: talk about it. But if someone came in and said, hey, folks,

982
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:56,160
Speaker 2: even for fifteen minutes, and here's the situation, do you

983
00:49:56,200 --> 00:49:58,440
Speaker 2: realize if one of you in here, not everyone's call,

984
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:01,560
Speaker 2: but think of yourself in front of church, someone in

985
00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:04,920
Speaker 2: this church is called to adopt. And there's eight or

986
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,719
Speaker 2: nine of the families who are saying, I like you,

987
00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:09,920
Speaker 2: but I really don't feel equipped, but I'll help. I

988
00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:12,719
Speaker 2: said that you're going to help that one person. It's

989
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:16,000
Speaker 2: called the wrap around system and it and it we

990
00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:18,960
Speaker 2: can do it. But well, that's what's next.

991
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:22,160
Speaker 1: One you don't have any hands left because you are

992
00:50:22,200 --> 00:50:24,600
Speaker 1: already using both hands, so maybe you call that both

993
00:50:24,640 --> 00:50:32,400
Speaker 1: hands and feet, right, JT. It goes without fail that

994
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:35,719
Speaker 1: every one of our guests, somebody wants to know how

995
00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:38,400
Speaker 1: do they do that? There's somebody listening that wants to

996
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:43,080
Speaker 1: be involved, that thinks it's a great idea, that's working

997
00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:45,799
Speaker 1: in a philanthropic project of their own and wants to

998
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:49,760
Speaker 1: scale it and grow it. And I just I want

999
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,799
Speaker 1: our listeners to to have the opportunity to reach out

1000
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:54,960
Speaker 1: to you personally if they want to what's your what's

1001
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:55,840
Speaker 1: your email address?

1002
00:50:55,840 --> 00:51:01,280
Speaker 2: It's real simple, JT. As in just terrific. Both hands dot.

1003
00:51:01,239 --> 00:51:06,400
Speaker 1: Org hold it, JT. I laughed over the top of it, JT.

1004
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:12,520
Speaker 1: At both hands dot org. That's right, and uh www

1005
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,000
Speaker 1: dot both hands dot org for the organization that's try

1006
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:15,920
Speaker 1: to check it out.

1007
00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:18,640
Speaker 2: I'll get me, or they can go to info at

1008
00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:23,279
Speaker 2: both hands dot org. Got it. But I would just

1009
00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:25,160
Speaker 2: suggest people though, if you do, go to our website

1010
00:51:25,320 --> 00:51:29,200
Speaker 2: both hands dot org, click on the videos, click on

1011
00:51:29,239 --> 00:51:32,360
Speaker 2: the stories, you know, find them. Imagine they're just terrific.

1012
00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:35,680
Speaker 2: They are, they are, and they will like the twenty

1013
00:51:35,719 --> 00:51:37,799
Speaker 2: one million dollar ones I got. I just got to

1014
00:51:37,960 --> 00:51:40,080
Speaker 2: give you a hint. Watch the twenty million dollar twenty

1015
00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:44,440
Speaker 2: twenty one million because we went to Bristol Motor Speedway

1016
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:47,839
Speaker 2: and uh, you know there's one hundred and forty five

1017
00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:50,320
Speaker 2: thousand seats. Yeah, and that's about the same number of

1018
00:51:50,360 --> 00:51:52,520
Speaker 2: people who've made everything at both Hands happened in last

1019
00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:54,960
Speaker 2: seventeen years. That's pretty crazy. It was amazing.

1020
00:51:55,080 --> 00:51:55,800
Speaker 1: That's a big group.

1021
00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:56,840
Speaker 2: It's amazing video.

1022
00:51:57,200 --> 00:52:01,080
Speaker 1: It's a big group. Jtolson. Thank you for your service,

1023
00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:04,200
Speaker 1: thank you for your story, thank you for both hands,

1024
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:06,319
Speaker 1: and thank you for joining me and telling me this.

1025
00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:11,400
Speaker 1: It's inspirational, it's awesome and I know people when they

1026
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:13,200
Speaker 1: hear it, they're going to be really inspired by it.

1027
00:52:13,360 --> 00:52:16,160
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for what you do, because I really

1028
00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:19,840
Speaker 2: am grateful when I heard you tell the story, and

1029
00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:22,279
Speaker 2: when I tell people about you, I always tell the

1030
00:52:22,320 --> 00:52:24,480
Speaker 2: Turkey story. Yeah, are you a Turkey?

1031
00:52:24,560 --> 00:52:26,520
Speaker 1: Well it's the holiday, so it's the right time to

1032
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:27,320
Speaker 1: read through with it.

1033
00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:31,000
Speaker 2: That's just so grateful, so grateful for everything you do

1034
00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:36,400
Speaker 2: and sharing your your impact with other folks like me

1035
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:38,120
Speaker 2: and mister possum Try.

1036
00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:42,560
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Thanks for being here. It's been a blast.

1037
00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:49,560
Speaker 1: And happy holidays to you in your YouTube, and thank

1038
00:52:49,680 --> 00:52:54,120
Speaker 1: you for joining us this week. If jt Olsen or

1039
00:52:54,400 --> 00:52:57,399
Speaker 1: other guests have inspired you in general, or better yet,

1040
00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:01,439
Speaker 1: by adopting a child, applying to Both Hands for help

1041
00:53:01,480 --> 00:53:05,120
Speaker 1: with funding an adoption, by donating to Both Hands, or

1042
00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:09,640
Speaker 1: something else entirely, please, I'm begging you. Let me know

1043
00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:12,560
Speaker 1: I want to hear about it. You can write me

1044
00:53:12,719 --> 00:53:16,400
Speaker 1: anytime at Bill at normal folks dot us, and I

1045
00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:19,640
Speaker 1: swear to you I will respond. And if you enjoyed

1046
00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:22,920
Speaker 1: this episode, share it with friends, share it on social,

1047
00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:27,680
Speaker 1: subscribe to our podcast, rate it, review it, join the

1048
00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:32,120
Speaker 1: army at normal folks dot us. Consider becoming a premium member.

1049
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:35,640
Speaker 1: There any and all of these things that will help

1050
00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:39,880
Speaker 1: us grow an army of normal folks. Thanks to our producer,

1051
00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:45,280
Speaker 1: Iron Light Labs, I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week.