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Speaker 1: Everybody. It's Bill Courtney with an army and folks, And

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

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Speaker 1: Lisa Stephen right after these brief messages from our general sponsors.

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Speaker 2: You know, my mother in law was just so accepting

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Speaker 2: of me, and more than just accepting, like she she

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Speaker 2: wanted good for me. She wanted good things for me,

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Speaker 2: for me, not just for you know her and for

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Speaker 2: her son a new wife.

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Speaker 1: Well, she clearly just had empathy for you as human being.

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Speaker 2: I think she's mother very important, yes, and she was

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Speaker 2: she was acting out of her own faith. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I'm quite sure personally she spent a lot of time

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Speaker 2: talking of got about what in the heck, you know,

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Speaker 2: But but what she reflected out of her faith was

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Speaker 2: you got this, you can do this. I didn't have

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Speaker 2: any friends at that point, even Liz kind of you know,

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Speaker 2: when you become a teen mom, you either never had

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Speaker 2: good friends in the first place, or you lose your

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Speaker 2: friends because you're in a different place in life than

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Speaker 2: they are now.

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Speaker 1: And come on, we're high schoolers.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're high schooling.

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Speaker 1: And can you imagine the girls you were hanging out

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Speaker 1: with when you got pregnant. The crap they were hearing

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Speaker 1: at home from their parents.

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Speaker 2: About before you were and all the stuff.

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Speaker 1: Don't hang around bad people. I'm sure I don't mean

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Speaker 1: that bad, but I just if you conceptualize how those

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Speaker 1: conversations want, you're not tang around her blah blah blah blah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure, and you know I was.

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Speaker 1: But that's also more of a stigma for the people

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Speaker 1: you serve today that they deal with exactly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah. So essentially, you know, she

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Speaker 2: became my kind of my mom, really, I mean she

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Speaker 2: she had a baby shower for me and called her

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Speaker 2: friends and had her friends older. It was so cute

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Speaker 2: that they were. So this group of women is known

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Speaker 2: as the Fenton Street Gang because they all lived on

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Speaker 2: Fenton Street at one point in time. And they were

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Speaker 2: the first group of women to start MOPS Mothers are preschoolers.

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Speaker 2: It's now called the mom Co, but for many years

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Speaker 2: was called MOPS and they were the they're kind of

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Speaker 2: famous for being the group that started MOPS International because

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Speaker 2: MOPS is now this international huge, hundreds of thousands of interview.

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Speaker 3: And I actually thought about it too. She had done

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Speaker 3: it in Oxford, Like it's a big really.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a.

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Speaker 1: Big well, we need to find out who the grand

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Speaker 1: foo bios that all started.

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Speaker 4: She wrote.

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Speaker 3: She wrote a testimonial on your book that a good interview.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so she was instrumental in helping you form a

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Speaker 1: different view of what a family looked like.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So when the first time Johnny goes to the

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Speaker 2: bathroom on the potty, you know, we're potty training my son,

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Speaker 2: I call her. I tell my mom my. Mom's like,

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Speaker 2: that's what they're supposed to do at this age. I

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Speaker 2: call him mom and she's like, come over, we're making

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Speaker 2: a cake. Like she celebrated everything to this day. Like

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Speaker 2: at Hope House, we have this enormous gong, like an

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Speaker 2: orchestral gong, and every time one of the girls gets

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Speaker 2: their ged or passes their driver's test or whatever they

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Speaker 2: thing to celebrate, we make them ring the gong. They

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Speaker 2: have to ring the gong, and they usually don't want

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Speaker 2: Is your.

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Speaker 1: Mom still around?

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Speaker 2: Yeah she is. What's her name, Michelle Stephen?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Michelle, you are a rock star. And I know

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Speaker 1: you're going to listen because if you make a cake

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Speaker 1: for Poopy or your daughter in laws on a podcast,

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Speaker 1: I know you're going to listen. So, Michelle, I just

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Speaker 1: want to tell you I would love to meet you

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Speaker 1: one day. What a phenomenal human being you are. You

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Speaker 1: changed lives.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, thank you, And now you're gonna get me

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Speaker 2: all choked up. Yes, so she you know, she then

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Speaker 2: told me so by this time, you know, MOPS has

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Speaker 2: been in existence for whatever twenty years. At that point,

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Speaker 2: she says, you got to go to you gotta go

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Speaker 2: to MOPS. I'm like, I'm not going to mops. Like

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Speaker 2: this is a bunch of women who are all married

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Speaker 2: and like it right, you know, like when you're a

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Speaker 2: teen mom, you face judgment everywhere you go.

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Speaker 1: That's what I was saying. That's what I was trying

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Speaker 1: to say a minute ago.

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Speaker 2: Yep. Like the stigma, Yep, the stigma.

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Speaker 1: Goes you feel like again, back to something else we

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Speaker 1: said on the Reset conversation, you don't feel like, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you look even when you live in the crappiest houses ever,

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Speaker 1: most all of them have a mirror.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.

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Speaker 1: And you know what you're looking at. Maybe not everybody

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Speaker 1: else does, but you do. Yeah, And oftentimes you don't

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Speaker 1: like what you see. And when you don't like what

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Speaker 1: you see, or you feel beneath or whatever. It is

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Speaker 1: so hard to feel like you could go to a

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Speaker 1: place like MOBS where these are organic families with perfect

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Speaker 1: mommies and children, and when you're looking at the mirror,

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Speaker 1: you're seeing a very broken person who did it all wrong,

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Speaker 1: and you just don't feel like you belong.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you don't feel like you belong exactly.

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Speaker 1: Culture, to society, not just to MOPS.

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Speaker 2: Yeah exactly, Yeah, to church all the things.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So to church yeah yeah, well and MOPS was exactly,

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Speaker 2: And MOPS was a Christian is a Christian ministry. So

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Speaker 2: it's like, oh man, this is gonna be But my

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Speaker 2: mother in law wanted me to go, and I would

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Speaker 2: do anything she wanted me to do because I just

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Speaker 2: wanted her to be proud of me.

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Speaker 1: So important to understand all of that stuff again, Yes,

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Speaker 1: when we get to Hope.

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Speaker 2: Yep, yep. So I go to my first MOPS group

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Speaker 2: and man, it was nothing like I thought it would be.

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Speaker 2: They were super welcoming. All these moms were just they

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Speaker 2: treated me like any other mom, super non judgmental, uh

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Speaker 2: just and even gave me an opportunity to be a leader.

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Speaker 2: About a year in they let me be the co

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Speaker 2: leader of the Mopets group, which is the Little Kid's program.

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Speaker 2: And I wanted to like ask if anybody wanted to

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Speaker 2: see my idea. I'm like, I think I'm twenty by

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Speaker 2: at this point, Like, are you sure I've never been

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Speaker 2: in a meeting.

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Speaker 1: I've never seen an early start all this.

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Speaker 2: I mean they saw something in me I didn't see

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Speaker 2: in me. I guess to let me have a chance.

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Speaker 2: That's interesting in leadership, and it was life changing. I

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Speaker 2: came to know Christ in a whole different way, came

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Speaker 2: to know, you know, kind of what what my mother

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Speaker 2: in law knew about being a believer. Like she was

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Speaker 2: the one who said, you know, you can ask questions,

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Speaker 2: like read the Bible and ask God questions. He doesn't

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Speaker 2: mind if you ask him questions.

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Speaker 1: There's a very different perspective of people like your mother

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Speaker 1: in law, And I think the inaccurate portrayal of people

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Speaker 1: like your mother in law are the biggest deterrent to

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Speaker 1: people sitting on fences to faith.

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Speaker 2: True.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and that perception is the little gray lady, gray

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Speaker 1: haired lady at church, who's going to guilt you into

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Speaker 1: reading the Bible right, or who's going to judge everything

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Speaker 1: about about you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Unfortunately, probably a good bit of the judgment that

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Speaker 2: comes to our teenage moms comes from the church. I mean,

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Speaker 2: if they have a church experience.

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Speaker 1: And the point is, I think, with as we have

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Speaker 1: had continually over the decades, reduced numbers of membership at church,

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Speaker 1: going to church, engaging in church, I think the church

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Speaker 1: itself has been one of the biggest problems.

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Speaker 2: I would agree, yeah, that the.

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Speaker 1: Ch the organization of church. And it's because maybe many

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Speaker 1: have forgotten that Christ was a revolutionary He surrounded himselves

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Speaker 1: with stinky fishermen.

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Speaker 2: And hookers, the least of these for sure, and served

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Speaker 2: them so and his mama was a teen mom.

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Speaker 1: Christ like is not sitting on a throne judging the

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Speaker 1: crap out of everybody. It's it's it's actually engaging with

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Speaker 1: the least of these. Right, So when you say that

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Speaker 1: your mother in law showed you what faith is supposed

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Speaker 1: to look like and how it works, I feel that

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Speaker 1: because I also have felt the judgmental part before.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, unfortunately, I mean, it's not the way to

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Speaker 2: welcome people to church is to be judgmental. Yeah, she

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Speaker 2: definitely was. She just loved me like Jesus loved me.

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Speaker 2: And that is, you know exactly what we try to

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Speaker 2: do now today with all of the teen mamas we

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Speaker 2: work with. Just love them like Jesus loves them and take.

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Speaker 1: Us to the mops evolution. And I think a really

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Speaker 1: interesting other thing that helped you to be really effective

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Speaker 1: is didn't the doctor say your kid had scratches or

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Speaker 1: something like that?

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Speaker 2: I tell you, so that's just a great example or

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Speaker 2: not very good example actually of the kind of judgment

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Speaker 2: that teen mom's face and why myself, but also the

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Speaker 2: moms I serve now are so scared to ask for

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Speaker 2: help because asking for help can be almost dangerous on

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Speaker 2: some level. So I had taken my son to the

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Speaker 2: clinic to get his shots and knew right away the

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Speaker 2: minute the doctor, lady doctor came in and she just

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Speaker 2: was she just sized me up. Yeah, you just knew.

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Speaker 2: She's like, oh man, she doesn't like me much. I

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Speaker 2: think she might hate me. Actually, I'm like, what the heck,

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Speaker 2: I don't even do anything. So she tells me to,

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Speaker 2: you know, undress Johnny and put him set him on

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Speaker 2: the little table. Well, it was a metal table and

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Speaker 2: there were no coverings on it. So I got him undressed,

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Speaker 2: and these four kids sitting there six months old. I'm

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Speaker 2: standing there. Hold, I'm freezing, and she finally comes back

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Speaker 2: in and like gives him his shots. About two weeks later,

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Speaker 2: I'm you know, I do. I was doing home daycare

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Speaker 2: at the time, and I get a knock on the

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Speaker 2: door and this woman says, Hey, I'm from Social Services,

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Speaker 2: the child protective ser says, and we've had a claim

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Speaker 2: about your son, so you need to go get him

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Speaker 2: up from his nap, and I need to check him

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Speaker 2: out because the doctor you saw announced totally unannounced, and

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Speaker 2: I don't even think she was supposed to tell me this, actually,

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Speaker 2: but she told me that the doctor had said that

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Speaker 2: he had deep scratches on his back.

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Speaker 1: And I'm like, what what kind of scratches?

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Speaker 2: Deep scratches like something? I don't even I don't even know.

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Speaker 2: So I go get the kid out of his bed.

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Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, jeeszu, this is gonna go badly, Like

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Speaker 2: you're waking a six month old up from a nap.

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Speaker 4: Good thing.

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Speaker 2: He just charmed the pants off that girl. He was

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Speaker 2: in a happy mood, and of course he didn't have.

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Speaker 1: Any marks on it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he is a charmer. Yeah that's good. I got

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Speaker 2: that now I got that out. Yeah, so you know

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Speaker 2: it ended there. She left and she finished her report

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Speaker 2: or whatever, and I never heard anything more about it.

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Speaker 2: But the fact was in that moment that as a

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Speaker 2: teen mom, you're like, oh my god, that woman could

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Speaker 2: have just taken my son and walked out the door.

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Speaker 2: And I don't know that that's actually could have She

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Speaker 2: for sure could have had him removed if you know

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Speaker 2: who knows. You know, babies bump into things when they're

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Speaker 2: learning to crawl. What if he had a big bump

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Speaker 2: on his head or something. It could have gotten worse

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Speaker 2: than it did, for sure. But for me, it was

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Speaker 2: just this feeling of like total you have no control,

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Speaker 2: no agency, like no control of your own life, like

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Speaker 2: other people have control of very important things in your life,

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Speaker 2: like whether you get to parent. And so I get

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Speaker 2: it when our moms today are like, I'm not saying

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Speaker 2: my kiddo needs extra services or he's got a developmental

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Speaker 2: delay or speech delay, because someone's going to call CPS

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Speaker 2: and I'm going to lose him. And I get that

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Speaker 2: on a hard level. In there.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back. So all of this experience and

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Speaker 1: I think, really, you're you're deep into mops, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm deep into mops at this point. I've been

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Speaker 2: volunteering with mops for years. My kids are all in

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Speaker 2: school by now, kids now three, So we have three kids.

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Speaker 1: Johnny Johnny is at this time yea.

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Speaker 2: At this point he was probably ten. Uh and then

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Speaker 2: our middle son was seven and our was five, Nathan.

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Speaker 1: Nathan seven and five is Heather heavy?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so I get the get the last one

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Speaker 2: in school. I'm like, yes, I'm going to go to

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Speaker 2: college now. Like, uh So. Something that's important to know

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Speaker 2: is that even though I grew up in a chaotic household,

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Speaker 2: I grew up in a household that experienced what was

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Speaker 2: considered situational poverty, which I didn't know what any of

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Speaker 2: that was un till after we started Whole House, but I.

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Speaker 1: Certainly the way you've described it, food stamps and yeah,

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Speaker 1: red milk or whatever that.

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Speaker 2: Was, but it was. We grew up in a household

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Speaker 2: with middle class value. So generational poverty and situational poverty

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Speaker 2: are very different things. And I still grew up in

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Speaker 2: a home where you were expected to go to college.

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Speaker 2: Education was a norm, saving money was a norm if

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Speaker 2: you had it, Like I grew up with what are

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Speaker 2: considered middle class middle class values.

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Speaker 1: H So, my situational was your situation. You were in poverty,

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Speaker 1: but your attitude about it was not.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't generations of so both of my sets of

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Speaker 2: grand bores systematic exactly. It was not systematic. So even

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Speaker 2: though my dad stumbled and fell, his parents were, you know,

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Speaker 2: healthy financially. My mom's parents were healthy financially. They came

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Speaker 2: from backgrounds of you know, having financial health, not necessarily wealth,

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Speaker 2: but financial health. There there weren't generations of people who

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Speaker 2: had lived on the system and experienced poverty, uh, domestic

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Speaker 2: violence and addiction and abuse and homelessness and the things

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Speaker 2: that our moms deal with.

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Speaker 1: That's so interesting. I don't know that I've ever really

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Speaker 1: thought about the difference in situational poverty and what you're

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Speaker 1: calling generational or systematic poverty.

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Speaker 2: Same thing, same thing, exactly.

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Speaker 1: So you came from situational poverty, meaning the idea of yay,

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Speaker 1: they finally are all in school, I'm going to go

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Speaker 1: to college to you was natural. Even though you came

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Speaker 1: up with nothing, that was still a hope of dream

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Speaker 1: and an expectation and something was attainable.

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Speaker 2: Exactly. Yeah, by this point. My one of my sisters

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Speaker 2: is an attorney and the other is a doctor. So

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Speaker 2: this is this is real. Yes, so wow, this is

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Speaker 2: the expectation of you know, you go to school.

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Speaker 1: Three of you pretty strong.

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Speaker 2: Overcame, didn't we all overcame? Yes we did. I'm proud

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Speaker 2: of those girls. Doctor of what she's a mose surgeon,

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Speaker 2: so she's a dramatologist.

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Speaker 1: And your and your other.

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Speaker 2: Sisters an attorney. She lives in a small town in Colorado,

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Speaker 2: so she practices several different kinds of law because they

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Speaker 2: don't have a ton of attorneys. A lot of re.

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Speaker 1: Solute to them too. I mean they overcame all the.

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Speaker 2: Same, absolutely, definitely did. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So again the difference in generational situational poverty is they

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Speaker 1: still had at least a model and a vision and

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Speaker 1: a dream of being able to get out of this mess.

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Speaker 2: Yeah exactly. We were raised in a way that the

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Speaker 2: expectation was that you go to school. Yeah, and not

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Speaker 2: so for the moms that I work with today.

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Speaker 1: So your kids are going, You're going to college.

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Speaker 2: I'm going I'm going to college. And then Mops International

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Speaker 2: decided they were going to start this thing called teen

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Speaker 2: Mops for teenage moms, and our group at this little

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Speaker 2: church or of out of Covenant church, they decide we're

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Speaker 2: going to be the first group to do a teen

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Speaker 2: MOPS group. So I'm like, oh, this is cool. I'm

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Speaker 2: going to volunteer for this because my kids are now

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Speaker 2: in school, I've got a little time. I can handle

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Speaker 2: that and going to college. So I get, you know,

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Speaker 2: involved in teen mops and man just like blew my

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Speaker 2: mind what those girls were dealing with, Like, you know,

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Speaker 2: I thought John John's family absolutely not okay.

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Speaker 1: So when I read that, my initial reaction was that

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Speaker 1: is really interesting that a church who teaches abstinence until marriage, yeah,

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Speaker 1: because that's the gospel. Yeah, and who some might think

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Speaker 1: would look down on teenage pregnancy actually wants to start

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Speaker 1: a program for teen moms. To me, that is an

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Speaker 1: illustration of faith.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that was I didn't find out n till later

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Speaker 2: that the pastor of that church, Weswonson at the time,

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Speaker 2: got a lot of crap from a lot of other

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Speaker 2: pastors in town that oh, you're just promoting teen pregnancy.

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Speaker 1: Now, right, what are you going to do next? Give

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Speaker 1: out our control and condoms?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure you probably heard those things and fortunately

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Speaker 2: he was a true man of God who went to

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Speaker 2: God and God said, no, you're supposed to love like Jesus,

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Speaker 2: Like you said, who did Jesus hang out with? Well,

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Speaker 2: And we had no idea would moms even would these

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Speaker 2: teenage moms even come to our group if it's out

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Speaker 2: of church, Like I didn't know any teen moms at

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Speaker 2: the time. I just had this heart and I had

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Speaker 2: experienced it and wanted to be I loved mops and

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Speaker 2: I loved teen moms and made sense. So I was gonna,

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Speaker 2: you know, volunteer for this thing. And at the time,

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Speaker 2: you used to get these like big fat notebooks when

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Speaker 2: you were in charge of a MOBS group with like

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Speaker 2: all the directions of how to run a MOPS group.

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Speaker 2: But they were new to it. They didn't know what

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Speaker 2: they were doing yet. So we got four little pieces

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Speaker 2: of paper stable together like.

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Speaker 1: Oh maybe, I said, hey, make a big notebook, would

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Speaker 1: you let you figure it out? We did.

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Speaker 2: We ended up making a big fat notebook for him

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Speaker 2: after when time passed. But yeah, we didn't know what

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Speaker 2: we were doing. We were just inviting these girls to

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Speaker 2: you know, where do you even find teen moms? It

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Speaker 2: was like, what, how do you what do you even do?

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Speaker 2: So we started talking to schools and nurses and just

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Speaker 2: telling people we were going to start this group with

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Speaker 2: support group of teenage moms. And the thing is, once

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Speaker 2: you kind of love on them, then they tell their friends, hey,

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Speaker 2: you should come here. They'll they'll love on you, you know,

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Speaker 2: and you can get brownies. Like we made them home

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Speaker 2: made brownies. And how did that go on? For about

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Speaker 2: four years and got to know these moms had gotten

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Speaker 2: pretty good deep relationship with them, started really understanding what

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Speaker 2: was happening in their worlds and how difficult it was.

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Speaker 2: We had some very unrealistic expectations of being able to

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Speaker 2: help them to kind of overcome things and maybe move

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Speaker 2: towards self sufficiency. I don't know if we use those

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Speaker 2: words back then, but it was like, oh gosh, maybe

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Speaker 2: we can help them get their ged or finish high school. Well,

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Speaker 2: the truth is, you know they're living in homes where

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Speaker 2: you know, one mom, I went to pick her up,

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Speaker 2: brought her the whole plate of cookies. I go up

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Speaker 2: to her door to pick her up. This guy answers

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Speaker 2: the door. He's like clearly about to die from alcoholism.

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Speaker 2: I mean, he was so yellow and big like patches

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Speaker 2: under his eyes, and his clothes were all in disarray,

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Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh man, this is you know, this

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Speaker 2: can't be good. Well it's her stepdad. He did die

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Speaker 2: about five months later from alcoholism. Like they're dealing with

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Speaker 2: things that no plate of cookies is gonna fix fix

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Speaker 2: And certainly us unexperienced, you know, just normal folks, like

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Speaker 2: an harmony of normal folks, were just normal folks volunteering

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Speaker 2: with these girls. I was the only one who had

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Speaker 2: even been a teen mom. We didn't know what we're doing.

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Speaker 2: Moms didn't know what they were doing at the time.

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Speaker 2: They just wanted to love, you know, love moms, all moms.

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Speaker 1: But the key to being a part of the army

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Speaker 1: in normal folks was the first step. So at least

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Speaker 1: you were taking it. Yeah, but you quickly found out

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Speaker 1: how unequipped you were to really deal.

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Speaker 2: With Yeah, yep. Yeah. And you know, tragically, one of

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Speaker 2: our moms ended up being killed by an ex boyfriend

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Speaker 2: in a domestic violence incident. We ended up pooling our

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Speaker 2: money to even have her buried because her family didn't

385
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Speaker 2: even have money to release her body, and her twin

386
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Speaker 2: sister ended up taking her daughters to raise, and it

387
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Speaker 2: was just it was a terrible situation that you know,

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Speaker 2: you're you're I'm mad at God, I'm mad at our community.

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Speaker 2: I'm like, who's doing anything about this? Why isn't there

390
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Speaker 2: somebody doing something about this? And you know, John'll say

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Speaker 2: that was kind of the moment when God's like, well,

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Speaker 2: what if somebody is you?

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Speaker 1: Oh you mean who is somebody?

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Speaker 2: Who is somebody?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? I think say that a lot exactly who is somebody?

396
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Speaker 1: How to do something about that? Maybe I'll look at

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Speaker 1: that same.

398
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Speaker 2: Mirror, Yes, what if you're that somebody? Which for me

399
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Speaker 2: meant and I knew it was a calling. I mean,

400
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Speaker 2: I was super excited about this whole idea of what

401
00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:27,520
Speaker 2: if we start something for teen moms because there isn't

402
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Speaker 2: a place for teen moms to go in the Denver

403
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Speaker 2: metro area. There's we literally are still the only after

404
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Speaker 2: twenty three years, where the only residential program that a

405
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Speaker 2: parenting teenage mom can go to. And so it sounded exciting,

406
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Speaker 2: It sounded like it made my heart leap, like I

407
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Speaker 2: knew it was something God was asking me to do,

408
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,520
Speaker 2: but it also meant that I wasn't going to be

409
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Speaker 2: and I knew that deep down, I knew if I

410
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Speaker 2: say yes to this, I'm not going to college. I'm

411
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Speaker 2: not going to be a teacher. I'm not you know

412
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Speaker 2: whatever it was I thought I was going to do,

413
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Speaker 2: Like I'm gonna have to put my plans and pick

414
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Speaker 2: up God's plans and trust him. Which that's a biggie like.

415
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Speaker 2: It sounds good when you're just saying it, like, oh, yeah,

416
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Speaker 2: I just trust God. We're going to start a home

417
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Speaker 2: for teen moms. Well, the truth was, okay, that's first

418
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Speaker 2: of all, you're totally not qualified. This is terrifying. You

419
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Speaker 2: have no business doing this, like all the noes, you

420
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Speaker 2: have no money, all the things playing in your Yeah,

421
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Speaker 2: like we had no money. I literally have a background

422
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Speaker 2: of working at JC Pennies and doing home daycare. I

423
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,119
Speaker 2: don't know how to start a nonprofit. I don't have

424
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Speaker 2: a social work background.

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Speaker 1: Probably don't want to know what the five, one, C three.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we had to figure it out. Yeah it was.

427
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Speaker 2: It was one big like and this was before Google

428
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Speaker 2: and before computers, so it wasn't like you could google it.

429
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Speaker 2: So we're, you know, on the phone, trying to call

430
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Speaker 2: the irs. Just imagine nobody answers the phone at the irs,

431
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Speaker 2: let me tell you. But yeah, we figured it out.

432
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Speaker 2: We the little group of us that were the leaders

433
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Speaker 2: of that teen mops group and our husbands. And I

434
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Speaker 2: think that was what was key, is that our husbands

435
00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,439
Speaker 2: were it was John's calling before it was my calling.

436
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:04,800
Speaker 2: And I think that's that was really crucial, because the

437
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:07,960
Speaker 2: husbands in that kind of group, that first working board

438
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,160
Speaker 2: of directors were the ones that asked them. They asked good, hard,

439
00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,679
Speaker 2: tough questions. Us girls, we would have been like, we

440
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:15,439
Speaker 2: want to save the moms and their cousins and their

441
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,200
Speaker 2: grandma's and their babies, and we just want to save everybody.

442
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 1: And make cookies and make cookies.

443
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,600
Speaker 2: And the guys are like, can we just do teen

444
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:24,639
Speaker 2: moms and figure this out and then we'll figure out

445
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:25,200
Speaker 2: the next time.

446
00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,040
Speaker 1: That's rifle shot it, yeah, instead of just the shotgun

447
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:29,440
Speaker 1: a buckshot all over everything.

448
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,560
Speaker 2: Yeah. It was a good thing. But nobody in that

449
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,280
Speaker 2: group of you know, normal folks, had a background in

450
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 2: anything related to any of this. I mean, one guy

451
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,760
Speaker 2: sold insurance and another guy worked at a gym, and

452
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,399
Speaker 2: John's the machinery just all care and we just all

453
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,840
Speaker 2: happened to care, and I say this often. We are

454
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,160
Speaker 2: the embodiment of when God calls you to do something,

455
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,240
Speaker 2: he will equip you to do it. And he surround

456
00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:57,040
Speaker 2: us with like the most amazing people, and we learned

457
00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:57,480
Speaker 2: so much.

458
00:22:57,480 --> 00:22:59,760
Speaker 1: The story of how it goes is great, and that's

459
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 1: what's coming next. But I do want to say to

460
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:06,440
Speaker 1: you this, and our regulus as are probably rolling their

461
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:08,679
Speaker 1: eyes because they've heard this one hundred thousand times, but

462
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,480
Speaker 1: I'll just say it to you. I believe, after doing

463
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:14,719
Speaker 1: this for almost two and a half years, that I

464
00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:19,680
Speaker 1: have been taught a very valuable lesson, which is magic

465
00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:24,760
Speaker 1: happens when one's passion and discipline And I don't mean

466
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:26,840
Speaker 1: discipline in terms of doing the right thing. I mean

467
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,399
Speaker 1: discipline in terms of their toolbox when one's passion and

468
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:37,560
Speaker 1: discipline collide with opportunity. And the opportunity was thirteen moms

469
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 1: that you knew about from moms, and you were passionate

470
00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:45,119
Speaker 1: about it because it was your life, and you had

471
00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 1: a discipline for it because it was your life, and

472
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:52,199
Speaker 1: you cared. Yeah, And it seems to me that you

473
00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:56,160
Speaker 1: were yet another example example of where you're disciplined from

474
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 1: having been a teen age mom. So it was in

475
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 1: your toolbox and your passion because you cared about these

476
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 1: people intersected an opportunity. That to me is yet another

477
00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:11,000
Speaker 1: example of what amazing things can happen in the world.

478
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:13,840
Speaker 2: I've never heard it put together quite like that, but that,

479
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,160
Speaker 2: I mean, that is what happened that, you know, all

480
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,879
Speaker 2: those three things did collide, and yeah, and we just

481
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 2: in terms of discipline, it was you know, once we

482
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:24,920
Speaker 2: made that decision we were going to move forward. Then

483
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,560
Speaker 2: we were moving forward. And it was a long journey.

484
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 2: It was almost three years of meeting with this group

485
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,120
Speaker 2: of people to you know, we're looking at programs from

486
00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 2: all over the country. Who's doing what? How does it

487
00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:37,560
Speaker 2: work in other states? You know, we're trying to raise

488
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,600
Speaker 2: money for a dream, which is hard. We did finally

489
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,119
Speaker 2: get our five O one C three. Finally had to

490
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:43,720
Speaker 2: pay a lawyer.

491
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:51,040
Speaker 1: So easy, isn't it. Yeah, you want to peel the

492
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,200
Speaker 1: skin off about this, I just give you a finger

493
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,440
Speaker 1: and you give me the five one call it even

494
00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:58,720
Speaker 1: there you go, because that's easier than.

495
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,920
Speaker 2: Exactly. So we finally did get that, and we're out there,

496
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:04,520
Speaker 2: you know, telling everybody that to listen to us. We're

497
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,120
Speaker 2: gonna open a home for teen moms. And we had

498
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 2: a pot look on Saturday night with Alex and a

499
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,720
Speaker 2: bunch of the army of normal folks, just amazing families,

500
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 2: and I told them all that it's just it's crazy

501
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,640
Speaker 2: how how God moves and works and when you say

502
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 2: yes to Him and are willing to take that first step,

503
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:30,080
Speaker 2: how he will provide then the next step. But we

504
00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:32,760
Speaker 2: had met with a guy named David Nestor, who at

505
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:34,639
Speaker 2: the time was the president of a board of an

506
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,200
Speaker 2: organization that built low income pound home like villages, and

507
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,320
Speaker 2: he was nice enough to have lunch and tell us

508
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:42,600
Speaker 2: about his work, and so we brought him home made brownies,

509
00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 2: because that's how we thank people after they graduated from Yes, Yes,

510
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,119
Speaker 2: any jokes today you're you got your house because of

511
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 2: homemade brownies. So we had, you know, met this guy,

512
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 2: and you know, another year, year and a half goes by,

513
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 2: finally getting to the point where it's like maybe we

514
00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 2: heard God wrong, Like we've been at this trying to

515
00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,479
Speaker 2: make this happen for so long now and really honestly

516
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,399
Speaker 2: getting close to just saying we're just going to give up.

517
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 2: My my co founder kept saying we're going to keep

518
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:09,960
Speaker 2: doing this till there's one day where there's not one

519
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,760
Speaker 2: thing to do, like, not one phone call, not one meeting,

520
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:15,199
Speaker 2: not one project, something that we can do.

521
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:16,400
Speaker 1: That person's name job.

522
00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:21,399
Speaker 2: Hey, Yeah, it felt like job man. But we finally

523
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:23,439
Speaker 2: get a call from about ready to give up, and

524
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:25,120
Speaker 2: got a call from David Nestor and he said, hey,

525
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 2: we've got this land we purchased. It's got a ranch

526
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:29,600
Speaker 2: house on it. You can move in, get started, open

527
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 2: your home. You'll probably have about two years and then

528
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:33,920
Speaker 2: we're going to tear down when we build our town

529
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:37,680
Speaker 2: home community. So we did. We moved into that house,

530
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 2: took in our first teenage moms. My son's friend's band

531
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,399
Speaker 2: raised three hundred and fifty dollars for the first month's

532
00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 2: rent playing a concert. It was crazy, and I thought

533
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty dollars was a lot for rent

534
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,160
Speaker 2: back then, and you know, we didn't have very much money.

535
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 2: Now we have to hire staff because Amy and I

536
00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,680
Speaker 2: weren't planning to sleep there, and this is a sidential program.

537
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,680
Speaker 2: So we take in our first two teenage moms. Fendia

538
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,720
Speaker 2: was our first mom. She was from Haiti and had

539
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:12,000
Speaker 2: been in the States for about five years had gotten

540
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,439
Speaker 2: pregnant and her family, her mom kicked her out. It

541
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 2: was not acceptable in their culture that she was pregnant.

542
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 2: So she comes to us with a five week old

543
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:22,640
Speaker 2: baby girl in a broken car seat and a bag

544
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:26,760
Speaker 2: of her clothes and a trash bag. She was eighteen, wow,

545
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,200
Speaker 2: And Tiffany was seventeen when she moved in. Her daughter

546
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,400
Speaker 2: was six months old. And so here we are trying

547
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 2: to figure out what looks great on paper, all this

548
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:36,399
Speaker 2: program we developed of how we're going to help these

549
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:38,719
Speaker 2: girls become self sufficient, and we're trying to now make

550
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 2: it actually work with real life people, and you know,

551
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 2: go figure it doesn't all just work exactly the way

552
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,280
Speaker 2: you think it's going to when you're dreaming it up.

553
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 2: So we're barely figuring it out and we get a

554
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 2: call from David and he says, Okay, we got annexed

555
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,600
Speaker 2: into the city of Arvada like way quicker than we thought.

556
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,120
Speaker 2: So we got to tear the house down. And I'm panicking.

557
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:57,760
Speaker 2: I'm like, what do you mean? You got to say what?

558
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:00,159
Speaker 2: And I had never heard of a capitol campaign at

559
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 2: that point. So we have no, hardly any money, barely

560
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 2: paying payroll waiting for miracles in the mailbox all the time,

561
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 2: just to pay payroll. And now they're gonna, you know,

562
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,240
Speaker 2: tear the house down. I'm like, oh, jeez, well, I

563
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 2: don't know what we're going to do, but we're not

564
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,680
Speaker 2: going to make these girls homeless. We're gonna figure something out.

565
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 2: And about a week later I get a call in

566
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 2: the second call from David Nestor and he says, well,

567
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,119
Speaker 2: we uh, we met as a board and we've decided

568
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:22,760
Speaker 2: you can have the house, but you got to pick

569
00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:24,320
Speaker 2: it up and move it off our property.

570
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,600
Speaker 1: Like, okay, I guess this was a wooden house.

571
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,160
Speaker 5: Yes, well, yes, it was a it was a stick

572
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:35,639
Speaker 5: belt it was but crazy, like I mean, none of

573
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:37,879
Speaker 5: us knew anything about this on our little board of

574
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 5: directors and so was tough, but it was also like awesome.

575
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,080
Speaker 2: It was like, Okay, this is great because now we

576
00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:47,720
Speaker 2: can get a loan. So we get a loan against

577
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 2: the top half of this house because now the house

578
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,960
Speaker 2: belongs to us, so we have collateral. The bottom half

579
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 2: of the house was a basement. It's going to get

580
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 2: plowed under. So we get a loan on the top

581
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:57,560
Speaker 2: half of this ranch house one hundred thousand dollars. We

582
00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 2: think we're rich. We go out get a real estate

583
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:01,600
Speaker 2: and start looking for a place to move this house,

584
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 2: find a house mover. Only bad guy in the whole

585
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 2: story he tells us that you can only move the

586
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 2: house seven miles within a seven mile radius, and we

587
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:11,680
Speaker 2: believed him, like idiots, like you haven't seen a house

588
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,360
Speaker 2: driving down the highway from Iowa or something they can

589
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:16,560
Speaker 2: go more than seven miles.

590
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 1: Why because he just didn't want to do it more

591
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: than something.

592
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:21,240
Speaker 2: He didn't want to get a permit to go down Sheridan,

593
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 2: which is a state highway that ran in front of

594
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,120
Speaker 2: the house. Got it, We didn't know. So we you know,

595
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 2: we're out there looking for land. We think we've got.

596
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 2: You know, we got sixty grand left because he was

597
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,440
Speaker 2: taken forty of it. Can't find anywhere within seven miles

598
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 2: or twenty miles or anything. And finally the realtter calls

599
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,680
Speaker 2: me and says, you got to be done, and a

600
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 2: lot in the book you'll hear me talking about me

601
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 2: arguing with God, like I'm just I cannot understand this guy,

602
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:47,800
Speaker 2: Like why you give us a house and then you

603
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 2: don't give us anywhere to put the thing. So we're

604
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 2: just going back and forth. Well I'm going back and forth.

605
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 2: He of course knew exactly what he was doing as usual,

606
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:56,920
Speaker 2: and probably has a lot of things to say to

607
00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 2: me someday when I get up there. But I'm I'm

608
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 2: like having a heart attack. And finally get a call

609
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:07,920
Speaker 2: from this pastor and never met the guy, and he says, hey,

610
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 2: are you the people looking for land? And I said, yeah,

611
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:11,680
Speaker 2: we are, and he said, well, we've got someone we

612
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 2: want to give you. And I'm just like, who are

613
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 2: you again? What are you even talking about? Like I

614
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 2: don't think I said thank you. I just was what

615
00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 2: is even happening? What do you mean you have to

616
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 2: land you want to give us? He's like, yeah, come

617
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 2: on over, I'll point it out. We're like sixty fourth

618
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,840
Speaker 2: and Sheridan's. They're five blocks down and one block over,

619
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 2: six blocks there, within six blocks.

620
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 1: We'll be right back.

621
00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 2: So we'd hop in the car, me and Robin my

622
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:54,440
Speaker 2: program gall at the time. We go over there, and

623
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:56,080
Speaker 2: here comes this guy gets out of his car and

624
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 2: he's the pastor and he's like, yeah, we just we've

625
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,480
Speaker 2: got this two and a half acre and we want

626
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,760
Speaker 2: to give you about a third of an acre and well,

627
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:04,800
Speaker 2: whatever you need for your house and your playground, and

628
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:06,760
Speaker 2: I gotta go to lunch, and he gets back in

629
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:09,680
Speaker 2: his car and we're just standing there, going what And then,

630
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:11,760
Speaker 2: of course, you know, the deacons get involved and city

631
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:13,920
Speaker 2: gets involved and gets more complex than just here you

632
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 2: go and waving his hand at the land. So Robin

633
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:18,959
Speaker 2: and I go down to the city of Arvada and

634
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,320
Speaker 2: we're talking to the city planner. We're like, well, we

635
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 2: got to subdivide this piece of land from the church.

636
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,040
Speaker 2: They're gonna give it to us, and she's just cranky Carol.

637
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 2: I love Carol, She's so cranky. She's like, no, never

638
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 2: gonna happen. You get You're gonna have to rezone. That'll

639
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 2: take a year. This house gets has to be moved

640
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 2: like now, because they're gonna break ground next month. And

641
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,760
Speaker 2: we're like, I'm standing there at the counter arguing with God, like,

642
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:41,480
Speaker 2: what do you mean we got a house, we got land,

643
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 2: and now goud you're not gonna let us zone it

644
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 2: whatever it needs And she says, yeah, you gotta have

645
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 2: a think. It was an R four zoning and I'm mad.

646
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 2: Robin's just like, can you just go check what the

647
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:53,520
Speaker 2: zoning is. So she goes over to this like big

648
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 2: old lateral file cabinet in the back and pulls out

649
00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:57,479
Speaker 2: this huge plat map and down in the bottom it's

650
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,880
Speaker 2: like our four big green stamp. And she's just looking

651
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:02,240
Speaker 2: at us, and we're looking at her, and we're like,

652
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 2: what the heck. Well, it turns out that church had

653
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 2: twenty five years prior zoned just a third of an

654
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 2: acre for a maternity home and never put ministry on

655
00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 2: that land. So before I was ever a teen mom

656
00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:16,120
Speaker 2: before I mean, any of this had ever happened before

657
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 2: Hope House was a glimmer in anyone's eye. God knew

658
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 2: exactly what he was going to do through that land,

659
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,480
Speaker 2: through me, through John, and through an army of people

660
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 2: that he sent around us.

661
00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:31,920
Speaker 1: It was zoned twenty five years earlier on a whim. Yeah,

662
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 1: and it just happened to work.

663
00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 2: Yeah.

664
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:39,200
Speaker 1: And it was big enough to PLoP Rtshaw Yeah.

665
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:44,080
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean it was a miracle. I mean it

666
00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 2: was really literally nothing short of a miracle, which is

667
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:48,400
Speaker 2: why I wrote the book, Becausejohn said, you got to

668
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:51,120
Speaker 2: tell people God still does miracles like today, not just

669
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 2: like back in the Bible times. Or overseas, like he

670
00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 2: still does miracles in our own backyard.

671
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,960
Speaker 1: Yeah. When I read that in the prep, I paused.

672
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:02,600
Speaker 1: I just stopped and thought about before you were ever

673
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:08,840
Speaker 1: a team mom. Yeah, the plot of land was set

674
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 1: aside for what eventually would be Yeah.

675
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then it was just an old fashioned barn

676
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,480
Speaker 2: raising from there. Literally, I didn't know the term an

677
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 2: army of normal folk, but if I had, I would

678
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:22,400
Speaker 2: have used it, and I probably will use it now

679
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:24,960
Speaker 2: because that's what happened. An army of normal folk just

680
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,640
Speaker 2: came out of the woodwork. Like we had a contractor

681
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:29,440
Speaker 2: who's like, oh, I'll donate my time to be your

682
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 2: general contractor to oversee the project. And another guy says, oh,

683
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 2: I own a company that does excavation. I'll build a

684
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 2: dig you a basement. I go to a small group

685
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 2: at a church to tell our story, and some guy's like, oh,

686
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:44,640
Speaker 2: by the way, I own a company that does fire

687
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,760
Speaker 2: sprinkler systems. I'll put that in for you. Like literally,

688
00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 2: that house was donated. From the digging of the basement

689
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 2: to the roof, it was all rebuilt and it was

690
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:54,800
Speaker 2: just it was just our community again.

691
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 1: Did the door to the new.

692
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, a New Hope House on Pals on.

693
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:04,040
Speaker 1: The third of property that had been waiting twenty five

694
00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 1: years for a structure on it. When did the door

695
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:07,040
Speaker 1: swing open?

696
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, I tell you what. The one thing about having

697
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:11,799
Speaker 2: an army of normal folks who are so amazing and

698
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,240
Speaker 2: volunteer all their time, it's also on their time schedule.

699
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,560
Speaker 2: So it took almost two years to get that thing rebuilt.

700
00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 2: So we're in a town home with our moms for

701
00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:21,360
Speaker 2: a number of years. And on Easter Sunday two thousand

702
00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:22,120
Speaker 2: and six, we moved.

703
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 1: After Sunday, yeah really.

704
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:26,120
Speaker 2: Back into that first dinner was on the front porch

705
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:30,600
Speaker 2: with all the kids running around white picket fence, just

706
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 2: for symbolism, and the house was completely rebuilt in twelve bedrooms.

707
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 2: We have room for six moms and their kiddos and

708
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,279
Speaker 2: how many we have room for about six or seven

709
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:43,080
Speaker 2: moms at a time, depending on how many children.

710
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 1: The same house.

711
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 2: We still have that same house. We purchased the rest

712
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 2: of the land from the church in twenty well twenty eleven,

713
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 2: we started a capitol campaign. It took till twenty fifteen

714
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:58,240
Speaker 2: to raise the money buy the land from the church,

715
00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:01,719
Speaker 2: and twenty nine eighteen we opened the doors to our

716
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:03,960
Speaker 2: brand new resource center right there on the same property,

717
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 2: and then last year we opened an early learning center

718
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:08,640
Speaker 2: for the children of our teen moms. We could do

719
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 2: full time childcare so our moms can go to school.

720
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:16,600
Speaker 1: R and miracles did happen. Yes, So tell us now, yeah,

721
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: we know you, we know why, we know everything. Tell

722
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 1: us what it does. Yeah, tell us what Hope House is.

723
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,880
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, our mission is to empower parenting teenage moms

724
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 2: to become self sufficient. Our heart's desire is that our

725
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:35,080
Speaker 2: moms come to know just how much God loves them.

726
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 2: And there's nothing I love.

727
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,040
Speaker 1: What you're saying parenting teenage yams.

728
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:39,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, so our MoMA's not a.

729
00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:42,239
Speaker 1: Teenage mom who's dropped their kid off with their mother

730
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 1: and he is out partying. You're talking about parent teenage

731
00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 1: moms who are making the choice to be a mother

732
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:50,600
Speaker 1: actively daily.

733
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:54,960
Speaker 2: Yep, exactly. And also, I mean so they have to

734
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:56,920
Speaker 2: have already given birth to their child to come into

735
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,799
Speaker 2: our programming, So we're not a maternity program per se.

736
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:01,560
Speaker 2: We're there still trying to make a decision about whether

737
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:03,320
Speaker 2: to keep the baby or give it up for adoption.

738
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,800
Speaker 2: Because we build on what we call a mommy motivation

739
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 2: is our secret sauce, their desire to be a good mom,

740
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:15,960
Speaker 2: and they're really really deep desire to create something different

741
00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 2: for their child than what they've experienced. We're building off

742
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,000
Speaker 2: of that. So today we serve about two hundred and

743
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,720
Speaker 2: eighty teenage moms from across the Denver metro area.

744
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,120
Speaker 1: Two hundred and eighty.

745
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 2: Two hundred and eighty we have.

746
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 1: And you have how many residents?

747
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 2: Just six? But we have a housing support program that

748
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 2: provides all sorts of navigation of housing in general. So

749
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 2: lots of partners, transitional living programs, we partner with, lots

750
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 2: of just helping a mom understand like what does this

751
00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,480
Speaker 2: lease even say? What is this language? I don't know

752
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,920
Speaker 2: what I'm signing up for, or she doesn't understand eviction

753
00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:53,239
Speaker 2: and why we don't want eviction on our record. And

754
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,480
Speaker 2: we our moms come into our program between the ages

755
00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:59,279
Speaker 2: of fifteen and twenty one, already parenting. Yeah, we have

756
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,399
Speaker 2: fifteen year old moms. We have moms. Her youngest mom

757
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:05,759
Speaker 2: was twelve when she got pregnant. That's not typical. Yeah,

758
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:06,800
Speaker 2: it's not typical.

759
00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:07,879
Speaker 1: But that breaks your heart.

760
00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:11,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, breaks your heart. I know this is really

761
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 2: heard statistic, But the younger the MoMA, the more likely

762
00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:17,400
Speaker 2: that it was something inside the home, yeah, stepdad, or a.

763
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:19,319
Speaker 1: Just statutory rate.

764
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:23,920
Speaker 2: But like right, yeah, it's it's the misconception that a

765
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 2: teenage mom got pregnant on Prom night and then her

766
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 2: mom got mad and kicked her out. That's baloney. Like

767
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:33,960
Speaker 2: our moms literally are growing up in generational poverty, every

768
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,440
Speaker 2: one of them. We don't have any middle class mamas

769
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:38,799
Speaker 2: at Hope House. So all two hundred and eighty of

770
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 2: these moms have experienced trauma.

771
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 1: Because if they're not, they probably have a family like

772
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:47,359
Speaker 1: John's to support you.

773
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 2: And they don't need you. They don't need us, Exactly.

774
00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:56,839
Speaker 1: You're dealing with not situational poverty, but generational and systematic

775
00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:01,879
Speaker 1: poverty because the situational povy, somebody in that orbit can

776
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:02,400
Speaker 1: step up.

777
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 2: Yep, exactly.

778
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,840
Speaker 1: Which is interesting that you made that distinction a little

779
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,520
Speaker 1: while ago, because that makes I mean, what you just

780
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 1: said just dawned on me. Oh well that makes sense.

781
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:14,439
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, that's why the book is called A Place

782
00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:16,920
Speaker 2: to Belong. It is the place our moms come and

783
00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,040
Speaker 2: say this is my home, this is my second home,

784
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:21,320
Speaker 2: or this is these aren't. This is my family.

785
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:25,319
Speaker 1: So the people, the moms that you're serving that are

786
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:29,959
Speaker 1: not residential but are come into the resource center, right,

787
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:31,719
Speaker 1: what are they going home to?

788
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,960
Speaker 2: Well, so I'll just a typical way that it might

789
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,400
Speaker 2: look for a teen mom. So she's sixteen, she gets pregnant,

790
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:41,200
Speaker 2: She and the boyfriend are going to try to make

791
00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 2: it work. They try to live with boyfriend's parents. Boyfriend's

792
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,040
Speaker 2: mom is an alcoholic. They get kicked out, He goes

793
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:48,880
Speaker 2: one way, she goes back to her mom. Her mom's

794
00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,040
Speaker 2: got a new boyfriend. That boyfriend doesn't want her and

795
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:55,560
Speaker 2: her baby at the house. So pizza Tuesday because no,

796
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:59,719
Speaker 2: because they're very abusive. I wish it was because they

797
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:02,320
Speaker 2: like naked It's Tuesday. Frankly, that'd be way more healthy.

798
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:08,799
Speaker 1: But it is moving around. I have also read this

799
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,439
Speaker 1: reminds me of something I read Gosh. I haven't thought

800
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:17,840
Speaker 1: about this in ages, But oftentimes in that situation, the

801
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 1: boyfriend is mad because the mother he's dating is choosing

802
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 1: to spend time in allegiance with her daughter and her

803
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:30,319
Speaker 1: granddaughter rather than him, and so there becomes a power

804
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:31,239
Speaker 1: struggle in the house.

805
00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:35,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, it could be, you know, it's all the situations

806
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:37,080
Speaker 2: are different. They're all really.

807
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:38,760
Speaker 1: Ugly.

808
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,360
Speaker 2: They're just they're just ugly situations. We had a mama

809
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:47,560
Speaker 2: that was she's Mung family came from Laos. She was

810
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:51,200
Speaker 2: born here. But her mom does whatever her husband says

811
00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:53,760
Speaker 2: because that's the way their clan works in the suburbs

812
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:57,440
Speaker 2: of Denver, and he pays a dowry and marries off

813
00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 2: this kid at fourteen to another Mung family. She's not

814
00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 2: whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoah, just marries her off.

815
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:04,640
Speaker 1: He paid a dowry and just married her off in.

816
00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:07,719
Speaker 2: The suburbs of She's fourteen. She's fourteen, So now her

817
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 2: job is legal, it is, but nobody knows it's happening.

818
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,520
Speaker 1: And so you know that in the United States.

819
00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:15,000
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, a year later.

820
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:18,239
Speaker 1: She's the dad just tells them all this way it's

821
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 1: going to be because this is this is our culture.

822
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:28,200
Speaker 1: And he takes money for the fourteen year old and

823
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:30,319
Speaker 1: marries her all marries her off too.

824
00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 2: How old of a person he was sixteen, she was fourteen.

825
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:36,600
Speaker 2: So her new job now is to take care of

826
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:40,000
Speaker 2: her husband's in quotation marks family. So she's going to

827
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 2: school still, she's going to high school, but she's cooking, cleaning, uh,

828
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:46,920
Speaker 2: doing the dishes. She's there. Yep, she's a servant now

829
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,640
Speaker 2: and still trying to go to high school. Of course,

830
00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:53,759
Speaker 2: she gets pregnant by by the boyfriend by the her

831
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 2: husband didn't quotation marks, who he's a petty theft criminal,

832
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:03,680
Speaker 2: ends in jail, and her and her sister, who's also

833
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:05,600
Speaker 2: a teen mom by this point, end up sleeping in

834
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:09,759
Speaker 2: a park by themselves and call us and they're like, well,

835
00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:13,759
Speaker 2: you know, we got nowhere to go, so I say

836
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 2: this now. The beautiful piece of that story is this

837
00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:18,799
Speaker 2: young woman's name is Tina. Her story is in the book.

838
00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:21,600
Speaker 2: She is married to an amazing guy. She's got four

839
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:24,399
Speaker 2: amazing kids, all thriving, they own their own home. There

840
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:28,920
Speaker 2: she's doing all the things. And not every mom ends

841
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:33,640
Speaker 2: up in like a perfect world. But sixty five percent

842
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:35,439
Speaker 2: of the moms we serve at hopas will become fully

843
00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:36,719
Speaker 2: self sufficient like they are.

844
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:40,200
Speaker 1: That's that's the numbers. Yeah, how many teen moms have

845
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:42,800
Speaker 1: you served since opening the doors that easter?

846
00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:48,520
Speaker 2: Oh man? Somewhere around fifteen hundred, maybe eighteen hundred, I

847
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:48,800
Speaker 2: don't know.

848
00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:52,239
Speaker 1: And sixty let's call it fifteen hundred sixty five percent.

849
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:56,600
Speaker 1: One thousand. Yeah, you're telling me, since you've opened the door,

850
00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:01,160
Speaker 1: there's one thousand teen moms in and around Colorade that

851
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:03,120
Speaker 1: are now fully self sufficient.

852
00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:06,120
Speaker 2: Yep, fully self sufficient there.

853
00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:09,440
Speaker 1: What do you think the number would be without Hope House.

854
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:14,600
Speaker 2: Well, only about fifty percent of teenage moms nationally graduate

855
00:42:14,719 --> 00:42:18,440
Speaker 2: high school and two percent graduate college. So they are

856
00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:23,000
Speaker 2: chances of and it's like two thirds of them will

857
00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:25,640
Speaker 2: their children will become teen parents. I mean, the statistics

858
00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:29,040
Speaker 2: are the statistics for a reason. They're hard to break.

859
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:30,480
Speaker 1: Two thirds will become.

860
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 2: So their child will become a shit.

861
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:36,440
Speaker 1: You go from two thirds that will be this again

862
00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:39,920
Speaker 1: to two thirds self sufficient successful. I mean, it's a

863
00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:42,000
Speaker 1: complete reversal of the numbers.

864
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:47,080
Speaker 2: It's a complete reversal. They're tax paying, saving in our county.

865
00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:50,200
Speaker 2: It saves our taxpayers in Jefferson County, Colorado, about forty

866
00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:53,359
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars. When someone is like off of all

867
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:57,959
Speaker 2: governmental assistants per mom, her mom, yeah, and her child

868
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,160
Speaker 2: and her child's child. Because again this is generational. So

869
00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:03,720
Speaker 2: fendia that very first mom I was telling you about,

870
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,360
Speaker 2: her daughter is now twenty years old. She's getting a

871
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,880
Speaker 2: degree in psychiatric nursing at Metro State University, and Fendia

872
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:14,800
Speaker 2: is also a nurse. So these My favorite story is

873
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:17,480
Speaker 2: our twentieth anniversary gala. We had twenty moms, one from

874
00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:20,279
Speaker 2: every year that we've been in existence, and we went

875
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:22,520
Speaker 2: down the stage and my son was the first. He

876
00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:25,319
Speaker 2: stood there first and introduced Fendia, and then Fendia said,

877
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 2: you know, I was the first mom. I'm however old

878
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:29,320
Speaker 2: I am now and I'm a nurse. And then she

879
00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:31,520
Speaker 2: hands the microphone to her daughter. Her daughter says, I'm

880
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:32,960
Speaker 2: going to school at Metro I'm going to be a

881
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,640
Speaker 2: psychiatric nurse, and then she hands it to the next mom.

882
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,200
Speaker 2: Next mom says, I'm a stylist and hands it to

883
00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:40,840
Speaker 2: her daughter. Her daughter's got a full ride scholarship to

884
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:43,080
Speaker 2: go to school, hands it to the next mom. The

885
00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,359
Speaker 2: next mom is now our housing or our yeah, our

886
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:49,680
Speaker 2: housing support manager. She works for us, and her daughter

887
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:52,319
Speaker 2: has a full right scholarship to play volleyball. And they

888
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:54,880
Speaker 2: just keep going down the row till we get to

889
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:56,319
Speaker 2: the little one. The four year old said he wants

890
00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:58,399
Speaker 2: to work at Target. So that's pretty good.

891
00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:03,040
Speaker 1: But the point is is that is a beautiful illustration

892
00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:04,680
Speaker 1: of the chain of hope.

893
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:08,680
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, and that they have literally broken the cycle

894
00:44:08,719 --> 00:44:11,520
Speaker 2: of poverty for not just for two generations, but for

895
00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:15,800
Speaker 2: generations to come. Because now Fendia's daughter, of course, is

896
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,000
Speaker 2: not gonna I mean, as a psychiatric nurse, I would

897
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,279
Speaker 2: presume she won't be in poverty. But they're breaking the

898
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,560
Speaker 2: cycle for generations to come and all because they're so

899
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:27,120
Speaker 2: motivated for that little one. They just need someone to

900
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:29,640
Speaker 2: model it, just like we did. Like, you just need

901
00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:30,400
Speaker 2: someone to model.

902
00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:33,320
Speaker 1: And to be clear, you're not just riding them a

903
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:34,000
Speaker 1: place to stay.

904
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:34,680
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.

905
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:38,880
Speaker 1: Ged teaching And when we say teaching, not just not

906
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:44,520
Speaker 1: teaching what a healthy lifestyle looks like, teaching how to health, lead,

907
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: take care of your child. You are engaging with these

908
00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:53,360
Speaker 1: people to reverse all of the things that created the

909
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:54,920
Speaker 1: trauma in their lives in the first place.

910
00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:57,719
Speaker 2: Right. Yeah. So we have a proprietary measurement system. We

911
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:02,760
Speaker 2: use a rubric where we measure self sufficiency in seven domains.

912
00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:05,920
Speaker 2: So we look at economic self sufficiency and personal self sufficiency.

913
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:08,560
Speaker 2: Economic is all the things you can think of. You're

914
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:10,879
Speaker 2: going to like, we provide a colleging career program, high

915
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:16,200
Speaker 2: school and gd financial literacy budgeting, transportation assistance, what we

916
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:19,160
Speaker 2: call economic navigation. A lot of times you're starting out

917
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:20,840
Speaker 2: without even your birth certificate or a state I D.

918
00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:22,560
Speaker 2: So where do you go from there if you don't

919
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:25,320
Speaker 2: know how to get that. We have a legal advocacy program.

920
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:28,520
Speaker 2: And then on the personal side, it's healthy boundaries and

921
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:32,760
Speaker 2: healthy relationship and your spiritual life, which is all optional.

922
00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:35,480
Speaker 2: Everything we do is optional. Our moms are here because

923
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,200
Speaker 2: they want to be nobody's court ordered. They're coming in

924
00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:40,879
Speaker 2: and out as they choose as it allows for their life,

925
00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:44,080
Speaker 2: to take classes and move forward. By the time they

926
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:47,320
Speaker 2: hit what we call graduation, which means they're hitting stable

927
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:50,759
Speaker 2: scores on our measurement system, they've typically been in our

928
00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:54,480
Speaker 2: program about four or five years. They've completed one hundred

929
00:45:54,719 --> 00:45:57,279
Speaker 2: hours at least of class time with us on a

930
00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,640
Speaker 2: variety of things. And that's totally separate from getting their

931
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:04,799
Speaker 2: ged diploma and going to college or getting a good job.

932
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:06,480
Speaker 2: We always say, you want a job that's going to

933
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:07,680
Speaker 2: be a career, so we want to be able to

934
00:46:07,719 --> 00:46:11,040
Speaker 2: move up, and of course we're looking at a healthy relationship.

935
00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:13,600
Speaker 2: So somewhere along the line before they turn twenty five,

936
00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:16,959
Speaker 2: which is when they become an alumni, they've typically gotten

937
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:20,200
Speaker 2: into a more healthy relationship by that point, and that

938
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,719
Speaker 2: helps you know having two incomes is we have many

939
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:26,160
Speaker 2: moms who've purchased a home. We don't have any single

940
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,160
Speaker 2: moms who've purchased a home. They've always been in a

941
00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:30,520
Speaker 2: healthy marriage by the time they are able to afford

942
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:36,000
Speaker 2: to purchase a home. Yeah, and then we're essentially staying

943
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,320
Speaker 2: in relationship with them after they become alumni. So I

944
00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:41,080
Speaker 2: think at this point we have seven of our moms

945
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:44,279
Speaker 2: who work for us as one alumni always on our

946
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:48,759
Speaker 2: board of directors, and lots of them that give back

947
00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:50,880
Speaker 2: through volunteering or monthly donations.

948
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:54,600
Speaker 1: So this is really not bad for a JC penny

949
00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:57,400
Speaker 1: clerk who make it to college. You just used a

950
00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,319
Speaker 1: lot of big words. Look what God can do break

951
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:02,360
Speaker 1: and Rubik's cube I never heard of.

952
00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:05,440
Speaker 2: It was just to tell you a secret. It was

953
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:09,560
Speaker 2: developed on a paper like tablecloth at a restaurant.

954
00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:12,840
Speaker 1: Because you didn't get a big fat binder.

955
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:14,520
Speaker 2: No, I didn't get a big fat binder.

956
00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:19,040
Speaker 1: We made the kind of did it as you go?

957
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:19,719
Speaker 2: Yeah?

958
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:20,760
Speaker 1: Do you pinch yourself?

959
00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:21,560
Speaker 5: Yeah?

960
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:23,560
Speaker 2: There are definitely times I pull into our campus and

961
00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:25,200
Speaker 2: I just sit there and I'm like, oh, man, like,

962
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:28,960
Speaker 2: how did this even happen? Like, yeah, really literally had

963
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:29,560
Speaker 2: this even happen.

964
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:32,240
Speaker 1: We'll be right back.

965
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:46,400
Speaker 3: Before you get closer to wrapping, and it would be

966
00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:48,560
Speaker 3: great for you to talk about the early learning center

967
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:50,520
Speaker 3: and the two generation aspects of it.

968
00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:55,760
Speaker 2: Yeah. So one of the things that's most difficult to biggest.

969
00:47:56,160 --> 00:47:59,320
Speaker 2: So the three biggest barriers to self sufficiency are housing, childcare,

970
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:04,360
Speaker 2: and transportation. So housing we're working on it. Childcare, we

971
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:07,239
Speaker 2: can't find enough childcare centers in our town city that

972
00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:11,360
Speaker 2: will take what's called SEACAP, the Colorado Childcare Assistance Program.

973
00:48:11,480 --> 00:48:14,640
Speaker 2: Every state has a childcare assistance program. It's federal dollars

974
00:48:14,680 --> 00:48:18,120
Speaker 2: that come down to the state, but most centers won't

975
00:48:18,160 --> 00:48:21,200
Speaker 2: accept SEACP because they don't get reimbursed at the same

976
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,600
Speaker 2: rate as private pay. So we can't find enough spots

977
00:48:23,640 --> 00:48:25,240
Speaker 2: for our kiddos.

978
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:31,839
Speaker 1: And before anybody villainizes the childcare facilities for that, those

979
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:34,680
Speaker 1: things are expensive to run and the insurance rights on

980
00:48:34,719 --> 00:48:37,920
Speaker 1: them are insane. I've actually did a little research on

981
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:40,279
Speaker 1: this one time for a whole nother project that I

982
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:44,400
Speaker 1: did not end up getting involved in. But they are

983
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:45,799
Speaker 1: not getting wealthy.

984
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:48,040
Speaker 2: No, they are not. Their margins are about two percent.

985
00:48:48,239 --> 00:48:50,480
Speaker 1: They are, And so if you have to charge them

986
00:48:50,520 --> 00:48:52,680
Speaker 1: a pick a number, five hundred a week and the

987
00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:55,160
Speaker 1: government will only pay you three eighty, it's not that

988
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:57,880
Speaker 1: you don't want to take them. You literally can't afford

989
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:00,880
Speaker 1: to that's right, unless you can raise that five hundred

990
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:03,240
Speaker 1: to six hundred. So all that the full paying people

991
00:49:03,640 --> 00:49:08,160
Speaker 1: are literally supplementing the government people, and you really can't

992
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:11,120
Speaker 1: do that except in really affluent areas. So the fact is,

993
00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:15,400
Speaker 1: even though we have child assistance from the government, it

994
00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:19,520
Speaker 1: rarely is enough to actually provide child assistance from the government,

995
00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:21,480
Speaker 1: which you nail the irony of ironies.

996
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:24,200
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, totally nailed it, which of course then keeps

997
00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:26,839
Speaker 2: them in poverty because then they can't get a job,

998
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 2: they can't go to school. So yeah, we built a

999
00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:34,120
Speaker 2: one hundred spot center, two story center on our campus

1000
00:49:34,560 --> 00:49:38,279
Speaker 2: that's been open a year. Having some struggles because we've

1001
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,000
Speaker 2: got a lot of there's a lot going on politically

1002
00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:44,440
Speaker 2: right now and some of it is impacting SEACP situation

1003
00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:48,520
Speaker 2: and sore. We have sixty open spots and none of

1004
00:49:48,560 --> 00:49:51,840
Speaker 2: our moms can get SEACP SEACUP is currently just closed

1005
00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:52,200
Speaker 2: in our.

1006
00:49:52,239 --> 00:49:55,200
Speaker 1: Is because of the shutdown or because no, it.

1007
00:49:55,600 --> 00:49:58,360
Speaker 2: Goes back farther than that. It's I mean, very quick version.

1008
00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:01,880
Speaker 2: Federal government decided about four years ago that we should

1009
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:04,320
Speaker 2: reimburse centers at a higher rate so that more centers

1010
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:08,359
Speaker 2: will take SEACAP kids. Totally great idea, but it didn't

1011
00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:11,040
Speaker 2: come with any federal funding for a federal mandate, so

1012
00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:13,800
Speaker 2: the cost to do this got pushed down to the states.

1013
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:16,440
Speaker 2: Our state, Colorado has about a one point two billion

1014
00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:19,200
Speaker 2: dollar budget short pall last year, so they can't afford

1015
00:50:19,360 --> 00:50:23,880
Speaker 2: to cover this new like seventy million dollar increase to

1016
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:24,960
Speaker 2: what you're going to have to pay.

1017
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:27,520
Speaker 1: So you have a center waiting for people, so yeah,

1018
00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:29,880
Speaker 1: they can't get their money because Colorado.

1019
00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:30,040
Speaker 6: Doesn't have it.

1020
00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:33,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you have counties that just basically said because

1021
00:50:33,160 --> 00:50:34,800
Speaker 2: the money comes from the Feds to the states to

1022
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:36,680
Speaker 2: the counties, and the counties just said, nope, we're done.

1023
00:50:36,719 --> 00:50:39,040
Speaker 2: We're closing all the wait lists. We are not going

1024
00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:40,640
Speaker 2: to be able to afford the kids we've already got

1025
00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:42,960
Speaker 2: on our roles. We can't take any more new kids.

1026
00:50:43,320 --> 00:50:45,759
Speaker 2: So now we've got you know, hundreds of new moms

1027
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:48,000
Speaker 2: coming all the time, and they can't get seacap, so

1028
00:50:48,120 --> 00:50:51,399
Speaker 2: we have a mission problem because they can't get sea caps,

1029
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:53,000
Speaker 2: so they can't get a spot, so they can't go

1030
00:50:53,040 --> 00:50:54,880
Speaker 2: to school and go to work. And we've got a

1031
00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:58,440
Speaker 2: financial problem because our brand new childcare center can't enroll

1032
00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:02,520
Speaker 2: the kiddos who we built it to enroll. And so

1033
00:51:02,719 --> 00:51:05,760
Speaker 2: we've got, you know, a big financial short pall because

1034
00:51:05,800 --> 00:51:08,080
Speaker 2: of that. We're raising the funds to cover that. But

1035
00:51:08,480 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 2: and we have we're very, very blessed to have you know,

1036
00:51:11,480 --> 00:51:13,960
Speaker 2: amazing folks around us. So at this point we're okay

1037
00:51:14,360 --> 00:51:18,000
Speaker 2: for now, but something's got to happen in the next

1038
00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:19,919
Speaker 2: couple of years or we're gonna we'll have to start

1039
00:51:19,960 --> 00:51:23,440
Speaker 2: taking private pay and do a mixed model because we want.

1040
00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:23,799
Speaker 1: To have a choice.

1041
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:27,359
Speaker 2: So I get I've also gotten to learn a lot

1042
00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:29,239
Speaker 2: about how but that's go works.

1043
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:35,080
Speaker 1: That's once again a beautiful example of how systematic poverty happens. Yes,

1044
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:37,879
Speaker 1: I mean, as bad as all of that is, yeah,

1045
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:41,720
Speaker 1: it is a very real example of how it happens.

1046
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:49,680
Speaker 1: And I think in fairness, there is a civic debate,

1047
00:51:50,440 --> 00:51:57,320
Speaker 1: civil debate to happen around there's there's a there's a

1048
00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 1: finite amount of dollars. You can't just tax everybody over

1049
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:04,040
Speaker 1: and over and more and more and more and more again.

1050
00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:09,640
Speaker 1: So there has to be a conversation around where these

1051
00:52:09,719 --> 00:52:14,719
Speaker 1: dollars best utilized. Yeah, And unfortunately we have to rely

1052
00:52:14,840 --> 00:52:17,440
Speaker 1: on a bunch of bureaucrats and politicians who are not

1053
00:52:17,560 --> 00:52:20,600
Speaker 1: really business people to make those decisions, and oftentimes things

1054
00:52:20,680 --> 00:52:21,280
Speaker 1: like this happen.

1055
00:52:21,719 --> 00:52:25,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so true. But I will say when an

1056
00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:28,160
Speaker 2: army of normal folks gets together to do something like

1057
00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:31,240
Speaker 2: what Whope House is doing, you can break that cycle

1058
00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:35,080
Speaker 2: and then you don't you won't have to rely on Yeah, because.

1059
00:52:34,920 --> 00:52:37,080
Speaker 1: One of the things we always say before we look

1060
00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:40,800
Speaker 1: in that mirror is if you're waiting around for the

1061
00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:43,560
Speaker 1: fancy people on seeing in fox to do something about it,

1062
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,640
Speaker 1: or government for goodness sakes to go do something about it,

1063
00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:50,560
Speaker 1: if that's if those are the somebody out to do

1064
00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:53,920
Speaker 1: something about it, yeah, Well you can wish in one

1065
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:57,480
Speaker 1: hand and poop in the other, yeah, I mean yeah.

1066
00:52:57,520 --> 00:53:00,560
Speaker 1: And the truth is the point is this happened because

1067
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,560
Speaker 1: you and your benefactors and you have another capital campaign

1068
00:53:04,719 --> 00:53:07,160
Speaker 1: and your passion and your concerns for these kids and

1069
00:53:07,239 --> 00:53:09,880
Speaker 1: these moms. You just make it happen.

1070
00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:13,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I say all the time. That was the

1071
00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:15,880
Speaker 2: reason I wrote the book. Like whatever it is, it

1072
00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:18,320
Speaker 2: doesn't have to be go out there and open a

1073
00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:20,640
Speaker 2: home for teen moms, and maybe twenty years from now it'll,

1074
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:23,160
Speaker 2: you know, start spreading across the country, which is what

1075
00:53:23,239 --> 00:53:27,120
Speaker 2: we're what we're doing now. It can be Hey, I

1076
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:29,640
Speaker 2: love kids, I'm gonna go hang out and volunteer at

1077
00:53:29,640 --> 00:53:31,239
Speaker 2: the children's hospital, or I'm going to go hang out

1078
00:53:31,280 --> 00:53:35,479
Speaker 2: and volunteer at a childcare center that's struggling, or whatever

1079
00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:37,400
Speaker 2: it is. I'm gonna make brownies. I love making brownies.

1080
00:53:37,440 --> 00:53:39,680
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make some brownies. Like just say yes, And

1081
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:43,600
Speaker 2: like you guys always say, Now, I know that we're

1082
00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:45,600
Speaker 2: just part of an army of normal.

1083
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:48,600
Speaker 1: Folks doing the things who have an ability and a

1084
00:53:48,719 --> 00:53:51,520
Speaker 1: passion and fillin area need. And if we had two

1085
00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:55,160
Speaker 1: or three million people across the country doing that. Your

1086
00:53:55,239 --> 00:53:56,640
Speaker 1: place is full of kiddos.

1087
00:53:57,080 --> 00:54:00,120
Speaker 2: Amen, you are a.

1088
00:54:02,239 --> 00:54:04,560
Speaker 1: Delight John. I guess you knew it when she waved

1089
00:54:04,560 --> 00:54:06,520
Speaker 1: at you from the pea green piece of crap, Bwick.

1090
00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:09,239
Speaker 1: He just said, let me pull my nova over, race

1091
00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:13,400
Speaker 1: my engine at her because this is a cool check. Amazing.

1092
00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:14,759
Speaker 4: Let's talk expansion now too.

1093
00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:17,759
Speaker 3: So you have other spots in Colorado doing this, and

1094
00:54:17,880 --> 00:54:19,440
Speaker 3: I thought I saw Orange County too.

1095
00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:21,000
Speaker 4: Tell us about your grand plans.

1096
00:54:21,160 --> 00:54:25,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we have we're building out an affiliate network.

1097
00:54:25,760 --> 00:54:28,759
Speaker 2: We have one affiliate in northern Colorado, one in the

1098
00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:29,880
Speaker 2: southern part of our state.

1099
00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:31,799
Speaker 1: Towns names.

1100
00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:35,680
Speaker 2: The one in northern Colorado is in Greeley, and the

1101
00:54:35,760 --> 00:54:37,919
Speaker 2: one in southern Colorado is in Canyon City.

1102
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:40,600
Speaker 1: You never know who's listening in places right now. Might

1103
00:54:40,640 --> 00:54:41,600
Speaker 1: as well throw it out there.

1104
00:54:41,640 --> 00:54:43,320
Speaker 4: Best smelling town in America.

1105
00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:45,600
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, Greeley, Colorado.

1106
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:47,919
Speaker 1: That's uh yeah.

1107
00:54:48,560 --> 00:54:50,960
Speaker 2: And then our first out of the state of Colorado

1108
00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:54,120
Speaker 2: affiliate will be opening in Raleigh, North Carolina.

1109
00:54:54,440 --> 00:54:56,960
Speaker 1: Really all the way across. You must have friends there.

1110
00:54:57,080 --> 00:55:00,160
Speaker 2: So we have those former employees, two of them who

1111
00:55:00,200 --> 00:55:03,319
Speaker 2: moved to North Carolina about six years ago. YEP. One

1112
00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:05,080
Speaker 2: of them is a former teen mom and has been

1113
00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:08,080
Speaker 2: the executive director of a housing program for people coming

1114
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:10,640
Speaker 2: out of incarceration and just felt like God was calling

1115
00:55:10,719 --> 00:55:13,640
Speaker 2: her to open Hope House. So she's gonna be opening

1116
00:55:13,719 --> 00:55:16,200
Speaker 2: a Hope House in the Raleigh area and looking at

1117
00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:18,080
Speaker 2: Chicagoland and Oklahoma City.

1118
00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:21,440
Speaker 1: For the next two anybody's uh in those cities?

1119
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:23,480
Speaker 4: My Chicago and Oklahoma City.

1120
00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:26,839
Speaker 2: Because we know someone there same thing as Yeah, there's

1121
00:55:26,920 --> 00:55:30,000
Speaker 2: some people galvanizing champion.

1122
00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:30,520
Speaker 5: We call it.

1123
00:55:30,640 --> 00:55:33,600
Speaker 2: We need a galvanizing champion and then we can go forward.

1124
00:55:34,239 --> 00:55:37,239
Speaker 1: Www dot what how do people go and find out more?

1125
00:55:37,480 --> 00:55:42,880
Speaker 2: Yep, www dot Hope House, Colorado dot org, RG.

1126
00:55:43,719 --> 00:55:47,839
Speaker 4: Or orsh Lately she's ready to shore.

1127
00:55:48,239 --> 00:55:51,640
Speaker 2: If somebody wants you can email me directly Lisa dot

1128
00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:56,720
Speaker 2: steven S T E V E N at Hope House,

1129
00:55:57,040 --> 00:55:58,520
Speaker 2: Colorado dot org.

1130
00:55:59,400 --> 00:56:01,719
Speaker 1: John, your kids think she's a rock star or do

1131
00:56:01,800 --> 00:56:03,319
Speaker 1: they just say, oh, that's what mom does.

1132
00:56:03,760 --> 00:56:06,759
Speaker 4: Oh my get it, you gotta get it on a bike.

1133
00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:14,040
Speaker 1: It's at the end, making you move and switching. Yeah, anyway,

1134
00:56:14,080 --> 00:56:16,440
Speaker 1: you sit in that chair, You're better than Alex in

1135
00:56:16,520 --> 00:56:20,719
Speaker 1: there anyway. So I'm curious do they do they think

1136
00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:22,880
Speaker 1: this is just what mom does, or they realize this

1137
00:56:23,040 --> 00:56:24,360
Speaker 1: is rock star status stuff.

1138
00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:28,120
Speaker 6: I believe they think she's a rock star. I think

1139
00:56:28,520 --> 00:56:30,680
Speaker 6: when they were younger, it was kind of they felt

1140
00:56:30,719 --> 00:56:33,480
Speaker 6: a lot of us everything was about hopeals. Yeah, a

1141
00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:37,160
Speaker 6: lot of our conversations and things we did were Hope house.

1142
00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:40,239
Speaker 6: But as they've gotten older, they think they're super proud

1143
00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:42,439
Speaker 6: of her and inspired by her for sure.

1144
00:56:43,760 --> 00:56:45,400
Speaker 1: And Johnny is now how old.

1145
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:49,200
Speaker 2: Three little granddaughters with him. He has a beautiful wife

1146
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:49,880
Speaker 2: and three daughters.

1147
00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:54,040
Speaker 1: That is phenomenal because it really started with Johnny.

1148
00:56:54,200 --> 00:56:56,120
Speaker 2: It did it all, just talk about it.

1149
00:56:56,239 --> 00:56:59,640
Speaker 1: This could be Johnny's house of Colorado if you wanted

1150
00:56:59,680 --> 00:57:02,840
Speaker 1: to do, John what do you do?

1151
00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:06,239
Speaker 6: I'm a machinist at Sierra Space, got it?

1152
00:57:06,360 --> 00:57:11,080
Speaker 1: Aerospace machinist, an aerospace machinist. Yes, sir, that's actually kind

1153
00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:16,800
Speaker 1: of cool. That's a whole nother story. I remember John

1154
00:57:18,120 --> 00:57:22,440
Speaker 1: somewhere in the prop when y'all had Johnny baptized, you

1155
00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:26,960
Speaker 1: got turned off to the conventional church because of the

1156
00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:28,920
Speaker 1: judgment of the pastor.

1157
00:57:29,440 --> 00:57:33,040
Speaker 6: Yeah, he was you can tell he was sizing us

1158
00:57:33,080 --> 00:57:34,720
Speaker 6: up when you have to do a meeting before you

1159
00:57:35,840 --> 00:57:38,720
Speaker 6: before the ceremony, or when like a week before or

1160
00:57:38,760 --> 00:57:41,240
Speaker 6: whatever and kind of found out our ages. You can

1161
00:57:41,280 --> 00:57:43,160
Speaker 6: see him do the math and then it just he

1162
00:57:43,320 --> 00:57:46,040
Speaker 6: just got cold, and I was like, this is no

1163
00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:48,560
Speaker 6: place to be, you know, Like, but you.

1164
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:51,040
Speaker 1: Were raised by your mom, who was the antithesis of that.

1165
00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:56,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, yeah, for sure.

1166
00:57:57,440 --> 00:58:06,880
Speaker 7: So what's that like today, judgment wise? No, for your kids, oh,

1167
00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:08,840
Speaker 7: for you know, it was super interesting.

1168
00:58:09,760 --> 00:58:13,680
Speaker 2: We watched Undefeated because I wanted to just understand your

1169
00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:16,960
Speaker 2: story and there was a part where you kind of

1170
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:19,360
Speaker 2: talked about your kids had given up a lot, and

1171
00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:22,480
Speaker 2: that kind of hit home. I guess maybe I felt

1172
00:58:22,520 --> 00:58:24,400
Speaker 2: a little defensive. John said, you think our kids felt

1173
00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:26,920
Speaker 2: that way, and got a little defensive. I'm like, yeah,

1174
00:58:27,160 --> 00:58:29,080
Speaker 2: I know they felt that way. I know they felt

1175
00:58:29,120 --> 00:58:33,520
Speaker 2: like they They've told me as adults that that, you know,

1176
00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:38,640
Speaker 2: they came second sometimes to Hope House, and yeah, that stinks,

1177
00:58:39,640 --> 00:58:44,160
Speaker 2: but they know we love them and we're a strong family,

1178
00:58:44,680 --> 00:58:47,040
Speaker 2: and I do think they're proud now. But in the

1179
00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:49,360
Speaker 2: midst of it, when you're putting in the sixty hour

1180
00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:52,160
Speaker 2: work weeks, and we were pretty careful. We didn't miss

1181
00:58:52,480 --> 00:58:55,320
Speaker 2: ball games or award ceremonies or any of that stuff,

1182
00:58:55,480 --> 00:59:00,120
Speaker 2: but we you know, there were hours I was I

1183
00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:02,880
Speaker 2: work a lot. It's like a startup, you're starting up

1184
00:59:02,920 --> 00:59:05,440
Speaker 2: a business. You're working a lot, work a lot hours.

1185
00:59:06,040 --> 00:59:11,320
Speaker 1: It is. It's tough to balance all of it, and

1186
00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:13,520
Speaker 1: you do the best you can and you love. But

1187
00:59:13,880 --> 00:59:17,040
Speaker 1: you know, if it was damaging your parents, your kids

1188
00:59:17,040 --> 00:59:18,000
Speaker 1: wouldn't be proud today.

1189
00:59:18,240 --> 00:59:20,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, thank you. I appreciate that.

1190
00:59:21,160 --> 00:59:26,840
Speaker 1: It's true. I've told this story before my last game

1191
00:59:27,000 --> 00:59:31,920
Speaker 1: at Manassas, which is chronicled and undefeated. Before the night

1192
00:59:31,960 --> 00:59:34,280
Speaker 1: before that game, we were sitting around having family dinner,

1193
00:59:34,280 --> 00:59:36,280
Speaker 1: releasing me and the four kids, and then I think

1194
00:59:36,320 --> 00:59:39,000
Speaker 1: there were like nine, eight, seven and six or somewhere

1195
00:59:39,040 --> 00:59:41,240
Speaker 1: in that age rain maybe to lie, I can't remember,

1196
00:59:41,320 --> 00:59:45,080
Speaker 1: but whatever, they were right in there. And I had

1197
00:59:45,160 --> 00:59:47,680
Speaker 1: not told anybody I was leaving manasas yet, but I'd

1198
00:59:47,720 --> 00:59:50,960
Speaker 1: made the decision. I was because of this very thing

1199
00:59:51,040 --> 00:59:53,360
Speaker 1: that my boys and girls were starting to get it

1200
00:59:53,440 --> 00:59:55,240
Speaker 1: to where they were starting to play sports, and that's

1201
00:59:55,280 --> 00:59:57,800
Speaker 1: where I needed to be. And after seven years at Manassas,

1202
00:59:57,960 --> 01:00:01,760
Speaker 1: it was just time for me. And I said, hey,

1203
01:00:01,760 --> 01:00:03,680
Speaker 1: I want y'all all to come to the game. It's

1204
01:00:03,760 --> 01:00:05,720
Speaker 1: really important to me. And they're like, you know, we've

1205
01:00:05,720 --> 01:00:07,920
Speaker 1: been to games for fifteen years that you've coached. What's

1206
01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:09,360
Speaker 1: a big deal. I said, well, it's the playoffs and

1207
01:00:09,400 --> 01:00:12,880
Speaker 1: if we lose, we're done. And they're like, okay, well

1208
01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:14,560
Speaker 1: we'll try to make it. But if you lose and

1209
01:00:14,600 --> 01:00:16,440
Speaker 1: you're done, there's next year. I said, no, there's not.

1210
01:00:16,680 --> 01:00:20,160
Speaker 1: I'm not going back to Manassas. And a hush fell

1211
01:00:20,200 --> 01:00:27,240
Speaker 1: over the table and they were shocked. And I looked

1212
01:00:27,280 --> 01:00:31,560
Speaker 1: over and Will, who's my third eight or nine, just bawling,

1213
01:00:32,760 --> 01:00:36,280
Speaker 1: And I said, buddy, what's wrong? And he said, Dad,

1214
01:00:36,320 --> 01:00:39,880
Speaker 1: you can't equip an asses. I said, why I need equipment? Asses.

1215
01:00:39,920 --> 01:00:42,360
Speaker 1: I want to do stuff with you guys. And he's like,

1216
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:48,720
Speaker 1: they need you more than we do. When you engage

1217
01:00:48,840 --> 01:00:53,120
Speaker 1: in something that convinces your own children that other children

1218
01:00:53,280 --> 01:00:55,680
Speaker 1: need their father more than they need their own father,

1219
01:00:55,920 --> 01:01:01,920
Speaker 1: you have gone too far. Yeah. And it is then

1220
01:01:02,040 --> 01:01:05,520
Speaker 1: that I really started to understand the importance of balance

1221
01:01:06,440 --> 01:01:09,240
Speaker 1: and how much you do have to give up to

1222
01:01:09,360 --> 01:01:12,200
Speaker 1: do the work that you've done and that many thousands

1223
01:01:12,280 --> 01:01:16,880
Speaker 1: of others of people have done. And I think only

1224
01:01:16,960 --> 01:01:22,560
Speaker 1: you know when that line of balance is. But my

1225
01:01:22,680 --> 01:01:24,960
Speaker 1: kids have brought of me to and we love each

1226
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:27,600
Speaker 1: other and have a great family, just like You're proud

1227
01:01:27,680 --> 01:01:29,640
Speaker 1: of you and you're the rock star of your kids.

1228
01:01:29,760 --> 01:01:33,959
Speaker 1: So I do encourage everybody listening to us, at whatever

1229
01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:39,360
Speaker 1: you're engaged in, find the balance. But understand time is finite,

1230
01:01:39,800 --> 01:01:41,560
Speaker 1: and you're going to have to be willing to put

1231
01:01:41,600 --> 01:01:43,520
Speaker 1: in the hours and put the work to make a difference.

1232
01:01:43,600 --> 01:01:45,560
Speaker 1: But if you're passionate about it, and you're good at it,

1233
01:01:46,080 --> 01:01:48,080
Speaker 1: and you see that opportunity need and you feel it,

1234
01:01:49,280 --> 01:01:51,440
Speaker 1: you change lives, and you change lives of those in

1235
01:01:51,520 --> 01:01:54,240
Speaker 1: your own family and those around you. And that is

1236
01:01:54,360 --> 01:01:56,600
Speaker 1: the miracle of an army of normal folks and how

1237
01:01:56,640 --> 01:01:59,160
Speaker 1: it can work to change our culture and our society

1238
01:01:59,240 --> 01:02:02,760
Speaker 1: for the better. Lisa, you are absolutely a member. You

1239
01:02:02,880 --> 01:02:07,720
Speaker 1: are You are a glaring example of exactly what that

1240
01:02:07,960 --> 01:02:11,280
Speaker 1: is and that you don't have to have some PhD

1241
01:02:11,560 --> 01:02:13,440
Speaker 1: or come from some big nng O or have a

1242
01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:16,360
Speaker 1: whole bunch of money to do something extraordinarily important. You

1243
01:02:16,440 --> 01:02:20,520
Speaker 1: can do it just being a normal person working. So

1244
01:02:21,680 --> 01:02:24,600
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us. John, I know you didn't

1245
01:02:24,600 --> 01:02:26,400
Speaker 1: really want to speak on Mike, but thanks for a

1246
01:02:26,400 --> 01:02:29,520
Speaker 1: little bit you gave us, And thanks for sharing your

1247
01:02:29,560 --> 01:02:32,320
Speaker 1: wife with us this afternoon and telling your story. Alex,

1248
01:02:32,360 --> 01:02:34,040
Speaker 1: you got anything else, They're good.

1249
01:02:34,080 --> 01:02:37,320
Speaker 3: Just on that last conversation, Bob Mazerkowski had a really

1250
01:02:37,360 --> 01:02:40,960
Speaker 3: good line. If you need to teach your kids that

1251
01:02:41,040 --> 01:02:43,040
Speaker 3: they're the most important k in your life, but they're

1252
01:02:43,080 --> 01:02:44,360
Speaker 3: not the only kid that matters.

1253
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:46,160
Speaker 2: That's so good. I love that.

1254
01:02:46,600 --> 01:02:50,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, that guy is one of the greatest guys I've met.

1255
01:02:50,960 --> 01:02:55,240
Speaker 1: He's so cool. Yeah to me, who said that? Going

1256
01:02:55,280 --> 01:02:55,680
Speaker 1: home today?

1257
01:02:55,760 --> 01:02:57,680
Speaker 2: Or yeah, we're head of the airport alex.

1258
01:02:58,360 --> 01:03:00,840
Speaker 1: United, probably going back, safe travel.

1259
01:03:00,880 --> 01:03:01,120
Speaker 2: See.

1260
01:03:01,200 --> 01:03:03,160
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. I'm glad you got to enjoy

1261
01:03:03,200 --> 01:03:07,040
Speaker 1: a few days in our fair city, and we'll stay

1262
01:03:07,040 --> 01:03:10,400
Speaker 1: in touch. I can't wait to hear what happens next

1263
01:03:11,120 --> 01:03:13,360
Speaker 1: with Hope I's of Colorado and all the Hope Houses

1264
01:03:13,440 --> 01:03:16,720
Speaker 1: you're expanding to and from the bottom of my heart

1265
01:03:16,880 --> 01:03:21,360
Speaker 1: from a very needy nation of people like you, thanks

1266
01:03:21,400 --> 01:03:21,920
Speaker 1: for all what you do.

1267
01:03:22,680 --> 01:03:29,680
Speaker 2: Thank you, You're welcome, and thanks for having me, and

1268
01:03:29,880 --> 01:03:30,240
Speaker 2: thank you.

1269
01:03:30,440 --> 01:03:34,480
Speaker 1: For joining us this week. If Lisa Stephen has inspired

1270
01:03:34,480 --> 01:03:38,200
Speaker 1: you in general, or better yet, to take action by

1271
01:03:38,320 --> 01:03:41,959
Speaker 1: buying her book A Place of Hope, donating to Hope

1272
01:03:42,000 --> 01:03:45,920
Speaker 1: House Colorado, exploring their model for your own community, or

1273
01:03:46,440 --> 01:03:50,480
Speaker 1: something else entirely, please let me know. I really do

1274
01:03:50,720 --> 01:03:54,040
Speaker 1: want to hear about it. Just write me anytime at

1275
01:03:54,160 --> 01:03:57,240
Speaker 1: Bill at Normalfolks dot us, and I promise you I

1276
01:03:57,320 --> 01:04:00,880
Speaker 1: will respond. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with

1277
01:04:00,960 --> 01:04:04,280
Speaker 1: friends that are in social subscribe to the podcast, rate it,

1278
01:04:04,480 --> 01:04:07,480
Speaker 1: review it. Join the army at normal folks dot us

1279
01:04:07,760 --> 01:04:10,240
Speaker 1: any and all of these things that will help us

1280
01:04:10,320 --> 01:04:14,080
Speaker 1: grow an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. Until

1281
01:04:14,160 --> 01:04:15,880
Speaker 1: next time, do what you can