Latest / Everything In Between: a Trinity UMC Podcast / The Dad Table: Faith, Legacy, and a Lot of Laughs

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The Dad Table: Faith, Legacy, and a Lot of Laughs · Everything In Between: a Trinity UMC Podcast

0:01
Life isn't black and white. It's not just mountaintop
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moments or rock bottom seasons. It's lived in the middle, in the
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doubts and the prayers that feel unanswered, in the joy you
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didn't see coming. Welcome to Everything in
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Between, a podcast from Trinity UMC.
0:19
So I'm Ben Savage. I'm the worship arts minister
0:23
here at Trinity United Methodist Church, and the Women's said
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that we should get a bunch of dads together and talk shop for
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Father's Day. And so I have with me Colin
0:36
Foley. How you pronounce your last
0:38
name? Yep, I got it right, got Corey
0:40
Godwin. AO.
0:42
Got Kirby Locklear? Here.
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And yeah, I guess we're going to talk about what it's like being
0:48
a dad and all all those things, but yeah, here we are.
0:54
I'm really excited about this panel.
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I feel like we got a great smorgasbord.
0:57
It is. Yeah, it.
0:59
Was exciting when I got the e-mail because at first I didn't
1:01
see the e-mail. The e-mail was sent like a week
1:03
or two before I checked my e-mail.
1:05
And then I got a second e-mail and then a few days later, then
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Mackenzie was like, hey Colin, I sent you an e-mail.
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You need to go check your e-mail.
1:13
We want to have you on the podcast.
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For I know and. Then I checked who else was on.
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It was Kirby. Yeah, Corey.
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So. I was out of town for two weeks
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and then I just had church. I just had Chip McKenzie came up
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to me and asked me. He says, hey, we need you.
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We need that other perspective of somebody who's already the
1:30
empty nester type of guy. So that's me.
1:33
That's awesome. Yeah, I hear crickets.
1:38
Do we have, do we have any sort of Trinity podcast riff or like
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some? Sort of.
1:43
We don't yet I. Feel like that we need that I.
1:46
Want to write a little Jingle for it?
1:49
These are the presets that are here.
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It's just kind of yeah. Can we just do the John Cena?
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John Cena? You don't.
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Know if he's here or not you can't see him.
2:03
I was looking and Father's Day. Do we really like celebrate it?
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Do you all see that comedian that talks about the the order
2:11
of like important, like holidays, like holidays and it's
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like Mother's Day? It's Jesus, then your mother,
2:18
but then Father's Day ranks #20. Yeah, it's down there.
2:22
It's way down there as far as holidays to.
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Celebrate. I don't know.
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Kirby would be the the subject matter expert for that.
2:30
Well, I had a couple. I I equate Father's Day as
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almost like wedding day because it's all about the bride.
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And then Father's Day is like, OK, Mother's Day has already
2:43
come and gone, let's just see if we can find Dad a tie.
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I didn't even, I didn't even know what day Father's Day was.
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I didn't know it was even coming up until I looked at my calendar
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like a week ago. Yeah, or my e-mail.
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Yeah, until Mackenzie was like, there's an e-mail, there's AI
2:59
need you to respond to. About, well, I didn't even link
3:01
the two together at first. She was like asking for like a
3:04
dad panel and I didn't even realize why.
3:06
Yeah. I just thought it was just on a
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spur. And I was like, oh, there's
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their Father's Day is coming up. Yeah.
3:11
Yeah. So you, you, you have two
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Father's Day under your belt, Colin, right.
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Is it your? Is this your second one or third
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one coming? Up this is my I don't know it's
3:20
really bad I'm. In the same boat.
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How old's your oldest? I can't do the math off my head.
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I think. How old's your oldest?
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1. One.
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OK, so maybe 2. Oh my goodness.
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Maybe 2? My old, my oldest two or one?
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Your oldest two or one? Oh, that's right.
3:37
They're, they're twins. Yeah.
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Oh well, that's right. It does make 2.
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I got a boy and a girl. They're 23 months old and I'm
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not sure when I'm supposed to stop counting in months.
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I was about to say that that's a thing.
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Like, do you say that they're like, you know, 120 months old?
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Like when does it stop? No, I think about. 2 Kirby, How
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many months old are you? Public Math.
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I'm 69, so whatever that is, equate it by. 12 by 10.
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Yeah, no, it's 69 times. 10 so I do it.
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I would do 70 * 10 because that's quick math, right?
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That's 700 and then you do 2, then you do 2 * 70 which is 14.
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So I'm doing math here. This is being recorded.
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You just explained the modern math that they're teaching kids
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these days. Yeah, but that's how in my head
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I do it by 10. So just 69 it would have been.
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I would have rounded to 70 and then I would have taken away 12
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months. I think I could have taken out
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my phone four times before you got that number.
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I know it was rough. It was very, very rough.
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So you got the twins, Colin, and you've had two father's days.
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We're just going to say 2 father's days.
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The women's will correct us later.
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Corey, how about you, man? You you adopted a basketball
5:01
team. Yep, Yeah, with two Subs.
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So basketball is key because then I got I can sub, I can have
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two players that get tired and still have a full team.
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So yeah. So for those that don't know, my
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wife and I, Allison, we did not start on our adoption journey
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looking to adopt 7. But you never know what God has
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planned. And so we went from zero kids to
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seven beautiful boys. At the time ages were two to 12
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or sorry, 2 to 10 and now they are 4 to 12.
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So I've had two Father's days under my belt.
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Two Father's days for you. Yeah, wow.
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One locally here in Fort Walton Beach and then the other one we
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did in Japan which was really fun.
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Nice. Yeah, they celebrate Father's
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Day differently in Japan. I don't know.
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I guess it wouldn't be Father's Day, I.
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Had a steak and a nice meal and it was I got whatever I wanted
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and it was really lovely. That's awesome.
6:01
Yeah. I don't even remember my last
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Father's Day. 46 throwing out the numbers 46 Father's days for
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me, you know, my, my, my oldest was born in 1980 and of course
6:17
we had a little blended family. You know, unfortunately, as it
6:21
happens a lot in the military sometimes you're you have your
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practice wife and you get your second one come along.
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So, but anyway, my, my, when I got remarried, she had two girls
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and I had two boys and so and they're in their 40s now just
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to, you know, just like scratch my head and take me.
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Wow, how's time is going by. But now I have 8 grandchildren
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and 1 great granddaughter. So the tree is expanding.
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That's. Awesome.
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Yeah, that is awesome. I'm coming up on my 22nd
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Father's Day. There you go. 22nd I got.
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Congratulations, I got. 4 kids. I got two older boys that are 22
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and 21 and I got 2 girls. I got an 18 year old and a 15
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year old and I have one granddaughter to Holly and she's
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almost 4 now. Oh wow, 15.
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That's one of the difficult ages right there.
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I'm not worried about Bethany too much Lily now.
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She gave me a run for money when she was.
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Yeah, yeah, sorry, Lily. If you're listening to this
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podcast, she's the one that though that's going to she's
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going to wipe my butt when I get older.
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So she's she's going to be the one that's taking.
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Care of one of them. It is on investment.
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It's yeah, you, you love, you always love your kids, but you
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do like them in different orders at different times depending on
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the the day, but you do love them equally.
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Yeah, mine depends on how many people poop in their pants.
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Yeah, yeah, which one doesn't have poop in their pants right
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now? Yeah, I like that one more.
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Shoot with all the boys that you have, Corey.
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Like you just never know where poop's coming.
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Yeah, they're. Yeah, we could go real deep into
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a lot of different poop conversations in this podcast,
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but try to keep the poop to a minimum.
8:11
Do y'all so do y'all change diapers?
8:13
Are y'all on camp changing diapers or on camp?
8:17
I don't do that. That's not my job.
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I do other things. I I've changed my fair share of
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diapers, being that we had two at one time and more all
8:27
recently, right? But I have a very hard time
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with, with poop and I always gag, gag really bad.
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So we have a rule in my house, Zoe will change the first diaper
8:38
of the day and then I'll do the alternating ones.
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But if anybody throws up, I'm in charge of the throw.
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Up you're the I'm in. Charge of all the throw up of
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all the house. That doesn't make you gag.
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No, it's not. It doesn't bother me, but it
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really bothers. Me throw up definitely makes me
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gag more than poop would. Yeah, let's say Zoe's in the
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same boat. Yeah, well, that's good, good
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teamwork. Well, if you're around long
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enough, not only will you get to change your your own children's
9:04
diapers, there'll be an occasion for your grandkids too.
9:08
And I've done both. I so did you say practice wife
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earlier that we all have because I have a practice wife.
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I guess I don't know if you can say that, but I think it's good.
9:23
It's great. I'm still practicing.
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I remarried Angelina as my second wife and my kids are from
9:29
a previous previous marriage. But I do have a funny story
9:32
about their I, I had convinced my, my previous wife that that
9:40
they didn't have changing stations in the men's bathroom
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and so that she had to take the kids to go do it.
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So when I was in my 20s, like I just, I had her convinced that
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it was just, there's no changing station.
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And the men's, you're going to have to take them to the women.
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'S which does happen like there's definitely plenty of
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restaurants that don't have a that a panda station, but.
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Or koala. Or they're broken.
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Or yeah. Yeah, yeah, or they're that
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yeah, men's bathroom is just gross anyways.
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But but I can't I'm a I'm a I'm a household like poop, throw up
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and spiders. Those three things are just not.
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It was your thing. I don't.
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You don't touch those things. I don't touch those things.
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I burn those things. I I've just, I burned the whole
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room. So you burned the poop You.
10:20
Know he has a really hard time with bugs.
10:22
Yeah, yeah, really hard time, yeah.
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Like I'm, I'm very much in charge of all of the bugs.
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Anything that looks like a bug or flies like a bug, anything
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like that, that's that's my job. That's your jam.
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Yep. So I guess that you can add that
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to my resume. There you go.
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I only got like 2 years of poop and diaper changing time, but I
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did pride myself on my diaper changing skills.
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I sometimes I looked at it like NASCAR and I would be like, all
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right. What's how fast?
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How fast? Yeah, I would time myself.
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Check this out. Let's go, you know?
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And it was fun. The boys loved it too.
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Could you imagine us doing this whole podcast and just talk
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about poop the whole time? Like just like super down just
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for like the next 40 minutes. I got so different ways a week
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and. It just reminds me when my boys
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were young that was their number one topic was poop.
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It's it's the timeless laughter, you know, it's like it's never
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going to get old. Yeah.
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There was, there was one time where my boys, I was having them
11:22
clean the room and, and I'm so frustrated.
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They weren't listening, they weren't clean.
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I said you, you know, I don't care if you have to go to the
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bathroom. If you got to pee in a cup, just
11:30
go ahead and do it. And they literally, they found a
11:32
cup. They found a cup in their room
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and they peed. They used the bathroom that they
11:36
wouldn't have to do. And I was like, are you kidding
11:37
me? Right.
11:37
Now. And he probably left it there
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for somebody else to discover. Yeah.
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Yeah. Apple juice.
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They were proud. They were very proud of it.
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They're very proud. So gross.
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My goodness. All right, so for the sake of
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the women's listening, I like saying that women's.
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I said this was a he Man woman haters club.
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We were going to do all the things and talk about all the
12:00
things that would gross everybody out.
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Love that. And so I think we can.
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Do it? I think we started I.
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Love it. So what season of life are you
12:12
all in as being dads? Like what would you consider?
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You know, we what like for me, I'm AI feel like I'm an empty
12:19
nester, even though I still have one in a freshman in high
12:23
school, but she's with her mom and me and Angelina don't have
12:26
kids. We have a couple fur babies, but
12:30
it like it feels like an empty nest.
12:31
Like we have a lot of flexibility, but not quite
12:34
retired and like mid 40s like trying to well, she's not don't
12:40
tell her I said that, you know, she's in her 30s and my 40s and
12:43
like, so it's just it's different like having a a
12:47
granddaughter and being so young.
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Like I knew that whenever I mean, I was 21, I had my first
12:52
one and so it's already been done with the diapers, already
12:56
be done with the teenage years and all that stuff.
12:58
And like to be where I'm at now, so young.
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It just, it feels kind of weird. It's like I feel like I need to
13:03
be older to say that I'm an empty nester, but also I feel
13:06
like I need to be older to say I'm a grandpa.
13:09
There's there's that too. How about y'all?
13:11
What season of life are y'all in?
13:15
OK, I'll start. Since I'm the I'm the youngest.
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Well, I I would still consider myself a relatively seasoned
13:23
dad, although it's like the season that you get when you
13:27
just buy a cast iron. You like do the seasoning the
13:29
first time. Like you can say it's seasoned,
13:31
but it's not. Did you buy it pre season?
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Yeah, it's definitely not very aged, that's for sure.
13:36
Hadn't gotten any rust that you had to scrape off and re season
13:39
it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:41
So I've got I've got 2 two kids that are almost 2.
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They turn 2 next month on July 1st.
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And the the the toddler phase has been fun.
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We're still definitely in the thick of it.
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But the the newborn phase, the baby phase, way worse, Way
13:59
worse. So I feel like I've passed that
14:01
hump, but I'm still very much in the what?
14:04
Was the what was the worst part about it, About that phase, the
14:07
baby phase? Probably the sleep and the fact
14:10
that we were playing man on man coverage as opposed to being
14:13
able to trade off like like people talk about being able to
14:17
do like the OR you like trade off like one person to wake up
14:21
in the middle of the night and the other person will stay
14:23
asleep so you can get a certain amount of sleep.
14:25
No, me and Zoe, we're up at every feed every time that that
14:31
was that was really difficult because we were both not getting
14:33
enough sleep. But yeah, probably that was the
14:36
hardest part is just being sleep deprived literally just all the
14:40
time, but made it through it. But it was just survival.
14:47
For me, I think I am in rookie season, but I just got called up
14:52
to the majors like overnight because it's like, OK, what's
14:57
your experience? 0 Great.
14:59
You're qualified. And so yeah, you just got to,
15:03
it's like a lot of like figure it out and step up to the plate.
15:06
And we're not going to be perfect by any means.
15:09
You know, we're there. We're, I didn't have the luxury
15:12
of like my oldest sister Clayton.
15:15
He's he's 12, but you know, we got him when he was 10, but I
15:20
didn't have the prerequisite of getting to father him from zero
15:24
to 10. So it was like, boom, just
15:27
figure it out. And so that's been a challenge,
15:29
but it's also like forced you to like play ball at a higher level
15:33
because you have to it's like, all right, well, here we are.
15:37
And so, but yeah, definitely so much a rookie because I only
15:40
have two years of experience, but you kind of have to develop
15:44
your skill sets to the situation that you're in.
15:47
So what was the what was the moment where you were like, all
15:51
right, we're taking all these kids.
15:52
Like, was there like a defining moment where you looked over at
15:54
Allison and or did Allison look over at you or like, or did it
15:57
just like all of a sudden you woke up one day and it was like,
15:59
oh, this is a thing now? We So what was also a blessing
16:04
by my parents, work for Hope Children's Home out of Tampa and
16:08
they opened a branch in Clovis. We were able to go visit my mom
16:14
that was at on property as a house parent for the boys.
16:19
And we knew that there was a possibility of us of adopting
16:23
the boys, but we, you know, weren't sure.
16:25
We were like, there's a lot of things to figure out.
16:28
But yeah, as soon as we as soon as we met the boys, you know, it
16:33
was just like, OK, this was this was meant to be.
16:35
We got we got back into our little apartment that night and
16:40
then Allison just is like so we adopted 7 boys I think so rest
16:47
is history. There you go.
16:49
I'm just trying to think how I would have that conversation.
16:52
Like I, I don't. So when I, when I had had my
16:57
boys like it, I was a struggle, like having Nathan, like it took
17:01
me 6 months to figure out what the heck, like I was even doing
17:04
at 20. And then like, and then Ryan
17:06
came along shortly after. And, and, but then to think of
17:11
having seven kids, I'm, you know, think of having four kids,
17:15
I'm going like, that's a lot. But like, I mean, it's like
17:18
just, yeah, right there, just in the middle of everything.
17:21
Yep. And God blessings to you, man.
17:25
Thanks. Yeah, I think that the it's,
17:30
it's wild. A lot of the things I've been
17:33
through in life, I think they're all puzzle pieces that have come
17:36
together to and I didn't know it at the time.
17:38
Like there's a lot of things in life you're like what?
17:41
You know, why did I learn this skill set?
17:42
Why did I do this? Why did I do that?
17:44
But then you find yourself in these crazy situations like
17:47
adopting 7 boys at one time. You're like, oh, that's why I
17:51
was a basketball ref in college because this is a really good
17:53
skill to have with seven boys. You guys, you never know.
17:58
You never know. Yeah, and I've, I've been to,
18:00
I've been to Corey's house and he runs it like a well oiled
18:03
machine. There's there's rules to
18:07
everything, but everything's got a reason for a rule.
18:09
He's. Got his whole squadron there.
18:11
Like why do you have to eat ants?
18:15
I do love rules and make sure they're just well known and
18:19
presented and then like, you know, there's, you know,
18:22
benefits to following them and benefits to not or, you know,
18:25
consequences for not so well, I. I've, you know, because of my
18:31
grandfather. So you're an empty nester.
18:33
But the way I look at it is because, you know, my, my, my
18:39
kids, my daughters and my sons, they all graduated about 2000
18:43
and they were pretty much on their own after that going out.
18:46
So now they're already in their late 20s and somebody even up in
18:50
their 40s, they've got grandchildren that are getting
18:54
ready to graduate now. So it's almost cycle because
18:59
they live so close to me right now that they just live right
19:02
around the corner. So it's not like we really have
19:05
an empty house and we have the teenagers coming by.
19:09
They want to jump in the pool and do all that stuff.
19:12
And then of course, Mary Ann, she watches the youngest one
19:15
that's in the second grade and of course, and she's been
19:20
watching all of them since they were little boys and little
19:24
girls. And so it's always a house full,
19:29
but it's always a little different.
19:30
And so I don't really consider myself an empty minester because
19:36
I appreciate not being an empty minester.
19:38
I like having them around. And it's a, it's a, it's a
19:41
different relationship when you're a grandparent because
19:44
sometimes it's like, OK, I know, 'cause we're sitting around here
19:48
and most of us were in the military.
19:49
We know what it's like to be a separated from families and and
19:52
not being able to be around them sometimes and missing key
19:55
points. But now, and as I watch my
19:58
grandchildren, I can almost do those things that I wasn't able
20:02
to do when I was, you know, you know, active flying because, as
20:07
you know, sometimes I was on the road 120 a 180 days a year.
20:12
But so empty nester technically, but the house is never empty.
20:17
And that's exactly how I love it.
20:19
That's awesome. How?
20:23
How's y'all's relationship with your father?
20:26
Like how is that in the upbringing and things like that?
20:28
Like tell me a little bit about you as I didn't I never knew my
20:34
biological dad. I'll let y'all go first.
20:35
But I, I, I never met the man that created me.
20:39
I have a stepdad who was wonderful but never never got a
20:44
chance to meet my dad. So I'm curious, did y'all know
20:48
your dad's did? Yeah, I'll start.
20:52
So my relationship right now with my dad's awesome.
20:56
And it hasn't always been when I was in high school, we butt
21:02
heads quite a bit as I'm sure most high school boys do.
21:07
And you know, since then, we've kind of my dad's we've we've
21:11
both kind of take it. We put that this water under the
21:13
bridge, you know, like where we butt heads and like, and in some
21:17
ways, I think that us taking the time to do that is made us a
21:21
stronger in our relationship. My dad kind of broke down some
21:26
stuff. What for us last time we were
21:27
talking to like, I think that when you're at that high school
21:32
stage trying to figure out what you're doing next in life and
21:34
you're getting those freedoms and you're getting those extra
21:36
responsibilities and you're making your own money and you're
21:39
driving your own car. You you're going to have that
21:41
natural want to do things independently.
21:45
And, you know, from a a dad standpoint, you know, they got
21:48
to be down to relinquish some of that, you know, that, that, you
21:55
know, command authority or like, you know, that ability to be
21:57
like, no, I'm the one that sets the rules.
21:59
But you know, as the kid gets older, it's just a natural
22:04
thing. And I think that that's good
22:06
because that's what drives us to be independent and then go, go
22:11
forth and and, you know, seek out what what our goals and our
22:15
dreams are in the world. And so, yeah, I also had a
22:19
really good mentor and role model from my grandfather, who's
22:22
been really, really close with my dad and my uncle.
22:25
So they grew up all working in the same auto, auto mechanic
22:29
shop. And so I've been kind of being
22:32
able to draw on that experience. And that's where our next
22:35
chapter in life, where we're we're trying to start the bison
22:37
ranch and work with family on property is kind of been
22:42
inspired from because I've seen the benefit of like getting to
22:45
work with your family, like day, day in and day out.
22:49
Like it just seems like there's nothing better than that because
22:53
you know, that's, that's just such such good memories you make
22:55
for that everyone can carry for the rest of their lives.
22:58
And my my grandfather was, I mean, he was the father figure
23:03
growing up. He's the one that taught me how
23:04
to ride a bike, throw a baseball.
23:06
He's retired, Chief. That's the only connection I
23:08
have the military is that that he was, he was here at Egland.
23:11
And while we're here, while we moved here, he went from Edwards
23:13
to here after Vietnam. And, and we've been here pretty
23:17
much since the 80s here. But yeah, it to see the
23:22
different generations work differently.
23:25
Like your grandfather probably work differently than your dad,
23:28
but there were some similarities.
23:29
But the way that they got the job done, it was definitely
23:32
like, you know, I see the difference between that and my
23:35
stepdad a lot. Yeah.
23:39
Well, my dad was sort of my inspiration.
23:43
His name is Herbert Locklear. And I think what I, I actually
23:50
idolize them. That's not the right word.
23:52
But I just, he was so well respected in the inner
23:56
community. Everybody looked at him as a
23:59
leader. I was a social worker.
24:01
So he was always about service for others and stuff like that.
24:05
And, and that sort of was what was instilled me.
24:08
And that was one of the reasons why I even went into the air
24:11
forces, because I felt like I had this need to serve.
24:15
And also, he instilled in me my native culture.
24:18
And I heard that word bison. So I might be talking to you.
24:21
Yeah. Let me know.
24:22
Yeah. Bison burgers.
24:24
That's right. Or Buffalo.
24:26
Hides. I love that anyway, so he taught
24:30
me a lot about service and he taught me how to relate to
24:34
people. He was active in our church and
24:39
he just let me be me and, and achieve my goals.
24:43
You know, my goal was to go to the Air Force Academy and he did
24:45
everything he could do to help support that.
24:48
And I always wondered of how he felt about this because I left
24:51
when like when I was 17 years old and I was the only boy in
24:55
the family. I had four sisters.
24:57
And so I, you know, I always wondered how he felt like, you
25:02
know, his son's going off and at a young age and, and how he felt
25:07
like as empty nester. And I learned later in life when
25:11
my sons went well, when my son Jason went off into the military
25:15
and how that felt and, and left, and basically when he left, the
25:20
house was empty for a short period of time.
25:23
But yes, and unfortunately my father passed away way too soon
25:28
and but he was my idol and I think he's my role model and
25:33
there was a lot of things that I do today is because I think he
25:37
encouraged me to do it. I.
25:39
Think that's awesome. I think that's, and I think that
25:41
that is our responsibility as dads is to set that precedent
25:45
for the next generation behind us.
25:46
Yeah, exactly. You know, as he says, I just
25:50
want to be a good example, a role model, and let them learn
25:54
and make those decisions based on my actions, right?
25:59
Yeah, true. Thanks, Kirby.
26:02
Yeah, my dad and I have still continuing a great relationship.
26:06
He lives back in Texas, so I don't get to see him as often as
26:10
I'd like. But all all growing up, we
26:13
always had a great relationship. My dad also is very, very much
26:17
servant heart always helping like he's always doing some type
26:22
of ministry, whether it's playing at the retirement homes,
26:25
like playing music and stuff or and helping out the homeless
26:29
people around around the Dallas area.
26:34
They're very, very much a man of faith.
26:36
And especially something I like to call out as a lot of my
26:40
emotional maturity that I think is needed as a man was, was
26:45
spurred on by my dad, a lot of the being able to be vulnerable
26:51
and emotional, but still like a strong guy in Christ, stuff like
26:54
that. And that was something that I
26:56
really got for my dad. So something I still hold dear
27:01
and hope to pass on to my kids as well.
27:05
Yeah. And it's not always like the,
27:07
the you can learn. You can learn so much from your
27:10
from your parents and your dad especially just just by watching
27:17
them be how they are and how they react to certain
27:19
situations. Even if it's not always the
27:21
right way. You, you learn from that as
27:24
well. Especially being able to go back
27:26
and say you're sorry and being vulnerable in that way.
27:30
Yeah, I think that's that's something a lot of guys need.
27:33
How was how was your faith journey growing up?
27:36
Did you did you like grow into your faith?
27:38
Did you have it growing up with your dad and with your your
27:41
parents there? But like, how does that role
27:44
come into play and, and and how does that affect you being a
27:47
father? Sure.
27:48
I, I grew up going to church. We, we originally went to like
27:52
a, a First Baptist Church in Texas.
27:56
And then I think when I was in maybe late elementary school, we
28:00
started going to a non denominational church in Dallas
28:03
called Bentree Bible Fellowship, which is a really big church,
28:08
but we grew it from, it wasn't super big whenever we first got
28:11
there. So I grew up going to like this,
28:14
the Super big non denominational churches like rock parties and
28:18
stuff like that, you know, and then I, I went to college, fell
28:22
off a little bit from, from my faith.
28:24
Not, not specifically that I was like, wasn't Christian anymore
28:27
or anything like that, but everybody's like young and dumb
28:30
and doing, doing stuff. And then you I kind of re
28:34
grounded myself after I joined the military, really tried to
28:38
find find my church home. Struggled a little bit in Ohio
28:41
when we were there. But when we moved back here, I
28:43
feel like I really got a lot of the family aspects that I was
28:48
missing from being away from my family of just being in the
28:51
military. But like coming here, I feel
28:53
like I, I just feel like I have an instant family.
28:56
You know, it's easy. I've got a whole range, whole
28:58
slew of ages from, you know, my kids like babies to, to like
29:05
Kirby. I'm just kidding.
29:10
But no, I'm much older than Kirby even.
29:12
But like, we've got the whole like all the generations in
29:15
between and everybody's willing to talk to you and like you come
29:19
in the door and Christina's greeting you and she's like,
29:23
she's like, oh, wait, I noticed you're new.
29:24
I've never seen you before. Like my first time that I was at
29:27
Trinity. Like that really just like
29:29
impacts you a lot. Like, people notice if you're
29:31
here, people notice if you're gone.
29:34
They care about you enough to like, ask you how your day is
29:36
going and actually mean it. And I think I got off on a
29:39
tangent, but. It's a good tangent.
29:42
No, it's a good tangent. I think that's awesome.
29:44
And yeah, to jump on your kind of point of like your, you know,
29:49
your dad being a, you know, setting that example for like a
29:53
strong, you know, having this, that strong backbone.
29:56
But, you know, Christian foundation, I can think about
30:01
growing up, you know, my grandpa singing in the choir, grew up in
30:05
a Baptist Church North Carolina. And you know, I can think about
30:09
my my dad, you know, praying and reading the Bible in the morning
30:14
with his cup of coffee sat on the porch.
30:16
And, you know, I, I think about those examples too.
30:18
It's like, what should I be doing right now?
30:20
And I'm like, well, this is what grandpa did.
30:22
This is what dad did. And I do think that those those
30:25
memories are important, but they also serve as a guide stone for
30:30
us as fathers to like, we should be trying to do things to set
30:34
the example because you, you always got eyes on you when
30:37
you're a dad. You always got eyes on you.
30:39
And you know, it's like, what, what memories are you going to
30:43
put inside those little brains that they're going to carry with
30:46
them for the rest of their lives?
30:47
So. Oh, my, my dad, I, I still
30:51
remember. I first of all, I started off
30:53
going to a Methodist Church. My mom says you kids are going
30:56
to have to go to church. So I actually went to Methodist
30:59
Church for about two years and I was actually on the choir then
31:03
as a kid. And then one day my dad comes
31:05
home and you know, he didn't do a whole lot with church.
31:08
And he says we are now going to West Cross Street Missionary
31:13
Baptist. And off we went.
31:16
And there was no debating about that.
31:18
You know, you Sunday morning, you got in the car and you went
31:22
to church. That was there was no discussion
31:25
about that. So anyway, as I saw my father,
31:29
you know, he took on the role as Deacon there and he actually
31:32
taught a Sunday school class. And so I, I, that was on the
31:37
back of my mind, but you know, I was a teenager.
31:39
I sat back in a back row with the other PKS or preacher kids
31:43
and, you know, sort of got in trouble a little bit, but I do,
31:47
I do remember very it was October 1973, just before
31:53
Halloween, we had a, a revival and that's when I gave my turn
31:58
my life over the Christ. But and, and, and, and you
32:03
mentioned something that is so true and, and it's important to
32:07
me now because though I was saved, you know, at 17, I went
32:12
away and I went to the military and, and then of course, I went
32:16
on to be a aircrew guy. And, and unfortunately I had
32:20
that mistaken opinion that hey, all aircrew guys, we party hard,
32:25
fly hard type thing. And it didn't, it wasn't good
32:30
for a barrel life. Be honest with you.
32:32
But after about, you know, 15 or 15 years of that, you know, I
32:37
decided that, hey, there's three things in life I got to work on.
32:41
You know, I've worked on my mind, I've worked on my body,
32:44
but I haven't worked on that spirit.
32:46
So towards the end of my career, I decided it was time to get
32:49
back into church. And, and the reason that I did
32:53
is because that foundation that my father gave me back when I
32:58
was in high school, because I knew there was something
33:01
missing. And by going back to church,
33:05
that was what I needed. I need to start working on that
33:07
spirit. But, and that's what even
33:10
sometimes it may take 20 years or so before those lessons will
33:14
come back to you. But that core is already there.
33:17
And that's why it is so important to be as a as a
33:20
father, to set those examples at a early stage. 100% similar
33:26
story with me. So, yeah, coming out of high
33:30
school, I went to Boulder, Co at the time, it was the number one
33:34
party school in America. And yeah, it's it's very easy to
33:38
kind of get off track and lose focus of what's important in
33:42
life. And I do think that, you know,
33:47
those, those foundations that our fathers that in our family
33:50
as as planted in our in US before, we don't even know it's
33:53
there, but you know, the the foundation is there.
33:55
The house might get destroyed, but you know, you can always put
33:59
the house back on. You know, it's like Jesus is
34:02
always calling us, you know, even when we don't want to
34:06
listen. And you know, it's, it's so nice
34:09
and it is, it is a true blessing to have those, that foundation
34:13
there, because not everyone has that, you know, that background
34:16
of, of being, you know, around it growing up and being able to
34:20
find their way back into it. So I will say also the journey
34:25
of fatherhood, really, you know, you're, you're as you're trying
34:28
to help build other foundations, your foundation yourself is
34:32
strengthened because, you know, you got the eyes on you and
34:35
you're like, hey, I need to be doing what I got to do to set
34:37
this example. So I do think that through
34:42
fatherhood, you know, we can strengthen our own Christian
34:46
foundation for ourselves. And the beauty of
34:49
grandfatherhood is that you get to do a do over sometimes.
34:52
That's awesome. That's awesome.
34:53
And yeah, and I always emphasize this part with my boys, too.
34:56
It's like it's OK to make mistakes.
34:58
We're not. No one's perfect.
35:00
We've all fallen short of the glory of God.
35:02
We've all we've all sinned. But you know, it's and mistakes
35:05
don't define us. It's how we get back up and and
35:07
move forward after that is what what does.
35:10
Yeah, true. Kirby brings up a a good point
35:12
about being a grandfather too, is you.
35:15
You asked about specifically our dads, but all the father figures
35:19
in my life. We'll just talk about family for
35:22
now. Like my, all my grandfathers and
35:25
my uncles and stuff like that were all strong Christian guys
35:28
that were like influencing me a lot, not just my dad.
35:33
So don't don't downplay the the the roles that maybe non fathers
35:39
maybe like an uncle or something like that can have like an
35:41
impact on your life. Yeah, there's a thing that way.
35:44
There's a lot in my life not knowing my dad.
35:46
I mean, obviously my stepdad's been in my life since I was in
35:49
3rd grade. He's been around he.
35:51
But it wasn't until the 11th grade that he actually got
35:54
sobered up. And so he's a recovering
35:56
alcoholic and. And so I had that growing up and
36:00
me and my stepbrother, we're pretty close.
36:01
But yeah, I find that the God, you know, put a Rob Brooks in my
36:08
life when I went to Shalamar Baptist Church every Sunday.
36:11
That's where my grandparents took me.
36:12
And and he was in the youth program.
36:14
I don't know why he volunteered for the youth program, but he's
36:16
there and he's still a good friend to this day.
36:19
But he took me on my first double date, showed me how to
36:22
treat a girl like then you have people like in my life daily
36:26
interim who taught me how to be submissive in a in a pastoral
36:33
role that whenever you go to a church, how, how can you lead
36:37
well underneath another authority that has the vision of
36:40
the church and that, you know, are you going to?
36:42
And that's a different theology. That's not really the Methodist
36:45
theology. That's more like when we were a
36:46
Baptist that that was a thing. But he taught me how to do it
36:49
without getting frustrated, you know, to not, not lead out of
36:52
frustration, but lead out of partnering with that.
36:56
And, and so, but, but like you said, there's just people after
37:00
people are people that God brought into my life that that
37:02
kept pushing me into that, that were the father figures that I
37:06
didn't have growing up, that kept filling the gaps of the
37:11
things that I guess I was lacking because not having a dad
37:15
growing up. And, and even the one that I did
37:17
have being absent because of alcoholism and all that other
37:19
stuff. Like there's a lot that I
37:21
missed. You know, there's, there's
37:23
baseball games where, you know, it was just me and there was,
37:28
you know, and growing up there was that, you know, you know, I
37:31
didn't, I wasn't told how to change oil.
37:33
I had to figure it out myself. Things like that, like the
37:35
things you just don't, you know, that the, the, the moms don't
37:39
typically go. My mom did her best, but my
37:41
grandfather filled in with that spot and, and did that thing.
37:45
So that was kind of faith has always been there for me.
37:48
It was because they took me to church every single Sunday.
37:51
Like we didn't miss like even when we were on the road on
37:54
Sunday, we found a church and we went there.
37:56
And how I ended up Methodist is beyond me, but here we are.
38:02
That is a fun thing to do is when you're travelling to so go
38:04
to a church. We took the boys to a church at
38:08
a Christian Church in Japan on one Sunday and I it was awesome.
38:13
It was a great experience. Downtown Tokyo.
38:15
Oh wow, is it in English or did it experience?
38:17
Yeah, that was that was in English.
38:19
We actually did do. I picked 1 and Allison's like,
38:21
we can't go here, they don't speak English.
38:23
I was like, well, that would be cool.
38:25
What do you think about that? We don't have to know the whole
38:28
language. They're.
38:28
Speaking in tongues, it's just Japanese.
38:37
So, so recently, what's a what's an honest dad moment where you
38:41
realize that like, oh God, what have I done?
38:46
Or a moment where you just realize that like no matter how
38:50
maybe how many rules you have or you know that that like I'm dad
38:56
and this falls on me. Every day that Clayton gets
39:01
closer to 13, It's it's it's fun.
39:07
Yeah, it's, it's wild because like, you know, you when you do
39:12
something as crazy as adopt seven boys at one time, you you
39:15
have to have that mental model of like, we're jumping off the
39:17
Cliff. There's no going back.
39:19
There's no, we're you know, this is it.
39:21
We're doing it. And so, but you know, you can
39:25
have that mental preparedness all day long, but until you're
39:28
in it and it and like that, that dynamic changes quick 'cause
39:32
it's, it goes, you know, yet at 2:00 to 10:00 and I have 4:00 to
39:35
12:00. And the problems that I dealt
39:38
with two years ago, and this is true for any dad that as a child
39:41
continues to grow, are not the problems that you're going to
39:44
continue having and you're going to have to continue to re
39:47
evaluate, reassess and figure it out.
39:51
So yeah, I guess the the best rule is that Mom and Dad control
39:56
the rules so we can change them whenever we want to, because
39:58
otherwise it's like they're going to outgrow them.
40:01
So you know what one thing you said is about the phases,
40:04
because I enjoy every phase of their development, but it's all
40:09
different and, and, and and you relate to it differently.
40:12
And now when your kids are out of the house, they're full
40:15
grown. They got their kids of your own.
40:17
But I can tell you this, and I'll throw this out and shoulder
40:22
newer fathers, and I've been at it for 46 years or so, you never
40:27
stop worrying about them, even when they're grown.
40:31
You, you're always think about them.
40:33
And especially with, in Jason's case, when he was in the with
40:39
the Marine Corps and he was actually on his 3rd combat tour,
40:43
You know, you're always living on that edge.
40:46
You really are. And you never know, you know
40:49
that the old Reddit sedan pulling up to your house, you
40:53
know you worry about that, but in yours.
40:56
And you be so glad when you finally do get to get to talk to
41:00
them or get a letter from them. But no matter how old they are,
41:06
they are still your kids. And you can't help but feel
41:11
that, that initial love and bond with them.
41:14
And you know, even there are times when things might get
41:17
stressed between you 2, but they are still, you still care and
41:22
you worry about their different phases of, of their, of their
41:25
life. So, and especially
41:28
unfortunately, I, I lost Jason way too early.
41:32
You know, he basically died of his combat injuries from his
41:36
last tour. But, and I still remember that
41:41
day. It was, it was pretty rough.
41:43
And well, one of the things and, and and I'm going off on the
41:45
tangent here, but I just wanted to touch upon this because we're
41:48
which is a Christian talk and how do I get by that?
41:53
How do you as a parent, as a father, one of the worst things
41:57
can happen is, is to lose a a son or a daughter And it's, it's
42:02
just devastating. And I just remember just just
42:06
pulling into myself and just just asking God, why, why, why?
42:12
And one of the things I turned to was the book of Job because
42:17
Job went through a tragedy in his in it.
42:20
And it's and it's the bottom line is that lot of times that
42:24
question why is not going to be answered.
42:27
You will never get in the satisfactory answer for that,
42:30
but the answer that you did get was that people are still with
42:36
you. And I will say this about
42:37
Trinity. During that whole event, they
42:41
wrapped me with love. And I still remember the day
42:46
when we had the service here and the ladies put on the reception.
42:50
And I'm, I'm still sort of in shock from it all, but it's
42:55
because of Christian love and fellowship that helped me get
42:59
through that. And you know, that's God's
43:02
doing. That's Jesus working through the
43:05
people in this church. And I needed that.
43:09
And that's why it gets you through 'cause there will be
43:11
times when their things are very rough and hopefully it'll be
43:14
nothing as serious as what I had to go through.
43:17
But they're going to be times when the kids might be
43:19
rebellious or they'll going down the wrong path.
43:22
And that's when you just say, God, I got to trust you.
43:25
Help me get through this and rely on him.
43:31
How about you, Colin? The question was dad moments
43:36
when you felt like, all right, maybe this is too much.
43:39
I've been off too much here, like or maybe you got
43:43
embarrassed or something funny I'd.
43:45
I'd say a lot of those moments, a lot of those moments came from
43:49
when when, when the kids were like before 1 years old and it
43:53
was like, yes, about when like we're overwhelmed or like
43:56
chaotic every day. Yeah, right.
43:59
Just every day. And I'm sure you feel like that
44:01
one sometimes too. I missed them before. 1 year
44:04
old. I've missed that whole stage.
44:06
Yeah. But like the seven at one time
44:07
is just like plant, plant zone defense, right?
44:10
Yeah, we talked. We talked about that before.
44:12
Is that indeed baby? Yeah, see, we're still playing
44:14
man on man. So anyways, where was it going
44:18
with that? But I remember like when the
44:20
kids were it's, it's I can't say a specific scenario right now.
44:24
So like before they were one Zoe and I would always make a point
44:27
to like try and get out of the house like because we, we felt
44:30
like we were so pent up just like all the time.
44:32
Like is every day was the same. You wake up every two hours, 3
44:36
hours to do a diaper and try and go back to sleep as soon as the
44:40
kids asleep again, kids anyways, we'd always try to make a point
44:47
to leave the house. So we'd we'd put them both in
44:52
the car. We start driving somewhere as
44:54
soon as one's crying. I'm freaking out because because
44:57
I don't know if you've ever been in the car with screaming,
45:01
screaming babies for the for the people that are listening, but
45:04
it's stressful because you feel like you can't do anything about
45:08
it because you're they're just in the car in the car seat,
45:10
can't really do anything about it.
45:12
And then you times 2, yeah, just they're both crying, freaking
45:16
out, nobody knows what to do. But eventually you get to your
45:20
destination and you hang out and it's very stressful and then you
45:25
get home and you're like, it's either there's either 2
45:28
responses, there's I'm never doing that again or that was
45:31
kind of fun. Yeah.
45:32
That went great. It's never that went perfect
45:37
because it's always very chaotic, but I.
45:40
I was reminded because I asked Marianne and says hey, what are
45:43
the things they were going to ask me about?
45:44
Is there any humorous moments of dealing with children?
45:50
Well, my granddaughter Hannah, which she was my first
45:53
granddaughter grandchild and we were really close because I was
45:58
younger. We were always doing things
45:59
together. Matter of fact, it used to be
46:00
just me and Hannah that would come here to Trinity.
46:03
But when she was really young, I had to task of being, I had to
46:08
watch her. You know, Mom went off and my
46:11
wife went off. They went to go do whatever they
46:13
did. And it was my responsibility to
46:15
watch after Hannah. Well, it must have been a real
46:19
hard day because I sort of just fell asleep.
46:22
And then when Mary Ann and Sarah came back, there I am laying on
46:28
the floor, Hannah's there sticking stickers all over my
46:32
face, and I'm still out. Classic.
46:36
And they were just talking about what kind of babysitter are you
46:40
as well. She didn't get hurt.
46:41
You know, it's like college parties all over winning.
46:46
Colin, in that first year, whenever your twins were but
46:51
under one year old, did you or Zoe ever get sick?
46:56
Yeah, it's funny you talk about sickness because as soon as one
46:59
person gets sick in the house, as you know, everybody gets sick
47:03
and and you trade off. So, so I remember the the first
47:07
time we got sick, I think it was in, I think it was in November.
47:13
It was like the week of Thanksgiving was like one of the
47:15
weeks and like everybody just got sick.
47:19
We didn't, I don't even think remember having like a
47:21
Thanksgiving time, but like it was like me, I was sick and then
47:26
one kid was sick and the next kid was sick.
47:28
And of course they're never at the same time.
47:29
You might overlap by like 1. Like you just got a whole 7 days
47:34
until hopefully the first person that got sick doesn't get sick
47:37
again on the next week. Yep.
47:39
So. Then it goes back.
47:41
Around everybody, cough in each other's mouth and let's just get
47:43
it over with. Another one of those times where
47:46
I was like, what are we going to do is like the first time that
47:51
Allison and I both got sick at the same time because it's like,
47:54
you know, usually if she gets sick, then I try to, you know,
47:56
do more things and help cover down.
47:59
And then like vice versa. But when you're both sick, it's
48:02
like, who's more sick? You know, like, no, I'm more
48:07
sick. I need fun.
48:09
You're like, oh, I took Bacqua last night.
48:10
Can you get the kids this morning?
48:11
And yeah, that's why I'm like, Oh my gosh, what are we going to
48:14
do? Like we both feel terrible, but
48:17
like life still, like the kids still have to eat breakfast and
48:21
get on the bus. Who's doing this, you know?
48:23
And that's where it's like, wake up.
48:25
We you just got to push through. Yes, indeed.
48:28
We we used to try back when the kids were really little because
48:30
we didn't want the babies to get sick, right?
48:34
We just like segregate one person to like our bedroom.
48:37
Like, at a time quarantined. Yeah.
48:39
Like that person's like isolation.
48:41
OK, Zoe's sick. Put her in the room, don't let
48:44
her come out, and I'll just deal with the kids as best I can.
48:48
Yeah, which is very difficult before they can like crawl or
48:51
walk or anything like that because you're like carrying
48:54
them like this and like, yeah, feel like just over encumbered
48:57
all. The time definitely not set in
48:58
NASCAR diaper changing records. No, when I was when I was young,
49:02
one of the things I should have tried parents.
49:04
Too at one time. That'd be funny.
49:05
Yeah, I should have tried that. What?
49:06
Parents used to do is if one kid got chicken pox, they would
49:10
bring all the kids over into the same room so they can all get it
49:16
at the same time so they could go through.
49:20
But, but, and I remember that was me and my sisters all had it
49:26
and then my aunt brought her, her, my cousin over.
49:30
And so, and it was, you know, we got to sit around and watch the
49:33
Baltimore Orioles on the baseball game during the days.
49:37
But but that that's true. When they get sick like that,
49:41
you still got to function. And then it's it's a mess when
49:44
all of them, and I could imagine all seven of them if they all
49:47
came down at the same time. Yeah, it's mostly like Colin
49:50
said, is like you'll have one or two get sick and then you take
49:54
your sick days at work and then you get the other two that are
49:58
sick. So then you take more sick days
49:59
at work and then your other one gets sick, and then you take
50:02
sick days at work and then you get sick and you're like, I
50:05
can't take any more sick days at work.
50:11
This to a point where like going to work is a relief.
50:13
Yeah, yeah, like I'm tired of sorry Co workers.
50:17
I'm over here, hope you don't mind.
50:18
Just keep your distance. Yeah, another chaotic story I
50:24
was just thinking of is the other day, like most of the
50:28
time, my kids, anytime they poop now, they're like, hey, poo,
50:31
poo, poo poo. And hopefully don't stick their
50:34
hand in the back of their pants. That's that's a bad one.
50:38
But we, I, I took my daughter out and this was my turn.
50:41
Like I said, we alternate, right?
50:43
So my son had already pooped. So it's time for for me to
50:45
change my daughter. So I took her out the where
50:49
we're where we're changing them. And I start taking off her, her
50:52
little like dress romper sort of thing.
50:55
And I and I just see something. I'm like, that's all right.
51:00
Hang in there. There's like, there's like poop
51:02
hanging out for a diaper into the into the into her dress.
51:09
And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, do we?
51:11
And this happens multiple times. I'm like, am I throwing it away?
51:16
And we just get to where we're like, we're not going to keep
51:18
the clothes anymore. Yeah, if it gets poop on the
51:20
track. It's just for me, I don't.
51:21
I mean that stuff, if it gets on clothes, it's gone.
51:23
I don't care if it's your favorite dress or whatever.
51:26
It's like I have a matching outfit with my son.
51:29
Yep, it's gone now. It's a single outfit.
51:31
Sorry, I'm going. To get some more.
51:32
All right, Ben, we're doing clothes.
51:34
We, we're, I'm on. I'm ready to do this poop story
51:36
because it's too good not to share.
51:38
All right, I'm ready for it. All right, so it was actually
51:41
Mother's Day and I took all the boys to Target and I, I always
51:44
like to take them to that, like the little, you know, $5 section
51:47
where they could pick out like, you know, bath bomb or like, you
51:50
know, nail Polish or something. And they all like pick out
51:52
something little to, you know, give to mom for Mother's Day.
51:55
Well, Alice was doing something else.
51:58
And so I had all of them. And we get back to the house and
52:01
like we're getting in the, we pull up in the driveway and
52:04
someone's like what? It smells terrible.
52:06
Like, wow, what's going on? What's, what does that smell?
52:09
And Eric's like, Dad, I think I might have let one out.
52:15
And I was like, oh, no. And so get get everyone unloaded
52:19
from the car and then I'm helping Eric and I'm like, Eric
52:24
what did where there's nothing in here, but it's just a little
52:28
bit of on the side. He's like, yeah, it it fell out.
52:32
And I was like. Well.
52:34
What do you mean it fell out? And he's like, yeah, it, it fell
52:39
out of my, of my underwear and my shorts.
52:42
I was like, where at? And he's like in Target.
52:49
And I was like, wait, so it's on the floor at the target and he's
52:53
like, yes, Sir. And I was like, OK, bud.
52:57
And so I felt so bad, but you know, I debated like, you know,
53:01
calling to be like, hey, somewhere in the I think I.
53:04
Left something in the mask? Wow, you might.
53:06
Want to go check it out, but I was like they already found it
53:09
by now. As much as bad as that sunk, but
53:11
I felt so bad. I was like, should I go back and
53:13
clean it? I'd have to Alison was out, so
53:15
I'd have to take all seven boys back to go.
53:18
I was just like I went and said a prayer.
53:20
Just please forgive me for. That one and there's somebody.
53:24
For you're paying us to Walmart. Yeah, that's more Target.
53:27
If you're listening out there and you work at Target.
53:29
I'm very sorry. In the area.
53:31
This is your apology. Forgiveness has been asked.
53:35
We'd like to hear from you, though, just to see what
53:38
actually happened. You know, somebody was like,
53:41
that was like, that was the end of a shift.
53:42
And they're just like, are you kidding me right now?
53:44
Kidding. Me.
53:44
Who would do that? His name?
53:47
Eric. He was 5 at the time and he
53:49
would do that. Yeah, that's wild.
53:51
He's so honest, though. He was like, yeah, he'll just.
53:54
I didn't know what to do. I mean, what would you do?
53:56
Like, I mean honestly, put put ourself in his shoes right, We'd
54:00
probably do the same thing. Like, like, I'm not going to
54:02
call attention to it. Yeah, it's like.
54:04
Well, it's what's wild is that none of your other kids said
54:07
anything about. It he I think he was caboose at
54:09
the time, so like he. If you don't, if you don't know
54:12
anything about, about Corey's caboose, what he's talking
54:14
about, because because he's got 7, you can only, you can only
54:20
look at so many kids at one time.
54:22
So he's got to line them up. You got a line leader and you
54:25
got a caboose and they're kind of alternating in age as they
54:28
go. They can keep, keep track of all
54:30
the little ones. But you got like mother, father,
54:32
duckling. Yep, walking up the front and
54:35
you see all the little ducks and he's walking backwards like 90%
54:38
of the time, keeping track of everybody.
54:40
Everyone's got their spot. You kind of this is where
54:42
another one of those things like the puzzle pieces that God gives
54:44
you. It's like it's nice that I
54:46
learned some military marching and formation and you know,
54:50
because it's like that and like leadership and responsibility
54:52
and delegating. So because Jackson is the best
54:56
caboose of all time, like, you know, you know, if you, if you
54:59
have another caboose out there that wants to go toe for toe,
55:01
Jackson can put him up against the, he's, he's good at it.
55:05
He I can walk forward for at least a solid 2 minutes before I
55:09
got to turn around. If I know Jackson is my caboose,
55:12
boom. That's.
55:13
Awesome, that's good idea. It said, trust man, you got to
55:18
be able to trust. That's right.
55:19
And then you go to more places now you can take them to
55:21
Gatlinburg, you can take them to all these other places and and
55:24
make it happen. The only story that I have is is
55:28
when I realized my my sons were going to be OK.
55:33
That was my aha dad moment where I quit worrying.
55:36
I was disciplining and it was like 3 in the morning.
55:39
They wouldn't go to sleep. Both of them were there.
55:41
They're probably 456 maybe, but they had bunk beds in the house
55:46
and then there was like a split floor plan, me and MRR on one
55:50
side and then they were there and the girls were asleep.
55:52
But they just route like loud. Like just waking us up loud, not
55:57
going to sleep. I finally got after multiple
56:00
times in the room yelling at him doing all this stuff.
56:02
I finally got the spoon out and I'm not and I wasn't really a
56:05
spanking household at all. But like it got to the point
56:08
where the wooden spoon came out and I just and I threatened him.
56:11
I was like, Hey, I'm going to put this wooden spoon on this
56:14
doorway. If you cross over that again,
56:17
I'm going to use and I'm going to swat you with it.
56:19
And they were like went to bed and all of a sudden I hear him
56:25
again and I get up to go get the spoon and it's gone.
56:30
They thought enough to not cross it, but to hide it so that they
56:35
wouldn't get spanked by it. Smart.
56:38
And I was like, at that moment, I was like, you know what?
56:40
They're going to be OK? Yeah, that's right.
56:42
They're going to. They're going to be OK.
56:43
That's what you did. The wooden the wooden spoon
56:45
brings up a a funny memory for me because we had we also had
56:51
wooden spoons, specifically Pampered Chef.
56:56
I don't, I don't know. Is Pampered chef was a logo in
56:59
your skin? Was a logo like.
57:02
Is pampered chef a thing like outside of Texas?
57:04
Cause no, it's here. Dots OK, it's here 'cause like
57:07
I, you grew up to like going to these Pampered chef parties
57:10
where like you're, there's a bunch of, I was typically like
57:13
ladies coming over like advertising all these products
57:16
for you to buy off the catalogs and stuff like that, right.
57:19
So we had a Pampered Chef wooden spoon nickname, the attitude
57:24
adjuster, and anytime we were going to get a spanking, my dad,
57:29
Father's Day, right? Let's say we're going to have a
57:32
Pampered Chef party. That's a whole other thing.
57:37
And it was a whole different thing than what his ladies were
57:39
going to, to buy their Pampered Chef equipment.
57:42
There you go. But we, I think we did go
57:44
through, we had like attitude adjuster #5 I think is what we
57:48
got up to before I moved out. Before I'll tell you what
57:55
though, the older I get, the more I want to do a Pampered
57:57
Chef party. Kitchen gadgets are awesome.
58:00
Kitchen gadgets? I was confused which one we were
58:02
talking about. Sorry, my bad.
58:06
The same. Thing.
58:07
Wow, we're really bad. Sorry, sorry.
58:09
Got him. What kind of episode would the
58:14
ending be if we don't do dad jokes?
58:17
Do y'all have any good dad jokes off top of your head?
58:19
If not, I got some ready to go but.
58:23
I, I, I don't have AI, wouldn't say a stereotypical dad joke,
58:27
but I did go around all work today saying, Oh yeah, I'm going
58:30
to be out of podcast later, later today.
58:33
They say I've got a face for radio and I don't think many
58:38
people got that, but my dad used to tell me that.
58:40
Joke I hit the wrong one. Sorry, that's not what I wanted.
58:42
To know that. Was appropriate all.
58:46
Right, that's what. Nice.
58:48
That's the one Why couldn't Jonah trust the ocean?
58:52
And Jonah couldn't trust the ocean.
58:54
Because he knew something fishy was going on.
58:59
That's when you played that other audio.
59:00
Clip that's indeed. Knock, knock.
59:08
Who's there? Who's?
59:08
There interrupting Cal. Interrupting cow.
59:12
Nice, that's a good one. I used to use that one a lot.
59:15
Yeah, teachers don't tend to like that.
59:18
One. No, they don't.
59:19
They don't like that one at all. My kids didn't like that one
59:22
either. Why did the Why did the 2
59:24
watermelons run away to get married?
59:27
Why? Because they cantaloupe.
59:32
We always did this when we were traveling and a bug would hit
59:35
the windshield and I would always turn to the kids and be
59:38
like, how come that bug can't do that twice?
59:41
And they're like, why? Dad is like he doesn't have
59:43
enough guts to do it again. Got it.
59:46
And then the and then the other one was.
59:50
What do you think went through that bug's head whenever he hit
59:54
the windshield? His butt.
59:57
Nicely, that's a good one. I think those are the best dad
1:00:00
jokes is like. When you just say something
1:00:02
that's not really a joke, but you make it a joke anyways,
1:00:06
that's the best. That reminds me this isn't a dad
1:00:10
joke, but it's it was one of those things we were driving,
1:00:12
you know, the, the, the on Martin Luther King here, the the
1:00:15
horse ranch there. Actually, we're the family
1:00:17
that's there now. I didn't know them but.
1:00:19
With the the horse with the extra long legs.
1:00:22
With the extra long legs. On the picture, I don't.
1:00:25
Have you ever looked at the mural on the side of that horse
1:00:27
barn? I feel like the legs are like.
1:00:30
I go by there every single day. I'm going to have to.
1:00:32
Look, you all going to need attention.
1:00:34
To it, I got to look at it. So I'm driving down with my
1:00:37
girls, Lily and Bethany, and we're in the car and they saw
1:00:40
the horses out of pasture. And they're like the dad, dad,
1:00:43
dad, dad, can we stop? Can we stop and see the horses?
1:00:46
Can we can we, can we see them? They were just all excited.
1:00:48
It's like, can we ride them? Is that one we can ride?
1:00:50
And I just stopped and I paused and said, girls, I'm so sorry.
1:00:54
I said that's not that kind of horse farm.
1:00:57
And they're like, what? And it's like, that's where they
1:00:59
process the horses. I don't know why my intrusive
1:01:04
thought came out so fast. That's.
1:01:07
That's why they can't ride the. Horse.
1:01:08
But Lily to this day, still remembers that and how mortified
1:01:11
she was to think about. She's like, what do they do with
1:01:14
the horses after they've been processed?
1:01:16
What do they make? So that was just me ruining my
1:01:20
girls forever. Yeah, that'll happen.
1:01:23
I don't have any jokes, unfortunately.
1:01:25
I can't think. Of it no jokes well well thank
1:01:29
you guys so much for coming out I know that we went a little bit
1:01:31
longer than it was but the conversation got good and got
1:01:34
interesting I like it I like. It a lot.
1:01:37
Thank you, Corey, for the beignets and the coffee, of
1:01:40
course. Yes.
1:01:41
And was that what it was? Did the coffee just start
1:01:42
kicking in? Yeah.
1:01:44
I think it was. We can't do a podcast without
1:01:46
some sort of like coffee. Yeah, some have.
1:01:49
My first. Beignet today was delicious.
1:01:51
I've never tried again. I tried to go to trustees and
1:01:54
let them do bourbons and cigars, but they they didn't let us.
1:01:56
So we, but I, I did think about that too.
1:01:59
That would have been kind of a nice.
1:02:00
That would have been nice, you know?
1:02:01
Maybe next time. That's my same afternoon.
1:02:03
I'm gonna do my own dear. I'm gonna do my own podcast.
1:02:06
You fell. Yeah, Ben, I just want to say
1:02:09
thank you, Kirby and Corey for for inviting us out.
1:02:12
Yeah. And.
1:02:13
Mackenzie for setting it up, sorry.
1:02:15
Mackenzie for not reading my e-mail.
1:02:17
It's been great Y'all, thank you so much and we'll do it again.
1:02:20
But Corey, we'll you're a couple more weeks.
1:02:23
Yep. Have to be a virtual edition.
1:02:25
22nd of June, our trucks roll over to Colorado, start our next
1:02:30
chapter so. Yeah, definitely gonna.
1:02:33
I saw where you're at. Allison's Ron.
1:02:38
Yep, she showed you where the property.
1:02:40
Yeah, well, I went to the men's group today and he was showing
1:02:41
where the property in Selma and all that stuff around there.
1:02:44
So where the boys? In the school came off 1 school
1:02:46
so excited. Yeah.
1:02:48
Stay in touch about those bicycles.
1:02:49
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, but you know, by the way,
1:02:51
I was in four years in Colorado Springs.
1:02:53
Oh, perfect. Yeah.
1:02:54
I was down. There at only an hour away,
1:02:56
that's. Right.
1:02:57
Yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be a yeah, it's
1:02:59
gonna be a switch, but it's gonna be you're gonna have
1:03:01
plenty of land to let the boys roam on let.
1:03:03
Them go it's gonna be digging home a great been hopefully not
1:03:08
at Target, you know, send. Them out in the field.
1:03:12
That's right. All right, guys.
1:03:14
Thanks. Thanks.
1:03:15
Alright, take care. Thanks a lot.