Latest / Christian Mix 106 On Demand / Upright Christian Parenting - Treehouse Storytelle... - After 15 Years, God called me to Walk Away

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Upright Christian Parenting - Treehouse Storytelle... - After 15 Years, God called me to Walk Away · Christian Mix 106 On Demand

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Hey, friends, welcome to season five of Upright Christian Parenting Podcast,
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part of the Treehouse Storyteller family.
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I'm your host, Hannah Peru, author, homeschool mama, and fellow parent.
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This is your place for upright parenting in a sideways culture.
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We'll face the issues around us, grow in God's word, and raise our kids with courage.
0:23
Our children are being discipled by something. So let's make sure it's us.
0:28
What if your child's biggest worldview questions could be answered before they
0:32
ever step foot out into the world?
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Creation Without a Bang is my brand new children's book, helping families reclaim
0:39
the truth of Genesis once again, and God's intentional design.
0:43
This powerful story reminds children they're not the product of random chance,
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but the handiwork of a purposeful creator.
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Endorsed by Sam Sorbo herself, This book is equipping the next generation with
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truth, wonder, and confidence in God's word.
0:59
Order your copy of Creation Without a Bang today at thetreehousestoryteller.com.
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Hey guys, welcome back to Upright Christian Parenting Podcast.
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I am your host, Hannah Peru, and today I have kind of a different type of program for you.
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It's kind of more of a testimony and it's also a little bit of a kind of backstory
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of, you know, what the Lord has
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been calling me to lately and I wanted to kind of fill you guys in on it.
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So there's no easy way for me to dive into this.
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There are certain podcasts that are like super exciting and like guests are
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just like amazing and I can't wait to dive in with them and be like,
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oh my gosh, like tell me your story.
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And then there are episodes really not at all like this one where I am kind
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of having to almost interview myself for you.
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And that's weird. I don't really love sitting here and talking about myself.
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So I am going to basically talk about the Lord and what he's doing in my life right now.
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So, and this, this goes back about, let's see here, it goes back at least,
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probably nine months now to give you kind of a timeline.
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So if we kind of go to the end or nearing the end, maybe around Thanksgiving last year,
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maybe Christmas, I started to hear this teeny tiny voice, the way that the Lord
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speaks just so tenderly with us sometimes when we're maybe not like fully ready
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to hear this huge command or this like.
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You know, maybe where his voice
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needs to come through, but he knows our heart needs it to be so tender.
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And that's exactly what happened to me. And the Lord just kept telling me a
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couple teeny little things. But before I get into that.
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Let me give you a backstory. So for those of you that know me as Hannah,
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the podcast host, or Hannah, the author, writer, whatever, there's this whole other side of the story.
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So my background, my undergrad was in interior design, and I did a commercial
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interior design for a long time.
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Um, then the market crashed and it kind of put me, um, in a pickle,
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like it put probably many people, especially my age in a pickle.
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So in 2008, um, I kind of, you know, realized like, man, we're in Southern California at the time.
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And I realized, man, like I've got to figure something else out because this
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whole design industry thing, like they're not hiring,
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they don't want me right now like they can't pay for me right now like I need
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to figure figure out something so I kind of gravitated back towards one of my
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very very first loves and that was photography,
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and I love love love photography and I loved film photography,
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I I loved um editing I love um DSLRs like the whole digital scene and anything
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around it I just I love capturing um.
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Just beauty and I also love finding beauty or something interesting even when
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something's maybe ugly like I used to take photos of like rusty,
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pavement or you know like rust on pavement or just like weird rough edges that
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no one would find beautiful but I would try and shape it in a composition where
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I could find the beauty in it,
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um and just kind of always had that like optimistic artist eye with everything and,
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So what happened is that turned into really a family photography business.
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And I started that in a very, very important season of life.
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I'm going to give you a little bit of a heads up. This might get emotional for
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me because it tends to do that.
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And I'm trying to, you know, not mask the emotional side of it,
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but I also don't want to ugly cry in front of you.
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So I don't know. we're gonna we're gonna do our best to get through this but
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anyway so I started my photography business,
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in a weird season um because that's just where I was so my husband was in Afghanistan
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this was his second deployment,
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and he was in Afghanistan,
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he had been there since October and this is now like February, March.
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And well, no, sorry, it's actually January. February or March is when I probably went like official.
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But in January, I had not heard from him for 29 days.
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And I really, during all of the deployments, the Lord gave me such a peace.
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And that is something that has carried me through so many other trials and so
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many other hard times in life that this like strong military wife in me,
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I'm like, hey, I got through 29 days of like not knowing where my husband was.
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I can get through the next couple hours or I can get through the next couple
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days or whatever it is. And so I'm like.
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Um, that's where I kind of, I think maybe like the control in me or like the
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need to control really kind of came out and I was like, okay, I need to take action.
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Like I'm sitting here just like waiting for an email to come through or the
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phone to ring and I don't know that it's going to.
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And, you know, I'd been kind of separated from the design industry for a period
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of time. And I had a six-month-old, my first baby, and it was just he and I
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at home every day, just he and I.
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And it was a beautiful season, but oh my word, he was a hard,
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hard baby and I had zero help.
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And so looking back at this season, I'm like, oh my goodness,
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how did I even, I have so many people that know how hard it was that still ask
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me today, like, I don't know how you got through that season.
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Because one, my husband's not here.
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Two, my husband's not here. Elijah was unfortunately extremely colicky.
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Sorry, bud, but you were, you know it.
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And he didn't sleep. He screamed in all hours of the night.
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Like I did everything I could to just, you know, maintain calmness.
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But honestly, like he was so needing of my patience and my love and like my
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support that I think time went by quicker than maybe if he was a perfect, easy baby
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and like slept all the time like I think I it would have been honestly maybe
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harder for me because I wouldn't,
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have had that purpose that I needed to like care for him so immensely.
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So anyway, so this is like the picture I'm in. My husband's MIA,
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like literally for me. He wasn't missing in action for the military.
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They knew where he was, but he was MIA to me.
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And my six-month-old is, you know, really at that time, like four and a half,
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five-month-old, is so hard.
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And I'm just trying to find myself as a mama. And I'm sure so many of you guys
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have been there where you're just like, who am I anymore?
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Like, I don't even know who I am because I've got all these babies and they
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need me all the time and I'm exhausted,
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and I don't feel myself and I don't have energy and I can't think straight and
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I have brain fog and like, you know, all those mama thoughts,
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like that, that was obviously the, the season of life that I was, I was sitting in.
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And, um, so here I go. And I'm like, that's it. I'm, I'm buying this giant.
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I went to the Apple store. I bought like the biggest computer they had at the time.
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I already had a camera. I had gotten it a Christmas or two before.
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And I'm like, no, I'm just going. I'm going to do this thing.
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And so I frequented Best Buy or the Apple store and just learned everything
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I could about different programs that I still needed to learn for editing photos
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specifically, even though I was a Photoshop guru.
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I knew that wasn't like the most efficient way to do 80 million photos.
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And so I'm just like soaking in everything I could. Finally.
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My husband calls. He finally calls. He's fine. He is safe. Praise Jesus.
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And now I have a photography business.
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And let's fast forward a little bit. It was just beautiful. It was an amazing
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thing. It was something I could take Elijah with me and still do.
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I would often hire a teenager to push him around in a stroller while I was shooting
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and all of that. And so it was just, it was something that I felt like,
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you know, Hey, I can get out here and use my creative skills.
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I can, you know, explore this. I started blogging about photos.
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And one of the really cool things that the Lord taught me in this is that I
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was literally around families.
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Like obviously it was slow going initially, but I was around families,
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like of all shapes and sizes, all walks of life from the get-go.
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And I look back at this season of life that really became a whole lot of years.
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And that was in 2011.
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So this year, and I'm trying to struggle to do the math in my head,
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basically like an over 15-year-old business.
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Is what I had developed. And it lasted through Southern California.
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It lasted a little bit in Oklahoma for that short season that we were there.
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And then it picked right back up when we moved to Colorado. And some of,
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my clients, some of you might be listening. I hope you are. Some of you have
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been with me since you had like your babies in your belly.
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And, and now some of you guys are like sending kids off to college.
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Some of you, I have seen your weddings.
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It's just, it's mind blowing, um, the different seasons of life.
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And I am just, I'm so beyond thankful for that time period because I look at
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this season that in my mind, I'm, I'm doing the thing,
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but now looking back at it as like a collection of a career, I'm like, oh my heavens,
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God gave this to me,
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to study the family, to be like this fly on the wall.
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And see the psychology of parenting and children raising.
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And I got to just minister to so many mamas. I got to sit there while they breastfeed
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their babies and just encourage them when they're stressed out and trying to make a perfect photo.
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And, you know, the Lord just gave me patience. And just, you know,
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where so many other photographers are,
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I haven't necessarily seen the Lord gifted me with this opportunity to just,
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be patient and to just help minister and help to just love on so many families.
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And it's crazy how significant some of these specific stories that are flashing
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through my head right now,
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How many of them are like, oh my goodness, I understand this.
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And can minister to people now on a different level because I experienced that
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in my photography years.
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Because I can fully see all of these different moments that made an imprint on me.
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And they were just like layers of my parenting experience getting to just spend
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time like just walk the park with moms and dads and to just sit there like holding
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hands with little kids and,
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and just help them through making these photos and making these memories and
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capturing them together and that's like all I ever wanted to do my whole mission
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like there's so many business owners that are like, I just want to get rich.
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There's so many books on how to have a photography business and make the six-figure income.
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And I never touched anything like that. I never wanted it. I always wanted to
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just be there for the family.
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And it's crazy that God put that on my heart like that long ago,
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and I'm gonna take a sip of water but just how beautiful that is that he gave that to me.
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And I didn't know, like, what was going to come of that.
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And photography was always, like, when I started it, it was a bridge.
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It was like, you know, I'm going to do this for a while.
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And then, you know, my design career will pick back up. I'll go back to school.
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I'll be an architect like I had planned.
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And, you know, that'll just be, like, this military season for me that I'm a
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photographer. Well, that never happened. We had more kids. We moved more.
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We made the decision for Cody to go back to school and not me and I'm so thankful
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I'm so so thankful that that is what we did,
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and um man is beautiful okay so here's the crazy part so 15 years later fast forward now to,
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what was it Thanksgiving Christmas last year kind of left you on a cliffhanger there,
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the Lord started whispering and.
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And it was just like, hey, you're going to have to let it go.
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Hey, you know, you can't have it forever. Like these little phrases.
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And just like that still, still small voice.
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And I'm like, yeah, yeah, okay, God.
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But then I just kept going. And I just kept, you know, kind of kept my head down.
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And then sure enough, weeks later or days later, whatever the timeline,
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it just kind of kept happening and getting more and more frequent as we went and as life went.
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And I kind of started saying things to my husband like, hey,
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I need to talk to you about photography, but we don't have to talk about it right now.
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And he doesn't really push. And so he would just be like, OK.
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And I'm like, oh, cool, because I didn't want to talk about it.
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And then, you know, a couple of weeks later, hey, you know, we need to talk
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about photography like soon.
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He's like, OK. He has no idea, like no clue what's going through my mind.
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So fast forward again, I've like hit my anniversary mark of being in business.
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And go to a couple big events with the podcast, the tree house,
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and the Lord just keeps pursuing me.
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And he's like, Hannah, like, you gotta let this, you gotta lay it down.
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Here's what's crazy. First quarter is always really slow. Okay.
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Like sometimes I'll have like newborns first quarter, but like no one wants
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family photos first quarter. They've already been there, done that.
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They have their Christmas card out. They're exhausted. They don't have money.
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They just did Christmas.
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So I really am pretty quiet anyways in like January, February.
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Maybe people will start to like pick up a little bit. So I'll either end up
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doing like a newborn that's due then, or I'll do more like branding photography
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or more like commercial stuff.
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Well, I didn't pursue it. I wasn't marketing. I wasn't pursuing trying to get business.
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And here's the vulnerable piece here that I'll just lay out there because it's part of the story.
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I had like zero inquiries first quarter, like zero.
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And I was just like full force, like upright,
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full force treehouse, like doing everything to build that, that I almost like
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didn't even realize that I hadn't done photography,
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and it had been a while and for something that I was like relying on as an income
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this is another piece of the puzzle.
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Um when the Lord was telling me to basically lay it down basically lay down
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my photography business I um.
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And I think I was thinking two things. I was like, okay, I'll get there, but not right now.
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And how? Because God, you know that photography, as if he doesn't have a plan,
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you know, God, photography is actually like the moneymaker for me being able
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to fund the podcast and push out more books like I take you know,
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for those of you that don't realize this which probably most of you don't I
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was utilizing for the last several years I was using photography and not giving
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myself a paycheck it would go straight I like never did um,
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in that sense but it would go straight into building Treehouse Storyteller.
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So I'm sitting here kind of scratching my head going like, I know I can trust
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you, God, but at the same time, I'm trying to like figure out how this is going to work.
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And I'm not seeing it. Like, I don't see how I can lay that down when financially, like I need it.
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And he kept pursuing. I mean, he kept like, now it's getting like a little bit
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bigger than a whisper, right? Like now he's like, Hannah, like,
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come on, like, it's time. It's time to go. It's time to listen.
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Like the little kid, like gets the warning before the parent is like, get out the door.
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So I finally,
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really came to terms with it, just with the Lord, like just he and I in the quiet.
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But I couldn't talk about it. I still couldn't like say, and you can tell it's like hard now.
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And this is like six months ago, at least this is in about February this year
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where I'm like really starting to piece it together. Yeah, it was definitely February.
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And so finally at one of our famous family night meetings.
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I just kind of opened up and I'd already talked to Cody at this point.
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Um, and I kind of like gave him a heads up like, Hey, I think this is what I need to do.
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And he was like super supportive, like crazy supportive.
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Um, he's like, you know, I don't remember exactly what he said at the time,
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like that first moment that I told him, but, um, but he's like,
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well, I know you'll figure it out and we'll do it.
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And he's like, it makes sense. And so it didn't make sense to me.
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But during one of our family night meetings, I kind of opened up to the kids
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and I was terrified because I'm like, gosh, sometimes my kids have talked about
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like running the business with me.
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I had started to take my two older ones, especially on photo shoots with me,
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hadn't gotten a chance to do that with my youngest. And I know she wanted to do that.
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So I felt like oh they're gonna feel like let down and.
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Are they gonna just be like really upset that I'm I'm laying this down and it's
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like a piece of their story that now they don't get to do and,
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I I didn't know how that would come across with them and from the second that
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I said it out loud and like came to terms with it with them,
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they were just like this is great they were so positive and encouraging and
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they're like yeah this makes so much sense you can focus on your podcast you
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can focus on your your ministry work like this is great,
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and I'm just like oh thank the lord like thank goodness that you guys like are
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so caring and loving and like gracious toward me like this is making it so much easier so.
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Then I sat on this for a little while, but I had like fully,
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fully submitted to it. I actually started turning down photo shoots at this
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point. Now I'm getting more like, you know, spring is picking up.
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So now I'm having to say like, no, sorry, I can't do that. Referring people
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to other, you know, referring clients to other people, but not really like being
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public about it, just saying like, sorry, I can't.
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Um, and what happened is that I fully closed out my business.
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I fully committed to it. I started, you know, telling people kind of one by
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one, just intimately and privately.
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And, you know, this is really like the biggest public thing I possibly could
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do here with it and I haven't done anything like this.
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I wrote an email months ago and I haven't sent it. So this is where this is coming from.
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I've been not wanting to say this, but I basically did.
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I fully, fully laid down my photography business. I surrendered it to the Lord,
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still not knowing the answer, still not knowing like, God, I have no idea where
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this money is going to come from.
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And so I laid it down and sure enough like two, three weeks later like I didn't
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really keep track but very very soon,
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after I made that like okay here it is here's the line drawn in the sand,
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I got an email set up a phone call met with College of the Ozarks and they're
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like hey we want to partner with you,
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And I'm like, wow, like this is exactly what I've been looking for.
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And they had no idea what the like sequence of events that had like preceded.
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And so really, they're just like such an answer to prayer. And we're like so,
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connected in so many different ways. And like our overlaps and what we do are
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just incredible. And it's like just this perfect partnership that we have.
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And I'll have them as long as they'll have me kind of thing and just amazing.
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And at least for this season, this is where the Lord has us together.
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And it's really awesome.
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And it's awesome to see that like He is providing in this way.
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And then there's just been these other sponsorship opportunities and other things
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rolling in and other, you know, financial pieces of the puzzle that are like
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helping to bridge that gap.
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Like, oh, the Lord is so good.
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Like he is paying the bills. He's keeping the mic on.
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He's keeping the lights on. Like, it's so good to trust him and just surrender
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and go like, oh my word. Like, this is the second time guys,
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like this was even bigger than the first, but when the Lord told me to start a podcast.
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I've told this story so many times now, but I drug my feet for a year,
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at least a year, telling him like, I don't want to go to Nineveh.
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I don't want to start a podcast. And look at the fruit. Look at what God has
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done through this. Look at the amazing people that I've been able to bring.
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To all of my listeners and just how much wisdom that I've been able to glean
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and like push into and just be pressed upon me.
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And I'm just so, so thankful that all of this is what I'm able to do and what
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I'm able to keep doing. And, and I will do it until he tells me to stop.
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That's what I'll do. Um, cause that's how it works.
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And anyway, so I just, I had to share that backstory and I had to devote some
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time really to my photography clients.
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And I know so many of you are also listeners and also support me in other areas
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and with Treehouse and with Upright Christian. And I'm just so thankful for you.
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And I don't want this to be the end for us. And I don't want this to be something
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that, you know, if you're listening and you're a client of mine, like,
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hey let's still get together and like I don't want you to ever be like,
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left high and dry and I'm here for you 100% and I hope now I can support you
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in like a completely different capacity,
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and I'm really excited for that season I'm excited to see the overlap of my
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long-time photography clients and my Upright Christian Parenting following like
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I just that community I want so badly to overlap.
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And if you are a client that doesn't know this whole Jesus part of me,
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this whole Jesus side of things,
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it was so important to me that I didn't just quit my business because I could
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just close the doors and say, sorry, I've decided to retire.
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That would be easy guys but i wanted it i wanted to go out with intention i
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wanted you wanted you to hear the transformation story the.
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The trust the surrender piece of the story and the obedience that it took.
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And how much the Lord provided for me in the end.
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And that He wants that for you too. He wants your full surrender.
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He wants you to say yes to all the calling that He has on your life.
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And if you're listening to this today and you don't know what that means,
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please, please send me an email.
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Please call me. You have my number. Please reach out.
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Because I want to show you that. I want to be there for you.
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And I want to hold your hand in a whole new way.
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And I want to capture just something so bigger, so much bigger than a photograph.
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I want to walk that with you,
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and I want you to just capture just the fullness of God so that that can be
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your new journey moving forward, and that that can be your new story.
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And now your memories and your family can be built on something even greater,
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the greatest gift of all that God gave His Son for us.
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And he laid his life down so that we can all have eternal life in Jesus.
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We can all be saved and that none of us are perfect and we are all fallen short of the glory of God,
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but that he bore our sins, that he was nailed to the cross to bear all of our sins,
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and that He, in His perfect love, has given us the gift of eternal life forever with Him.
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And the coolest thing is that we get to walk that out on earth.
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We get to experience so much fullness of Him, walking every day with Him.
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That is why I can peacefully lay down a business Because I know that the mission
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that I have here at Upright Christian Parenting is so much bigger than anything I can do.
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Because I'm linking arms with parents and I'm doing what the Lord has called me to do.
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And that is helping to support and encourage and equip parents to raise our
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kids right, to raise them upright.
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Right this next generation needs our effort needs our help.
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And most of all, this next generation needs Jesus.
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And that's the only way we're all going to survive this at all. Right?
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So those loyal listeners that are hearing this story, thanks so much for sticking it out with me.
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I just am so beyond blessed to get to do this with you guys.
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I have so many. I'm like about ready to squeal on who I just booked this like literally today.
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And I kept procrastinating sitting down and recording this episode because one,
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it's so much more fun looking at like what's to come than trying to like give this kind of message.
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Um, but now that I have said this, now that everyone will know,
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now that it's public, um, it's
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going to just be so freeing because we can just run full force and, um,
31:57
I can have like full focus on being able to run the podcast and tree house.
32:05
And so there's going to be some exciting things to look forward to.
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I have incredible guests.
32:11
We just launched season five. So yay, we are already in season five.
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And we are running full force through the end of the year.
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And I just, I cannot wait for you guys to see and to hear and to watch all of these episodes.
32:27
They're just going to be so, so good.
32:29
So I can't wait for that. So make sure you are following if you're not already.
32:34
Make sure you're subscribing whatever platform you're on either hit follow like
32:38
or subscribe or all of them and make sure that you guys stick with me I would love to hear from you.
32:46
I would love to hear encouragement if you need help booking a photo shoot let
32:50
me hook you up let me find you some of my favorite people in the area,
32:54
I would love to connect you with some other awesome photographers,
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that I love dearly and there's some great people doing great work um i love
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you guys so much and i'm just so thankful for the time we get to share together and for.
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The season for the 15 years that uh you guys have supported me and i can't wait
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to walk this next 15 and see what this looks like,
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and watch me here let's let's stay friends all right love you guys.