Latest / Christian Mix 106 On Demand / Upright Christian Parenting - Treehouse Storytelle... - Protecting Our Kids, Saving Our State | Victor & Eileen Marx
Transcript
- 0:10Hey friends, welcome to season five of Upright Christian Parenting Podcast,
- 0:14part of the Treehouse Storyteller family.
- 0:17I'm your host, Hannah Pru, author, homeschool mama, and fellow parent.
- 0:21This is your place for upright parenting in a sideways culture.
- 0:25We'll face the issues around us, grow in God's word, and raise our kids with courage.
- 0:30Our children are being discipled by something, so let's make sure it's us.
- 0:34What if your child's biggest worldview questions could be answered before they
- 0:38ever step foot out into the world.
- 0:40Creation Without a Bang is my brand new children's book, helping families reclaim
- 0:45the truth of Genesis once again, and God's intentional design.
- 0:49This powerful story reminds children they're not the product of random chance,
- 0:53but the handiwork of a purposeful creator.
- 0:57Endorsed by Sam Sorbo herself, this book is equipping the next generation with
- 1:02truth, wonder, and confidence in God's word.
- 1:05Order your copy of Creation Without a Bang today at thetreehousestoryteller.com.
- 1:17Hey guys welcome back to upright christian parenting today i have a very very
- 1:23important conversation that i am having with you know people very close to home
- 1:29um this is especially for you colorado listeners if you love the state of colorado
- 1:35especially if you live in the state of colorado you are absolutely going to
- 1:38want to listen to this in its fullest,
- 1:41so today i have with me victor and eileen marks oh my goodness welcome today
- 1:49to the treehouse both of you thank you hannah thanks for having,
- 1:54us you guys are founders of all things possible ministries and we'll we'll touch
- 1:59on that you guys are devoted parents of five like if we just stopped right there
- 2:03you're already amazing uh passionate
- 2:06advocates for protecting children strengthening I mean, families,
- 2:11Victor, you are, you know, you look up and it's like, he's a former U.S.
- 2:15Marine. It's like, no, once a Marine, always a Marine, right?
- 2:19You guys are both authors. And, you know, I'm a little terrified of you,
- 2:25Eileen. You are a second-degree black belt. Don't mess with mama.
- 2:31Well, and it's only against the bad people, right? Right. Well, there's bad people.
- 2:37Women, we stick together. That's right. That's right.
- 2:42Oh, my goodness. That's so good. But, you know, we're going to bring that mission
- 2:45closer to home and talk about our lovely state of Colorado that we're going
- 2:50to lose if we don't make some big changes.
- 2:53And so, you know, I really wanted to bring you guys on today and really just,
- 2:56you know, for parents to hear your guys's heart, to hear a little bit of your
- 3:01story, your why behind what you're doing.
- 3:04And, you know, I think it's just so critical that we have this conversation
- 3:09as we are shaping the next generation of our state.
- 3:14So, you know, first off, I really would love to hear you guys' heart behind
- 3:19this mission. And, you know, you're not politicians. I'm not a politician.
- 3:24But I think we both care about God's word immensely. And that brings us to step
- 3:29forward and be bold in the public space. And so I just I would love to hear,
- 3:34here. How'd you get into this? Why did you answer this call?
- 3:37Amen. Well, over a year ago, when,
- 3:43we had some things happen to our family personally, it was our daughter,
- 3:48who was assaulted in a parking lot here in Colorado Springs.
- 3:54Supposed to be a safe place, right? Yeah, yeah.
- 3:57And this person who assaulted her was well known to the police department.
- 4:05He had been, he had done this many times before.
- 4:10And when my daughter had called the police, it took him 45 minutes to respond.
- 4:18Now, that's no attack on the police department. It's really,
- 4:22it shows what's happening with our state and how little they provide for the
- 4:27police department to do their job.
- 4:30So because of that and because of this person who was already a convicted predator,
- 4:37And they couldn't catch him.
- 4:39And actually my husband and our team caught him twice in one day We just said
- 4:43we need to do something because this state is
- 4:48falling quickly And it's about safety So both of us are martial artists We teach
- 4:54women especially how to defend themselves And I'm so glad our daughter has this warrior spirit in her.
- 5:00She was able to capture the license plate of the guy that did that.
- 5:04So here we are today, and we're looking at, if we do not step in and do a course
- 5:12correction on this state, this state is going over the cliff.
- 5:16So that's what Victor and I said Listen, we either leave And find another state
- 5:22that's friendlier That is for the protection of his people Or we stay and fight
- 5:29And Victor's a fighter And we said,
- 5:32He's a fighter. So here we are today. We are 21 days away from a super critical election. Yeah.
- 5:42And to me, there's only one decision, and we hope that Colorado wakes up and
- 5:49sees that. It is now or never.
- 5:52Yeah, that's right. That's right. All right, what about you,
- 5:55Victor? Well, you nailed it.
- 5:59Neither one of us are politicians.
- 6:02We've been at this a year campaigning. I cannot stand the political realm.
- 6:08Sure, sure. And for people who, just to give insight, I won the gubernatorial GOP side. Yeah.
- 6:18I'm a nominee. But I'll tell you, the Republican Party, it's a dumpster fire.
- 6:24I'm going to say it like it is. Of course. Uh, we've probably been attacked
- 6:29more by people on the Republican side than we have Democrats,
- 6:36which makes me understand why people move toward the unaffiliate position.
- 6:42It makes me understand why people do, I don't want to be part of either party and.
- 6:51Um, you know, we're, they're just so discouraged. But here's what I would say.
- 6:58You can be discouraged with the politics, the parties, but you cannot stop fighting
- 7:07for the people and your family because this matters.
- 7:13Her oldest daughter just sent me a little...
- 7:18Cartoon it's a it's a dad standing in front of a ballot box and his little girl's
- 7:24behind him and she says who are you voting for dad and he turns around and says you,
- 7:31i love that and that's why we're doing this um again.
- 7:38Look it's i'd even take it a stepfather hannah and i mean you're married to
- 7:44a warrior, Cody, and congratulations on him reaching that incredible level of
- 7:50Lieutenant Colonel in the main corps.
- 7:53We're fighters. We're providers. We're protectors. And that comes more natural
- 8:00to us than about anything.
- 8:03So we look around our state, and I spoke to a bunch of men last night,
- 8:09and I just said, Look, if for no
- 8:11other reason, fill out that dang ballot regarding three ballot measures.
- 8:18Like, forget about me. Forget about all the craziness.
- 8:24Three ballot measures protecting children. Each one is about where if a person,
- 8:30if an evil, wicked person trafficked a child for sex, they're going to spend
- 8:35the rest of the life in prison. They won't get out.
- 8:39Hey, they can convert to faith. They can get help in prison. They can stay in prison.
- 8:45It's just like the fellow who tried to kill me on our own property,
- 8:51shoots through a window of a trailer, misses me by two fingers.
- 8:58I could have smoked him, but look, I didn't know who was in the trailer,
- 9:03and police came five and a half hours standoff.
- 9:06By the way, it was a 20-minute delay for the first officer to arrive.
- 9:10Wow. It's, again, I'm not blaming the sheriff's department. It's the state,
- 9:18of absolute chaos of crime that we're in and guess who's the top cop in the state it's my opponent,
- 9:27uh he's the attorney general how are we going to let him move from failure in
- 9:32his job as attorney general into a governance position good lord,
- 9:37no way so it's,
- 9:41you know that fella ended up being charged with second degree attempted murder they let him bail out.
- 9:50And then he ended up murdering the very girlfriend who bailed him out we don't
- 9:55live in a safe state and again like eileen said we spent a lifetime,
- 10:01training teaching equipping uh women helping children and right here in our own state,
- 10:11if we don't have harsher penalties for people abusing children,
- 10:17this is a pedophile state i'll tell you right now yeah your listeners may not
- 10:21know this but 70 about 70 percent of those who either rape children or abuse them get probation,
- 10:30in our state so those three ballot measures really matter 133 134 to keep boys
- 10:37out of girls sports because that is traumatic if a boy goes into a girl's locker
- 10:43room because he identifies as a girl,
- 10:46well what about the girl what about all those young ladies it's traumatic it's
- 10:51nonsense i literally can't believe people would even allow this yeah um and then the third and final.
- 11:01Remember when a double mastectomy,
- 11:06would be used for a woman in a health crisis yeah to try to save her life from cancer well my opponent,
- 11:18the attorney general,
- 11:20is fighting for federal funding our taxes to allow,
- 11:27children underage children to be able to get double mastectomies yeah this is there's a sickness,
- 11:35there's a perversion there's an evil yes that's going on yeah that's right we
- 11:40have to fight it and yeah and that third ballot measure 135,
- 11:45is to keep children from being allowed to have life-altering surgeries on their body And listen,
- 11:55I recently had a trans person come up to me.
- 12:01It was at a tailgate party at the game, and people were like,
- 12:04oh, my, here we go. And I was like, what's up?
- 12:10And he goes, my name is Jessica. I'm a trans. I'm like, check.
- 12:17He goes, you know, you hate gays and trans. I said, oh, time out.
- 12:21Show me. show me where that's been written or said I've never said that like that I said,
- 12:30and then I said look Jessica you're grown adult you didn't you can dress how you want do what you want,
- 12:40um that's one of the reasons I'm running for governor to allow people freedom,
- 12:46but I said The only part where we might have tension is regarding kids.
- 12:51That's just a lot. I'll ask you direct.
- 12:53Do you believe it's okay for a child to have things chopped off?
- 12:58They're bought to be mutilated. Well, he said, no. Okay.
- 13:0321 has got to be the minimum age with a lot of counseling beforehand,
- 13:11because it's a mental health issue.
- 13:12This is coming from an honest intellectuals of trans.
- 13:15Yeah. And I can respect that. And end up being, he was a veteran.
- 13:23He believed in the Second Amendment rights. I mean, we had this whole list of what we agreed on.
- 13:26And I was like, so when children are going through, you know,
- 13:32a mental health crisis and we have to love them, support them,
- 13:36but keep them from doing damage to their bodies for a lifetime.
- 13:41That's why I have zero respect for doctors or politicians like the fellow I'm
- 13:46running against who don't care for children like that.
- 13:52Yeah, it's incredible. And I just am always thinking that, you know,
- 13:57the good saying that we have, that bad things happen when good guys do nothing. Right. Oh, that's true.
- 14:03Yeah. And we've got to step up against the evil.
- 14:06And I commend you for seeing this and taking action. And, you know,
- 14:10it'd be easier to just move. It'd be easier to, you know, just kind of close
- 14:15off and go, hey, we're going to buy land further out and do this thing.
- 14:19You know, that's the easy route.
- 14:21Out. Um, but, but like you said, like we're fighters and, and you're going in,
- 14:27head first, like a true Marine. And I mean, honestly, gosh, it's just, it's.
- 14:35We, we personally live in Jefferson County and I, I say that all the time.
- 14:39And, you know, my viewers are like, stop talking about Jeffco.
- 14:41But I mean, it is such. It's the rough one.
- 14:44It, so we, we know it firsthand. I mean, every couple of days we've got another
- 14:49story, right? And it's, it's so much. We've got, um, uh, you know,
- 14:55lawsuits with, with Denver public schools. We have all sorts of things.
- 14:59And it is very very near to especially where i am uh really kind of an epicenter
- 15:07of the epidemic that we see with kids um and,
- 15:12we just on top of that it's like you think people are going to start waking
- 15:15up and i think some people are,
- 15:18but then evergreen uh parks and rec just put at one of their,
- 15:24rec centers, they just put a big sign basically like, hey, whatever gender you
- 15:29feel like, use that bathroom.
- 15:31And so now you've got a bunch of mamas up in arms. And I think,
- 15:35you know, whatever party you land with, I think all of us as parents can be
- 15:42like, no, let's protect our kids. Yeah.
- 15:45You know, we can side there. We can shake hands on that. And we can go,
- 15:49yeah, let's fight for that.
- 15:50Yeah, a party of common sense. Yeah, that's what I'm representing.
- 15:55It's we have to go back to common sense.
- 15:58If I just had a common sense, good visit with a trans person.
- 16:03Man, why can't more people just go, oh, and what it takes, because trust me,
- 16:10Democrats are not the enemy.
- 16:13They have some craziness, but I'm talking about old school, good,
- 16:19moderate Democrats. They can't believe it.
- 16:23Yeah. And people said, you'll never reach the Democrats.
- 16:26I said, I'll reach the common sense, moderate ones.
- 16:31Someone held a fundraiser for us in downtown Denver at her hotel.
- 16:37And a bunch came out and they're just like, one, this state isn't sustainable
- 16:41financially any longer.
- 16:43And two, they do have positions to protect children.
- 16:47And of course, they want safety. So look, this is a time that,
- 16:52just like you're in the epicenter, Jeffco is. I mean, that's crazy, Bill. If people rise up.
- 17:02If people rise up, and especially men, just with common sense and go,
- 17:07no, that's stupid. We're going to fight that.
- 17:10And keep pressure. The key is pressure.
- 17:15It's pressure. If you let off, they get a little ground. If you put pressure,
- 17:20oh, man, we'll back them up. So that's what we're doing.
- 17:25And it's pretty exciting.
- 17:29The people that are surrounding us, even some of the polls that are coming out.
- 17:36My opponent just had Barack Obama do an endorsement video for him.
- 17:41With 21 days out for him to do that, that says they're nervous.
- 17:48So it is a fight for our children. It is a fight to make it affordable.
- 17:54And look, you talk about parenting.
- 17:58Man the average parent out there struggles to make ends meet.
- 18:04You know they're going to buy school supplies the kids are going to make school
- 18:07clothes groceries fuel man lord help you if you drive a diesel,
- 18:16my husband does see and it's,
- 18:22I think the intentionality to try to destroy our state well we're reaping the
- 18:27consequence but we can stop all this in about 21 days but can i just mention
- 18:33something of course yeah parenting,
- 18:37for the parents out there who have a special needs child.
- 18:43I want to just tell you i hear you we see you you know the pain you're going
- 18:51through And I mean, they have normal challenges,
- 18:57and the majority will...
- 19:00You know, they're all heroes to me, but the majority struggle. And I want to say this.
- 19:08I just sat in a transition team meeting for the new governor. It was at the Capitol.
- 19:17They brought me and my team in.
- 19:20Because they're preparing. There's only one of us of the two is going to win governor.
- 19:28And they gave us a briefing on the budget. And look, Medicaid,
- 19:35it's not only out of control, it's not sustainable.
- 19:38Yeah. And what I want to tell parents out there who this last budget crisis,
- 19:46their hours for being the primary caregivers at home were cut by 50%.
- 19:54It's insane. And I want folks to know I'm on it.
- 20:01I'm watching it. We're going to change it. We're going to find the waste,
- 20:07the fraud that is out there.
- 20:09And we're going to return the money to the parents who actually have the need,
- 20:14people who are eligible.
- 20:16And there are people moving to the state just for Medicaid who actually aren't
- 20:21even eligible, but they know they can work the system.
- 20:26It's almost 40% of our budget. And that's why the bean counters were telling me.
- 20:33It's not sustainable, Mr. Marks, if something isn't done.
- 20:38So I just want families to know that God bless y'all.
- 20:44We have families that have special needs children, and y'all are heroes,
- 20:51and we love y'all, and we're fighting for y'all.
- 20:55That's so good. That's so good. Eileen, I want to back up a sec and,
- 21:00you know, really just talk about, you know, kind of the mom vote and the mom responsibility.
- 21:08You know, Victor called out the men and said, hey, men, stand up,
- 21:11do the thing, do, you know, do the right thing for your family.
- 21:15Let's talk to those moms. What do you have to say to them?
- 21:18Well, it's interesting. A poll just came out, nationwide poll,
- 21:22that said women are going to decide the vote.
- 21:27So that is, that's pretty important.
- 21:31And the influence that women have, not just in their homes, but in their communities,
- 21:36and now we're looking at it nationwide.
- 21:39This is something that we have to take very seriously and look at it with a sober mind.
- 21:44Because if that's true, and women are not using their God-given opportunity
- 21:52and role in this election, and this is nationwide, then we can't say anything.
- 21:59We need to be the ones that are standing up, taking our rightful place.
- 22:06You know, I look at like, how do we get here? How do we get here as a nation?
- 22:13How did we get to this point where the government is stepping in and telling
- 22:19us how to parent our children, telling us what we can and cannot do.
- 22:24And I will say that started with the church. I think the church abdicated their
- 22:28role and the influence they have over our communities, over our families.
- 22:34We were told to be nice and just love everyone. And there's nothing in the Bible
- 22:40that says we are to be nice. That's right.
- 22:42We are to be kind, but kind is speaking the truth in love.
- 22:47So for women, we have an opportunity to turn our country around by stepping
- 22:55into the role that we've been given and doing what's right.
- 22:59Not what we want, not what we like, not what we think that we should be doing,
- 23:05but we should be stepping in and making our vote count because we are not only
- 23:12is Colorado at a tipping point,
- 23:14our nation is at a tipping point.
- 23:17You know, when we talk about doing self-defense, we have it right here.
- 23:22I've been in countries where women do not have the right to defend themselves.
- 23:26Yeah. We still have that right.
- 23:28Yeah. And we as women should be doing everything we possibly can to preserve
- 23:33that right before it's taken away from us.
- 23:36And that's not exaggerating. Look, we're talking about why are we even talking
- 23:41about Sharia law in these different states?
- 23:45And the women who are for that, they have no idea what they're doing. Yeah.
- 23:52They think that they're part of a movement that, you know, our country's ruled
- 23:57by this patriarchal men. It's like, you have no idea what you're talking about.
- 24:02Ladies, you need to step up and do what's right before our rights are taken away from us.
- 24:10That's right. That's right. Oh, my goodness. You hit on so much there that we
- 24:13could talk about for a long time. Yes. Yes.
- 24:17Yes. Come through that. Oh, my goodness. Wow. No, it's so good.
- 24:23From our very first days, America has been driven by the idea that hard work
- 24:28could lead us to the life we always envisioned.
- 24:32And today, honoring.
- 24:48To the opportunities that were out there for me. Our model of providing a Christian
- 24:53liberal arts education to those facing economic hardship hasn't wavered since 1906.
- 24:59Our students graduate debt-free through our work education program.
- 25:04They learn how to live a life guided by their faith.
- 25:07And as they begin their careers, they've learned how to take their seat at the
- 25:11table of influence and open the door of opportunity for others.
- 25:16Being an assistant principal has allowed me.
- 25:37You know, I think about, you know, you talked about our right,
- 25:41our God-given right to vote.
- 25:42And, you know, 100 plus years ago, we couldn't do that. Like,
- 25:46you know, well, more than that. But, you know, you look back in history and
- 25:50we haven't always had the opportunity to vote.
- 25:53We have that opportunity. Women are wanting all the opportunities,
- 25:57all the freedoms. It's like use the ones you have, first of all.
- 26:01But, you know, moving past that, you know, we have a legacy to leave.
- 26:07I love the idea of legacy and we have a legacy as parents that we get to choose
- 26:13how we want to pass that down.
- 26:15Yes, we do. And our choices that we make, one of that being how we vote and
- 26:20how we speak in the public square, that really matters.
- 26:25And I love that you talked about the idea of being kind and not nice because
- 26:32I think what us nice Christian people have done for too many years is that we
- 26:37have equated nice with silence.
- 26:40It's like, well, if I don't have anything nice to say, then I'm just not going
- 26:44to say anything at all when really we are called to be bold and speak out in
- 26:49the public square and speak truth like you mentioned.
- 26:51And so kindness is that speaking truth in those spaces.
- 26:56And it's not loving if we don't speak truth to people and let them know what
- 27:00truth actually is and and so thank you for bringing that up um yes oh my goodness,
- 27:07but what yeah what are what are we,
- 27:11Um, you know, I don't want to be fearful because we're not called to be fearful,
- 27:16but what's at stake if we do nothing? What's at stake if us parents and us mama
- 27:21bears don't actually stick up for anything?
- 27:24What are we going to, what are our kids going to suffer from?
- 27:27You know, what's at stake is our freedom.
- 27:30Our ability to be able to, first of all, worship God.
- 27:34They are trying this movement, this insurgency that has come into our country
- 27:40is trying to take our God-given right and the ability to worship God, our God, away from us.
- 27:48So if they get that opportunity, then we're silenced. Then real persecution
- 27:52comes in like we've never seen before in our country. Other countries are doing
- 27:57that, but that's what we're facing.
- 28:00So yes, this whole idea of women just be nice, that is a lie that we have believed
- 28:09and that our church has promoted.
- 28:12And it's time to repent and say, God, we're sorry. We have got this wrong.
- 28:19We are supposed to be truthful. We are supposed to love people.
- 28:22We're supposed to love him first and then people.
- 28:25But how we do that is by speaking truth, being bold and courageous and not caring
- 28:30what people think about us.
- 28:31I don't expect us to have the applause from people when we stand up and do what's right. Yeah.
- 28:39So, yes, I would say we must stand before that right is taken away from us.
- 28:45I mean, think about this.
- 28:48Honey, it's such a good point. Yeah.
- 28:53The alternative is what we're seeing.
- 28:57Women fired up for the wrong cause. Yeah.
- 29:01Women applauding legislation that passes when you can end a baby's life at full term. Yeah.
- 29:14You're going to be an activist for good or you're going to be an activist for evil.
- 29:18Mm-hmm. But there is no middle ground. Yep. Period.
- 29:23And you take a stand because if you're silent, the only people you're helping,
- 29:31is those that are against what we would believe is the kingdom of God.
- 29:37And look, we're called to love our enemies, and we do, but we're supposed to
- 29:41stand for righteousness, be bold.
- 29:44And I mean, this is, look, we've been in places and countries where.
- 29:54You know, decisions had to be made to
- 29:58help a child or woman who was in ISIS-controlled territory or a war zone.
- 30:08And we could have prayed all day.
- 30:11But the answer to that prayer was us, our team, our associate team.
- 30:17So we had to make a choice.
- 30:20Are we going to live our faith out where sometimes you are the answer to that
- 30:26prayer or you just hope somebody else takes care of it i got a dear friend john,
- 30:37oh yeah and he's a friend of mine too see love that guy uh i know i was just
- 30:46texting him because he's saying, hey,
- 30:49pray, you know, pray for us. I'm going in.
- 30:53And I'll tell you what.
- 30:59We got to raise up the men. Hannah, you gals have done a good job in standing in the gap.
- 31:08But when you think about John, he's one of the first men.
- 31:14And, man, dude, big old.
- 31:20Warrior. He's a warrior, this dude. He gets in there. He terrifies people by his presence.
- 31:27But more than that is conviction.
- 31:29He's one of the godliest brothers I know.
- 31:33He's a man of God, and he has a fire got him. That's what I want to see.
- 31:38I like to see 100 men show up at these school board meetings and go, hell no.
- 31:44Absolutely no. It stops here. And,
- 31:49so it's one of the influences Eileen has had on me is making me believe that
- 31:56I can do far more than sometimes my own desires may lend themselves to.
- 32:04And it's been funny because, I mean, babe, remember we're in Iraq,
- 32:11and there's a mission, possible mission.
- 32:14And I'm like, shoot, this one's something else.
- 32:19And I had to ask her, I go, babe, if we do this, you could become a widow.
- 32:23I mean, this is no joke, and we got to go deep into enemy territory.
- 32:31And I said, I said, I just need to know, are you okay with, you know,
- 32:36becoming a widow for the cause of Christ?
- 32:39Because ultimately this is what we're doing. Yeah. And she said.
- 32:46Said a couple of things, but one was, you know.
- 32:54I'd rather be a widow than married to someone who people think he's a coward. Yeah. Wow.
- 33:02And that's just perception, right? Because she knows I'm going to do the deal. But.
- 33:09I mean that's a level of sacrifice that shouldn't be extreme it should be the
- 33:15norm yeah and maybe we've done
- 33:17extreme things in our life but we want to encourage the everyday parent.
- 33:22Folks living the life your battlefield is your home your town your district,
- 33:28hey fight it's okay it's okay to stand to fight. It's okay to risk.
- 33:34So she has encouraged me, her influence, man.
- 33:40Well, and I would say we've always had this healthy perspective of why we're here.
- 33:46When we both got saved, God turned our hearts and our eyes towards Him.
- 33:52So this year is like 30, almost 38 years of marriage. Oh, congratulations.
- 33:57Thank you. There's a lot of history there.
- 34:00Oh, I know. I'm so sure. Parenting, I mean, marriage is hard. Parenting is hard.
- 34:04How did you get me, honey? That's what. Well, that's what we'll talk about.
- 34:07Yeah, well, she said it's a calling. It is a calling. But I think because. My husband tricked me.
- 34:14Did he? Power of prayer. Well, whatever it takes, right? Right.
- 34:20I think if we as parents have this perspective that, number one,
- 34:25this is not our home. Yeah. We're not home yet.
- 34:29And whatever we do between now and then, everything matters.
- 34:34And the opportunities that we have, they matter.
- 34:38That's right. Even if they're small or they seem insignificant,
- 34:41raising our family today for the Lord is super significant. The most significant
- 34:48thing we can ever do. Anna, let me ask you something.
- 34:51Is it true? Is your brother Lucas? It is. Yeah, he is.
- 34:57Wow. He's a wild man. Tell me about y'all's parents.
- 35:01Oh, man. Well, there's three of us kids, and, you know—,
- 35:07they, they really, really, you know, my dad rededicated his life to the Lord
- 35:14in college, um, right around the time that my parents are dating and the timeline's
- 35:18a little fuzzy for me, but I wasn't there.
- 35:20Um, and you know, my mom really went seeking in every possible religion,
- 35:26every possible church building, um, known to man.
- 35:31And she, you know, really rejected the whole Christianity thing for a long time
- 35:38and then and really found the Lord and they kind of came back to the Lord or
- 35:42to the Lord at the exact same time late in college,
- 35:45and so they raised us,
- 35:48you know kind of as baby new Christians,
- 35:50and really discipling themselves while they discipled us but they made God the
- 35:55center of our home from day one and it was very intentional very intentional parenting.
- 36:04And I'm really blessed that, you know, we grew up, they've been married now 51 years.
- 36:10So I'm very, very thankful that we grew up with such steadfast,
- 36:14solid parents. And, you know, really that's a testimony in and of itself to
- 36:20the Lord's goodness. And it was hard.
- 36:22And my dad had his own business and my mom helped with that.
- 36:25And they had to understand marriage and co-working together and there's a lot
- 36:31and so you guys understand that and yeah so.
- 36:38I love the word you said intentional intentionality and I would encourage couples out there,
- 36:46And everybody does it different, you know, but some pretty big landmarks in
- 36:54our relationship is when she really, I don't know, she lowered her expectations of me as a husband.
- 37:01On one hand of going, well, you know, you're you can't provide everything I need.
- 37:10And I remember when she started going to the Lord on a whole different level,
- 37:14daily spending time with him.
- 37:18God, you went to a counselor for...
- 37:22Day one day she went to counselor and she got squared away here I am I had to
- 37:27go for months and I was like it takes longer for you guys oh my gosh Marines counseling,
- 37:37but you know like I was never good at leading devotions in our home.
- 37:45Well and it's interesting because I married him and he had been a youth pastor.
- 37:50So my expectations are, well, we're going to have devotions every day.
- 37:56You know, he's going to be doing Bible studies. Break bread,
- 37:59have communion. Yeah, right. Every Sunday. Pray together.
- 38:02Right, pray together. And when that didn't happen, it was a letdown.
- 38:08But then I realized he's not my savior. Yeah, that's right.
- 38:12He is, my husband, we're helpmates, right?
- 38:16So that, what he's talking about, But I let him off the hook to be something
- 38:22he's never was supposed to be.
- 38:25Because it looks different. It looks different.
- 38:28But I think for women who go into their marriage thinking that this is how it's going to be,
- 38:34they're disappointed, and then they start getting resentful towards their husband
- 38:37because he's not meeting their need and being that person that they have set up to be.
- 38:45That I encourage ladies let your husband off the hook yeah he is the leader
- 38:51of your home and he is he is to provide this covering,
- 38:57yeah he is not your lord and savior he's not the holy spirit how many times
- 39:01do people go into relationships with the mental contract,
- 39:04uh they're like okay yeah this is what I expect you to be and when No.
- 39:11Maybe that's not how you're made to be. I mean, we tried family devotions. You know, my gosh.
- 39:18There were times we needed bear mace or tasers. I mean, our family, we're.
- 39:27All pretty driven and trained. But he'd be like, calm down, you know.
- 39:33And it's like, watch an odyssey. Listen to an odyssey. Oh, good old odyssey. Yes.
- 39:41Good old Odyssey Which I worked at Focus on the Family I didn't know that I was an assistant to Dr.
- 39:48James Dobson Wow He was a boss who became a mentor And before he died he was
- 39:54my friend This week I'm speaking,
- 39:57At his event They have an annual Supporters Big shindig at Broadmoor It's the
- 40:04first year he won't be there And I'm humbled to be able to be one of the speakers. So, you know. Great.
- 40:12I wouldn't just, and then dads. Uh-huh.
- 40:16But to that point, Hannah, here we are, you know, kind of the way we did things
- 40:22weren't great, but our children knew we were for the Lord. Yeah. Imperfect.
- 40:29I talk about, and I want to encourage men. Of course, people try to use it against me in the campaign.
- 40:36And I go, I don't care.
- 40:38I'm not changing. But, you know, there were moments where I couldn't use my words. I chose not to.
- 40:47And, you know, I'd be pretty driven. I was back before I really,
- 40:53I still struggled with PTSD in the day.
- 40:57But, you know, boom, put my fist through a wall. I remember the last one was,
- 41:03gosh. You're lucky you didn't hit studs.
- 41:06I've always thanked God for that. That's a good point. I'm like.
- 41:11Do you measure before you punch? I know you would think so. Right here.
- 41:20Sixteen inches. Right. I remember one time punching a door, but I knew it was
- 41:24thin. I was like, okay, you're just cheap man's therapy.
- 41:28But, you know, something that was very good is, you know, I only was like,
- 41:34oh, I'll put a picture over it.
- 41:36And remember that one's by the door. We had a new baby. Gosh, was that 21 years ago?
- 41:44And I said, honey, don't cover it. No, I said, I've got to be able to get, you know.
- 41:53I've got to be able to use my words and communicate under stress versus just, ah.
- 41:59Yeah. And, you know, I never. And that hole was a reminder to you.
- 42:05You didn't want to cover it up. People would come in our house and look, oh, I go, that was me.
- 42:11And so it really kept me in check. But here you have imperfect parenting,
- 42:17and I'd always apologize to my kids or something. And I go, that's not a good
- 42:21example of God, our Heavenly Father.
- 42:23He is perfect. I'm not. But yet, here we are one year.
- 42:29We brought our kids to Iraq in the middle of a conflict in a safe house,
- 42:34bringing kids in that we had rescued or were helping who were affected by a lot of orphans.
- 42:42And whereas people would go, oh, my gosh, look, I didn't see many pastors or
- 42:50super saints over there doing the deal.
- 42:53God uses each one of us. And I just want to encourage the men out there,
- 42:58look, there's no such thing as a perfect parent.
- 43:01But intentionality matters where you just go, gosh, Lord, help me.
- 43:07You know, help me. And look, for people who don't know, my mother was married six times.
- 43:12I came from an abusive background, and my father didn't claim me as this kid,
- 43:18and it's the goodness of God that helped me.
- 43:22This is still one of the greatest things I've ever done, is be married to my
- 43:26bride, 37.10 years, and have five children, five grandkids.
- 43:34And to get texts from my kids all the time, proud of you dad,
- 43:37I love you, is such a, I just tell them, don't give up.
- 43:43But yet, remember we walked into the library all those years ago?
- 43:46Longer than that, that was, that was probably closer to 30 years.
- 43:54But here in town, we walk in, that's when they had the computers,
- 44:00and there was a guy looking at pornography. Wow.
- 44:03I walked in with my family. I was working to focus.
- 44:07Wow. And I remember stopping. I couldn't believe it because you walked by them, you could see it. Yeah.
- 44:14And I had Eileen and the kids go to the other side. I said, stay right there. Eileen goes, honey.
- 44:21Oh, I know.
- 44:25I said, I'm relying on the Lord for strength and wisdom. But I went back to
- 44:29him and popped him on his back. I said, hey, man.
- 44:33He goes, what? I said, you shut that down. Get out of here. There's kids and
- 44:39women here. He goes, leave me alone.
- 44:41It's a public place. I can do what I want.
- 44:44And I'm kind of slow on sometimes. I thought about it for a second. I said, no.
- 44:51Popped him again. He goes, leave me alone.
- 44:53I said, man, why don't you have the decency just to go home if you're going to look at that stuff?
- 44:58Well, you're a pervert, man. He goes, I have every right to be here.
- 45:02It's a public place. So I just stepped back.
- 45:06Take a breath, clap my hands. I said, hey, everybody, can I have everybody's attention?
- 45:13Everybody stop. It's a library. You're supposed to make an announcement?
- 45:19This fellow right here is a pervert. He is an absolute pervert looking at horrible stuff.
- 45:27And while I'm talking, boy, he grabbed his bag.
- 45:32He ran out. People were clapping, babe. the place was,
- 45:37exploded with so look i tell men be different you know it's it's all package
- 45:45up and down if you wait till you're perfect in christ,
- 45:49outwardly yeah man we'll be in heaven already yeah exactly exactly yeah you're
- 45:56daily the dollar short but you're in heaven game over yeah and same with moms.
- 46:01Look, I'll close with this because I know we only have a few minutes.
- 46:04Yes, yes. To the women.
- 46:10There is some type of evil spirit that it's a coordinated effort on women,
- 46:18moms to abuse, to neglect.
- 46:25To pimp their children out, and to kill them.
- 46:29So women and you can't blame them on anything else it's it's a choice,
- 46:37it's one thing to snap it's another to intentionally just start killing your
- 46:43children yeah or stabbing them or it look this is evil and i'm gonna tell women um,
- 46:53Satan went to y'all first. Yeah. That's why the Bible refers to you as the weaker vessel.
- 47:00But it doesn't mean you're weak. Right.
- 47:04It's just meaning you got to take every thought captive. You got to be careful
- 47:09what you watch and listen to on that social media.
- 47:12It's propaganda. Yeah. You got to be careful what you read.
- 47:16And you know what? You stand. Man, you're the warrior, the precious warrior,
- 47:22the queen warrior of your home.
- 47:25You're the best prayer warrior. Plead the blood of Jesus over your home, your children's minds.
- 47:31Be that warrior.
- 47:34And that's what Eileen is. And I've seen it. I've seen her live it out unbelievably.
- 47:41And don't give up. And if you've got teenagers that are sideways, we've been there.
- 47:47Don't give up on them. set boundaries that's right i can't tell you how many
- 47:51times i told our teenagers i love you i don't like you right now yeah uh my gosh,
- 47:58but well and i'll say as moms we are told that we're supposed to be doing something
- 48:05right significant and value and our value is not in something but i'll tell
- 48:10you the most important thing we can be doing,
- 48:12as a mother as a wife is to protect our home,
- 48:17is to set those boundaries.
- 48:19That is in our jurisdiction.
- 48:21No one else is going to do that.
- 48:24So we're the ones that say this can come into my home or this cannot come into my home.
- 48:29That is the most important job that we have.
- 48:33Yes. Dads, back them up. It's not about being best friends. It's about being parents.
- 48:40I'll say this.
- 48:43Reverend Billy Graham. I never got to meet him.
- 48:47I went up that way. I was able to meet probably more importantly his wife, Chris Graham. Yeah.
- 48:56And I was attending a deal. I'll never forget. She was walking to her car.
- 49:02She was elderly. They were helping her. And I went right up to her.
- 49:08I said, ma'am, my name is Victor.
- 49:12I said.
- 49:15Would you mind, my wife couldn't be here today because she's back home with her kids and a newborn.
- 49:24I said, I have a camera. I think it was back when they were big.
- 49:29Yeah. And I just said, could you just say something to her?
- 49:34And she goes, I sure can, Victor. I turned it on and she said this.
- 49:40But Eileen, you're doing the right thing.
- 49:46I've been with your children. She said some other nice stuff,
- 49:49but I did so well. That is it. It was so powerful.
- 49:54Women are the life givers. Yeah.
- 49:57Man, there's nothing better than that. And we also, it's proven they can suck
- 50:02the life too. So you've got to make the choice on which one that's going to be.
- 50:06It's so good, guys. Thank you so much. I have a sign in my home that says the
- 50:10most important work you'll ever do is in the walls of your own home.
- 50:13Big go. Yeah. And it's on, it's right there. I see it every day and it's that
- 50:17chat because you have that drive.
- 50:19Women have that, like, I've got to, I've got to do the things.
- 50:22And I, I have had a very, very strong career. I was going to be an architect
- 50:28and I was halfway already there. And, um, and I, I just had to.
- 50:34Not that we always have to say no to those things, but the priority of my home has to come first.
- 50:41And the reality of that and the humility it took for me to do that.
- 50:47And man, I will never regret making that choice.
- 50:52So thank you for that word and encouragement. And guys, thank you so much for
- 50:56being with us today. And you have stories for days.
- 51:00One of these days we'll sit and talk for hours. after you save the state of Colorado.
- 51:06And we'll let that happen first. But there's a call to action here.
- 51:11I just hope and pray that every single parent listening today that has the ability
- 51:17to vote here in Colorado will take these things into consideration.
- 51:21And you know what you have to do.
- 51:24I'm just, I'm so thankful for you guys. And I can't wait to see what the Lord does with your story.
- 51:31And definitely have answered a huge call.
- 51:36You know, there's people that are politicians because that's the way of life
- 51:40and that's their job. You guys are answering a call.
- 51:43This wasn't what you set out to do. And it's a beautiful thing.
- 51:47I was not a podcaster.
- 51:50And, you know, the Lord told me to do it. And I said no for about a year.
- 51:54And, you know, finally he just really said, nope, you don't have a choice here.
- 51:57And so I answered that call. And man, it's one of the most fruitful things in my life.
- 52:05And you guys are answering a huge call that I know will just bring so much fruit,
- 52:10not only to your lives, but for the greater good in Colorado.
- 52:14And I just appreciate you so much. Thank you.
- 52:17We ask people to pray for us. Yes. We need prayer. We have 21 days from this.
- 52:23November 3rd, too. Please vote.
- 52:26Yeah please vote if you voted for me the way we win is simple just tell seven
- 52:31people to vote that we win by landslide yeah and the last thing is go to victor2026.com,
- 52:39if you'd like to learn more,
- 52:41or if you want to support us campaigns are expensive and if you can get five
- 52:46ten bucks man it'll make a difference yeah those three things matter we love
- 52:51y'all love you hannah your family You guys too. Thank you so much. God bless you.
- 52:56And we appreciate the time to be here. Yes, absolutely. Thank you.
- 53:00If today's conversation stirred something in you, if you're craving a little
- 53:03more quiet, a little more presence, and a little more Jesus in the everyday,
- 53:07I want to invite you to grab the Wanderer's Field Guide.
- 53:10It's a four-week journey of seeking, gathering, harvesting, and abiding in His presence.
- 53:15Just one page a day, one prayer at a time. It's not about perfection.
- 53:19It's about coming home to Him.
- 53:21You can order yours at the Treehouse Storyteller. dot com.
- 53:27Wait, before you go, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and follow us
- 53:32on Facebook or Instagram at the Treehouse Storyteller so we can stay connected.
- 53:37Head on over to the treehouse storyteller dot com for more products,
- 53:41artwork, photography and encouragement. See you next time.