Latest / Now That We're A Family / 509: Biblical Productivity with Jeremy & Lauren Mefford

Transcript

509: Biblical Productivity with Jeremy & Lauren Mefford · Now That We're A Family

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, Jeremy and Lauren, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us here this afternoon.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Katie and I have the privilege of being on your podcast only a couple of months.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, has it been two months?
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe a month and a half ago or so, several weeks of some kind.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was great.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Very fun.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we thoroughly enjoyed that.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think it was actually after we finished recording the podcast.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: We were talking and we were like, oh, my word.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: I wish we were recording this for our podcast because you guys were just sharing so many helpful and insightful things.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so thanks for agreeing to come on to our podcast and share with our audience and ourselves, some things you've learned through through having a really interesting, you know, and diverse life.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we're excited to jump into that.
• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: But because you and your own words, tell us who you are, where do you live?
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: How long have you been married?
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: Do you have any kiddos?
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: What does it you guys do for work?
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: What does life look like right now for the methods?
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, well, I'm Jeremy.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm a civil engineer and have been for almost 15 years.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now, vocation wise, me and Lauren have been married for a little over eight going on nine, we live in East Tennessee and we have six wonderful kiddos, three adopted and three biological, ranging in 0 to 10 years old.
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had about send it up.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: and my wife has a flourishing YouTube channel and of course all sorts of stuff that she does helping minister to women in the home.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're very well educated and both you guys are learning of your PhD and curious how you did that at home.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's a question we had like way down in here, but I'm just curious, how did you manage your time and do that while were you homeschooling at the time?
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, no.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, okay, so that's kind of what you were doing.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: before a home educating your kids.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: And how did that work into your schedule and your flow just while we're on the topic of education?
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sure, yeah.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I didn't manage it very well.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: So just to be honest, that's kind of part of my story is going from academia into being a mother,
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: and it being so incredibly hard, not knowing how to manage the home.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I was kind of in the middle and in the thick of just become like we just gotten married.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was already in the PhD program.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had been in school, I had gotten, a couple of different degrees just because it was the next thing and I was single and why not.
• 2:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was doing missions.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like just the next thing that was right in front of me.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there was no guy in sight at the time.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: I changed all of her plans.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, thanks the Lord.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I was at the tail end of that.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we had Caleb at the time when we adopted the girls.
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was 15 months old.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And at that time, I had about six months left and before I got my PhD and graduated.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I was writing my dissertation.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I, at that time, didn't really know how to manage the home.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we weren't really homeschooling until,
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know when I started, I started schooling pretty quickly once they did the girls because they were four and three.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought that I had to have it all figured out when they were four and three, you know.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: We had a period of time there where Lauren was still wrapping up her PhD, where we just honestly, you know, said to each other, we are currently in a lifestyle that is unsustainable.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: This work does not get replaced with something else it just drops off and that's it So we've had that conversation a few different times in our marriage of just like getting to that point Okay, this is unsustainable when we reach this milestone
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: time is not freed up to what do other things.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: That time is now margin back in our lives that we don't have right now.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so it was, but that last semester was one of those time periods.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was really hard because I didn't have the floor of a well-managed home.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was extra hard if that makes sense.
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think, and I was full time.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that that also played a part in it.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that if somebody were to want to go pursue
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: the same thing.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: My advice would be to have a make sure that your home is running very well and don't do a full time.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank your husband needs to be on board with it.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you've got to have a good team dynamic to where he'd be willing to you would be taking on more at times and then you'd have to be really boundary about when that time is devoted to school and when
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, they can easily bleed into other things.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So as long as you're disciplined and you're able to not allow that to happen and you're, you've got good boundaries in your life, then I think it's possible, but at the time it was, I did not handle it very well.
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, well, you know, I mean, Jeremy, you mentioned kind of impassing the husband has to be on board and that's a, you know, I feel like a critical component of the husband and wife being on the same page when it comes to monumental decisions in our life and already you guys have referenced a few huge decisions, you know, you choosing to.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: get your PhD, you guys have already mentioned that you adopted, you've started an online YouTube channel where you help women and a lot of it is home management and time management material on there that's very helpful.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: In the meantime, you've had a career Jeremy that's both remote sometimes if I remember correctly and also you can work from home but then also you've been away from home as well.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so do you guys kind of have a rubric that you have
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: gone to where you're like, okay, this is a big decision.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: What's the criteria we're looking at in what's best for our kids, you know, what's best for our marriage, what's best, what's the Lord called us to, especially as opportunities only arise, right, because I feel like as our children get older, their opportunities only become more and more, and then as, you know, businesses grow and as those opportunities increase, then you just you have to have more of these conversations.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's a good thing to get good at these conversations and marriage and how to kind of begin in that and down that path.
• 6:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I would top point to two things.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: One is even when we were dating, one of the things that I appreciated so much was that even when we were dating in our conversations, if we saw differently about things, we were both very quickly to turn to the scriptures as the judge between us.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: So that being foundational as that's where our wisdom comes from, you know, these are the words of life.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're gonna go to these.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then both of us talking and being on the same page
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: our priorities are for our marriage, for our family, what's that that when you are on the same page with those priorities, it makes it very easy to then classify the opportunities that come your way as we'll just fall into one of these priorities or doesn't not and that can really help you cut out a lot of things or say no to a lot of things very easily and as long as your heart
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: invested in those priorities.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's very easy to let.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: What even seemed like good opportunities go because you can realize, oh, this is Fool's Gold.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: This looks really good, but what's the end?
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: What's the actual fruit that's going to come from this that I actually want?
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: And if you can make that connection of this doesn't serve any of my priorities, it makes saying no much easier.
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: We call it recalibrating your priorities, like because it's very easy when life gets full and loud to let things creep in.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so anyway, we will come back to those pretty regularly.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes things don't always cleanly fit within those priorities necessarily.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think that you and I would have said that a home make you to home making channel in a course was like one of our top priorities, necessarily.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Lauren, you speak to biblical productivity on your YouTube channel and I love that concept.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm curious, can you kind of expound on that for our listeners?
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so in the productivity world, which I think a lot of us can shy away from, or a lot of people can shy away from the concept of productivity because a lot of them are grounded in a pagan worldview.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's me centric.
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: How much can I get done in a lot of times, that's at the expense of relationships and
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: people and hustle culture how much can you get how efficient can we be and something Jeremy and I had a great conversation months ago and he said something that really stuck out to me and this has kind of been I would say the mantra of what I would say the political productivity is is the Lord does not call us to productivity he calls us to fruitfulness.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so, I would say biblical productivity really is rooted in our abiding and Christ, getting and it's unto not task, the task getting done, that's not the end of themselves, it's unto the glory of God, it's unto a well-managed home and
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Fruitfulness in the home for the blessing of the people inside of it.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think this can be applied in all in many different realms I mean Reagan rose we talked about this before we started recording as a Christian productivity guy And he kind of does the same thing, but he speaks to it broadly.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I speak to it mostly with home making right teach women how to
• 9:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: be fruitful in their homes and part of that being not just taking care of the task but loving the people in it because that's part of managing a home and and a god-honoring way.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, I think that was well said.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think that what exactly what you did when you have a topic
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: even a word like productivity that's like a buzzword, a subject people are interested in, what kind of biblical language can we put into that, you know, to see what's good, what's actually wise here, fruitfulness is what we're onto and hustle culture is very,
• 10:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: me centric also in the sense of the self-reliance is there, right?
• 10:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Or as John 15 tells us, you know, if you abide in me, you will bear much fruit period, you know, but apart from me, you can do nothing.
• 10:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: There is no self-reliance in fruitfulness, you know, and so really when you talk about productivity from a biblical perspective, it is very different.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: at a foundational level, then what you're going to see from the world, and it's really unto another level of reward I would use as stewardship, like you're stewarding the time that God's given you well to serve that fruitfulness.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I always think anytime there's some subjects like this,
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: to try and okay let me let's put this in biblical terms so that we're not getting off course here like the Bible has language for this hot new thing whatever it is the culture is talking about let's use those biblical words to talk about it whenever we can and Lauren does a great job of that in her her videos and other places yeah i was able to the Bible has spoken to it much a lot longer than
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: those backwards productivity books speak to you know a faithfulness like I love I say this all the time but I love that proverb about the aunt like go to the aunt consider her ways and be wise like the aunt doesn't try to build the whole hill in a day it's faithfulness the same trail every single day back and forth following the path and following in the path of others and little by little over time going the same
• 11:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's diligence, there's faithfulness.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So anyway, I, the Bible does speak to this in a lot of different ways.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: So Alright folks, if you're looking to get your children started in music lessons, Voper, music academy, can be your one-stop shop.
• 11:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: We teach piano, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, ukulele,
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: And not only are you able to get weekly lessons that you can go through at your own convenience without having to drive your children to and from lessons, you're also able to participate in live calls where we do live coaching calls.
• 12:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: They also have live performance opportunities.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: We also do regular Q&A calls.
• 12:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: These onboarding calls where you're trying to figure out, okay, what's the best.
• 12:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: you know how how how how how how how how how how how how many minutes my child be practicing each day okay how do we focus on certain techniques over other techniques um should they be reading music should they just be learning by ear.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: These are questions that we get on a regular basis how old's you know should my maybe your nine year olds plan but you've got a six year old that wants to play and you just want to know okay is it reasonable to get my six year old started on the violin or on the piano.
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: What size violin should they get where do you put the tapes how do you restrain.
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, how do you tune your instrument?
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I tell you what, so many people aren't able to get off the ground.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Get from zero to one because things like tuning an instrument is really tricky.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Especially, I mean, you know, your piano, if you've got a keyboard, that's kind of nice, right?
• 13:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: Comes comes in tune.
• 13:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: But violin, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, we really want to get you launched.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so we're just always available for live calls to get on their tune your instrument with you.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: show you how to tune it, so you can get started, show you how to put the tapes on, so your fingers are in tune, show you how to tighten your bow just the right amount, because those are things that, yeah, there's lessons for those, and there's videos for all those things, but I know it's nice sometimes to feel like you've got a specific, you know, you've got a specific question, and you've got a specific instrument that's got its own quirks, and so we want to be able to answer those questions.
• 13:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Anyways,
• 13:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: you can do that.
• 13:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: Starting this summer, be ready for the fall, get to go with your lessons.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is the other thing too.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can pay for one subscription and you can have all your kids take that instrument.
• 13:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so it's one instrument per subscription so you can sign up for fiddle and all your kids take fiddle or sign up for piano and all your kids take piano.
• 13:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're all about the families doing this together.
• 13:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: So anyways, check the link below.
• 13:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: You'll get 20% off each month you're enrolled if you use the coupon code below.
• 14:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: yeah language is so important and I just love that distinction between fruitfulness and productivity because productivity is not it's very outcomes based and so it's like if you trample over the relationships trying to get there or you know whatever the case may be if you get the desired outcome faster than anybody else
• 14:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: then it's considered a success versus fruitfulness is very relational and it's like if you lose all of the relationships and your soul in the process then that's not considered a success at the end.
• 14:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're just a dead tree.
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter what accolades you garnered.
• 14:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I really love that that switch.
• 14:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's a good distinction and I'm curious as to, you know, even getting into fruitfulness
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: We know that, like you said, relationships, they're not always efficient as they take time.
• 14:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like it doesn't make economical sense sometimes, right?
• 14:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're kind of like, why?
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Putting this much time in, what's the return?
• 15:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm exhausted.
• 15:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm tired.
• 15:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm curious how you guys have a view this even with your own family, with child rearing.
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because you already mentioned, you've got three biological, three adopted.
• 15:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you can't just have this transactional part of your brain on all the time.
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, that's economical.
• 15:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: When you're raising children, I think especially when you choose to adopt as well.
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: So what has that been like for you guys and being able to see the fruitfulness come from also having healthy habits.
• 15:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you said actual time management habits that are necessary that can bring forth a godly fruit.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I do think that it can be tempting to be like that, to be very focused on the task.
• 15:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's where being as a Christian and doing it the Lord's Way, and that's why we recalibrate our priorities.
• 15:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: We re-align ourselves, okay, am I being too efficient?
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Am I just trying to get, am I just in mom management mode, just like get it done, get it done?
• 15:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Am I, is this at the expense of relationships?
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think,
• 15:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just that's another place we're just walking with a Lord and by the Spirit helps keep us in check, you know, because there is a lot to do and it's
• 16:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, anyway.
• 16:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, but what would you say to that, babe?
• 16:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: What would you say?
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: I would say, like even in my work, if I'm focused on just trying to get a bunch of tasks done and keep things on schedule, like I can steam roll people, you know?
• 16:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, and that's, that's not pleasing to the Lord.
• 16:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: And when we think about,
• 16:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: Faithfulness, you know, sometimes it's helpful just to think about like the prophet Jeremiah, he preaches his whole life to a people that never repent, you know, like that was faithfulness to him.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: There was nothing, no trophy for him to hold up at the end of that in this life, but faithfulness called him to do that.
• 16:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so faithfulness is supreme, not, not the outcomes, not the the money that's in your hand or
• 16:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: anything like that.
• 16:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: So there is definitely a time where there needs to be a self-awareness, I guess, of don't just be in mom management mode.
• 17:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, like the goal is the relationships and the love in the home and some of the foodfulness we talk about all the time is wanting a warm home and a house that's coldly efficient is not a warm home.
• 17:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: So we don't we don't want that.
• 17:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's not one of our priorities.
• 17:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's be a holy efficient.
• 17:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 17:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: So we need to like she said, we recalibrate sometimes.
• 17:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it's like, what are we actually aiming for here and do our
• 17:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I do think to just add to that, I'm sure you retelly Clarkson, I think, you've had her on one time.
• 17:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's amazing.
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's great.
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: She talks about rhythms of connection.
• 17:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think that is another thing that we, and something that I teach, if you look at Titus to talk about, like,
• 17:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Loving your husband, loving your children and managing at home, like loving the husband and the children come first even in that stream of thought.
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so when you're recalibrating, you're thinking through your priorities and how you're going to run the home and manage it, there's got to be rhythms of connection built in, you know.
• 18:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's got to be margin for life to happen so that you can deal with the squabbles and the discipleship and looking at your child and the eye and bringing them alongside and letting them cook dinner with you even though it's going to make it take longer, you know?
• 18:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's the other thing is I think it's important to build in margin in your life and rhythms of connecting with your family and your children and prioritizing that
• 18:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: in your marriage, too.
• 18:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: What are some of those rhythms of connection that you guys have in your own home?
• 18:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I don't have anything on my plate when I come home from work.
• 18:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: My goal is to go around and hug all the children, hug and kiss my wife and ask how days were things like that.
• 19:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm not coming home and trying to get to.
• 19:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: you know, a project or something like that.
• 19:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's my goal.
• 19:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then then the evenings are can be interesting.
• 19:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, one of our older children is recently.
• 19:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's been opportunities for just like opening up some in the evenings when the little kids are down and things are quieter.
• 19:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because when the house is allowed with all the little's running around, they may not feel the freedom to
• 19:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: you know make make things about themselves you know in those moments and we also try and have a good amount of family time on Saturdays you know that's kind of a day that's a little bit of a Sabbath to us a lot of times of slowing down enjoying time around the home going to the zoo you know like that we will not task oriented on Saturday we're supposed to have that bedday of rest
• 19:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for me, I would say every day they have mommy time built in and I used to one, so each trial gets a day of the week.
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now we have six.
• 20:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So Saturday's going to be a mommy time to do here soon.
• 20:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, it used to be where I would sit and do an activity with them or whatever, just like 15 or 20 or however long minutes,
• 20:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of adding something on, I just invite them into whatever I'm doing.
• 20:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So usually it's dinner prep.
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: So all the kids respect it and know that's this child's mommy time.
• 20:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to interrupt unless my hair's on fire.
• 20:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then that's time for us to talk.
• 20:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Connect and do things together in a more relaxed way and so that's another thing and then date night We like to have we have a couple of nights a week where you and I Really try to guard again like we try to prevent anything else we're happening on those nights and Have times to connect or go on a date.
• 20:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's important to and then we did there's no like working at night Or doing little projects at night like once the kids are down.
• 21:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's you and me time
• 21:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: generally speaking.
• 21:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 21:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Usually, yeah.
• 21:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 21:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm curious at what age, you know, you've kind of started, maybe actually maybe you can mention the age, but you talked about having some of the older kids up late, you know, in the evening and being able to connect with them.
• 21:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: It sounds like kind of like when the younger kids are asleep, perhaps.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Do you try to draw out conversations with them or do you just try to kind of like let them have time to be awake for a few minutes in case they do have something on their heart or do you have any conversation starters to kind of see if
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: generally I think what I've tried to do at least so far because it's a little bit new for us because our two girls are definitely awake a lot longer.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: They don't fall asleep naturally as early so they're up longer.
• 21:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: I've tried to just like.
• 21:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: make it clear that I'm like present, you know, that like there's nothing else distracting me like I'm here that they have access to daddy.
• 22:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then when they do bring something up,
• 22:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: listen very carefully and respond to them because it definitely through the day there's a lot of like okay that's great let's let's go do this now you know and like trying to move things forward uh and i'd try to do that in the evenings you know it's much more like tell me more you know um i guess for me like having i haven't had to do a lot of
• 22:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Drawing out so far a lot of times it just kind of, especially I think with the girls it just kind of like, you know, comes out.
• 22:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: So, but those have been very fruitful times for sure.
• 22:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: Awesome.
• 22:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's that's good.
• 22:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then one other question in regards to to just time in the evening because you mentioned to me, you try to come home and just have work behind you, you know, unplug into the kids, give them a hug, look them, look them in the eye.
• 22:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: But you've also mentioned before that I think you worked from home for a season, and I think that this is one of these new golden opportunities, but also can become a conundrum for providers, right, for husbands and fathers that are providing this work from home opportunity, that on the surface seems like it's just only positive, but then there's also I think a real temptation for work to then.
• 23:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know get become a part of life and just kind of like the mixing of boundaries basically, you know You're coming in you're coming out of your office for lunch and then all of a sudden you're helping the kids with school or your You're changing a diaper and you're thinking well, this is good right, but then all of a sudden that like sometimes it's not good too You know, I wear there's there's not clear boundaries and so what are you guys experienced in that and is there kind of any wisdom?
• 23:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: You could give to to fathers in that situation where it's like they've got the opportunity to work from home
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: as well.
• 23:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yeah.
• 23:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: So like during when all the COVID craziness was happening, I was fully work from home for a little while.
• 23:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's what my company was doing.
• 23:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was always blessed to have an office.
• 24:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I could have dedicated workspace, you know, that's separate.
• 24:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I could focus on my work.
• 24:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: I really think that working from home
• 24:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: is a tool on the toolbox, you know, for lack of a better term.
• 24:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's good in some situations.
• 24:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Sometimes it's not the right tool.
• 24:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: For me, you know, as I'm taking more leadership type position.
• 24:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: uh, in my, in my vocation, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to not be present with my people, you know, most the time.
• 24:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: That wouldn't be good for them.
• 24:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: It wouldn't be good for my career and my desire to grow as a leader.
• 24:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I also want to treat people like professionals and give them the flexibility to take care of things.
• 24:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: I need to take care of, you know, so I think that
• 24:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: how to use that tool rightly, and some people are too far on one side of the other, which happens in a lot of things that really need to be engaged with wisdom.
• 24:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: A lot of time it's easier just to be a T-todler, and no, five days a week in the office, and sometimes easier just to say, everyone can be fully remote, and I think that that's a lot of times the oversimplification, that's easier for people to deal with.
• 25:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just with new technology comes
• 25:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's what we need to do.
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: For me, I do think it's helpful that at my work we have generally set hours for when you're in the office.
• 25:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: So when you're at home, it's very easy just to follow that same pattern of these are the working hours.
• 25:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then after that time, I don't expect anyone to be available anyway.
• 25:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's what that's been my experience.
• 25:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: I do think it is very person to person.
• 25:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think that some personalities would not thrive at all, working from home, it would be massive distraction and it wouldn't be good.
• 25:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Other personalities, it's great for them.
• 25:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: And yeah, it's just got to know yourself.
• 25:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Unfortunately, there's no easy silver bullet answer.
• 26:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's just that you got to know yourself and learn and use wisdom.
• 26:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you've got to be just to add to that.
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: You do have to have boundaries because it's very easy to want.
• 26:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, your family has to have boundaries too.
• 26:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: They can't have the mindset of daddy's home.
• 26:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I can go talk to him wherever, whenever.
• 26:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: We've had to have that talk with the kids many times.
• 26:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like daddy's door is locked.
• 26:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: You don't go in there.
• 26:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 26:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: So how do you guys navigate family dynamics with biological children and adopted children and they're all yours all under your roof, how is it, do you feel like you do it to separate ways kind of are there's two separate means or do you feel like it's really just like the family has merged and you just, you know, everyone's kind of on the same wavelength with the culture of your home.
• 26:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let me go first.
• 26:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think you could start and I can.
• 26:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
• 26:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 26:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I would preface my answer by saying that
• 27:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Every adoption can be world's different in how it plays out, what it looks like years into it.
• 27:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's just so much variance in every adoptive situation.
• 27:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: So we can speak to us personally and say that we've been blessed in that particular area of
• 27:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: our first biological son was 15 months old when we brought two older girls into the home.
• 27:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: So he was very young when that happened and acclimated very easily.
• 27:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was very excited.
• 27:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's extroverted.
• 27:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not getting out.
• 27:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So he was very excited to have sisters.
• 27:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then we bring two more children biologically into the world.
• 27:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: And they are just, these are my older siblings, it's just as what it is.
• 27:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then our final adoption was a baby, which also feels pretty natural.
• 27:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're bringing a new baby into the home, you know?
• 27:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: So there's a lot of adoptions that could have a lot more challenges when it comes to adaptation and between like ages of the children and all this stuff, we've been more blessed that
• 28:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: a lot of things have fallen a little more naturally to where there's not that same challenge and friction.
• 28:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I would agree.
• 28:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's been nice at it.
• 28:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there's been a lot of challenges for sure.
• 28:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But in that regard, we did merge pretty easily.
• 28:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that there's one unique thing that I personally struggled with.
• 28:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was afraid that I was going to treat them differently because there is a difference in bonding initially.
• 28:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we can speak to that at some point.
• 28:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: But
• 28:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think overcompensated, and I didn't realize if that was going to be a thing like with birthday parties, for example, I really wanted to make sure the girls felt special and loved and that we weren't going to treat them any differently.
• 28:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I would go a little bit more above and beyond for them and then not
• 29:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: like it has much for the boys, you know, so anyway, so yeah, I think I was afraid of that playing itself out in a way that I didn't want to and then I ended up over compensating some, but I would say it's definitely balanced out like everybody's just where the methods and everyone, these are our kids and I think everyone feels like we treat it, we treat everybody the
• 29:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: in personalities, but that's just child to child, not necessarily adopted.
• 29:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, what would you encourage a family in if they're curious about that bonding?
• 29:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, with their adoptive children or their new to the process, or maybe they have an adopted yet, and that's something that they're kind of considering, what kind of encouragement would you have for them for that process?
• 29:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: So,
• 30:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I, so there are a couple of things.
• 30:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think you could probably just speak to here in a second.
• 30:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, right.
• 30:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, when it comes, so I, I was very stunned.
• 30:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think by that being that they're being a difference there.
• 30:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I felt very guilty because of it, um, there's a God given, like,
• 30:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are God-given hormonal things that happen in a woman when you give birth, like that attach you to your baby and there's a bonding that happens physiologically that just is not physically there.
• 30:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: when you had out.
• 30:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that nobody told me about that.
• 30:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I just thought, I just thought something was totally wrong.
• 30:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was just a horrible mom.
• 30:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I felt very condemned for it.
• 30:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And just the fact that that sometimes stepping out and showing love, it wasn't, it was,
• 31:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: not out of necessarily this natural affection initially.
• 31:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was because bonding was still happening on both ends.
• 31:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, our girls were in my parents home in the little years.
• 31:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So those very prime times where they are attaching to their caregivers and
• 31:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were not with us and so there was a there was bonding that needed to happen from on both ways and so That just was not anything that I we were not warned about or I think adoption is generally it can be romanticized
• 31:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: and a lot of times in evangelical circles, we hear about the beautiful pieces of it and how it reflects how we are adopted into the family of God.
• 31:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is a beautiful picture of that, absolutely 100%.
• 31:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when the only the good is talked about and only that piece of it and you don't really know about the other side of it until you're there, that can set you up for
• 32:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: being more difficult, I think that it needs to be.
• 32:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: We ought not to feel condemnation for the fact that we are actively loving these children when it's hard in different ways.
• 32:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we're bringing them into our home.
• 32:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're loving the orphan like that's
• 32:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Biblical, that's, that's godly, that's good.
• 32:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so even if our feelings don't always, we don't always feel a certain way that we might expect, that's not a cause for condemnation.
• 32:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're walking in obedience to the Lord, you're seeking to love these children in the best way that you can and you're growing and you're praying for that warmth to continue to grow.
• 32:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there is a, that takes time.
• 32:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so I would just say to anyone who's, especially if you're not adopting as an infant, and it,
• 32:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that I just would hope that that would be an encouragement.
• 33:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think to to families who are seeking to adopt or maybe are in the middle of it.
• 33:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when we were going through it, we didn't have, I just remember I kept thinking, we don't have an anecdote for this, like, we don't know anybody who is adopted from within the family, who's going through these things.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: We don't know anybody who can help us wrestle through some of this.
• 33:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so the very first time I got that kind of relief of hearing, there was a book called The Great and Grace of Adoption, and a series of conversations and talks that this author, it was just such a relief to hear and speak to that, of that being normal and...
• 33:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Felt seen.
• 33:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's just not really talked about.
• 33:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: If that's the case, press into the Lord, keep praying for warmth and bonding to happen.
• 33:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord does far more abundantly than we can ask her think, he's, and so, and there's therefore no foundation for those who are in Christ Jesus and you're loving these children.
• 34:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so anyway, what were you, I feel like there was something you wanted to say to.
• 34:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Was that too much?
• 34:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: Good, no, that was great, babe.
• 34:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: being encouraged that the way the Lord is designed things a lot of times is that your mood follows your actions.
• 34:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, so your actions of loving an adopted child if that's the challenge there over years, absolutely bears fruit.
• 34:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, every time like the actions of love that you're doing, are going to grow your affections along with them.
• 34:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's always good to remember what like in the Christian faith, what redemption looked like, right?
• 34:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: So Jesus on the cross, that is redemption.
• 34:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was bloody and painful and hard.
• 35:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: When you're adopting a child, that what has happened
• 35:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: And some former fashion is a family unit has been shattered.
• 35:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's the only reason that an adoption has to take place is at some level a family unit has been shattered.
• 35:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's a tragedy.
• 35:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: but you are bringing redemption into that child's life, and that is glorious, but it's hard.
• 35:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because you can't really know all the time how much of that brokenness is gonna bleed into their life over time and into your life over time.
• 35:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: So you can always be encouraged that you are in a glorious endeavor.
• 35:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: It doesn't matter if it's hard,
• 35:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Um, terrible, you know, the Lord is pleased with this work of redemption that you're doing and extending your fatherhood or your motherhood to this new child.
• 35:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Um, and you just got to have to trust him sometimes, but I think one good, you know, sobering thing for me to always think about remind people is like this started with some sort of broken tragedy, you know, that's what how this story started and
• 36:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: that can bleed into the ongoing story in various ways, but God is faithful and he adopted us and we're walking that out and you will by no means lose your reward even by bringing a cup of cold water to a little child.
• 36:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So this is not plan B.
• 36:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is not like
• 36:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: God puts you there to provide the redemption.
• 36:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this was written before the foundation of the world.
• 36:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is how he planned.
• 36:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that was helpful for me to hear.
• 36:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 36:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I wasn't just like the backup plan.
• 36:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, it's like, that's the plan to be there.
• 36:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he is a good storyteller.
• 36:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's the best storyteller and to the rest of him.
• 36:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Even, but I think you're just saying, like, it's, it would be normal for it to be messy sometimes.
• 36:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: because of the origin of the story, you know, but the Lord is faithful in all of it and I think practically though I would say to like make sure you're in a good church.
• 37:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: I healthy church that will support you because you know, healthy church and a very healthy marriage before, you know, considering an adoption.
• 37:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because we were in a situation where we had some people who loved us and
• 37:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: we were in a church situation where it was kind of challenging and we were being looked to as leaders when we didn't need to be.
• 37:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: We were drowning.
• 37:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think they really understood.
• 37:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like it was a situation where there was not as much support as we really needed at all.
• 37:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So anyway, I would say being in a healthy church situation where you know like people are walking with you and they know what you're walking through and they can
• 37:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: be there for prayer and they're not looking to you to bear a whole lot of weight whenever you're first adopting is probably would be helpful.
• 38:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that's really, I mean, that's just inspirational stuff to hear and like that really actually strikes me as very profound thinking about the origin of the story, you know, and when it comes to adoption and being like, wait a second,
• 38:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: The work of redemption is messy, you know, and it is, and it's ugly at moments and it's painful, but it's such a beautiful work.
• 38:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, it's the greatest work that we can point to in our in our life as Christians, as Christ is being redeemed by Christ.
• 38:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: And yet that is something that I think we lose side of a lot of as Christians.
• 38:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, of course, we've never adopted, but I think that maybe with anything in life, you kind of forget the, you forget the, you just think
• 38:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: We forget that like stuff that we're we live in a fallen world, you know, like there is stuff that there is friction here on earth, whether it's by a sin or sickness or, you know, death and tragedy, we just we encounter things and we can we might forget about the tragedy down the road.
• 39:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: I guess it's like sometimes we forget that like that's right.
• 39:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: The reason we're here is because of a of a tragedy or an unfortunate thing and there's going to be bleed over, but then, but got so faithful in the midst of that.
• 39:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I'm curious, because, you know, Lauren, you've been putting out just great content on home management, you offer a course.
• 39:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I want to kind of get into that where people can find that.
• 39:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I also before we do, can we say one, talk about one other thing before we kind of wrap up with where people can find your stuff.
• 39:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: You had mentioned a while back during, you know, you guys had had the shared desire to have there be maybe another source of revenue or I think you used the like some economical value coming from the home or something along those lines.
• 39:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: How did you guys kind of like how have you navigated that because I think that's the desire for a lot of people you know, and a lot of a lot of people might think that means okay, I need to quit my job and you know start my own business full time or maybe it's you know, I need to go back to school so that I can have some additional earning in this other way or you know change careers altogether or maybe you know it's your spouse starting something.
• 40:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: How did you guys kind of land on this being something that really worked for you and where there are other endeavors that were considered.
• 40:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: or maybe even attempted or tried or whatever that you like, this actually isn't really healthy for our family.
• 40:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: What's that journey been like?
• 40:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's been great.
• 40:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm trying to think of some foundational principles I would talk about.
• 40:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Again, you can come back to be on the same page with your spouse.
• 40:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: What are your goals?
• 40:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: What do you actually want?
• 40:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's just, we will both say it's nice to have
• 40:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: the freedom to do what we want as a family, but there's tradeoffs and whatever direction you go.
• 40:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: We had like talked about some other things at various points that we don't do anymore, like we used to homestead, like we used to have chickens and a garden and we had goats and stuff, and we for a while thought we were going to try and know
• 40:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: We talked about like every year we want to add like one new one more new thing.
• 41:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll just keep like each year learn one new thing and over time that'll just build and now we're far more at the point of like actually we'd rather just make enough money to afford healthy food as opposed to doing all the work.
• 41:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's easier for us to just make enough money to do that and that's a better
• 41:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so I would in this season of life and we may go back to a different point, but definitely don't pigeon all yourself into what that looks like for you and your family at any point.
• 41:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Be flexible every step of the way as to like, and don't be scared to try something like we tried some stuff for a while, learned, like, okay, that taught us what we like and what we don't like, what's good for our family and what's not.
• 41:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the next iteration is going to be a little more refined.
• 41:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: And you couple that with prayer of like Lord, these are the desires of our hearts.
• 42:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Please give us wisdom.
• 42:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like if these are not golly desires, please direct them away.
• 42:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: If they are golly desires, please give us wisdom as to how to walk them out.
• 42:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the Lord has blessed this endeavor.
• 42:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Home setting stuff.
• 42:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: We said, nope, we're not going to do that.
• 42:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: So there was something that I made an attempt at, I don't know, five years ago or so.
• 42:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I got like a different certification for possibly a different vocational path.
• 42:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I just kind of stared into the abyss and was like, if I want to try and make something of this, I will never see my family.
• 42:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I'm not doing it.
• 42:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: So we're not doing it.
• 42:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: I invested a decent amount of time into it at that point.
• 42:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it was a big interest of yours.
• 42:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was a big interest of mine.
• 42:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: That whole space digital currency stuff is fascinates me, but I was like, okay.
• 42:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, this is I think Sometimes pursuing a path just to find out it's not a good idea is actually very freeing because it gets you away from Well, what if like I don't know if it would work or not like
• 43:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: go try it and you feel so free when you find out, oh no, this wasn't a good idea.
• 43:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now I can just forget about it, think about it anymore.
• 43:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, feel the freedom to do that.
• 43:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I encourage people to act wisely, but feel free to try stuff as long as you and your spouse are on the same page and do it and wisdom.
• 43:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think that what this thing that I'm doing, thankfully, we're not in a place where anything's dependent on whatever I make from it.
• 43:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I mean, it would be awesome if it just took off even though I was working only in nap time and all of that, but it's just not what's happening right now.
• 43:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we're basically just bootstrapping everything and so I'm just enjoying
• 43:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're not pushing for it to be overly, you know, super, like, massively lucrative.
• 44:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: It would be nice if the Lord bless it as a point.
• 44:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah.
• 44:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, you're going to be diligent to do the best job.
• 44:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I'm going to do and we'll see.
• 44:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 44:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm pulling back quite a bit with that.
• 44:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I mean, margin.
• 44:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Nice.
• 44:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I know.
• 44:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's a, that's a constant thing we're trying to figure out ourselves.
• 44:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: As I say, you're, like, falling asleep, not because of you guys.
• 44:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: We, we left on a, um, yeah, we got home at like one in the morning last night.
• 44:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm like, oh my goodness.
• 44:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: We need margin.
• 44:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: We need margin.
• 44:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: You guys are speaking to the choir over here.
• 44:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: victim like from the beginning of psychosis.
• 44:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah well it's so tempting even what you said at the beginning okay we're when this is done this is done we aren't filling it with the new thing.
• 44:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think sometimes we're like great we're done and then we just like dive into the next thing and it's like okay we'll probably should have just bumped the break so anyways this has been encouraging though Lord where can people find you find your channel and find your course?
• 45:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Laurenmefford.com.
• 45:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Basically that's where, so I have the course and it's not necessarily linked on that site so people can always reach out and I could send them a link.
• 45:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: But my membership, I did just launch a membership called the Readed Homemakers Collective.
• 45:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And secret, you can get the course for a cheaper price if you go that route.
• 45:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I love the membership, it's so fun and you can find it on my website.
• 45:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the YouTube channel is just at Lauren Mephard.
• 45:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I like that.
• 45:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't link that below.
• 45:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you guys post your podcasts on your YouTube channel.
• 45:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Is it also on podcasting platforms just the audio?
• 45:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 45:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's the rooted home as well.
• 45:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: The read at home.
• 45:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, fantastic.
• 45:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
• 45:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, link all of that because that's just a ton of really, really good content.
• 45:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, your your thumbnails have gotten Katie and I both, you know, it's like you hold up a ton of Capits with a Bible and you're kind of like, you know, the Bible's better and it's like, whoa.
• 45:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, it's possible.
• 46:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, well, Jeremy Lauren, thank you so much taking the time that yeah, I encourage us in our audience and blessings to you all.
• 46:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much.
• 46:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you guys.