WEBVTT
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.160
Consider one another as a podcast focused on each other.
00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:11.759
Thank you for tuning in to this podcast that is all about stirring up love and good works in one another.
00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.679
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you are.
00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:20.559
Thank you for tuning in to the podcast today.
00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:28.559
It is a Wednesday afternoon, and me and Carol and Baby Michael are at the church building today recording a podcast.
00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.120
Carol, thank you so much for making the time for this.
00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:33.039
Hey, I'm looking forward to it.
00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:35.439
She's multitasking as usual.
00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:41.280
So the scene here is a pretty typical one of Carol on a Sunday holding baby Michael.
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:42.320
I think he's napping.
00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.399
He's napping, I'm awake.
00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:46.240
Okay, well, perfect.
00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:47.200
That'll be important.
00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.600
We got a lot to talk about, so let me launch into it.
00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:52.880
I want to read a scripture that's pretty near and dear to our hearts.
00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:54.799
It's in Mark chapter 9.
00:00:54.960 --> 00:01:00.640
The context here is this man who has this son uh that is struggling heavily.
00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:05.040
He's very much so struggling, and he wants Jesus to heal his son.
00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:07.840
It looks like this in Mark 9, verse 20.
00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:16.480
Then they brought him to Jesus, and when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:20.319
So Jesus asked his father, How long has this been happening to him?
00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:22.000
And he said, From childhood.
00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:26.560
And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.
00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:30.640
But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.
00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:38.400
Verse 23, Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.
00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:47.040
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:57.920
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, Deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more.
00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:04.560
Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him, and he became as one dead.
00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:06.560
So that many said, He is dead.
00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:11.199
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:28.319
Page one.
00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:30.159
Yeah, page one, who made God?
00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:35.439
And uh so now I'm reading Lee Strobel, a case for the creator.
00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:36.400
Yeah, nice.
00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:43.039
And uh it it it's real interesting to read the astrophysicist interviews off of that.
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:47.120
So you're finding answers to this complicated thing.
00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:50.719
I'm I'm challenged in finding answers.
00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:59.039
And fortunately, that book was in the church library, so I need to return it when I get through waiting through the astrophysicist interviews.
00:02:59.199 --> 00:02:59.360
Right.
00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:01.199
So we've got it on record.
00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.919
Carol has a book checked out, she has to return it.
00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:04.240
Yes.
00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:05.520
No, that's what the library is here for.
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.360
Everybody can check me on that one.
00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:15.360
Yeah, but it's always been complicated, and I I want to believe.
00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:16.400
It's like marriage.
00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:17.919
Marriage is a commitment.
00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:20.719
Love is a commitment, it's not a feeling.
00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:28.960
It is a commitment that says, I am going to love you, and I am going to be married to you, and I am going to believe.
00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:33.120
Help my unbelief, help me when I get mad at you.
00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:35.360
Help my lack of commitment at times.
00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.479
Help my lack of commitment at times when I'm tired and I go find your own stuff, you know.
00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:51.039
It's always, it's always been complicated when I got ready to move to Richmond from Texas to help take care of the grandchildren.
00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:59.039
I was working as a pharmacy tech for Walmart and saw a customer wearing this bracelet that says God is big enough.
00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:00.960
The one you're wearing right now.
00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:01.439
Yes.
00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:19.839
I commented on it to her and told her what I was fixing to move and go do to help take care of the grandkids, and she peeled it off her arm and handed it to me and put it on my arm and said, Here, you need this more than I do, and my church has more of these.
00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:31.519
So God is big enough, has been on my wrist for the last three years, and will stay on my wrist for a long time to come, I hope.
00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:32.319
Yes.
00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:37.519
And the collery to that is because I'm not big enough.
00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:46.639
So the the Old Testament, the King James used to say, and it came to pass, my sister's colory to that is and not to stay.
00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:53.120
So do not do not pitch your tent in the valley of despair, but yes, you're gonna pass through despair.
00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.160
Yes, and you'll make it out the other side.
00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:00.560
You're gonna pass through difficult times, it'll be it through the other side.
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:04.639
Yes, and sometimes the way that happens is by just kindness, like the bracelet.
00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:09.279
Just someone saying, which is really kind of her, but also a little bit daunting for her for you.
00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:13.279
She she heard your story and she said, oof, you need this more than I do.
00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:13.759
Yeah.
00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:20.800
Well, and I did because I had just had a cardiac ablation two weeks before, and I was moving cross-country.
00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:21.600
Okay.
00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:23.600
There's there's a lot of story to unpack here.
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:29.120
You said that was three years ago in Richmond, or you're on a move to I was moving to Richmond.
00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:30.160
Three years ago.
00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:35.360
Okay, so I guess what I'm super interested in is how you ended up here in in Bremerton.
00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:43.360
So obviously, you are a grandma who loves her grandkids and works really hard as you are right now, very actively so.
00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:49.519
But if you take me through that timeline, I guess I'm just those three years: Texas to Richmond, and then to here.
00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:49.920
Is that right?
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.040
Or am I missing a step?
00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:55.920
Well, there was a stop in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, for a year also.
00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:01.439
So Richmond's about a hundred miles up the road from Norfolk, Virginia Beach area.
00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:18.480
And my daughter had moved to that part of the country to go to work for Colonial Williamsburg, and she is a history major, and so to get a job with Colonial Williamsburg was like a plumb job for a history major.
00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:25.920
And she ended up in their seamstress shop making the costumes by hand.
00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:29.519
We're talking needle in hand, pulling thread through fabric.
00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:31.199
Real historical, like yeah.
00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:40.639
Yeah, they didn't use sewing machines and uh making costumes for all of the reenactors that work at Colonial Williamsburg.
00:06:41.040 --> 00:07:02.079
And so anytime that there was a big holiday shindig, whether it was Christmas parade or 4th of July or whatever that Colonial Williamsburg was doing, they had the seamstresses on site on call to repair those costumes if somebody tripped over him and ripped something or whatever happened to him.
00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:15.839
And one of their seamstress shops was in Richmond, so that moved her from Williamsburg to Richmond, and then the other seamstress shop was down in Norfolk, Virginia Beach area.
00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:16.399
Okay.
00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:18.319
A hundred miles down the road.
00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:36.879
And so we moved to the Norfolk, Virginia Beach area, and she met military people and wound up pregnant, and he got stationed out here, and she thought she was in love and gonna get married, and moved to the Seattle area, and met his wife in St.
00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:39.920
Louis, and that kind of blew that relationship apart.
00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:46.560
And uh the military yanked his security clearance because being unfaithful to his wife in St.
00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:50.079
Louis put him at risk of being compromised.
00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:50.959
Right.
00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:51.600
Right.
00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:54.000
So but she had already had plans to come out here.
00:07:54.319 --> 00:08:00.959
We had already given up our apartment in Virginia Beach, and and one of the trucks was you know, we had two U-Haul trucks.
00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:02.000
One of the trucks was in St.
00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:06.959
Louis when she discovered this, and I had the other truck in Virginia Beach.
00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:10.000
So we ended up in Bremerton.
00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:11.519
And here you are.
00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:12.160
Yes.
00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:17.360
So this is 2025 that you're making this move, or when did the move to Bremerton?
00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:21.439
We we came in January of 26.
00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:22.319
Oh, really?
00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:22.720
Okay.
00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:33.840
So I I drove across the country from Norfolk to here the week of January the 8th on clear, dry roads.
00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:34.879
I was blessed.
00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:39.840
Yeah, I was about to say because the following week the weather went kafoo-y.
00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:41.679
19's a technical term.
00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:44.720
Yeah, a technical term for snow and yuck and muck.
00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:46.320
But you had dry roads.
00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:53.600
I had two kids and three cats in a car, and I was blessed with dry roads.
00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:59.039
Got into some real dense fog one night out of Denver or Salt Lake City, I don't know.
00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:00.879
By then they all ran together.
00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:01.360
Right.
00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:11.039
But other than that, we we came across on dry roads in January, all the way across this country, and I was just going wonderful.
00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:15.519
So it was an amazing trip.
00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:16.080
Yes.
00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:17.759
Well, I was trying to give you some credit there.
00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:21.840
I I assumed it was 25 because we met you in January of 2026.
00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:26.080
And so you showed up here and I showed up here about the second week.
00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:35.679
We it seems like I probably pulled in here on late on a Saturday night and was just wiped out.
00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:38.399
And then the following Sunday I showed up here.
00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:40.960
Okay, and and you've been here ever since.
00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:41.279
Yeah.
00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:46.639
And we're grateful for that, which is why I'm uh thinking this podcast will be so valuable.
00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:51.600
A couple of commentaries from Will that are neither here nor there, but you kept saying dry land.
00:09:51.840 --> 00:10:04.159
It made me think of Exodus 15 and verse 19, where they're going through the Red Sea, and it says very clearly, but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:10.240
Uh so a little bit of a different providential miracle here, but there's there's something to note about that.
00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:19.200
That trip could have been disastrously unsafe, or just something bad could have happened with all the kafuy, the snow and muck that could have been there, but you drove it.
00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:20.639
How long did it take you?
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:22.720
About six days.
00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:23.120
Okay.
00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:29.679
It was about 3,000 miles, and I figured if I made about 500 a day that I was doing okay.
00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:30.960
Yeah, that's really good.
00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:34.480
So especially with two kids, three cats in a car.
00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:38.240
Uh, I like to comment on good episode titles throughout.
00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:44.000
I think A Complicated Faith is a really good, poignant episode title.
00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:48.000
But I think two kids, three cats in a car would be a good one too.
00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:49.440
Good for you for making that trip.
00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:50.399
That's not easy.
00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:53.440
But you've been here for almost a year then.
00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:54.559
I guess just nine months.
00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:59.440
Nine months you've been here, and what we're getting to witness right here, baby Michael.
00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:00.480
Tell me about that.
00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:06.399
Just stepping up and bringing him to church, and you've got your hands full, literally and figuratively.
00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:08.879
What has that been like for you as a grandma?
00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:17.519
I mean, my my daughter, we adopted my daughter at birth, and when she got to be about 10 years old, we had her in therapy.
00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:19.360
And this is Christina.
00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:20.799
Yes, this is Christina.
00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:27.519
We had her in therapy, and the therapist said, You know, I'm doing the regular things and I'm not seeing the regular response.
00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.240
What do you know about the prenatal environment?
00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:33.519
And I said, Well, I know where the birth grandmother is.
00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:37.279
I'll write her and ask her if she can pass something on to her daughter.
00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:48.639
And about three weeks later, I got a letter from the birth mom that says, Well, I know I drank a lot and smoked a lot of pot, and if I did anything else, it was ten years ago and I don't remember.
00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:56.000
And so then we knew that we were dealing with fetal alcohol syndrome.
00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:56.639
Gotcha.
00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:04.320
We had assumed the diagnosis was was bipolar disorder prior to that because the behavior sort of fit that too.
00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:08.799
And and there were bipolar genetics in the background.
00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:13.600
So, you know, at least we we knew what we were dealing with.
00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:37.840
The downside of fetal alcohol syndrome is that when the mom drinks, it kind of melts whatever part of the brain is developing that day, and particularly affects the frontal lobe of the brain where the executive functions, the planning, the rational thought sort of stuff goes on.
00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:46.399
Christina has come much further than I ever expected her to, but she will probably need some therapy all of her life.
00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:48.159
Yeah, we've been blessed.
00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:58.000
She had a wonderful, godly therapist from the time she was about 11 till she was 21-ish.
00:12:58.399 --> 00:12:59.600
Wow, that's a blessing.
00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:11.840
Uh, that was a very godly believer that was also an art therapist, which spoke to Christina's brain of all her artsy, craftsy yarn.
00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:18.480
I mean, this gal picked up a used sewing machine so that she had a sewing machine in her in her office so that they could sew.
00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:19.519
That's awesome.
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.159
And just exceptionally bright therapist.
00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:27.440
Very humble, very quiet.
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:32.559
You'd never know that she had a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:39.519
She grew up down the street in Cambridge, just a really bright lady.
00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:40.960
But humble about it.
00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:45.440
Very humble about it, and and very much God-centered.
00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:54.320
I mean, her her office was decorated with crosses, so if you weren't ready for a Christian therapist, you moved on to somebody else.
00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:56.000
She was loud and clear.
00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:58.080
Loud and clear, that's right.
00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:59.440
She was loud and clear.
00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:02.000
She was a wonderful, wonderful therapist.
00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:03.759
And that was helpful to Christina.
00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:04.320
Oh, yeah.
00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:05.519
Art therapy.
00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:06.080
That's really cool.
00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:07.600
Because I know Christina's very into her art.
00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:10.159
She's got some cool art projects she's working on.
00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:16.399
She's into yarn, she's into fabric, she's into all sorts of stuff.
00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:32.720
She's learning how to use plant dyes from the various leaves and cabbage and turmeric and all sorts of things to dye yarn.
00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:39.279
You you get undyed yarn that's been washed naturally.
00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:45.759
And and she dips it in some kind of alum solution to help the dye set.
00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:47.120
That would stay, okay.
00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:50.639
And then dips it into these big pots.
00:14:50.799 --> 00:15:00.960
So right now our stove has, you know, pots of blue stuff that came from some plant and pots of yellow stuff that came from another plant.
00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:03.759
Lots of scientific experiments going on.
00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:10.879
Yeah, and you know, if you if you don't like the album, you use baking soda, so it it goes the other direction.
00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.279
It's it's fiddling around with the pH.
00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.600
Okay, to change the dye bath.
00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:16.000
Uh-huh.
00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:16.879
That makes sense.
00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:27.679
Well, there's always lots going on over there at the Ritchie House with got, you know, two kids and three cats, probably five cats now, uh, and now some some cool art projects going on too.
00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:28.240
Yes.
00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:31.840
Uh I want to know more about life for you in Texas.
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:40.159
Maybe I'm zooming in on nothing here, but I've noticed people from Texas don't pronounce their H's very clearly.
00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:45.679
You kept saying this therapist was very humble, but the H was much more silent.
00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:49.279
When people say Houston from Texas, I hear them say Houston.
00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:50.000
Like Houston?
00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:50.960
They say Houston.
00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:55.279
I think there's even a city called Humble, Texas, and they say humble.
00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:57.919
As in Humble Oil Company.
00:15:58.159 --> 00:15:58.799
Oh, oh, oh.
00:15:59.279 --> 00:15:59.759
Uh-huh.
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.360
It's it's down, it's down in the oil refining area.
00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:06.080
And yeah, it was the Humble Oil Company.
00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:06.639
Guns.
00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:11.840
Well, I can tell you're from Texas, and you've been all over, and I'm glad that you're here in Washington.
00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:14.720
But I feel like home for Carol is Texas.
00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:15.279
It is.
00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:15.679
Okay.
00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:16.000
It is.
00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:19.600
Tell me about Texas then, what what life was like for you there.
00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:20.960
Is that where you grew up?
00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.360
No, I grew up in Atlanta.
00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:28.559
My dad was uh air traffic controller coming out of World War II.
00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:29.200
Wow.
00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:45.759
And then he got into headquarters work, and he his first posting in headquarters work was in Fort Worth for what I think may have been called the southwestern region of uh the U.S.
00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:46.879
for the FAA.
00:16:47.840 --> 00:17:01.519
And then after Kennedy got elected in 6061 time frame, they opened the Southern Regional Office in Atlanta and we moved to Atlanta.
00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:06.720
So from the middle of second grade on, I was educated in Atlanta.
00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:07.119
Okay.
00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:09.680
And then came back to Abilene to go to college.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:10.720
Gotcha, okay.
00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:14.000
So Texas, then from a young age, you're in Atlanta.
00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:16.720
But then you go to Aberdeen for college.
00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.359
Was Abilene close to where home was originally?
00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:21.119
Or just a Christian college?
00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:31.359
It was it was a Christian college, and I wanted to go into medicine, and I I looked at Harding, I looked at Abilene, and we drove by Pepperdine.
00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:36.240
Pepperdine at the time was still in well, Pepperdine at the time was still in Watts.
00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:40.000
So they hadn't moved to Malibu yet.
00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:40.400
Okay.
00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:41.920
I guess I was thinking about Malibu.
00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:45.279
Malibu's Malibu's pretty from what I understand.
00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:46.079
Oh, it is.
00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:58.640
But Abilene, Abilene had a a good science program, and uh so I memorized my way through a chemistry degree in Abilene, and my comment is I had no life.
00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:09.119
Fortunately, there was a conference room with a chalkboard in it and nothing else, and I could write chemistry formulas until I had them memorized.
00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:10.559
On the chalkboard.
00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.119
Oh, that feels so classic to me.
00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.759
Chemistry formulas on the chalkboard.
00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:16.640
Yes.
00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:19.279
It was it was something else.
00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:30.079
After I graduated and talked to somebody that actually worked in the petroleum industry and knew what he was talking about in chemistry, I realized I had memorized my way through a degree in chemistry.
00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:31.200
Wow, good for you.
00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.519
My true love was anatomy.
00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:34.079
Huh.
00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:35.920
Because I could see that.
00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:39.759
And so then I hung around and did a master's in anatomy.
00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:41.599
Bachelor's in chemistry.
00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:43.759
Chemistry and then a master's in anatomy.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:44.880
All at ACU.
00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:45.279
Yes.
00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:45.920
Oh, okay.
00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:46.799
And then applied.
00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.920
I was applying to medical school while I was doing these things.
00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:50.400
Wow.
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:54.960
And uh finally got in on the third year worth of applications.
00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:58.960
The letter of recommendation got messed up the second year.
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:00.240
But you made it.
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.240
But I I got in the third year.
00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:02.640
Huh?
00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:06.799
And that took me down to San Antonio to the medical school there.
00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:11.039
Did that for two and a half years and figured out I didn't want to be a doctor.
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:17.119
Um because well, some people figured it out the first day in Gross Anatomy Lab and walked out.
00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:17.920
Said nothing.
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:18.720
But yeah.
00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:20.400
How old are you here?
00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.119
Uh 23-ish.
00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:24.000
Okay, well.
00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:25.599
Probably 23-ish.
00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:30.079
You've gotten the bachelor's, the master's, and and starting medical school.
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:30.640
Good for you.
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:31.119
That's good.
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:35.839
So I don't resent the knowledge that I gained in medical school.
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:36.480
Sure.
00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:41.119
But the stress on the body was more than my body could take.
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:42.640
It was just that hard.
00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:50.240
I would have I would have potentially ended up being one of the doctors that did harm to themselves.
00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:51.599
Just go crazy.
00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:54.160
Uh out of depression and overwhelm.
00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:54.400
Yeah.
00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:54.799
Wow.
00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:56.400
For getting out of that thing.
00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:08.000
Well, we had a psychiatrist at church, and I walked up to him one Sunday night after church and I said, Do you talk to messed up medical students that don't know why they're doing what they're doing?
00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:11.039
And he says, Ah, you don't want to come talk to me, I'll tell you to quit.
00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:16.960
And so I kept that and treasured that in my heart for a few months, and then I made an appointment.
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:35.440
And we didn't talk about medical school for about two or three months of therapy, and I finally complained about not sleeping well one night, one afternoon, and he went through the shopping list for depression, which I'd learned in my psychiatry course.
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.920
And he said, You're depressed, aren't you?
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.640
And I said, Yeah, I have been for about two or three weeks.
00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:45.920
And so then the floodgate was opened for talking about medical school.
00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:49.920
And he had been on the faculty at the medical school, so he knew how it worked.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.319
And he said, Well, you could take a leave of absence and uh think about it.
00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:59.759
And I went home and thought about that for a week and came back and said, How do I take a leave of absence?
00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:01.839
Okay, good advice here.
00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:02.880
Yeah, good advice.
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:11.759
So you go talk to the dean, and the dean says, Well, the statistics are that once somebody takes a leave of absence, they have a logarithmic loss of information.
00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:13.680
Yeah, you got it.
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.039
And very few of them come back, and I go, Yes, I understand.
00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:19.279
It's really hard to recover from.
00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:24.319
Well, he the the dean, the dean was encouraging in one manner.
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:34.880
He said, I've known one guy that took a leave and came to grand rounds of every department for the following year and came back in and did well.
00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:35.279
Okay.
00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:48.480
But that was somebody that obviously had a family that was helping finance their food and groceries and transportation and rent so that they could take a little leave.
00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:55.200
I told my dad I'd be financially independent at the end of 30 days and had no idea how I'd do it.
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.759
So I walked out of the medical school, walked across the street to the private.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:09.359
Hospital and applied for a blood collector job and went to work in the lab, waking people up at seven o'clock and or six o'clock in the morning to go, morning lab.
00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:11.119
Yeah, time time to get poked.
00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:15.200
Vampires are coming so that it's on the chart by seven when the doctors come.
00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:16.640
So you knew you weren't going back.
00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:19.039
Because the leave of absence, but you were done with medical school.
00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:19.440
Yeah.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.400
It it was it was like taking a boulder off my shoulders when I walked out of there.
00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:24.960
Yes.
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:27.759
And good for you, because it's it's a great question to ask.
00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:38.720
Uh because I know lots of people who just did good in school, were good at science, and felt like they had to go through this super hard thing, and then it gets too hard and it's too late.
00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:40.480
They felt like they can't get out.
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:42.240
But you said I'm getting out.
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:51.680
I I wasn't but ten thousand dollars in debt, and that made a hundred and fifteen dollar a month payment for the next ten years and got rid of it.
00:22:51.839 --> 00:23:02.160
Yeah, my my folks had supported me a whole lot, but that it was at the time when they had investments that were making fifteen percent, and I could borrow money at seven percent.
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:04.720
Okay, free money as we call it in the business.
00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:06.799
So you sort of got relatively cheap money.
00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:08.400
Relatively cheap money.
00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:12.160
So good for you for uh for recognizing that.
00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:20.559
Um because so many people have you know forfeited their soul for their degree or their job or the thing they felt like they couldn't walk away from.
00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:24.240
But you realized, hey, this is changing me.
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:31.119
I'm changing as a person as someone I don't want to be depressed or self-harming or any of these other hard things.
00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:32.880
You said, I'm getting out.
00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:33.279
Yeah.
00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:34.160
And that was that burden.
00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:43.759
Well, I didn't want to I I knew I was depressed enough that I was having trouble focusing when we were up on the floors talking about patients.
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.160
Didn't know at the time that I was ADD.
00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:49.279
Uh the brain was somewhere else.
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:50.559
But there's something going on.
00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:54.960
There's something was going on, and I didn't want to mess up and and hurt a patient.
00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:55.839
Good for you for the time.
00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:57.680
For my inattention.
00:23:57.920 --> 00:23:58.319
Yeah.
00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:01.519
Because I forgot to write an order to do something right.
00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:05.920
The slightest miss of a detail changes someone else's life.
00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:06.559
Yeah.
00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:25.279
So it was like, don't know how I'll do it, but uh, I'll be financially independent at the end of 30 days and drew blood in the morning, and somebody else at church had decided she wanted to go to medical school, and she already had a baby and needed a babysitter, so I drew blood and went and nanny during the day.
00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:25.759
Okay.
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:28.720
8:30 I showed up to nanny at their house.
00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:29.599
Good for you.
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:30.880
Okay, whatever it takes then.
00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:36.240
And you adjust it, and 30 days later you're financially independent or something like that.
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:42.559
We have a lot of folks here who love science and have pursued scientific things.
00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:46.079
And you you talked a little bit about your job at the pharmacy.
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:47.279
Tell me more about that.
00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:54.720
So after kind of walking away from medical school, what what was the job or career for you that you ended up pursuing?
00:24:55.039 --> 00:25:05.279
I ended up teaching anatomy to undergraduate students because I had a master's, and so that made me was that at ACU?
00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:14.559
No, that was for the University of Texas in San Antonio, and there were three Catholic universities in San Antonio.
00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:22.400
Incarnate Word hired me uh one semester for teaching an anatomy course in an anatomy lab.
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:24.319
So did you like it?
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:25.920
Oh yeah, I loved it.
00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:27.440
I I loved it.
00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:34.319
Spare me physiology, I don't care how it works, because that's way too close to chemistry.
00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:34.960
Yes.
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:42.960
But anatomy you could see, even even microscopic anatomy of tissue, you could see.
00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:45.759
Well, come to find out, I'm a visual learner.
00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:46.799
Gee whiz.
00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:49.680
Do are we surprised that I liked anatomy, you know?
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:50.400
That makes sense.
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:51.279
Yeah.
00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:59.519
If I could see it and feel it and touch it and connect the two parts and make a bone move, you know, I could remember what the name of the muscle was.
00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:03.759
So I I taught anatomy for a while.
00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:14.880
I was looking for a change because they paid you by the course as part-time faculty, so it was very unreliable income.
00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:38.880
And another instructor told me that the medical school had positions open that I might be interested in, and I threw my name in the hat over there, and I was getting lots of come-ons for being somebody's lab tech sitting back in the dark end of a lab somewhere doing assays, which sounded way too much like chemistry.
00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:51.440
And finally, somebody called me one day to gather the data from patients that were on clinical trials in the oncology department.
00:26:52.640 --> 00:27:06.240
And I got to talking to him, and I liked that job, and he was impressed that I spoke English because all he had been getting were foreign medical graduates that were trying to get a job in the American system that did not speak real good English.
00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:07.279
Interesting.
00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:12.720
And so we ended up that I'd be a good match for what he needed.
00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:27.359
You had to have enough moxie to stand up to an MD and say you either treat the patient according to the protocol or you take them off the study, but you can't halfway treat them.
00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:32.720
And I'm sure that they had special terms for us.
00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:49.599
We called ourselves data dogs, but uh they they probably had some other terms for us because we would kind of step on their toes once in a while and uh remind them that the protocol says you need to order this test at this time so that the statistics are comparable.
00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:54.480
And come to find out, those statistics all came up here to Seattle to the Fred Hutchinson.
00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:55.119
Oh, okay.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:59.359
The Fred Hutchinson was the statistical center for us.
00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:12.720
And so, yeah, um, it was it was a small world when I went to the went to the hutch for my mammogram this spring, you know, and I was going, gee, this is where we used to send all of the data.
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.960
Yeah, in Seattle, in the faraway land.
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:23.039
Well, the the headquarters for that research group were there in San Antonio, but the statistical center was up here in Seattle.
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:23.359
Okay.
00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:31.599
They had the they had the the statisticians and the computing power, I would assume.
00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:34.000
Yes, send it up here to analyze it.
00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:35.359
They'll take care of it.
00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:39.599
So I ended up doing oncology clinical trials.
00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:48.720
Then I found out that you could make twice as much money doing oncology clinical trials at a private hospital because they expected it to be an RN doing that.
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:57.680
And we were getting paid clerical pay for medical school, so I moved to Tyler, Texas to work for a private hospital.
00:28:57.759 --> 00:28:58.160
Uh-huh.
00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:03.599
And that's where I met the elder at church that got me into Toastmasters.
00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:03.920
Oh.
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:06.319
That's how I got introduced to Toastmasters.
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:07.359
Tyler, Texas.
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:09.359
At Tyler at church, yeah.
00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:10.400
Oh, interesting.
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:12.720
So it was it was a good experience.
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:41.920
Toastmasters was a good experience to teach you to talk on your feet so that when you went into a meeting in the hospital and everybody else in there had an MD after their name, and you were presenting something that you weren't scared of them, and that you knew to put your red put your red suit on or put your blue suit on and go in and say, I know more about this protocol than they do, and I need to teach them about this protocol, so they'll refer patients to the research study.
00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:42.480
Yes.
00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:43.519
It's a great point.
00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:50.960
You can have all the letters by your name, but if you can't accurately and precisely speak what you know, it doesn't matter what you know.
00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:55.279
Like there needs to be a presentation, communication aspect of it.
00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:55.680
Yes.
00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:58.240
Uh, that you're very good at speaking on your feet.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:00.079
I'll I'll remind the listeners here.
00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:07.759
Some people will come in with just a ton of notes, or a lot of notes that maybe I send them, but Carol's working a lot just off of her feet here.
00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:11.759
I just told her some of the things I wanted to talk about, and she said, sounds good.
00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:14.240
And here she is, baby in arm.
00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:17.279
There is a lot more I I would like to talk about.
00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:19.920
I mean, we haven't even gotten a chance to talk about your husband.
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:25.119
Uh and he's the saint in Texas that is financing this operation.
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:26.480
Well, shout out to him.
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:28.400
That's your husband's name is Bill.
00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:29.440
Bill, okay, that's what I thought.
00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:30.880
Saint Bill, don't forget him.
00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:32.720
Well, William is named after him.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:33.279
That's awesome.
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:36.480
Okay, so Bill started out as a William.
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:38.960
Okay, William's named after his granddaddy.
00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:39.599
Awesome.
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:44.160
And Bill is a software engineer for Rena Center.
00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:48.960
And their headquarters are in Plano, Texas, which is another Dallas suburb.
00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:50.240
Okay, that's where he's at.
00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:51.519
That's where he's at.
00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:52.160
Working on.
00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:57.759
And he needs to work one more year to reach his full retirement age.
00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:59.359
Oh, he's very close.
00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.119
Yeah, to get his full retirement from Social Security.
00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:03.599
Okay.
00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:07.759
And needs to fix up the 30-year-old house that we have.
00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:09.359
Well, that's a process too.
00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:12.319
Oh, that's a process to get a house ready to sell.
00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:14.799
And we'll see where the market is by the time.
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:15.920
Yeah, who knows?
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:20.720
By the time we get the house fixed up and ready to sell, we'll see where the market is.
00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:29.680
But he has lived in the Seattle area for a year at one time back in his youth in the 20 to 21 age range.
00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:33.039
He had a buddy that was up here and came up here.
00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:39.039
And when I told him we were moving to Seattle, he says, You realize that's 40 miles from the Canadian border?
00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:42.240
And I go, Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it's not Idaho.
00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:52.160
You know, and uh when I when I got up over here and figured out we got the warm air off the Pacific Ocean, I went, Hey, this isn't bad.
00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:54.480
Yeah, Bremerton is nice.
00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:57.759
I think we have a favorable climate to Seattle.
00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:01.039
Seattle, the clouds settle and rain all over you.
00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:01.839
But I mean, look at us.
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:05.039
We're October 7th now, and we got lots of sunlight out there.
00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:05.519
It's great.
00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:06.880
Well, wait until November.
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:08.559
Well, from what I understand.
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:11.440
Hey, last November was not as bad as people say.
00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:14.640
Enjoy the sunny days, and the sunny days won't be as bad.
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:17.119
We've already bought a happy light box.
00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:19.200
Yes, I know many people who have.
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:24.480
If that helps you, do it at that and your vitamin D and Yeah, little supplements there.
00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:26.240
You know, exercise is good for you.
00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:30.319
Uh let me ask about one more thing before we get into the favorites section.
00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:39.680
And that was something we've talked about before is the work that you've done in your bus ministry, uh, serving people that way, uh, giving them rides.
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:47.279
I guess just tell us a little bit about that, where that was, and I guess the impact that you found it to have on yourself and others.
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:51.680
That started when I was in college out in Abilene.
00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:52.240
Oh, really?
00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:52.559
Okay.
00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:57.759
And the Highland congregation started a bus ministry kind of by accident.
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:04.240
They had this, well, they had this bright idea to everybody have vacation Bible school in your backyard.
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:15.440
And one of the people in the congregation lived out on some acreage and they had a barn, and by the end of the week they had 150 kids coming to their barn for vacation Bible school.
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:16.160
Wow.
00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:22.480
And they looked at the rest of the congregation and said, you know, one week is not gonna change these kids' lives.
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:24.160
How do we get them to church?
00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:30.480
And so in less time than it takes to tell it, a bus ministry was born.
00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:33.039
How are we gonna get these people in the church?
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:49.599
And so that was the beginning, and some of the Bible class teachers who were professional school teachers the rest of the week, some of them weren't ready for unchurched kids.
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:50.480
Yeah.
00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:55.599
And so we lost a bunch of experienced Bible class teachers.
00:33:55.759 --> 00:34:07.039
The other ones stayed and helped train the next generation of Sunday school teachers, and some deacon called me up on a Sunday afternoon and woke me up from a nap and recruited me to help in a five-year-old class.
00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:11.199
And and I agreed because I didn't have anything better to do.
00:34:11.519 --> 00:34:12.159
Good for that deacon.
00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:14.719
Yeah, good good for that deacon.
00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:20.159
And ended up, I ended up working on the bus ministry on that congregation.
00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:25.440
I think I worked on the buses on Wednesday night and I helped in the Sunday school class on Sunday morning.
00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:27.840
Oh, so it worked on both Sundays and Wednesdays.
00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:29.920
They they had they were broken out, you know.
00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:34.000
It was a congregation of 1,500, give or take a little bit.
00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:34.480
Wow.
00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:39.599
And half of it was college students, so they put us to work and they trained a lot of people.
00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:40.000
Yeah.
00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:45.199
You know, you you you came to college to get your degree, you came to church to learn how to work in a church.
00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:49.519
And uh so that's that started out there.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:35:16.480
And then when we got down to San Antonio, when I moved down to San Antonio after the medical school adventure, I got into an inner city ministry that the Oak Hills congregation had, where we were going down to a housing project in the middle of the city and picking up about 80 or 90 kids on Wednesday nights and taking them over to a church building and teaching them about Jesus.
00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:17.360
It's amazing.
00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:19.519
That that was an interesting experience.
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:23.679
Yeah, we only had three vans and 90 kids.
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:34.400
Yeah, they were little bitty, and we halfway jokingly, halfway seriously told them if we ever have a wreck in this van, if you're able to walk, start walking home.
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:49.119
Um yeah, I mean, it probably was not legal, but uh we were teaching them about Jesus, and one of those families I have stayed in contact with over the years.
00:35:49.440 --> 00:35:50.639
One of these kids that you're picking up.
00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:50.960
Yeah.
00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:52.880
You described them as inner city, yeah.
00:35:53.599 --> 00:36:05.199
One of those one of those families, the mother was shot and killed by the father of one of the kids, and they ended up being raised by their grandmother.
00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:15.440
And that was about the time that I doubled my salary, moving to Tyler, and I sent her some extra money every month to help finance those kids.
00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:20.239
You know, I I had an extra hundred or two hundred a month that I can, you know, send her.
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:21.760
That'd be game changing for her.
00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:22.159
Yeah.
00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:24.400
Yeah, game changing for her.
00:36:25.039 --> 00:36:28.719
And uh two of those kids have kept up with me on Facebook.
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:29.519
Wow.
00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:35.599
So one of them, one of them sent me a note, you know, they're like probably 50 years old now, 45.
00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:40.239
And one of them sent me a note one day that said, Thank you for teaching me about Jesus.
00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:40.880
That's it.
00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:44.400
And you know, that that makes it all worth it.
00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:44.960
Yes.
00:36:45.280 --> 00:37:03.119
And then when we got married and were in the Dallas area, we we were in Irving going to church, and there was an existing bus ministry there, and we went, okay, we know how to do this, you know, and got involved there.
00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:19.920
And our preacher had a hairdresser that kind of went on disability and started cutting hair out of her apartment, and she had a little five-year-old toe-headed kid running around, and he recruited that kid to our bus route.
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:30.800
And that young man is now about 30 years old, 35, and working um to help support Guatemalan orphans.
00:37:31.039 --> 00:37:31.360
Wow.
00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:35.599
His name is Kyle Ewald, and he is just as sweet as he can be.
00:37:36.079 --> 00:37:40.880
Uh, his mother died when he was about 14 of a drug overdose.
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:53.280
You know, these are these are kids that lost moms and and overcame tremendous losses in their lives and still made civilized human beings out of themselves.
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:53.599
Yeah.
00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:00.960
You have a few of those along the way, and and you decide that leaving your house at 6 30 on Sunday mornings to go to church.
00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:05.360
Getting home at 1 30 or 2 in the afternoon was worth it.
00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:09.360
It's so you're seeing the domino effect of helping people.
00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:18.480
Because if no one helps that 14-year-old kid going through hard times, then he never grows up into a person who's helping all these Guatemalan orphans.
00:38:18.639 --> 00:38:18.880
Yeah.
00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:22.559
If we can help people, there's this exponential effect on the street.
00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:30.000
Well, we had we had gotten him into the Boy Scout troop on Wednesday nights uh after Wednesday night Bible study.
00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:30.559
Okay.
00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:36.559
And he had actually moved into an apartment complex that wasn't on our bus route.
00:38:36.800 --> 00:38:42.000
So the Fundamental Baptist Church that was across the street from us had a bus that picked him up.
00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:47.039
But somebody at that church helped him get into college because he was a true orphan.
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:47.519
Yeah.
00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:55.519
Paternity was unknown because mommy had been a crack person when she conceived, so she didn't know who the paternity was.
00:38:55.760 --> 00:38:57.360
And she was deceased.
00:38:57.519 --> 00:38:58.960
So he was a true orphan.
00:38:59.199 --> 00:38:59.920
He needed help.
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:06.000
And qualified for educational assistance to get educated.
00:39:06.159 --> 00:39:10.320
So I love that you're calling out the return here.
00:39:10.480 --> 00:39:16.960
Not to call it an investment, but there's a return to your 6:30 waking up on Sunday morning and getting home later in the afternoon.
00:39:17.360 --> 00:39:20.159
Sometimes, uh, or for our Bible class teachers too.
00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:26.159
Sometimes it might feel like you're just doing a chore and the kids aren't listening, and you're thinking, what am I doing this work for?
00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:33.440
And now you're you're getting messages from these men who are grown and are thanking you, just simply, thank you for teaching me about Jesus.
00:39:33.599 --> 00:39:33.840
Yeah.
00:39:34.079 --> 00:39:36.800
There's there's so much good from these seeds we are sowing.
00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:45.679
If it's teaching a Bible class, if it's giving someone a ride, you are doing kingdom work that has a huge impact on people's lives and their souls.
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:47.440
And the souls of grandchildren.
00:39:47.679 --> 00:39:49.519
And the souls of grandchildren.
00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:51.280
Just look at the effects that it has.
00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:54.960
Yes, the children they'll raise and the children their children will raise.
00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:56.880
Well, we'll wrap up with this.
00:39:56.960 --> 00:40:01.039
Uh, you guys know I like to ask people about their favorite hymns and their favorite verses.
00:40:01.280 --> 00:40:11.119
We'll close with the favorite verses, but first I want to talk about my good pal Luca Brambilla's favorite hymn, which is Blue Skies and Rainbows.
00:40:11.199 --> 00:40:11.920
Everyone knows that.
00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:14.079
It's song 851 in our books.
00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:15.039
Luca loves it.
00:40:15.119 --> 00:40:16.719
So, Luca, pay good attention here.
00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:21.599
Carol, you know the person who wrote Blue Skies and Rainbows.
00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:22.800
Tell me about that.
00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:32.880
His name is Gary Mabry, and when I knew him, we were all college students, and he struck me as being a couple of years older than I was, but not much.
00:40:33.039 --> 00:40:38.719
But the Highland Church was loaded with college students, and they put us to work.
00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:41.280
And he was the song leader at Highland.
00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:56.880
So I think he had been to Europe with the choral group, which would go over in the summertime and sing and attract people with a cappella singing, and there would be a meeting teaching them about Jesus, you know.
00:40:57.039 --> 00:40:57.440
Yes.
00:40:57.760 --> 00:41:02.000
And I think they were coming out of Madrid, but I'm not absolutely sure.
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:11.199
But they were coming back home, and it was an early morning flight, so they were getting to see the sunrise out over the ocean and so forth.
00:41:11.679 --> 00:41:19.360
And my understanding is that by the time he got off that plane, he at least had the beginning of Blue Skies and Rainbows written down.
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:19.840
Wow.
00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:24.639
And whether he had the whole song written down or he got off the plane and finished it up.
00:41:25.039 --> 00:41:25.840
He's got the hook, though.
00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:28.159
He had the hook.
00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:31.519
And so he he wrote that one.
00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:37.519
And that was written the year before I started college out there.
00:41:37.679 --> 00:41:46.480
So the the Highland congregation ran a bus from the ACU campus halfway across town to their building.
00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:51.519
And for those of us who didn't have cars, we we caught the church bus.
00:41:52.159 --> 00:41:53.119
You needed a ride too.
00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:54.719
We needed a ride.
00:41:54.960 --> 00:42:00.719
And this was about a 1946 vintage Greyhound bus.
00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:01.920
Whatever it means.
00:42:02.320 --> 00:42:05.360
That the guy that drove it kept it maintained to keep it running.
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:06.159
Oh, good for him.
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:12.159
Seeing it on an airplane next time you see those blue skies and rainbows and sunbeams from heaven.
00:42:12.559 --> 00:42:14.880
Baby Michael, we're almost done.
00:42:15.119 --> 00:42:18.320
Carol has two favorite verses to share.
00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:22.719
The first one is going to be 1 Peter 5, verses 6 and 7.
00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:24.079
Let me read it for us.
00:42:24.320 --> 00:42:30.320
Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:36.159
Verse 7, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.
00:42:36.719 --> 00:42:38.559
Good reminder there, one that I need.
00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:44.400
Well, and I was going to say in other verses, that one reads, in your casting your cares.
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:50.960
In other verses, it reads, casting your anxieties on God, for he cares for you.
00:42:51.280 --> 00:43:04.159
And the other one is out of Joshua, where Joshua is addressing the Jewish people and telling them, choose you this day who you will follow.
00:43:04.480 --> 00:43:08.480
But as for me in my house, we're going to follow the Lord.
00:43:08.639 --> 00:43:16.159
As a memento from the South Mack congregation in Irving when we got out of bus ministry when we had kids of our own.
00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:21.599
They gave us a very nice plaque with that passage on it.
00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:22.480
Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:43:22.639 --> 00:43:24.239
A great one to hang in the house.
00:43:25.039 --> 00:43:28.079
But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.
00:43:28.559 --> 00:43:30.239
Let's leave it right there with Scripture.
00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:32.239
It's a great call-out that you have.
00:43:32.400 --> 00:43:34.400
I kind of want a plaque of it now, too.
00:43:34.639 --> 00:43:37.199
As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.
00:43:37.440 --> 00:43:42.559
Carol, Michael, thank you so much for your time today and for the discussion and all the things you've shared.
00:43:42.639 --> 00:43:44.159
People are going to gain a lot from this.
00:43:44.400 --> 00:43:47.440
Well, if it's an encouragement to folks, that's the purpose.
00:43:47.679 --> 00:43:48.239
That's what she said.
00:43:48.480 --> 00:43:52.960
When I asked her if she would do this, she said, if it'll encourage people, I said, it certainly will.
00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:56.239
Thank you for encouraging me and the many others who will hear this.
00:43:57.039 --> 00:44:02.480
The Bible tells us to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works in each other.
00:44:02.639 --> 00:44:07.840
So thank you for stirring up love and good works in me just by listening to this episode.
00:44:08.079 --> 00:44:09.039
If you can believe.
00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:11.119
Oh I'm in the middle of a podcast.
00:44:11.199 --> 00:44:12.320
Can I call you back?
00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:13.440
Okay, bye bye.
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.160
Consider one another as a podcast focused on each other.
00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:11.759
Thank you for tuning in to this podcast that is all about stirring up love and good works in one another.
00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.679
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you are.
00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:20.559
Thank you for tuning in to the podcast today.
00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:28.559
It is a Wednesday afternoon, and me and Carol and Baby Michael are at the church building today recording a podcast.
00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.120
Carol, thank you so much for making the time for this.
00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:33.039
Hey, I'm looking forward to it.
00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:35.439
She's multitasking as usual.
00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:41.280
So the scene here is a pretty typical one of Carol on a Sunday holding baby Michael.
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:42.320
I think he's napping.
00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.399
He's napping, I'm awake.
00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:46.240
Okay, well, perfect.
00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:47.200
That'll be important.
00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.600
We got a lot to talk about, so let me launch into it.
00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:52.880
I want to read a scripture that's pretty near and dear to our hearts.
00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:54.799
It's in Mark chapter 9.
00:00:54.960 --> 00:01:00.640
The context here is this man who has this son uh that is struggling heavily.
00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:05.040
He's very much so struggling, and he wants Jesus to heal his son.
00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:07.840
It looks like this in Mark 9, verse 20.
00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:16.480
Then they brought him to Jesus, and when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:20.319
So Jesus asked his father, How long has this been happening to him?
00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:22.000
And he said, From childhood.
00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:26.560
And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.
00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:30.640
But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.
00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:38.400
Verse 23, Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.
00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:47.040
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:57.920
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, Deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more.
00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:04.560
Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him, and he became as one dead.
00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:06.560
So that many said, He is dead.
00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:11.199
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.
00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:28.319
Page one.
00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:30.159
Yeah, page one, who made God?
00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:35.439
And uh so now I'm reading Lee Strobel, a case for the creator.
00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:36.400
Yeah, nice.
00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:43.039
And uh it it it's real interesting to read the astrophysicist interviews off of that.
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:47.120
So you're finding answers to this complicated thing.
00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:50.719
I'm I'm challenged in finding answers.
00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:59.039
And fortunately, that book was in the church library, so I need to return it when I get through waiting through the astrophysicist interviews.
00:02:59.199 --> 00:02:59.360
Right.
00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:01.199
So we've got it on record.
00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.919
Carol has a book checked out, she has to return it.
00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:04.240
Yes.
00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:05.520
No, that's what the library is here for.
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.360
Everybody can check me on that one.
00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:15.360
Yeah, but it's always been complicated, and I I want to believe.
00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:16.400
It's like marriage.
00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:17.919
Marriage is a commitment.
00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:20.719
Love is a commitment, it's not a feeling.
00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:28.960
It is a commitment that says, I am going to love you, and I am going to be married to you, and I am going to believe.
00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:33.120
Help my unbelief, help me when I get mad at you.
00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:35.360
Help my lack of commitment at times.
00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.479
Help my lack of commitment at times when I'm tired and I go find your own stuff, you know.
00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:51.039
It's always, it's always been complicated when I got ready to move to Richmond from Texas to help take care of the grandchildren.
00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:59.039
I was working as a pharmacy tech for Walmart and saw a customer wearing this bracelet that says God is big enough.
00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:00.960
The one you're wearing right now.
00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:01.439
Yes.
00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:19.839
I commented on it to her and told her what I was fixing to move and go do to help take care of the grandkids, and she peeled it off her arm and handed it to me and put it on my arm and said, Here, you need this more than I do, and my church has more of these.
00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:31.519
So God is big enough, has been on my wrist for the last three years, and will stay on my wrist for a long time to come, I hope.
00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:32.319
Yes.
00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:37.519
And the collery to that is because I'm not big enough.
00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:46.639
So the the Old Testament, the King James used to say, and it came to pass, my sister's colory to that is and not to stay.
00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:53.120
So do not do not pitch your tent in the valley of despair, but yes, you're gonna pass through despair.
00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.160
Yes, and you'll make it out the other side.
00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:00.560
You're gonna pass through difficult times, it'll be it through the other side.
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:04.639
Yes, and sometimes the way that happens is by just kindness, like the bracelet.
00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:09.279
Just someone saying, which is really kind of her, but also a little bit daunting for her for you.
00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:13.279
She she heard your story and she said, oof, you need this more than I do.
00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:13.759
Yeah.
00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:20.800
Well, and I did because I had just had a cardiac ablation two weeks before, and I was moving cross-country.
00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:21.600
Okay.
00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:23.600
There's there's a lot of story to unpack here.
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:29.120
You said that was three years ago in Richmond, or you're on a move to I was moving to Richmond.
00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:30.160
Three years ago.
00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:35.360
Okay, so I guess what I'm super interested in is how you ended up here in in Bremerton.
00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:43.360
So obviously, you are a grandma who loves her grandkids and works really hard as you are right now, very actively so.
00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:49.519
But if you take me through that timeline, I guess I'm just those three years: Texas to Richmond, and then to here.
00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:49.920
Is that right?
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.040
Or am I missing a step?
00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:55.920
Well, there was a stop in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, for a year also.
00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:01.439
So Richmond's about a hundred miles up the road from Norfolk, Virginia Beach area.
00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:18.480
And my daughter had moved to that part of the country to go to work for Colonial Williamsburg, and she is a history major, and so to get a job with Colonial Williamsburg was like a plumb job for a history major.
00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:25.920
And she ended up in their seamstress shop making the costumes by hand.
00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:29.519
We're talking needle in hand, pulling thread through fabric.
00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:31.199
Real historical, like yeah.
00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:40.639
Yeah, they didn't use sewing machines and uh making costumes for all of the reenactors that work at Colonial Williamsburg.
00:06:41.040 --> 00:07:02.079
And so anytime that there was a big holiday shindig, whether it was Christmas parade or 4th of July or whatever that Colonial Williamsburg was doing, they had the seamstresses on site on call to repair those costumes if somebody tripped over him and ripped something or whatever happened to him.
00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:15.839
And one of their seamstress shops was in Richmond, so that moved her from Williamsburg to Richmond, and then the other seamstress shop was down in Norfolk, Virginia Beach area.
00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:16.399
Okay.
00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:18.319
A hundred miles down the road.
00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:36.879
And so we moved to the Norfolk, Virginia Beach area, and she met military people and wound up pregnant, and he got stationed out here, and she thought she was in love and gonna get married, and moved to the Seattle area, and met his wife in St.
00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:39.920
Louis, and that kind of blew that relationship apart.
00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:46.560
And uh the military yanked his security clearance because being unfaithful to his wife in St.
00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:50.079
Louis put him at risk of being compromised.
00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:50.959
Right.
00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:51.600
Right.
00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:54.000
So but she had already had plans to come out here.
00:07:54.319 --> 00:08:00.959
We had already given up our apartment in Virginia Beach, and and one of the trucks was you know, we had two U-Haul trucks.
00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:02.000
One of the trucks was in St.
00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:06.959
Louis when she discovered this, and I had the other truck in Virginia Beach.
00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:10.000
So we ended up in Bremerton.
00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:11.519
And here you are.
00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:12.160
Yes.
00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:17.360
So this is 2025 that you're making this move, or when did the move to Bremerton?
00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:21.439
We we came in January of 26.
00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:22.319
Oh, really?
00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:22.720
Okay.
00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:33.840
So I I drove across the country from Norfolk to here the week of January the 8th on clear, dry roads.
00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:34.879
I was blessed.
00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:39.840
Yeah, I was about to say because the following week the weather went kafoo-y.
00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:41.679
19's a technical term.
00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:44.720
Yeah, a technical term for snow and yuck and muck.
00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:46.320
But you had dry roads.
00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:53.600
I had two kids and three cats in a car, and I was blessed with dry roads.
00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:59.039
Got into some real dense fog one night out of Denver or Salt Lake City, I don't know.
00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:00.879
By then they all ran together.
00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:01.360
Right.
00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:11.039
But other than that, we we came across on dry roads in January, all the way across this country, and I was just going wonderful.
00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:15.519
So it was an amazing trip.
00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:16.080
Yes.
00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:17.759
Well, I was trying to give you some credit there.
00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:21.840
I I assumed it was 25 because we met you in January of 2026.
00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:26.080
And so you showed up here and I showed up here about the second week.
00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:35.679
We it seems like I probably pulled in here on late on a Saturday night and was just wiped out.
00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:38.399
And then the following Sunday I showed up here.
00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:40.960
Okay, and and you've been here ever since.
00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:41.279
Yeah.
00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:46.639
And we're grateful for that, which is why I'm uh thinking this podcast will be so valuable.
00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:51.600
A couple of commentaries from Will that are neither here nor there, but you kept saying dry land.
00:09:51.840 --> 00:10:04.159
It made me think of Exodus 15 and verse 19, where they're going through the Red Sea, and it says very clearly, but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:10.240
Uh so a little bit of a different providential miracle here, but there's there's something to note about that.
00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:19.200
That trip could have been disastrously unsafe, or just something bad could have happened with all the kafuy, the snow and muck that could have been there, but you drove it.
00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:20.639
How long did it take you?
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:22.720
About six days.
00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:23.120
Okay.
00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:29.679
It was about 3,000 miles, and I figured if I made about 500 a day that I was doing okay.
00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:30.960
Yeah, that's really good.
00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:34.480
So especially with two kids, three cats in a car.
00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:38.240
Uh, I like to comment on good episode titles throughout.
00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:44.000
I think A Complicated Faith is a really good, poignant episode title.
00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:48.000
But I think two kids, three cats in a car would be a good one too.
00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:49.440
Good for you for making that trip.
00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:50.399
That's not easy.
00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:53.440
But you've been here for almost a year then.
00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:54.559
I guess just nine months.
00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:59.440
Nine months you've been here, and what we're getting to witness right here, baby Michael.
00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:00.480
Tell me about that.
00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:06.399
Just stepping up and bringing him to church, and you've got your hands full, literally and figuratively.
00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:08.879
What has that been like for you as a grandma?
00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:17.519
I mean, my my daughter, we adopted my daughter at birth, and when she got to be about 10 years old, we had her in therapy.
00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:19.360
And this is Christina.
00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:20.799
Yes, this is Christina.
00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:27.519
We had her in therapy, and the therapist said, You know, I'm doing the regular things and I'm not seeing the regular response.
00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.240
What do you know about the prenatal environment?
00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:33.519
And I said, Well, I know where the birth grandmother is.
00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:37.279
I'll write her and ask her if she can pass something on to her daughter.
00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:48.639
And about three weeks later, I got a letter from the birth mom that says, Well, I know I drank a lot and smoked a lot of pot, and if I did anything else, it was ten years ago and I don't remember.
00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:56.000
And so then we knew that we were dealing with fetal alcohol syndrome.
00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:56.639
Gotcha.
00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:04.320
We had assumed the diagnosis was was bipolar disorder prior to that because the behavior sort of fit that too.
00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:08.799
And and there were bipolar genetics in the background.
00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:13.600
So, you know, at least we we knew what we were dealing with.
00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:37.840
The downside of fetal alcohol syndrome is that when the mom drinks, it kind of melts whatever part of the brain is developing that day, and particularly affects the frontal lobe of the brain where the executive functions, the planning, the rational thought sort of stuff goes on.
00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:46.399
Christina has come much further than I ever expected her to, but she will probably need some therapy all of her life.
00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:48.159
Yeah, we've been blessed.
00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:58.000
She had a wonderful, godly therapist from the time she was about 11 till she was 21-ish.
00:12:58.399 --> 00:12:59.600
Wow, that's a blessing.
00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:11.840
Uh, that was a very godly believer that was also an art therapist, which spoke to Christina's brain of all her artsy, craftsy yarn.
00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:18.480
I mean, this gal picked up a used sewing machine so that she had a sewing machine in her in her office so that they could sew.
00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:19.519
That's awesome.
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.159
And just exceptionally bright therapist.
00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:27.440
Very humble, very quiet.
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:32.559
You'd never know that she had a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:39.519
She grew up down the street in Cambridge, just a really bright lady.
00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:40.960
But humble about it.
00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:45.440
Very humble about it, and and very much God-centered.
00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:54.320
I mean, her her office was decorated with crosses, so if you weren't ready for a Christian therapist, you moved on to somebody else.
00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:56.000
She was loud and clear.
00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:58.080
Loud and clear, that's right.
00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:59.440
She was loud and clear.
00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:02.000
She was a wonderful, wonderful therapist.
00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:03.759
And that was helpful to Christina.
00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:04.320
Oh, yeah.
00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:05.519
Art therapy.
00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:06.080
That's really cool.
00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:07.600
Because I know Christina's very into her art.
00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:10.159
She's got some cool art projects she's working on.
00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:16.399
She's into yarn, she's into fabric, she's into all sorts of stuff.
00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:32.720
She's learning how to use plant dyes from the various leaves and cabbage and turmeric and all sorts of things to dye yarn.
00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:39.279
You you get undyed yarn that's been washed naturally.
00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:45.759
And and she dips it in some kind of alum solution to help the dye set.
00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:47.120
That would stay, okay.
00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:50.639
And then dips it into these big pots.
00:14:50.799 --> 00:15:00.960
So right now our stove has, you know, pots of blue stuff that came from some plant and pots of yellow stuff that came from another plant.
00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:03.759
Lots of scientific experiments going on.
00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:10.879
Yeah, and you know, if you if you don't like the album, you use baking soda, so it it goes the other direction.
00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.279
It's it's fiddling around with the pH.
00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.600
Okay, to change the dye bath.
00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:16.000
Uh-huh.
00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:16.879
That makes sense.
00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:27.679
Well, there's always lots going on over there at the Ritchie House with got, you know, two kids and three cats, probably five cats now, uh, and now some some cool art projects going on too.
00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:28.240
Yes.
00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:31.840
Uh I want to know more about life for you in Texas.
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:40.159
Maybe I'm zooming in on nothing here, but I've noticed people from Texas don't pronounce their H's very clearly.
00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:45.679
You kept saying this therapist was very humble, but the H was much more silent.
00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:49.279
When people say Houston from Texas, I hear them say Houston.
00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:50.000
Like Houston?
00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:50.960
They say Houston.
00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:55.279
I think there's even a city called Humble, Texas, and they say humble.
00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:57.919
As in Humble Oil Company.
00:15:58.159 --> 00:15:58.799
Oh, oh, oh.
00:15:59.279 --> 00:15:59.759
Uh-huh.
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.360
It's it's down, it's down in the oil refining area.
00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:06.080
And yeah, it was the Humble Oil Company.
00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:06.639
Guns.
00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:11.840
Well, I can tell you're from Texas, and you've been all over, and I'm glad that you're here in Washington.
00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:14.720
But I feel like home for Carol is Texas.
00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:15.279
It is.
00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:15.679
Okay.
00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:16.000
It is.
00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:19.600
Tell me about Texas then, what what life was like for you there.
00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:20.960
Is that where you grew up?
00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.360
No, I grew up in Atlanta.
00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:28.559
My dad was uh air traffic controller coming out of World War II.
00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:29.200
Wow.
00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:45.759
And then he got into headquarters work, and he his first posting in headquarters work was in Fort Worth for what I think may have been called the southwestern region of uh the U.S.
00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:46.879
for the FAA.
00:16:47.840 --> 00:17:01.519
And then after Kennedy got elected in 6061 time frame, they opened the Southern Regional Office in Atlanta and we moved to Atlanta.
00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:06.720
So from the middle of second grade on, I was educated in Atlanta.
00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:07.119
Okay.
00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:09.680
And then came back to Abilene to go to college.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:10.720
Gotcha, okay.
00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:14.000
So Texas, then from a young age, you're in Atlanta.
00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:16.720
But then you go to Aberdeen for college.
00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.359
Was Abilene close to where home was originally?
00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:21.119
Or just a Christian college?
00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:31.359
It was it was a Christian college, and I wanted to go into medicine, and I I looked at Harding, I looked at Abilene, and we drove by Pepperdine.
00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:36.240
Pepperdine at the time was still in well, Pepperdine at the time was still in Watts.
00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:40.000
So they hadn't moved to Malibu yet.
00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:40.400
Okay.
00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:41.920
I guess I was thinking about Malibu.
00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:45.279
Malibu's Malibu's pretty from what I understand.
00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:46.079
Oh, it is.
00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:58.640
But Abilene, Abilene had a a good science program, and uh so I memorized my way through a chemistry degree in Abilene, and my comment is I had no life.
00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:09.119
Fortunately, there was a conference room with a chalkboard in it and nothing else, and I could write chemistry formulas until I had them memorized.
00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:10.559
On the chalkboard.
00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.119
Oh, that feels so classic to me.
00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.759
Chemistry formulas on the chalkboard.
00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:16.640
Yes.
00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:19.279
It was it was something else.
00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:30.079
After I graduated and talked to somebody that actually worked in the petroleum industry and knew what he was talking about in chemistry, I realized I had memorized my way through a degree in chemistry.
00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:31.200
Wow, good for you.
00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.519
My true love was anatomy.
00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:34.079
Huh.
00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:35.920
Because I could see that.
00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:39.759
And so then I hung around and did a master's in anatomy.
00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:41.599
Bachelor's in chemistry.
00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:43.759
Chemistry and then a master's in anatomy.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:44.880
All at ACU.
00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:45.279
Yes.
00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:45.920
Oh, okay.
00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:46.799
And then applied.
00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.920
I was applying to medical school while I was doing these things.
00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:50.400
Wow.
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:54.960
And uh finally got in on the third year worth of applications.
00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:58.960
The letter of recommendation got messed up the second year.
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:00.240
But you made it.
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.240
But I I got in the third year.
00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:02.640
Huh?
00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:06.799
And that took me down to San Antonio to the medical school there.
00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:11.039
Did that for two and a half years and figured out I didn't want to be a doctor.
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:17.119
Um because well, some people figured it out the first day in Gross Anatomy Lab and walked out.
00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:17.920
Said nothing.
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:18.720
But yeah.
00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:20.400
How old are you here?
00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.119
Uh 23-ish.
00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:24.000
Okay, well.
00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:25.599
Probably 23-ish.
00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:30.079
You've gotten the bachelor's, the master's, and and starting medical school.
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:30.640
Good for you.
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:31.119
That's good.
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:35.839
So I don't resent the knowledge that I gained in medical school.
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:36.480
Sure.
00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:41.119
But the stress on the body was more than my body could take.
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:42.640
It was just that hard.
00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:50.240
I would have I would have potentially ended up being one of the doctors that did harm to themselves.
00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:51.599
Just go crazy.
00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:54.160
Uh out of depression and overwhelm.
00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:54.400
Yeah.
00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:54.799
Wow.
00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:56.400
For getting out of that thing.
00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:08.000
Well, we had a psychiatrist at church, and I walked up to him one Sunday night after church and I said, Do you talk to messed up medical students that don't know why they're doing what they're doing?
00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:11.039
And he says, Ah, you don't want to come talk to me, I'll tell you to quit.
00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:16.960
And so I kept that and treasured that in my heart for a few months, and then I made an appointment.
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:35.440
And we didn't talk about medical school for about two or three months of therapy, and I finally complained about not sleeping well one night, one afternoon, and he went through the shopping list for depression, which I'd learned in my psychiatry course.
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:37.920
And he said, You're depressed, aren't you?
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.640
And I said, Yeah, I have been for about two or three weeks.
00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:45.920
And so then the floodgate was opened for talking about medical school.
00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:49.920
And he had been on the faculty at the medical school, so he knew how it worked.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.319
And he said, Well, you could take a leave of absence and uh think about it.
00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:59.759
And I went home and thought about that for a week and came back and said, How do I take a leave of absence?
00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:01.839
Okay, good advice here.
00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:02.880
Yeah, good advice.
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:11.759
So you go talk to the dean, and the dean says, Well, the statistics are that once somebody takes a leave of absence, they have a logarithmic loss of information.
00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:13.680
Yeah, you got it.
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.039
And very few of them come back, and I go, Yes, I understand.
00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:19.279
It's really hard to recover from.
00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:24.319
Well, he the the dean, the dean was encouraging in one manner.
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:34.880
He said, I've known one guy that took a leave and came to grand rounds of every department for the following year and came back in and did well.
00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:35.279
Okay.
00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:48.480
But that was somebody that obviously had a family that was helping finance their food and groceries and transportation and rent so that they could take a little leave.
00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:55.200
I told my dad I'd be financially independent at the end of 30 days and had no idea how I'd do it.
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.759
So I walked out of the medical school, walked across the street to the private.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:09.359
Hospital and applied for a blood collector job and went to work in the lab, waking people up at seven o'clock and or six o'clock in the morning to go, morning lab.
00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:11.119
Yeah, time time to get poked.
00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:15.200
Vampires are coming so that it's on the chart by seven when the doctors come.
00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:16.640
So you knew you weren't going back.
00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:19.039
Because the leave of absence, but you were done with medical school.
00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:19.440
Yeah.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.400
It it was it was like taking a boulder off my shoulders when I walked out of there.
00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:24.960
Yes.
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:27.759
And good for you, because it's it's a great question to ask.
00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:38.720
Uh because I know lots of people who just did good in school, were good at science, and felt like they had to go through this super hard thing, and then it gets too hard and it's too late.
00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:40.480
They felt like they can't get out.
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:42.240
But you said I'm getting out.
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:51.680
I I wasn't but ten thousand dollars in debt, and that made a hundred and fifteen dollar a month payment for the next ten years and got rid of it.
00:22:51.839 --> 00:23:02.160
Yeah, my my folks had supported me a whole lot, but that it was at the time when they had investments that were making fifteen percent, and I could borrow money at seven percent.
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:04.720
Okay, free money as we call it in the business.
00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:06.799
So you sort of got relatively cheap money.
00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:08.400
Relatively cheap money.
00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:12.160
So good for you for uh for recognizing that.
00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:20.559
Um because so many people have you know forfeited their soul for their degree or their job or the thing they felt like they couldn't walk away from.
00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:24.240
But you realized, hey, this is changing me.
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:31.119
I'm changing as a person as someone I don't want to be depressed or self-harming or any of these other hard things.
00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:32.880
You said, I'm getting out.
00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:33.279
Yeah.
00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:34.160
And that was that burden.
00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:43.759
Well, I didn't want to I I knew I was depressed enough that I was having trouble focusing when we were up on the floors talking about patients.
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.160
Didn't know at the time that I was ADD.
00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:49.279
Uh the brain was somewhere else.
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:50.559
But there's something going on.
00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:54.960
There's something was going on, and I didn't want to mess up and and hurt a patient.
00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:55.839
Good for you for the time.
00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:57.680
For my inattention.
00:23:57.920 --> 00:23:58.319
Yeah.
00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:01.519
Because I forgot to write an order to do something right.
00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:05.920
The slightest miss of a detail changes someone else's life.
00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:06.559
Yeah.
00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:25.279
So it was like, don't know how I'll do it, but uh, I'll be financially independent at the end of 30 days and drew blood in the morning, and somebody else at church had decided she wanted to go to medical school, and she already had a baby and needed a babysitter, so I drew blood and went and nanny during the day.
00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:25.759
Okay.
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:28.720
8:30 I showed up to nanny at their house.
00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:29.599
Good for you.
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:30.880
Okay, whatever it takes then.
00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:36.240
And you adjust it, and 30 days later you're financially independent or something like that.
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:42.559
We have a lot of folks here who love science and have pursued scientific things.
00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:46.079
And you you talked a little bit about your job at the pharmacy.
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:47.279
Tell me more about that.
00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:54.720
So after kind of walking away from medical school, what what was the job or career for you that you ended up pursuing?
00:24:55.039 --> 00:25:05.279
I ended up teaching anatomy to undergraduate students because I had a master's, and so that made me was that at ACU?
00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:14.559
No, that was for the University of Texas in San Antonio, and there were three Catholic universities in San Antonio.
00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:22.400
Incarnate Word hired me uh one semester for teaching an anatomy course in an anatomy lab.
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:24.319
So did you like it?
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:25.920
Oh yeah, I loved it.
00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:27.440
I I loved it.
00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:34.319
Spare me physiology, I don't care how it works, because that's way too close to chemistry.
00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:34.960
Yes.
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:42.960
But anatomy you could see, even even microscopic anatomy of tissue, you could see.
00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:45.759
Well, come to find out, I'm a visual learner.
00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:46.799
Gee whiz.
00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:49.680
Do are we surprised that I liked anatomy, you know?
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:50.400
That makes sense.
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:51.279
Yeah.
00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:59.519
If I could see it and feel it and touch it and connect the two parts and make a bone move, you know, I could remember what the name of the muscle was.
00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:03.759
So I I taught anatomy for a while.
00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:14.880
I was looking for a change because they paid you by the course as part-time faculty, so it was very unreliable income.
00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:38.880
And another instructor told me that the medical school had positions open that I might be interested in, and I threw my name in the hat over there, and I was getting lots of come-ons for being somebody's lab tech sitting back in the dark end of a lab somewhere doing assays, which sounded way too much like chemistry.
00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:51.440
And finally, somebody called me one day to gather the data from patients that were on clinical trials in the oncology department.
00:26:52.640 --> 00:27:06.240
And I got to talking to him, and I liked that job, and he was impressed that I spoke English because all he had been getting were foreign medical graduates that were trying to get a job in the American system that did not speak real good English.
00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:07.279
Interesting.
00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:12.720
And so we ended up that I'd be a good match for what he needed.
00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:27.359
You had to have enough moxie to stand up to an MD and say you either treat the patient according to the protocol or you take them off the study, but you can't halfway treat them.
00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:32.720
And I'm sure that they had special terms for us.
00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:49.599
We called ourselves data dogs, but uh they they probably had some other terms for us because we would kind of step on their toes once in a while and uh remind them that the protocol says you need to order this test at this time so that the statistics are comparable.
00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:54.480
And come to find out, those statistics all came up here to Seattle to the Fred Hutchinson.
00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:55.119
Oh, okay.
00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:59.359
The Fred Hutchinson was the statistical center for us.
00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:12.720
And so, yeah, um, it was it was a small world when I went to the went to the hutch for my mammogram this spring, you know, and I was going, gee, this is where we used to send all of the data.
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.960
Yeah, in Seattle, in the faraway land.
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:23.039
Well, the the headquarters for that research group were there in San Antonio, but the statistical center was up here in Seattle.
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:23.359
Okay.
00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:31.599
They had the they had the the statisticians and the computing power, I would assume.
00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:34.000
Yes, send it up here to analyze it.
00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:35.359
They'll take care of it.
00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:39.599
So I ended up doing oncology clinical trials.
00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:48.720
Then I found out that you could make twice as much money doing oncology clinical trials at a private hospital because they expected it to be an RN doing that.
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:57.680
And we were getting paid clerical pay for medical school, so I moved to Tyler, Texas to work for a private hospital.
00:28:57.759 --> 00:28:58.160
Uh-huh.
00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:03.599
And that's where I met the elder at church that got me into Toastmasters.
00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:03.920
Oh.
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:06.319
That's how I got introduced to Toastmasters.
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:07.359
Tyler, Texas.
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:09.359
At Tyler at church, yeah.
00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:10.400
Oh, interesting.
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:12.720
So it was it was a good experience.
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:41.920
Toastmasters was a good experience to teach you to talk on your feet so that when you went into a meeting in the hospital and everybody else in there had an MD after their name, and you were presenting something that you weren't scared of them, and that you knew to put your red put your red suit on or put your blue suit on and go in and say, I know more about this protocol than they do, and I need to teach them about this protocol, so they'll refer patients to the research study.
00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:42.480
Yes.
00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:43.519
It's a great point.
00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:50.960
You can have all the letters by your name, but if you can't accurately and precisely speak what you know, it doesn't matter what you know.
00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:55.279
Like there needs to be a presentation, communication aspect of it.
00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:55.680
Yes.
00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:58.240
Uh, that you're very good at speaking on your feet.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:00.079
I'll I'll remind the listeners here.
00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:07.759
Some people will come in with just a ton of notes, or a lot of notes that maybe I send them, but Carol's working a lot just off of her feet here.
00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:11.759
I just told her some of the things I wanted to talk about, and she said, sounds good.
00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:14.240
And here she is, baby in arm.
00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:17.279
There is a lot more I I would like to talk about.
00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:19.920
I mean, we haven't even gotten a chance to talk about your husband.
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:25.119
Uh and he's the saint in Texas that is financing this operation.
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:26.480
Well, shout out to him.
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:28.400
That's your husband's name is Bill.
00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:29.440
Bill, okay, that's what I thought.
00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:30.880
Saint Bill, don't forget him.
00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:32.720
Well, William is named after him.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:33.279
That's awesome.
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:36.480
Okay, so Bill started out as a William.
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:38.960
Okay, William's named after his granddaddy.
00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:39.599
Awesome.
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:44.160
And Bill is a software engineer for Rena Center.
00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:48.960
And their headquarters are in Plano, Texas, which is another Dallas suburb.
00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:50.240
Okay, that's where he's at.
00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:51.519
That's where he's at.
00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:52.160
Working on.
00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:57.759
And he needs to work one more year to reach his full retirement age.
00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:59.359
Oh, he's very close.
00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.119
Yeah, to get his full retirement from Social Security.
00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:03.599
Okay.
00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:07.759
And needs to fix up the 30-year-old house that we have.
00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:09.359
Well, that's a process too.
00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:12.319
Oh, that's a process to get a house ready to sell.
00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:14.799
And we'll see where the market is by the time.
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:15.920
Yeah, who knows?
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:20.720
By the time we get the house fixed up and ready to sell, we'll see where the market is.
00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:29.680
But he has lived in the Seattle area for a year at one time back in his youth in the 20 to 21 age range.
00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:33.039
He had a buddy that was up here and came up here.
00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:39.039
And when I told him we were moving to Seattle, he says, You realize that's 40 miles from the Canadian border?
00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:42.240
And I go, Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it's not Idaho.
00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:52.160
You know, and uh when I when I got up over here and figured out we got the warm air off the Pacific Ocean, I went, Hey, this isn't bad.
00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:54.480
Yeah, Bremerton is nice.
00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:57.759
I think we have a favorable climate to Seattle.
00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:01.039
Seattle, the clouds settle and rain all over you.
00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:01.839
But I mean, look at us.
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:05.039
We're October 7th now, and we got lots of sunlight out there.
00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:05.519
It's great.
00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:06.880
Well, wait until November.
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:08.559
Well, from what I understand.
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:11.440
Hey, last November was not as bad as people say.
00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:14.640
Enjoy the sunny days, and the sunny days won't be as bad.
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:17.119
We've already bought a happy light box.
00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:19.200
Yes, I know many people who have.
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:24.480
If that helps you, do it at that and your vitamin D and Yeah, little supplements there.
00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:26.240
You know, exercise is good for you.
00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:30.319
Uh let me ask about one more thing before we get into the favorites section.
00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:39.680
And that was something we've talked about before is the work that you've done in your bus ministry, uh, serving people that way, uh, giving them rides.
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:47.279
I guess just tell us a little bit about that, where that was, and I guess the impact that you found it to have on yourself and others.
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:51.680
That started when I was in college out in Abilene.
00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:52.240
Oh, really?
00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:52.559
Okay.
00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:57.759
And the Highland congregation started a bus ministry kind of by accident.
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:04.240
They had this, well, they had this bright idea to everybody have vacation Bible school in your backyard.
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:15.440
And one of the people in the congregation lived out on some acreage and they had a barn, and by the end of the week they had 150 kids coming to their barn for vacation Bible school.
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:16.160
Wow.
00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:22.480
And they looked at the rest of the congregation and said, you know, one week is not gonna change these kids' lives.
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:24.160
How do we get them to church?
00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:30.480
And so in less time than it takes to tell it, a bus ministry was born.
00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:33.039
How are we gonna get these people in the church?
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:49.599
And so that was the beginning, and some of the Bible class teachers who were professional school teachers the rest of the week, some of them weren't ready for unchurched kids.
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:50.480
Yeah.
00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:55.599
And so we lost a bunch of experienced Bible class teachers.
00:33:55.759 --> 00:34:07.039
The other ones stayed and helped train the next generation of Sunday school teachers, and some deacon called me up on a Sunday afternoon and woke me up from a nap and recruited me to help in a five-year-old class.
00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:11.199
And and I agreed because I didn't have anything better to do.
00:34:11.519 --> 00:34:12.159
Good for that deacon.
00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:14.719
Yeah, good good for that deacon.
00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:20.159
And ended up, I ended up working on the bus ministry on that congregation.
00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:25.440
I think I worked on the buses on Wednesday night and I helped in the Sunday school class on Sunday morning.
00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:27.840
Oh, so it worked on both Sundays and Wednesdays.
00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:29.920
They they had they were broken out, you know.
00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:34.000
It was a congregation of 1,500, give or take a little bit.
00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:34.480
Wow.
00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:39.599
And half of it was college students, so they put us to work and they trained a lot of people.
00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:40.000
Yeah.
00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:45.199
You know, you you you came to college to get your degree, you came to church to learn how to work in a church.
00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:49.519
And uh so that's that started out there.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:35:16.480
And then when we got down to San Antonio, when I moved down to San Antonio after the medical school adventure, I got into an inner city ministry that the Oak Hills congregation had, where we were going down to a housing project in the middle of the city and picking up about 80 or 90 kids on Wednesday nights and taking them over to a church building and teaching them about Jesus.
00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:17.360
It's amazing.
00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:19.519
That that was an interesting experience.
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:23.679
Yeah, we only had three vans and 90 kids.
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:34.400
Yeah, they were little bitty, and we halfway jokingly, halfway seriously told them if we ever have a wreck in this van, if you're able to walk, start walking home.
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:49.119
Um yeah, I mean, it probably was not legal, but uh we were teaching them about Jesus, and one of those families I have stayed in contact with over the years.
00:35:49.440 --> 00:35:50.639
One of these kids that you're picking up.
00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:50.960
Yeah.
00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:52.880
You described them as inner city, yeah.
00:35:53.599 --> 00:36:05.199
One of those one of those families, the mother was shot and killed by the father of one of the kids, and they ended up being raised by their grandmother.
00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:15.440
And that was about the time that I doubled my salary, moving to Tyler, and I sent her some extra money every month to help finance those kids.
00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:20.239
You know, I I had an extra hundred or two hundred a month that I can, you know, send her.
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:21.760
That'd be game changing for her.
00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:22.159
Yeah.
00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:24.400
Yeah, game changing for her.
00:36:25.039 --> 00:36:28.719
And uh two of those kids have kept up with me on Facebook.
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:29.519
Wow.
00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:35.599
So one of them, one of them sent me a note, you know, they're like probably 50 years old now, 45.
00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:40.239
And one of them sent me a note one day that said, Thank you for teaching me about Jesus.
00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:40.880
That's it.
00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:44.400
And you know, that that makes it all worth it.
00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:44.960
Yes.
00:36:45.280 --> 00:37:03.119
And then when we got married and were in the Dallas area, we we were in Irving going to church, and there was an existing bus ministry there, and we went, okay, we know how to do this, you know, and got involved there.
00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:19.920
And our preacher had a hairdresser that kind of went on disability and started cutting hair out of her apartment, and she had a little five-year-old toe-headed kid running around, and he recruited that kid to our bus route.
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:30.800
And that young man is now about 30 years old, 35, and working um to help support Guatemalan orphans.
00:37:31.039 --> 00:37:31.360
Wow.
00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:35.599
His name is Kyle Ewald, and he is just as sweet as he can be.
00:37:36.079 --> 00:37:40.880
Uh, his mother died when he was about 14 of a drug overdose.
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:53.280
You know, these are these are kids that lost moms and and overcame tremendous losses in their lives and still made civilized human beings out of themselves.
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:53.599
Yeah.
00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:00.960
You have a few of those along the way, and and you decide that leaving your house at 6 30 on Sunday mornings to go to church.
00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:05.360
Getting home at 1 30 or 2 in the afternoon was worth it.
00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:09.360
It's so you're seeing the domino effect of helping people.
00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:18.480
Because if no one helps that 14-year-old kid going through hard times, then he never grows up into a person who's helping all these Guatemalan orphans.
00:38:18.639 --> 00:38:18.880
Yeah.
00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:22.559
If we can help people, there's this exponential effect on the street.
00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:30.000
Well, we had we had gotten him into the Boy Scout troop on Wednesday nights uh after Wednesday night Bible study.
00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:30.559
Okay.
00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:36.559
And he had actually moved into an apartment complex that wasn't on our bus route.
00:38:36.800 --> 00:38:42.000
So the Fundamental Baptist Church that was across the street from us had a bus that picked him up.
00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:47.039
But somebody at that church helped him get into college because he was a true orphan.
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:47.519
Yeah.
00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:55.519
Paternity was unknown because mommy had been a crack person when she conceived, so she didn't know who the paternity was.
00:38:55.760 --> 00:38:57.360
And she was deceased.
00:38:57.519 --> 00:38:58.960
So he was a true orphan.
00:38:59.199 --> 00:38:59.920
He needed help.
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:06.000
And qualified for educational assistance to get educated.
00:39:06.159 --> 00:39:10.320
So I love that you're calling out the return here.
00:39:10.480 --> 00:39:16.960
Not to call it an investment, but there's a return to your 6:30 waking up on Sunday morning and getting home later in the afternoon.
00:39:17.360 --> 00:39:20.159
Sometimes, uh, or for our Bible class teachers too.
00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:26.159
Sometimes it might feel like you're just doing a chore and the kids aren't listening, and you're thinking, what am I doing this work for?
00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:33.440
And now you're you're getting messages from these men who are grown and are thanking you, just simply, thank you for teaching me about Jesus.
00:39:33.599 --> 00:39:33.840
Yeah.
00:39:34.079 --> 00:39:36.800
There's there's so much good from these seeds we are sowing.
00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:45.679
If it's teaching a Bible class, if it's giving someone a ride, you are doing kingdom work that has a huge impact on people's lives and their souls.
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:47.440
And the souls of grandchildren.
00:39:47.679 --> 00:39:49.519
And the souls of grandchildren.
00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:51.280
Just look at the effects that it has.
00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:54.960
Yes, the children they'll raise and the children their children will raise.
00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:56.880
Well, we'll wrap up with this.
00:39:56.960 --> 00:40:01.039
Uh, you guys know I like to ask people about their favorite hymns and their favorite verses.
00:40:01.280 --> 00:40:11.119
We'll close with the favorite verses, but first I want to talk about my good pal Luca Brambilla's favorite hymn, which is Blue Skies and Rainbows.
00:40:11.199 --> 00:40:11.920
Everyone knows that.
00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:14.079
It's song 851 in our books.
00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:15.039
Luca loves it.
00:40:15.119 --> 00:40:16.719
So, Luca, pay good attention here.
00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:21.599
Carol, you know the person who wrote Blue Skies and Rainbows.
00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:22.800
Tell me about that.
00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:32.880
His name is Gary Mabry, and when I knew him, we were all college students, and he struck me as being a couple of years older than I was, but not much.
00:40:33.039 --> 00:40:38.719
But the Highland Church was loaded with college students, and they put us to work.
00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:41.280
And he was the song leader at Highland.
00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:56.880
So I think he had been to Europe with the choral group, which would go over in the summertime and sing and attract people with a cappella singing, and there would be a meeting teaching them about Jesus, you know.
00:40:57.039 --> 00:40:57.440
Yes.
00:40:57.760 --> 00:41:02.000
And I think they were coming out of Madrid, but I'm not absolutely sure.
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:11.199
But they were coming back home, and it was an early morning flight, so they were getting to see the sunrise out over the ocean and so forth.
00:41:11.679 --> 00:41:19.360
And my understanding is that by the time he got off that plane, he at least had the beginning of Blue Skies and Rainbows written down.
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:19.840
Wow.
00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:24.639
And whether he had the whole song written down or he got off the plane and finished it up.
00:41:25.039 --> 00:41:25.840
He's got the hook, though.
00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:28.159
He had the hook.
00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:31.519
And so he he wrote that one.
00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:37.519
And that was written the year before I started college out there.
00:41:37.679 --> 00:41:46.480
So the the Highland congregation ran a bus from the ACU campus halfway across town to their building.
00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:51.519
And for those of us who didn't have cars, we we caught the church bus.
00:41:52.159 --> 00:41:53.119
You needed a ride too.
00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:54.719
We needed a ride.
00:41:54.960 --> 00:42:00.719
And this was about a 1946 vintage Greyhound bus.
00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:01.920
Whatever it means.
00:42:02.320 --> 00:42:05.360
That the guy that drove it kept it maintained to keep it running.
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:06.159
Oh, good for him.
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:12.159
Seeing it on an airplane next time you see those blue skies and rainbows and sunbeams from heaven.
00:42:12.559 --> 00:42:14.880
Baby Michael, we're almost done.
00:42:15.119 --> 00:42:18.320
Carol has two favorite verses to share.
00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:22.719
The first one is going to be 1 Peter 5, verses 6 and 7.
00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:24.079
Let me read it for us.
00:42:24.320 --> 00:42:30.320
Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:36.159
Verse 7, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.
00:42:36.719 --> 00:42:38.559
Good reminder there, one that I need.
00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:44.400
Well, and I was going to say in other verses, that one reads, in your casting your cares.
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:50.960
In other verses, it reads, casting your anxieties on God, for he cares for you.
00:42:51.280 --> 00:43:04.159
And the other one is out of Joshua, where Joshua is addressing the Jewish people and telling them, choose you this day who you will follow.
00:43:04.480 --> 00:43:08.480
But as for me in my house, we're going to follow the Lord.
00:43:08.639 --> 00:43:16.159
As a memento from the South Mack congregation in Irving when we got out of bus ministry when we had kids of our own.
00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:21.599
They gave us a very nice plaque with that passage on it.
00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:22.480
Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:43:22.639 --> 00:43:24.239
A great one to hang in the house.
00:43:25.039 --> 00:43:28.079
But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.
00:43:28.559 --> 00:43:30.239
Let's leave it right there with Scripture.
00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:32.239
It's a great call-out that you have.
00:43:32.400 --> 00:43:34.400
I kind of want a plaque of it now, too.
00:43:34.639 --> 00:43:37.199
As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.
00:43:37.440 --> 00:43:42.559
Carol, Michael, thank you so much for your time today and for the discussion and all the things you've shared.
00:43:42.639 --> 00:43:44.159
People are going to gain a lot from this.
00:43:44.400 --> 00:43:47.440
Well, if it's an encouragement to folks, that's the purpose.
00:43:47.679 --> 00:43:48.239
That's what she said.
00:43:48.480 --> 00:43:52.960
When I asked her if she would do this, she said, if it'll encourage people, I said, it certainly will.
00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:56.239
Thank you for encouraging me and the many others who will hear this.
00:43:57.039 --> 00:44:02.480
The Bible tells us to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works in each other.
00:44:02.639 --> 00:44:07.840
So thank you for stirring up love and good works in me just by listening to this episode.
00:44:08.079 --> 00:44:09.039
If you can believe.
00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:11.119
Oh I'm in the middle of a podcast.
00:44:11.199 --> 00:44:12.320
Can I call you back?
00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:13.440
Okay, bye bye.
