Arrows in the Making (AIM)
We may not be perfect, but our prayer and aspiration is to empower and inspire Christian families to sharpen, target, and launch themselves, their children, and future generations—along with a sprinkle of fun for good measure!
Christ serves as the ultimate role model for living boldly and courageously in faith. You are not alone in your desire to nurture your family in the faith and to raise your children in a countercultural way!
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2, ESV
"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." Psalms 127:3-6, ESV
Arrows in the Making (AIM)
17. The Year of Unexpected Transitions
We reunite after a year-long hiatus to share the whirlwind of changes our family has experienced. From career transitions and education milestones to homesteading adventures and parenting revelations, we reflect on how our carefully planned future compressed into rapid, transformative action.
• Transitioning from a two-year plan to a two-week reality when Cody took a teaching position
• Completing a master's degree and starting a doctoral program in history
• Beginning our homesteading journey with 40 chickens, fruit trees, and garden plans
• Switching homeschooling responsibilities and adjusting to new family dynamics
• Converting our garage into a bedroom to accommodate our growing family
• Surviving memorable parenting moments including an oven fire and toddler mishaps
• Finding a church community and celebrating our children's spiritual milestones
• Balancing the paradox of wanting little ones to grow while cherishing older children's stages
We're excited to be recording regularly again, creating both a family time capsule for our children and sharing our journey with listeners. Join us as we navigate faith, family, and the unexpected twists of life together.
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Email us questions, content suggestions and prayer requests at arrowsinthemakingministry@gmail.com
Be blessed!
Hello and welcome back to our Castellani family podcast and it's called Arrows in the Making.
Speaker 2:It has been a little over a year since we made one yeah, I guess so, because I think we ended in August was our last one of 2020, I thought it was in. Christmas three. Well, yeah, I guess so because we did. Yeah, it was Christmas because, we did Christmas movies.
Speaker 1:We rated our top Christmas movies yeah, that's probably one of my favorite ones, other than our families. Our kids are playing in the room. If you hear a squeal, they got a new room, which is part of our schedule, but they're playing in the room and they love it so much so welcome back. We took about a year year and a half off and we wanted to reconnect and restart this for our family because we have so much fun doing it.
Speaker 1:So this is going to be like a recovery recap episode of just what we've been doing the last year and a half or so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like doing these for us is like a journal for our family when we're dead and gone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like every day is getting closer and closer because I'm just so tired like all the time but it's also like a little midweek date for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just kind of chit chat and give us a reason to like kick our kids out.
Speaker 3:Like hey, we got to do this, we're going to do this thing for 20 minutes yeah, yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:I really enjoy okay. So why we took a break? Why did we take a break? Well, life, well, we's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:I really enjoy it. Okay, so why we took a break? Why did we take a break Life? Well, we had a lot of moving pieces, a lot of three-year plans that turned into two-week plans. Yeah, Like literally it was a two-year plan for me to quit homeschooling, finish my master's and get a job. Yeah Well, a job in my career path that I want to do?
Speaker 1:I applied for a job at a local school that I thought was going to be in August. I had just had surgery, I was. I had an interview January 3rd and they said, hey, can you start in 6?
Speaker 2:days and I thought it was starting in 6 months.
Speaker 1:So I was like, wow, okay, this is kind of fast. And I said, hey, can you start?
Speaker 2:in six days? Yeah, and I thought it was starting in six months.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I was like, wow, okay, this is kind of fast.
Speaker 2:When I look back on it, you know what I remember.
Speaker 1:How I didn't want to do it.
Speaker 2:How you weren't going to apply.
Speaker 1:Because if I had taken this in my mind, if I had taken this job, our whole life would have to come to a crashing change within about 48 hours. Yeah, and me.
Speaker 2:Being the planner that I am, I always thought like that's exactly how it would go, because I took it as god knows I need to release the reins and before that job ever came open, I remember telling my co-workers like this is how it's going to happen. I just have this weird feeling.
Speaker 1:You have control issues.
Speaker 2:I do, I have control issues and I just have this weird feeling like it is going to be a job that posts mid-year and he's going to have to start pretty quick. It did At my job. You had to give a 30-day notice. That was a whole other level of okay, well. Was.
Speaker 1:COVID still there no.
Speaker 2:No, COVID was basically over, but it was just another level layer of the unknowns. And how is it all going to work? But honestly, when we look back, I don't know. It was kind of cool to see like God had every step of the way and I had no doubt that that's what we were meant to do. And so when you said you weren't even going to apply, I honestly wanted to smack you through the phone. Well, it really was a blessing because it's within like a 20-minute drive.
Speaker 1:It's local.
Speaker 2:The schedule. They don't go to school on Mondays.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we have an extra hour Tuesday through Friday, and that Monday allows you to work as a nurse on the floor.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, I went back to bedside nursing.
Speaker 1:It really fits hand in glove with what we needed and need now. I finished my master's degree in when? What month?
Speaker 3:December, I mean this past.
Speaker 2:December yeah, this is like three months ago, december 2024, which already feels like it was a year ago. Yeah, I feel like I've slept twice. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And now I've entered again. My two-year plan turned into a three-month plan. Yeah, I've been accepted into a doctorate program for history in Virginia, and I'm really excited it's Liberty. University, which I am over the moon excited Because, when I've done more research, they are a very conservative Christian school.
Speaker 3:They're very Politically active.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're politically active.
Speaker 1:They're like the tip of the edge, it seems like, of having public speakers Like they don't shy away from controversial people.
Speaker 2:No, they take a stand, which we're we're pretty big on, like don't shy away. I've never been the kind of person that had like a list of schools. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I want to be accepted into it, like that was my number one school, yeah, and I got accepted into it and I'm just I start in May and it should be about three years.
Speaker 2:I am just over the moon excited it's going to be three years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, three and a half years, three years.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, that's pretty quick. I was expecting it to take longer.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know yet. We might have to have a class or two. No, you won't, so we'll see. I think you're going to completely nerd out. Yeah, and.
Speaker 2:I am trying to mentally prepare myself for all the fun, random historical facts so that what we even did, that did.
Speaker 1:You know John Adams was the president, was the lawyer to the Boston Massacre.
Speaker 2:They got the Boston people like off the murder charge no, who knows that I didn't think we watched John Adams for fun.
Speaker 1:We watched it for fun.
Speaker 2:I know, but I love history like that, like when it's historical dramas. Yeah, when it's historical dramas, I mean it's totally squirreling, but when it's historical dramas like the Crown and I can Google. I also watched Victoria. So if you have any recommendations, holler, because now I'm done, but these historical dramas that you can like quick, google. Did that actually happen?
Speaker 1:And you can like quick google. Did that actually happen? And you're like what?
Speaker 3:yeah, mic drop because they did no way. This is crazy. No, I think they. They uh had artistic expression for this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you can keep going. I'm sorry, so we caitlin's having some sinus issues because we had two jobs today.
Speaker 3:One was double our chicken pen oh, we got chickens, by the way. Was double our chicken pen. Oh, we got chickens, by the way.
Speaker 1:Double our chicken pen or clean out the winter layered foot and a half of chicken poo.
Speaker 2:And Caitlin got the chicken poo job, so now she's all sinuses. I am. It's bad.
Speaker 1:We also agreed to buy five chickens and Caitlin brought 40.
Speaker 2:We'll get into that.
Speaker 1:And is there anything else to fast forward the last year I've been teaching for just over a year now at a school and I love it.
Speaker 2:I love the content, I love it.
Speaker 1:There's some good productive conversations from time to time in class. One thing is that's really grasping the school. Maybe we can do like a political one but we can cover it more. But it's called bell to bell, no cell that Huckabee Sanders has passed and teachers are so excited no phones at all from bell to bell of the classroom, not even in between classes or in the bathroom, or in cafeteria. Yeah, so that would be a political one we could get into.
Speaker 2:So as far as my side of things, obviously, with you going to full-time teaching, that transitioned you out of home, which means I had to transition to home and start homeschooling our kiddos yeah, we transitioned what you're hilarious. So yeah, that's happened and it's been quite the rollercoaster.
Speaker 1:I love. I know she's having a rough day when.
Speaker 2:I get a text that says something like I'm so sorry I wasn't giving more grace. Oh no, and I was like, wow, I was having a rough day. I think we do have a unique.
Speaker 1:We need to post that picture of the oven on our facebook page yeah, that'll be our welcome back everything's been fine and then that picture yeah, we'll get into the picture.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry um, I don't know what I was saying. I was saying I knew you're having a rough day oh yeah, we have a unique perspective, I think, because you did it for a year and a half two years before I did, and so that's made you more graceful yes or it's hard. Yeah, like you understand when you get home why I'm ready to like clock out and you're it.
Speaker 1:You're like you literally hand me a baby and the chef says I'm going to my room for a minute, or like if we're at Jiu Jitsu.
Speaker 2:So our boys do Jiu Jitsu now and it's literally every day. If you can go every day, but because I have the littles I do not dare um, but the days that I do. When he walks through the door of the jiu-jitsu place I literally like release edison to the wild and say go get your dad.
Speaker 1:All right, let's go, screams daddy, and I'm just cheering more edison or Caitlin Mama. She's like yes, dad's here, mama is cheering that daddy is here, but I get coffee, so I'm good yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's happened. Yes, we started. I mean, if you want to call it a homestead, we're trying to get there.
Speaker 1:We're step one and you know what. Any finished homestead.
Speaker 2:you have to take the first step, you know the thing is like we actually have done more than I realize. We did plant 12 fruit trees. So we have a little orchard and we planted several nut trees Pretty much. I'm pretty sure half of my fruit trees died.
Speaker 1:I would say at least two. The peaches are harder yeah. But either way, so we did do that.
Speaker 2:We've done a lot of work on our land to try to clean it up. I have lots of dreams.
Speaker 1:We currently have garlic and onion. Yes, garlic we're going to do onion and potatoes. We cleared out the back line.
Speaker 2:We did a lot of land work this summer, yeah but I also know that I am a go big, go home kind of personality. I am all in. So with the chickens, chickens, we got chickens. Cody said we would never have chickens. I remember the one time you said I could, it was either have another baby or chickens and you got both and eventually I got both, but that was with rosalind during covid yeah, I did anyway.
Speaker 2:so here we are. I did order, well, we set up five, but then we had our little family planning meeting. Yeah, so Caitlin does the math, the math.
Speaker 3:I'm doing air quotes.
Speaker 1:The math says it's cheaper if I buy 50, because the $10 shipping charges are waived. If we buy 50 as opposed to five.
Speaker 2:It is, it's true. So we went from that to we ended up getting 35. And then there was a breed I really wanted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this breed cost me about $200. It was lavender orpingtons. Google them. They are gorgeous. It was a 15-minute drive down the road. That turned into an hour drive down the road.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize it was so far but even if it was, it was fine to buy lunch cody was not happy with it on the way there, but then once we got the little chicks he was not sad about it so we spent I don't know, probably it was a good whole day 30 bucks in gas to get there, yeah 50 bucks in lunch for all of our kids to eat 30 bucks in gas to get back I don't care, they've been fun we just gave one away today.
Speaker 1:I was just thinking about we literally just gave one away. I was waiting for you.
Speaker 2:They're absolutely gorgeous, so we we ended up with two meters like 40 chickens. Yeah, we ended up having like 10 roosters one died, two died, one got trapped one. We don't know what happened and one got attacked by some kind of animal, and then we just got rid of four today, finally, Four roosters, because there's just too many. Yeah, they were just causing issues. Yeah, I'll just leave it at that.
Speaker 1:They were plucking all the feathers off their backs. The hens, oh my poor hens.
Speaker 2:Anyway, so.
Speaker 3:Let's roll back.
Speaker 2:We actually have done a lot more than what it feels like, and I think what I've learned with homesteading, if you want to call it that is, it does. It's so small. Yeah, you can't just do it all. You've got to pick two projects a year and kind of work on that. Or like the garden while I would love to have a huge garden, I planned one out on my Excel spreadsheet and had it all planned out.
Speaker 1:I did. I sent you a screenshot, I did. She had a 25, I had my pathways.
Speaker 2:I had what was gonna be planted where, but, like ultimately I don't know what I'm doing, so we're gonna start with the garlic, which has been in since october it looks good like we cleared a bunch of trees on the back line and a bunch on the side yeah, that's the neighbors. We also made it sound like we have a ton of land.
Speaker 1:We have an acre let me tell you something but you can do a lot with an acre it's thick brush now my dream list.
Speaker 2:I want some honeybees no I want some cut flower gardens. Okay, I want flowers can't hurt me I want turkeys I can kill a turkey I was gonna get turkeys this year, but then I didn't realize how expensive they were. So yeah, so anyway it's mainly been she's working on ghost next, but I do but I think I want sheep instead, because sheep don't try to escape and then you can well, they're stubborn, but anyway, so that's been a lot of our change dumb and stubborn a lot.
Speaker 1:I feel like you just entered, invented a new word, so we got that going, which is nice we are we're trying to plan future things um, so I would love to get my doctorate, and when that's done, become a college professor or um adjunct or online. I would love to like be able to teach my underwear on the couch like just do online school you know I've read that like anywhere between 30 and 50 percent of total students are online now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I believe that. So I think the future is going to be weird to go in person. Yeah, no, I think that's definitely a thing. I think these colleges are going to see like a shift, it's going to be a ghost town, in school.
Speaker 1:So there might still be like on campus, but it'll be on campus. I think you're going to shift from traditional classes. You're going to see like more coffee lounges.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 1:So, like you're going to have, like 50, 100 students in a coffee lounge doing their online work at the same time, the same place.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:As opposed to a lecture setting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that's what you'll see.
Speaker 2:I'm not opposed. And Jordan Pearson is actually starting his own online school. I saw that it's a subscription based.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm not sure if you can transfer credit, but I thought about it.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's there yet but I think that's the direction, yeah yeah, I think that's the direction but anyways, so I'm trying to see where we are.
Speaker 1:so what else we got? Okay, so we added stuff for our home. We've just, I feel like we've made three years of changes in like a year. Yeah, it's funny because when I look at like friends of mine that have had a rough year, well, it's not as rough it's been hard, no, but I guess that's what I look at are.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's easy for me to minimize, maybe, how crazy it's been in the last year because it's all been good things. You know what I mean. But even good things all happening back to back to back is a lot of change yeah and so it can be feel a little crazy. Even though they're not bad, it's still stressful, it still can be a struggle like. Coming home for me has been a lot harder than I thought it would be, and that will be an episode in and of itself.
Speaker 1:I literally like my first. I think I'm having my first ever panic attack yes, I gotta sit down.
Speaker 2:I don't know what this is. I think I'm having my first ever panic attack. Yes, like I got to sit down. I don't know what this is.
Speaker 1:I think I'm having a panic attack.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was right at the beginning, or I think it was right around when I was finishing like a week from graduating I was having issues with my school stuff and everything got resolved and I graduated like a near 4.0. But I was like I think I'm having a near 4.0, but, um, I was like I think I'm having a bad attack it's like it just all kind of yes, yeah and it's like you can't breathe when you have so much change happening at the same time yeah, it's like I expect everything to go wrong.
Speaker 1:I expect not to be a smooth day, I expect not because it's bad, because like if one of a hundred
Speaker 2:things goes wrong, we'll throw everything off. Yeah, but we also joined a church. I don't know if where were we going?
Speaker 3:I don't know when were we going. We joined a church in our hometown and they love everything about it.
Speaker 1:Our pastor is currently in Israel or just came back. Yeah, which Just getting back, yeah, which we pregnant. That's scary.
Speaker 2:Both of our boys have been saved.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, and baptized.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't again. I don't know what timeline.
Speaker 1:I don't remember it was last Christmas, it wouldn't have been that long, yeah. So yeah, it's 2023.
Speaker 2:Early 2024.
Speaker 1:They joined FFA 4-H, 4-h oh, 4-h oh yeah, jiu-jitsu Watson is passionate about cooking and painting, so even this week we're going to a cooking class for him and a painting class for him.
Speaker 2:One of our friends is doing the painting class.
Speaker 1:Winston is really loving he's finishing his.
Speaker 3:Harry Potter series, and every time he finishes a book, we watch it.
Speaker 2:He tells us the whole time it's like this is better than the book, because you don't know this but he's thinking this or they miss this, or they miss this.
Speaker 1:He's making an editor's note for JK Rowling oh, they've been doing their. They did a presentation next month. Oh yeah, they're doing a presentation for Winston Churchill and someone else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, watson is doing, obviously Winston's doing, winston Churchill, watson's doing, whoever the DNA.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Watson and.
Speaker 1:Crick, yeah, they just have the DNA strands. Yeah, so reading it's just weird Because you don't think they're old enough to be doing these things.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's okay. So something that I have learned, I guess. Well, I feel like I'm. I feel like this whole last year, year and a half, has been a very sanctifying year yeah, of learning all my shortcomings um and then seeing them come alive in my children.
Speaker 1:But it's always fun to have a mirror around you it's exhausting.
Speaker 2:but anyway, one thing that's been on my mind, I guess, is like it's like you know, time does not pause, Like I know time does not pause, but still feeling like it's paused. But then Winston's going to be 10, and now Edison's going to be 3. I mean, we've still got a little while before that happens, because it's in september and december but like I don't know, I don't know how to explain it.
Speaker 2:It's just like this weird feeling of I feel like I've been waiting for my I'm waiting for the kids to reach a certain age, like I'm tired of the little years, to be honest, like I'm ready for edison to be older. But in being edison being older, that means winston and and Watson and Rosalind are also getting older 12, 15. And so it's like this weird paradox of wanting one to stay 10 and wanting the other to age older, and you can't have it.
Speaker 1:You can't put a positive one and fast forward the other Right.
Speaker 2:And so just trying to juggle through, like how do I enjoy these little years with edison while I have them, without foregoing the older years that I have with when I? Don't know I'm not explaining it very well, but it's just a weird it's me.
Speaker 1:It feels like I'm trying to like hold sand that makes sense, like I'm grabbing on to like the edison, like pulling him up to where I'm at, yes, and I'm losing, yes the other ones yeah, and so, like I say, you know, I'll do more with winston and watson and rosalind when edison gets older.
Speaker 2:But then, while I'm waiting for edison to get older, that means my older kids are also getting older, and so it's this weird dynamic of how to blend it all together to make sure I'm giving the olders what they need without not giving edison what he needs, and then making sure edison get the olders what they need without not giving Edison what he needs, and then making sure Edison gets what he needs is a little, without missing out on time with my olders. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:No, so there's this if I'm just waiting, it's waiting all I'll ever do.
Speaker 2:Right, and then it's like well, what did I do?
Speaker 1:with this time period of waiting, season of waiting. And then it's like okay, boom, well, good, he's old enough. Now the other ones who I've wasted four years waiting, yes, now what?
Speaker 2:yeah, so I'm thankful for the 4-h and the jujitsu and the plenty of these yeah, these little classes, and let me tell you those little the jitsu has been so fun to watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is, it's a lot of fun so I'm trying to think, yeah, garage chickens.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so garage Mm-hmm. Okay, so poor Edison has been a closet baby. Yeah, harry Potter baby. Thankfully, my closet in our bathroom is pretty big, and so we've had a playpen set up in there and he's been able to sleep. That was his nursery, was our closet, for I mean a good two.
Speaker 1:I mean two years for two years and he just for people. We could have fit several playpens in your closet.
Speaker 2:It's huge oh yeah, no, it's not like no, but I just a broom closet. He literally had a playpen and that's it. Yeah, because we had other stuff in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah um, we had too many kids yeah, no no, I mean like, not like too much. We had too many for what our home could give us.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so we have prayed about it and contemplated, and you know pros and cons, for a long time, yeah, and finally just decided to take the plunge. Um, and I do think the lord has been faithful and you know, blessing that there were no hiccups. Um, we were right on budget we had a great builder so we knew very well what we did is converted our garage to be a very large bedroom it's like 30 by 30, uh-huh for four it added 500 square feet to our home.
Speaker 1:it's enough for um a 10 by 12 jiu-jitsu mat to look small in their floor, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so, you know, we moved the older boys, so eight and nine-year-olds, out to the garage with some Watson, and then that allowed Edison to move into their old room the shuttle deck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so now he's in his own room. It kind of made me sad for a little while, but they did an amazing job in the garage.
Speaker 1:It doesn't look or feel like it. It looks like a large sunroof.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it actually was a very smooth. Yeah, it was really good. Process. There's no, it was a little crazy. You know people coming in and of your house, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be it was really fast yeah, and it didn't take very long, um, so that's nice, but yeah, so that's part of you know some of the things.
Speaker 1:That's before we move on the homeschool thing and life at home, because I want to put that picture up on our facebook. I want you to give context to that picture, real quick, of the oven picture oh yeah, funny.
Speaker 2:I feel like I guess for those days I'm like hey, honey I'm texting caitlin how's it going today?
Speaker 1:hope you have a good day and all I get back is this picture. Yeah, and that's not even the only thing that happened that day.
Speaker 2:So I was in roslyn's room. Well, I had okay, I had the oven on to get lunch ready, because we do chicken nuggets and frozen pizza and easy lunch, okay. And so I had the oven on to get it ready. I went to Rosalyn's room to help her clean her room, because, of course, she was pitching a fit about it. And so I'm like, well, I'll just help you. And the next thing, I know, I smell something weird, like a chemical?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was. It was like a weird smell.
Speaker 2:And so I come in here and you know we have like an island in front of our oven so I can't see in the oven, but I see that it's open. And then I come around the corner and I see Edison with things in his hand and a little pile next to him. And then I look in the oven and honestly it kind of took me a second to even realize what was happening. But there were flames, because Edison has a liking to one fire, he's obsessed with fire.
Speaker 1:It's very strange for a two-year-old, he's a hundred percent boy. Yes, he likes to be naked and fight. Not fight but wrestle and be aggressive and fire.
Speaker 2:By naked we mean a diaper only.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he likes to wear a diaper and run around his house.
Speaker 2:Anyway, anyway, I'm looking in and all of a sudden I see a pair or one. Rosalind shoe, her favorite shoe, a edison shoe, um a bottle of medicine thank the lord, was not flammable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then a bag of grapes um a new box like a whole thing of sam's, so like sam's grapes so a giant thing of grapes and I think there's something else in there and, honestly, the first thing I did it's like I know what I need to do. Okay, it's a fire, you put it out, whatever, but for some reason my mind went to I need to call my mom because, one. She needs to know about this. Two I can't even process what's happening right now because I was just trying to clean roslyn's room.
Speaker 1:And three what the heck like I love like I can either put out this fire or take a picture of this.
Speaker 2:Take a picture and call my mom. What do I do? Yes, call my mom, and so she said something about like we'll throw flour or whatever, which I did, and it just made a giant mess. Well, that's what I ended up doing. I got tongs and put them in the sink and you know it's fine, it's over. But then later that day I'm giving Edison a bath because we've been outside, it's nice out, we're playing and he's disgusting, and so I give him a bath. And then it was close to when you were coming home.
Speaker 1:You asked bath and then it was close to when you were coming home you asked me to make coffee. Yes, okay, I was like hey, if you don't mind, because I survived.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I was giving him the bath. I realized I forgot to make the coffee, so I hurry up and get him out and I just dry him off. Well, of course, he's a little boy well, baby any baby. He like takes the towel and just throws it off and runs around naked and I'm like I don't care, it only takes five minutes to make coffee and then I'll get him. Well, I'm adhd or whatever you want to call it, it doesn't matter or I'm just a mom yeah and so I go to make the coffee and then I'm like, oh, this shirt needs to be folded.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, I'm like, oh, the dishes.
Speaker 2:let me do these real quick, it won't take long. And then, oh, I need to get dinner started. That won't take long. And next thing I know, 30 minutes have gone by and I one haven't seen Edison.
Speaker 1:Which is up to no good. Yes, that's shenanigans. I don't hear Edison. That's definitely shenanigans.
Speaker 2:And then I'm like, oh, he's without a diaper. This is not good. So I go looking for him and I open our bedroom door and now, granted, he's used to going in there Because that's where he would go to bed, in my closet, and, you know, I kept some of his toys in there, and so that's where he's used to being. And so I go in there, I open it and the smell like hits me. Love that the smell hits me. Love that the smell hits me. And I don't even want to look. But the next thing I know, edison is walking towards me, going yuck, yuck, with his fingers spread out Because he's got poop in his hands.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 2:And then I look down and there's a trail. Because he pooped on our bedroom floor, stepped in it.
Speaker 1:Played in it.
Speaker 2:Put his hands in it and then because he stepped in it. I have a trail, adorable little poop I remember sending cody a white flag and saying I am done today.
Speaker 2:I think I said something really supportive like so you're having a crappy day yeah, and then I got nothing back for a couple hours so that's been the transition of being full-time at home and or full-time at work in an office, closing the door when you don't want to be bothered to a baby, throwing things in the oven and catching them on fire and pooping and walking all over the floor. So that's been our year? Yeah, it's been a really good year.
Speaker 1:We've checked a lot of the things off our box, things we never thought would happen anytime soon with the master's doctorate cody loves chickens um yeah, it's been nice with the chickens they're very much more relaxing than I thought they were going to be. Yeah, um, they have little personalities.
Speaker 2:They're fun to watch, especially when there's like flies or a bug. Yeah, they like chase it.
Speaker 1:We knew these things would happen, but not as fast as they did, which is awesome to see. We love the church we go to. We're taking on more responsibilities in our church, just trying to think. So yeah, we have some ideas of maybe some specials we want to do for our podcast involving homeschool, maybe politics and maybe just culture stuff. And thank you guys.
Speaker 1:We check in from time to time to see if anybody's even listening to this Surprisingly came on text and like hey, a week ago we had 17 listeners from Idaho or something weird.
Speaker 2:It's like oh, that's weird why are they listening to that, especially when we haven't done it for a year?
Speaker 1:But we're going to get more active in this, and it's something we both look forward to and really enjoy. But now things have slowed down. We've got a routine at work with the weekly responsibilities, with teaching and lesson planning, what that looks like, and then getting graduated and getting home and establishing our home routine just every day with education, and then tuesday it's jiu-jitsu, thursday it's cooking class or you know, and it's all good things.
Speaker 1:But you know, we really need to take a step back to establish our own routine before we add it onto it yeah and so we check a lot off the box and I'm very excited to see what the next year is going to look like. Why?
Speaker 2:are you shaking your head? I'm not. Oh, you shook your head. No, I did. Yeah, oh, no, I don't think so. It's probably a curl falling in my face and I had to move it.
Speaker 1:I did forget. I usually ask a question for you, since I'm scared with everything that's happening in the world today. Who killed?
Speaker 2:jfk.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, because they released 18 did it 80, 80, I've heard things of israel, george bush's father.
Speaker 2:Why would israel?
Speaker 1:something about denuclearization, oh um.
Speaker 2:What was the theory you had a theory about? Like well, we don't need to get into all that, that's a whole other can of worms. But like he wanted to audit Fort Knox or something. He said he was going to audit Fort Knox, which now they're going to do that now Thirteen days later he ended up dead.
Speaker 3:He also owed favors to the mafia.
Speaker 1:I've never seen someone who a hundred different people plausibly could have killed someone.
Speaker 2:Like legit, like there's evidence, not just thoughts.
Speaker 1:Like there's evidence of a hundred different murderers.
Speaker 2:Cody really likes conspiracy theories. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Oh, one more thing before we stop.
Speaker 3:Uh-huh.
Speaker 1:For the, for I guess my mom and your mom who listens to this when we put this out they found like 800 foot spiral columns.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I've heard about this about 20 times from you know, under the pyramids 800 foot.
Speaker 1:There's like 16 spiral columns.
Speaker 2:Why do they need to be spiraled, like their steps, like stair steps?
Speaker 1:I don't know why. That's what the social information suggests. So, um, we plan to get much more active. I think we decided what once to get a slow active. I think we decided what once to get a slow start.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I don't want to put a number on it.
Speaker 1:We're going to get a routine and then build up on it.
Speaker 2:Yes, but we will be active. But my ultimate goal for me because I can't see this any certain way or else it becomes like a project, but my ultimate goal for me is honestly to have like a diary for our kids yeah, and to hear they would love to hear about how much you love home school here last year they should know how hard it is it was so hard and that they should appreciate all that I've done for them some things are good to hear.
Speaker 1:Now.
Speaker 2:We're eight something, so don't get another 30 yes but I mean, I think it's a good way for them to be able to you know.
Speaker 1:You don't want to be sold a bill of goods. Like hey, this is what you're getting into. We love every minute of it, but it was hard. Yes, but I also just think as they get older, hopefully they'll want to know about their family and their parents, and you know how we lived our life and the decisions that we made and how we made them, and we try to keep god at the center and, you know, like going through I don't say coded, like the trump presidency or whatever the next thing's going to be.
Speaker 3:What was that like as a parent of young?
Speaker 1:kids. How did you navigate that? Yeah, we have this yeah because no one can read my handwriting amen, and apparently I missed I misspell everything on my text. Even talking about like doctoral stuff, I misspell stuff yep, yeah, you need spell check severely.
Speaker 2:Actually you have it and just choose not to listen to it and everyone that loves you just has to learn how to decipher your texting see, they got it you could invent a new language.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, be on the lookout, whatever we decide to do.
Speaker 1:We will be routinely doing that thing, whether it's once, a month, twice a month twice a day, whatever it is. It ain't going to be twice a day. I can tell you that right now I'm joking.
Speaker 2:It ain't going to be.
Speaker 3:Whatever it is, whenever we establish.
Speaker 1:We are going to do that thing. So it will be consistent whenever we decide, and we already have some ideas of future podcasts.
Speaker 2:So it's going to be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:We're going to have more contemporary things going on in the world and some specials. We have some specials in mind, some really cool things I think that's another reason we have short pause.
Speaker 2:Well, it wasn't short for me it feels short for me it does. I needed, I needed to have a clear direction on what this is for me to feel comfortable, because I don't like to, I don't like to be showy, you know, um, yeah, so I needed for myself, I needed to pray about this, and what's it going to look like and what is it really and what's the purpose. And the purpose is not look how good we are, this is how you should do things.
Speaker 1:We only be our kid. We only snapped at our kids seven times today.
Speaker 2:The purpose is honestly for me, for our kids to have something to refer back on and if other people want to join the journey of listening, great, if not totally fine. It's fun for us to do and I hope our kids appreciate it as they get older.
Speaker 1:Alrighty, I'm going to say a quick prayer and I think we're going to end it there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, alrighty, I'm going to say a quick prayer and I think we're going to end it there.
Speaker 1:Okay, alright, jesus, thank you so much for today and thank you for this. Whatever this is, I thank you that we are getting back into it. We love it so much. We love being able to talk about our family and the things we're doing and how we're trying to keep you at the center and live the way you want us to live, lord, and I just pray that we can magnify and work by you through it, and I thank you for the many changes we've had in the last year, and I could just, looking back on the other side of it, see how you were in control the entire time, and I knew it in the moment you were in control of things, but I didn't, I didn't understand, I didn't think it would work out the way it did, and again looking back and see how you were in total control of everything, lord, uh, thank you for those that have been with us this last year and the people we met this last year that quickly become very close friends of ours through our church stuff.
Speaker 1:And I just pray you'd be with us in our endeavors going forward that we can again just honor you and magnify you. I just keep enjoying doing this and I just praise you for all the blessing you've given us in our family, in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2:Amen, tell it as it says it.