An Army of Normal Folks - Lydia and Scott Rosencrants: The Normal Folks Who Adopted 11 Kids (Pt 1)

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Lydia and Scott Rosencrants have 13 children, 11 of which are adopted and 8 of them have some form of intellectual or physical disability. They didn’t set out to adopt this many kids, but they clearly answered the call a lot of times. And Lydia is the President of our local chapter in Memphis that’s launching soon!Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anna's tube fed. She's an infant at 17, right? She's full care, but she's also full of joy. And you asked... You also saved her life. But you asked why. I mean, I guess some people may ask, why does God allow things like this to happen anyway?

But when I look at Anna, she reminds me that every single one of us is made in the image of God. and every single life has dignity and worth. And we put so much of our value on the wrong things, right? Like our work, our ability to do this or that. And Anna can't do any of that. But I have a feeling that all day long, she's communing with God. And maybe she's sad for the rest of us.

She's the happiest child we have. Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband. I'm a father. I'm an entrepreneur. And I'm a football coach in inner city Memphis.

And that last part somehow led to an Oscar for the film about one of my teams. That movie's called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems are never going to be solved by a bunch of fancy people and nice suits using big words that nobody ever uses on CNN or but rather by an army of normal folks. Guys, that's us. Just you and me deciding, hey, you know what, maybe I can help. That's what Lydia and Scott Rosencrantz, the voices you just heard, have done. These unsung heroes have 13 children, 11 of which are adopted, and several have disabilities.

And if that wasn't crazy enough, Lydia is going to lead our local chapter in Memphis. I cannot wait for you to meet Scott and Lydia right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Or you could just hello fresh it. With over 80 recipes to choose from every week, including kid-friendly ones, even for picky eaters, you'll get fresh ingredients and easy step-by-step recipes delivered right to your door.

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We collected our best past classic holiday episodes and compiled them. into a 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist that the whole family can enjoy. That's right. Maybe you missed it the first time we detailed the history of Beanie Babies, Monopoly, or Yo-Yo's, and a whole lot more. So listen to the 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever listened to those true crime shows and found yourself with more questions than answers? And what is this? How is that not a story we all know? What's this? Where is that?

Why is it wet? Boy, do we have a show for you From smartless media, Campside Media, and Big Money Players comes crimeless. Join me, Josh Dean, investigative journalists. And me, Roy Scoville, comedian, as we celebrate the amazing creativity

of the world's dumbest criminals. We'll look into some of the silliest ways folks have broken the laws. Honestly, it feels more like a high-level prank than a crime. Who catfishes a city? And meets some memorable anti-heroes. There are thousands of angry, horny monkeys.

Clap if you think she's a witch. And it freaks you out. He has x-rayed vision. How could I not follow him? Honestly, I got to follow him. He can see right through me. Listen to Crimless on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Dad had the strong belief that the devil was attacking us.

Two brothers. One devout household. Two radically different paths. Gabe Ortiz became one of the highest-ranking law enforcement officers in Texas. 32 years, total law enforcement experience. But his brother Larry, he stayed behind and built an entirely different legacy. He was the head of this gang, and nobody was going to tell him what to do. You're going to push that line for the calls.

Took us under his wing and showed us the game, as they call it. When Larry is murdered, Gabe is forced to confront the past he tried to leave behind and uncover secrets he never saw coming. My dad had a whole other life that we never knew about. Like, my mom started screaming my dad's name, and I just heard one gunshot. The Brothers Ortiz is a gripping true story about faith, family, and how two lives can drift so far apart and collide in the most devastating way. Listen to the Brothers Ortiz on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Scott and Lydia Rosencrantz, welcome to an Army of normal folks. Thank you. It's great to be here. First of all, let me just go ahead and break the ice. Y'all are nuts. You are not telling us anything we didn't already know, Mel. You are out of your mind's crazy. I thought it was not quite so obvious.

So, interestingly, you are our second interview to come. from a first interview. The first interview was Peter Mutabasi, who is a dad who's fostered 47 kids and adopted three of them, and we did a large audience-attended event with him, and his episode is incredible, and he's incredible, and we got a lot of great response from it. And through that, we met Mick and Tracy Taylor, who attended that live interview. with Peter. And their voices are really powerful on the topic of transracial adoption, which is really interesting to us because we are conditioned as a public and culturally

when we think of transracial adoption, candidly, to think of two white parents that adopt black or brown children or maybe Asian. But Mick and Tracy are African-American parents who adopted white children. It's just an interesting juxtaposition. And honestly, it says a lot about our culture that that would be an interesting juxtaposition, that even that is surprising to us. And it was surprising to me.

And after meeting them and hearing their story, I refuse to any longer be surprised by that. there's latent prejudice and racism in the surprise itself. And their interview and their story helped me to see adoption in a very different light. I love them. They were great. And she is tough as nails. And then you guys come along because I think you were there too.

I was. Yes. Both or just you? Just me. Just you. How did you hear about it and why did you attend? Oh, gosh. I want to say I've probably heard about it on LinkedIn first.

And then, you know, just the idea of adoption and a single dad having that many foster kids. I was really excited to attend. And then I'm also aware of the good work that Agape does. And that's where we filmed it. So you happened to show up. And I guess you met Alex sitting on a corner somewhere. I did. It was.

It was. Behind a curtain. He was. He was behind the curtain. But I pulled it back and I said, hey. So you're like, tote, a little bit. She actually came to the Alex's lemonade stand.

That's right. I did. Yeah, I didn't get to come to the actual recording, but I did get to meet, oh, goodness, you're going to have to tell me your name. Yes. And get a picture with her. That's awesome. Yeah, it was very special.

So why are we talking to Scott and Lydia today? Scott and Lydia are parents to 13 children, 11 of which are adopted, not from Memphis, but now living in Memphis, which we'll get into how and why and what and what else they're doing. And the story of the growth of their family is just phenomenal. And so from Peter and Mick and Tracy come Scott and Lydia, who I think when you hear their story, everybody, you're going to be like, wow, these are just normal people who have changed so many lives through their love and their empathy and candidly their hard work. So first, how'd you meet? First of all, how did two crazy people actually come across one another? Oh, well, that was, that was interesting. I had just gotten out of the Navy

that year, so this was 1996. And I was roughing houses on the side and working at a microbrewery, brewing beer and partending at night. That's what people do when they get out of the Navy. Oh, yeah, exactly. So, you know, beer was kind of a sport in the Navy. So she was on a date with another

guy that night. Oh, you didn't tell me that, letty or what he saw. Sorry, I might have neglected to mention that, Alex. Is that for real? Yeah. And the So Scott's got game. He does. So the way the microbrewery set up is behind the bar is it's one-way glass because all the lot are tons and everything are back there.

So if you're back there working, if they need help, you can see through, but they can't see into the back. And I wasn't actually bartending that night. I was doing some maintenance work and I saw her walk in and I'd already talk to the bartender because he was expecting a girl he wanted to talk to to him to come in that night. And I said, so when I saw her walk in, I came out. I said, hey, man, now's the chance we'll just switch. You can keep an eye out for I was going, and I'm going to run the bar for a little while. So, when she didn't know the first time that I actually saw her first, she thought when she walked in and saw me come into the bartender, that was the first time that we never made contact date. I thought I was, well, it was not someone that I knew well.

We had just been out a couple times. I will just say, Bill, it goes to show that God can use any situation for his good and his plans. Because those were two very broken people that met that night. Two people, I mean, we both grew up in the church. we had wandered really far away, both of us. And, you know, I often laugh thinking about how we thought, you know, we're just going out for a fun, it was a Friday night, we're going out for a fun Friday night. And I just felt like God was just sitting up there in heaven laughing going, you guys have

no idea what I have in store for you. Were you in school? I was. I was getting my PhD in accounting at Michigan State University. My grandmother went to Michigan State. Yay, go Spartans. Yeah, yeah, a long time ago. She was in one of the first classes that admitted women.

Okay. Yeah, long time ago, long time ago. So you're a Spartan. So you're getting your Ph.D. in accounting, yes. Right? And you're figuring it out. You got out of the Navy and kind of what's next, working in a microbrewery and doing your thing. But I think you had interest on.

Well, I was in the nuclear Navy. So I was... You're in the nuclear Navy. Yeah, so I was Fast Attack Submarines. I was nuclear qualified operating. I was electrician and diver. I'd had a few years of college before I went into the Navy. So I'd already been in the Electro-Engineering Pipeline.

And I was, you know, hoping to come back and finish that off. So, but, you know, in the meantime, after, you know, doing the 24-7, 365 thing, you're kind of like I was catching my breath kind of thing. You were on nuclear subs? Yes. Yeah, 688 class, the USS City of Corpus Christi. How long would you spend underwater? Well, we could spend months if we needed to, but I think 38 days of the longest time that we went.

38? 38 days. I think we found out the genesis of your crazy. 38 days underwater. This has nothing to do with the story, but I want to hear what that's like. Does it get funky smelling under there? Well, yes, because everything that comes into it, because you've got, you know, we have diesel fuel on board for the, when we're on the surface and you've got, you know, obviously 140 men on board there

and all the smells that we generate because we can recycle and, you know, refresh our air, but it's not the freshest air in the world. So you have what's called boat smell. You get used to it and you don't know it until you step out in fresh air and you go, what is on my clothes? They call it boat smell. They call it boat smell. So, you know, and when you're going to go to a port, you don't have your civilian clothes

where they can suck up that boat smell. They are in plastic bags with a dryer sheet in them, so you don't... Really? Yeah, so you don't smell like an ogre when you're out in public. So, yeah, it's... That's unreal. Oh, yeah. What about showering?

Do they ration water and things? Oh, yeah. The showering's a whole purpose of you get in, get wet, shut the water off, soap up, turn the water back on, rinse out, get out, get out. Because, you know, we make our own fresh water, but you're not supposed to use a whole lot of it at all the time. That's fine. Can the submarine take in salt water or desalinate it and make it? 10,000 gallons a day. Really?

Oh, yeah. I see, I could sit here, we can't do it. But I could talk about that forever. That is wildly interesting. Where would you patrol? Where would you, where would this? Well, I was stationed out of Grott in Connecticut, so we were East Coast.

So Atlantic, North, South, all the way up to gateway to the north. I've been in the North Atlantic. I've been underneath the polar ice cap. Have you really? Oh, yeah. When that thing comes up in the middle of nowhere, Atlantic, Are y'all allowed to walk around on the boat and get some fresh air and see it, or is that just for special people? Yeah, only special events where we go up and do that, you got to be part of the topside crew.

And being I was a ship's diver, I was number one as far as safety goes. I'm the only person who wasn't tracked into the deck because if someone went off or over, I had to have freedom of movement to go get somebody. So I had a line on me, but I didn't have the harness and everything that everybody else topside did. So did you have the big metal hat? No, no, no, no. It wasn't, not deep sea. I was scuba, so. No kidding. Yeah, so up there, I didn't, I didn't even have tanks on. It was just, I had a UDT vest on, shorts, fins were tacked in case I'd be done.

Yeah, it's kind of cold. Yeah, it kind of is, yeah, it can be. Yeah, I bet. You're married to a boss. Oh, absolutely. That's really very, very cool. That's. You can see why I dumped the other guy.

Yeah, I get it. I do get it. Yeah. if you're listening to other guy. Too bad. No, he's saying they have 13 kids. Thank you, God. Really, they're nuts.

That's right. That's really a cool. Do your kids know all this? They know some of it, yeah. You should tell them all of it. I mean, that's dad hero status stuff. I wish I could tell my kids cool stuff like that. That's really, really neat.

And now, a few messages from our generation. sponsors. But first, I wanted to share an awesome update that in January and February, we're launching the first six local chapters of an army of normal folks. If you happen to live in one of these communities and you'd be interested in being a part of it, email Alex and he'll connect you to their leaders. The cities are Memphis, Oxford, Mississippi, Hottie Tottie, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Wichita, and Clinton, New York. If you'd be interested in leading a local chapter in your community, we'll hopefully be launching more this spring or summer. Please reach out to Alex about that too.

His email, army at normalfolks.us. We'll be right back. Being a parent is basically a juggling act. Dinner, hockey practice, homework, a last-minute science project, and someone's always, always shouting for you from another room. So yeah, I'll take any shortcuts that actually works. And that's why I'm all in on Hello Fresh. Fresh ingredients, super easy recipes and over 80 options every week so everyone eats.

No one complains and I get to feel like I've got it all together. At least for dinner. And the best part, you're in total control. Skip a week. Pause any time. Pick what works for you. It's dinner on your terms. They even have 15 minute recipes.

Perfect for those nights when everyone's hungry and patience is officially off the menu. And with so many options, even my pickiest eater found something they loved, which means no more backup mac and cheese. Try HelloFresh today and get 50% off the first box with free shipping. Go to Hellofresh.combe, rescue 50. That's Hellofresh.ca promo code rescue 50. Hey everybody, it's Chuck and Josh from the Stuff You Should Know podcast, and it's that time of year again when we knuckle down to do our annual holiday episodes. We collect at our best past classic holiday and compiled them into a 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist that the whole family can enjoy. That's right. Maybe you missed it the first time we detailed the history of Beanie Babies, Monopoly, or Yo-Yo's, and a whole lot more.

So listen to the 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever listened to those true crime shows and found yourself with more questions than answers? And what is this? How is that not a story we all know? What's this? Where is that? Why is it wet? Boy, do we have a show for you?

From Smartless Media, Campside Media, and Big Money Players, comes Crimeless. Join me, Josh Dean, investigative journalist. And me, Rory Scoval, comedian, as we celebrate the amazing creativity of the world's dumbest criminals. We'll look into some of the silliest ways folks have broken the laws. Honestly, it feels more like a high-level prank than a crime. Who catfish is a city? and meet some memorable anti-heroes. There are thousands of angry, horny monkeys.

Clap if you think she's a witch. And it freaks you out. He has X-ray vision. How could I not follow him? Honestly, I got to follow him. He can see right through me. Listen to Crimless on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Dad had the strong belief that the devil was attacking us.

Two brothers, one devout household. two radically different paths. Gabe Ortiz became one of the highest-ranking law enforcement officers in Texas. 32 years, total law enforcement experience. But his brother Larry, he stayed behind and built an entirely different legacy. He was the head of this gang

and nobody was going to tell him what to do. He was going to push that line for the cause. Took us under his wing and showed us the game, as they call it. When Larry is murdered, Gabe is forced to confront the past he tried to leave behind, and uncover secrets he never saw. coming. My dad had a whole other life that we never knew about. Like my mom started screaming my dad's name and I just heard one gunshot. The Brothers Ortiz is a gripping true story

about faith, family, and how two lives can drift so far apart and collide in the most devastating way. Listen to the Brothers Ortiz on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Stefan Curry and this is gentlemen. cut. I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different is me being a part of developing the profile of this beautiful finished product with every sip you get a little something different.

Visit gentlemen's cut bourbon.com or your nearest total wines or Bevmo. This message is intended for audiences 21 and older. Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky. For more on Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, please visit gentlemen's cut bourbon.com. Please enjoy responsibly. All right, so y'all meet at a brewery.

You scoop up and skate the sky out of the way, and you dump dude. So you get married? I mean, take me from there. We dated two years. And then you proposed about 17, 18 months into it. So something like that. And you're both in Michigan. Yeah, we're still in Michigan.

Yeah. And what was the plan? The, I guess the plan was at the time. She was take her PhD, figure out where she would end up teaching, and I would continue my education, get my engineering degree, and. Georgia Tech is where you were. Oh, yeah. Well, that's because I ended up getting a job at a small school in Georgia.

Oh, well, then that makes tons. And Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech was, we were about an hour south of Atlanta where we were. And so it worked out, he could either go to Georgia Tech or Auburn and ended up choosing Georgia Tech. So, and our plan was, I would work while he finished school. And then once he started working, I would start staying home and having babies. Normal. Yeah.

Seemed normal, right? Very, very rational, very normal. Like rational? Not crazy. No. No, just very normal. rational, honestly, wonderful, love story, but boring and really unremarkable, everybody, normal life. That's it.

Yep. So what the hell happened? Oh, gosh. All right, well, I'll start, and then I'll let Scott pick up with how he felt. I don't think anybody else can share how he felt when I said this. But so before we got married, we had really rededicated our lives to the Lord. We had, he had brought us back. As a couple.

Yes, as a couple. And church became extremely important to us. I would say pre-children, besides my job and his schooling, church was everything to us. We were very involved in our church. And so we had only been in LaGrange, I think we were in our second year there. The Grange, Georgia. La Grange, Georgia, right. Sorry, yes.

In our second year there, so we were very young, still newlyweds, and I laid down to take a nap one day because we had a strange little January term that had just started, and I wasn't teaching, and he wasn't taking a class, and so we had all this time, and God spoke out loud to me and said, you're going to adopt internationally. Is that the first time that thought had been in you? As far as I can remember, yes. So this wasn't a thing you thought about as a child or a teenager or any of that? No, no.

I'm an only child. I don't remember, you know, really thinking a whole lot about kids in general from this. Because I was still, I don't know, 29, I think at this point. I was still pretty young. It was the only time he has spoken out loud to me, but it was clear. It was completely clear. So I assume at some point you share this with your husband. So I got out.

I got out of my nap and went and started looking on the internet. Are you kidding? No. That quickly. That quickly. I was like, that's how clear it was. And our computer was in the downstairs room where our TV room was. And I was, it was a Sunday afternoon.

I'm watching football. Yeah. So I'm looking at this. All right. So he comes, you know, he comes in and I'm like, so I need to tell you what God said. And I did. And I'll let him give you his reaction. And, you know, having been in the military,

and submarines, things change, and you're like, next thing up, whatever. And you're out the scene. She said that, and I was like, honey, just second, it's third and three. Let me see the play. Maybe Detroit wasn't playing. And I was just like, okay, we'll see where this goes. Yeah. I have no idea what you're talking about.

And, you know, never have any idea when God's involved. It's like, yep. You know, when Aberneseer Scrooge saw the. the first vision of Christmas past, he thought it might have been just some undigested oat. That's exactly right. That could have been. That could have been. Exactly.

It could have been. It could have been. Except that within a week, we had signed. Just one second. Yeah. Alex, you saw just evoke Charles Dickens. You see that, right? It's pretty good.

I quoted Charles Dickens in this. Cassius, that's pretty cool, right? Okay, go ahead. We're not impressed. Uh, no, uh, thanks, just, just, just, just, just all of you cited dosieski or something. I mean, give me a break. Okay. I'm sorry.

Go back to sleep, Alex. Let's keep going. So I, I might believe you, Bill, except that within a week, we had signed with our adoption agency. It was that fast. Wow. And that was going to internationally, that's a big, big footprint. Yeah, that's. Well, we, so somewhere in there.

God had just narrowed it down for us very quickly that it was going to be Kazakhstan. Okay. When I read that, Alex, put that in the prep. I laughed out loud because it's because I've been to Uzbekistan and I've done business there. And so I know a little bit about this place. It's completely landlocked. Yes. It's Russia to the east.

And it's China, really, to the west. and then these mountain regions, Stans, in the middle, and the people are these beautiful mix of East Asian, West Russian folk. Yes. Largely Muslim and beautifully kind, very poor, for the most part, people, lots of agriculture and all of that. And for centuries, these places have been invaded and taken by larger countries around it for their natural resources. That's the Stons. Sure.

So let's go there. I mean, come on. Are you, it's crazier than crazy. Well, it was just, you know, I mean, it was where God led us. Nobody even thinks about the Stans. Nobody even knows they exist really. So this was 2001. At the time, if you looked up countries to adopt from,

Kazakhstan was actually a pretty popular country for adoptions. Oh, okay. It was easy. It was fast at the time. Now I don't think it's even, I don't think international adoptions, or at least in the U.S. or even allowed. But it was easy and fast, and they had young children,

which most people who were adopting, they did it for infertility reasons. And so they wanted to have the experience of a baby, right? So you could actually adopt a baby at the time. You, on the other hand, did it because of a nap. I did it because of a nap. I did it, you know. And so.

So it's happened when you're well-rested. We actually, because at the time, we thought, you know, Scott's in school. We need children that can go into daycare. So we were actually wanting to adopt older. Yeah, you didn't want an infant. You wanted somebody. That's right. At least two.

At least two years old was kind of our. So anyway, somehow we ended up at Kazakhstan. I don't know. That was a long time ago. It's crazy. So take me. Well, you know, it's a process you've got a, you can watch videos and then you put in a referral. Well, for the first little boy that we were looking at, there was a lot of prayer and watching the video over and over and over.

We fell in love with this little boy, but someone was in line ahead of us. And so we're like, oh, my God, if we put all this into this, is this going to happen? It's not going to happen. And it was a Sunday morning. And so we're getting ready for church because we've got to go early because she's involved with the praise team. I worked with the techno group. And I went to take shower. She went downstairs to check the computer again, see what's up with the referral.

And the house that we were in at the time was three stories. So I'm all the way upstairs in the bathroom three stores. She's all the way downstairs where the computer is. And I hear screaming. And of course, I'm in the shower. Was it a spider on the wall screaming or joyous scream? Well, the thing is through three. through two other floors, you can't tell.

You can't tell. The inflection is not there. And I'm like, out of the shower, grab a towel, maybe on the way out going, I'm thinking, could be somebody in the house, got to prayer for anything. And I'm, you know, I'm ready to kill or just get a hug. Don't get a right. Our referral had gone through. The other couple that had been looking at the Louisvillevilleville.

We dropped out, and we found out that Arston was ours. So that was good kind of screaming. So it was a very, a very. you know, joyous start to the rest of the process. Which is. Well, and so the one thing that you find out very quickly is international adoptions are delayed constantly, constantly. And that can be from our side. That can be from their countryside.

It is a roller question. Yes. When I was reading this, this popped into my head. And people are going to hear this. And there's going to be a number of people. people that say, hmm, and look into it. So eyes wide open kind of thing. Yeah.

It's not cheap. No. No. But beyond that, in some of these third world countries, forget adoption for a second. Again, I've done business there. You run into a lot of people with their handout. Oh, absolutely. Yes.

And if you don't put the money in the paw, oftentimes, that leads to delays and oh this paperwork got lost and oh i'm sorry they people people with just a modicum of administrative power can make lives miserable in places like this if you don't grease the palms i don't do it i don't want my business involved in it i don't think it's ethical so if it comes down to doing business or not in that situation we walk i'm just curious were the delays because Some people were wanting things that you were unwilling or unable to give, or is it just the administrative process in these places are so jacked up? It just takes forever. It was a delay across the board. It wasn't just us. It was no families would travel during

this period of time because the laws were changing. Or they took the summer off. Yeah. They took the summer off. They took the summer off. We're done. We'll talk to you a few months. Yeah, close the offices. I mean, they were, you know, they were part of the Soviet Union. They were the second largest country to come out of the Soviet Union when the Soviet Union broke. So very different way of doing things. But we traveled exactly when God had his plan to travel. Now, I was not so, that sounds like, oh, isn't she just so faithful?

No, I was pacing many times saying God, why, you know, why, why, why? But in the middle of it, we did decide we could adopt two. So it did allow us to bring home two little boys. We'll be right back. Being a parent is basically a juggling act. Dinner, hockey practice, homework, a last-minute science project, and someone's always, always shouting for you from another room. So yeah, I'll take any shortcuts that act.

actually works. And that's why I'm all in on Hello Fresh. Fresh ingredients, super easy recipes and over 80 options every week so everyone eats. No one complains and I get to feel like I've got it all together, at least for dinner. And the best part, you're in total control. Skip a week, pause any time, pick what works for you. It's dinner on your terms. They even have 15-minute recipes. Perfect for those nights when everyone's hungry and patience is officially off the menu. And with so many options, even my pickiest eater found something they loved, which means no more backup mac and cheese. Try HelloFresh today and get 50% off the first box with free shipping. Go to Hellofresh.combe, rescue 50. That's hellofresh.ca promo code rescue 50.

Hey everybody, it's Chuck and Josh from the Stuff You Should Know podcast, and it's that time of year again when we knuckle down to do our annual holiday episodes. We collected our best past classic holiday episodes and compiled them into a 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist that the whole family can enjoy. That's right. Maybe you missed it the first time we detailed the history of Beanie Babies, Monopoly, or Yo-Yo's, and a whole lot more. So listen to the 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever listened to those true crime shows and found yourself with more questions than answers? And what is this? How is that not a story we all know?

What's this? Where is that? Why is it wet? Boy, do we have a show for you? From Smartless Media, Campside Media, and Big Money Players, comes Crimeless. Join me, Josh Dean, investigative journalist. And me, Roy Scoval, comedian, as we celebrate the amazing creativity of the world's dumbest criminals. We'll look into some of the silliest ways folks have broken the laws.

Honestly, it feels more like a high-level prank than a crime. Who catfish is a city? and meet some memorable anti-heroes. There are thousands of angry, horny monkeys. Clap if you think she's a witch. And it freaks you out. He has X-ray vision. How could I not follow him?

Honestly, I got to follow him. He can see right through me. Listen to Crimless on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Dad had the strong belief that the devil was attacking us. Two brothers. One devout household. two radically different paths.

Gabe Ortiz became one of the highest-ranking law enforcement officers in Texas. 32 years, total law enforcement experience. But his brother Larry, he stayed behind and built an entirely different legacy. He was the head of this gang, and nobody was going to tell him what to do. He was going to push that line for the calls. Took us under his wing and showed us the game, as they call it. When Larry is murdered, Gabe is forced to confront the past he tried to leave behind, and uncover secrets he never saw him.

coming. My dad had a whole other life that we never knew about. Like my mom started screaming my dad's name and I just heard one gunshot. The Brothers Ortiz is a gripping true story about faith, family, and how two lives can drift so far apart and collide in the most devastating way. Listen to the Brothers Ortiz on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Stefan Curry and this is Gentleman's cut. I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different is me being a part of developing the profile

of this beautiful finished product with every sip you get a little something different. Visit gentlemen's cutbuburn.com or your nearest total wines or Bevmo. This message is intended for audiences 21 and older. Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky. For more on Gentleman's Cut Bourbon,

please visit gentlemen's cuthuburn.com. Please enjoy responsibly. In this process, then it's because you travel with other couples. And one of the couples that we were traveling with that we got to know, they were debating about a second little boy because he needed a very special type of heart surgery that you really can only get here in the States. And so part of the delay process was God working on their hearts,

provide this opportunity to get moved them to that point. So while that was happening, you know, we're bored. So we were continuing to look at pictures on the same website. And we came across another little boy who we just thought, well, isn't he cute? And he was. And he was. It's a very handsome young man now. And so we ended up adopting two little boys.

And this was more on, like I said, this time on her leaving that this was the thing we needed to do. So this was Arston and Sarick. So they were the first two that we adopted. Arston and Serrick. Yes. So you people listening, the reason I'm pausing is because I have a chart of all these kids and their ages and where they're from. And I'm boxing in Arston, A-R-S-T-A-N, and C-R-I-K, who were the first two of the family,

both from Kazakhstan. Five weeks apart in age. How many? Five weeks. Five weeks apart in age. No biological tie. Who were your first two children? Yes.

And they were adopted in 2001. September or August of 2001. Yeah, which is interesting because when you went to get them and we're flying back, it was September 11th. And we did not make it back to the United States of America. We made it to Canada. Unbelievable. So here was my next question. I read that, which is your plane got diverted to Canada, right?

When they grounded everybody? Oh, yeah. So now you got two Americans in Canada trying to get back home to the United States with two brand new Cossack children. Who didn't have a Canadian visa. Right. So they weren't legally. Right. All their people were sealed.

I mean, so. Yeah, in Canada. How'd that work. Oh, the Canadian people, Bill. They were awesome. They were so incredible. Really? They pulled us aside immediately.

process visas immediately. Was it because they knew you had a background in beer? It could have been. Why'd been to Nova Scotia? Oh, that's it. I did. But we ended up in Toronto. I cruised by their coast and a nuclear salt and they were happy with me.

Yeah, no, they treated us with so much respect and we're so kind. Where were you in Canada? Toronto. So you weren't. At least you're just cross-border. Yes. Which was, again, another godsend because at the time my parents were still alive, And being from Michigan, the borders, you know, port here on Saria.

It just drove, drive up. Well, once they opened the border and allowed people to cross, yeah, my parents came over and rescued us. So you literally, how did you get, you walked? I guess you walked. Well, no, we drove. We drove. My, my, my, they, you know, they drove us hotel and stuff when we were kind of stuck down really. In Rockford, which is a really nice area of Toronto, if you know, that's like Toronto Raptors.

So Lufthansa airline put us up, paid for everything. So we had three meals a day. we had... Yeah, but you got these two brand new kids. How old were they at the time? Two. Oh, my gosh. One had actually just turned two.

One was about to turn two. Yeah. So they were in the middle. Yep. And so your parents were trying to get you and then you get back and... Oh, yeah. And drive to Georgia. Yeah.

And drive to Georgia after all that. But they got to meet their grandparents and their uncle and their aunt and, you know, so... Well, look, look what we did. Yeah. Here's your grandsons, two of them. So here you are. Yeah. Oh, it was wonderful.

Oh, we were so. I'm so happy. 30 or so, 2930. Yeah. And you got. Oh, I should say Scott had, you know, he had planned to start Georgia Tech that fall, but we had to defer because of the delays. Right.

Right. So he didn't get to start until the spring. So we get to spend that whole semester home with the boys. Got it. Oh, yeah. So new dad. Here you are. New dad.

Arston, Surrick. Everything's great. Yeah. You're about to go back to Georgia Tech. You're working your job. Yep. Happy family. Yep.

woke up from the nap, decided to double off, not one verse two, we're good to go. We are. And life moves on. Yep. But not really. Nope. Because we had seen those. We'd seen the kids.

We had seen the children. When you're there, because you visit twice a day in the baby houses, they call it. Which is an orphanage. It's an orphanage, right? I mean, these are, we don't have a, it's hard for us to comprehend. And, I mean, these are babies and toddlers that live in an orphanage, right? We don't see that. It's hard for us to understand.

Paint a picture of what a Kazakhstan orphanage looks like. You've seen the construction of the basic type of building. Most of them are these cookie cutter put together concrete buildings. Kind of concrete block. Yeah. Square buildings, square windows, two to three stories, whatever. Leaky heat and, you know, the steam heat that comes in and does everything and you see it leaking up through the streets. everything's, you know, metal fenced, concrete, so it's not welcoming.

There's no pictures of Little Miss Tuffet, eating, or cars. Nothing like that. But, you know, inside the places were clean. The caregivers were phenomenal. They kept these kids in line. The way to keep them in line was after they were fed and clothed and got everything ready. They'd walk them for two hours, morning and afternoons. These kids could walk.

But you go outside when we had our time with them and playing with the boys. and being outside, they would be walking the groups. The other little kids would see their friends, and they would see these adults who they didn't recognize. They know why they're there. These kids didn't know English, so they knew two words, Mommy and Daddy. And as a group, they would come like a little herd running,

screaming those two words. Looking for Mom and Dad. Right. And so the two little boys were, so we're out with Arson, Cirque, we met with a couple times, a couple days. And the fear in their eyes. Fear. They clung to our legs.

you're kind of getting to know each other and you haven't done a whole lot of the hugging and that kind of stuff yet all of a sudden they're clinging to us because they're afraid we might choose someone else you know there's a scene in the musical annie where prospective parents are coming to the orphanage and all of the kids are running around arguing and putting on the nicest clothes they have and everything because they want to act as best they can to possibly be picked. That's this. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

But in a very real way. Yeah. It's heartbreaking. Because you know you're leaving. And the ones you leave behind, and I can get a mommy and daddy. That's right. And those kids know that because they see that happen.

And they... What happens in Kazakhstan when kids don't get chosen, ultimately? Well, they... I mean, they keep moving up. They move from, you know, they age out to the next orphanage. And I honestly, I don't know exactly what happens today. At the time we were adopting the oldest kids, they would age out at about 16. And it was

whatever you could do at that point. That's heartbreaking, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So how long after the arrival of child one and two, do we decide we need to go back to Kazakhstan and get some more of these kids? So we were home in September. Yeah. We started the process again in January. Oh.

Five months. Dobbs. Yeah. We took a breather. We took a breather. We took a breather. Yeah. Why?

Why? I mean, I get the emotional tug of those kids. But y'all, you're young. You haven't even finished school yet. He didn't even started his new program yet. You hadn't started this thing. And you're actually thinking, let's go get two more. Yeah, and it was, and this time around we were talking about, yeah, we're going to do this one.

And we're looking at Demir, who's our oldest son. And looking at his pictures and the videos and stuff and we're just going back forth. And we found out he had a half-brother. And I remember the conversation because I had actually started, I was driving to Atlanta every day because I started at Georgia Tech. And I remember Lydia asking me, she was two, really? Do you think we need to do two this time? And I was, I listened to talk radio while I'm in the car because, you know, got to have something to take your mind off the fact that you're on the road with, you know, 10,000 other people. Or we're normal folks.

It's not a bad thing to listen to. Yeah. It would have been great in 2002. So you're driving with people on the road who are willing to kill you to get to work, and I'm just going to school. But I'm listening to this, and the voice on the radio changed, and it basically told me that you are doing the right thing. You are going to take two boys again. You will take that second child home. So you go back to Kazakhstan?

Yeah, so we go almost a year to the day. Same city. Yeah, it was very close to the... Different baby house, but they're the same child. They call them baby houses. They do. Yeah. And so you roll in and you find Demir and his half brother Marat.

How long does it take? The process while we're staying over there? Yeah. Okay. It's about a month. So you stay there for a month? Yeah. You're living in an apartment because through everything that you go through the organization

went through, they arrange all that. You have to stay there a month? Yeah. You visit twice a day. It's an hour and a half on the visitation. Who's watching Arston and Zurich? My parents came down from Michigan, stayed in our house, and took care of those two little boys. This is a family effort.

Oh, it is. It has always been. Yeah. Always been. So. So you come home a month later with these two? Yep. So now you're six.

Well, with those, it's, so, yeah, there's six of us and a half. House, plus two dogs. Of course, why would make? But we went from being parents of nothing to parents of four boys under the age of five within a year. And that concludes part one of our conversation with Lydia and Scott Rosencrantz, and you do not want to miss part two. It's now available to listen to. Together, guys, we can change this country, but it starts with you. I'll see in part two

I know he has a reputation but it's going to catch up to him Gabe Ortiz is a cop his brother Larry a mystery Gabe didn't want to solve until it was too late he was the head of this gang you're gonna push that line for the cause

took us under his wing and showed us the game as they call it when Larry's killed Gabe must untangle the dangerous past, one that could destroy everything he thought he knew. Listen to the brothers Ortiz on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody, it's Chuck and Josh from the Stuff You Should Know podcast, and it's that time of year again when we knuckled down to do our annual holiday episodes. We collected our best past classic holiday episodes and compiled them into a 12 days of Christmas toys playlist that the whole family can enjoy.

That's right. Maybe you missed it the first time we detailed the history. of Beanie Babies, Monopoly, or Yo-Yo's, and a whole lot more. So listen to the 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever listened to those true crime shows and found yourself with more questions than answers? Who catfishes a city? Is it even safe to snort human remains?

Is that the plot of Footloose? I'm comedian Rory Scoville, and I'm here to tell you, Josh Dean and I have a new podcast that celebrates the amazing creativity. Of the world's dumbest criminals, it's called Crimeless, a true crime comedy podcast. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Stefan Curry, and this is Gentleman's Cut. I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different is me being a part of developing the profile of this beautiful finished product. With every sip, you get a little something different.

Visit Gentleman's Cut Bourbon.com or your nearest Total Wines or Bevmo. This message is intended for audiences 21 and older. Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky. For more on Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, please visit gentlemen's cuthuburn.com. Please enjoy responsibly. Malcolm Gladwell here. This season on Revisionous History,

we're going back to the spring of 1988 to a town in northwest Alabama where a man committed a crime that would spiral out of control. And he said, I've been in prison 24, 25 years. That's probably not long enough. And I didn't kill him. From Revisionous History, this is The Alabama Murders. Listen to Revisionous History, The Alabama Murders on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.