An Army of Normal Folks - Lydia and Scott Rosencrants: The Normal Folks Who Adopted 11 Kids (Pt 2)

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.

Hey, everybody. It's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks, and we continue now with part two of our conversation with Lydia and Scott Rosencrantz right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. 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.

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investigative journalists. 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 catfishes a city? And meets a memorable terrible 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 me. He can see right through me.

Listen to Crimless on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. 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 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. 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. So, Curious, that's the three that are the exact same age and one that's only one you're older. So, I mean, these dudes are, they've got to be rolling tight as these.

Oh, yeah. Four, three, three, and three. We were outnumbered in every way. So when you went to Walmart, so Lisa, our kids are four and four years, our biological. Right. But Lisa had a one-year-old or two-year-old, a three-year-old, and was pregnant pushing them through Walmart. Wow. Right.

And people would obviously have well-intentioned, sweet comments, but like, you know, are all these years and what's that in your belly? You know how this works, don't you? Yeah, that's the one I guess. We get that one, too, and we didn't even, you know, we didn't even, you know, we didn't adopting them. We go to our country, you give them money. They give you kids. I would imagine six of you, the six of you, were quite a sight. We were indeed, especially as beautiful as these boys were.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. It looked nothing like us. Yeah, yeah. I mean, just gorgeous. All right. So now you've got it. We've got this big six-person.

family that didn't even exist 18 months ago, we're going to go to Georgia Tech finally and we're going to figure this out. Will? I'm going to let you tell that story. Yeah, so with her working, we had the boys in Montessori school, and so I would take them, drop them off. And next door was the Baptist church who did child care in the afternoon. So they would go from their morning Montessori class to Baptist and I would come back. can pick them up. And about halfway through that semester, I guess, the spring. Spring semester. You know, you saw how these kids change. You take them out of the orphanage. You bring them home. Their whole world changes. They go from these dower, closed-in kids, defensive at all times. I mean,

their walls are up to, they're open. They're in awe of everything around them. They want nothing but what everything you give them, you know. You mean they're being kids. Yeah, they're being kids. And they're just, loving and adorable, and then I was picking them up in the afternoon after putting them in daycare, and they were reverting back to how they were when we first met them. Really? Why? It was a lot like, now they're in a room. You think it was PTSD-ish?

Yeah. A little bit, yeah, from being back in the orphanage that we brought them here just to put them in another place like we took them from. Do you think they were afraid that you weren't ever coming back every time you dropped them off or something? I don't know about that. quite that bad, but... But they knew how to behave in a group of kids.

That, you know, that's all they had ever known. That's interesting that even as infants, that was so baked into them. Well, I mean, Demir was almost five years old when we adopted him. I mean, that's a long time to live without a... That's just a lot of condition. That's more Lord of the Flies type of stuff, the little group of boys he was with. That was like a pack of wolves. Well, and they do say psychology teaches us that...

65% of a kid's personality is formed by four. And so if he was five, so much of that. He was four, but he was almost five. And yeah. So what you're saying is you recognized your children changing being in this atmosphere. Right. And I, so I was looking at what I was pursuing and going, wow, is this piece of paper worth what I'm doing to my sons because they're my sons.

and one afternoon I was just like this isn't worth it I was sitting there looking at it after I'd kind of been watching them go through this myself give me some examples of what you were seeing that was worrying you so much just a little bit they were a little more distant again just kind of that standoffish that we've been towards you guys yeah that we that we kind of gotten over because it takes a while to break the ice I mean it does and and and And it takes years. For every year that a child is institutionalized, it takes two years to overcome it.

For every year, a kid is institutionalized. It takes two years to overcome it. So this four-year-old needed at least nine. Yeah, it took Demir a long time to completely accept us. And the thing is, we're in the early stages of that process, and we just took a step back. Not a good sign. I mean, it was, and I was noticing it in just their behaviors with us.

But then with each other, too, they were becoming less attached to each other. These kids were defensive. They were careful with even around the kids. Which is a mechanism they had to develop as children to survive. And then you saw it coming back out of them when you wanted to break it away. Yeah. And I was like, really? And I made the choice one afternoon sitting there going, this isn't worth it.

I'm sitting here killing myself, trying to keep up with classes. Georgia Tech is not an easy place to go. It's tough. And I can't be in the environment because I have other responsibilities. So you really reached a fish or cut bait. Yeah, kind of thing. And I went, you know what? I went back online that afternoon, sent letters to my professors thanking them for what they did.

And admissions and dropped out because I was looking at, you know, four little boys who didn't need a piece of paper. They needed their family. A dad. So. Wow. I became a full-time dad at that point. I mean, stay at home. Yeah.

I was given the choice. Only four years before, three to four years before, you just told me your plan. Our plan, yeah. Was for you to work while he became an electrical engineer. That's right. You could say at home. So I could stay at home. Well, that thing got flop flipped.

Oh, yeah. If you had asked me that I'd ever raise other people's children? That had been a huge no. Right? Yeah. That changed. Yeah. We both, I mean, we both gave up a little bit of a dream.

I mean, I still think I would have been a good stay-at-home mom if I'd had the opportunity. I would have enjoyed being the mom who was at school all the time. I would have enjoyed having dinner ready every night. But it just wasn't God's plan for us. Do you resent that at all? Oh, gosh, no. No. What we've gained is so much more than what we've given up.

Oh, wow. No. all. Listen, there's a lot of people listen to this show. Some are Christians, some are not. Some are faithful. Some would call themselves spiritual. I mean, you know, the gamut of faith runs a very broad spectrum. How do you explain, for those listening, surrendering your own dreams to what you believe is God's plan for you. When you think of it from the aspect of they're your dreams, right? So these are, they're yours.

There's a selfish aspect to that because it's how you think things are going to work out. And if you were to draw things up, wow, this would be so great. But you're not considering anything external to your dream, right? And then when you take on the role of being a parent, as every parent knows, it becomes really important about the dreams of the child. What can I do for the child without then pushing your dreams onto the child? You've got to watch that develop. And you're influenced by everything in your life.

You can't say you're not. Everybody's got biases. My dad worked hard his whole life. And there were times when I was a kid, I was resentful that work was a little more important to him that it seemed like than maybe being at one of my baseball games. and one of the greatest times in my life was my dad took the time and for two years he coached me and my brother in baseball I got to do that with my boys for 10 years when they were in soccer

chase all over Georgia Florida Mississippi Alabama going to soccer games everywhere I didn't know Jack about soccer but you know one of the fathers that I got involved with when you're watching football yeah exactly you know and And that gave me that opportunity. I was like, well, you know what? I'm going to be there. I don't know anything about this.

I'll learn. I'll be the dad who carries the water. I don't care. Because my dream wasn't worth anything. I was looking at going, this piece of paper gets me a better job than creates more time away. Or I have an opportunity to just be involved and go, you know what? Don't remember that more than I'll remember.

Gee, did I get my engineering degree? Did I get my professional engineering degree? Did I get an award? did I create something really great really they never would have been there for any of that right that would have been my work-a-day world that I come home and explain to a child who'd go can we go play now you know yeah exactly instead or can we just go play now and watch these boys grow what about your perspective on that because you're the other side of that I don't want it to sound like it's easy well because it's not like like

I think we're not helping anybody if we make it sound like, oh, well, God said to do this. And so we did it, you know. It's just a great. It's not a one time we surrendered everything and then we never thought about it again. We still, every single day, when we have to change diapers on a 17-year-old or answer the same questions 500 times from a child that has an intellectual disability, it's an everyday dying to self. It's every single day. It's not a one-time thing and you're done.

That's what the Christian life is. But we get what we get in return is so much greater than that. I wish everybody listening right now could see the brightness in the two of your eyes and smiles. certainly we all sacrifice, but you guys don't seem sacrificial at all. He seems so full. Yeah, no. We hide it really well.

We hide it well. You just blew the wood off of it because clearly, Demir, Marat, Arston, and Serrett are not 17-year-olds with disabilities. So, yeah, yeah, the story continues. No, no disabilities, right? And it was so funny because we were like, we, like, showed doctors the videos. We wanted to make sure there was no special needs, you know, with these four. 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.com.C. and use promo code meal 50. That's Hellofresh.com.C. promo code meal 50.

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 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 catfishes 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Dad had a strong belief to

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 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 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 Gentleman's Cut Bourbon. Please enjoy responsibly. 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 Podcast, for wherever you get your podcasts. So how many months transpired between Dmyr and Marat's showing up? Did you decide, well, this isn't enough? There's more we can do.

We came home with them 2002. too. We actually were looking into another adoption the next year. And these were older siblings. She was still the older of the two, right? She was. She was about to age out. Oh, gosh. And her younger brother was a couple years younger than she was. And we were working through a different organization trying to facilitate this adoption before she got out of the foster system, whatever, however they deem it and into being, you know, let loose as an adult. And despite our best efforts, it never happened. We got a dose of reality that, you know, when you're, you think, oh, I'm doing the good thing, right? So if you and me, God, you know, you got your part, I got my part, right? We're in this together.

And you run up against that wall where God was like, this was never meant to happen. I'll let you run down that road as far as you can until the road ends and turn around and come back because you weren't supposed to go that way. And that was a hard lesson because we, we vested time. We thought we knew what we were doing. We've been through this twice, right? Yeah, we got this. We're veterans, right? No.

And we've been down that road several times, I would say. But we did end up two years after we brought Demir and Marad home. We brought three girls home from Russia. Three. Sibling group. Oh, yeah. It was a package deal. Their names are.

are Lydia, Ira, and Toma. Is that correct? Yeah. So are they all, were they all biologically related? Yes. So Lydia is the oldest. She's 11 months older than the twins era and Toma or the twins. So very, and they had been in the orphanage together.

Since Lydia was two and the other seven of year. And how old were they? At the time, the twins were six, almost seven. And Lydia was seven almost seven. So they've. They've been, yeah, long. longer. Yeah.

So what did you learn about them? Not very much. Russia's different than Kazakhstan. They were beautiful girls and they looked happy and... Big bows in their hair. And so, you know, it was like, we didn't have any girls. It was like, oh, this is going to be wonderful. Yeah.

Yeah. This is just like seven. Right. She'll have little girls she can dress up. Yay. And Lydia, we had the same name. I mean, it was like destiny, right? you know.

So what do you fly to? I guess Moscow. No, they were in Siberia. They were 12 time zones away. They were Prokopeevsk, which is three hours east of Kemerov, which is the nearest large city. It was in the middle of nowhere. So you put on your mittens and fly to Siberia. Well, he did to visit.

We actually adopted them in the summer, which I'm very thankful for. Although it was still really cold in Moscow. And this was an interesting trip because where we landed, was a military base that had converted into an airport because, you know, we crushed the Soviet Union 93, 94. So, which was really interesting because I'd been, you know, in the Navy. Because our nuclear subs actually work. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You know, and so that, walking through there in that, because there's, I bet that was interesting. Military personnel walking around and stuff, and you're like, wow, we used to be enemies. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm walking around inside

your country. You know, that was kind of, that was a different. Yeah, kind of crazy. Yeah. But it was funny because we tried to learn some Russian. We did. We actually learned a decent amount. Enough to communicate. Yeah. Communicate. Get by on the street if we had to buy something or it changed money. We knew what we were doing with that. Not a whole lot of conversational, you know, because you didn't know a lot of the slang. So you weren't conversive that way. But it was interesting because I went for the visit and you got to bring gifts. And the gifts has to be better for, you know, who's ever in charge. And then next down, they get a little bit less of a gift, a little bit less. understand this. Hierarchy of gifts. And so we had all those prepared and they, you know,

bring the girls in and we're, I'm sitting in a room with these three little girls and we're drinking tea. They took the sugar bowl and they're drinking spoon or eating spoonfuls of sugar out of the sugar because they didn't get sugar. You're kidding. I am not too. These little girls, I mean, to give you some perspective, the twins were almost seven, Lydia was almost eight, and they were about 34 pounds. What? So we were, you know, when we took clothes for them, When we completed the adoption, they were in four T's and they were falling up. What was that even possible that they were alive? Oh, well, I mean, they were malnourished, but they were healthy.

34 pounds. Yeah, to put it in Morse perfect, our sudden Marat. Oh, well, yeah. But we adopted it at three and a half was 42 pounds. That's what I'm saying. He was a beast. Yeah. And so he's bigger than his sisters that we brought home who were twice his age.

Yeah, they were little. They were very, very little. But they grew so quickly once we had them home. So you'd load them up. Yeah. Bring them home. Right. We got home on a Friday and school started on a Monday.

And so off they go to school speaking no English. How'd that work? We sat in the hallway. We took turns sitting in the hallway on a bench. And when the teachers needed us, they would call us and we would go. So we went back to elementary school. Are you kidding? Me? You really did that for how long?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A few months. It took them because they'd been immersed in their language for longer and they could still talk to each other. It took longer for them to get rid of their Russian and accept English. The boys learned English in like three months.

Well, they were so much younger. Yeah. Yeah. The development of that. But these kids were already developed in language. Unbelievable. But we realized, It took us a while because we weren't sure what was language and what might be disabilities, but we eventually realized the girls had some delays that we had not been aware.

Intellectual. Yeah, that was our journey. And so that took us, that took us on a journey that we never wanted to be on and never expected to be on where we were immersed in 504s and IEPs and psychiatrists and medications and seizures. and neurologists, and it took us on a journey that we'd never, ever expected to be on. And you signed up for it. We did. But we had no, I mean, we had no idea.

Ignorance is bliss. But, yes, I mean, well, I mean, anyone who either has a child or adopts a child, there's a risk, right? But when you adopt, especially older children, you're definitely taking a risk. phenomenal story and for most people the stories should end there i mean three groups of adoption three groups of adoption two two and three within three years we went from zero to seven right and 35 months oldest youngest in this case right and these three graded hardships oh yeah oh my gosh so i mean i think anybody in the the right mind would have said, you know, the Lord's bless us with this massive family.

Yeah. Here we are. And gosh, this has been more than we bargained for, but we love our girls. We love our family, and it's part of it. We've sat in the hallway and done school and got these kids. Let's, you know, that, you know, that requires a non-passioner vehicle to get our family around. why don't we just call it quits? Yeah.

Well, we never, you know, people would ask us, are you done yet? My own mother thought I was crazy. And she had, well, she had an older sister at 17 children, natural births. So she kind of knew crazy when she saw it. So, and we'd be like, all you guys done? We're like, well, God never gave us a number. Well, actually. God still hasn't given us a number.

Interestingly, seven appears pretty frequently in the Bible. It's completeness. Right? It was a number of completions. It is. And you had seven. You should have met me years ago. Absolutely.

You would have stopped. And yet eight is the number of new beginning. It's also if you turn it sideways, infinity. Exactly. Who knows what's going on? And having a degree in mathematics. So what did you do? Well, we did take.

We did take some time off to make sure we were addressing the needs of the girls, especially. And that took time. And enjoy the kids that we had. I mean, we had so much fun. And then we thought, well, maybe it's time to consider adoption again. And doors kept getting shut one after the other. And so one, I don't remember exactly, but one day I said to Scott, you know, I'm about to turn 40. if we're ever going to try for a biological child,

we probably should do that. The clock is ticking. It was ticking. It was ticking. It was getting louder and louder, right? And so eight months later, I was pregnant with Owen. Okay. So now we got BioBaby number one because the biological clock is ticking.

It's ticking. What man has their wife look at him and say, hey, you know. Even if it doesn't work, the try is worth the effort. So let's roll. There we go. Yeah, there it is. And so Owen shows up the baby boy of 7, the 8th now, of the seven siblings.

And they were like 12 to 14. So he was just a little bit spoiled. Yeah, oh, I bet he was passed around like the little golden child. They fought over him for time to hold him. It's like, we're like on. Can we hold him? Oh, we'll hold him. We're fighting with our own children to hold our youngest kind.

So still not good enough. Oh, gosh. Okay, so I'll start this one, and then I think Scott has to pick it up. So I think Owen was about a year old, and I was getting ready for work one day. Just very innocently, I can still see myself getting ready for work. and I was on Facebook when Facebook was still worth looking at. And there was a blog that somebody else had reposted from another mother who was headed to Bulgaria, and they were also a family of several adoptions.

And she was adopting a 15-year-old girl who weighed 15 pounds. Oh, my goodness. And Bill, that broke me. It just completely broke me. how does a 15 year old or 15 pounds even be alive exactly exactly and she didn't look like I mean she looked like she was very close to not being alive but from that point on I was like well we got to know more we have to know more what can we do and so I would say within a few months of that time we had decided that we were going to go to that same orphanage which was

the worst orphanage in Bulgaria. Yeah. And we were going to adopt two little girls with the most severe special needs that I had ever, I couldn't even fathom that children with this many needs could survive. Why sign up for that? My people who listen, who've listened to this forever, I have a brother-in-law. Ben, who has special needs, and I've watched Gary and Peggy, my in-laws raise him. Now, when I say Ben has special needs, he's pretty high functioning, but he will always need care

the rest of his life. And he has created some of the greatest joys in our family's world. And I could tell you stories upon stories. I'll also tell you, I can tell stories upon stories. They've been very, very, very hard. And Gary and Peggy have a very special place. in heaven for their commitment and consistency with caring for Ben. And as 75-year-old parents, they still care for Ben and it's work. And when that's the hand you're dealt in life, you make the best of it. And I fully believe, after watching Gary and Peggy's life for the last 35 years of my life with Ben, that the Lord strengthens you and gives you what you need.

did and will meet you right where you need to be met when you're blessed with a child with special needs. And I believe that's where Gary and Peggy are. However, to consciously sign up for it, not to be dealt with the cards, but to do your pick that card out of a deck of 52 beautiful cards, I just honestly, and I mean this, please take this. Please take this. this and with exactly how intended, I cannot imagine, I absolutely understand answering the call when that's what you're given. I cannot imagine signing specifically cognitively signing up for that work. Why?

how with especially when you already have seven other children plus eight with the bio owen why how i can't even fathom that 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.com.com.

That's Hellofresh.ca. promo code meal 50. 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 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, feels more like a high-level prank than a crime. Who catfish is 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-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 Podcast, 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 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. 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 Gentleman'scutburbon.com or your nearest Total Wines or Bevmo. This message is intended for audiences 21 and older. Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky. on gentlemen's cut bourbon, please visit gentlemen's cut bourbon.com. Please enjoy responsibly.

Hey everybody, it's Chuck and Josh from the Stuff You Should Know podcast, and it's that time of year again, and 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. It wasn't easy. With everything we'd gone through with the three girls and finally felt like we had caught up that we weren't treading water anymore, we're kind of, all right, we're, we're kind of making it. We got everything in the process. We got the right schools. We got the right doctors.

we got to, we're kind of, we got a routine back again. And, you know, for me, because I'm the day-to-day guy, right? So I felt a lot of pressure with that. And I felt like, maybe I'm catching my breath. And maybe I can start to do Scott things a little bit. And so when Lydia brought this up, I was like, really, God? Really? Was this, you know, and you think to yourself, is this not enough?

And then I'm going, God hates a coward. sure part of the adventure what's next so we were looking at two little girls anna obviously but there's another little girl and literally as as as fragile as anna was this other little girl was on the just as fragile on the opposite end of the spectrum what does that mean well anna had hydrocephalus she'd had it since birth so think about the uh the worst possible thing her her skull went like out the back it was 59 centimeters you know that's she was she weighed 22 pounds half her weight was her head she'd never picked her head up she laid on one side she laid on the other imagine living your entire life and she was four and a half we got her um living with a migraine

headache oh my gosh that's the level of pain that she existed in the other little girl was the opposite of inspection i said she had microcephalus which means she had a shrunken had very very little brain tissue that had formed, you know, enough for the basic functions of keeping her alive. And I remember the first day in the baby house with the two of them and I walked in and, you know, my interpreter got me set, got me in this old room. This is a lot noisier than the other baby houses I'd been in. Chaos was raining. They had their own cemetery that I could see out through the window for the kids that didn't make it on a regular basis. they had lots of funerals

and so they bring me in these two little girls and they put them in my arms and the caregivers walk off and what walked off? And this was just a visit. This was not the... He was coming back home. This was not the final adoption.

This was the stage. The first visit. So you go for a stage, you come back home and you come back and you go through the court stuff. So it's not kind of the way we did stuff in Kazakhstan. And so I'm holding one little girl in this arm, one little girl in this arm, and I'm just looking around the room.

looking at the rest of the chaos that was in there and caregivers come and go and take out of the kids and everybody's just ignoring me and I'm sitting there for 45 minutes and my interpreter's kind of there and hanging out and my arm's going numb because Anna's head was so heavy sitting in the crook of my arm

it's like having a bowling ball sitting on your elbow and she went to sleep one of the caregivers walk through the room walks in she goes and she's just staring at her and she calls another lady in and they're talking I you know I can't understand what they're saying. I don't understand Bulgarian. It's surrealic, but it's different than Russian. Apparently, and my interpreter driver told me later on the drive back home, he said she's

never slept like that. Now you're hooked. Yeah. They couldn't believe said they've never seen her calm like that. She just told her, she just fell asleep. Me holding her. The other little girl was so fragile. We went through this process. They told me if we traveled, she'd die and travel that we would have to have. She couldn't make a plane. She couldn't. Couldn't the pressure from the plane would kill her.

Yeah. And so they were trying to the whole time talk me out of this right. And I'm like, oh, no, I'm doing God's work. I'm bringing this child home. This is, she's going to be my daughter too. No. Again, that was one of those battles with the Holy Spirit that you lose. So that was, it was a humbling trip.

As fragile as these children were, and you think you're doing something really good, the second one wasn't meant to be. And, you know, well, we brought Anna home. And Anna was, as fragile as could be. I mean, when we brought her home, because Lydia went back with the mirror or the son, they traveled to bring her home. I stayed at home with the other kids. They showed up in the airport, Atlanta.

We went from the airport to the emergency room. You're kidding. No. Inchea. Children's health care of Atlanta. She was there for two months before we could bring her home. April through June. But you knew that going in?

Yeah. We didn't know. It was going to be quite like that. That she was going to be in. the hospital for two months. That was not unknown. Wow. And Anna is now 17. 17. Yeah. Like I said, she was four and a half years old. She weighed 22 pounds. She's now a 17-year-old. She's about 82 pounds healthy. She's had, you know, she's had a lot of her challenges in this. Like I said, they, because of her skull, one of the first things they did after she got her,

got her stable and got her healthy and strong enough is they did a crino reduction surgery at Children's Hospital of Atlanta and she's one of 31 they've been done they usually don't do them that old because your your skull is now hard bone at the time you're five years old she was five and a half at the time because it's it's harder it's so much harder to do but they literally take your skull off from the eyebrows to the ears open your scalp up do this take it off cut it in the pieces that are going to go back together so it's normal sized they grind up the other pieces like mortar put it in between the pieces of bone and wrap your head back up wow five and a half hour surgery it's like a jigsaw puzzle oh yeah and she went from just having this huge bulbless

thing out the back of her head because of the hydrocephalus that never been treated to having a normal size head she doesn't have a shunt they went in and did what's called a venticoloscopy which when the neurosurgeon explained this to me you think you're in a 10-minute And it lube change, the guy's going, oh, that's what I'm going to do. He's a neurosurgeon. And they just go in, they put a little hole in the skull. Take a little thing, a little boroscope, goes down underneath, comes up underneath your brain to where the ventricles are,

and they just poke a little hole in the membrane so the fluid can drain out and follow the basal artery down and get resimilated in your body. And I'm just going, what? So we actually both feel like we have medical degrees at this point. Stuff we've had to read and go through. We have experienced, I mean, Honestly, with our kids, we've had, it feels like everything except a trache. We've never had a kid with a trache.

But Anna, but Anna's tube fed, she's, you know, she's, she will always be in a wheelchair. She's very much a, 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. And you, but you asked why, Bill, and I think, 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. Right. And maybe she's sad for the rest of us. She's the happiest child we have. She wakes up every morning, smile on her face. Full of joy. Kicking, just can't wait to go. She's tough as nails. And I would say out of all of our adoptions, we probably grew the most with her and overcoming the fear that came along with that. Okay. So now it's got to be over. Well, now we can do anything, well, right? We, you know, we can do anything. But I can do all things. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So how long after Anna before

or somehow you decided, let's do this again. It was about two years. Yeah. Yeah. So. And. And two, not in the same city. And these little girls were actually in separate baby houses.

Back to Bulgaria. Yeah, back to Bulgaria. So, and so the other side of the country. So Plevin's on the western side, you know, North, Sophia is the capital city. So like three hours north of that it's a nice little drive. Well, this is over on the Black Seaside, and both of these are resort cities. So, Julie was in the south and Stefka was in the north, split by the bulk of the mountains that run through the center, and I go to visit. So, and you fly into Sofia, you got to run with the capital city and had the, my driver, Yavor, Yavor.

You talk about an amazing man, right? So he speaks six languages. He was at the time getting his final certification because you have to be, you have to be spot. on in every language in order to do the transcribing of paperwork into multiple languages. So he was on the phone at times with me, and he'd be telling me, like, the conversation he's having. So he's speaking to me in English, talking to someone in French, or sometimes, and with another lawyer online in Bulgaria, so they're talking back and forth. Then he's speaking French, and he's letting me know what's going on because it's a long car ride, so he doesn't want me to be bored.

So he's speaking three languages, listening in three languages. the same time looking at something to make sure he's reading that the transcription he did for the couple he's talking to, which is done in French, is correct from the Bulgarian that he was seeing. So he's getting it correct for the government. So he's reading in French and Bulgarian talking to three other languages, right? And he's worried that he hasn't done enough of this life because he's talking to me later about the people he grew up with and the business that they owned, this really rich friend of his. And I had a conversation with him over dinner. I said, how long have you been doing this? And he said, well, it's, it's been several years now.

And I've been through about 200 of these. I said, so your rich friend, has he changed 200 lives the way you have? And he just sat there and looked at me from it. He's like, well, no, I guess not. I said, so you got time for the other things. I said, because you obviously have the qualifications. You can do business anywhere. You speak six languages.

You know, right now you're saving lives all the world. You're making families. and so that was a great conversation with a really, really nice guy. Pretty amazing. Yeah. Who's driving a car and being an interpreter, right? He doesn't think he's doing enough. And so, do now Julia and Stephka, are they a dual deal?

No. No. They weren't. They weren't. We started with Stefka. Yeah. Stepke has Bartleby-Day syndrome, which is a genetic condition. that causes any number of issues.

But she had these little pigtails on the top of her head, and she was four, and she was just so cute. She was just chubby cute. Julia? Julia has spina bifida. And a lot of times there's a brief description of the child that you're given. And it's like, how do you describe somebody in a paragraph? Like how would somebody describe me in a paragraph, right?

but basically they said she's so good with the other kids right and you could just look at her and you could see her spirit that she was and she is I mean she's still I mean she's in a family of you know 13 kids she's a patient she's a patient young lady so we ended up deciding to bring them both home and she was our oldest adoption yeah um she's She was nine at the time, and Stephgo was four. So she was the oldest child we adopted. And I think Alex in the prep told me that about this same time, you now find out. Well, so I get home.

So Arston and I traveled to pick the girls up this time and get home. And I'm, you know, I'm like, oh, I'm so jet-legged. Are they home? Yeah, we're home. With the girls. Yeah, so I'm home with the girls. So everybody's home. Everybody's home.

And so now we're a solid 11. One by O, 10 adoptions. And a week after. And you're allowed to feel a little tired. I'm a little tired. Yes, I mean, it's so natural. But it didn't go away. So a week after I got home, I found out I was pregnant.

When I read that, I laughed out loud. Like, are you? Everybody we told laughed out loud. It is so funny because I was worried about my biologic. clock at 40 and here I am about to turn 45. I have an offhand comment and there's no, there's no need to respond whatsoever. I just want to know with all these kids and everything going on, how you even had time to even become pregnant.

We can go right past that. But my goodness. It was like funny because, you know, she's dealing with this tired. Oh, she'll get. Oh, she's tired. And she comes back to me and she was like, she's like worried about telling me. And she goes, um, I don't. know how you're going to take this, but I'm pregnant.

And I'm going, well, what am I going to say? Like, no, you're not. Like, okay, all right, fine. Or are you sure? You can't really say that either. That just makes you a dope. So you've got three choices. Be a jack, be a dope or just say, great.

We're like, all right, the more the barrier. Here we go. Loat it up. 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.

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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 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-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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 was 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 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 gentleman's cut bourbon.com. Please enjoy responsibly. 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. What does the maternity ward look like when you're having a child and your families there to celebrate? There's no room for anybody else. Well, you know, it was a little crowded

when all the kids came to, they weren't there when she was born. I mean, it was like a very sudden thing that was a, she was very fast. Owen was being her first. He, Owen, he was happy where he was, right? She was weak overdue. He didn't want to leave. So they induced her, and it was like, we were the first people who showed up that middle day, Thursday, whatever. And we were the last ones to leave Friday evening.

Yeah, he just was. 30, 36 hours. It was like, crammer. Yeah. We were doing our parent thing, right? Because we had two boys who were at a basketball game at her school, had to get home to do homework. You know, we'd already fed other ones.

I worked all day. Yeah. So I went to get those two, bringing them home. She's going to help one with homework. I had the other one. We're heating them dinner for them. She goes, my water broke. All right.

Got the bag. Let's get in the car. We weren't in a hurry. We were just like, oh, we got lots of time. My mom comes in and she's like, I think y'all should go. And we're like, well, you got things handled here. We'll worry about homework later. You know, I'm looking at the boys going, okay, you got something to eat?

You know, we're just kind of like, all right, we get in the car and we're like, we really haven't decided on a name yet. We're down to four. And, you know, and so we decided on Eva Joyce. Joyce is her mother's middle name. So we decided to make that little tie there. And we're driving the house. The hospital's not, what, 10 minutes away?

You know, we're going on, we pull up, so we're in Little Lagrange, Georgia. You pull up the hospital, like the lights. like the lights are out. It's kind of dark in the lobby. So I go inside. So over a while the doors are open and looking around, I ran and so we'll, you know, I need a wheelchair for my wife and got one and got to the elevators and, you know, get upstairs. And there were nurses on the, yeah, they were starting to feel some pain.

Yeah, they just finished up with someone else. We're like, okay, well, we'll get your ready. And do you want anything? And at first she was, she didn't own naturally. And she said, oh, no, well, got into the room. And all of a sudden, the pain thing changed. It changed. I was like, give me some drugs now.

And the nurse in charge goes, too late, she's crowning. Really? Yeah. That quick. 56 minutes from the time her water broke, she gave birth to our daughter, Eva. The nurse is delivered her. It was so fast. The doctor walks in her and go, well, my work here is done.

Wow. Oh, yeah. It was like. So everybody's throat. We've got this little gorgeous. red-headed girl. So, I mean, you went from 10 to 13 pretty quick. Oh, yeah.

Two in, one out, move. We are set. And so, well, no, no, we're at 12. We're at 12, no. No, no. Oh, that's what I'm, you went from 9 to 12. Yes. 9 to 12.

Yeah. That's okay. We lose count two and there are. Yeah. So we're thinking nice even dozen. We are set in time. And now we really are. Oh, we're done.

Done. Done. Done. Done. Done. Total. Except. Eva's our little, our last little gift.

Yeah. Except. Except. Tell me what out. Yeah. So the most innocent thing in the world, Bill, I was leaving Walmart one day in January of 2019. It always comes back to Walmart. Walmart.

You can get anything at Walmart. You can. Including a kid. And this young lady stopped me, and she had a four-month-old baby in her cart, and she said, you know, I don't have a ride back to the hotel that I'm living in, will you give me a ride? And I said, sure. So I got her life story in the meantime and became her transportation. The baby had never seen a doctor and some things. So became very involved in her life. And it turned out the Department of Children's Services was already involved. I didn't know that at the time. And two months later, was at church one night,

and they called and they said, we're taking the baby tonight. You either come get him or he's going into foster care. And be his foster, effectively as foster care. They call it fictive kin. Because we weren't actually related, but we had ties to the family. Because we were not, I mean, Department of Children's Services typically frowns on large families. They're not real fond of that. They must have hated y'all.

They didn't love us. I'm going to say. Large families understatement. Oh, yeah. She calls me. She goes, if we don't. don't take, right, they're going to take him and say, can we do this? I'm like, um, headed up the attic. I'll have a crib assembled by the time you get home.

A good man. So anyway, that COVID hits. Lots of things happened. But we ended up adopting him in April of 2021 right before we moved to Memphis. Yeah. Holy smokes. And he's seven now. And he's seven now. And his name is. Quay. Right. Short from our quavius. Which is interesting because coming full circle back to Peter and then Mick and Tracy, when you talk about biracial adoptions, you've got Kazakh-born children who are kind of Asian-ish-looking but also Russian-looking. So I don't want to sound like a jerk, but I don't know how to describe their look perfectly to people who haven't seen. Most people who see our boys think they're Asian. Okay.

There you go. But they're really, they're not Asian. It's a different. They have a beautifully interesting look. Yes. But let's just say kind of Asian. Kind of Asian. Okay.

All right. And then you've got Russian kids who are born in Russia. Yes. Oh, yeah. And then you've got your own children. and y'all are Anglican as it gets looking. We're pretty pale. And one of your babies is red-headed, apparently, which I just learned now.

And then you got the Bulgarians who are probably dark and olive. The Stefka and Julia, Anna's actually very fair. Okay. Well, and then Quay... Yeah, gypsies. Yeah, they have that. I mean, literally. So they're Roma.

And then Quay shows up and he's in African-Mir. So dinner looks like the United Nations. It does indeed. When you guys are all out and about, people have to wonder what in God's green earth showed up. It's funny because, you know, by the way, in your shoes, I would be rimming with prod. Oh, yeah. So I say that with kind of tongue and cheek, but people have to be going, what on earth? And they're always not sure.

So you get strange questions to my son Marat, taking him just had to get wisdom teeth. So he's in high school, right? So I got him with me and Owens with us because I had to take Owen long as I was taking care of him. So now the gentleman in there, well, he's got his grandson with him that he had to bring in there. So he was asking me, so he started talking to my son Marat about his son.

And I'm like, oh, no, no, they're both my sons. And he looks at me because my son was a senior high school. So he's old enough to be a father, shouldn't be. And he looks at me and he goes, you're his father too. say, yep, sure am. I still got it. So, it's just, he's like, no offense. He goes, you old enough to be a grandfather. I said, well, yeah, I know, I realize we're in the South, but that hasn't happened yet. But it has now. We do have a granddaughter. Arston, the first adoption, is married, and we have a six-year-old

granddaughter who's in the same class as Quay. So they're in the same class. That's the whole. Yeah. And so one woman was really confused when she asked who they were, because she thought, well, are you guys... Oh, does that mean the six-year-old is Quay's aunt? No. He's her uncle. He's her uncle. Yeah. He's her uncle. Yeah. And she looked, because they asked her, was that your brother? She goes, no, that's my uncle. It can't be your uncle. He's not an adult. And she's like, and Quay goes, we live in the

same house, but I'm her uncle. All right. So, one question I wanted to ask, before we get to the last question I'm going to ask from close. these kids and I realize we're talking about children that stretch from 29 to 7 years old just for everybody listening we have a six-year-old grandchild but we also have 29 28 I'll just do it this way Lydia is 29 Iris 28 Thomas 28 Demir's 27 Marrott's 26 arson's 26 Syrac 26 Jude is 20, Anna is 17, Stefka is 16, Owen is 14, Eva is nine, and Quay is seven. You giggle is hilarious.

Well, when he graduates high school, I'll be 70. The question is, when the Christmas card, when the family Christmas card goes out, do your own children look at their own family? And I was going to say, almost kind of giggle it, look at us. And you just did it so they must. I guess it's just so natural. Like you were saying, like people, if people look at us, Bill, they probably do. I honestly don't notice it anymore. I don't think about the fact that we're weird.

I don't think anybody would. I'd really just think people would be like, wow, how amazing more than, yeah. I just don't, I guess it's just, it's been life for so long. I mean, it's 24 years now. Please tell me you're done. Well, no, no, we've just learned. We don't say that. Oh, there's no plans.

But if something came along, you, but not very many of these were what I would exactly call plans or a lot of, maybe half were plans and half were not planned. Owen was planned. Y'all were trying for a one. The rest of it was football dreams. And here comes some Bulgarian kids and I'm pregnant too and the whole shoot night. So we've just learned not to say never. This is an army of normal folks.

We highlight normal people who do extraordinary things and their corner of the world to try to make it a better place. You've done so by growing a family. You haven't started in 501C3. You're just serving kids who needed serving and built a family doing it. What do you say to folks who are out there listening to us today, thinking about the world and thinking about something that Alex often says that there's more houses of worship in the United States than there are kids in the foster care system by just a small number?

So one family from every house worship in the United States adopted a child. We'd empty the foster care system overnight. What do you say with that kind of demographic going on in your life when people hear your story? Because your story includes an enormous amount of sacrifice. You sacrificed your dreams of being an engineer. You sacrificed your dreams of maybe being a home room mom one day. You're still sacrificing every day, taking care of Anna. and despite all those sacrifices,

leave us with what this is to you. It's our life. If you, going back to the story I told in the, in the orphanage of that little kids coming up, the words mommy and daddy. The kids who don't have one, that's the word that's God.

There's, you'd be giving them, you know, how do you put it? You can't, I can't change, the world for everybody, but I can change the world for one person. You can become that, you can become the whole world for one child. And that changes everything for them. How many planets in our solar system? You've not changed the world. You've changed the universe for these people. Yeah. Lots of worlds. Yeah. So, and you don't know. And what effect will they

have then, too? I was about to say, what world had they changed for you guys? Oh, completely. I'm a completely different person now than I was when we started. Would you change your thing? Like my van back. Yeah. We'd like our 15 passenger van back. They had a 15 passenger van that they could pretty much get, well, they could.

13 and you could. Yeah. You could get your family in two and it got smoked. We moved to Memphis and so that's enough said, right? Everybody understands. Yeah, nobody here, no side of drive. And so your van got smoked and nobody don't have it. So if anybody's a big van.

So if anybody's out of it. out there looking for somewhere to spend $30,000. They would love to have a 15-passage van to be able to get their family to and from wherever the heck and it shall go together. Yes. Which is primarily church, I guess. Do you have a get a break? The two of you.

Go off somewhere. You know, we don't, no. We didn't mention that both my parents live with us and they've got physical issues now as well. Her dad's 95. Her mother's 82. They, yeah,

they're not in great health. They're good, but not great. So we had our 25th wedding anniversary two years ago. And Damir and Sarah came from Atlanta

and spent the weekend and took care of the of everybody for us. So we spent the weekend at the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid. It's an amazing. If you don't know, it's amazing.

People who don't know, it's actually It's a luxury hotel. It was wonderful. That was the first time we had been away for a weekend together since Owen was born in 2011. Wow. And since then, not again. Who came home, Marat and Damir? No, Damir and Seric. All right. Demir, Sarah. Come on back. Come on back for a, on a third, show up on a Wednesday night and give your old parents a Thursday through Sunday. To get on out of here. And who knows, maybe they'll adopt two million kids and you'll get a bio show up after the weekend.

Maybe that's why they don't come is. They're scared. We'll go away and come back with another kid. Excuse me come back with more kids. That's hilarious. Y'all, I just want to say this to you. I read this. And when I read it, the words that came out of my brain were what loving and

empathetic people you are, but I'm going to amend that after spending an hour and a half with you. Oh, also crazy. And that part hadn't changed. Comes about seeing. But, and when I say bright, I don't mean it intellectually. I mean, oh, thanks. I mean, the brightness that comes off to you guys, the aura that you guys have in your smiles and in your eyes and in telling your story and everything else is really inspirational. Individually, which is very important, but both individually and as a couple, I'm drawn to how bright and loving and empathetic you are. And your family is very fortunate to have a father and a mother like you guys. And the world is a better place because of the work you've done.

in raising your family so i just want to say that to you that i'm inspired by you i think you're wonderful wonderful people i think you're nuts but wonderful people Alex you got anything for we close i know you got to go so i'll keep this quick but during the pre-interview lydia and i were talking about you know the the bible for those of you are christian is pretty clear that true and unfiled religion is taking care of the widows and orphans and not everybody is called to adopt and not everyone would be called to adopt 11. But we're all called to do something that much is clear. And so whether it's helping through Care Portal or you become a CASA, you know,

volunteer, you can involve the National Angels. And we featured a bunch of these models on the podcaster. Being wealthy beyond all means and providing these folks with a 15 passenger band. Or a week and away. A week away, a whole family, a week away somewhere would be nice. I don't know. We're going to start dreaming big here. Somewhere in the Bible, it's got to say something about caring for those who care for the widows and orphans.

And I know it doesn't say that exactly, but we can find some scripture that checks that box today. Bill, we are, if I had one word to describe us, it would simply be blessed. We are blessed beyond measure. You can't outgive God. You can try. You are never going to be successful. Yeah, well, on those lines, I would call you faithful. So, thank you for joining me.

Thank you for sharing your nutty story. And I think we'll pick up at least 13 listeners on this episode. So that's a good thing. Scott, Lydia, thanks for being here. Thanks for telling your story. And God bless you. And God bless your family. Let us know if you do anything else crazy in the future.

Oh, well, we'll keep you informed. All right. Sounds good. Thanks for being here. Thanks, Bill. Thanks, Bill. And thank you for joining us this week. If Lydia and Scott have inspired you in general,

or better yet to take action by exploring adopting, getting involved with an adoption or foster care nonprofit, wanting to join the Memphis chapter of the Army, wanting to start an Army chapter in your own community, or something else entirely, please let me know, I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at bill at normalfolks. us. And you've enjoyed this episode, share it with friends on social,

subscribe to the podcast, rate it, review it, join the army at normalfolks. Any and all of these things that will help us grow, an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do it you can. I know he has a reputation, but it's going to catch up to him. Gabe Ortiz is a cop.

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