An Army of Normal Folks - The 36 Year-Old Single Woman Who's Fostered 67 Kids—And Will Change Your Life Pt. 2

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

At 25 years old, while many young people are still trying to way their way in life, MK Hill made one of the most mature decisions you can make—to foster a child. Today, at just 36 years old, the single woman has fostered 67 children, adopted six, and has built a home where kids who have experienced unimaginable trauma can find safety, love, and belonging. Even if we never reach MK’s level of righteous craziness, her story will show you how we’re far more capable than we allow ourselves to believe. And support foster and adoptive families like hers.  Check out and support MK's nonprofit, Many Arrows, here! Follow MK on socials @manyarrowsmama Subscribe to the podcast, join the Army at NormalFolks.org, and follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolksSupport the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, it's Bill Courtney with an army and normal folks. We continue now with part two of our conversation with M.K. Hill right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Encore. Check out our brand new episodes featuring music from the show that everyone is reheating as we speak. Heated rivalry. Join me as I go behind the songs that brought Shane and Elia together. I'll tell you the stories of Fice, My Moon, My Man, wolf forades I'll believe in anything and tattoos all the things she said and how they all became a part of this global phenomenon. Stream encore on IHeart Radio, crave, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up fam?

I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from Together and Iheart women's sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. The highlights, the rivalries, the brinkers.

Breakout stars, the moments to take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. We'll give you our tapes, our debates, and probably a few disagreements. We'll talk to athletes, celebrate big moments and get into what's happening on and off the field, sport, track, and beyond. Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it.

Because everyone watches women's sports. So if you're already a fan or you're just getting into the game, there's a seat for you right here. Listen to everyone watches women's sports on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The Declaration,

which is full of these beautifully rendered sentences and paragraphs about enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it. Why is it important for the darker part of the Declaration of Independence in the American Revolution, why is it important that Americans know about it?

Well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself. I'm Rebecca Nagel. Gohine, Taoadol, to like I et Lik, citizen of Cherokee Nation.

Are you guys big chiefs fans? Hell yeah. This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Alec Baldwin this season on my podcast. Here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers like composer Mark

Shaman. Once you've established that you have the talent, it's about the hang. It's the pleasure of hanging out with the people that you're with. You know, Rob and I was always a great hang. We would sit in kibbets for hours and then eventually get around to the music. That's what I mostly think of when I think of him, the time together laughing. Lawyer of Robbie Kaplan. The great gift of being a lawyer is the ability to actually change things in our society in a way that very few people can.

You can really make a difference to causes in the United States if you bring the right case at the right time. Marriage equality. Yeah, Windsor's the perfect example. Director Morgan Neville. Film school teaches you all the wrong things about making documentary. What do you want to say? Documentary is all about your ear. What do you hear?

I feel like my job is listening really, really hard. Listen to Here's the Thing on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay. So, six. African-American, Guatemalan, Puerto Rican, Honduran, Mexican, what am I missing? That's all. Well, that's five. Well, three are Guatemalan.

Oh, got it. Summer mixed, half Guatemalan, half hundred. Got it. Along the lines of enriching your life and their life, I got to believe that, well, I mean, it really is almost like the United Nations at your house. And I mean that in the sweetest way possible. I'm not being condescending. Oh, we love it. But it is.

Yeah. Do you celebrate each of your children's heritage and therefore do the siblings, the now adopted siblings now help celebrate one another's heritage? You see what I'm saying? Yeah, they really do. And it's, I think it's such a unique experience that they've had. I mean, my oldest is 12, and she has had 67 siblings. And seeing her embrace all this culture is amazing. She's African American.

Okay. And she just went to Guatemala for the first time without me last week. And now she's there and she's black and she's investing in these Guatemalan people. And she speaks Spanish. She's leading songs, leading games for kids at the orphanage now. After she's had 65 siblings here and it's just, it's all she knows. What is her worldview? I don't really mean it, but it's rhetorical.

Yeah. But consider her worldview. Right. Raised by a white woman with siblings. from all over the place, Afri-American, speaking Spanish, now at a mission in Guatemala. Yeah. And they're on all-black football and cheer teams with the Southside Wildcats. I think y'all know Antoine.

Yeah. Yes. So they're on all-black. He's on the leadership team for the Memphis Service Club. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's great. And so we're a part of their organization, which is all-black. So they do football and cheer there.

And my Hispanic kids go too. And so they're on teams with all-black kids. He's at schools with Hispanic kids. And so our church is mostly black. So I really try to keep them involved in as many cultures as I can. Do you feel like have you made that decision because you want to make sure that they don't lose part of their cultural selves? Or is that the focus? Is that what you're?

Yeah. I mean, I want them to be exactly who they are and who God made them to be. God made them black and Hispanic. And so I want them to be around their culture, around people that look like them. I never want them to feel like they don't belong at a table of people that look like them. But do you feel like you don't belong? No. I've always been completely welcomed and included in all the different environments that we've been in.

I think she just thinks white people are boring. Yeah, they are. White people are boring? Yeah. I was being cheeky, but she played right into it. Well, that's a little bit of it, generalizing. I'm as white as I can be, and I don't think I'm here. You got to get out of your bubble, though.

Oh, I have. See the world. I have. But everybody doesn't. Yeah, you're right. Okay, so you once saw three toddlers on a street corner police officers after their intoxicated mom was hospitalized. Tell me about that.

Yeah, so I was actually another organization, MyTale Miracles, had given. given football tickets out to different organizations from the Memphis Tigers football game. So I picked up some tickets from them, and I was distributing them to some of my aged out foster kids so they can take their kids to the game with us. So I was at an apartment complex dropping off tickets with one of my girls who has two kids now. And while I was there at her apartments, I saw the police standing there with three little babies. Babies. Babes.

Twins. Two-year-old twins. and a one-year-old. Yeah, real live infants. Yes. And so I noticed there was no parent around, and I asked my teenager, she's 22 now, but I asked her, do you know that why those kids are over there?

And she said, oh, that mama, she was like, you need to get those kids because that mama. You need to get those kids. That's what she told me. She was like, they'd be so much better off if you went and go get them. And I was like, well, I can't just go get them. But I went over, and said, let me go ask what's going on. So I went over to the police officer.

and said, hey, is their mom here? And they said, no, she's gone to the hospital. And I said, did y'all call CPS? And I said, I'm a foster parent. I'm an open foster home if y'all need me. So they ended up, they were going to the police station and they were just going to have to sit there for hours because they couldn't get in touch with any relatives. So I gave the police, I wrote a piece of paper, right number on a piece of paper, and said, here's my number. Call CPS because they have to approve it. But call the worker and tell them. they can come to my house if they need somewhere to sleep tonight. I have three empty beds. So 11 o'clock that night, the police came and dropped off these babies at my house. MPD walked into my house, carrying babies. And I ended up keeping them for a month while mom did some parenting classes and drug and alcohol classes. And they ended up not having to go into foster care

because I voluntarily kept them for a short time so mom could do the things that they asked her to do. and they got to go back home after like a month of staying with me. But see, that's the perfect example of you don't have to adopt six children to have a profound effect on an entire family. Right. You just need to be available. That was a month worth of work. Yeah.

And they were great. We bought them Halloween costumes and went trick-or-treating, and they had a blast. And I have seen that mom a few more times and went and got them for a couple of weekends and just taking them to experience things that they've never, Chick-fil-A, the Chick-fil-A playground is like the biggest thing they've ever seen in their life. And just watching kids experience that, I can't imagine finding more joy in anything in the world.

I'm that example of temporary. We've only talked about Safe Families for Children on one podcast, but I saw that you do that too. If you walk people through it and what your experience has been like. Yeah. With Safe Families. Yeah. Safe Families is another organization.

that does temporary placements like that. And so say mom just needs to go to rehab. She's agreeing to go to rehab. She has not hurt the kids. They were not exposed to the drugs, but she knows she needs some time to take care of herself so that she can be a mother. And so Safe Families is a program that offers families

that have already been vetted and certified and everything to take care of these kids while mom does her six-week program, and mom can still get visits and do things. and it keeps them from having to go into the foster care system. Which is ultimately what we want. Yes. We want to reunite these children with a healthy parent.

Yes. It's better for everyone. Right. It's better for society. Right. And when they want to do the work, there are people that want to help. Okay. So I'm choosing words carefully here.

Okay. Okay. Okay. When someone hears 36-year-old single white Christian adopt adoptive parent, they I don't think would necessarily imagine what I'm looking at, which is a bright, but pretty edgy. Yeah. I think you're kind of edgy.

Yeah. You got tats up your arm. I do. I just got the kids' names. You got a, you got a small nose ring. Your right hand's fingers are tatted up. I mean, all tasteful. Yes, thank you.

You got pretty fingernail polish on and all that. But you're not what you would imagine when you first hear the story. So what do we do with that stereotype? I don't know. What do you want to do? Well, I mean, what do you? See, I told you edgy. But I mean, speak to it.

I mean, I think it's important that you speak to it. I mean, my tattoos are my kids' names. Yeah. And one of them's handwriting. And then this one is Guatemala. I don't know. Well, I guess what I'm saying is don't imagine Blue Church Hair Lady doing good things. Right.

Well, a lot of them... It's a life. And a lot of them stay in their little comfort zone. So I think I'm outside the comfort zone. When those stereotypes can go both ways, the Christian. and you could also stereotype people with tattoos. Yeah. Do you,

you said your church was largely African-American? Yes. Maybe, maybe it's largely just mixed culture. Yes. Very diverse. What's that like? Oh, it's great. Well, I mean, what's worship service there like as compared to what you would see in your

second prize or my catheter. Suburb. Yeah. I mean, the worship leaders are all different colors on the stage. And so I love that my kids see that, that they're Sunday school teachers and their worship leaders. And the pastors even that rotate in and out are all different races, different ages. The pastor, the head pastor is white. And his daughter yesterday, who's younger than me, she preached the sermon yesterday.

And so she's a 20s white girl that just had her first baby and is preaching. And then they've got older African American. They've got Asian pastors. They've got a Puerto Rican pastor. What's the church? The Life Church. Where is it? There's a lot of different locations all over the world.

I've seen the Life Church. Okay, so I see. So it's not a Memphis-centric thing. It did start here, yes. The pastor lived in Kenya for a while and then planted a church here. And we now have, I think, 19 locations in seven different countries. The point being, Don't judge a bookmots cover is what I'm saying.

Yeah. Yeah. We actually had on, I think Kelly and Joe Carson are at the Life Church. They are. We'll be right back. Listen. And you're there. For heart-wrenching knockouts.

The world's biggest stage. And breathtaking triumph. In 2026, FIFA World Cup. knockout stage. Every match, every moment. Listen on TSN Radio. Join the globe. On the road to the July 19th final.

2026 FIFA World Cup. Stream it all live on TSN Radio. Available on IHeart Radio. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports,

a new podcast from Together and IHeart Women's Sports. Because let's be real. Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments to take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. We'll give you our tapes, our debates, and probably a few disagreements. We'll talk to athletes, celebrate big moments and get into what's happening on and off the field, court, track, and beyond.

Because we're not just interested in what happened. We're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. So if you're already a fan, or you're just getting into the game, there's a seat for you right here. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The Declaration, which is full of these beautifully rendered, you know, sentences and paragraphs about enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it. Why is it important for the darker part of the Declaration of Independence

and the American? revolution. Why is it important that Americans know about it? Well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself. I'm Rebecca Nagel. Gohyn, Dawadon, Jalike Yat, Lai, citizen of Cherokee Nation. Are you guys big chiefs fans? Hell yeah.

This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be. and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Alec Baldwin this season on my podcast. Here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers like composer Mark Shaman. Once you've established that you have the talent, it's about the hang. It's the pleasure of hanging out with the people that you're with. You know, Rob and I was always a great hang.

We would sit in kibbets for hours and then eventually get around to the music. That's what I mostly think of when I think of him, the time together laughing. Lawyer of Robbie Kaplan. The great gift of being a lawyer is the ability to actually change things in our society in a way that very few people can. You can really make a difference to causes in the United States if you bring the right case at the right time. Marriage equality.

Yeah, Windsor's the perfect example. Director Morgan Neville. Film school teaches you all the wrong. things about making documentary. What do you want to say? Documentary is all about your ear. What do you hear? I feel like my job is listening really, really hard. Listen to Here's the Thing on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. You say something that completely flips on its head how most people think about adoption that too many people want a child for their family instead of wanting to give a family to a child. Yes. Love that.

Where'd that come from? I grew up seeing a lot of people, not a lot, but the only adoption that I knew was private adoption, mostly white families, families that couldn't have children, or wanted a girl. They had two boys and they wanted a girl. And seeing their stories, I was inspired by them, but it was all mostly self-driven. I don't think it was all selfish, but it was self-driven their reasoning to start the adopt. was I want a baby. They wanted a child for their family.

Yes. They wanted to complete it. I'm going to pay for the agency. I'm going to pay for this. And now knowing the foster care world and all the needs, it shouldn't be that way. There are thousands, hundreds of thousands of children that need a family that aren't being placed. And there are still people doing private adoption, waiting for an infant, thinking they're going to get the perfect baby. And there's these beautiful children that have every talent, every dream, every goal, as that baby is going to have, that need a family, that the state will help you get your home set up, get your home approved.

Some of them get a daily stipend to help cover food and gas and their daily expenses. And hardly anyone's signing up to be a foster family. Why do you think that is? I think people are just scared of the unknown and scared of getting out of their comfort and thinking their whole life is going to have to change. and I mean, I have kids in and out all the time. My kids are so welcoming. Every time a new kid comes in, they come in, we let them play, we go to the park. It's not like our whole life has to turn upside down.

And all kids love going to the park. They love going to football games. So if your biological kids play football and soccer and you think you're busy, these kids almost always love going to the football game and watching. You know, do you ever, I mean, I would imagine. some of these kids come from pretty tough situations, certainly you have to deal with behavioral issues sometimes at first, right? I've not had any major behaviors. Some of them haven't been around, like, out in public a lot. And so I've had a seven-year-old that I had to hold his hand

everywhere we went or he would just wander off because he wasn't attached to us yet. He didn't know we were his people. And so sometimes the first month or so, I have to keep them close physically to show them, we are your people, you stay with us. Because they've never had that. They've never been anywhere. And so they don't even know that they're supposed to stay with you. And things like that are crossing the street. They've never been in a parking lot.

And so teaching them how to stay close to you and walk in a parking lot, sit at a table at a restaurant, things like that that they get to see my other kids. So I think the other kids help a lot with a lot of that. That makes me so angry. I don't know how you don't get that, that a child that age, has never been to a park or seen a parking lot. I mean, I know me, and maybe this is even wrong to say, but I've also gotten to the point that I really don't care of people think, so I just say what I say and I feel what I feel. Yeah. But honestly, I mean, my heart breaks for that child, but it pisses me off.

What adult hasn't exposed their child to a free, park. I know. A lot of them don't have a car to get to a park, and they just, once they're old enough, they leave them home alone. They leave them with older cousin, so they don't take them anywhere. The parents, a lot of the parents are just surviving, and so anything extra like that is not on their radar. And likely they came up the same way. Yeah. It still makes me angry. All right. You had, back to, you had 60 neighborhood kids hanging around your house. almost every day, which I think is hilarious.

Yeah. I would pull up and they'd all be hanging out on the porch waiting on me to get home. That's funny. You're fostering kids at the same time. You've adopted kids. Honestly, if I drove up to that every day, I might want to kill myself because all I would see is chaos. Uh-huh. But all you're doing is grinning about it.

What did you see? I loved it. What did you feel when you drove up to that? Oh, I loved it. As soon as I pulled up, if I had been at the gross, grocery store, they were all unloading my groceries. They were all carrying them up. And so it just, it really just became a big family. Sixty kids. Yeah. Just everybody hanging around. You had to be thought of as the crazy white lady down the street. I don't know. They all loved me.

I'm sure they did. You were still the crazy white lady down the street. I was. I was the fun house, though. Um, you've got not, now you got six or seven kids that you've adopted. I'm sorry. Six. Six. All right. You're 36. Do you date? No. I just don't want to make the time for that right now. My kids are so my focus, and I love it so much.

I was so hoping you were going to say yes, because I wanted to see how you said, hi, nice to meet you before we go out. There's all these kids you need to meet that looks like the Nautidation, and there's 60 going to be in the backyard playing basketball in a little while, and kind of love me, love my world. I just wondered if that. was a thing. I've tried a few over the years and it just felt like more work than it was worth. And I felt like I felt torn and I don't want to leave the kids to do something selfish.

Like it just feels. But is it selfish? Don't you need some self-care? No. Some something for you. I mean, I do. I get my alone time. I get my nails done every once in a while. Yeah. Things like that. Yeah, but nothing there.

But this is what I love. It's not, I don't feel like I need an escape from it at all. Don't you think there's guys out there that also would share the same love? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe one day. Maybe. And clearly, maybe not. Maybe not.

That's fine. I just, I was hoping you'd say, yeah. You usually in my place always don't want to ask a question that you don't first know the answer to because you end up having nowhere to go from there. But I wanted to know because I was going to ask, I, there would have had to have been a hilarious story there. But, yeah, hey, this is my date. Y'all go six people sit in his lab.

I would tell them ahead of time, because that's who I am. I know they see you, all right, but with all of these kids and all of the responsibility, there has to be an army of normal folks that's helped you serve all these kids. Yeah, especially when we were doing the neighborhood kids, they were groups from schools and churches and different organizations that there was like the FedEx CARES group that came and delivered laundry detergent, paper towels. My whole table was full of just stuff like that. And so I've regularly had a lot of different groups that have supported me in that way

and schools that will come out and do yard work and painting and anything that I need like that. Well, the point is, even if you don't feel called to foster, but you still have a heart for kids, There's a way as a normal person to support this world. Yes. And that's just support people like you do the work. Yeah, that's why I started the nonprofit. And I wanted my house to have a name because I wanted the kids to feel like they were a part of something. And then it's not just me that there are a lot of other people that have played a part in this and that are supporting them.

And my kids see the people that deliver groceries and drop off diapers. And they know it's not just me. What about your parents? They're here. They live close, and they love being grandparents to everybody. They've always just welcomed all the kids. We've had kids that come the day before Christmas, and my mom goes out and buys them a present for Christmas.

You mean foster kids to show up? Yes. And your mom runs out and says, okay, this kid's going to experience Christmas. Yeah, and they're riding in the family. Your mom was a nurse and your dad's a small business owner, right? Yes. And did they, do you have siblings? I have one sister, and she has two kids.

So did your parents see this coming? Um, probably. Really? I was always kind of doing my own thing and always loved adventure and just helping wherever I could and being a part of crazy things. And always loving different cultures. I can't imagine this just shows up. I mean, there's got to be a lot of this that was fostered in you from your own parents.

Oh, yeah. And they've always, I mean, they travel a lot. And my mom, they've both been to Guatemala many times. My mom's probably been 30 times now. And I initiated it because my high school was taking a trip. And then my mom went on that trip with me, and she now is helping organize trips through her church. And she's leading groups down there still. And my 12-year-old went with their group last week.

That's crazy. That is awesome. What are your parents' names? Lisa and Jay Hill. Yeah. Got it. If someone hears this and says, well, my gosh, if she can foster 67 adopt six, I could do something. You can.

I tell everybody. Where do they start? You can go online and sign up for Tennessee key classes is what they're called right now. And so you just Google Tennessee foster care classes. It'll come up. There's an online form to fill out. And someone will contact you to start the classes. And can people still help with their?

Yes. I have a donation site. Can you link it somewhere? I don't even know. We can link it in the episode description. We'll link the description. I found it though too. If you just Google Arrow's Nest. Yeah. I have a just a donation page. And basically that's where you can just support people fostering kids and raising kids. Yeah. And I still support all my girls that aged out and I help them with diapers for their babies and a lot of needs. How many of those are we talking? I mean, This has got to be... Oh, hundreds. Hundreds.

Yeah. I mean, all the neighborhood kids have babies now, and so they contact me with different needs all the time. And that's why I've really kept it open, kind of what Arrow's Nest is, is I'm just meeting needs because the needs are never ending. We'll be right back. Listen. And you're there for heart-wrenching knockouts. Breath-taking triumph. 2026 FIFA World Cup

The knockout stage Every match, every moment Listen on TSN Radio Join the globe On the road to the July 19th final 2026 FIFA World Cup Stream it all live On TSN Radio

Available on IHeart Radio What's up fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers Hey what's up y'all It's your girl Sam J And we're the host of everyone Watches Women's Sports A new podcast from Together and IHeart Women's Sports

Because let's be real Women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments to take over your entire timeline. And the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. We'll give you our takes, our debates, and probably a few disagreements. We'll talk to athletes, celebrate big moments and get into what's happening on and off the field, sport, track, and beyond. Because we're not just interested in what happened, we're interested in why everyone's talking about.

it because everyone watches women's sports. So if you're already a fan, you're just getting into the game, there's a seat for you right here. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The declaration,

which is full of these beautifully rendered sentences and paragraphs about enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it. Why is it important for the part of the Declaration of Independence in the American Revolution. Why is it important that Americans know about it? Well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded,

we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself. I'm Rebecca Nagel. Gohyn Tawaton, Jalike Yatliqa, citizen of Cherokee Nation. Are you guys big chiefs fans? Hell yeah. This is First America. the true story of how the United States came to be and how we got to this present moment.

Listen to First America on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers like composer Mark Shaman. Once you've established that you have the talent,

it's about the hang. It's the pleasure of hanging out with the people. people that you're with. You know, Rob and I was always a great hang. We would sit in kibbets for hours and then eventually get around to the music. That's what I mostly think of when I think of him, the time together laughing. Lawyer of Robbie Kaplan. The great gift of being a lawyer is the ability to actually change things in our society in a way that very few people can. You can really make a difference to causes in the United States if you bring the right case at the right time. Marriage equality. Yeah, Windsor's the perfect example.

Morgan Neville. Film school teaches you all the wrong things about making documentary. What do you want to say? Documentary is all about your ear. What do you hear? I feel like my job is listening really, really hard. Listen to Here's the Thing on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm going to maybe let you just talk about something that I like to say a lot, which is,

look, you don't have to be a Christian to care about children and foster. So let me just say that. You can be Jewish. You can be agnostic. You can be Muslim. You can be whatever. Yes. And if you're caring for kids, I'm going to celebrate you regardless what your personal faith is.

But in my faith, one of the greatest callings is to be Christ-like. And Christ didn't show up at a place like Briarcrest High School. As wonderful it is. and as many people are there. And that's where my kids grew up. So I'm not casting stones. But the truth is, he surrounded himself with stinky fishermen and prostitutes and very, very poor children. And that's where he did his work and he served.

So for Caudish Christians to be Christ-like, the work is where you are. Speak to that. Yeah, I think it's a big, big issue. And I've seen it because the kids from the private schools do come out for a day and they support what we're doing. And I'm glad that they get a taste of what I'm doing. But we need people to commit to more than that. We need people that are going to open their homes and say, this house is not for me. This is for whoever needs it.

The beds are for everybody. The food is for everybody. The toys are for everybody. The stuff in the backyard. All of that is not mine. it's for a bigger purpose. And I know a lot of families that foster that aren't Christians that have done that. And I also know a lot of Christian families that have not done that. And I've not seen them live out the gospel in those ways. And it's hard to see their big houses and know they're not

using those bedrooms when there are kids right here that need them. Alex has said it to me a thousand times that there's, I'm going to screw this up. I'll say it, then Alex can fix it. I'll say it and then Alice can fix it. But there's something like 400,000 children in need of a home in foster care right now. And there's about that many houses of worship in the United States. So of one person from every house of worship in the United States, fostered a kid, the fostered system would be empty of need. Right.

You want to fix that? Yes. The foster system will always be there. Yeah, of course. Because there's a lot of kids who's parental rights haven't been terminated. There's 115,000 who've had their prone to rights terminated. It could be adopted today.

That are waiting on an adopted family. They've already gone through the court system and everything. All right. Well, how many houses are worship? One person and one every three of these places that adopted an orphan. There wouldn't be any orphans in America today. There you go. And I always say I wish we weren't weird.

Like, I wish this was normal. You wish you weren't weird? Yeah, I wish we were normal. Like, I wish there were millions of families that looked like me. I don't want to be special. I want this to be normal. Tagging on what could an army of normal folks do to change the world? And let's be candid.

The six children you've adopted, think about what their life trajectory looks like versus had you not showed off. Yeah, it scares me. One of them is a miracle that he was alive, and a doctor actually went and knocked on the door to tell them they have to take him to the emergency room now. or he could have been dead.

And it's all of them. I mean, they were in the hardest situations you can imagine. And there's a lot of kids that still are. And there, some of them get reported. Some of them don't. I mean, you don't see what goes on in every house. And it's scary. And there's people, I mean, we need people to step up and be available

so that when those kids do come into care, we have somewhere good for them to go. And so we need the homes to be available already before they come in. I've seen a stat that says that something like of the entire incarcerated population in the United States that somewhere near the number 40% were people that aged out of foster care. Yeah. I think that number is very, very close.

Yeah. And then they have kids. And then they have kids. And they keep going. So we always talk about how do we fix the proverbial it, how we break the proverbial cycle. What do we do to put a kink in the proverbial? There's a thousand pop-syche metaphors that basically say, how do we stop this perpetual, cultural, societal ill?

Yeah. And people get mad at it instead of being available to it. Like, go down there and meet the people. They're still, like you said, the boys, they're still boys. When you go and talk to those people, they're 20 years old that have already stolen 12 cars and have murder charges and everything else, you go talk to them, they're still a 20-year-old kid with no one good in their life, with no mentor.

So if you're mad at the problem, do something about it. Go meet the people. Just talk to them. And if you think about the 67 you fostered, that you're still talking, you have one girl in your life for two months, and she's calling you still. Seven years later.

Two months, and you were the one. person that shone the light in her life. Yes. And she still talks about things that she saw in my house, like how the kids hung up their backpacks. She had never seen that. A hook on the wall where to hang their backpack.

Those things like that, she tells me, did you see how I did this? You gave me that idea. And I'm like, seven years ago. She had never seen that. And these beautiful, this beautiful United Nations crew you got rolling around in your 12 passenger van or whatever. Yeah. Just the trajectory of their lives as a result of you being present.

Yeah. And they get to see that. They go with me to drop off the formula when they run out of formula. So not only is their life interrupted from the chaos that probably would have been their life, it's what they're going to do with their lives. That makes so much difference as a result of a 16-year-old private school kid taking a trip to Guatemala. Mala and deciding, hey, I want to do something with my life that matters for people. I mean, you are quintessette.

You haven't started some big 501C3 or some massive organization. Right. And I never wanted it to be. People would ask me, like, okay, where do you see arrows in five years? And I said, I'm looking at today. I'm looking at the needs today. That's all I want to do. Well, where do you see yourself as your mom? Yeah, right.

And the needs are never ending. I'm meeting the needs today. What they need today is all I'm. That's the plan. That's incredible. MK., you are weird and incredible, bawled all up into this big ball of energy and light. You're awesome.

And I can't believe I've never met you, you've been in Memphis at all and I'll let you do. But it's awesome. What else, Alex? Your nonprofit is named Arrow's Nest. Yes. What does that name mean? It comes from the Bible verse, Psalm 127, verse 335,

that says children are like arrows in the hands of a warrior. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full. And mine is very full. It's been been full for 12 years now. And I chose that name from the verse, but also so that the kids feel like they belong to something bigger than me than saying, oh yeah, I lived at MK's house for a while. And they know they were a part of Arrow's Nest. And they were a part of the neighborhood ministry. And just that it's bigger than anything I could do. You actually have a really beautiful visual, I think I've seen too, like the artwork on the wall. I don't know if it's in your current house, too. Yes.

You're going to feeling identity with it. Yeah. Actually, George had this wall. So we met M.K. at the Memphis Club's head of potlucks with purpose for Foster Care Awareness Month. And I met the guy George there. And he was literally like doing backflips in the pool bill. He has this EV truck that opens up in the picture of it that opens up in the front hood. And he had like a full margarita bar there.

And this guy's fostering three kids. Like, he's a riot. He'll have to meet him. He's a character. Yeah. But he's like, I think I was asking about his experience too. It's like, I fly fish and they come with me. And it's like, we were talking about this at your office a little bit ago this morning.

It's just like you're doing life anyway. Bring him with you. Exactly. And can you talk about that? And it's like from seeing all your social media too. It seems like you're having fun. They're just coming with you and having fun. We have so much fun.

I mean, we are going all the time. They're all in different sports. We go on road trips all the time. time. We have the big party bus, and we actually just got a new 12-passenger van because the other one wasn't going to last as long as I needed to. I was like, I'm going to have to drive this thing for 10 more years. So since we got that, we're going to the Grand Canyon and Zion next month. Are you really? We're road-tripping all the way. All seven kids and the dog are going. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I've been there. It's beautiful. And it's great for kids. Yeah. I'm excited. And you're just

loading up and rolling. Rolling. We're staying at a few different Airbnbs on the way and stop and my kids all love it. Like, they love adventure, and it's fun to bring them along. You know, it's funny. Alex is not a foster dad, but he's a dad of four. And I know all of his kids because Alex brings them along. I mean, they've sat in interviews. They've sat in shop talk stuff.

And it's true. If you think of it as an adventure and not work and you just bring them along. It is. It's fun. It actually adds fun. Today, my 12-year-old, I told her this morning, I said, I've got to drop y'all off quick because I've got to go to an interview. And she goes, am I going?

Because she was like, I was leaving her out. Well, you could have brought her? I'd have talked to her. She would have loved it. She spoke with me a few weeks ago. And so this morning, she was like, what? What? I'm not going to.

This is crazy. Yeah. What's going on? Are you mom? Yes. Even to the foster kids? Yeah, most of them, even after day, too, they want someone to call mom. And I tell everybody, other foster parents,

ask me, they're like, is it okay if they call me mommy? I'm like, yes, kids want someone to call mommy. It's natural. And especially when they hear the other kids calling me that, I'm the mommy at our house. And so they all start calling me that. Do you want to have kids your own naturally? You don't care anything about it? I think I'd never have. I think there's enough kids in the world that need me. So there's no reason. Plus, I haven't had to do that hard part. So like, I'm glad other people did that part for me. I think I know the answer to this question, but it would be good for you to verbalize it for people. all of our lives feel frantic. Bill and I were just talking about, you know, I sadly speak about too much. I work 75 hours a week. Your life is probably pretty similar. Bill faced some nonsense this morning he had to deal with. And yet you have this piece about you. Where does that come from? And what would you tell other people? You do. You know, that's a great question. And tagging on Alex's thought is you do have a sense of ease and calm about you in the midst of what most people would call complete and utter chaos.

How do you do that? I don't know. Especially is it such a young woman? Yeah, I think it's just my personality. Even when I did live in the other neighborhood, the people there would be like, you're just always smiling. And I'm like, I don't know. I'm just here. I love it.

And I've been so blessed. And every need has been met that me and all the kids have ever needed. And so I just feel crazy blessed and supported in everything I've done. And I've not had to make any extra effort. Like the donations have come in right when I need them. if I make a big purchase, like the van, the next day a check shows up. And things like that always, I just feel like confirmation of this is where I'm supposed to be. This is what I'm supposed to do with my life.

How many bedrooms in your house right now? Five. We have triple bunks. Triple bunks. You got kids stacked in like kind of kind of one over there. I'm sure it's clean and awesome. I actually just talked to a guy this week about taking out some closets because we don't really use closets. We used to dressers.

And so he's going to take out two closets so we can make the boys room bigger because I'm going to end up with four boys and then I can have two sets of bunks. Are you going to adopt more? I don't know. We'll see. Right now, I mean, I don't feel maxed out at all. I've had 10 at a time before. You're nuts. Somebody donated your house.

Is that right? My old house, one of my dad's friends helped pay for it. But this one, I do pay the mortgage on. but our old house, someone paid almost all of it off. Incredible. Paid cash. Wow. For our house in North Memphis.

Is there anything else you want to cover, M.K.? I don't think so. The birth families, we do keep good relationships with their birth families, and they, I mean, we see them pretty regularly. They're on my social media, so they'll watch this, and so I'm very open about that. I like to keep them involved and not think, like, oh, the kids are gone from this work. to this other world. And so for the kids and the birth families, I like to keep it open. Like, no, this is not some separate world that they live in now. There's still people and you're still people.

And so I try to really keep the connections when it's safe and positive as much as I can. It's awesome. Everybody, that is M.K. Hill, founder of Arrow's Nest, which you can Google and support. We'll have it in the show descriptions here. Yeah, we'll have that in the show description too. But most importantly, what M.K. is. She's a mom, a mom of six beautiful children from all over the place and who simply at 16 years old grew her heart for children, saw a need in her hometown and filled it, which is what we talk about all the time that an army of normal folks is, is just seeing an area of need and using your passion abilities to fill that area of need, which is exactly what M.K. is done. and in doing so has changed lives. You are quintessentially what we talk about, when we talk about millions of people

in an army of normal folks literally can change our world. Yes. And you don't have to feel like you're ready. People always say, I just don't know if I'm ready. Maybe after this job, maybe after this. And I'm like, no. Maybe after I'm married. They just need a bed to sleep in tonight.

You blew that narrative up to you. Feed them a hot dog and they need a bed. That's all they need tonight. Good enough. Yeah. Today, that's all they need. You're never ready for anything. You weren't ready to start a business.

You're not ready to get married, right? Nothing in life are you ready for? If you wait until everything's perfect, you'll never do anything. Right. Just go. That's it. M.K. Hill, awesome. Mary Catherine, thanks so much for joining us and telling your story.

And I have a sense that this will be inspiring to others, and hopefully we'll have a few listen to you. act. Sounds great. Thank you for having me. And thank you for joining us this week. If M.K. Hill has inspired you in general, or better yet, take action by exploring becoming a foster, adoptive, or safe family's parent, supporting one in your community with your time and resources, or donating to MK's ministry at the link in the episode description. Alex already gave a a thousand dollars but all amounts are welcome or something else entirely please let me know i'd love to hear about it you can write me anytime at bill at normalfolks.org and if you enjoyed this episode

do this share it with friends and on social subscribe to the podcast rate it review it you can join the army at normal folks dot org join or start one of our local service clubs take the 10 level check or go to normalfolks.org and buy our merch. All of these things that will help us grow, an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do what you can. 150 years ago, they were hunting us down to kill us, and now they're hunting down immigrants to deport them.

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