Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1231 | Uncle Si’s Prayer Heals a Man’s Cancer & Raising Kids Who Prefer to Give Than Receive

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Uncle Si performs a miracle healing that ends up being more helpful to Jase than anyone could have predicted years later. The guys and Missy reminisce about Phil flexing his creative muscles with his hunting videos, especially the moments when Jase clashed with the cameraman—usually to the delight of everyone else in the blind. Jase and Missy explain why they’re intentional about teaching their kids generosity, sharing the meaningful tradition they still do every year as a family to bless someone in need. In this episode: James 5, verse 16; Acts 20, verse 35; Revelation 12, verse 11 Chapters:  00:00-06:25 Missy forces Jase to wear matching clothes 06:26-16:34 Jase has the vision of a stick of butter 16:35-24:31 Si performs a miracle healing 24:32-35:51 Missy makes chocolate soup 35:52-43:20 Teaching kids it’s better to give than to receive   43:21-49:08 The spirit of Christmas is real 49:09-57:13 The best gift is sharing Jesus — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to the Unashamed podcast where it has been Lemony Snicket series of unfortunate events this morning, Jay's. But Missy has ridden in to save the day. Welcome, Missy. No pressure. No pressure. Zach called in sick, which I'm not real.

Are you shocked, Jase? No, it's all the signs of it. on the last podcast that he started displaying zombie tendency. I think he was getting sick during the podcast because it's like I wanted to say, but I didn't want to embarrass him in public. I'm just kidding. But I wanted to say reach down, Zach, and check your pulse. I think it's because he heard I was coming on.

No, I think he's afraid of you like Jayce is. I'm not afraid of you, Missy, but Jayce, he gets all nervous and skittish today comes in. He had a complete wardrobe change right off the bat. Well, usually, I'm just going to say, it's 60 degrees in here. Thus the fire, for you that are listening, we have a... I'm starting to sweat myself. Nice warm fire. Today I come in, which it's really cold outside, and it's about 75 to 80 in here.

And so I had a... Luckily, there was some sponsor shirts laying around. I had to have a wardrobe change. I like that shirt, actually. Thank you, babe. Thank you. But then it's truly a classic, Jason. True classic.

So Missy and I, we've been trending well this fall and winter season. And you know what I attribute that to you? Wait, I don't even understand what that means. Well, we've just been, I don't know, we've just been having enjoyable times at the house. And that surprised me because the lead up to us doing this podcast, we have had some issues this morning. It seems like you're just right on the verge of breaking out into something is what I'm feeling. Then we sit down and she informs me that she got, she bought us a Christmas present. I did not buy.

I was going to buy it. I asked how to order and they said, we're just going to send it to you for free. What kind of feeling came over you when you're having that conversation? Well, they're the same people that gave us our Omaha Dynasty hats, the patched people. I just said, ooh, I want to order like for our stockings because we don't ever have anything in our stockings. So I thought, I'll order you a J-Rock and me a Lulu baseball cap. That'll be fun for the grandkids. And I went to order and they said, let us just send them to you for free.

So they asked what color you wanted. It's like we're not having these conversations at home. I was just going to do it. But now that we're sitting here face to face, we start talking about stuff. And the fall of love is heading toward the winter of discontent. Exactly. Because my first response was when you showed me that, which I'm already. it makes me nervous when we start doing things that are matching.

Yeah, I know. That's another reason why I wasn't going to tell you. The yuppie world, you know, that time when you got everybody matching pajamas, and I'm like, do we have to wear all this at the same time? I mean, this is embarrassing for me. I wasn't raised this way, and there's something cheesy about it. But then I looked at the hat, and the top of it is white, which I said it was white. You said it was off white.

I didn't know this was a thing. I just learned that phrase. Cream? No, off white. It looked white to me because I thought I have a problem with stains. That's why I wear usually dark colors. That is inherited. The stain problem is inherited.

Missy to Roberts and men, there's white and then there's dirty. There's nothing else. There's no in between. Yeah, your dad's T-shirts are an example of that. My dad wore the same t-shirt, white t-shirts for decades. And look, they became off-white and multicolored. And he still wore them. And they were clean.

Like they came out of the washer and the dryer looking like that. That's right. It all came from a moment in the outlawed Josie Wales when Clint Eastwood said there was a guy trying to sell him some elixir for 10 cents. and it would cure all ailments. I'm sure you've forgotten this scene. I've never seen it because I can't watch it without you saying every single line with the actor. So I've never been able to watch it because I can't handle it. So Clint Eastwood, you're wondering what he's going to say because here he is running for his life.

And here's a guy trying to sell him a bottle of elixir. And so Eastwood, he chewed tobacco and he spit. on this shiny white suit of the elixir salesman, and he said, How's it with stains? And my dad was so enamored by that that he embraced the stained wearing clothing industry. That was part of his Who's a Man montage of life. Yeah. Who's a man?

I actually asked him out one time, I said, Phil, have you ever thought about buying you some new white shirts? since now you have a little money because all your shirts, I just want to, let me just state the obvious. They're really stained. Disgusting. And he said, I'm sending a message that I work. Yep, who's a man. There's a man. These stains, he thought, were a symbolic image of work ethic, which I don't disagree.

It actually was, yes. I didn't think, I never thought about that. You're right, I think, about that scene. motivating dad to wear the stained stuff. Look, hard times, babe. We're trying to help you understand a little bit about why we are, and especially in your case because it's your husband. You got to remember my dad, now all of a sudden we're going back into dad stories.

I know. There's a picture of him right behind you, so I can look at him while you're talking about it. But I got a question for Missy before we do, just whatever you want to do on the Bible story. said. But before we do that, Jay's, you know, has been talking about having a walk-up song,

Don't Back Down, which is the Tom Petty song, which we love, because it kind of goes with our kind of unashamed life. And I think it fits you, Misty. I mean, you have, you have preached to presidents. You have, you have been in situations in libraries where there were, they were

protesters. You are a not-back-down sort of person. And I say that truthfully, and I respect that about you. And we have some friends in D.C. that are don't back down people. They're called Family Research Council. So old friend Tony Perkins, who's been around for many, many years, always been a big supporter of us and dad and all the books we wrote. They're on the front lines.

They fight for faith, family, and freedom. They meet with lawmakers. They help shape policy. And they keep God's truth and the conversation and the national conversation. So we love that. We love the victories they have. And we don't want you to sit it out. We want you to act now. Check these guys out. Visit frc.org slash unashamed to help keep faith alive in America.

Actually, I went on a duck hunt in Kansas recently. You remember that where I was gone a couple of days. And Barrett, my good friend from Kansas, he brought up, he said, I got a question, because we were kind of being nostalgic about my dad and all that. And he's like, where did they come up? Because in our duck men videos, there was a spitting scene. The whole scene. Yes, I remember that. You remember that? So we talked about that.

And it kind of led us to like, why did they come up with that? Because Burley kind of was the star of the spitting scene because it was like, how could a man have that much spit? And I said, well, what happened was he actually wasn't chewing tobacco. Burley never chewed tobacco. he ate a cigar. If you watch it real close, instead of smoking a cigar, because he used to go around with just a cigar in his mouth

that wasn't lit. He just chewed on it. Well, I think it was his, this is what I do. You realize that is actually chewing tobacco. Well, he wasn't chewing it. He just had it in his mouth. And he ate it. Well, he actually ate it for the spitting scene,

then drank some coffee with it, So it was coffee and chewed cigar, and when he just saved one spit scene. And we were talking about, like, why? Yes, the slow-mo. Yeah, why didn't they do that? And they were trying to kind of depict that when you're in a duck blind and nothing's happened, you get bored. But I said they also did things in those videos that were so strange.

They had a, that was a guy who met at their church, and you remember him, who had, like, Indian blood in him. And the only reason Phil knew this, because he didn't look like Native American, but my dad joked at him about he needed to grow a beard. And he said, well, Phil, you know, I'm Native American, and I can't grow facial hair. So the next thing you know, my dad said, well, I want you to dress up like a Native American and be on our videos. And so about four scenes in all those videos, if you'll run back and look at all those videos, There is a full-garb Native American sitting in the background.

He never says a word, and he's actually in the credit says hands of stone. Hands of stone. I don't remember that. It's true. Nobody remembers them because Barrett's seen all the videos, and he said, I don't remember. I'm fixed to go watch every one of them. I was like, oh, he's in there. But it's real subtle.

And I thought, my dad just had that tendency of wanting to do. do that. But you got to remember, Missy, we were, we were watching the movies we're talking about this, you know, all these Eastwood Westerns and, you know, Dad loved all that. And we did too. So we were watching those movies. They were just being made a decade earlier. So in a sense, he and Stevenson, Gary Stevenson was, you know, doing all the early videos. They, they were like trying to recreate their own brand. They were making a movie. Well, he did a really good job. Well, I think what I try to describe this to people because he was revolutionary in presenting outdoor films, but they were like reality kind of comedy. But I'm like, look, I know it turned out great, but in my dad's mind, he was trying to make a movie.

Yeah. It was a terrible movie, but it was a great outdoor. It turned out to be genius. Music and slow motion and the spitting scene, you know, they were serious. I mean, they knew that would be funny, but they're like, this is what we do. So I think it's an interesting. But you got to think about it, too, just on the, I mean, we have a fleet of production people there.

There were people to get this podcast rolling this morning. There were phone calls. There were people being called in. I mean, just us to do this podcast, all those early videos was one guy who was a teacher and kind of a science nerd who like, who just dabbled with cameras, who was then working full time at State Farm while he was producing all these videos. And, you know, he would just like, he learned it on the fly and, you know, got a couple of friends to help him.

And, I mean, and really made some incredible stuff. I mean, when you think about it. But like Jay said at the time, it didn't seem like it because it just seemed monotonous. And, you know, I don't know. He was all at Jason. Stevenson used to class. You remember that time, Jay, she were grumping about something. No.

No, what, Stevenson said, Jay's has the vision of a stick of margarine. Stick a butter. Stick a butter. No, back then I was a little immature. And Gary was not a, he was not a film guy. He sold insurance. No one was. No, I know.

But when he, when my dad, he was like, you sell insurance, but you're a studious gentleman. I think you'd make an excellent cameraman. This is the conversation they had at church. And Gary's like, okay. So then he goes out there and morphs into Martin Scorsese where every time something ducks are unpredictable, he's filming, and he would always hold his hands up. And he would say, you got to remember,

I'm trying to get the ducks in a screen this wide. And I was like, we can't guarantee that. You need to just film what happens. And he didn't want us to shoot the ducks unless they were in this box. In the frame. So we're hunting one day. He's across from us about 80 yards,

which is he actually took a couple of pellets at that distance in one hunt, which he was not happy about. I did not do it. But anyway, we... That is a hazard. It is a hazard for camera people. We had some ducks come in and we just rained them out. but they were not in his square.

So he just, a voice comes out. He says, you've got to remember we're making TV here. Do not shoot the ducks unless they're in the square. Well, for a bunch of duck hunters who are high-fiving after we just got a bunch of ducks in, I really could care less that we didn't get them on camera. We were excited in that moment. And I'm like, boy, you're talking about a morale.

killer this guy firing off saying don't do what you just did because they weren't in the camera and I knew the camera I mean I knew the blind was bugged he's listening to us so it wasn't like I was doing this thinking oh he caught me so I said I'll tell you what I'm going to do I said the next time a bunch of ducks come comes in I'm going to fire three times into his station over there and perk him up I was kidding. And he said, he called me Jason. Most people did then. At that time.

And he said, you have the vision of a stick of butter that made him. Oh, my dad. And we never, with that, that was the whole rest of the duck season. That was the, it was said over and over and over again. And, of course, then it embarrassed Gary for, for, for, saying it because they were kind of just mad at each other. But you can imagine Missy with a bunch of all of us and Robertses. It just, the stick of butter never got forgotten. All right. And confession, it was a bad joke. I shouldn't have made that joke. I have a follow up on that because maybe he

didn't, nobody ever let you live that down. But something else that Mr. Stevenson also told you was that he thought that you possibly could be an angel in disguise. Do you remember that? vaguely? Yes, because he saw the character that you had. And dad said the same thing about him. And he said that. He said, I think you're the closest thing to being an actual angel. Yeah, which was embarrassing.

Man to man, he said that. I quickly said now. Well, I think it's because I was real big on not being quiet about my virgin status. and that's unusual for a teenage guy to be going around, like publicly said. I think it's more than that. It was your character overall. So when you think a stick of butter, also think of Angel because he also came back and gave you a very large compliment as well.

Well, this is getting weird. Well, otherwise, I don't know why I'm here talking about duck cunning stories. I have nothing to contribute. Well, I was going to bring up. That's all great and good. I was going to bring up. In that vein, there's two points I wanted to bring up. So one, you brought up the hats, just giving you that.

And so I wanted to bring up, I have a new phone case, and there's a story behind this. I'm looking for who makes this. Oh, good, because I want to give them a shameless plug. So look, I went to every outlet that sells a phone cover in our city, including the actual phone provider. and because my phone is so old, they don't have any for sale. I just could not believe it. There's walls of phone covers.

Because I told you all the story in the podcast when I baptized my phone in the first flip, the phone miraculously kept working. Yeah, kept working. But the case that was supposed to be a case for life, that's what they sold it. Life proof. Yeah, it was life-proof. If anything that happens in life, we will guarantee this. A couple years later, it falls in the swamp for 20 minutes,

and it literally just started deconstructing before my eyes. So I said, well, I need me a phone case. The main reason is because when you don't have a phone case, it's so slippery in your hands. I continue to drop it, but you need one, but I try to give you one. I know. So I wanted to tell this story. So we're headed to Kansas, and I'm telling them,

all my buddies, I'm like, I cannot believe that in our world that the phone has become a part of people's body. It's like a part of the family. They're not going home without it. They're obsessed with the phone. But they don't sell cases for older phones. You can't find one. They want you to buy the new phone. Yeah, and well, you convince, because I couldn't figure it out, but you had the, none of my buddies could figure it out either, but you actually, it's all a marketing ploy.

So Jay, after 30 minutes of this, because I went on and on about it, and he's like, well, I can get you a new phone case. And I was like, well, how? And he's like, well, there's a guy who sells phone cases. He has a company. And he claims the only reason he's still here on the earth is because Uncle Si healed him. I said, dude. I was like, well, Jay, why does that mean? Why did it take you 30 minutes to bring, he's like, well, let me call him.

Well, wait, hold on. We're back up. We're just going to jump over this part of Sai healed to someone. Yeah, so that's what I said. I said, well, how did that happen? So they're at some kind of event, and Uncle Si is there. A guy comes up and he's just been diagnosed with cancer. And he's like, Uncle Sai, I know your family.

family or people of faith. And, you know, I'm not, I forgot all the details about his, where he was at with his faith journey. But he said, I'd like for you to pray for me. And so Uncle Si prayed for him. And, of course, I get to hear this story in real life from this guy's lips, like once we call him, because we call, Jay has him in his phone. But, and he's like, there was no explanation.

I go, you know, whatever happened. and the doctors were baffled, and they're like, we think you're good. And so he's like, I'm giving my life to Jesus. There's something that happened here. Now, look, I'm just telling you what happened. Well, well, so the Lord healed him. The Lord healed him. But I'm telling you what Jay said, which is what at the end of this,

I was like, Jay, you need to work on how you present that story. Because actually, there was a prayer. And the Lord obviously healed the guy. And he believes this, and he took that as a sign that he need to get his life right. Jace, there is a verse in James. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful. Well, exactly. And that's where I was kind of wanting to go in the Bible study today once we get there.

But anyway, so Jake calls him up. He has him on speaker, and we have a conversation. He's like, oh, I'm like, now I'll pay for him. He's like, because do you have whatever year of my phone is? He's like, oh, yeah, I have them. And he said, I'm not just going to send you one. I'll send you four to choose from. And he said, they're chemo because the name of their phone cover company is called Cammo skins.

And he would not take a penny for it. He was like, what are you talking about? I was healed from your uncle praying. And I was like, hey, okay, great. I mean, I can't believe we haven't met before. So I picked this little design for the phone. Of course, you know it would go good with it, Jay's a cream-colored hat. Yeah, with black riding.

Yeah, that's funny, yeah. Thanks, Al. So I just thought that was a neat story, though, about I couldn't find a phone case, and all of a sudden, Jay's like got a guy on the Rolodex that, for some, a prayer, and he feels indebted, and I'm like, the fact you still have his number. They hadn't talked in years, but he had his number. So we might take him duck up, but I was giving him a shame. Promotion just because I thought that happened.

And he said, here's the bill. He sent me four cases. And it was like, I'd like to go duck hunting. So I thought. It just got real expensive. Yeah. But anyway. So I thought I'd give him a shameless plug in case the duck cut doesn't work out.

So, Jay, I know you and Missy got some events coming up in the next couple of months. You want to tell us, tell the folks about it? Yeah, which is another sign that I've gotten over my nervousness about us doing. events and podcast together. So we actually tested the waters this past year, and I think it went well. Yeah, I guess we're doing well because other people are asking us to come. Yeah, and look, it's, so in February, you know, there's a big special day in February called Valentine's Day.

Yes. And so there are groups of people that think it's a good idea for Missy and I to come and spread a little love in the air. We're going to host a date night. We're hosting date night. So February 14th at the White River Conference Center next to Bass Pro Shops, we are going to be in Springfield, Missouri. So if you're interested in coming, you can go to team cTO.org and find out everything you want to know. And then the next weekend on February 20th, and this is 20, obviously, we're going to be.

in Sanford, North Carolina, February 21st. Well, we're actually going to be the 20th and the 21st. I'm speaking to the man, you're speaking to the ladies, and then we're going to talk about loving God and loving others. Yeah, and that's at the Dennis Wicker Civic Center. So you can go to HSB-C-B-W-A-Y-N-C.org. So, Missy, I was going to ask you about the chocolate pies. Oh, yeah.

Jay's, because, you know, and again, you're not backing down. You have decided to take some of mom's great recipes and keep them going because mom is not much of a cook anymore. She just has forgotten a lot of it and just really doesn't want to do it. So we've got to. I need some encouraging in this area. So keep going, Al. Keep going.

Well, first of all, why did you, I think you should just answer what, because I'm married to you and I'm not sure what the real answer is. but for some reason you decided to make this a priority. And so tell us what. Well, years ago, I think you asked me, Jace, you asked me like, why don't you make, learn to make moms? First, it was a coconut. You wanted me to make her coconut pie. I don't like coconut.

Which is why we haven't. I haven't done that yet. Okay, but I'm going to master. But she told me that the coconut and the chocolate pie are the exact same thing. It's just one ingredients different. So I was like, well, I'll master the one I like first. Then I'll do the coconut. But years ago, you asked me, why don't I do that?

And I said, why would I do that to myself? Why would I make some of your mom's best recipes while she's still alive and kicking? Because it will never be good enough. So I think I waited a little too late on this. So she taught me how to make the pie crust, which I do have down. Which is very important. They are really, really good. Which that also goes with the crawfish pie.

Which is, yours is fantastic. A couple years ago, we mastered that, and it is really good. I did cook that the other night. And, you know, I think it was when your dad, when your dad was going through all the stuff that he was, you know, physically and mentally, I learned that when he saw me come in with something in my hands, it, like, he liked it. He would, he knew who we were. He loved it. He came towards us. He would try to find a place to sit down.

He was ready to eat. whatever it was I had, he wouldn't even know until we told him or showed him. And so that was encouragement enough for learning how to do some of their favorite recipes. And besides, they're really good. I mean, they're really enjoyable to eat. Yeah. So I want to, I want to learn. So, okay, so I got, did the crawfish pie. So I told Jace this year, I said, I think my goal is to master one recipe a year that your parents have done. I don't think that's too hard. Right? One recipe a year.

So I said, this year was going to be the chocolate pie because it is my absolute favorite. No chocolate pie compares. I've eaten chocolate pies my whole life. You know, love to go to the Piccadilly or whatever and get that slice of chocolate pie with whipped cream. Oh, no, that's nothing now. I will not eat a chocolate pie.

So I'm like, I've got to get this done. So it's just I haven't mastered it yet. I took some to a family member a couple of days ago that's going through some things. and I said, look, it's really, really good. You're just going to need a spoon. Yeah. Well, I left a cliffhanger on this.

Look, I have two pictures that I want to put before because when she cooked it, the first time was a bomb. The problem is the cookbook in so many of the recipes in Ms. Case Cookbook, they're not accurate. I'm just going to say it. They're not accurate. Because they don't have a tangible recipe. so now you have a middleman getting the recipe and putting it on there. Well, they had it. They just changed it.

Even my, the chili recipe in there that I got directly from Granny's mouth, they changed it. I don't know why, you know, I was really not happy about it. Editors changed it. It's not right. So if you look up, you know, Granny's chili in Ms. Kay's cookbook, it's not correct. Yeah. So. I want to say this.

I think we figured out the problem in the cookbook. It has nothing to do with the ingredient. I don't know. No, I think we did. because I look. So she cooked it the first time. She actually, because you're making a pie crust, you have the filling,

and then you have the meringue. Well, you make all those things separately. Right. Then you put it together. And then the first time she did it, she cooked that for 28 minutes. No, no, no. Well, let me just back up.

Last year I asked your mom, because I tried this last year, and I asked your mom, I said, there's nothing in here that says that you cook a pie. You cook the sweet potato pies. for 45, 50 minutes, right? So the crust is not cooked.

So it has to cook. And she said, what is the cookbook saying? I read the whole thing. And she was like, yeah, that's not right. She said, you have to cook the pie. Cook the pie. I said, okay, I cooked the pie last year. And I did the meringue, but I didn't do the meringue well.

And so I thought, well, maybe the meringue is the problem. Well, this year I did the meringue really well. Yeah. When I cooked all of that before the meringue, it turned into this like, like gooey thick. Yeah, no good. Not good. It's not good.

I actually ate a piece and thought. Well, actually, I took an entire pie because I made the mistake of doing two because the recipe calls for two. So I, like, ruined two pies, which was really a lot of work. But I took one to my parents and they think it's delicious. So I don't know. There you go. Well, Missy, Jason and I talked about this on a previous podcast and briefly, but we were trying to remember because obviously, I wasn't paying attention, but I saw her do it so many times.

It's in my mind. And so I remember her having pie crust. Maybe they weren't all the way done, but they were at some form of being done. She would do the chocolate stuff on the stow top separate. And it would be thick enough. She would pour it in. But then she cooked that again. And then the meringue went alone last.

And she was just broiling. There's nothing in the cookbook that says to put that pie in that. the oven. But I think there's the minutes because when she, yeah, I think she just cooked the first one too long. Yeah. So we got to figure out the amount of time. But then you can't overcook the pie crust then either.

You can't. I know. It's tricky. We'll figure it out. But here's what I want to say. I'll figure it out. I'm determined. I'll figure it out.

She cooked it, this new new one that she cooked. And it looks fantastic out of the oven. So I took a picture of it. It's beautiful. And then when when we cut it open, I thought. Oh, darn. It was like popping a balloon and just going, so I took a picture of when we were down to the last piece.

Last night. This is good comedy go. However, when you see this picture, it was so good that I thought, babe, it's okay. And she's like, isn't it so pitiful? Look at this. I'm like, it doesn't matter. You have the ingredient.

sense, perfect. All she has to do is to make it look good and have the consistency of it. Because it tastes exactly, which is where the one she cooked too long, it lost something in cooking that long. But this here, Al, it was absolutely perfect in taste, but it was like a four in texture because it's a chocolate soup. Well, so here's the deal I've learned because it's a lot of times. It's hours and hours and hours of my life, and I still haven't got it right.

So Bonnie, my aunt, our assistant, is texting me business stuff all morning while I'm trying to do this. My hands are dirty. I'm trying to get all this done. And so I said, sorry, this is what I've been doing. And I took a picture of this beautiful pie and sent it to her. I said, this is what I've been doing. And she said, ooh, can't wait to try a piece. And immediately I thought, do I love you that much?

I don't know. such a flippant comment. I've been working for hours and hours trying to get this right. And she's like, ooh, can't wait to try it. Like, I don't know. You're going to have to earn that once I get this right. It's really good, you know. I mean, look, babe, it's elite in far as delicacy of what our parents created. And I'm not even a chocolate. I've made that known. I've never been a big chocolate fan about anything. but I have to eat it because it's one of the greatest things I've ever eaten. I'm going to do it. Well, my friend Tara, who is probably the number one listener besides Brighton of Unashamed,

I was texting her because she knows a lot of your parents' recipes from years ago. She's always been trying to do them right. And she's from South Louisiana. She's in-eight, good cook. And she told me the night before that I went in again. She said, you need to keep going. This is important. and no one else in your family is doing this.

And that was a text, and I thought, ooh, okay, you're right. I'm going to do this for the Robertson heritage. I'm going to try to get it right. I love the effort of that. Phyllis learned how to do Mahal Jelly for the same reason because we knew somebody had to know how to do these things, you know, for the future. And I don't know that we'll always do it like they did it, you know, like its consistency Well, I've already dumped the double boiler, so I'm not doing that.

That's way too difficult. We have way too much better pots and pans these days. We don't have to do that. So some things are going to be a little bit different, but I do believe that passing this down, passing so many things down, not just recipes, but passing so many things down from our families is very important to our children. Because, you know, let's face it, a lot of what mom learned. she learned from Granny, which was, you know, dad's mom. So those were passed down to her.

And so it's only right that we should do the same thing. And I think our kids, too, you know, and then beyond us. It kind of keeps that going. I will give you one other resource. The second best chocolate pie of eating to moms is Grace Birx. And so she might be a resource to ask her at least how she does it because there may be a similar thing. But her chocolate pie is close to. moms as anybody else's.

I'm like you, Missy. It's so good, but nobody's is really in the neighborhood of stuff I've tried. In fact, I even, because so many of our, so many of our life is online, I actually Googled Ms. Kay's chocolate pie recipe just to see if somebody had it on there. And do you know that most of those online say that cocoa powder, that she uses cocoa powder? She does not. It's those baker's chocolate squares.

And so, and it has to be the unsweetened kind. It's very specific. I think she went through a phase where she did use cocoa powder. Maybe it was before they came out with those squares. Because I remember those cans being in her kitchen when she made it. And when Dad would make hot chocolate. Jay, she remember the hot chocolate? Oh, yeah.

He would make it on the stove and with evaporated milk and that cocoa, you know, and then he would use, I think, milk. Those chocolate squares are very rich. Yeah. And she told me that. She went to that. She shifted to that somewhere along the line. You're right.

All right, Jayes. Well, that was the chocolate pie update that went longer. Still working on it. I will say this. You're really good, have always been really good in our family about trying to pass down traditions that are godly. And I thought you could comment on that because it's like even with our kids and little man today, you were really big about this. It's better to give. than receive.

But as long as you're teaching like with a little man, I mean, he's only, you know, three years old. And you're, because in their view, I mean, I know he's excited about Christmas time.

He is so excited. And look, I think the reason you've been so happy the last couple months is because you now have an elf. That's right. Oh, they're just following each other around,

decorating and just out. The transformation of our house is un... I've done it little by little because he wants to help me, you know. So he's so excited about it. Our tree, it's not the prettiest tree, but it's because all our decorations are about two feet off the ground just because that's where he put them all.

So I'll have to redo that at some point when Francis comes this week. It's so funny, they've been doing this for days, and the only thing I've contributed to is fixing the star and making it straight. But I wanted everyone to stop. Spend that plate, babe. And pause and say, okay, I've contributed to the Christmas decor. Spin that plate.

No, well, I think, too, like he, you know, you get the catalogs in the mail still, even at this day and age, you get little magazines or catalogs. And he'll leave him out for him to look at because he's like, oh, I want that, I want that. And that was like two in a row I left out. And I decided I'm going to put those up because he gets so excited about what he's going to get. And so I started talking to him about, I said, well, what are you going to give? And he just looked at me. He said, what? And I said, ma'am, because we're correcting him all the time about how to respond to adults, you know.

But he said, what? He said, I said, you have to not, you're not just going to get something. You need to give something. Of course, you're talking to a three-year-old who has no job, no money, no resources. So I'm thinking I'm going to have to teach him how to make something for people in the family because that's the best way to do it is actually spending time, not just going to the store and spending someone else's money and saying, I got you something. And so I'm collecting some things that we're going to do some crafts, you know, together that he can give to certain members

of the family. And you're teaching him a little work at it. But it made him stop and think. So then it was so cute. Then he started going through the toy catalog and saying, you can have this Lulu. J. Rock, you can have this. And pointing it. He understood like, the girl things. He started looking at the girl things for me and the boy things for J-Rock. So at least it's starting in his mind like, I need to think about other people and not just myself. I don't know if Missy knew this. So she started this conversation. Well, then I got up with him one morning and he's in there on his little place scrolling through the Christmas catalog putting check marks. Oh, yeah. That ain't.

marker and I'm like what what's with the check mark he's like well this is what I'm getting for people I was like you've pretty much check mark the entire catalog so let me explain something to you until you get a job and have some money we can't just get all this even though your heart's right you want to give this this is there's too many check marks there well let me say this there was a time when which every year for years we've done this. And I think it's because back when Reed was in the first grade at OCS, he had a classmate whose dad had Lou Gehrig's disease. And there were three siblings.

And Ellie was the oldest, Reed's age in first grade. And I remember this so vividly because at the end of the first grade year at our Christian school, the first graders put on a little production about what they're going to be, when they get older. And it's all these different jobs. And they dress up and it's the cutest thing and they do it every year like at the end of the school year. And we had to change locations to do it

because, you know, we had to accommodate the dad in the wheelchair. And the wheelchair was extensive because, you know, with Lou Gehrig's disease, there's a computer, keyboard, breathing apparatus, all the stuff that's happening. And so we did it in the cafeteria. So we're already in a different place. and then the dad of one of their classmates is here in this wheelchair. And I feel like it's probably a core memory for Reed and all of the kids in that class

because it was very striking to me. And so we did that. And then three months later, like the first or second week of the next school year, he died. He passed away. And I took Reed to the funeral. And it just made a big impact. on starting that year and kind of a downer for his class and for Ellie and for her family.

And so that Christmas, they were just on my heart. And it was 2004. So Elf, the movie Elf had come out the year before. So I thought, why don't we make Ellie and her family like a movie basket? And, you know, DVDs were like 20 bucks probably. It was probably just come out on DVD. So it was the most expensive one. And so it was like, we don't have much money. But I think I remember spray painting an old Easter basket, like red, because I didn't want to have to buy a new basket and kind of filled it with, I asked Reed to find out, you know, like what their favorite candies were. And I put a couple of bags of microwave popcorn in like three or four different sodas,

like bottled sodas in this basket. I was trying to keep the cost slow, but it ended up being like 30, 25, 30 bucks, you know. And we gave it to them. Read helped me do it. We gave it to her mom for Christmas, like the last day of school. I just said, want to give you this to help y'all have a Merry Christmas. Because I just thought, man, it's the first Christmas without their dad. So an elf we knew is a really funny movie. Maybe it will bring some joy to their life, you know. Well, it did. they loved it. She just, I mean, even years later,

she ended up teaching at OCS, and years later I saw her in the hall and she said, I just don't know if you understand what that did for our family back then. We laughed and laughed and laughed that night at that movie together. So what, but my point for telling this

is that the next year for Christmas, Reid said, who are we giving a movie basket to this year, Mom? And I was like, I wasn't thinking that way. And so every year of them growing up, we chose a family to do something for. It wasn't a movie basket. I just felt like that family needed that. But we would do something for a family or for one person or something.

But Reed is really the one that brought it to my attention that we need to make this an annual thing. Because, you know, kids are all about routine. They love routine. And then he saw how they were. reacted to the act of giving and bringing joy. And he's always been very sensitive, Reed has, and he's always been very giving. So he wants to give away everything he has when he sees someone in need. He'll just give it to him.

That's why I think the Spirit of Christmas is such a good thing and a real thing, because, and you said it, and you think about the traditions, I mean, Jesus, if nothing else, you see his three years that he was doing ministry on the earth, he centered everything around those Jewish festivals that were happening. He'd go to Jerusalem. So obviously, he understood the idea of traditions that had been around, obviously, you know, Jesus has been around forever. So it wasn't like it was new to him. But I think he showed us something in that. So what you just described, which is a beautiful picture, is the best thing about Christmas season and that idea that it's personal and that it matters to people and that, you know, you are thinking about

it, you know, throughout a process. Bailey is kind of my most creative grandchild, or one of the most creative, I should say, I guess. And she, so she's always thinking of things she can make for people. And last year, she gave to Lisa and I and to mom and to, to Hawk and Bill, you know, which is kind of our adopted bachelors in our family. She gave, she went through and made calendars for them of everybody in the family's birthdays. And like so every, so she would draw these pictures on a person's birthday that was associated with that person, like something they liked,

you know, they're a fan of this, that or the other. But I mean, think about the time that would take to make several calendars and, you know, draw these pictures in them and like, because she gets that from mom too.

And, and gave that as guess, why everybody loved that. I mean, like it was so, so they're like, are we getting another calendar this year? I mean,

they've already asked because, you know, reminds them of everybody's birthday, which is important. I believe that it's teaching your children to be givers. And if you don't teach them to be givers, they will be takers. And it doesn't just happen automatically. And so I believe that through the years, even though we had every excuse in the book to be takers, we didn't have much money.

Then Mia comes along. Sucks anything that we did have, you know. right out the window and we're in debt, there was no reason for us to even think along the lines that we shouldn't be takers for we should be the ones in need and having the baskets given to us. But that's just not what Jesus is about. He's no matter how much money we have in our bank account,

I heard a saying a long time ago that said, if you're not going to give, if you're not going to share a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when you're poor, you're not going to share a steak when you're rich. And it's the mindset. It's not how much you have. It's the mindset. And I think about not just Christmas, but about baby showers, wedding showers, hosting different things like that.

People just, a lot of people just skip those. But then when it's time for their daughter to have one or granddaughter, it's like, well, no one came to my shower. Like, well, how many have you been to in the last year? You know? And so there's always a reason to say, well, I'm too busy or I don't have the money. But then you can always find a way to give, whether it's something small or something large. When we started receiving in the Duck Dynasty years more money, then we would take on an entire family's Christmas, including a mattress, you know, that a child needed. I mean, can you imagine having a mattress on your Christmas list?

If there's a family that puts a mattress on their Christmas list, I'm going to help that family. Yeah. Yeah. You've done a good job with that. Well, we didn't get to our Bible study, but I will say this. I think this has been a good Christmas episode, but we had something I want to bring up in our closing minutes. So the first guy I shared Jesus with was my best friend in high school.

Oh, yes. And he recently spoke, and my point of telling this story is the best thing you can do is actually give Jesus to someone. And the resurrection, which we're at here, makes all this possible. And, you know, we have hard heads thinking, well, we don't know when Jesus was born and why are we celebrating Christmas and all this.

But, you know, when you start thinking about Easter and the resurrection, that makes all this possible. I mean, there's a new creation that was launched. And seeing that 35 years later, I guess, in a human being, so he goes and gives a speech at a men's retreat. treat, which he invited me to come, but we were on the road. And this is Blake, your best friend from high school, and the first person you ever reached Jesus to.

And he's been on the podcast. We actually had him on an episode somewhere. However, he gave this speech a few weeks ago, and I didn't hear it. Yeah, at a men's retreat. And I asked him how it went, and he was like, great. Well, this past Sunday, he gave me the speech. And I read that thing. and I was like, this is one of the greatest things I've ever read.

And I was so inspired by it, and it just took me back to times in our life when we didn't have any money. We didn't, and all this stress that was causing our marriage from me sharing Jesus every night with somebody, and you having to work just to keep food on the table while I'm out in Gallivet and doing this. I don't know. It was, I wanted her to read it, and you read it, and we both. got tears in our eyes, and there was just something about that, and looking at how his life has been, and them adopting children, and just all the good things that happened in a very raw, rough upbringing that he had. And I wanted to bring that up, because you look back on just

seeds of Jesus that you sow, and it's incredible to read 35 years later, you're talking about a transformation. It's the greatest gift that you could ever give someone. It was so transparent, authentic, humble, real, honest. It was very inspiring that speech. And it was about 20 or 30 minutes it took me because I read every single word and I got choked up. But I told Jace, I mean, after it kind of marinated in my heart for a little bit, I said, you know, those first few years of our marriage were really hard because we were dealing with so many. many people and all of their problems. And Al, you and Lisa were there with us doing the same thing.

Every night, we never, we were never alone. That was hard. But reading that, that Blake wrote, I said it makes it all worthwhile. Because he's not the only one. He was one of hundreds. And it just makes it the kingdom of God so much sweeter. Well, and it just takes you back to that Revelation 12, 11. You know, you overcome the evil one.

by the blood of the lamb, the word of a testimony, someone being willing to write it down and talk about it, and that you don't love this life so much, you would shrink back from anything. All of those times that we had, we did all of that, that we never realized the impact. We knew the impact we were having on those individual people, but now reading Blake's story about his life,

his wife, his children, two children that he's adopted since then, all of the lives that he's changed because of the simple message of Jesus. Well, we'll give all that, praise to God. Missy, thank you for saving the day coming on the podcast.

It's always fun to have you on. And we're still in the fall of love. You guys didn't even fight, so all is good. We'll get Zach well. We're trending. We're trending well. We'll see you next time.

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