Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 435 | Jase and Missy's New Blessing & Why Phil Raised His Kids with Freedom

Episode Date: February 28, 2022

Jase explains how his wife was writing a children's book, "Because You're My Family," when a baby was suddenly left in their care. Jase and Missy felt like the baby fell right out of the sky! Missy wrote the children's book centered on unconditional love, which is the kind of love that comes from the Father. Phil reflects on being a father and reveals why he raised his kids with plenty of freedoms and independence. And he can't believe his sons have a little gray in the beard. Sign up to watch the Unashamed overtime show, only on BlazeTV: https://BlazeTV.com/Unashamed Get Uncanceled by Phil Robertson, available now: https://www.amazon.com/Uncanceled-Finding-Meaning-Accusations-Condemnation/dp/1400230179 - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So we've got, it's always an honor to, when we have one of our wives on the podcast, Missy, welcome back to Unashamed, back to the Lair. Thank you. I'm missing Lisa. I know. Normally, they start a little routine, but we got to add to that.

I figured that was what was going to happen. Well, Lisa's always good to have when anybody's own, because her laugh is contagious, so, you know, which is really good. To be honest, every time we have the wives on, the ratings go out the root. They do. Yeah, people love the wives. I'm like, I don't, I think it's simple. It's a simple thing. More women listen.

And we do have a lot of women listeners because when I was in Idaho last week, I mean, they just, women kept coming up and said, I love your podcast, you know, especially when your wives were on. So they were telling me that, too. Of course, I've said it before, Dad, it gives me personal pleasure for Missy to be on because I love to see. Jay Squirm, which takes me back to my childhood of C&J squirm. And so, you know, when Missy, who's a great truth teller to some of Jay's wild stories and, you know, exaggerations. We have a combustible dynamic relationship. And it has not always been that way. We've been married for 31 years. And I say this when we do like any type of marriage seminar or interviews, I wasn't really trained on confrontation, I'll say. We just didn't really do that growing up. So y'all's family

is completely the opposite. You kind of thrive on it. So whenever Jason and I would disagree or something would come up in our relationship, he would want to sit down and analyze it and just basically talk through every single detail. Well, I would, my mind really would just go blank. Like, I don't want to do this. I don't want to have this conversation. Let's just move on and we'll do better. But he, nope, I want to hear what you have to say. And I actually, I have actually nothing. Like, it's almost like white noise in my brain.

And when I said that one time in a marriage, I think it was at re-engage. Other people know exactly what I'm talking about. And so, but over the years, I've learned to not act like that, like react in a different way. And a couple of years ago, we had Trent at our house who, you know, we know Trent Langhoffer, he has a doctorate degree of marriage and family therapy. We were sitting there talking and he starts laughing. And we're like, what, what? He said, oh, I love the way that y'all communicate. And we were kind of disagreeing in front of him to each other because I said something.

And Jason, like, babe, that's not true. I'm like, yes, it is. And Trent started laughing. He said, if I ever disagreed with my. wife in front of somebody else, I would pay the price. And he said, the way y'all communicate is really refreshing. And so I thought, okay, well, this must be good. Well, we're good at that, babe.

So we've come a long way. Jason's already on record is saying is that the two of y'all had nothing in common at the beginning. I believe me. I've heard that many times. Other than Jesus. So that's it's his line. Pick something we have in common. We've had this argument many times.

Ready? Yeah. British crime shows. that was a slow developing situation that took 20 years first 20 years I was in there watching by myself now all of a sudden you've decided okay let me try out all right is there such a thing yeah like endeavor is it on the BBC or something it's on prime video there's a ton oh really I mean most people in life you're gonna watch Endeavor and say that's horrible I think that's BG I hope it is Lisa and I have no such television connection.

I mean, there's a few movies, but I mean, like, she likes those flip the house things. And after like... I do you. We talked about this last time I was on here. So I want to mention that, Missy, before we get into, because we got a couple of things to talk about today with you. But so the last time you were on, you and Lisa were on, we had the Duffies were on. Oh, yes. And so I just wanted to tell you that we've had a lot of feedback from that really positive.

And in fact, which I was, I marveled. like when you were telling them and me about, you know, your adult kids and that's, you know, getting together with a counselor and all the pathway you went through. Well, I could tell they were intrigued, you know, and I've talked to them since. And they're like, you know, we're going to do that with our kids. Really? Yeah. But then we had a guy, Kenny was here yesterday just listening in. And he told Jays, he's like, I mean, you and Missy hit home with me and my wife, you know, about getting together with our kids.

We're going to do that. And so it helped a lot of people. So I just was going to thank you on the podcast for talking about it. So at some point, counseling used to be a negative connotation. And I mean, I'm talking about spiritual, biblical theme counseling where you're tapping into the resources that really make a difference, which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Right. I mean, what's wrong with your family getting together and having a weekend of sharing?

Well, it's difficult. That's not something you just flippantly do. We were at a point, you know, with one of our children that she was just really not handling life very well. And, you know. Which is a common thing among humans. Exactly. But. Ages and seasons.

But when we said, we need to get something done. We need some type of intervention because it's been the same cycle of, you know, the come to Jesus meetings that Jason and I have talked about for years that we did with our kids, they worked for the boys, you know, but with, you know, with me, it was just, it was a different situation. And so it's somebody that we really prayed about and saw it after. And she was, she knows us. She knows our situation as our family. So, so yeah, it was, it was a turning point in our family. And we've only gone up in all of our relationships since then. And, and think about how many times you guys, and I know mom and dad have, at least and I have a ton, have provided wise counsel just from the Bible to help people do a rough patch. And we're all just, you know,

we're not trained other than we love the Lord and we have the Holy Spirit and we know a lot of the Bible. But there are people who have all those abilities and then also have some more training beyond that, which can help. I mean, you mentioned Trent. I mean, a tremendous guy, you know, with great hard, knows the word of God, great individual, but he also has some really good training to help other people through this. So counseling, you're right, as it shouldn't be that it's a negative. It should always, it should be a positive, you know, and there's everybody at some point in your I was kind of speaking to myself on that. Yeah, I knew you were.

I'm glad you repented to yourself. Yeah. I was like counseling. Well, and it's the thing about a generation removed, you know, my parents and their friends and that whole generation, I don't know that they would have ever called in a counselor and said, we need some help with our family dynamic and in that situation. So, you know, I think just what I've told my kids to, especially read and Brighton, because they're the ones that are married and just had a baby. But my goal is for you to parent better than we did.

I hope that we parented better than my parents and so forth. Because each generation, Jay says, take the meat and spit out the bones. You know, we want you to be better than us. It's not a competition. But that whole fall on the sword, you know, talk about your mistake. Those are not easy to do. Right. But boy, if you do it, it sure can make a difference with your relationships.

Once I did it, it became easier. Right. Because then it's like it's disarming for your kids. I mean, they're like, I mean, well, Dad, you did this one time. And I'm like, yep, that was wrong. Yeah. Then it's like crickets. Yep, I could have done that better.

Yep. What else you got? Yep, I was wrong on that too. It's important to hear that. Now, are you going to use that and try to explain to God why, you know, you just went off the wrong end because I made a couple, you know, glaring mistakes or whatever? So I don't know. Something disarming about it. I mean, we did that with all our kids.

You know, that was our exit strategy, I guess. But now we're trying to do it. Well, I love what the Duffy said. They were like, they do an exit interview with their kids when they're leaving home. Of course, they got nine of them. So I was like, man, you're going to be doing interviews for a long time. calendar which they're fantastic.

By the way, so Lisa and I were on their podcast last week and had a great time with them. So it was a great couple. So from the older people within a family structure, you know, you have your children

and then you look up and they're married and their children are now their college age, they're married, now they're having children. I mean, and it seems this quick. Right.

It's that quick. Yeah. I mean, it's, I mean, James said it was a vapor. I mean, it's amazing how fast the turnaround is and the generation underneath you. Fortune for us, I'm happy with the family structure the way it's great. Well, you and mom were blessed. I mean, you know, because you have five children that are all still married to our original. All of y'all was done well.

You know? I mean, in modern America, that's, I mean, not a lot. That might be a miracle. Just kidding. Just kidding. Missy was listening to the last segment on the... Miracle. She said that might be a miracle.

She was waiting to get a response out of you. You zoned out. That's okay. The administration where all of them are godly, I mean, you're like... I mean, it's a wonderful feeling. I'm going to tell you. Well, you know, if you have mom, dad, are blessed with... health to have, you know, another decade.

Even see it. You're going to have, you're going to get great, great grandchild. I mean, Carly's 16 years old. She's your oldest great-granddaughter. You're putting your hand over your eye. You used to used to look for ducks across the rise. And now you're trying to see all the kids that are trailing off into the distance. Yeah.

I'm like, where are in the world? Now when we have a get together, I'm like, you know, go up and get some more. Now, my favorite is one. Bill said, looked at a kid and says, now who are you? Yeah, what's your name? I actually felt for your. Now, which one does this belong to? The last gathering, I actually recommended name tags.

Well, Willie and Corey thought that was ridiculous. I was like, I don't know half the people in here. You know, you think about it, I'm not raising y'all's children. And I'm not there to see day by day, year by year. You know, every once in a lot. Giving Christmas, okay, birthday. but they come up with all these other things, but I'm looking at them,

and that's why I'm saying, it's just so fast. Well, I agree. Like some of these little kids, Al, you know, from your side, I mean, they look up two years and they're a lot bigger, but they don't recognize it. That's right.

What's your name? He's like, who are you? The two-year gap is kind of questionable. Well, you've grown. They don't think that with you. Then he's got his own. Well, the old leaving home and, you know, late,

teens, early 20s, and this particular culture, the dating begins your children date. Next thing, you know, we have a marriage. We have a birth. We have another birth. Well, when you look over here and they say, yeah, over here, they're having, they'll perfect. I mean, it just. But in your- All I can say is it just happens.

In your case, Dad, we've already established, you can't remember when we were born. No. So you're never going to remember four generations, right? I'm looking at you two, gray whiskers, and I call y'all erroneously young bucks. And all of a sudden, it happened to me. I looked around. I said, good night.

They all got gray hair, losing hair. I mean, it just happened quickly, Al, for all I'm saying. I understand. But look, what a blessing. I mean, you read about in Psalms and Proverbs the idea to be able to experience the generations of your legacy. That's a wonderful thing. It is. And God has blessed us tremendous. I mean, I was saying about that, we had a little, a young boy that's a grandchild of some of our church members, and he almost drowned. He's still alive,

but they're not sure. And when I got that news and I was just on my knees praying for this kid because, you know, I have five-year-old grandchildren. And the idea of a grandparent thinking about having to deal with that, and yet we've been so blessed as a family, we've had very little, you know, tragedy and, you know, things like that. And so many people have so much of that. So my heart goes out. I know there's people listening that have undergone terrible tragedy of losing children and grandchildren. And I'm just saying, you know, in me, praising God for our blessing, I don't want everyone to take away from your loss and how hard that is. By the way, I have made it my policy, and I hope that I have fulfilled that. In other words,

I've tried my very best not to get on the telephone somewhere and start your saying, yeah, y'all need to be there. I don't do that. You notice it. You notice it. You're You don't get irate phone calls from me ever. I know. And I appreciate that. And really, and truly, Dad, you raised us with a lot of independence and freedom, which I appreciate. At one time I squandered it, but now I appreciate it. Unless we're talking about the water elevation at the duck hole, then it might be a little

irate. A little cranking for that. Let's take a break. So, Missy, tell us about you, you've written a book. And so and I read it. Release day is today, right? March 1st, is that today? Yeah, yeah, so yes, it comes out today, March 1st.

It's called Because You're My Family. It's one in a series of books with Brave Books. So this is book number eight, but it's the ninth book. So there's a book zero is why that happens. Do they do, like you have more books coming out? Well, not me. I'm just one author in this series of books. By the way, so I was looking at.

looking through the stack and I recognize so many names in there. It was really impressive. Yeah. You're a part of a great group of people. Do you feel pressure on that? Not really. Say, you're so tough. Well, the subject that I was given was amazing and it is unconditional love of a family. And so what happens in this book, just a little synopsis, is young valor who is a tiger and is adopted by his lion parents, which is another book in the series that you can read and talk about. But he, he gets up in the morning because he has plans to play with his fun uncle. So these animals can talk. Always, they always talk in children's books. I know you missed out on that as a child, but in children's books. That was

directed at you, Phil, or mom. And your mom. I never dug that deep into the animal world. Oh, God. We did have Dr. Seuss. I do remember Dr. Seuss. The rhyming thing. That's the only one I ever read. Really? Have it in the cat.

He took a bat and went out saw a rat, and it was tipped for. Sam, I am, green eggs and ham. Whatever. This gets more and more sad than when we talk about that. Go ahead, baby. We needed more authors like you, Missy. We needed more people like you in our life. Simple question.

I mean, I was just one. wondering why lions. I was thinking ducks. Because children relate to animals. So when the animals come to life, it just keeps them interested. So I would say for years and years, that has been the point of having children's books, animals and children's books. But his lion parents, so they're lion, not lying, lion with Maine's parents. He was adopted. He kind of looks like me, but a little bit. Yeah, and look at her. Yeah. A little bit. A little bit. Oh, yeah, I could see that. The illustrations are really beautiful in here.

But anyway, I'll tell you this story real quickly. He disobeys. He disobeys his mom. She has other plans for him that day. They're to serve a lady down the street, well, a lady bunny who just had a baby down the street. They're going to make her a carrot cake. So she sends him out to the garden to get the carrots. And they're going to make a carrot cake and send that to her that day.

Well, he just, he's upset because. he was going to go play with his fun uncle. And... Which we have a fun uncle. We have a fun uncle. So, but in the book, his name is Moby. Oh. But anyway, so he's upset.

He's mad. And he goes and picks all the carrots and then just gets madder and matter and ends up dumping them in the ditch. And then he realizes, uh-oh, I'm fixing to get in some trouble here. So he runs and hides and stays out all the rest of the day. The rains come. the storms come, his parents get worried and start looking for him and catch him basically as he almost falls into the overflowing river, brings him back into the warm and safe home. And this little conversation happens, which is really the point of the whole book.

And Valor says, Daddy, why did you save me? All I've done today is pout and disobey. And the father says, I don't love you because you obey me. I love you because you're my son. and nothing can change that. So the point is no matter how much we mess up, how much we disobey, all the flaws that we have, the father's love is never going to run out for us.

He's always going to be there for us because we are family, because we are his children. Where in the world did you get this idea for me? I wonder. But here's the other part, is that he keeps on saying, he says, of course there will be consequences for your actions. You'll need to apologize to your mother and help her regather the carrots,

but nothing will ever change how much I love you. You may get some black over that line, but there's consequences for your actions. Well, that's the way it is, you know? I mean, he was trained. Word. And in this world, you know, there's no consequences. Well, I don't know. I've booked two on that.

I don't know. But what I love, I love Little Valor's response because when they go to bed that night, his parents become sick because they've been out looking for him, you know, in the rain. And he realizes that. So he gets up the next morning and makes them a carrot cake for breakfast. Where'd you get that idea? And... Is that a Miss Kay's carrot cake?

Well, that was his chore to begin with, was yes. And bunnies like carrot, so... That's right. There you go. So here's his line. And this is... Are we ruining the book for everybody? No.

No, they have... It's a children's book. What's the age group for this? Probably four to ten. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So let me finish this.

We're selling the book, Days. I'm trying to. I didn't know if it was like a movie where you don't want to share the end. Welcome to Shane podcast. I guess, do we have any 10-year-old listeners? But they're going to buy it for their kids, Jays. Dave, I'm selling to the parents, not the 8-year-old. Doesn't have his debit card yet.

He's still trying to figure out how the lion is talking. You'd be surprised. All right, go ahead. I give up. No, don't give up. Keep going. You're doing well. The rest of us are getting it.

Okay. This is a conversation about the book. Look, go ahead. All right, we're ready. Go, go. You sure? This is why I love having me on the podcast. Here's Little Valor what he says.

He's sorry he disobeyed his mom. And he says, I'm sorry you're both sick because of me. From now on, I'm going to love you the way you love me, not because you give me my way, but because you're my family. So he learns gratitude, is that, which also mirrors our life because of what Jesus did for us. We want to live a life of gratitude because of us. that. So yes, so that's the, that's the synopsis of the book. And I know most people, well, I, I don't watch the podcast, I listen, but if you're watching, it does have some really cute illustrations in it. And I think my favorite one. Did you do the art of this too? No, I didn't do the art. But look at

the little ducks under the umbrella right there, the little family of ducks. The ducks are in and out of the book. So they're like a little, they're in the background. Like a teaser. Yeah. Yeah, which was kind of a cool thing to make back to you. You know, your grandkids, I had them over last week. That was my next question. They were enthralled.

By the way, those are my grandkids that Jayce doesn't know who they are. So I'm glad you know who they are. I was trying to protect the identity of the kids that I did not recognize. And now you messed up. So Corbyn, Doc, and Pearl, and Sage came over. And we, I read it to them and they're just enthralled. Of course, this whole series comes with a map, an interactive, of oversized map. Oh, Pearls crawling around all over it, you know, and they're trying to figure out

where each story is set on Freedom Island. And so then at the back of the book, which this is some of the best parts, is there are, it's called the Brave Challenge, and there are games, there are questions that you can ask your child to respond to in terms of what exactly this means. Because when I say it's about unconditional love, we as adults know what that means, but a five year old doesn't know what the word unconditional means. And they don't understand that when they messed up, you know, sometimes our instinct is to run and hide because we're ashamed. Right.

I ran away at least 20 times as a kid. There you go. And we'll even more. No one noticed 20 of the 20 times. So. Yeah. But don't we wish that we would have understood the father's love for us earlier than we, when we did realize it?

Because our instinct is to run and hide. we understand the love that is there, his arms are open for us. Just like Little Valor's parents' arms were open for him. Yes, they're disappointed that he disobeyed, but their arms were always ready to receive him. And then to also discipline him so that later he'll make better decisions. But the back of the book has all kinds of activities and games, which I did with their grandkids, and they were super fun and they loved it. Yeah, they tell me.

And then we asked them questions that are already there. So sometimes, you know, for a parent, it's hard to pull out of your child what you want them to understand. Right. So there are questions that you can specifically ask. You don't really have to come up with them yourself, but that will create a dialogue between you and your child about love. Which that's what I love about it. And once I got looked into it and saw what you guys had done with the whole series, what they've done, is that it's a way to talk about biblical themes with your kids. And so I think it's so easy for Christians to say, oh, well, they'll get that at church.

But, you know, there's a million reasons why you don't get enough. One is this one time a week. I mean, to understand biblical truths, we've got to talk about it all the time. So we've got to have way more stuff like that. The good thing about this book is you could actually read this in a public school because it doesn't mention God. Right. It has some scripture references that we put in in the back of the book, but in the body of the book. But in the body of the book, because I had a friend of mine, a lifelong friend, her daughter

teaches at a public school and she said, could she, could she read this to her? Because does it say the word God in the story? And I said, actually, it does not. And she said, that's fantastic because now she can take this and read it to her third grade class. Which is both amazing and sad at the same time. It is. But it's a way to get it in there. Exactly.

Hang on, Jayce. Let's take a break. I've always said that's the problem. When they got God away from the schools, they got all those qualities that are just nerds. Just like this. This story is so true. And I love the idea about, it's the Titus verse about Grace teaching us to say no. Yes.

I mean, it's when we know we're unconditionally love that helps us. And even though there will be consequences, it does help us to understand this is what God wants us to do. That's how we grow. And sometimes we don't understand what he's trying to tell us. Just like the mom in this book, she forgot. that Valor had made plans with with fun Uncle Moby. And she even says, you know what? I hate that for you, but we're going to do this instead.

And sometimes we don't understand that the father or Jesus, whatever's going on in our life, a door closes and another one opens. And we just have to trust and understand that he knows better than we do and roll with the flow. And they talk about having a cheerful heart, which is not always easy, you know, as well. So did all of the different authors were each given a theme like you were and then came up? I guess so. I just know only because I didn't read in the other books and yours yet, although they're stacked up on my coffee.

But I know it's like Dan Crenshaw and Graham Allen, people I know, veterans. And I assume that probably would, whatever they were talking about would be in their own life experience. They probably reached out to me because our family is so well known, you know, to take on this subject, which I think is precious and I absolutely adore it. I love the whole story. I love everything about this book. Yeah, it's really good. And again, I think people are always looking for resources to better, you know, teach and train your children. So I couldn't think of anything better.

Well, I actually, she asked me to read it, and I actually picked it up and read the whole thing. And I have very bad attention deficit. So I thought, I'm trying to sell your book, because I read it from cover to cover. And I thought. In one setting. managed to get that push. And she came out and I said, pretty impressive, Jay. I said, will you marry me? She's like, oh, I already did.

I was very proud. If I can impress Jay, so that's pretty good feet. It's really good. I mean, I may have that 10 year old track still in my brain. Well, luckily for us, the Bible was written at a fifth grade level is what I've always heard. How old's a fifth grader? 10, 11, 12 years on, yeah. Good thinking, baby. See?

Everything about this is lining up. So where can folks get the book? They go to bravebooks.us. For the first few weeks, it'll be there exclusively. Rightbooks. Dot us. And it was funny because on a previous podcast, Jace mentioned that you were doing a book,

and he mentioned the publisher was brave, and you made the point that in our culture, it's amazing that it's brave to just talk about simple biblical truths. And, you know, it's true. Yeah. And even this third grade teacher, God bless her, is, you know, that's a great lesson to these kids, even without getting into the church and state stuff, which is unfortunate. Excellent. So, so there's more news.

You know, it worked out really well when we were going to have your own to talk about the book. But since that has, since that has happened, your lives have changed. And I so wanted to mention it on the last overtime. This is kind of breaking news, I guess. Breaking news. Which we've broken a lot of news on the podcast, so. So a lot of, you know, when you write a book, or we've all written books of different manners, I guess. And then there's like a book promotion.

And so you're busy promoting. Which is why I'm here today. This was scheduled. This was on the docket for a few weeks. You were promoting unconditional love. And I believe, were we in a vehicle or you had a phone call? Where did that conversation? It's been a blur of the last week.

It seems like a... But you said, I have some news. I have some news for you. So, let me just tell it from my point of the game. Well, I was going to say it kind of, because in my mind, all I remember is I have some news. I say, good or bad. And you were like... I didn't really know how to answer that question.

You said, we have a baby. And I was like, do what now? And it was something along the lines of, you know, when God drops it out of the sky, you catch it. Okay, let me back up. All right, explain this. I have no idea what you're going. I twice said, Vistie needs to tell the story because. I was in the middle of a conversation.

I was giving you from my perspective and all this way. He was reading your children's book and he just missed the point. So last week, just a few days ago, I'm doing some of this media in live on a podcast and in the house. And my phone starts ringing and I'm ignoring it. You know, I don't want to ever look like I'm not interested in what I'm doing. I'm like, whoever that is, I'll call him back. But it was from one of the girls that we've done ministry with in the past. And she said, she mentioned another girl that was also involved in all that ministry.

And she said that she had just had a baby. She was in jail, just had a baby and signed him over to me. I said, do what? Yeah. I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that correctly. So that was the conversation I was representing. when you were like, we have a baby. I was like...

But, you know, that day was a podcast day for Jace, which, you know, is very busy for him. And we had other things going on. I had the media stuff I was doing. We had meetings in town. He was getting ready to go on a trip for metal detecting. You also do a TV show. So, you know, all of this is happening. And I literally don't even have the time to process it in my brain.

I don't know how to make a decision about this. I'm trying to gather information. And so the social worker gets my number and we talk and from the hospital. And I said, when was this baby born two days ago? And he's ready to be released. So, you know, you can come get him any time. I said, well, that's not happening. You're like, can you even do that?

I mean, there's so many questions. And as we continue the story, we won't get into the finer details. Just because there's a lot of moving parts and it's fluid. Right. So I'm trying to help you out and telling the story. Well, you know, I did, Jason's napping at the time, you know, in between all of this. So, you know, so I said, do you want to hear something crazy?

He said, good crazy or bad crazy. And I said, I don't know, you know. So when I told him, I didn't know what his reaction was going to be. But he was, that's amazing. It was, his response was that that's amazing because, number one, she chose life for this baby. number two, I haven't spoken or seen her in over two years. And Jace baptized her, you preach to her.

You shared Jesus with her. I brought her down to your house. And then Jase took her to the church building and baptized her. So that was over two years ago. And she thought of us, you know, living a life of addiction and having a baby and thought of us as the safest place for this baby to go. Yeah. because she obviously was going to go back to jail. She's back in jail.

Well, right. Just hang on, let's take a break. You're applauding, and that's why we're protecting her as far as, you know, obviously you want people to find their relationship with God and grace and peace. But, you know, you make bad decisions and get off track. But at least this was a good decision is what I'm saying. And we thought, even though we're not adopting the baby and we'll see where that goes. Yeah.

She's in our custody, and we have a newborn, and that's been interesting this one. I should say so for the listeners, they're thinking, what would I do? The phone rings one day and say, guess what? This woman who is in prison is giving us her her with her child, my child, so will you take this baby? I mean, do you have any help that you've called in? Well, the, it's not a while since you've nerves, read. Believe me, I know.

No, I mean, our. Well, Jace did say on the Unashamed podcast that a 100-year-old guy had faith, I said, what about a 51-year-old process? And, I mean, if somebody just says, here's my child, you want them, you're like, yeah, I mean. Our family rallied around this. Well, look, I mean, that, believe me, that thought was. was very prevalent in my mind. Like, I'm not a, I'm not a, what you say, a young buck.

I'm not a young doe anymore. And I don't really know. A young doe. I never, you went through the child rig with the two boys and your, Mia. And then all of a sudden, you know, how many years ago, I guess until, you know, Mia's, what, 18? 18. Yeah, it's been 18. 18.

So it's been 18 to 20 years. We just had a grandbaby. So at least we're, you know. I got a little re-familiarized with everything with marriage. because, I mean, even the first day when she came home from the hospital when we were in Tennessee, you know, Brighton was like, oh, she needs her diaper changed. I said, oh, let me. And I go and I layer in, I layer her the wrong way. Like, I'm left-handed. I'm like, wait, I forgot how to, how does this all work again? You know, because they're so tiny. They're so tiny. And like, I need to make sure I'm doing this

correctly. But now I get the hang of that and the, you know, the feeding Brighton did herself because she breastfed. but a lot of that was just watching from a distance. Now I have this baby that's totally completely dependent. I mean, you have your oldest son and his wife who just gave birth to a baby. And that's been what, a month ago? Three, almost three months ago. And then this, and, you know, that's a lot going on in a short period of time. Surprisingly, while she was getting ready to come down here,

I was, and she was doing some book promotion stuff. So I was in charge of watching him, which he was just in where what used to be one of our little dog spots, you know, the dog's looking. And I'm like, hey, Lord, please help this family. I just, yeah, I had read that book. So I said, hey, little doggy, if you can understand this, humans are more important. My point is. Well, what I was going to say was, is I heard this sound. And it sounded like an explosion.

And I quickly remembered that sound from 18 years ago. What that means. Babe, this baby's getting fussy. Yeah. While you're sitting over there doing nothing and I'm on some kind of drive-in time at a radio station. And I'm sure the listeners would be wondering, where is the baby at this moment?

At this moment, he is home with Mia right now. He is home and she's taking care of him. She's done that a couple of times this week because of our schedule. Which is great about having an 18-year-old. Which is a form of training. Yes, for sure. It is. The baby needs protection, family.

You said, what have we going to make? I want to say this. We want this woman to get her life right. But we want to put this baby in the best place to succeed in life. And we just made a decision after prayer and consultation that this, This was it for the short term. And so that's what we did. Well, and then a lot of people do get opportunities.

A lot of people feel led to foster children, which sometimes leads to them adopting. Sometimes it leads to other people adopting. It's what you guys are doing is a huge component in the whole idea about being pro-life. Because it's not just about a woman not aborting a baby. It's about a life. Right. that then someone has to invest in the life. And not all women are in a position.

It's far beyond, you know, which side your own. I mean, there's a baby. What are you going to do with them? Well, we had to say something because it was getting kind of weird when we're getting the strollers back out and people are looking. And there's been a lot of, you know, just misunderstanding about, like, I was in Duck Commander. And it's like, is that, you all have your grandbaby? I know there was a baby.

Well, we finally realized after a week, okay, we're going to have to make some kind of. Well, we said that when we first met Phyllis, right? Everybody was like, how do we tell this story? Because when somebody starts showing up in pictures, you know. Well, what I was going to say is, like, I'm in the middle of this interview about this book about unconditional love. And so when I... There it is. Right, exactly.

And so, you know, Jace had to leave that night. So I called Lisa and said, okay, can you... I need a favor from you. Can you accompany me to the hospital? Because I need to hear where her heart and her mind is right now before I just take this baby. I don't know anything about what she's been going through the last two years. So, of course, Lisa said, yep, pick me up in five. Let's go.

And we did. And, you know, it's, she's in custody. What that looks like, handcuffed to the bed. And, you know, it's a whole surreal situation. But when she saw me, she just, you know, she just got him. emotional and started crying and I sat down the bed and put my arm around her and told her really how proud I was of her for choosing life. And, you know, her past wasn't always like that.

And Lisa did the same thing. And I reminded her that even though it may feel like the Lord is far away from her when Phil introduced her to Jesus and when she put him on his Lord in baptism when Jay's baptized her, She has the Holy Spirit living inside of her. And he has not left her. Even though she feels like maybe, which I knew, I knew I was speaking truth to her because she just kept crying. And she feels like the Lord is nowhere near her at all when he's right there.

And it's just this book. It was this book that his love is never going to be too far. And that all it takes is a conversation with him. And Lisa talked to her that night about that. And she said, you know, when we leave here, we're not taking it. the baby yet we're gonna we're gonna let him say and we work that out with the hospital stay one more day until we try to figure this out and um lisa said you and the lord need to have a conversation tonight and she just shook her head and said he knows where you are but he needs to

hear it from you what a way to launch a book I'm not saying we did it on purpose well that's a little Well, Missy did tell me. That's why I said. Marketing strategy is right unconditional love. Here's this child. You want them or not? Phil, you're going to let's take a breath.

Phil, you're right. Missy came in there and she's like, I've been talking about unconditional love for two days. And that's where that phrase came when she said, I feel like if a baby drops out of heaven from God, we should catch it. And I thought, I like that line, babe.

It literally felt like that's what happened. When the child gets old enough to understand their background, said male or female? Male. Male. Can you imagine what would go through his mind? He said, wait a minute here. How did I get here?

I thought about the same thing. Whatever role y'all play for however long, this baby and then later is going to be a boy and a young man, will always be in your hearts because you are a part of that process to make sure that he stays healthy and alive. during this era. In a weird way, he comes to the people of God. Yeah.

That's right. It's forever family. To me, I mean, this is the most busy I've been in my life. I mean, I took a few years off there after, you know, the duck show and all. We mentioned that he thought he was retired. His retirement went from zero to 100 miles on that. But what I'm saying is the fact that I'm so busy right now, That's when I laughed and I thought, yeah, I can see this.

This is, this is God said, okay, you think you're busy, big boy. Yeah, one of our friends said, isn't God, I thought she was going to say good, she said, isn't God funny? He's hilarious. I'll tell you this, like, it brings out the best in people, because, you know, we were one day in all this chaos. we have a schedule that we kind of go by on the TV show and we were obviously late because of the baby and Missy was involved. It kind of was a funny,

funny thing we did. But I just, I don't think I meant to introduce this, but I said something about the doctor calling and Missy's getting the baby straight and one of the producers, he's like, no, baby. Oh, yeah, we got a new baby. But I just wasn't realize, you know what I mean,

that he's like, what? do what but his immediate response then I realized I probably shouldn't say I think and uh but he was like and I quickly told him the story and and I was just shocked at his response he's like you take all the time you need we're here to support y'all amazing it was like of course then when that got out so then they all just voiced there there's like we will stop whatever we have to do and and allow this to move forward. Because they were impressed that you guys were doing that. Well, I just think, you know, it comes down to light that, what you said, the value of life.

Right. And you got a tough situation. And look, there are many tough situations out there over and over and over and over. And you just see a window of hope here, of a chance to break the cycle here, to break the life. But, you know, is it? Y'all are new. Grim turns of living a godly life in Christ, Jesus, are. many and surprisingly.

But it's how other people view you. That's what, because she, she, she went back to that. She went back two years to having that realization that this is a person that can help me out. But it's funny, Jay's, you guys are new grandparents. And so we talk about forgetting. And you were describing that about the explosion in the diaper. I mean, I remember keeping my girls and, you know, if it was just me there, I mean, you know, that happens. It's a kid.

You changed diaper. But then all these years go by, and I've got my grandkids. kids. And so I was keeping them. They were left of the house and Pearl and Doc were both still in diapers. And Doc just has a massive disaster. And I'm thinking, and Lisa and Alice are gone. And I'm like, would it be wrong if I just waited until I got back? And then I thought, oh, it's a baby. You know, it's a child. He's got this. Something needs to be done. But I'm having a debate with myself as to whether I can go in or not, because this is a bad one. It's one of the good things about the mask deal, because there's some living in the house.

Exactly. Oh, I had the full, I looked like the videos of the guy with the thing over his nose because I'm gagging. I looked in there at the mask, but I went in there and I tried to do the old wise grandpa thing because you are calling me Paul now. So I was like, there's something wrong with this kid. But Missy's like, I'm busy, you know. Well, we had, she's like, we have a babysitter. in between Mia taking over coming, who's out, the girl that works

for, she'll be here. She'll be here any... She's rolling up any second. Well, actually, when I walk back in, she was walking in. Woo, say, by the bell. I said, I just heard some explosion from the lower border regions. And she said, I'm on it. So I thought, yes.

Well, you know, I called Jessica and told her about it. And I should have led with this. I should have led with, okay, first, we're not adopting. Now, here's the... story because when I started talking she went wait are you adopting I was like oh no no no no no no no I'm sorry I should I buried the lead that that's the lead that we're not adopting we're just I feel like we're being used in this interim in the in between whatever the in between looks like and Lisa helped me so much that Monday night because again my brain was on so many different things you know

she contacted the adoption lawyer in town just to get us some legal advice like what do I do about this And so at one point Monday night, I think I text her and said, I have to turn my brain off. I have to stop trying to figure this out and just be quiet and listen. And so she said, good night, get some rest. And so when I woke up the next morning, I had so much more clarity about it because I've been praying all night about it, you know, off and on waking up. And I thought, okay, you know, I'm going to call all of the girls across the street, which is Sadie, Mary Kate, Rebecca. and Corey. All having babies.

Because I said, I have nothing. If I go get this baby from the hospital today, even if it is just for a few hours or one night, I have nothing. They're not going to just hand me the baby. So immediately, I sent them a text and said, longer story, but this is what I need. Can anybody help me? And immediately, you know, Mary Kate called, I've got everything you need. Come get it.

And we'll bring it over, whatever. You know, Corey texted, Sadie texted. So, and then, you know, I'm on the phone with Brighton all day. I'm like, I got to make a target run. What do I need? She sends me a list of everything I need. The support from our family, it was just like they jumped on it. We had everything you needed quickly.

And then it took us a couple days to work out the sleeping arrangements. And just or lack thereof. For you, for you. This was your idea. You're the one that said I needed some rest. I did. And so, well, for whatever it's worth, peace be with you. Oh, he needed.

that first two nights because I was, I mean, look, I'm working 12 hours a day here. It's hard to do when you're not getting much sleep and you're waking up every three hours, which I know other people are doing it, but hey, you're younger than. I told you, Jason, there's a reason why the Almighty set it up where you're having kids in your 20s, because you could do the all-nighters a lot easier. Well, and I'm having to get my glasses out to like, I'm putting a Sharpie on the ounces on the bottle, because I can't see them. I'm like, that alone to tell you 50-year-olds don't need to be raising babies.

Yeah. But we're doing it. And it's probably going to be for a little while here yet. We're doing podcasts. I'm doing interviews with people announcing another book. Somebody said, Mitch has got a baby. I'm like, what? Really?

That's probably Kay. Okay. I was like, I've always kept it under wraps pretty well until now. Well, what's crazy is she was telling me she was doing a live radio interview, you know, and she's like burping the baby in between the segment. I know they heard that. They're probably better. She must have that grandbaby, you know, and she.

Yeah. Or maybe she's just gassy or something. Yeah. But I do, I'm praying very wholeheartedly, and I ask the audience to pray for what is best for this baby. I have my own opinions about it, but I want, you know, the will of the Lord to be prevalent in this entire situation. And whatever that is, we want to be the conduits for that. Well, we're out of time, but I want it during overtime, or you may be able to stay for overtime? Sure, sure. Well,

overtime, I want to discuss a little more of that idea of because I know an audience is going to be if we get this opportunity. What is this? How would we do this? How would my family manage something like that? Step by step. I want to talk a little bit about that in overtime. So we'll catch you

there. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV at blazestivie.com slash unashamed.