Lunchtime Live | Holly Furtick

Hi, everyone. Welcome to my very first Lunchtime Live. I started this YouTube channel last week. Was it last week? Last week. And one of our ideas is for me to go live at least once a month. I think this month I'm gonna go live twice. But to go live at lunchtime, chat with you, maybe bring a friend on and chat with them and just, I don't know, see how it goes. So it is 12:15 on. Running about 15 minutes behind today, which I always am. Running about 15 minutes behind, but that's okay. I've got my husband's flannel shirt on. He doesn't know, but he'll see me later and he'll find out and he won't. He's. He's much better at sharing than me. And what else do I have? I have my Earl Grey tea. It is lunchtime, so I brought. I brought a lunch. Actually, this isn't lunch. This is just a snack in my cooler. Says so blessed. I don't know if you can see that right there. But this was a cooler that we made for reflect. So I'm going to give one away. And also, if you want to buy one, you can go to, I don't know, it's like Google Elevation Church store and you can get one for yourself. So let me show you what's in. I'm seeing some people are getting on. I'm going to show you my. This is my current favorite snack. This is my favorite wintertime healthy dessert. Dessert. Now, some of you are going to disagree that this isn't healthy, but we can have a debate about that a short run. So let's see. And I'm going to let some of you get on, and I'm going to pick someone just randomly to get a cooler. Okay. Hi. Kevin from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Columbia campus prayer team, Green Bay, Columbia. That's. The weather's much better in Columbia. Hi, Rosa from Buffalo, New York. Hello. Debbie LeBlanc. Oh, Debbie, you bought the cooler. Well, that's awesome. It's really great. It can fit a lot of drinks in it, and I really love it. Hi, Venus. Hi, Mariana from Tampa, Florida. Hello, Elizabeth Foster. And let's see who else we have Deborah from the Bronx. Carrie from Maryville. Ashley Tucker. Hello. Who else do we have? Gail from Toronto. Okay, guys, so here's my favorite January snack. And it is, uh. Oh, I just literally grabbed some of the fridge. I didn't even take it out of the bag. This is a sumo orange. So let me know if you've ever had a sumo orange. You can get these at Whole Foods right now. And what I like to do, okay, it's a giant orange, but it tastes like those little cuties. It's, like, super sweet. And once you peel it, they come apart. It comes apart, like, perfectly. It's like a perfect giant cutie. And so, yes, that's the healthy part. Here comes the debatable healthy part. I like to dip it in Cool Whip. This is true whip. So this is the healthy version of Cool Whip. Let me know if you guys think that this is a healthy snack. So I like to dip each piece in the Cool Whip, and it sort of tastes like a. What's that thing? A cream. An orange creamsicle from the summertime. And anyway, guys, you have to try this. They also sell these at Fresh Market. Sometimes they have them at Harris Teeter. I don't know where your grocery store is, but you really need to try. And it's actually called sumo orange because it looks like a sumo wrestler with a little lid. So. All right, that's my. Okay. Stacy says it's healthy. Let's see. Rosa says it's healthy. Julene says, good afternoon, guys. So somebody says, I'm following a low carb diet. This is not low carb. Carb. Oranges are not low carb. Nikki Shear says, I've seen those oranges before. I learned about them. They're amazing. And so you guys are going to have to try it. Let's see. All right. Kathy Hyatt agrees. She says it's healthy. Kathy, I'm going to send you the cooler. I don't even know if you knew if you just got on that. I'm giving away a cooler, but I'm giving away one of these coolers. So Kathy Hyatt, I don't know. My team is gonna message you. You guys got it? Okay? So we're gonna send you a cooler. I don't know how it's just gonna magically appear in your mailbox now. I went on my Instagram. Okay, so for those of you who have gotten on and you missed the beginning, I am. I started this YouTube channel last week. So if you haven't subscribed yet, Shameless Plug. Subscribe, please. And one of the ideas that I had was I wanted to go live at lunchtime once or twice a month. Sometimes we'll have a conversation. Sometimes I'll answer some of your questions. And that's what I am going to do today. Denise Puckett says, are you trying to tell me Cool Whip isn't healthy? I mean, I. Some people don't. I mean, some people don't think Cool Whip is healthy, but it just depends on your definition of health. So, you know, some people think healthy means low calories, some people think healthy means low carb. Some people think healthy means, you know, not man made or processed. Whatever. I like it. Okay, Elroy. Monica says I love the bagel bites. So my first recipe that I posted is about these easy bagel bites that Abby and I like to make. So you can go back and watch that and okay, so I'm going to be answering some of your questions today. I have a bible just in case and you guys submitted them on Instagram through Stories. But feel free to submit questions here too. And if I see one that I like, I might try and answer it. All right, so in this bowl I have some like fast answer questions. So somebody says on the treadmill, hearing you, well, that's good. Now that's healthy, being on the treadmill. So these are some little fast questions that you guys asked that I'm going to try and get through as many as I can and then we'll get to some of the more serious ones. Okay. Hi, Stephanie Glass. Nice to have you here. Do you have any book recommendations for elementary level kids? Well, that's a fun one to pull out. First, I love books. I love kids books. I don't really love picture books. I like novels. And so the minute my kids got old enough to read novels, we were off and flying and we love to read together. Abby's the only one that still reads with me, but the boys did for a while. So the first book that I always read, chapter book that I always read to my kids is Charlotte's Web. Let me know if you love. Everybody loves Charlotte's Web. It's the best. And it's easy and there's little pictures. It's easy to follow and understand. So we always read Charlotte's Web. Then usually the second book that I read to my kids is Ramona the Pest. And we read that the summer before they go to kindergarten because it's about Ramona being in kindergarten. And then I love all the Ramona books. And then as they get a little bit older, my very favorite, I would say in my top five fiction books of all times, I would put the kids book in there. Holes. Have any of you ever seen the movie or read the book? Holes to me is one of the greatest stories ever written. It's just great. So if you've never read it and you've never read it with Your kids. Holes is what I would recommend, but you have to wait till they're, like, in fourth or fifth grade so that they can really get it and really appreciate it. And you have to save it and not let them watch the movie until you've read the book, because you either get to enjoy the movie or you get to enjoy the book. And most of the time, the book is better than the movie. And so sometimes you have to save some of them. Okay, I'm not going very fast with these questions, but some of you are saying, I loved Holes, my favorite book as a kid. Love that book. Let me read some of your names. Sarah shepherd says, I watched Holes with my kids over the holidays, and they loved it. Holes is such a great teaching story. It's a great novel. Yes. You guys. Oh, hi. Lisa Hughes. Welcome. Lisa and I love to read books together. All right, let's do another one. I guess we put all the book questions in on the top favorite book of all time. I mean, obviously, the Bible doesn't count. Favorite fiction book of all time. I would probably say, I don't know, maybe the Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I just really love that book. Also, I love to read Audible Books. And my husband and I have this debate about how I say I read a book when I listened to it. And he's like, why do you always say that you read a book when you listen to it? And I'm like, I don't know. It's the same thing. I know it's not exactly the same thing, but whatever, let me know. Do you think listening to a book is the same thing as reading it? Like, is it lying if you say, I read that book and you listen to it? I don't think so. Sandy Sloan Stallone says she loved Charlotte's Web. Monica says, I want to join the book club. Well, Monica, that's very easy. All you have to do is go to hollyfriend.com give me your email, and I'll send you an email once a month to tell you what book we're reading and when we're going to go on Instagram live and discuss it. But then if you miss it, we're going to make them all easily searchable right here on hollyfurtic.com. hi. Angel Carpenter. She says it's definitely the same. Basically, listening. She loves listening to books. Nikki Shearer says listening is the same as reading. See you guys. I love it. And of course, April Gerald's redeeming love. It would not be alive with me if somebody didn't Mention Redeeming Love. I think that is Christian women's favorite fiction book of all times. Yes, I have read Redeeming Love. It's a great book. Okay, what else is in my hand? What is your favorite thing to do with your family? I like to eat and so I like to eat with my family. We like to go out to lunch usually on Saturdays. I like to go out to lunch or dinner with my husband. I like to cook, so I like to eat dinner with my family and that's probably my favorite thing. Is that boring? I don't know. Somebody says Redeeming Love is my favorite book. Ty and Angelique Monica says listening to fiction is like reading someone reading it to you. It's so true. It's the best. It's like walking around all day listening to a story. Okay, what's the next one? Favorite website, slash brick and mortar store you shop at for clothes. That's going to be a no brainer. Nordstrom. And the reason I love Nordstrom is because they reward you for shopping with them and because they have the best return policy and customer service of any store out there. You can literally return something if it has that little Nordstrom sticker. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. If you've had it for five years, you can take it back. And I love that. So Nordstrom all the way. Let me know if you are a faithful Nordy. Stacy Curry says yes to Nordstrom. Amazing customer service. Shayna. I guess that's how you say your name. You love Nordstrom. I love Nordstrom Rack too. Nordstrom Rack is awesome. I was actually there this week. So funny story, on Monday I went to. We have a front gate outlet here in Charlotte, which is amazing. And I went there because I just wanted to look around and I got there and they were closed. And apparently the front gate outlet is only open Wednesday through Sunday. And so I had driven all the way down there and I just decided, well, I'm gonna go on Nordstromack since front gates close. And I did. What else are you guys saying? Lindsay says Nordstrom. Yes, yes, yes. Early bird annual shopping is the best. Oh, their sale in July. Is that what it's called? The annual sale? I love that sale. No Nordstrom in Florida. That's not true. There is Nordstrom in Florida, but maybe not where you live. But Nordstrom online is awesome too. They have. You can still send stuff back anytime. They're great. Renee cup says no Nordstrom here in the middle of the of nowhere Midwest. What's that store that they have in the Midwest in Iowa, but sort of like Nordstrom. I wonder if they still have it. Von Mar is what it's called. Is it so ridiculous that I know the name of stores? I think it is. Okay, Briella says TJ Maxx. Girl here. I like TJ Maxx, too. We don't have a ton of TJ Maxx and here, but we have Marshalls and home goods, and that is a great place to go. What else are you. Oh, Renee cup says that's where I am. Renee, do you have Von Mar? Is it. Am I saying it right? That's like the Nordstrom of the Midwest. I think I've been there a long time ago. All right, guys. Teresa says first time catching you. Hi, Teresa. Here's my next one. What's your Enneagram number? My. I'm supposed to be going faster than questions. My Enneagram number is the number nine. The Peacemaker, the best number. The bad part about my number is I can be a little bit lazy, but it's okay. I'm a number nine, and I love it when everybody is happy. My husband is a number one. He's a perfectionist. And I like the Enneagram. Oh, let me see. I'm from Northern Indiana. Von Marr was nice. Okay, so I guess I said it right. That was. Janet said that. Okay, so moving on. Shout out to all the number nines out there. Shout out to all the number ones out there. I love number ones, and my sisters are number five. And anyway, I like the Enneagram because it helps me understand the people that I love, and it helps me to have grace for them and to not be offended. So easy. I don't love the Enneagram. When I hear people using it to make excuses for their behavior, they're like, oh, I'm just a number nine. Or you should treat me better because you don't understand me. I'm a number nine. I don't like that. So I think the Enneagram is useful, but I also think it's, like, quite abused. And also, I think you should always take the long Enneagram test. Do not take that short little test on your phone that takes you like, three minutes. So you should take the one that takes 30 minutes so you actually can figure out your Enneagram number. And if you're under the age of 25, I would say your number may still be in flex. So Sara Shepard says she's a four wing, five free spirit. That's a pretty interesting combination. Brittany Ward says My husband is an 8 and I'm a 1. I bet you guys have some pretty heated arguments right now. Brittany said, pray for me. Oh, Janet says she's in Indiana. Hey, guys, I'm getting a call, but I think it's spam, so no big deal on that. Jenny Dillon says that she's also a number nine. And Brittany Orton. Yes, we do, girl. Yeah, the. The 8 and the 1, they can be really passionate about things and also angry. And so, yeah. Okay. Heidi says, how do I get your number? Hey, I do actually send text messages out to people. If you would like to receive text messages from me, go to Hollyfordick.com and scroll down to the bottom and it says something like, let's keep in touch. Is that what it says? And it'll tell you how to get text messages from me. All right, guys, let's do another question. What is your. Oh, I love this question. What is your favorite all time favorite meal that you cook so selfishly? My favorite all time meal that I cook is also my favorite all time, like, homemade meal that I love to eat. This is like my meal. What do they call it? It's like a thing. Like if you were on death row, you get like, this last meal. What would your last meal be? This is mine. Okay. And it's going to surprise you because it's not French fries, which is my favorite food, but I do not. Okay, that's not true. I was gonna say I don't cook French fries. I do not fry french fries. I do not own a fry daddy, and I do not fry french fries, like in oil. I do buy frozen french fries and bake them in the oven or my air fryer because that's healthier and they don't taste as good. So you don't eat as many French fries is my favorite food, but that is not my favorite all time meal that I cook. My favorite all time meal that I cook is actually my nana's meatloaf recipe, which she got out of the newspaper. And it is the best. Do not turn your nose up at it. Do not be like, ew, I don't like meatloaf. It's so dry. This meatloaf is not dry. It does not have ketchup in the recipe, and it is so good. And you know what? I need to do a cooking video. I've never done a cooking video making my meatloaf, and I'm gonna do that this year. Is that a good commitment? I promise I'll do it this year. I will do it in the next couple of months. But I made meatloaf for Christmas, our family Christmas Eve dinner. And yes, Tracy, I will share the recipe. I actually think it's on my Instagram, but you're gonna have to dig deep to find it. It's also on my website, hollyfurdick.com if you go to recipes. I think we just put it on there so you can find it there. That. That's better than Instagram. You don't take you forever to find it on Instagram. I don't even know if I could find it on Instagram. Okay. Casey says yes. Nana's meatloaf recipe. Okay, you guys are all wanting the meatloaf recipe. But first, my husband says, I like to talk about food way too much, and I love to talk to other people about food. And so I'm just gonna tell you about the meatloaf, and then we'll do a video of it. So it is. You take the ground beef, breadcrumbs, but the sauce is where it's at. And it's got tomato sauce, Worcestershire, vinegar, mustard, and you mix it all together, and, like, you put some of those ingredients actually in the meatloaf, and then you make the sauce on the side and you pour a lot of it. Oh, my mom's here. She's the devil boy. Not hey, Mom. And my mom made this recipe. So this is like a family recipe. So my nana used to always make it every time we would go there because she knew it was my favorite shout out to. I had two mugs of tea today. Roanoke, Virginia. That's where my family's from. My nana actually lives in Salem. Nikki Shearer. Hi. I know you're on Nikki's in Roanoke. And so my nana would make it, and then my mom would make it because she knew it was my favorite food. And then I started making it, and it's just so good. It's, like, really moist. And at Christmas time, I made a separate one for my husband that had almond flour instead of bread crumbs. And it actually turned out really great. Although I don't like to change up recipes and, like, experiment with them, especially if it's, like, your favorite. I feel like you should make it the same every time so you really can't mess it up. It's so good. I serve it with mashed potatoes and green beans and my mom's sourdough bread, because she usually gives me some. And I keep it in my freezer. And it is not sourdough bread like Elise's sourdough Bread that you make in a Dutch oven. This is like sweet sourdough bread. And maybe we should have my mom come on YouTube and make sourdough bread. I do not make the bread because I cannot have bread in that bread in my house all the time. I just keep it in the freezer and pull it out for special occasions. So. Okay, couple questions from you guys. So let's see. Briella says, do you follow a low carb diet like your husband? Obviously, Briella, I do not. I don't like low carb. It doesn't make me feel good. It doesn't make my stomach feel good. I don't feel satisfied. I don't like it. So I. No, I don't. But I do. I am a very good low carb cook, and so usually, like. Okay. So for my husband, at Christmas time, I had to make two meatloaves anyway because I have teenage boys, and they eat a lot. And so one meatloaf would not be enough for our family. So I'm like. Well, I'm doubling the recipe anyway. So I made one regular one with almond flour, and it's relatively low carb. I mean, there's carbs in tomato sauce and everything, but it's good enough. It's close enough. And so I make the meatloaf for that meatloaf. And then I made mashed potatoes for myself, and then I made mashed cauliflower for my husband. And Elijah actually likes to eat low carb with my husband. So the two of them ate that. And then me and my other kids ate the mashed potatoes. But Abby doesn't like mashed potatoes. So I don't even know what Abby ate. But Abby's picky, and so we don't really cook around Abby's preferences. So Diane says, holly, I don't blame you. I like my carbs. Look, God loves bread. Bread is in the Bible. Bread is in the Bible probably more than any other food. And so it's okay. We just have to eat it in moderation. Jacqueline says low carb is not possible for me. What else are you guys? Let's see. Will you be doing another Bible study? Can we stay on topic, guys? Lord says keto Cool Whip is keto friendly. That's true. Brittany says her son doesn't like mashed potatoes. Okay, guys, another cooking question. Are cooking with Hollies coming back? Well, obviously, yes. They're gonna be on the Instagram and the YouTube. And we're on YouTube, so don't go to Instagram. Watch it on YouTube. I'm gonna be giving you guys as many as I possibly can. Let's see, what else do we have? Monica says, would you do a podcast, Monica? One thing at a time. We are doing YouTube right now. Favorite nonfiction book that you've read recently. I am a massive Anne Boston fan. I love her books. I think they're amazing. She so I love her book the Broken Way. I love her book. I mean, a lot of people love her book 1000 Gifts. But the Broken Way is really good too. And her Christmas book, the one. It's called. I don't know what it's called. It's Advent, but it's not the kids one. It's like the smaller one. It's so good. So there you go. I don't know if that's my favorite, but that's one of my favorite. What's a dinner recipe you're making this week? So, guys, funny thing that you should. I've had a very busy week, and we've been doing a very special project with Elevation Worship. So my husband has been gone. He's usually home for dinner every night, but this week he's been not around as much. Maybe coming home at like 8. So he might have eaten at the church. And so I haven't really cooked that much. I made grilled cheese sandwiches for my kids one night. We had leftovers one night. We ate at the church last night. And today Elijah, who does online school, he was like, mom, what should I eat for lunch? And I'm like, turkey and cheese sandwich. And he goes, dang, mom, the food game is not very good here this week. And I'm like, well, sorry. The food game is usually really great in our house. And so you can have a turkey and cheese sandwich or you can have a quest pizza, or, you know, who's the next? I don't know. But the food game is not very good in our house this week. And so there's that. We'll talk about next week. Next week. I don't know. I made something good on Sunday night. Fajitas. That was good. What podcast do you listen to? Recommend? I'm not a big podcast person, so you guys can come and, like, comment on some podcasts that you like. I don't really have one that I consistently love and listen to because I spend most of my time listening to audiobooks. So let's see. I know you like magpies. Have you seen the movie Penguin Bloom? I wonder if the person who asked this question is on, because I have the book Penguin Bloom and I Knew there was a movie coming out, but I didn't know the movie was out. Did you know the movie's out? It's out. Maybe it's only out in Australia. I am definitely going to watch that movie. But the book is so good. And so for those of you who don't know Penguin. Is it called Penguin Bloom, the title of the book the movie just released. How do we watch? Looks like Netflix. It's out on Netflix. Okay, so it's about this woman who has an accident and she's really depressed, and her family rescues a magpie. They live in Australia. We don't have magpies on the east coast. We do have them on the west coast, but it's not the same kind of magpies in Australia. And this bird, like, saves their family. And so you should get the book because the husband is a photographer and the pictures are absolutely stunning and gorgeous. And now they've made a movie. And the book is super short, too. You can read it in a couple of sittings. It's so good. You guys are saying your podcast, so that's great. If you wanted to know. Podcast, there they are. I'm watching that movie this weekend. Okay, so favorite TV series or show? So I watch a lot of TV series with my husband, and we love to watch TV together. The most recent one that I think we really watched, that we really enjoyed, enjoyed, was the movie, the show, the Undoing with Nicole Kidman. I really enjoyed that one. I don't watch a lot of TV by myself. Not because I have anything against tv. I love tv, but I prefer. I prefer audiobooks and Candy Crush at the same time. Fun fact about me, I am on level, like, 3,000 something on candy Crush, which I can't even believe that I just said that out loud to you guys, but there you go. If you love Candy Crush, will you please let me know? Because, you know, we will have a common bond. But I love audiobooks and Candy Crush. But as far as TV shows that I keep up with, I love Call the Midwife. Also, incidentally, great book. If you've never read or listened to Call Them in White. I actually read that one. Hey, we did all the short questions. We'll just do a couple long questions and then we'll be done. Call the Midwife. Excellent book, excellent TV show. I love it. Okay, so you guys are. Yeah. Okay, let me call out some of these people who love Candy Crush. So we've got Samantha. Yes to Candy Crush. Ms. Villa. I love Candy Crush. The Fabrica family Candy Crush. You Guys, Paula says Candy Crush is awesome. I'm so. I thought I was the only one left playing Candy Crush. Obviously not, because it's like there's other people that play with me, but I don't know, there's just something about listening to an audiobook and playing Candy Crush. That's what I like to do. Anna loves Candy Crush. Taz Tazlin loves it, says Candy Crush is amazing. And a lot of you love Call the Midwife as well. Kat says she's never played it. Teresa says it frustrates me. Cheyenna says I'm on level 1390. Alright, guys, I'm gonna look it up and tell you. Oh, my God, I can't believe I just said I was gonna do this. I'm gonna tell you what level I am on. Candy Crush. This is so embarrassing, but here we go. Candy Crush. I try to keep it at the back so I don't open it up that much. I am on. You guys are saying that's funny. Somebody's still commenting about fajitas and maybe you watch. Can you watch delayed? Oh, okay, so 3,000, 442. There you go. The only other person that I know that's really high up on Candy Crush is Jane Williams. And. But she's not quite on level 3000. I think she's still in the like 1500s maybe. But that's. If you get over a thousand levels on Candy Crush, you're a pro. All right. Hi, Wendy Cooper. Let's do some more serious questions. I'm only going to do a couple. How long have we been on? About 30 minutes. So we'll do like, I don't know, a couple questions and then we'll come and do this again another time. Chris Christie says, what is your manicure color, name? This is Funny Bunny, the best color. And I painted my nose myself. Okay, what has been the most valuable thing? The Lord has spoken to you so far in 2021? I'm currently really into the story of Gideon. I don't know if you know that story. It's in Judges, chapter six. And God calls Gideon. It's the one where God calls Gideon to defeat the Midianites who have oppressed Israel. And they're all hiding. And it's the one where he gets this army of 10,000 men and God keeps whittling it down. He's like, oh, no, you have too many men. And they end up with 300 men and they defeat an army of 150,000 men. That's the story. But sorry, guys. We gave a call, and that interrupted our life. I was talking about Gideon. So the angel comes to Gideon. Are we back up? Yep. Okay. So the angel comes to Gideon, and he's like, you're gonna defend Minion? And Gideon's like, I don't think I'm the right person for the job. How am I going to do this? And one of the things that the angel says to him is, go in the strength that you have. And I just love this idea of how there are times in life where God calls us to something, like, really big and something we don't feel like there's any way we're ever going to accomplish that. And we look at it and we're like, I'm never going to be strong enough to do xyz. But God doesn't ask us to be strong enough for tomorrow. He just asks us to be strong enough for today. And the strength that I have today is enough for today. And tomorrow I'll be a little bit stronger, and then the next day I'll be a little bit stronger because I'm growing in my faith. And so I'll have the faith for that thing that's farther down the road when I get there. But right now, all I need is the strength that I have for today. Go in the strength that you have. So that's the thing that I've really been meditating on, thinking about. I shared it with a group of women the other day. And anyway, that's that. Let's go on to another question. What is one piece of advice that you would give to married couples? I would say, focus on yourself. And that seems like not marriage advice, but to me, one of the things that I think is a theme throughout my Bible study, Becoming Mrs. Betterhalf, is when I change me, I change us. And actually, this morning, I was listening to some ladies chat about marriage on Instagram igtv, and it was Chelsea Smith and Lisa Bevere. And Lisa Bevere said. She said, I find that when I go to God and pray about my husband, God always answers me with something about me. And I was like, wow, that's really good. Because a lot of times we go to God and we're like, God, my husband needs to do this and he needs to do that, and he needs to change this, and he needs to be better at that. And Cut usually says, hey, why don't you work on your patience? Why don't you work on your complaining? Why don't you work on the way you treat him, the way you talk to him? The way you're affectionate with him. And that's not always the answer that you want, but at the end of the day, I think a lot of times when you go to God with something that you want him to change in your spouse, it's like, it's not out of. It's not necessarily from the wrong place, but it's sort of trying to manipulate your spouse into who you think they need to be or want them to be. And really, it's a way of avoiding working on something within yourself. And when I change me, I change us. And I think there's a little clip that we already put in the YouTube that if you're interested in more of that, you can go back and watch. What was it called, the clip, the Key to a Happy Marriage. It's not hard to find because there's not very many videos here on my YouTube channel yet. All right. What was it like starting a church with very small children? You know what? Doing anything with very small children is difficult. So starting a church is difficult. Having small children is difficult. I don't want to go back to having these small children. It's hard. And so what was it like? It was hard. And I think one of the biggest things that I had to learn was that I needed to slow down, and I didn't need to go off chasing this. This person that. Or pastor's wife that I thought I needed to be or that the people of our church expected me to be, and that I could take it slow and I could let my position evolve over time and just let it take on who God was calling me to be. And it's actually that whole thing go in the strength that you have. And I just really had to remember that I only have my kids at this age right now, and when they're little, they physically need a lot from you. And so I wanted to be. Be there for them as much as possible. That doesn't mean I didn't have help. That doesn't mean that I didn't, you know, have. Wasn't involved at church, but I took the church side slow and focused on the family thing because I feel like for me, my calling first is my husband and my family. And there are a lot of people who can fill a lot of positions at the church, but there's only one me. And so I just tried to focus on that and also had people that could help me and that could, like one of my best friends in the whole world. Her name is Nicole. For years and years and years and years, she watched my kids on Saturday night because I didn't take them to Saturday night church. Actually, up until quarantine, we didn't have Saturday night church anymore. Even when my kids were big, she would come over, make sure everything was good, help them with dinner, and just be there if they needed somebody. And so it doesn't really take money. It wasn't like, I have always had nannies necessarily. I've always had people that I paid to help. But that also changed incrementally. But I also would just ask people, can you help me? And so anyway, that's that question somebody's asking me. Any college choices? I don't know what that means. I'm not going to college. Graduated from Northern Greenville College, ngu. It's a university now. Excuse me. University. What do you wish you would have known in your twenties? Just to relax and be myself more and not worry about being somebody that I'm not, or trying to be somebody that I'm not, but to just fully embrace who I am, what God's called me to be, and just leaning into that and not being so caught up in, like, who I should be. Anyway, that's what I think. Let's do another one. Oh, somebody says college for your kids. I don't know about college for my kids. I want them to pick something that makes them happy. We're not quite there yet. Elijah's 15, so maybe we'll go visit some colleges this summer. Let me know where should we. What colleges should we visit? Oh, here's another one. Any tips for the toddler year? Surviving and keeping your patients. You know what? Just. Just give yourself a lot of grace. And that's what I would say. That's what I would say for parenting at any stage. It doesn't get easier, it just gets different. Somebody told me that one time, it doesn't get easier, it just gets different. So when they're toddlers and they're little, it's a lot more physically exhausting. The older they get, the more emotionally exhausting it gets. They still need you at every stage. It's nice when they can use the toilet and tie their own shoes, but when they get to that stage, they can argue with you, and that's not fun. So just, like, don't be too hard on yourself, and it's okay if you make mistakes. Your kids are lucky to have you. Let's do a couple more. How do you personally maintain longevity in ministry? I try to be a strong person myself, focus on my own faith, my own relationship with God. I don't depend on my husband to be the only way that God speaks to me. I. I just really. I try to be. To have my own thriving personal relationship with God. And I think in ministry, it can be very tempting to always be reading the Bible for other people. Every time you read the Bible, you're like, oh, I should put the first on this, or I should share this next time I do a welcome, or the next time I'm in front of a group of people or whatever. Whatever type of ministry that you're in. It's really hard not to always read the Bible in that context or thinking about how you can share it. And I think it's great to share the things that God's teaching you. But I have this realization a while back about this idea of, I think sometimes in ministry we can develop spiritual bulimia. And by that I mean, we don't allow. We don't digest the word of God for ourself before we give it back to other people. And when you do that, it doesn't feel authentic to other people. It doesn't touch people as much because they don't feel like it's really coming from you. And so when I have a scripture like the one I just shared with you about Gideon, it's something I've been thinking about. It's something I've been processing through. It's not that I can't share it. It's just you don't always want to share things right away. And I think that that has helped me have longevity in my ministry because I still have my own personal relationship with God. Maybe we should stop there. That seems like a good one. And I've got several more questions, but we'll come back, we'll do this again. I would love to know, let me know who is somebody that you would like for me to chat with. Now, let's be realistic. Not gonna have Michelle Obama on here or, you know, somebody like, unattainable, like Oprah, but who's somebody, realistically, that you would love for me to chat with? Anytime that I'm bringing somebody on, I will post it on Instagram and let you submit questions. I'll always try to take your questions on here when we go live. Renee Cupp says she wants me to interview Jane Williams. Well, that would be amazing and easy. And we could talk about Candy Crush. Hello. We'll do like a Candy Crush tutorial. How fun would that be? Some of you are saying, okay, you guys, like, get some of these down. Sarah Roberts, Ginny Lusko, Great friends of mine, Priscilla Schreier. I don't know Priscilla that well. I would love to have a conversation with her. Lisa Bevere, Lisa Harper, all the Lisa's guys. John Cherie Wilkerson. I love Dawn Cherie. And we will for sure get Dawn Cherie on here as well as. I mean, I love all these people that you're saying. Adrian Houghton. I love Adrienne. That would be a really fun conversation. Christine Cain. Yeah, guys, this is fun. Oh, that would be a good idea. Anna Saylors and Tiffany Hamburg together. And Jane Williams. Do like a girl. Elevation, worship. These are great ideas. Beth Moore. That would be really fun. I don't know Beth Moore. I've met her once or twice, but I would love to interview her. Wait, somebody else said. Somebody said something that I wanted to. Who was it? It was very unattainable. Oh, Aisha Curry. I seriously doubt that I would be able to get Ayesha Curry, but if I could, I would talk to her about food the whole time. We need to get somebody who cooks like a good food conversation. We'll have to be thinking about that. That would be fun. Okay, guys. Joyce Meyer. That would be fun. This was fun. Thanks for being on here. Thanks for hanging with me. Thanks for submitting your questions. Oh, Pastor Stephen, Totally. We are told I am 100% gonna make pastor Steven come on here for a lunchtime live and we're gonna ask him all kinds of questions. So, yes, Aisha Curry has a cookbook. Of course. Monica. I know that I don't have it, though, so I'll have to get one. Joanne. Joanna Gaines. Unattainable. But that would be amazing where I'm have to get a lot more subscribers before I get Joanna Gaines and Aisha Curry on here. But I'm glad that you think that I could. Okay. Abby Furtick. Yes. I'm gonna do the Furtick Children as well. I almost brought Elijah on today, but I was already running behind and he hadn't showered yet. And I was like, we'll have to do it another time. So. Okay, that's great. I love you. Thanks for joining. Don't forget to subscribe. Like, share all the things that you're supposed to do with the YouTube channel, and I'll see you back here later.