126. Trusting God When Plans Collapse with Erica Killpack

Your plans can be airtight and still get overturned at the last second and that is exactly where Erica’s story begins. She’s a kind, organized, planning-ahead type of person, so when her family lines up a move from Colorado to Alaska, visits in every season, and gets a job path set in motion, it feels like the payoff is finally here. Then her husband gets a deep, gut-level stop sign and they make the brutal call to pull the plug right before everything goes live.

From there, we talk honestly about what it’s like to live in the in-between: the yearly trips back to Alaska that feel like “home,” the frustration of not having clear answers, and the quiet work of learning to trust God when you don’t get the full plan. That waiting season becomes the doorway to something they never could have scheduled, the decision to pursue foster care. Erica shares the real timeline of getting certified, what placements can look like, and why their home shifts from being open to little kids to saying yes to teens.

Then the episode turns into a jaw-dropping adoption story. A newborn comes to their home through the safe haven law, and Erica reflects with deep gratitude on the birth mother’s difficult, loving choice. That placement becomes permanent, and only after the adoption is final do the Alaska doors open again, this time through a new career path as an Alaska State Trooper with a wildlife focus. If you’re searching for stories about foster care, adoption, faith, community support, and trusting God when plans change, this conversation will stay with you. 

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Transcript

Meet Erica And The Planner Mindset

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Ordinary People Extraordinary Things. I'm here with Erica. Erica, thanks for being on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

And if people don't know who you are, can you give three words or phrases to describe yourself?

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Yes, I am a kind person, a very organized person. Um very much a planner. So like to think ahead and have things ready. Kind of gives a good descriptor of who I am.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Well, it's funny that you said planner because your story that we're going to talk about today is about how you had planned to move to Alaska. We're in Colorado, in case someone doesn't know. And you had planned several years ago for your family to move to Alaska. And that just didn't work out.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

And then plans changed, and then more plans changed. And ah, so frustrating for I'm a planner too. So yeah. So frustrating.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Unfortunately, but fortunately, God has better plans and we don't get an insight on those. So ultimately we're stuck with it and we just get to go along for the ride. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Ooh, that's hard. Sometimes it's hard. How how do you as a planner kind of deal with that?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

It's a work in progress. I struggle sometimes, but ultimately when I can catch myself, I I know that whatever he's up to and whatever his plan is is better. And it always is. So just really just learning to give it to him. But it's hard.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Especially like day-to-day life in our society is go, go, go and to to learn to sit and and deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Oh, yeah, that's good. That's really good.

Alaska Starts As A Joke

SPEAKER_01 1:37

So can you tell us about how you and your husband first got this? I'm assuming it was kind of a call you felt like to go to Alaska.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Yeah. So Alaska kind of started as a little bit of a joke. It was COVID time and somebody said something, was like, oh, are you moving to Alaska? And at first we just kind of brushed it off, said, Oh ha ha, like so funny. And then we looked into it more and we're like, it's actually a really cool place. And it, you know, it's a lot of who we are. We're we're hunters and we like the outdoors. And so we're like, okay, well, let's give it a shot. Let's see what it is. And so we went up there to visit a couple of times and both in the winter and the summer, because they're very different. And we wanted to make sure we liked both of them before we we moved and uh we loved it. And so we uh proceeded with a fire job in Anchorage, and he was accepted and was all set to go to Fire Academy, and God said no.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

And this was in 2020, 2021.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

So the process began in 2021. I believe he started the application process in October. So it takes probably a month or two between interviews and tests and everything that they need to do. And um, he was set to leave in December, December or January. December 21 or January 22.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

In December of 21, he came to me and said, I don't think we should go. And mind you, me as the planner have him all set up, all ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

So this is not a oh a year you you were going to move in a month or less.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

He was. He was, yeah. Luckily, me and the our two kids at the time was gonna stay back till the end of the school year in May and stay in our house and pack everything up and and leave when school was done. Um but he was ready to go to academy in January.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yep. So I had his place to stay. I had a a car ready to go until I could ship his car, the all the things. And I explain it very clearly because I can still remember where we were.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Oh, I would assume so, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Um, but I'm pretty sure I blacked out after he he told me we shouldn't go. I my planning brain just exploded. Because if if you're a planner, like, no. And then somebody tells you, like, hey, we should pull the plug. You're like, no, the plug is plugged, and we're doing it. So yeah, so we had a week of back and forth and very emotional discussions and on what we should do. And ultimately we decided that it wasn't the time. And again, God was right, we didn't go.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

I'm uh kind of assuming he didn't have an audible like conversation with God. But like how how did he get this? And then what were can you kind of go into a little bit more detail on how how that decision was made? Because he was so close to going.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Yeah, he describes it very much as this very like kind of deep

Pulling The Plug Before Academy

SPEAKER_00 4:27

gutted feeling. Um and and he had it and not me. And I and it's very easy that I at the time could have missed it, been listening and paying attention in my busy world. But he very much had this very gutted feeling as like we shouldn't go. This is this is not right. This is not where you're what you're doing. And he obviously ultimately we we are a couple that we will fight over the little things day in and day out to the point where people think we're getting divorced every day. Um but the big things like money, moving, family, like we are are very rooted and very very good at discussing. And so he came to me and was like, we shouldn't go. This isn't this isn't right. Like I I'm getting this, and he didn't know how to explain at the time. He was like, it's it's just not we can't go. And you know, we went back and forth and the pros and cons again, and and it also partially ended with like, look, like we'll give it a year. Uh because the process happens almost yearly. They're always looking for for more. And we're like, we'll look at it again next October. And if we really feel like we should be in Colorado, we'll stay. And if we should be in Alaska, we'll go.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

But but then that time period went.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

And we actually did try. So October 22, we started the process again.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

We did it again. We went through a week of I don't think this is right. I don't like we shouldn't go. And so I also said I was like, look, I was like, if we don't go this time, we're not going again. Like I'm not gonna do this every year where we we have this emotional turmoil for a week where we're that this is all we think about. And like I this is it. If we don't go, we don't go. And we will just go back once a year and visit all the places because the loss is massive. And we'll just visit. And that that will be our compromise. And so

Visiting Alaska And Feeling Home

SPEAKER_00 6:12

that's what we did. We didn't we pulled out of the process and we just visit every year. Okay. And then every year we go visit, and we are the second we land, it's just it's a feeling for us that can't be exactly it literally feels like home. Like we land in Anchorage or June or Catchican, like we land there and we're just like here. This is this is where we need to be. And we just feel that peace and the calm. And we're we're always on Zillow and and we plan our trips to kind of get a feeling of what it would be like to live there. So we go to the grocery stores and we just pretend almost to be residents of the city. Because we also we don't love being tourists, like don't get me wrong, we love to go on the the trips and experience the things, but we also just love experiencing the town and the day-to-day life and go to the beaches and experiencing it that way. And so we're always like, Yeah, we can live here, like we can make it work. And time and time again, we're like, we could just have his parents pack up all our things and ship us all our stuff, and we just won't we won't go home. Um, and so it's just been this this yearly thing that we that we feel is calm and we keep feeling the tug, but we just didn't do anything, it just wasn't right. Yeah. So where are we right now?

The Pull To Grow The Family

SPEAKER_00 7:35

So we 2022, the end of 22, um, we went back in 23. At that time, I was also feeling this really big pull of not being done with our family. Um we had two little girls, and they were let's see, they're 10 and 7 now, so three, so seven and four at the time. And I was like, we're not done. Like I and my husband, mind you, wanted zero kids at the very beginning, and I wanted two. And so he's looking at me like, you got your two kids, like I I can't do anymore. And but I felt the same big poll that he had with Alaska. It was like, no, I'm like, I'm not done. Like I have more to give, and like this is how I want to give it. So we started that process of expanding our family. Again, you know, kind of those long discussions and emotional turmoil. And uh we landed on fostering um because we determined that we had more love to give, but we didn't necessarily want to be at the point of adding another child. And so this kind of gave us the opportunity to love on the kids that needed it and while also trying to kind of help fulfill that need that I had of of loving more kids. We did we we loved many kids in the process, and so it it definitely was nice. How long did you do that? I began being certified in March of 23. Um, we were officially certified November of 23.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Oh wow. That takes a long time.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Yes, lots of classes, lots of paperwork, and all the silly things. If you're in the process, you know. And our first placement was January of twenty-four. And we fostered technically for two years. Um, November of twenty-five is when our we let our certification lapse.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Okay. And how many kids are do you have any idea how many kids came into your home at that during that time? Through the whole year, we had five kids total um come through our home. Okay. And varying lengths of a day, months. How does that work?

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yes. So foster is very complicated. We always tried to look for the long, long term for the kid. And obviously, whatever they need is what we were were open to. Um, we had kids for as short as a month. Um, and we also had kids as long as a year, year and 11 months before. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

So almost two years.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

No, one one for one. One year and one for eleven months. Okay, sorry about that. Yeah. But foster is kind of all over. You could get a kid for there's there's respite. We we just need help for a weekend. There's also long-term placements where people have kiddos for years and years, and sometimes they're really lucky to go back to mom and dad um or family, or uh, they also get adopted out.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Something else that

Fostering Realities And Choosing Teens

SPEAKER_01 10:20

God did with your fostering is brought a new son into your family.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

You know, again, he he likes to pivot and likes to keep us on our toes. Um we certified as foster to adopt because you again, you never know. And we'd rather have everything in place than be like, oh, just kidding, we want to change our plans and then have to kind of catch up. So originally we were approved for zero to two years old because I wanted the little littles. I'm fantastic with them. My husband does not do the newborn stage as well. Once you can kind of toss them around and play with them, he's on point. But as far as I go, I love the littles. I love to care for them and I love the the kind of like passive aggressive love they give you where they scream at you, but then they absolutely love you. Um and so that's what we were approved for. In our first placement, we ended up getting two little girls, and that was hard. That was really hard on us. So then we just sat back and we said, okay, is this what we are looking for? Do we want to expand our ages? And my husband always wanted to do teens. And I like probably the hardest, right? Right. And I just remember being a teen myself, let alone having any sort of history with trauma and just a hard, hard life. And I just I don't think I personally was ready to handle teens. I don't I wasn't ready to handle a teenager of a biological child, let alone trying to to take on someone else's and jump into their world. So we did some discussions again, and really good at discussions. And eventually we decided on teens. And so we got our first call for a teen, and we got her sheet, and I love these sheets because they give you a little bit of insight into these kids' worlds, but man, are they polar opposite, at least in our experience. Every time we get a sheet on these kids, uh you go and meet the kid and you're like, that that doesn't match you. That's not who you are. And thank goodness she had a therapist that had written on there that she was this kind, loving girl. And I was like, that's who she is. I was like, I for some reason, I was like, that's who that kid is. Not all of this bad stuff that she's gotten into. It's that's who she is. And so we accepted her in our home and so glad we did because if our second placement didn't go as well as it did, I'm not entirely sure we would be fostering for as long as we did. Um because I don't think emotionally we could have handled it. So we accepted her in our home and we just accepted we're we're teen parents now. Like that's just what we do. We don't we don't do littles. And I was like, okay. And so I started getting into this group. We accepted another teen a few months after her. That one also went a little more challenging. They found out some more information as we had her that ended up her leaving us. I just I at that point I I wrote out of my mind. I literally had started getting rid of our baby stuff. I was like, nope, we're never getting another baby, you know. And I finally became content with this and I was at peace that we just we're done. You're just like laughing because I know I was oh my goodness. Yeah, it's so fun to go back and be like, I know what you were doing. We were at the point with our our teen that we were looking to adopt her if that was what she decided. And I was like, that's it. We're gonna have our three girls, and I'm gonna be the super young mom for this teenager, and we're just gonna love on her. Secretly, my husband had other plans for me. In incongruence with God, because you know, God poked at him a little bit and said, Hey, you should you should do this. Um, he had put himself on the calling list for little boys, baby boys. Like we're talking under a year. I had no idea, no idea

A Surprise Baby Boy Placement

SPEAKER_00 14:10

whatsoever. It was around Christmas time. I actually actually had some stomach pains, which is completely irrelevant. But I was on my way to urgent care the the morning after Christmas, because you've got to suffer through for Christmas and all the festivities and nothing's open. And so the the morning after I went to urgent care and he calls me, he says, Hey, you want a baby boy? I'm like, Yeah, yeah. I I blew him off because I he he just never he didn't do babies. He didn't want babies, we're teen parents. This is our family. And uh he said, No, seriously, he'll be here in the afternoon. Oh, I'm sorry, what? So on my way to urgent care, you know, and funny little bit, but they, you know, stomach pains, they want to make sure that you're not pregnant. So, you know, I was like, oh my goodness, this would be the ultimate god joke to be like, hey, you're getting a baby boy and you're pregnant. Thank goodness I was not pregnant. We just got the baby boy. We got a call at 9 a.m. and he was placed in our home that afternoon, like 3 p.m. He was there to finish out the foster story. Ultimately, our teen left us in March. Got to the chase. This this little boy's ours now. He was adopted in November 25.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

And you were the first people to be his foster parents, right? Like you got him straight out of the hospital. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

So this little boy, by goodness, like his story, he his mama is honestly the the biggest blessing of his entire story. I agree. This mom was suspected to be sexually assaulted based off the information they got. And she went to this hospital, and in my gut, I feel that she knew exactly what she was doing. She walked in this hospital and knew she wasn't taking him home. She knew that he was staying. And at some point in the the birthing process, mentioned to the nurses, like, I can't take him. Like you you have to take him. And so they gave her all of her options. I mean, if you think about it, you have let us help you, we can, you know, do foster, we do adoption. Um, and in Colorado, there's also or across the United States, there's a safe haven law. And she ultimately chose the safe haven law. And so at 24 hours she left because she she had a completely healthy vaginal birth and she left at 24 hours. And so at 10 PM on December 24th, Christmas Eve, they call uh Denver County uh human services and say, Hey, we have a little boy that's been dropped off as safe haven. And because it's Christmas Eve, the case work was like, Look, I I could make calls all day tomorrow, but I'm not getting a home for him. Do you mind watching him for a day? And so Christmas, he spent in the hospital. I'm sure the nurses absolutely loved on him. And then 9 a.m. the next morning on the 26th, we got the phone call and and he came home.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Wow. And he had like no drugs.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

I mean, he was this this little boy was full term, completely healthy. His mama took care of him and uh and loved on him until she couldn't think of her all the time. And if I ever, ever get the chance to meet her, like I it's just nothing but thanks because she did the hard work and she she made the hard choice. And because of that, he gets to be ours.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

So the funny part about this story, at least I think it's kind of funny, is so I think we saw you maybe Christmas Eve or something at church. And then the next weekend, we see you with a baby. That was so fun. I was like, Chris, uh, did we completely miss that Erica was pregnant?

unknown 17:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Because he looks exactly like you. We were a tan, dark-haired, dark-skinned family. I'm Italian and my husband's Greek, if that kind of gives you a look at what we are, and he looks just identical. Um they suspect we don't know yet, uh, because we need a lot of spit for him to do the 23 knee testing. Um, but mom was Spanish speaking, so he's something south of the border, something Hispanic. And so he's got that same dark skin, dark hair. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it was really fun to show up and just be like surprised because he's a brand new baby. I knew we'd talking three days old when we got him. Yeah. I believe Christmas was on like a Thursday or something that year. And so we saw people a few days later. And I'm like, whoa, whoa.

unknown 18:48

Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

And and what's even better is I'm I'm shorter. And with both my girls, I pretty much conceived and out popped a belly. And so for me to to not show any signs of pregnancy was even better.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

And it was just it was hilarious. I'll I'll always remember that. I was like, oh my gosh, did we completely how did we miss this?

SPEAKER_00 19:10

The women of my Bible study in the the same way, they just kind of looked at me walking and like, do we say something? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

I'm like, gosh.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Yeah, yes. That's so great. Yep, no, it was that was definitely a fun little perk to the story.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Maybe there's some more things that you saw that God did while by leaving you in Colorado for a few years. But where are you now as far as you're you're going back to Alaska,

Moving For Real And Loose Ends

SPEAKER_01 19:37

right? We're we're on our way.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yep. So my husband's set to leave in two and a half weeks, and then the kids and I are set to leave in December. So we are we are on the way. Again. Again. And this time it's it's for real. Like we've got, we just put the sign out in the the yard for the house. So we are Today. Yep. Yeah. Yep. So we are we're gone. Um yeah, he when I look back, he really just kind of metaled his fingers and just about everything. I mean, he tied up ends that I didn't even know needed tying up. Things like even like my dad passed in November of 23. And he struggled with alcoholism for most of his life until the day he died. And a lot of that I think I needed the ending of I'm the oldest. I've got I was the one in Colorado. Um, my two other sisters had moved out of state, and just kind of that needing of he's at peace, he's with me. You're good, you don't have to take care of him. And even my husband's Mima passed in January. Yeah. And even that, like, we didn't want to leave her. Like it wasn't our end all be all factor. Like we would have gone, but we also at the same time we wanted her to here. We wanted our kids to to love on her. And oh my goodness, her and and Cody, our little baby boy, they were inseparable, and it was about the cutest relationship you could ever see. And so I'm so glad that God kind of took her and was like, Nope, you're good. I've got this too. And just everything, even to our animals, and he just tied up every little end that I didn't even know I needed. So we didn't apply for his job to until after we adopted our our little boy. Uh, we wanted to make sure he was ours and that nobody could take him, and everything was legal and good before we started the process of moving out of the state. And so we applied in December of 25. But this time not for fire. Correct. So he more fun stuff. Our life is not boring. I will never say our life is boring.

State Trooper Path And Trusting Again

SPEAKER_00 21:47

And thank goodness for my husband because I would be very boring, and he adds the spice to it because he does not sit still. Yeah, he came to me in February of twenty five and said, Hey, What do you think of a state trooper job? And mind you, this is over text message. He was at work at the time. And I had to honestly sit down and think of how to respond because I didn't know if he was joking or if he was being serious. And so ultimately I text him, I was like, look, this is a bigger conversation than text message. Let's talk when you get home. But he was being serious. And he was being serious. He was very interested in the wildlife side of the state troop as up in Alaska. So they do both. They do both the typical law enforcement where they're patrolling and taking care of the state. And then they also do the wildlife side, which is a lot like Colorado's parks and wildlife. And so he was very interested in that because he he's an expert at the Colorado wildlife laws just by chance, just because we are hunters and we we need to know them. And he's he's dove into them and knows them in and out. And so it's very interesting to him. And he's like, what if I just make it my job? And then I get to go and explore all these cool places in Alaska and and do what I love as my job. And I was like, okay, that's fair. I was like, let's do it. And it wasn't a second guess. It wasn't we didn't hesitate. And it was just like, this will be weird because he's fire and he's switching to a law enforcement position. I was like, but if it makes you happy and honestly it gets us up to Alaska where we feel like it's our second home, cool. I was like, and at that point in my in my life with my relationship with God, was like, he'll tell me no if we're not going. Like he will put a hard stop and say, nope, this isn't it if this is really not what it's supposed to be. So we're like, we'll just proceed and we'll see what happens. And that's kind of how we took every bit of the application process.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

So is it hard to trust the second time? I'm just wondering if you are having like these anxious thoughts of, okay, we almost made it there before and it was a just out of the blue pull the plug. So does it make you nervous doing this kind of again?

SPEAKER_00 24:06

No, it genuinely is a polar opposite feeling. That's cool. And I don't know. I haven't figured out why. We need to go a little more into the future so I can look back and figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

What would you say to someone who maybe is feeling a little bit like you are? Like I'm planning, I've got this plan. I'm scared. What if God says to do something different or changes my plan? Because he will.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Oh, he will. Oh man. It's hard to trust. And I I struggle with trusting people too. Um, I've come a long, long way in trusting people. For me, I've struggled even more trusting God because for me to trust somebody in front of me is hard. And then now I have God who's with me, but is he really there? Is he really with me? But what I would say is as hard as it is, just go with it. Cause it's gonna work out. It's gonna suck in the middle. We are very much in the middle of our hard year. Because once he leaves, he goes to a four-month academy and we are we're separated for for four months. Yeah. Um, as as hard as moving is and as hard as everything's been, we're not done. We're in the middle of the mess. But I constantly remind myself like it will work out, it will be fine, and he will put us where he needs us. And hopefully one day I get to look back and be like, okay, that's why. And this adoption story honestly reminds me of that often. When I look back, I'm like, oh, okay, now I see it. Like thanks for you know, hitting me with the frying pan and and making me walk through this because it was worth it. It was every bit worth it. Um, so as hard as it is, just don't do what your brain tells you to do. Um, and I and I get it, it's so, so, so hard because as a planner myself, you know, I need to know. And like even right now, we have no idea where we're going. Currently, our location is the entire state of Alaska. So I can't even look for homes or doctors or schools, anything. I just have to wait and I have to be patient, which is so hard. So hard. So hard.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

I think so many people can relate to, probably not. Oh, we're moving to Alaska, but the same ideas of what you're talking about. So well, this has been so fun. We always end

Community Support Faith And Final Reflections

SPEAKER_01 26:38

with these questions. What are you grateful for?

SPEAKER_00 26:40

I always love my family. I mean, my family's we're we've got rock solid kids, and and my husband's awesome. But um, honestly, community. Like our community is fantastic. And that's another part. Like, God's kind of worked in all this, is like he's shown up and been like, look, like if you let people into your life and you let people love you, you are taken care of. Full on. Like, even when we got Cody, within a week, I had clothes from newborn to four years old. I had diapers for the next year. I we had meals, like our community absolutely loved us. And so I will never, ever, ever forget our community. Like fine, find yours. I highly encourage you.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

That's good. What is your favorite Bible verse or story?

SPEAKER_00 27:31

It's kind of honestly all tied into this. So when my dad passed, I had been doing weekly Bible verses on our fridge for the kids. Oh, nice. And the day he passed the Bible verse that was on the fridge was Deuteronomy 31, 6. I don't have it memorized because I'm really bad at memorizing, but it's essentially don't be afraid, like God's with you. I kept it up there for two years. I just recently took it down because we're moving and I gotta clear everything out, but it's true. Because the every step of the way through this story is don't be afraid. I'm right here. So it's it's become my favorite Bible verse because it's so fitting to every bit of life and honestly our whole process.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Deuteronomy 31, 6. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them. For it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Oh, yeah, it's a good one. Yeah, he's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

He put it up there. That's what kicked it all off. I mean, that's when we got certified for foster, and that's when you started closing up ties for me. And wow. Yep. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

What kindness have you seen or shown in the last week?

SPEAKER_00 28:43

I strongly believe that even just smiling at somebody or holding a door or helping, you know, the smallest act of kindness, you never know how much that goes. Right. Because I felt that impact too. Like even just somebody coming up to me like, you're doing great, mom, at the grocery store when I've lost my ever loving mind with my three kids and it shows. Honestly, it's been really fun to see our community show how much they truly love us. Because my husband leaves in two and a half weeks and it's kind of registering on everybody. Yeah. Um like, oh wow, that's really soon. Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Um, I think for a while it was, oh, it's July, or you know, I mean, still like, oh, it's coming up, but now it's oh.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Yeah, July 1st is next week, and they're like, oh, it's it's the same month. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, it's been really fun to to kind of see how much we're truly loved. And like he had his last shift a couple days ago, and you know, starting to to close up those those ties. And it's been really, really fun to see him love on him, but it it ripples into our family and how much people truly care about our family. And honestly, I I keep saying this, I want to box our community. I want to box every single one of them into a box and just ship them all to Alaska because I think internally it makes me feel better. But honestly, our community is completely unmatched. And yeah, it's always been really fun to see everybody love. It's good. Whether they know it or not.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

That's a good reminder to people who I mean, because it's it's hard. It's hard to be in community. It's hard to, like you said, trust people. But a good reminder in that as well. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

God's telling me, like, don't forget all these people that love you because you've got six months by yourself. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

And make sure to reach out. Yeah. Good.

unknown 30:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Good.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Well, do you have any last thoughts before we wrap it up? No, this has been fun. And I I'm happy to tell our story, and I hope that it it touches somebody to to either find your community or or listen to God. No, yeah. As hard as it is sometimes, just just like, just wait.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

So good. Well, on ordinary people, extraordinary things, your story is his glory.