In this episode of The Good News, Angie Austin teams up with Jim Stovall to unpack the concept of money measurements. Angie and Jim highlight the prevalent issues of financial illiteracy, offering listeners a roadmap to overhaul their personal finance strategies. They tackle the startling statistic that a majority of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings and emphasize the criticality of an emergency fund. Gain insights into the complexities of Social Security benefits and the importance of making informed choices to ensure a secure retirement. Later, Angie welcomes Grace Fox to the show to discuss spiritual fortitude. The conversation draws parallels between the steadfastness of starfish clinging to pilings and the human experience of holding onto faith through life’s storm. Grace provides thoughtful guidance on cultivating a resilient relationship with God. Tune in for a diverse episode that merges practical financial strategies with insightful spiritual advice aimed at enriching your life holistically.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here's Angie.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hello there. It's Angie Austin and Jim Stovall with The Good News. And we are talking about his weekly column. And this week it is titled Money Measurements. Welcome, Jim.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, great to be with you as always.
SPEAKER 04 :
I love money measurements. Riley bought a car last night on his own and paid cash. And he was so proud of himself. He, of course, it wasn't a new car. But, you know, he came home and he had the bill of sale and the pink slip. And, you know, it was like figuring out how to get temporary plates and everything. And then as he was leaving, because he was heading back up to college, it's like an hour away to CU Boulder. And he said to him, mom isn't that cool though like I did it all by myself like I didn't even like see it until he drove it home and so and he'd done the VIN thing he researched that he found out that it was in California and that even though it's old it had really low mileage and we found out it was some little old lady in Beverly Hills who had a driver that drove her around in this old Lexus sedan and so I was like wow when I saw when they do the Carfax thing you can see how much mileage is on it and I'm like Oh, my gosh, over the course of 20 years, she only put on 40,000 miles on this car. You know, I was like, what the heck? Because I didn't believe him at first. I'm like, there's no way that car has that low of mileage. But anyway, just his pride in himself for doing it on his own. It was very cute.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and it's so good. I mean, he's found one of the keys to building wealth is paying cash for automobiles. Automobiles are the most expensive things that we buy. They go down in value. Obviously, you buy a home, but it will go up and repay you for making the purchase. But as you know, I've done a book and now we're doing a movie about Will Rogers. And he said in 1931 that America will go down in history as the only nation to go to the poorhouse in an automobile. And it's true. I mean, you know, it's just when you see people that, you know, they have these now seven and eight year car loans and they trade cars every two or three years. It's just staggering to see what they do. And, you know, Riley found the key to success there, which is, hey –
SPEAKER 04 :
let somebody else take that hit and then buy the car and you know i think it's depreciated enough because it is over 20 years old and it's a it's a it's a lexus it's like a brand you know that we really trust we've had in fact we've got a couple of old lexuses over 20 years old um but anyway um they're really solid cars i think he already the depreciation is like pretty much done like if he sold it in a few years i think he could probably get you know about the same out of it since the mileage is fairly low for a car like that And when you talk about people going to the poorhouse in their vehicles, one of my relatives lives in a trailer home, you know, for seniors. Like, it's a nice trailer park where seniors, you have to be over a certain age to live there. Anyway, when I drive around, I'd say, like, every fourth trailer, the car is worth more than the trailer. So their car is literally worth more than their home.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, yeah. That can happen. But yeah, you get to a point in, you know, Crystal and I, we drove around in the Green Dog, the famous $300 Pontiac that I paid too much money for. And we drove around until we could pay cash for a Mercedes. And it was not a new one. It was 10 years old when we bought it. And we drove it 10 years.
SPEAKER 04 :
I love it.
SPEAKER 03 :
And sold it for more than we paid for it.
SPEAKER 04 :
See, those older cars, you can't actually do a few improvements on them and flip them and you don't necessarily lose money on them.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's amazing. It is amazing.
SPEAKER 04 :
We had the Green Gremlin. It was a rental. Sometimes, you know, when you get your car fixed, if you're not going to the dealership, they're not giving you like a new Lexus to drive. We got this old van. It was the ugliest van I've ever seen in my life. The kids were embarrassed to be seen in it. They wouldn't allow us to drop them off in front of a school. And I thought it was so funny because then, of course, they wanted to embarrass them and give their friends rides home in the Green Gremlin because we had it for like a month. Oh, it was hideous, the Gremlin. I love it. All right. So what are you teaching us in money measurements this week?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, the thing we measure is the thing that moves, no matter what it is. I mean, if you want to lose weight, you start by figuring out how much do you weigh now. If you want your GPA up, you need to figure what's my grade point average right now. And the same thing happens with money. People tell me, I want to get out of debt. And I ask, how much debt are you in? Well, I don't know for sure. Well, the first step is to figuring out how much debt you're in or building it. And this column was prompted by a study that the federal government just put out saying that 60% of Americans do not have $1,000 in savings. 60% of Americans do not have $1,000 in savings.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, my gosh.
SPEAKER 03 :
And that is a frightening thought because, as you know, Angie, I'm a big advocate of having an emergency fund. Oh, yeah. Because, you know, a $1,000 emergency is not a surprise, whether it's your car or your refrigerator or the roof leaking or whatever it may be. Or you've got to go to urgent care. I mean, $1,000 is nothing these days. And to think you're running around without that. You know, and to me, we started out in the green dog days in poverty. We really did. And it was tough. But the most valuable thing we have now from our wealth is not the cars and the houses and the jets and all those things. Those are convenience. The greatest thing I have is I don't worry about money anymore. If something starts leaking or smoking or making a weird noise, the only question I have is, which guy do we call on this? Who do we call on here? And they come and they fix it. And it's an inconvenience, but it's no longer this, wow, you get this pain in the pit of your stomach and you So I really, really always want to encourage people to know where you are financially. I mean, money is the least important thing in our lives, but it affects everything that is important. I mean, having a bunch of dirty paper with pictures of dead presidents really isn't worth much. It's only worth something in relationship to what it can do for us. I mean, it can take care of your parents or it can send your kids to school or all those things. And so it's not important on its own, but it affects everything that is important. And if we're going to get where we want to go, we've got to figure out where we are, and we've got to start measuring it. You've got to start keeping score. You want to win the game, you keep score.
SPEAKER 04 :
I always kind of suck my breath in and go, like, I can't believe it when you tell me things about, you know, 60% of Americans having less than a thousand in savings. But when my mom worked in a factory and we lived in low-income housing, I remember like if the car needed repair, that might be like every cent we had in our account, you know, to get the Buick repaired or whatever. And so I did grow up like that. And even with my dad being a professor, when I did live, you know, with him until I was about 12. even he you know had issues with clearing out the bank account to the point where because he drank a lot um that you know we wouldn't have enough money for groceries one week or something like that so i definitely grew up in an environment like that so i don't know why i'm so shocked that People don't have these emergency funds because that's how I grew up. But the idea of not having one myself gives me such anxiety that I couldn't live like that. It would make me too uncomfortable with my life. I wouldn't be able to enjoy my life.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, it's horrible. And then one of the most valuable things most people have, since they haven't saved anything on their own, is their social security benefits. And there's an amazing book I'm going to recommend to your listeners. And I did not write it. I have nothing to do with it. It's called Get What's Yours. and it's put out by several economists, and it's how to get the most out of Social Security. And there are literally hundreds of different ways to take your Social Security. I'm a certified financial planner. I've been in the financial realm my whole life, and there was just a ton of stuff I didn't know. But so many people leave literally hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table throughout their retirement because they don't know how to maximize this benefit. And I can promise you no one at Social Security is going to help you. You know, you have to do it on your own. And I highly recommend this book, Get What's Yours. I read it when we got to be at the age where you start thinking about it. And it's really rather amazing. And there's a thing, you know, one of the big mistakes, people take it too early. You can take it at 62, but you limit the benefit you get for so long. But some people are afraid, well, if I wait... maybe I'll have some illness or have some emergency and I'll need that money. There's an amazing thing I had never heard about until I read this book and I checked it out on Social Security. They call it a mulligan. And you can say, well, I know I was going to wait until I was 70, but I now have an illness or there's a crisis in my family. I've changed my mind. I want to back it up. and they will pay you back all your benefits in cash all the way back to when you're 62. And the other way, if you say, wow, I screwed up and I took it early and I wish I'd waited, you can say, I want to change it. Now you have to pay that money back. But it's pretty amazing what you can do if you know how to take the benefit. And I just had a friend of mine, he was going broke and he's on Social Security. He had not planned, he had not saved, he had not done anything. And his His late spouse worked, even though they were divorced. I found this deal in there. He could get a divorced late spousal benefit, and it went up 60%. I mean, it's like getting a 60% raise all at once just because you knew to pick up the phone and call him and tell him. You know, it's an amazing thing.
SPEAKER 04 :
My dad was a professor. And when he passed away, I told my mom, I'm like, because she was only getting, I think, $700 a month because she'd worked in factories. And so anyway, I said, you know, we just need to get, you know, dad's death certificate, your marriage certificate, your divorce decree, you know, these things. And Then we take it into Social Security and it more than doubled what she makes. It might have even tripled what she took in, you know, per month. And I think a lot of people aren't aware of that. And so I said to the guy, I'm like, so because they're married 20 years. I said, so they only had to be married 10 years. And he said, yeah. And I said, because he's got another wife he was married to for, you know, 30 some odd years. And I said, so if he had five wives for 10 years each, then all five wives would collect the Social Security money. And he said, yep. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is so crazy. But does he recommend, and I love the mulligan, I didn't even know about that. Does he recommend waiting to take the benefit? Because I was just talking with someone about this recently saying, well, you can invest all that money, all that time, rather than them keeping the money, you take the lower amount at 62 or whatever, and then you start investing that money so you can grow it more.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, you can do it either way. You just need to do it on purpose. If you take it early, you know, it grows at about – your benefit's going to be about an 8% return until you're 70. Now, if you feel like you can invest in the market and after taxes get an 8% return, you know, it can pay off. But for most people, waiting is probably better. Unfortunately, it's most people – they don't do that. They take it early and spend every nickel of it. And then they, they stick themselves with the lower amount from there on. And, you know, and that's what's, and then there are people, you know, when I first looked at this, the spousal thing blew me away because Crystal had not worked other than for me when we were really young and she didn't have enough quarters and she was like seven quarters short. So, uh, you know, a year and nine months short. So I put her on my payroll. She helps me on the weekends and evenings with my You know, my emails and all this stuff, and I put her on my payroll. And so she gets the seven quarters. Well, she will take it at her normal time and take it up until I'm 70. Then she'll switch to my spousal. That one little thing, because I read this book, is $48,000. All right. All right, I have a question about that.
SPEAKER 04 :
When you say take your spousal, so you're married, how does that work when she takes – that increases what she makes if she goes by what you make?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, yes. It's now calculated as my spouse instead of what she earned on her own. And even getting a lesser amount, my income is higher, so she was able to get that. And that's – like I said, it's $48,000, and we – we, you know, that's money we give to the scholarship, but you know, that'll send the kid to college for a while. And it's really, you know, and like I always tell people, anytime $48,000 don't matter to you, you make that check out to Jim Stovall.
SPEAKER 04 :
So you can put another kid through school.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, absolutely. It's all great. But you know, there's a benefit sitting there that you need to manage properly. And most people never even think about it. And it's, Wow, ignorance is very expensive.
SPEAKER 04 :
I love that. All right, jimstovall.com and the book, it's a little green book, Get What's Yours, the tips to maximizing your payout on Social Security. Thank you, Jim.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Trinidad is listening to the Mighty 670 KLT.
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SPEAKER 04 :
Hey there, friend, Angie Austin and Grace Fox with the good news. We're talking about her fresh hope for today, devotions for joy on the journey. And today we are talking about clinging to God. Hey, Grace, how are you?
SPEAKER 06 :
I'm good this morning, Angie. Thanks so much for having me on the show again.
SPEAKER 04 :
Still living in bliss on your boat in Vancouver?
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, I'm still living on the boat. I don't know that I'd call it bliss because I just did talk last. We had a cold spell. So the big Arctic front came in and swept down over us and things froze over. So we had ice on the river and we'd lay in bed at night and hear this thunk scrape across the hall. And that's the way life looked for about five days. But today is much better. The weather has warmed up. The ice is gone. The sun is shining again. And it's it's looking much more hopeful.
SPEAKER 04 :
So when it gets that cold and you've got ice hitting against the hull, I'm assuming you can't sleep that well on those nights.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, yeah, it depends on how fast the current is going on the river, because if it's very slow, then the ice will just kind of sit there. But if the current is going faster, that's when it really picks up those ice chunks and then it really scrapes and bangs. So Yeah, it just depends on what's going on outside as to how we sleep at night. But it'll never, our fiberglass is so thick that it'll never hit hard enough to blow a hole in the side of the hull. But there are some wooden boats down here and I fear for them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, are you, pardon me, are you out like, I don't know the terminology, but are you on like a rope that's anchored out in a bay or are you at a dock?
SPEAKER 05 :
We're at a dock and a slip tied up to the dock.
SPEAKER 04 :
OK, OK. All right. Well, that would that would make me feel, I think, a little more comfortable. But since you do have a boat that you're not worried about it being like the Titanic and sinking, then I guess that takes some of the worry away. We also had that Arctic blast and we I think where we were for a volleyball tournament in northeastern Colorado, I think it was thirty one below one more. one morning and so i've got the i've got the sneezes and so yeah the windchill factor was probably 50 below i don't know but it felt it felt pretty chilly so i wasn't a fan of that but thankfully i wasn't out um you know on a boat in the river yeah we didn't have minus 30 or minus 40 but for us in the vancouver area it got down to about minus 12 but that would be
SPEAKER 06 :
centigrade don't ask me to do the math off the top of my head on that but but i know that's below zero here and that's cold for where we are i grew up in alberta where minus 40 was typical for winter and it was that again during that arctic blast so i was very grateful when i'd go to bed at night i'd say thank you jesus because we have a diesel furnace and we had three space heaters all running at the same time just to keep it warm enough for being comfortable inside but but we had that and for that i was grateful
SPEAKER 04 :
Burr, burr, burr. Okay, so yeah, I was wondering how you kept warm space heaters. All right, so you were clinging to God during those five cold nights with the ice brushing up against the boat. So let's talk about this devotion, cling to God.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, so that idea came because once, it would have been about a year after we got our boat, we took it down to the southern tip of Vancouver Island where we went to go visit family at one point. And during that time, I saw as the tide went out, we could see more of the pilings as the water level went down. And on the pilings one morning, there were purple starfish, like clusters of purple starfish. They were stunning. They were absolutely stunning. And they were all different sizes. So there were, I would say, the grown-up starfish and then the baby starfish. And The little ones are just so cute, but all of them were clinging to the pilings. And I thought, wow, even as the water goes down, they don't just lose their grip and float along with the water. They stay firmly stuck to those pilings because they choose to basically, you know, whatever, however their little brain works, they were choosing to cling to those pilings. And that's how life is for us too. We need to choose what we're going to cling to. And if we choose to something that's going to give way, we're going to give way with it. But if we choose to cling to something that will stand fast and firm, and that would be our God, then we too can be steadfast, even when everything else around us gives way.
SPEAKER 04 :
I love that. I love that the visuals that you give with these. And I think so many times we're so discombobulated that we forget to cling to God, that it doesn't come as naturally for us as that starfish visual.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's right. So we have to be intentional about it. But here's the thing, Angie, is if we get into a situation where things around us are falling apart and we haven't made a practice of clinging to God, then it's going to be hard for us to just suddenly get to that place. And so that's why it's important to develop that lifestyle and that practice of focusing on God and loving him and making him our focus throughout the day so that when we When the tough stuff happens, when those things start falling away, we are in that place of clinging to God. We're not left high and dry going, oh, no, what are we going to do now? But we are prepared because we've been prepping ourselves over time.
SPEAKER 04 :
I love that. Now, in terms of, you know, clinging to God for you, you know, you and your husband being in ministry and, you know, your kids were raised Christians and you spent a lot of quality time together. And now the grandkids and all that time you get together. Do you how do you teach that to like your grandkids or how how did you do that in your life when maybe it wasn't so easy?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. With my grandkids, the ones that I see most often, and I had them here on the boat for three days out of the past ten, four-year-old and two-year-old in particular, they're just little. And so what I do with them, just to help them understand how much God loves them and how he's there for them and on their side, is I look for those little teachable moments. And so there was one moment when... We were walking down the dock and saw four ducks. And we were discussing just how God made them so that they can float on that water that is so icy cold. Why do these birds float on the water? Because they're happy. I don't get it. But God made their feathers that way. He made them so that they can tolerate that cold. And so... We talked about how God, he made them with beaks of certain shape, too, and how he made woodpeckers with a beak of different shape because they need a pointy beak because they hammer on the sides of a tree, you know, to get to the bugs inside. And we just had great conversations. Like, well, how did they get the bugs out? And how did they eat them? And, you know, we just talked about God's masterful creation. And then we just, I can automatically turn that conversation to, and he made you special, too. Did you know how much he loves you? Do you have any idea that he is crazy in love with you? And they look at me and they go, yeah, grandma. You know, that's so fun. So it's not like sitting down and having this long formal teaching session. It's just looking for the teachable moments and directing their thoughts to the Lord and to spiritual truths.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, I love it that, you know, you put these sections in your devotions and there's the, you know, pause, ponder, pray. And then I love the quote from the book, which I want to go over. But when in the ponder section, you say, to what are you clinging for security? And for myself, I know that having grown up poor and without a solid family and low-income housing and brothers who were using drugs. My dad had abandoned us. We barely had any contact, I'd say, for 35 years. And my mom working in a factory and not very educated, so I couldn't really lean on her for advice about college and school and life. She just wasn't the person that I leaned on. We were more like siblings. So I think I... I have been clinging to a self of a sense of independence that I was kind of an island that I only I could protect me from bad surroundings. And then secondly, finances that I've always been really careful with my finances because I didn't want to be poor again. I didn't like that feeling of insecurity. And so I think these are things that I have been that I have throughout my life. clung to for security. And then I guess creating my own family, you know, that was more secure for my kids and for me, too, for that matter. They had created, you know, a secure family where I knew what we weren't going to get a divorce. I knew the kids would continue to have parents and, you know, things like that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Those are great observations, Angie. And I wonder how many listeners out there can just say, yeah, I can relate to that. Because it is our tendency, I think it's our human bent to cling to things that we can touch and see and be a part of every day. But God is invisible. And so it might be a little bit harder then for us, especially not raised in a Christian upbringing, to understand what it means to cling to God. But in the day and age that we live, it's just so important to understand that all that other stuff can just fall away at any given moment. And what's going to happen if we're clinging to something that's not eternal? We will be disappointed. And so there's nothing wrong with ensuring that your kids have a good family. It's everything right about that. Everything's right about that. And being intentional about that. And being intentional with being a wise steward of your finances. God wants us to be that way. But to absolutely cling, to put all of our hope in,
SPEAKER 04 :
god because he will never go away he will never disappoint or let us down i i think about too like one of my daughters is named faith and how it is that belief or trust in god that's not well that that's without proof per se you know or that you can't touch you can't see i guess would be a better way to explain it you know that it's something that you have within you but there's not necessarily like um you know something solid in front of you that you can see that proves your faith and many of us have had feelings over the years and of course we have the bible and books like yours to help us in that path but we have to have some of that faith regardless of what we see around us
SPEAKER 06 :
That's what faith is all about, isn't it?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Trusting in things unseen. That's a mystery of it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, it is. I wanted to read, too, you've got Jennifer Rothschild's book, God is Just Not Fair, Finding Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense. And the quote is, if God allows you to wrestle with him, it's not so there will be a winner and a loser. He doesn't need to prove he's stronger and you are weaker. No, the point of wrestling with God is to give you an opportunity to cling to him. God wants you to hang on to him no matter what, and the result will be a blessing. I love that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Isn't that good? Some people will say, well, what is the point of suffering? If God really loved me, why would he allow this hard thing in my life? And there are so many things for which we don't have answers this side of heaven. But we can know this one thing for sure, that when he allows suffering, it's not that he's out to get us or anything like that, but that he's giving us that opportunity to get to know him in a deeper way. Because if in our pain and sorrow and grief and discomfort, we turn to him and we say, what is it you're trying to teach me through this? He will answer and he will show us more of himself and show us more eternal truths that we can live by. we will grow deeper and stronger and more steadfast in him as a result of suffering.
SPEAKER 04 :
And in the prayer section you talk about, it says, God, loosen my grip on anything that prevents me from clinging to you as my sole source of wisdom, strength, joy, and peace. So is it okay, do you think, Grace, for me to have those things that I also count on or lean on or want to make sure that I have, like, you know, the family and the financial security and things like that. But above all, you know, to focus more on getting my, you know, clinging to God for my peace and security and those other things can be there, but be secondary.
SPEAKER 06 :
Absolutely. And it's like saying, God, thank you for my family. And thank you for the financial security that you've given me. And thank you that I have a marriage that gives my kids a sense of security and whatnot. But I just leave all of these things in an open hand because I love you more. I love you more. But thank you for these gifts. I appreciate them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, if people want to find you, Fresh Hope for Today, Devotions for Joy on the Journey, you can pretty much get your book anywhere on Amazon. I know I got a copy. I think it was a Kindle version, too. And then, of course, you've sent me copies. And you can also go to GraceFox.com. Thank you, Grace.
SPEAKER 06 :
You bet. Have a great day.
SPEAKER 04 :
You, too.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
Join Angie Austin as she hosts a heartfelt conversation with Grace Fox, diving deep into life's real struggles as shared through compelling stories. From personal journeys of letting go to understanding the psychological roots of attachment, this episode is filled with insight and introspection. Discover how faith and perseverance can transform arduous paths into enlightening experiences. The episode also shifts focus to the pressing topic of foster care, featuring expert insights from Kristen Pratt of Foster More. Learn about the challenges and triumphs involved in fostering and how communities can step up to support this vital cause. It's an episode that underscores resilience, hope, and the courage to face life's uncertainties. Immerse yourself in engaging narratives as our guests share their personal stories of overcoming journeys, the emotional ties to possessions, and the fortitude required in fostering. With thought-provoking discussions on securing peace through faith and fostering hope through love, this episode offers both encouragement and inspiration to navigate your life path.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now with The Good News, here's Angie.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hello there friend, Angie Austin and Grace Fox. And today we are talking about real life struggles from her book, Fresh Hope for Today, Devotions for Joy on the Journey. Hey Grace. Hi, good to talk to you again. All right, so tell us about real life struggles.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, so I wrote this one after interviewing a friend. Her name was Nancy. She lives in Oregon, actually. And she talked to me about how she and her husband had decided to take a hike. And so they trudged, as she described it, trudged four miles uphill through the forest. And they began second-guessing their wisdom in choosing to do this hike. but she said that they persevered and they got to the top of a, when they got to the top, it was this meadow that was just filled with flowers and glacier fed streams. And she said, it was just so beautiful. They sat down and had a picnic there and thoroughly enjoyed their time. It was that kind of a space where you work so hard to get somewhere. And when you, when you finally arrive, it's just so beautiful. You don't want to leave. And that was like their experience. And, And so when I heard her story, I thought, well, that is like real life in that sometimes we end up on a journey that is so arduous. And it's maybe not by choice, but it's just something that happens. We end up on this path that is so hard. And we just don't know that we're ever going to reach whatever it is we're trying to reach. But finally, the Lord just brings us into a place of rest. and it's it's a place that our soul is longing for after all of that maybe hardship that we've just come through but where we can sit down and we can rest and we know that he's with us and we know that he's got us and he's holding us close but wow it's you know the destination of getting there and experiencing that rest for our soul is good but the pathway to getting there is sometimes really hard
SPEAKER 06 :
Can you think of examples like in your own life where that really applied to you as well? And you're like, oh, I'm going to write this because I can really relate to this.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I think that when my husband and I sent the Lord nudging us to purge almost all of our earthly belongings to move aboard our sailboat home. And we didn't have a boat. It's not like we had this boat sitting around and we could just move into it. We had to find one that worked for living aboard and find a place to moor it. It was a journey that took a lot of energy mentally and emotionally as I had to part with all of these things that I counted precious. It was a path. It was arduous. And we didn't have a long time to do it. Once we got on it, once we actually found a boat and bought it, we had like six weeks to get rid of our stuff. And it was a path that wore me out in some ways, just emotionally every day, getting up and sorting again and purging again and saying goodbye again to these things that we'd held dear. But once we completed that and arrived, moved into the boat, settled in, And realize that, wow, you know, like this was a time of really stretching our faith and growing our faith. But we saw God come through. And it was a time of thanking him for that opportunity to walk that tough path. But to come to that place of knowing full well that we had obeyed him completely. And there was peace in that, even though I'd said goodbye to all these things that I'd once held dear, there was peace in my heart and there was joy in having obeyed. And it was something that, yeah, we walked that path and it was hard, but wow, it's been worth every step.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, it's interesting you talk about, you know, peace of letting go of things that you once held dear. It's so hard sometimes to part with them. And there's some organizer lady that, you know, basically says, if you feel, if that item brings you joy, you know, keep it. And of course, if it's something you haven't, you know, used or worn or whatever for many years, you know, even if you're like, oh, I might wear that again. There's really no sense in keeping it. But I wonder why we have such a hard time letting things go. My... Mother-in-law has... The family calls her an organized hoarder. And so she has a basement that's probably 1,500 square feet. And it's the most organized basement stuffed to the brim with like 200 purses, you know, 400 pairs of pants. And they're those stretch pants that... you know like senior citizen ladies wear that you can slide on and have thanksgiving dinner and they still fit just fine in every color of the rainbow and then i'm like well why are there like 20 yellow pairs well she used to be super skinny so there's like you know three pairs and a size four three pairs and a size six three pairs and i'm not i'm like oh my gosh like you could never if you wore these pants every day like You probably, she couldn't even wear them like at the end of her life now and go through all those pants. You know what I mean? Like it's just crazy to me and she won't let us down there. Like my son really wants to go down there because he's a thrifter and he's been allowed down a couple of times like with oversight. Like she'll be down there with him. And he might get like a hockey jersey that my husband had when he was little. Or this last time my son came home with a stack of photographs of like my husband when he was, you know, a kid and in college. And then some from when we first got married, like probably 50 pictures. So that's what he came home with. But usually he gets like a little thing. I even got down there. Oh, I couldn't believe that was allowed down. But I needed one of those like shopping bags kind of like to take on the plane that... you know fooled up and she had some nicer ones down there that were like designed or whatever so I found a small one that you could maybe put like the size of like two bottles of wine maybe so that was perfect for like my snack on the plane I go oh look there's another one there's a matching one I'm thinking oh I should take both right she goes oh no no no no no don't get greedy girl And I'm looking around, right? Even three of the purses that I gave her, they're just hanging down there collecting dust, right? Like coach bags. And I'm like, are you sure you've never used that coach bag? Are you sure you want to keep that? Like I gave that to you 20 years ago. I would definitely use that. Oh, no, no, no, no. And I'm like, what? What is it? I don't understand the psychology grace behind that kind of hoarding. You know what I mean? And I know they say it can relate back to maybe losses. Like her dad was a police officer and he was killed in the line of duty when she was like maybe 8, 9, 10. And I've heard that like losing, like if you lose a child or lose something big, like somehow hanging onto these things. And I know that that's not like the Christian way to do it. We're not supposed to get our like comfort and our like, you know, out of things. They're not supposed to give us like that comfort. Right. But it's perplexing to me. Like I can't wrap my head around it, but it's got to have something to do with it giving you comfort or comfort.
SPEAKER 05 :
um security something like that you know that we're supposed to be secure through christ but apparently we're secure through 200 pairs of pants and 200 purses yeah the word security came to my mind as you were talking and i think that's it is that we look to things for our security but if that house burned down if that house were to burn down today how would she respond right like if she found her security in those things that'd be a significant loss for her But the one thing about hanging on to the Lord and finding our security in him is he's never going to leave us. Nothing's ever going to take him away from us. The scripture says in Romans that nothing separates us from his love. And so no matter what happens, even on those tough walks that we take through life, sometimes doesn't matter where he leads us or what he asks us to go through or what he allows in our life. still we can find hope and we can find peace and we can find joy if our security is in him and not in stuff that can be gone in a heartbeat.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and I think with so many of the people, I keep seeing these pictures because I've got so many friends in the news business in Los Angeles. And one of my girlfriends went out really early this morning. And, you know, I don't think we can really wrap our heads around the loss that those people experienced, right? And I know everybody says, well, you know, you still have your life and things can be replaced, etc., etc. But it's a whole... change of like all those lives because it's not like a house in your neighborhood burns down and oh you get rid of it you rebuild like it's so toxic up there and now they'll have problems with mudslides right but your grocery store is gone your library is gone your mechanic is gone all your neighbors homes are gone so like then you go up there and you rebuild and in the midst of all this toxic you know material that's up there and even working up there you know how how easy is it going to be to get workers that want to go through all this burnt toxic you know you know destruction that they need to throw into a big dumpster and you know start from the ground up and then the soil and i don't know just that kind of loss um you know, being secure in Christ, we're supposed to find our security there. But I can imagine when you return to your neighborhood and you don't even know if there's a possibility of you rebuilding, like, I'm very curious to see what it'll be like in 20 years. I'm assuming the oceanfront Malibu homes where those people have money coming out of their ears and they're like $10 million houses, those will get rebuilt because even if you don't have insurance money, you're loaded and you can rebuild. And the people in Pacific Palisades, you know, those are very expensive homes too in the millions, but some of them may have been in a different position of maybe owning it for 30 years and they they aren't multi-millionaires it just became millionaires because the you know real estate values went up so much but you know i'm just very curious to see what that will be like in 20 or or so years if it is all rebuilt because it is such a prime spot but i sometimes i feel like so the picture that i had when my friend sent all these pictures out today um was of just kind of despair and just kind of like a hopelessness that many of them feel about, you know, where do we go from here kind of feeling. And I think some of us have that feeling about other things in life, you know, where we end of a relationship oh gosh where do i go from here or the loss of someone a loved one you know how do i work my way through this how do i claw my way out of this i just watched a documentary um on avicii this dj who was so talented just oh so talented and he committed suicide and i just thought to myself like gosh, you were such a genius with creating music. If you didn't want to do those concerts, couldn't you just stop doing the concerts and just create with other, he was working with the top of the top of the top, you know, musicians. And couldn't you just do that? Like, couldn't you see your way out of it? And I know that that's why we have faith. I know that's why we have like the Lord to turn to. But I just think people get lost in a sea of despair sometimes.
SPEAKER 05 :
I agree with you on that. I think depression and anxiety are on the rise. And I just want to encourage listeners today to not give up, to keep putting that one foot in front of the other, just like my friend and her husband, as they were going on that path. They didn't know it was going to be four miles long. They didn't know how long it was going to take or how arduous, how steep it got. They just heard it was a great path. So, you know, the path that we end up on, we don't know where it's going to lead to eventually. We don't know sometimes how steep it's going to get. But like these poor people that have lost so much out in California, they don't know how long this is going to take before they can return to their life or what their life is going to look like. What is their new normal going to be? Where is their workplace going to be? Where are their kids going to go to school? What about their church family if they lost their church? So, you know, everything is disrupted in their lives. But to not give up hope, just every day put one foot in front of the other on that path and persevere because eventually it will even out. We don't know what that will look like. There are no guarantees, but It's going to be okay is what we want to say, right? It's going to be okay.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I always love, you know, your Fresh Hope for Today devotions. That's the book, Fresh Hope for Today, Devotions for Joy on the Journey. If you want some hope, it's a great book. Always enjoy talking to Grace Fox. And if you want to find her and her books, you can go to gracefox.com. Thank you, friend. Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Manitou Springs is listening to the Mighty 670 KLT.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
Hey there, friend. Angie Austin here with the good news. Well, you know, if you've listened to the program over the years, I guess I've been on, gosh, radio and TV like 25 years. So many of you know my background and I have a real heart for foster care because I spent some time in foster care growing up and really was appreciative of the families that took me in. Joining us is Kristen Pratt, and she is with Foster More, the leadership team. Welcome, Kristen.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you so much for having me, Angie.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right, so let's just start off, first of all, I know that there is a need for foster care. I've seen books where it's like page after page after page of kids that are looking for homes. So is this crisis in America worse now? And just tell us about the foster care crisis in general.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so... Any given day, it fluctuates a bit, but there are approximately 400,000 children in foster care in America. So it is, it has seen some slight improvements the last few years, but a lot of those kids are experiencing, you know, over two to three placements a year, the majority of them. And so there's a real need for loving, stable homes for these kids who are facing a lot of obstacles.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes. Oh my goodness. All right. So I know that you guys do some research and there was a barrier, a significant barrier preventing, you know, families from stepping forward to, I'll tell you what my mind would be. Well, first of all, I have three teenagers, five pets and off and on my 82 year old mom. But my barrier would probably be my husband. But I might be able to work on him like once the kids are gone, because they're all in high school now. But the barrier for me is my spouse, like I would do foster care. And I know it's rough. I don't have any fairy tale like version of how difficult it could potentially be. So what are the barriers that people see in terms of becoming foster parents?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I mean, that is a barrier, like your spouse, you have to both be on board. But We always tell people, too, there's a need for foster parents of all kinds, all ages, you know, empty nesters, young people, older people, single people. So there's really, you know, anyone can step up there. And one of the things that we found that people would say is that they couldn't take the time off work. So they'd say, well, my job doesn't allow for me to take that time off work. And, you know, like there's a lot that goes into that. Um, when the child is placed in the home, not only do you need that time to bond with, with some child who has by definition experienced some trauma, but you also need the time to get them enrolled in a new school and doctor's appointments and, you know, all the appointments. So you really, it's important to have that time off when the child joins a home and a lot of businesses don't provide for that. And it stops a lot of potential foster parents from moving forward when they find out that information.
SPEAKER 06 :
Um, have you, have you, like, is this something that you try to address with businesses to try to, I know that my, my station that I worked for one of the gals on the, one of the weather women, uh, adopted a child and she got, you know, the typical time off that you would get. But in this case it was an infant, but I know some businesses do give you time off, but I would. assume with a single parent that that would just kind of like you know take that option off the plate for them to become a foster parent but do um does the foster care system help with things like um you know daycare if you're getting like a kid that's two three four that needs you know daycare during the day they do there are it depends on the state you live in but there are some you know provisions for that and that's another thing that we work with businesses like if a business has on-site child care um we ask that you know
SPEAKER 04 :
youth in foster care if someone becomes a foster parent their child can be um immediately have access to the to the facility yeah but um yeah one of the things we realized is that a lot of the businesses that were offering like you were talking about adoption paid time off for adoption or birth foster care was just overlooked because yes you know a lot of people think of foster care as a road to adoption. And so they get, you know, the time off when the child is adopted, but you really need that time off when the child is placed in the home. And the child is not always adopted in foster care. About half the time they're reunited with the parents. So we need all different kinds of homes, people that want to adopt, people that want to be there for a family that needs some support. And so we want to make sure that businesses are specifically giving that time off for just being a foster parent
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, I understand that Foster More is obviously helping with this whole workplace initiative, you know, trying to get places to make it more, you know, user-friendly to become a foster parent. Can you talk about that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. So at Foster More, we have sort of like a ladder of engagement on our website. We try to engage people in all different ways. So, you know, if you want to learn about becoming a mentor for youth in foster care, if you want to have the opportunity to pack a duffel bag or get involved and volunteer in different ways, you can start on our website to do that. And one of the tabs on the website is to become a foster parent, where you can fill out a little form, and then we can connect you with someone, depending on where you live, someone in your local area that can help you learn about becoming a foster parent. And the same thing for the workplace pledge, there's a tab on the website where you can learn more about If you're a business owner or an employee and you're interested in having your business become officially foster-friendly, you can do that on the website, too, and we'd be happy to talk more to anyone about their business becoming foster-friendly.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. I'm just wondering, you know, for people listening today who are thinking about becoming a foster parent, I know a lot of it seems like overwhelming and, you know, all the things you have to tackle to be approved, et cetera. So how do you recommend people get, you know, started on the process? Obviously your website with all the tabs, you know, a really good idea. But how can someone personally, I mean, talking to someone, that's a great idea that you just gave us. What else?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, well, again, research shows that it takes about 18 months to two years for people. Once they start thinking about becoming a foster parent, you know, do you have the idea to actually become a foster parent? So, you know, it does take, and as it should take a lot of thought for people, it takes a lot of research. So it's something you can start looking into. It's a little bit different than requirements in every state. You can start asking people about it. You can look into other ways to, to get involved and volunteer first. I mean, the need is great for foster parents, but if you want to learn more about foster care, you can volunteer. There are tons of amazing organizations all across the country doing great work. You can learn more about how to get involved in different ways. you know, maybe on the path to becoming a foster parent, as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, in your particular case, what I always love to get people's passion for things, obviously, I'm interested in this topic, because I live with families and relatives, and I only had one, quote, unquote, official foster home, but I had many places where I stayed, you know, so what what what is behind your passion for this kind of work?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I've always been involved in working with kids. I have a background in special education and I became a CASA, which is a court appointed advocate. And that's something people can look into as well, where you support a youth in foster care, you go to court with them and you're sort of their mentor and their person along the way. And so I learned a lot about foster care that way. And just, you know, the more it's something that, like I was saying, people don't talk about that much, but it's such a big issue. And once you, it's like you can't unsee, you know, what you've seen and what you've learned. And it really requires so many more people to step up in any way that you can. And I think it's something that you realize, like, we're all connected to this issue. It's not just a sort of other or someone, you know, far off that you don't know. Like you said, like almost all the time, When we talk to people at businesses, we hear stories like yours where it was like I was in foster care. My cousin was in foster care. My parents were. I was a foster parent. And so so many people are connected. And it's just not only when you provide the workplace benefits, you're also getting people to talk about it, too, which is so important. And that's why we really appreciate you having us on, too, so we can talk about it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, I'm wondering in terms of I know that there's like people are thinking, oh, foster care, you know, I'm going to have this kid for 18 years. But there are other, you know, that sounds terrible, but I said it like that. But you know what I mean? Like people are overwhelmed by the prospect of having a child that long or maybe someone, you know, like myself, who's already raised their kids, who's maybe looking at teens or something of the sort. I know you can specify what you're interested in, but is there also like emergency short-term care where you might just have a baby for a week or, you know, like shorter-term options per se? Now, one of my girlfriends, she's a nurse, her husband's a doctor. They did have a short-term situation. And then once the little girl had stayed with them for quite some time, she told me, well, we're going to adopt her. And I was like, wow, like your kids are in college, like yikes. And she said it's the right thing to do because she'd been with them for so long.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. So most places you can sign up for respite care. So that's basically like giving a foster parent a weekend break or a few day break. Oh, I've never heard of that. Yeah. So that's a really cool way to sort of like dip your toe in and get involved. It's called respite care. And also there's a really huge need for people that don't want to adopt from foster care that they just want to support. Because like I was saying, the goal of foster care, the ultimate goal is is to support whole families so that kids can be reunified. And that, you know, doesn't always happen. And sometimes, you know, the best situation is for them to stay with the foster parents. But if at all possible, you try to support a whole family so that the child can be reunited with their biological parents. And that requires people to step up temporarily, right? Like that's so important. And I think a lot of times people think of it more as like a road to path to adoption, which it can be. But there's a huge need for people that want to just be there and provide a safe, loving, supportive space for a child in the family who's going through a crisis.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. We only have a couple of minutes left, but I can't believe I've never heard of respite care. Okay. So would you keep the child for the day or is this something like more like several days or do you kind of take them maybe on? I know CASA, they take them on like outings and things like that from their foster situation. So what are the possibilities for respite care for a foster parent?
SPEAKER 04 :
So respite care, you know, I think it depends on each in each state. I think it's a little bit different, but most of the time it's, you know, two, three days you're certified as a foster parent. So you would have to get the certification, like, you know, the cost of you're not, you have to have like a background check and everything, but you're not certified as a foster parent. So if you're doing respite care, you have to go through the whole process of making sure your home is suitable and everything. And then it would be, I think the time really varies, you know, it could be, Two nights, three nights a week. It's just really that time, like say a foster parent needs a break or is going on vacation or has a family emergency, you know, and they need to go out of town. So someone providing respite care would give them that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I think about, you know, business trips. Okay, we have one minute left. Tell me your takeaway. What do you want to tell people that are, like, kind of on the fence? Like, what do you want people to know if you had a one-minute elevator speech to give to us?
SPEAKER 04 :
I think the main thing we want people to know, and this is what we say at Foster Mer, these kids are amazing, and they're resilient, and they have the potential to overcome anything, and they really just need someone... to step up and be there for them. The outcomes for kids in foster care are not great, and that can change if we as a society and as individuals step up and are there for these kids.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I sure appreciate all that you do. My foster care situation was quite interesting because I come from a family where my dad has his PhDs, well-educated, but we had a lot of, he was estranged from our family for like 35 years. And then one of my brothers was murdered. Another one ended up homeless. Wow. Here I graduated top of my class. I worked full time all through high school and college. So for somebody listening, just the opportunity to stay with my foster family and other families that really cared, I think really made a difference in my life and where my first job was at NBC News out of college in Los Angeles. So thank you, Kristen, for all you do for others. Really appreciate you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you so much, Angie. I'd love to hear more about your story.
SPEAKER 06 :
I'd love to talk again. Thanks, Kristen.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
In this thought-provoking episode, Angie Austin brings forth conversations that challenge us to rethink the way we view our lives. Jim Stovall shares his insights on breaking free from a mediocre existence and what it means to truly live a fulfilling life. Through poignant anecdotes, including the tale of a man planning a new chapter post-incarceration, listeners are invited to reconsider the power of a single life-altering decision. Moreover, Angie’s conversation with Dr. Scott Adzick explores pioneering work in fetal surgery, offering hope and insights into life-saving medical advancements. As Dr. Adzick talks about training future specialists, the episode also highlights the importance of mentorship and legacy in impactful work. Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their passions and make deliberate choices that align with their values and dreams. Whether it's a career change or finding joy in volunteering, this episode serves as a guidepost for navigating towards a life of significance and satisfaction.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here's Angie.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hello there, friend. Angie Austin, Jim Stovall with The Good News. And today we are talking about your best life. Sounds like the best column. I love this, Jim.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you. It's a phrase we all kind of borrow from Oprah. And she probably got it from somewhere else. But, you know, and the premise is that... we have a choice. We can live our best life. We can live our worst life. And, you know, I'm well aware of the fact that bad things happen to good people. And, you know, it can either be a something that defeats you or a springboard to greater success. And Walt Whitman said, I am not one person. I am many persons. You know, I'm a giant. I'm a dwarf. I'm wealthy. I'm poor. I'm you know, successful, I'm a failure, all these things, because he realized that inside of each of us is the potential to be all of those things. And, you know, we all have those moments, those days, those periods of time that change that. I had a gentleman in my office last week who I met at a fundraiser event I was doing for a Oh, a faith-based group that helps people getting out of prison. Okay. And he had made a horrible series of decisions when he was 15 years old, and it ended up with him killing a guy, and he spent the next 35 years of his life in the penitentiary. So I met him at age 50 when he just got out, and he had been in prison every day since he was 15. And, you know, and it's just amazing. He recounted what happened to him that morning. And he made a couple of dumb decisions and put himself in a bad place. And there you go. I mean, it wasn't some big conspiracy plan or something. It was a momentary thing. And his life is there. So he talked to me about the fact that, okay, that's been your life up to now. But now you're 50. For the next 35 years, you can decide what do you want your life to be. And you have to have a double good life from here on out to make up for that first part. So you've got to come back. You're like a team. You're two touchdowns behind. You've got to make up for this. And he's making plans to do that. And we all have the ability to live a great life or a poor life. Unfortunately, most people... live right in the middle. They live a mediocre existence. And in our country today, Angie, it doesn't take much to be mediocre. You can just kind of drift through life if you want to, and that's where it is. Or you can change your life by changing your mind, and you can live a great life. And it's all about making a decision. And you can have one moment right now today that changes that, just like the guy I told you about, When he was 15 years old, he had one moment he did something really stupid and ruined his life. Well, the contrary is true. We can all have one moment where we make our mind to change. I remember a moment like that for me, and my life will never be the same. I just don't want to live like this anymore. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, and that's it. And, you know, many things go back to that. And I just decided that's it. We're not living like this anymore.
SPEAKER 03 :
Was that the loaf of bread?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, indeed. Yeah, we miscalculated our groceries as we were going through the grocery store. And Crystal had to go put back a loaf of bread. And it was embarrassing and frustrating. And I just said there is no reason I should ever live like this. I'm just not going to live like this anymore. And that changed my world.
SPEAKER 03 :
And you two, weren't you first and second in your college class when you graduated?
SPEAKER 05 :
We were indeed. We were indeed. But we had gotten way in debt, and I was blind. And at that point, I thought disabilities means you couldn't do stuff.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER 05 :
Everything I knew about being blind, I learned from people that told me what that meant. And it's no different than all of us going through life if we're mediocre. Someone told us this is how you live. And people that live a pinnacle existence, a mountaintop existence, they either had somebody amazing tell them how they could live life, they read a book, or they just got a vision of who they could be, and they just decided, I'm not going to be that way anymore. And I read about once this bald eagle had fallen out of the nest and had been taken in through a set of circumstances. It ends up with a bunch of ducks that have just hatched. And this eagle, you know, was raised by this mama duck and, you know, and took on the character. This eagle thought he was a duck. And he walked like a duck, talked like a duck, you know, even started quacking like a duck. I mean, and took on those characteristics. Oh, my gosh. we have a tendency to become like our environment or the people around us, and we can change that. And any time we don't like it, we can change the channel. Sometimes we act like it's a wired-in broadcast and we're stuck with this. No, you've got 500 channels. You can do anything with your life you want, and you change your life when you change your mind. And that's why every once in a while you need somebody to come along And think, what would your best life look like? I mean, what would you do if you could do anything you wanted to do? Because the reality is that's where we all live.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, what did you tell this guy? So he made a mistake, killed somebody when he was 15, didn't plan it. And all these years later, he's 50. What did you tell him to do in order to live his best life?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I told him, first, we've all got to decide what it is we want. What do we want the end to look like? And he's working on that right now. We're going to have another meeting next month. But I said, then you got to look at what talents, abilities and experiences do you have? And he said, well, I don't have any. I said, that's where you're wrong. There are people going into prison, getting out of prison. There are people who need to make quality decisions to stay out of prison. And you have a unique life. You can speak to those people. And you know what it's like on the inside. You know what it's like out here. And more than anybody I know, you can speak to that issue. And, you know, we talked about him, you know, consulting with people, writing a book, helping young people in high schools. I mean, you know, when you have a guy walk in and say, I'm 50 years old. I mean, you know, I'm as old as your parents and almost your grandparents standing here. And when I was your age that you are right now, I did something really stupid and I ended up this way. And, you know, and maybe you could help a handful of kids from avoiding that. And, uh, that would be a good life. You, you, you would be living your best life when you use the talents and abilities and experiences you've had to help other people. So he and I talked about that and, um, You know, and he's got a job. He's the place that I help raise money for. They help people get jobs, and it's not a great job, but it's a job. And he has an apartment, and it's not a great apartment, but it's a good place to start. And as he pointed out, it's better than a jail cell, and the neighborhood's better. So he's feeling pretty good about it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Whenever I talk to interviewees that I find particularly interesting, I figure out where they got their passion for what they do. And one of the doctors that I've interviewed that is coming up again is Dr. Adzik, and he does fetal surgery. And he told me, I'll never forget, of all the thousands of interviews, I'll never forget, he said, what's the most satisfying thing about your work? Or when have you felt like, wow, I'm really doing something that makes a difference? He goes, well, every year when I go to the big party for the kids that I've done fetal surgery on, so it might be heart surgery while the baby's in the womb that saves its life. He goes, I see him throwing the football and having a great time together, enjoying the party, eating their hot dogs or whatever they're having. And he said, and I think, wow, this is really great work that I do. This is this is really I'm making a difference. This is very satisfying. I thought, wow, what a cool thing, because he's working on cleft palates and club feet, heart surgeries, spina bifida, you know, all these things that we never would have operated on a baby in the womb. Right. It's just so fascinating to me. And so I started talking more recently about like finding your passion. Like you said, what are you interested in? What are your skills like? you know, what are your values, where do you think you could add, whether it's, you know, a job where you're going to get paid, or whether it's going to be volunteer work, because I've been writing all this down myself, trying to figure out, you know, what I'm going to do next, as my kids are, one, another one's leaving this year, you know, Riley just went up to, moved up to campus just recently, because he'd been commuting, and then the next one goes to Tennessee in about six months, and then I'll have one left at home, so really just thinking about, you know, what's next, so I like, you know, how you are kind of setting him on the right path to what he wants to do next after all those years in prison and knowing that he can still make a difference.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, absolutely. We all have the ability to do that. And then sometimes we forget, like you were talking about your doctor. I met a young lady the other day, a young lady, and she's probably in her mid-40s, and I was speaking at a university. And she's the dean of admissions and teaches at the university, and she came up and introduced herself. I said, it's nice to meet you. And she said, you don't know who I am, do you? And I said, well, you just told me who you are. And she said, no, no, no, no. 1988, I'm a college freshman. I ran out of money. I was getting ready to drop out of the university and go back to my job as a waitress. I went to the mailbox there on campus to turn in my key. I had one envelope left there, and it was a letter from you telling me I got a scholarship. And I finished college and got a graduate degree, and now I'm dean of this university. And she said, it all started because you made that envelope happen. And I said, well, thank you, but no, you made all that happen. You did every bit of that. But I said, I will tell you, from time to time, it's a hassle running a scholarship, and you just gave me plenty of motivation for the next 10 years. I'm good to go.
SPEAKER 02 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
That is, that's, whew. Well, speaking of making an impact, there you did, but I want to tell you one other thing. You know my friend Dr. Cheryl Lynch, she's a professor and just a really neat lady, and she writes books as well, and she wrote me a note the other day, and she said, she I'm reading Jim Stovall's book, The Gift of a Day, 100 Doses of Winner's Wisdom. And this quote from Chapter 7, Crystallize What I Do. Could we do a segment on this sometime? I'd really like to talk about it because Jim has such a way with words. And here's what he said that brought me to tears. And the quote, I'll start with the whole thing, but then I'll highlight what you said that made her cry. Influence can be either good or bad, and it can be overt or subtle. We are all being influenced, and we are all influencing others every day. And here's the part that got her. If we learn something, we change our world. If we teach something, we change another person's world. But if we teach people to teach, we change the whole world. And she said that really encapsulates what she does as a professor, and that made her cry.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, that is good. I think we ought to laugh some every day, cry some every day, have good memories. And, you know, that needs to be a regular part of our day. And it's a good thing. And please tell her I am greatly honored.
SPEAKER 03 :
She's a good one. All right. So in your best life, we've got about a minute left. What's our takeaway here?
SPEAKER 05 :
Examine the life you're living right now. We spend very little time. We spend our lives worrying about stuff that happened in the past we can't do anything about or fretting about stuff in the future that may or may not even happen. And we never take a look at what am I doing right now and is this really what I want to do or did I just kind of end up here? You know, someone told me to get in that line and here I am. And really take it, do it on purpose and, you know, really start living your best life.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I love it. You always say, today's the day. And it says, you and I are much the same, and our best lives await. As you go through your day today, trade your ordinary life for your best life, because today's the day. And that's jimstovall.com, jimstovall.com. Thank you, my friend.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you. Be well.
SPEAKER 03 :
You be well. Brighton is tuned to the mighty 670 KLT Denver.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Hey there, friend. Angie Austin here with the good news. Well, I'm really excited about our next interview. Did you know that nearly 150,000 babies every year are born in the U.S. with birth defects, many with conditions so rare that some of the parents and clinicians have never even heard of them? approximately 5,000 fetal surgeries done worldwide to treat these birth defects. A quarter of them had been performed at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Scott Adzick is a fetal surgeon who specializes in treating these babies' unique needs. And today we're discussing advancements that will save even more lives. And we've had Dr. Adzik on the show before and over 30 years in TV news and radio news. I worked at NBC for many years. I've interviewed thousands of people. And Dr. Adzik is one of my all time favorite interviews, which he doesn't even know this. His work is fascinating and lifesaving. Welcome back, doctor.
SPEAKER 06 :
Geez, thanks for the introduction, Angie. That was awesome.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I'm fascinated by people's passion for what they do. And I asked you once, hey, what's satisfying about your work? You know, what gives you great, you know, satisfaction? And you said these kids come back for this like party that you have to celebrate the kids who've been saved, you know, in, you know, you've operated on them before they've even been born and you're like and here they are like teenagers and they're throwing the football and you know I mean not you're humble but they're alive because in some cases you did this surgery on them and you're watching all of these kids playing that really I mean you kind of help save their lives I mean that's so cool that's very cool and you're right and that sort of sounds a little bit like me I don't even need to do the interview I mean you the line look
SPEAKER 06 :
It is true that each year in June, actually this year is on June 1st, Sunday at the Philadelphia Zoo, you're invited. Oh, I'd love to go. I have a fetal family reunion and patients, children and their families come back. And last year we had over 3,000 people there. And that's usually for the most part just folks who are local and regional, not just who are national since the program was started. It was started in 1995. This is 30 years for us. We've had more than 33,000 pregnant women carrying babies with birth defects referred to us from all 50 states and from more than 70 countries. So that is inspiring. There's so many children whose babies likely could have died running around and growing up healthy and strong. Actually, there's nothing better. Nothing better.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I want to talk a little bit about some of the advancements, because this is so fascinating to me anyway, that you can operate on a baby while it's still in the mom's tummy. I mean, to put it down to the basics of what you do, but I mean, it's so technical and they're so tiny. Talk about some of the birth defects that you can help via this surgery.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, well, there's a whole long list. and we've been fortunate to be pioneers in many of them. The two most common, though, I'll touch on are spina bifida and twin-twin transfusions. What's spina bifida? Well, you know, but I'll explain it to your listeners. That's where, in the developing fetus, the tissues around the spinal cord don't develop normally, so the spinal cord and the associated nerves are exposed to the in-utero environment, which is principally amniotic fluid, which in the third trimester is quite neurotoxic, destroy the developing spinal. These children, when they're born, they're likely to eventually be wheelchair-bound, have motor function problems, have hydrocephalus, fluid on the brain, require a ventricular peritoneal shunt to drain the fluid into the abdomen, and so on and so forth. We can now treat this condition in selected cases. Before birth, we've done about 500 of these operations since I think it was the first one in 1998. And the children who have the operation between 23 and 26 weeks gestation, in an operation, it's on average about 70 minutes. The outcomes, this is not a cure completely for spondylobifida. Children that have this before birth are much more likely to walk, have much better motor functions. Much less likely to have hydrocephalus, much less likely to need one of those shunt tubes. That's reporting and we're now doing, obviously, the long-term follow-up. The first case was in 1998. We're now doing the follow-up, which goes back almost 30 years.
SPEAKER 03 :
The condition is about... And I hate to interrupt you, but for people that aren't as familiar with it, I had a girlfriend who was very young when she had her first baby. She's now in her 20s. And they told her that her baby had spina bifida and said, when do you want to schedule the abortion, basically? And she was like, what? You know, she didn't even know what it was. And so she, you know, did some research, et cetera. And this kid is amazing. They have four, five kids. And she's like the light of their lives and helps with the other kids, et cetera. And, you know, she does have some issues with walking, et cetera, wears braces. But, you know, a high functioning mentally, you know, has graduated from high school and did really well. But I mean, that's the option that some people are given and they don't even know about you. So that's another reason I think what you do is so amazing. Like people who would have not kept their baby... we're letting people know that, hey, there's this other option where they can have a much better, possibly, quality of life if they have this fetal surgery. So I just wanted to throw that in there.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and that's one of the reasons why we're doing the interview now, just for information so that folks can be knowledgeable and aware. The second most common operation we do is an operation for twin-twin transfusion syndromes called fetoscopic laser therapy. Well, what is that? Well, Twin-twin transfusion syndrome, TTTS for short, is identical twins in the uterus, of course, each within their own amniotic sac. As opposed to each of the two twins having their own placenta, which is the disc between the mother and the fetus's umbilical cord, these twins share a placental disc, one placenta. And the setup is that there's an imbalance of circulation such that there are abnormal crossing blood vessels from one side to the other, such that one twin, one identical twin, gets too much blood and develops congestive heart failure, and the other twin doesn't get enough blood and goes into kidney failure, and both twins will go on to die, unless you do fetoscopic laser therapy. So what is that? Well, the mother has sedation, sedation, It's a fetus coat placed through her abdominal wall, like laparoscopy, into the uterus. We visualize that the sona use a laser fiber that will coagulate or occlude those culprit vessels. And in most instances, both twins save.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, the work you do is so highly specialized. And I was reading about an award you received last year. And in the article I was reading, it said that you trained over 50 other or helped, you know, train 50 other doctors. And it talked about other people. So not only are you doing this groundbreaking surgery, but, you know, in Philadelphia, you're also helping, you know, other younger people learn to do what you do, because obviously there will be a time when you're not doing this anymore. So I think that's pretty a pretty cool privilege as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
I think so, and it's an important part of our mission, of course, to train future professors who now run fetal programs throughout North America, South America, Europe, Far East. That's very gratifying, and it provides greater access for more patients, more unborn patients.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I could talk to you for another half an hour, but I know that I've got a time limit here, so we've got another minute. Besides giving us the website, what else do you want us to know?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, the future's bright. Talked a little bit about the artificial womb, about in-utero gene editing. There's a lot of other stuff going on. Very, very, very exciting. That's three varies.
SPEAKER 02 :
Would you give us the website so we can get more information, doctor? And I'd love to have you back. You're always welcome on the good news.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you. Fetal surgery, one word, that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, always a pleasure. Dr. Scott Adzik, always a pleasure to have you on fetalsurgery.chop.edu. Thank you so much. A real blessing to have you on the show.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, he is amazing. I just, like I said in the intro, I just was so, you know, I've interviewed him before. And when he told me the story about the kids, you know, getting together for that, you know, yearly party to kind of celebrate their lives, seeing those kids toss the football and play and do all those things and just be amazing. living their lives because of this fetal surgery that he has done on them for various issues. Some of the heart issues are obviously life-saving and the spina bifida surgery is life-changing. So, wow, I just think what he does is... I mean, not many people can do what he does. All right. So, and how cool that he's training so many other physicians to, you know, do the kind of work that he does because it's not that common. All right. So I started this last week where I told you, you know, let's find our passions because I love to talk to all these people about how they, you know, got a passion for what they do in my 30 plus years now of interviewing thousands of people. I just love to hear why they chose what they do. And, You know, I've interviewed so many interesting people in, you know, politics or, you know, physicians always fascinate me. Their brains are so wonderful. And, you know, nonprofits, you know, my friend Lloyd Lewis that does work with kids with cognitive deficits. You know, kids are differently abled and, you know, maybe had a hard time getting through school. And, you know, he gives them benefits. jobs and they add so much to the organization. They have such big hearts. I mean, some of the kids that I've met with Down syndrome, his son has Down syndrome, are some of the most loving people I've ever met in my life. It's like they have an extra gene for love, you know, and joy and happiness. So then that became his passion, you know, working with You know, young people, you know, who he employs over 500 now ambassadors. So how do we find our passion? And I've told you repeatedly, I'm looking for my next thing after my kids are raised. So what am I going to do? Am I going to volunteer with pets? You know, so as I mentioned last week, so number one, reflect on your interests, you know, minor animals, kids, older people. um being active hiking you know and then identify your strengths so you know i love ymca the rockies maybe i go up there you know in the summers and i lead hikes i knew a guy who did that and you live up there and you don't really get paid much you just kind of get free room and board and spend the summer but you know ymca the rockies and that's always kind of intrigued me how fun would that be um and then keep you know besides your strengths and you know what you're interested in what do you spend your time on so pay attention to what you do in your free time you know what are you doing in your free time are you exercising are you Are you lifting? Are you spending time with your pets? Are you going for walks with your dogs? Are you volunteering at the local elementary school? Are you helping kids learn how to read? Are you volunteering? Like, you know, volunteering might be a great way too to figure out your next even career path, right? Because you can volunteer in an area of interest. Internships, I think, are great ways to really get your foot in the water. My daughter wants to be an attorney, and I'm like, you should definitely do an internship at a law office and really be with these attorneys and see what they do before you make that kind of a commitment to that kind of education. Explore new things. Try new activities. Meet new people. Connections. Meeting people is so important. Just getting out there, chatting with people. You can even ask for connections on social media. Hey, does anybody know anybody that works with animals? Does anybody know anyone that works in law? And people will connect you with people. It's amazing what they do. I just had a really sweet friend of my daughter's move to Colorado Springs and she was homeschooled and really involved in her church. And I knew a girl that I met at 10, who's now close to 30. And I knew she was really involved in kids ministry, particularly working with young women. And I knew she'd have connections for her. So I just randomly connected them on text. And hopefully they're going to be able to, you know, the older girls can be able to connect the younger girl to some other Christians in her community. So I'm very hopeful for that. And then journaling. I mentioned that last week to write down your thoughts, your feelings, your direction. I think sometimes we get direction when we kind of do prayer and journaling to kind of get an idea of, you know, where we want to go. And writing for me really helps me get those ideas out and put them on paper. And that kind of guides me. But then speaking of guidance, seek out someone, a mentor, a friend. I used to have an accountability partner, which was another newswoman in Los Angeles. She's still the main anchor at Fox in L.A., And we would hold each other accountable every week. We'd go over, you know, what were your goals? Did you follow through on what you wanted to do? Did you do blah, blah, blah? So and then think about your values, you know, what might work for you, you know, in terms of your own values and what's important to you. So, yeah, all of that. And, you know, of course, fears like get rid of those. Just go for it if you want to try something new. All right. This is Angie Austin. Thanks so much for listening to the good news.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
