Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the business radio studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia, brought to you by Bee’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fundraising. For more information, go to Bee’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. That’s Bees charitable pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruitt.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:45] Good, fabulous. Friday morning, everybody in the listening world, it’s another fabulous Friday. And we got three more fabulous folks this morning. Stone You know, we’ve been doing this show to put positivity out there and today’s show is all about love. And you’ll hear it love and God’s story in these three stories, and they’re all three different. And it’s just amazing what you get to hear and hopefully what you get inspired by. The first guest this morning is Brianna Johnson with a good faith health insurance. So, Brianna, thank you for being here.

Brianna Johnson: [00:01:11] Thanks for having me.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:12] So, first of all, I do want to talk a little bit about your company and the good faith health insurance you get. You have a passion on helping people and trying to get the bridge with health insurance and people that really can’t find the right stuff. So but first of all, share your story and how you started this company and why you do what you do.

Brianna Johnson: [00:01:29] Okay. Well, I had a I was actually in finance before I did this, and I had a young lady come to see me one day and she was 27 years old. She sat across from me and said, I’m going to die before I’m 30 and I need a life insurance policy. And I just looked at her and I said, Well, why do you think you’re going to die? You know? And it turns out her medication was about $2,400. She had a medical condition that was very, very treatable. And I think I called about 5 to 10 different health insurance agents to help her. And nobody would help her because they all focused either on group or they were captive with a company that couldn’t sell them, sell or anything. So I ended up finding that medication for $45. She is now 33 years old. She’s had her third child. Her disease went into remission two years ago and she lives here in Kennesaw. So she’s doing great. But that kind of led me into I need to look into this industry because there’s just so few health insurance agents that actually will help families with preexisting health problems. You know, I look at share plans, I look at the marketplace, I look at individual indemnity insurance. I mean, I look at everything. So it makes me very unique.

Brian Pruett: [00:02:40] Do you also help small businesses as well?

Brianna Johnson: [00:02:43] Oh, absolutely. Up to and past 20 employees. It just depends on what their needs are.

Brian Pruett: [00:02:49] I think that’s awesome because you’re right, there’s a lot of people out there who have preconditioned things going on and they really can’t get the help. So it’s great to have somebody who is looking out for for others and doing that. So you if I remember right when we when we met and talked, you come from a large family, right?

Brianna Johnson: [00:03:04] Yeah. I’m one of 11 children.

Brian Pruett: [00:03:06] Yeah. So I’m sure Christmas was a lot of fun around here.

Brianna Johnson: [00:03:10] Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, and same mom and dad as well. I always have to add that part in. We’re not Irish or we are Irish, but we’re not Catholic. So it’s answering those questions. But Christmas was always a blast. Is always a blast.

Brian Pruett: [00:03:22] Well, one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you is you and your husband did something pretty incredible last year. Yeah, officially, Yeah. You’ve been working on it for a while, but it came came finally to fruition last year. You guys went and adopted an infant? Yes. So share that story.

Brianna Johnson: [00:03:41] So my husband and I and I’m very open about this. We struggled with unexplained infertility for about eight years. And when I say unexplained, it means that we did all the medical testing and they could find absolutely nothing wrong with either one of us. We are, I think, in one of the 5 to 10% of couples who struggle with infertility where they don’t have an explanation. So the doctors just kept saying over and over, just keep trying. Just keep trying. And it was just it got to that point where we both looked at each other and I said, Honey, you’re about to be 38. Do we want to keep trying this way or do we want to actually make some effort and, you know, ensure that we get a child, that we have a child? And so our beautiful little boy was born in April. And the crazy thing is that when you start this process, you are told you’re probably going to have a baby with problems. He’s going to have a mother who’s got a drug problems. You’ve got children who are out there with ADHD and all that. And I go, Well, I have ADHD. So, you know, I sit here and I go, Well, that doesn’t guarantee anything. You know, a biological child doesn’t mean it’s going to be any healthier than a child you adopt. So anyway, we went through the process. It took about six months to get through, you know, the home study and tests and everything else to make sure that you are not criminals, that you’re going through.

Brianna Johnson: [00:05:00] The process is tedious. And we actually went live with our profile in December because the birth moms can actually choose you, which is pretty cool on the private adoption side of it. So if a mother gets pregnant with an unwanted child and they say, I don’t want this baby, they can actually choose the family this child goes to, which a lot of people don’t seem to understand. So we actually got matched two weeks after our profile went live, which is insane. That does not happen very often. And our birth mom, I’m actually still in contact with her. I actually reach out to her about every two weeks, send her emails and updates and. You know, let her know how he’s doing, because obviously this was an act of love on her part. But she had me there for the delivery. So I got the phone call and in the space of 5 minutes, I had to sit down because I thought she was calling my our lawyer was calling me to tell me, Oh, you need something for the website or we need something for this, that and the other. It’s a lot like online dating. You have to create a profile and the birth moms read through your profile and they can pick the criteria.

Brianna Johnson: [00:06:14] They can pick what state you live in. I mean, they literally have all of that information right in front of them. And she picked us, which we’re super humbled by. It was very sweet, the whole process. And, you know, for her, it was like this was not a child that she didn’t want. She just couldn’t keep. She didn’t have a drug problem or anything like that. But she just financially couldn’t do it. This was her fifth child. So in her situation, it’s pretty common for for women to get pregnant, single moms having to struggle through this process. But she has just been a wonderful example to me of just love, because when she gave birth, she was crying. I was crying. We were just congratulating each other, You know, when they put my son on her chest. And it’s, you know, at that time it’s her child, too. She’s just looking at me. She’s like, congratulations, you’re a mom. And she’s it was just incredible. But the entire time, I really did try to make her feel like it’s okay if you change your mind. And that is a hard thing for an adoptive parent to do, especially when you’ve waited this long. So, yeah, so everything has gone really well. And the funny thing is, you know, I mentioned this earlier. Our son’s been sleeping through the night since he was six weeks old.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:38] Wow.

Brianna Johnson: [00:07:38] He is the most sweet, angelic child. And I know I’m totally biased, but he is a really good kid. And it’s just funny because they they prepare you for the worst when you’re adopting, which is good and bad. But in our case, I was like, Man, we’ve been spoiled rotten with this child, Like, he’s so good. And his birth mom and I talk on a regular basis. We’re actually going to go see her this summer. We’re going to spend a week and just visit with her, let her see Corbin, our son, and just let her get to know him a little bit, because I do think that’s very, very healthy for the child when it’s a good situation for them to know the biological family to some extent, to know where they came from.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:23] That’s pretty cool because, I mean, you see, obviously Hollywood can do what they want to, but you see a lot of times it’s further down the road when they start asking questions about who their biological parents are and they want to start searching. So you guys are getting ahead of that curve, which I think is great.

Brianna Johnson: [00:08:36] Yeah. And it’s crazy to me that because, well, at least with private adoption, people think that there’s all these babies that are available. There’s not there’s about 30 families for every available child. So it’s surprising that number because people think, oh, yeah, there’s all these kids. No, there’s not. There’s really not. Not on the private adoption side.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:58] What’s the difference from the private and public side?

Brianna Johnson: [00:09:01] So there’s kind of three ways to adopt. You can do a domestic adoption, also considered a private adoption. You can do an international adoption, and you can also do a foster care adoption. So the private adoption side, there’s never like a 100% guarantee, but you’re definitely in a better spot as far as being more sure you’re going to get a child versus foster care, which is considered not as ideal because it’s designed for reunification. It’s not designed to place children with adopting families. The design is literally to try to get the child and the children that are in foster care back with their biological families, which is how it should be. So it’s kind of funny because people think, oh, you know, there’s all these kids like, no, there’s really not. There’s not because we have a very high rate of abortion. I don’t mean to get political, but that’s the truth. There’s just not I mean, if you look at the data, there’s 30 couples for every available child on the private adoption side. Wow.

Brian Pruett: [00:10:03] Can you give any advice for anybody out there who’s thinking about wanting to go through a process like this? What’s the best thing you can tell them?

Brianna Johnson: [00:10:09] Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid of it. It’s it’s something that, you know, if you are talking to people and get advice from people who’ve done it, don’t you know, just Google and go with the first thing that pops up. Talk to people who have gone through this process, who can advise you, but also who can encourage you, because it does require quite a bit of encouragement because it is scary. You know, you don’t you don’t know what you’re stepping into because you’ve never done this before. It’s like riding a bike. It’s kind of nerve wracking the first time you do it. So yeah, that’s my advice. This is just find someone that that can mentor you through it. And, you know, for us, when we were matched with our kid, it was literally like, okay, he’s due in three months and it’s a boy. And it was literally, Oh, we’ve got three months to get ready for our for our son. And we had so much support from our church, from our community. And what’s interesting is that there were things I didn’t even think about, like a bottle warmer. You don’t think about needing that when you go to the hospital to to have a baby, right? You just don’t think about it. We would have been totally lost without a bottle warmer because they don’t have those at the hospital. They don’t have a microwave in the room where you’re staying. So and that’s not a complaint. It’s just things like that. It’s just things like that. We we talk to a lot of people who went through it, and I literally had a friend that was Marco Polo. We made. This is the list of things you’re going to need, you know, And it’s it’s definitely a wonderful thing and it makes you feel very warm and very accepted.

Brian Pruett: [00:11:43] So are there groups out there to look for those mentors?

Brianna Johnson: [00:11:46] Absolutely. There’s actually a lot of groups through depending on what agency you go through, they have groups. I started a Moms group specifically on Facebook, just for families interested in adopting, for families who are like, Hey, we want to adopt, but we don’t know if we can afford to adopt, you know, and sharing data. As far as just information, here’s some grants you can apply for. Here’s some fundraising we can actually help you with. And that’s something that is is so it’s so out there. Everybody thinks, oh, it’s so hard. You’re on your own and you do feel like an island at first, but then you start to look around. You go, Wow, there’s like all these families that have done this, gone through this process, and I want to learn from the master, you know, And it’s kind of like business. You want to learn from someone that knows and has been through it.

Brian Pruett: [00:12:37] If somebody wanted to get a hold of you, first of all, for their health insurance needs or if somebody wants to get ahold of you and talk about the adoption process because they want to start doing it, are there ways people can do that? And if so, how can they?

Brianna Johnson: [00:12:47] Absolutely. So for either of those people can just call my cell phone, which is 7702899231. My website is good faith health insurance dot com. If people want to look me up and just read about what we do. But I’m an open book when it comes to either of those things so anyone can reach out if they just hey, I’m thinking about this and I’m not sure what the steps are and I need a little guidance or a little help either one.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:13] Can you share your Facebook group too? Is there if somebody’s looking for that?

Brianna Johnson: [00:13:16] Yes. So I actually that’s a private group. So I’m going to actually I would share the link with someone who is interested. So.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:22] Well, Brianna, thank you for, again, being here and sharing your story. Do you mind sticking around and listen to these other two stories?

Brianna Johnson: [00:13:27] Because I love it. I’m actually really excited to hear your stories.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:31] Awesome. Well, we’re going to move over now to Sean Berney. So, Sean, thanks for being here this morning.

Sean Berney: [00:13:35] Yeah, thanks, Brian. Appreciate you having me, man.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:37] So you and I met a few months ago, and at the time you were working for Titan Pro Mechanical, which is an HVAC company. But I’ve learned that you you are a surfer, you like mountain biking, you’re a youth leader, and you do all kinds of stuff. And then just this month, you stepped out on your own and started a new videography company. So give us a little bit of your background.

Sean Berney: [00:13:57] Yeah. So as you said, I grew up in Cocoa, Florida, surfing, skateboarding, just really anything that I could get my hands on. Honestly, I have too many hobbies. My my wife complains all the time, like you have all these basics. It’s just ridiculous. Right? And so I’ve been trying to, you know, as I get older, I’ve been trying to narrow those things in. Also, I’ve definitely gained a lot more wisdom in my older age with my my sense of mortality, you know, knowing that, like, I probably shouldn’t hit that jump or I probably shouldn’t surf that size wave, things like that. But yeah, so as you said before I did, I was part owner in an HVAC business. I’ve spent about 16 years in the business management space, so I started working for action sports companies, skateboard companies, snowboard companies. And I traveled really all over the US, living in different places, doing that and just managing business, opening brick and mortar stores for those different brands. And then, you know, eventually I really just wanted to to start my own right. So I worked for a company that had that was really about the 50% mark of their their full growth. And then I wanted to see what it was like to go a little bit earlier on.

Sean Berney: [00:15:05] And so I went to a business that was about 25% into their infancy and their full of growth and and that was fantastic. And then I was like, I want to see what it’s like from day one, right? I want to know what it’s like. And so I went in and found a partner that was just an HVAC savant. He was amazing. I went and did a couple of jobs with him just to see what he was all about. And we had kind of met during the pandemic. We were working out in my garage together and I was like, You need to get your contractor’s license and let’s let’s do this right. So we did. And it was it was fantastic. But honestly, my my love for film and film production and storytelling. Was just something that I had done since, you know, really early on, since I was a teenager. And my friends and I were always filming each other’s skateboarding and doing different things. And I just absolutely loved it. And it was a passion. And I started doing some of that for one of the businesses that I was in. And we were using a lot of those videos internally and, you know, they loved it.

Sean Berney: [00:16:02] And so they were commissioning me to do more things. But long story short, you know, my business partner and I were having having a conversation one day and he was like, Man, he’s like, Your videos are really good. Like, they’re really good. He goes, And I kind of feel like this is something you should you should do. And I was like, okay, you know, you think so? And so, you know? So I went out on a limb this year and decided to start my my own film production business, stable creature film production. We do weddings, events and then also a lot of branding. And I think my, you know, 16 plus years of experience in the business world, corporate business world gives me a really unique perspective with with customers and clients with branding, because, you know, I, I know what’s going to turn those transactions, right? I know those things. What kind of clientele are you trying to target? So it gives me a unique edge, I think, to a lot of filmmakers where I have that creative side. But I also I understand the marketing and sell side of it as well. So so that’s really exciting as well. But yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:17:05] So, so I have to ask, where did the name Fabled Creature come from?

Sean Berney: [00:17:08] Yeah, a good question. Good question. So, you know, I, I love like sci fi and fantasy and I’m a huge like Lord of the Rings nerd and all those types of things. I can’t I can’t help myself, Right? I can’t help myself. So that’s kind of part of it. But, you know, the idea of a fable is a story, right? And, you know, the idea of this fable creature when I was going into it, it’s like there’s this story that everybody has in their mind that that’s maybe unattainable, right? Like, they don’t know how to capture it. They don’t know how to to to put it into this mode that that tells everybody who they are and what they do. You know, especially with like with brides. Right. You know, there this kind of epic fable creature and, you know, and they want their big day captured. So for me, it just made sense. Right. And then, you know, kind of on the back side of that, being in the skateboarding industry, you know, creature skateboards, I don’t know if I can throw that brand out there, but Creature skateboards is always so cool to me. I love their artwork is very fantastical. And so yeah, so Fable Creature kind of stemmed from my love of action sports, but also this idea of capturing that story that maybe people think you can’t get.

Brian Pruett: [00:18:13] So Sean and I started working together. He’s been gracious to come out and do some videography of the events I’ve done so far this year, So I appreciate that. And I have to tell you, he’s a pretty good director. I felt like I was on the Ellen show yesterday because when he was at the Expo, he even brought something out and set it on and he’s standing right here at this spot. This is where you stand. I was like, No, I’m on a talk show. That’s pretty cool. Well, as I mentioned to you’re also a youth pastor. You do a youth group. So you have a passion for youth, but you also have a great adoption story. So I’d like for you to share that.

Sean Berney: [00:18:44] Yeah. Yeah. So I’ve always had a passion for kids, just, you know, young people. I think that, you know, we’re we’re in this world where we’re, you know, sometimes the it’s easy to neglect a generation, right? It’s easy to just kind of say, oh, like maybe they’re there are lost cause. And I think this, you know, during the pandemic and things like that, I heard all these people and political individuals talking about, you know, it’s like the worst generation ever. Right? You know, and and to me, it’s like, well, that’s because of us, right? Like, that’s not because of them. And so I’ve always had a passion for for for young people and just, you know, being a part of that mentorship in their lives. And so, yeah, I do I do a middle school in high school student, pastor or, you know, leader, whatever you want to call it. I’m not ordained or anything. I volunteer doing that. But yeah, so my wife and I, we’ve been we’ve been together for about eight years now and seven or eight years. And we, you know, once we got married, we had kind of had the discussion of we weren’t going to have kids, like we just had made the decision that we weren’t going to have our own biological kids. And, you know, and, you know, but I think God has different plans for us sometimes, Right. You know, when we talk about not having kids because we were very adventurous and kind of wild and we were talking I mean, we were in the conversation of like, we’re going to build out this conversion van and we’re going to basically travel around and live in different states and, you know, and work and whatnot.

Sean Berney: [00:20:06] And as we’re having this conversation, you know, we we started to see that there were some there were some opportunities and some signs of concern with with our nieces and their mom. And, you know, so we, you know, kind of like everybody else, we try to support that support, you know, my wife’s sister and, you know, and support the girls ever we could. So we were kind of going back and forth between here in Virginia a lot. And, you know, we really had no intention or anything like that on our radar, like as far as like adoption or taking them, that was never a conversation it was really trying to support. Their mom through that through some of those addictions that she was having. Right. That was always our number one. And, you know, we were coming up to our one year anniversary. Like I said, we don’t one year married. Right. Coming up to our one year anniversary anniversary. And we were planning this huge backpacking trip. We were going to be gone for like a week, you know, just totally off grid backpacking. And, you know, we we’d finally kind of it was about Easter, I think we were getting close to.

Sean Berney: [00:21:10] And we had we had seen the girls and seeing their mom and we realized that there was a real a real problem. So we had you know, when somebody is battling with addiction, right, they’re not always thinking clearly, you know, and they think that they can. They’ve got it right. I’ve got it. I can manage it, you know, But in reality is that’s that’s not the case. Right. They really need to tackle that addiction problem. And, you know, and she’ll be okay with me talking about she’s been sober for two years. She’s it’s fantastic. But we’ll get to that. But anyways, so long story short, my wife and I had kind of made this decision like, we need to step in, right? We need to do something. And so we had we had talked to her sister and said, hey, why don’t you bring the girls down to us? We’ll take them on a vacation with us for a couple of weeks. And and you essentially can can go to rehab and get help. And so she came down and, you know, as you know, kind of that the I think the key the key word here is doing it out of love. Right. You know, that that love, you know, she she had made the decision to leave him with us so she could go back and and go to rehab. Well, unfortunately, that that wasn’t necessarily what had happened. And she went back and and she was kind of free of of her girls for for the first time in her life.

Sean Berney: [00:22:24] And, you know, and that just really kind of led her down an even deeper, darker path of of addiction. And so we went through the process of of really just like we don’t know what to do. You know, she didn’t she didn’t come back to pick them up on the date that we had talked about. And then when she did show up, she was like, I can’t do it right. And so that’s where that that that love comes into play. And she knew that, you know, leaving them with us, they’d be safe, right, while she she went through this process. So you know one year into marriage. Right. You know, going on. And we were like, we’re going on her one year anniversary. We ended up changing all of our plans. You know, we basically packed our backpacks away and we went out and and bought a camper, a small camper, and just changed everything because I was like, wow, you know, these girls are you know, they’ve never been camping before, right? They don’t know anything about that. And it’s like, well, we’ll kill them if they go on this, you know, 30 mile excursion. And so which we were right because we went on like a one mile hike and halfway through they were dying, you know, So. So yeah. So we just kind of changed our lives completely around for that.

Sean Berney: [00:23:26] And, you know, the the interesting thing about we’re where we’re kind of at is like, you know, we spent years really just not knowing what to do. And so, you know, after the first couple of months of her, you know, not coming back and not getting into rehab, we we had to kind of go to this process of like, okay, we need to seek some legal counsel and figure out what we want to do. Because, you know, the scariest thing for us is, you know, her. You know, she’s a she has addiction problems and she’s all over the place. And we don’t know where she’s at. Right. There was zero communication. It’s like a she going to show up one day. And the the girl’s father was was in prison at the time. And so he had he’d been in and out of jail pretty much their whole lives. And and he was you know, he had basically three strikes. He was a felon. And so they ended up deporting him back to El Salvador. And that was another thing that we were like, okay, well, you know, we don’t have to worry about him showing up. We don’t know what’s going on, because at the time we had absolutely zero legal protection. The girls were just staying with us and we had somehow figured out how to enroll them in school. You know, we had gotten all their documents, but they well, anyways, we found out that their dad had actually illegally came back into the country somehow.

Sean Berney: [00:24:37] And so we were just really terrified. Like, you know, we don’t know what’s going on. And so we were on high alert for for really a process of two years, you know, And during that time, we were going to regular visits at the courthouse and we had a I think it’s called a guardian ad litem, which is another really crazy thing. You know, you’re talking about the the foster care system and how wild that is. You know, when we’re talking about private adoption versus the foster care, there are so many kids in the foster care system that, you know, one guardian ad litem or representative is essentially monitoring 100 plus kids at a time, which is mind boggling. Right? Totally mind boggling. Like they have. They’re so short staff, They’re so short resourced. And, you know, so we but we had a great relationship with her and she would come and visit us and things like that. But but like I said, it was a really wild couple of years. And, you know, I think that the thing that got us through it with them because it’s a little bit different situation, right? The the girls, we were the cool aunt and uncle, right? They like to come and visit us and then we. Went from being the cool aunt and uncle to being parents. So we were no longer cool and I thought I was going to be the coolest dad ever, right? I’m like, Man, I skateboard.

Sean Berney: [00:25:51] I was in a band. They do all this cool stuff. No, that is not the case. When you when you become the parent, you were pretty much no longer cool. Your cool is out the window, but in all the things you tell them is not cool, but all the things. Somebody could tell them the same thing and it’s the coolest thing ever. And I’m just like, whatever. But, you know, I think, you know, the girls have been with us for for just over five years now. And, you know, as a as a great praise report and how God works in just amazing ways is, you know, my wife’s sister, she’s been sober for a couple of years and she actually stays with us on the weekends, which is fantastic. So she’s just been doing a fantastic job. And, you know, but that that brings up a whole different set of emotions, you know, because I immediately took this, my wife and I both took the stance like, we’re mom and dad, right? We’re we’re these we’re these girls parents. And, you know, that’s that’s hard on them, right? Because in their hearts, you know, mom is still out there, Right? You know, and dad wasn’t really in the picture, you know, but but mom was still out there. And so they’re really holding on to that. And we had early conversations about adoption and things like that.

Sean Berney: [00:26:53] And at the end of the day, you know, that wasn’t really what they what they were interested in, you know, and. What my wife and I had to come to. The realization was that it wasn’t about us, Right. You know? It was not like making that decision for them. It’s not about us. It was about taking care of them, and it was about putting ourselves in this position of like, we are always going to make sure that they want for nothing. Right. But reunification with their mom was one of the most important things for us, you know? And so it’s a hard barrier because you put yourself in this parental position like like, you know, those girls will never not be my daughters, never right to the day I die. That’s that’s where it’s at, you know? But, you know, I didn’t I guess we got into this position where we didn’t need that piece of paper to do it, but we wanted it right. You know, we selfishly wanted that paper. And not that it’s selfish by any means, but I mean, I think just in this particular situation, you know, you have to and I think that’s the the struggle with fostering, right. You know, you foster and you it’s hard because at any given time those child’s can this child can children can go away. Right go back to their paternal families. And that’s that’s really hard emotionally for people.

Sean Berney: [00:28:05] Like really hard. I mean, I know we’ve gone through it and we’re still going through it. Right. But but anyways, at the end of the day, I think that, you know, anybody that that wants to go that route. Right, versus the private route, which which is amazing, by the way, versus the private route. And they do want to go to that foster route or they want to go to maybe taking on a family member is you have to make sure you’re constantly reminding yourself that it’s not about you. Right. It’s not about you. It’s not about your needs. It’s about their needs, because children can absolutely fill needs in your life. Like, you know what I mean? Like they those girls fill fill a place in my heart that I never knew that I needed or wanted. And selfishly and you know, and it’s like I said, they’ll always be my daughters. But I’m so, so stoked that their mom is back in their life and she’s doing well and she’s been know since she’s been staying with us. And we’re we’re this really awesome, cohesive unit at this point, which I think is really rare in the world we live in. So it’s again, it’s a it’s a it’s a, a story of struggle, but a story of like great success. And and it’s also just this, you know, this constant proof that, like, God is real. And as many plans as you make, his plans are always going to supersede yours. Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:29:24] Yeah. You never know how he’s working. And, you know, that’s that’s incredible. So how old were they when when you guys officially adopted them?

Sean Berney: [00:29:31] So. So when they came to stay with this, they were nine and 11, and now they are 13 and 15. My 15 year old’s about 16. She’s about to get her driver’s license boyfriend. You know, I really like her boyfriend, but I also kind of hate him, you know.

Brian Pruett: [00:29:45] Get the shotgun ready.

Sean Berney: [00:29:46] Yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure. And but no, he’s a he’s a he’s a good guy. And and then my my youngest girl, 13, you know, all her, all she thinks about is volleyball. Like, that’s it, man. Volleyball is life. And so, so she’s, she’s on her way to be becoming a professional volleyball player. We’ll see. But yeah, so like I said, it’s been about five years. Just over five years.

Brian Pruett: [00:30:06] Awesome. So obviously you’ve got one an infant story, one that’s a little older. Can you share some advice for somebody who’s thinking about any kind of adoption? You know, what Would you give advice would you give them?

Sean Berney: [00:30:18] Yeah, I think I think number one is is is listen, listen to God like you need to you need to listen to him and you need to you need to make you need to pray. Right. You know, you need to make sure that what the the journey that you’re about to undertake is is long. And there are a lot of highs, but there are a lot of lows. Right. And I think that it’s really important to just go into it with that mindset of like, it’s not always going to be happy days, there’s going to be rain. And, you know, and I think that if you going into the fostering to adopt kind of direction specifically is honesty is honesty, right. Being honest with them because there’s a really good chance that there wasn’t a lot of honesty leading up to that particular time in their life. Right. So just always being honest with them that that was our always our number one rule. Like we’re always going to be honest with you. We’re always going to tell you the truth. We’re always going to tell you what’s going on, because we don’t want you to get to a certain age and be like, Oh, you you help withheld that stuff from us, right? So we were always honest with them, which is not always easy, you know? And then the other one is. Pick your battles, right? Like you don’t need to sweat the small stuff. You know, we all have in our mind the way we want to raise our children or the way our children should be raised. But when you are taking taking children into your home, that might be at a certain age.

Sean Berney: [00:31:37] Maybe they’re a little bit older. You know, they come with with already kind of a fixed thought process. Right. And, you know, I think when you think about like, oh, like I don’t want my my child to dye their hair or something like that. I mean, that is small potatoes, right? Like that is way small potatoes and, you know, or just anything like social media, things like that. You know, I’m a really big fan of limiting those things. But when kids move to your home, there’s a good chance that they’ve had like untethered access to social media this entire time. And just cutting the cord on them is is a really terrible decision because they’re going to it’s like adequate draws, right? They’re going to hate you. It’s a terrible decision. So you’ve got to take those things in stride, right? And you have to implement different things in a way that’s going to that’s going to encourage their growth. Right. And encourage them to start thinking for themselves because you don’t want to be that person that’s just telling them how to think like you want to teach them how to think because that’s going to serve them so much better in the long run of their life versus you saying, No, this is what we believe, this is how we think, this is what you should do. It’s just never a good idea. So again, it’s about giving them the tools to think for themselves and giving them the tools to be successful in life.

Brian Pruett: [00:32:48] If somebody wants to get a hold of you for your for videography and they want to work with you, how can they do that?

Sean Berney: [00:32:53] Yeah, so you can go to my website WW feeble creature dot com or you can email me at Sean B that’s ASEAN be at fable creature dot com as well.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:04] Sean thanks for coming and sharing your story. Do you mind sticking around listen to this next story. Absolutely. So my next guest Tim Abbott, probably the best thing to do is ask him what he doesn’t do. But Tim is Tim’s got a I mean, I don’t know anybody who’s got a bigger heart. I mean, if it could, it probably busting out of his his chest. But as you can see a sweatshirt love right. That’s what we’re talking about today And he I don’t know if you did on a purpose, but that’s great. Just some few of the highlights. I know that you’ve you were a journalist for the US Navy, correct? You’ve or you were a city councilman for your city of you, Harley. You work for Kaiser. But your your passion is just people.

Tim Abbott: [00:33:46] Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:47] And you love that one thing that you and I have in common other than that is that we’re both graduates of KSU.

Tim Abbott: [00:33:51] Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:52] Out and go basketball there. They could make the big dance this year. It’s exciting. So you have the same kind of degree that I do in communications. So a Bachelor of Science in that a lot of BS.

Tim Abbott: [00:34:03] Yes. Yes.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:06] I have.

Tim Abbott: [00:34:06] Today.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:07] Right. No, we’ll save that for the afternoon.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:09] I have two BS and I’m a little mistress of BS, so I’ve got a lot of it. So but your big passion that you do is you’re the board chair for the good neighbor homeless shelter. That’s true there in Cartersville. Yeah. And you did you started a thing called Night in the Box.

Tim Abbott: [00:34:24] Right, right.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:25] Right. First of all, share that and the good name for homeless shelter and just your story.

Tim Abbott: [00:34:32] Yeah, the story around the the homeless shelter and my involvement. Yeah. So I’m a late bloomer in life. Didn’t even think I should think about God. And then when I was 30 years old, I literally found myself in emotional, physical, spiritual and financial bankruptcy. All through all four areas. I was just bankrupt and the good times I were having we’re no longer good and divorced twice and had a son that I wasn’t getting to see. And I used to run around this church in Marietta, East Side Baptist Church and weird things. Like every time I ran around there, like I heard a whisper come inside and I thought Christians were the weirdest people in the world. Like, goes to church and you’re singing all these songs and talking about this guy you’ve never seen named Jesus and clapping your hands. And in a moment of desperation in 1996, with my son being a year old, it was a Sunday night and I had nothing left in the tank. Buckhead running life wasn’t working for me anymore, and all the things I was doing to try to comfort myself with things that you shouldn’t be putting in your body wasn’t working anymore. So I went to that church. And this story is important because it leads into the adoption story. I walked in that church on a Sunday night thinking not that many people would be there, and I could sit in the back and I don’t even know what like quit whispering to me, I’ll go and then we’re done, right? I saw the back head of a blond and still being so carnal of mine, I’m like.

Tim Abbott: [00:36:23] Kind like she’s mine. Tonight. I’m taking her out. I went and sat down right next to her, and after church, just begged her to go out with me and walked her to her car. She didn’t ask me to. I just did it. And she literally said, I’m going home to do my laundry. If you want to see me again, you’ll come to Sunday school. Now, I thought that was stupid. Sunday schools for five year olds. But I did. And it took three years and hundreds of hours of counseling. But Lisa Abbott is now my wife and God was giving her to me for a purpose that I couldn’t see. So I told you that story because before I got it into the Good Neighbor shelter and adoption, if it wasn’t for that desperation and me listening to that little voice in my head and heart, which I just again thought was weird, none of the rest of what I tell you would make sense. It would all sound unplanned, but it was very much planned. So yeah, So she became my wife, but she broke up with me at least six times. Real quick story. She made me go to counseling with her before she would even date me. And the counselor came out and talked to me. Then he talked to her, and he came out and he looked at her and he goes, I wouldn’t date him. He goes, He’s got a lot of work to do.

Brian Pruett: [00:37:51] Wow.

Tim Abbott: [00:37:52] Talk about a moment in your life that broke your heart. You know, I was beginning to get a sense I was worthless and I would never have a good relationship. And and but that counselor said one thing to me. He said, Do you want to live the legacy that your family gave you? Or do you want to live the legacy that God’s created for you? And you can lean and and a champion rose up in my heart just through that one question. And I dug in and it hurt so many, many years later. There was a long story. And so so this is what I tell people when I travel and have to go to California. If you’re sitting in the seat next to me, I got your 4 hours. So we don’t have 4 hours here. So you’ll get you’ll get the little version. But yeah, just fast forward, moved to Bartow County and God had a plan for us there. And then I in 2016, I was literally walking down the street at a prayer breakfast and I said to my friend John Parton, I said, God is opening up discretionary time for me to do things with my life, but I don’t know what to do with it here and I want to get involved. And he picked up the phone. He called the CEO of the chamber and he said, If you’ll let this guy in leadership, Bartow, he’ll pay you back. So I got in that leadership class and and did a lot of neat things. But one of the things was I was on a committee with the executive director of the Good Neighbor Homeless Shelter, and she called me one day.

Tim Abbott: [00:39:26] Usually when people call me and I don’t know them, I figure that I talk a lot. And I figured I said something that I shouldn’t have said, right? I’ve offended you because remember, I didn’t become a Christian until 30. I had a lot of filters to like, get out, you know? And so I picked up the phone. I said, What did I say to you? She goes, What? I said, Did I offend you yet? And she goes, No. And I said, I’m working on it. So she said, Hey, I want you to do this thing called Dancing with the Stars. It’s a benefit for the good neighbor homeless shelter. She goes, You’re going to tell me you can’t dance, and you probably can’t. But I think that you can help us raise money. Never raised a dollar for anybody before besides myself. And so I just said yes and then get to the night in the box. I had to do a fundraiser and I asked God, like, how can I do something outside of like cocktail parties or silent auctions, like something really unique nobody’s doing? And I couldn’t find the answer. So I asked community leaders to sit down with me and just listen to my heart about going to live in the woods for a week so that I can actually know the people that I’m trying to help. And they said, That’s a horrible idea. They said, Those are tight knit communities and you won’t be welcomed and it’s dangerous.

Tim Abbott: [00:40:40] And then a guy named Doug Belisle looked at me and he said, You want to do Night in a Box? And I said, Yes, what is it? And he had a friend in Colorado doing that. So I’ll just end that story here. Brian was saying what was born out of that in January 2019, on the coldest night in January, there it was 21 degrees. I spent 36 hours on the street corner in Cartersville, Georgia, telling people that God loves all people, regardless of socioeconomic status, that if we’re going to be a community that matters, then we have to be a community of generosity and service. And that if you’re listening to my story about homeless people, we have a homeless shelter that needs your help and would you donate and help? And that 36 hours, I raised almost $6,000 just by telling the stories I’m telling here today. And so since then, we’ve had eight night in the box events and we now involve families and corporations, and we go out to a corner once a year and then I do it by myself just because I love it. And so I’ll end up doing it this month or next month. So that’s the good neighbor shelter. They asked me to be on the board. It doesn’t matter if I was on the board, I’m still helping them. And so but it does give me a position to help promote their mission and help people. So anyways, Brian, That’s it.

Brian Pruett: [00:42:10] Oh, so I mean, wow, Right, right. But you’re not done. So you also have an incredible adoption story, so please share that.

Tim Abbott: [00:42:17] Yeah. Yeah. So, Bree, people call you Bree.

Brianna Johnson: [00:42:21] Yes, they.

Tim Abbott: [00:42:21] Do. Do you let them?

Brianna Johnson: [00:42:22] Yes.

Tim Abbott: [00:42:23] Okay. So that’s the second part of that. Easier to.

Brian Pruett: [00:42:25] Remember.

Tim Abbott: [00:42:26] And Shawn, I love your stories of courage and love and and openness. And I’m going to I’m going to just lean into that story to my wife’s biggest dream, Lisa, was to have children. And and so when we got married, was becoming clear that wasn’t going to happen. And it was breaking her heart. And I, I was not equipped, like, I don’t know what to do with female emotions. Like, you know, she’ll tell you after 23 years of marriage, I’m like a sophomore in college. I’m still trying to, you know, be an understanding husband. So, you know, we spent money that we didn’t have a ton of money we didn’t have on all the medical opportunities that are. And she got pregnant but then lost it, you know, and that that was, as you might imagine, was really hard. And and so just a time of despair for her. And I mean, three years of despair of like, what are you going to do, God? And like I said, we already spent a ton of money that we didn’t have at the time. And so we just kept praying and we ended up moving to Bartow County. And Lisa got up one morning and she said, We’re going to go to a foster care orientation class. And I said, That is the worst idea I’ve ever heard. I was such a sensitive husband.

Tim Abbott: [00:44:01] And she goes, No. And she goes, I really want to do this. And I said, okay. So we went to that class and much like you talked about Bri and the things that you talked about, Sean, that class was like scared straight from some jail, right? They really tried to convince you this is not your dream. If you want to adopt children, the kids are going to get are the most messed up kids in the world, and they really are. So Lisa left the class just crying and she goes like, We can’t do this. I’m not doing this. So in a flip, I said, Oh, yes, we are. I said, You said that the Lord told you that we should do this. And I said, So we are not. Now, you know, she’s been a Christian all of her life. I’m kind of a brand new Christian, but I’m like, if God says who he is, we are diving in. And so we went and that began our adoption story. The they tell you you’ll never get an infant to adopt. Two weeks after we went through all of our orientations, six weeks, we got a phone call and they had an infant baby girl and she was six weeks old and we got her. Another week after that, they had another infant, little girl. She was three weeks old and we got her.

Tim Abbott: [00:45:22] And so this is all in 2003. And it was a few weeks after that that Lisa got a phone call from her mom. Crazy stuff, just crazy that her mom’s hairdresser knew a lady and her husband was a Navy chief and one of his direct reports wanted to abort. And he said, if you’ll just keep the child, I’ll help you find adoption. So through Lisa’s mom’s hairdresser, we get this phone call of like, Hey, I hear you want to adopt. We have a child you can adopt. And so here we have a three week old and a six week old and and we’re like, Oh, gosh, I don’t know, you know, But this is an adoption and foster care is not an adoption right now. And the things that you guys talked about were true, that we Lisa, was just so afraid there’s we’re going to fall in love with these kids and they’re going back to their biological home. So we said, okay, well, we got to we have to do the adoption thing. Then, like God is opening up this door that mom changed her mind so many times. But then she delivered him and told the doctors that she didn’t want to see him. So we got a phone call and since she was in the services, JAG took care of her legal matters.

Tim Abbott: [00:46:42] We got a lawyer real quick, took care of our legal matters. And so we went and got Sam. So here we are now, 2003. We have Samuel, who is three weeks old. We have Emily, who is six weeks old, and we have Hannah. And I’m going to show you guys in the room. You can’t see it on the radio. And we have Hannah, who is ten weeks old. So in two, in 2003. Never have raised a kid. We have a three week old, a six week old and a ten week old. And people are like, Oh, that was been so fun. It was so and like, seriously the most stressful time of our marriage. It was a really tough year. You talked about, though, a warming bottle. I am in Walmart. When we got the first delivery from Bartow County sheriff, who was also our neighbor, you know, of Emily. And I’m in there and I’m like, I what do I buy? I mean, they got food, they got all these things. And like, we had no idea. And we were making 22 bottles a night just to get through the next day. And then Lisa’s working as a teacher in Cobb County still. So we’re taking the kids to daycare. I’ve never seen a river of snotty noses like that. You just can’t stay healthy. And and I just started my career with Kaiser Permanente, a health care organization, three years into it.

Tim Abbott: [00:48:11] And the kids are sick. Somebody’s got to stay home and we’re calling off work. And then one of my best husband moments ever when we had to call off work. And I said, Well, you call off work. You’re just a teacher. Oh, holy cow. So the stress of those moments and the stupid like we were in fear and we were in stress. We knew that God had done something like I work in big time strategy at Kaiser Permanente, like 700 people in a department. The story I’m telling can only be a God story, right? Because those foster kids, Emily and Hannah, they came up for adoption. And Sam we adopted. And so we’re in the stressful moment of these history. We know God’s doing something. And I make a statement like that. And it was so hurtful, right? I mean, it’s so hurtful, but it didn’t make us pause and say, wait a minute. Like, we’re so ingrained in the fire. So we had to have a better, better plan. But it was a very stressful year. But it’s a very beautiful story of how you can’t plan that. And like in our stories, I hear you guys talk and like you say, What will you tell people about their adoption stories that are desires or the pain they’re going through of not being able to have a child or however it might come? Like just be open.

Tim Abbott: [00:49:39] Like, just like, just be open. We wanted to adopt one child that we were praying for, and I would say just like just be open, talk to people like Bree talked, people like Shawn, like don’t be afraid of the foster care environment. Like, I’m not saying that will be your story, but just be open. And even if you don’t like somebody, listen, this doesn’t believe in God. I totally get that. It was a crazy story to me, and Jesus just showed himself to us. And I believe I’m nobody special. Honestly, I’m a dressed up trainwreck held together by the grace of God every single day. Just lean into it and don’t over overthink it. And the other thing I like to give people kind of a visual of, So Lisa was adopted when she was three months old, right? My grandparents raised me since I was two, and God began to reveal and I tell my kids this all the time, they’re they’re all 319 right now. And I tell them this all the time. There are 7 billion people approximately, in the world, and the God of this universe somehow said that US five are going to do life together. Lisa Being adopted. Tim Not being raised by his parents, you three not knowing your biological parents.

Tim Abbott: [00:51:00] And God said, Hey, why don’t you guys go do life together? 7 billion people and you put us five together. We didn’t have a strategy. We didn’t. We were out of money. We were out of hope. And so we just prayed and ask. And then we got brave. And it actually made our marriage stronger, even though that was a very difficult year. So, yeah, I don’t know what questions you have. And there’s all kinds of things that didn’t go well and stuff, but I just tell people to be of hope. We ended up adopting like three kids for $1,500 because the foster care system would have been nice then. Yeah, right, right. Well, and I don’t say that in a in a in a bragging way, like, I don’t even understand it like clearly myself, except that just lean in and if, you know, God lean in and if you don’t know God lean in like it doesn’t matter. Like just just start asking and talking and yeah, it’s I could talk about it all day long because, you know, for a guy that wasn’t a Christian, God just started showing me like, I can do things. And with your life that you never thought were possible, and I still marvel at it. I don’t even know what to say.

Brian Pruett: [00:52:20] I just all you have to do is if you read your Bible, you can see everybody he used, right? None of them. I mean, you have a murderer, you have a rapist, and he used them. So it doesn’t matter. Yeah. What your situation is, is God can use you for great. You know, I do have one question. How is it with the three? And, you know, I guess triplets that aren’t really biological triplets, but there’s one thing, they’re older than the other and that kind of stuff.

Tim Abbott: [00:52:43] Yeah. You know, well, they know who’s the oldest out of them all. And it’s but there’s not really a pecking order there. They’re three very, very different kids. Very, very different kids. And one of the hard parent moments for everybody, for everybody is, I didn’t teach you that. You didn’t see that from me. So they are very different. They get along when they’re together, but it gets very loud and they like to pick on each other, which I was like that too. But as a parent, I don’t like it, you know what I mean? So but yeah, they’re they’re they’re very different and they do their own thing. One of the really neat things about Lisa being adopted is and I told Brian, I wish Lisa could be here because she’s just great at this, but she knows all their back stories like and you know, and I told the kids, you know, you’re in. They all know me. I mean, there’s no there’s no hidden thing. Like they what Lisa knows about their biological parents. They know if they ever want to meet them. We said, come to us. Let us help you, because you’ll make up things in your mind that are grand. And it may be grand and it may not be grand. So Lisa’s very open about that with them. And if they have any questions or anything, she has all their files. And so, you know, whatever they want. And we ask like, do you have questions even at 19, like, you know, you got questions getting curiosities, things like that. So very open. Talk to them about it. She’s a great nurturer for them. I’m just a doer. Like, what do you need? You know, let’s go make it happen. We’ll find somebody. So.

Brian Pruett: [00:54:30] Yeah. So you you talked about the good neighbor homeless shelter. And, you know, I started a monthly trivia show at Saint Angelo’s there in Emerson, and we’re rotating charities and Good Neighbor Homeless Shelter is my charity for February. Yeah, I think I said the wrong date last week because we had Kelly Nagle on and she was talking about her Dances with the Stars this year. She’s doing for that. But February 15th, Wednesday night, 6:00, we will be at San Angelo’s helping with a good neighbor homeless shelter on that. So if somebody wants to get a hold of you just to say how they can help with the good neighbor homeless shelter, how can they do that?

Tim Abbott: [00:55:02] Yeah, let’s do that. First of all, let’s say this. If anybody’s listening to me and I’ll certainly share this on my Facebook and share it on the Good Neighbor Shelter Facebook, like if you guys are trying to figure out how to get something done for your organization, profit or nonprofit and you want it to be fun, you’ve got to find Brian Pruett and you got to find B’s charitable organization. I’ve met Brian just a month, two months, three months ago, and Cartersville Business Club. And you’re phenomenal because you have the right heart. And then coupled with that, you’ve got the head to get it done and you’re really helping a ton of people. So I just want to make sure I say that. Thank you. If somebody hears it, you’re the guy. Yeah. So the good neighbor shelter is just it’s it’s marvelous. One of the reasons I love it, I tell people, when you spend your money there, I’ll come show you how you’re spending it. Like families, lives are being restored. Women who are escaping domestic abuse and their kids like it’s a home. Like kids don’t want to leave after they, you know, they have to leave. And so it’s a great organization to support. Like you can really see we have a men’s shelter with 14 beds and we have a family female shelter with 35 beds. And so the best way to get a hold of me and find I’m so easy to find if you just go to Tim Abbott and my Facebook page and Bartow County or go to Good neighbor Homeless Shelter Cartersville, or you can even go to night in the box on Facebook and just easy to find our Facebook on Good Neighbor shelter.

Tim Abbott: [00:56:43] We get so much support if we put out there that we got three kids that need backpacks. I mean, we have it within an hour. Just beautiful people, just beautiful people that want to step up and support or decorate a little girl’s room who’s never had a room decorated before. But I would say that’s the easiest. I’ll give you my phone number. There’s there’s really no secrets about me because when I tell you the bad side of me, I’m just glorifying God that he brought me out of that. So it’s six, seven, 85969415. And yeah you can. We’re easy to find at the shelter I’m easy to find. I usually post when I go to church if you want to talk like God was weird to me at one time too. I think the Bible is an exploration of a bunch of strange stories that have a really godly point, you know? So I tell people, Don’t be embarrassed that it all seems weird. I get that. So I usually post on there, like, if you want to talk, just come find me so I can talk forever.

Brian Pruett: [00:57:43] Tim, I appreciate you coming and sharing your story while we’re wrapping up. What I’ve started doing is I like to get the folks that are here. I mean, you’ve all shared incredible stories. You share some advice for those that might be looking, doing some adoption. But I want you two guys to share either a quote or a word or something that people can go the rest of 2023 and beyond of what they what just some some encouraging words or some inspiration. So, Brianna, what do you got?

Brianna Johnson: [00:58:11] I keep coming back to Peter where he says, cast your care upon him for he cares for you.

Sean Berney: [00:58:19] Sean Yeah, I mean, I kind of have two things and I do have a quote. I know we’re on on time here, but I think one of the, the coolest things that I’ve heard from from all of the stories and the one thing that makes me feel really encouraged is, is the honesty piece, Right. You know, being really honest with you, with those loved ones and with your kids, you know, And if you’re going through this process, it just gives me a little bit of, you know, confirmation that we went the right route, you know, and in making sure that those honest conversations were happening. And, you know, and I think the other thing is, is unconditional love. You know, we we think about unconditional love as a feeling, right, when in reality, it’s a choice. You know, we you have to wake up and you have to choose every day that you’re going to give those children unconditional love, you know? And then if you’re if you’re thinking about doing the the foster the foster piece, right. You know, it’s like don’t don’t shy away from it. You know, it’s it’s scary. But but and you yeah that child may be reunified with their parents and that’s that’s the goal right But but that doesn’t mean that means you need to wake up every day with that choice of unconditionally love that child no matter what is happening, what they’ve been through. And if that leads to adoption, that is that’s amazing, right? That is fantastic. But yeah, so that’s just a little thing. But my quote would be from from Shar, which is you see things and you say, Why? But I dream things that never were. And I say, why not? And the idea behind that is that anything is possible, right? There’s there’s nothing impossible. And a lot of people are going to be naysayers to the things that you want to do in life, you know, And but but reality. God always has his plan.

Tim Abbott: [00:59:56] Jim Yeah, so many things run through my head. Brian So I’ll try to get it down to a soundbite. I wish people could experience this almost live with the five of us in this room. And I really like what you said about unconditional love. It’s, it’s hard to understand things in life. Like I really didn’t understand Grace and God showed me that through my wife, Lisa. I was a mess and she’s loved me in my worst parts. And people will say, Well, what do you love about Lisa most? And I’ll say, I’d rather have a bad day with her than a good day without her. So so to quote, to wrap it up and I guess is I really struggled, believe it or not, with communication and being around people before I became a Christian. And then God showed me and then I really struggled because I talk so much about like, does anybody really care what you’re saying? And it sounds like you’re bragging. And I wasn’t. I was just trying to draw people in to something that they don’t even see and I don’t see. So I heard this quote, and it’s really helped me. Being humble wasn’t thinking less of yourself, but it’s thinking of yourself less. So I just had to embrace what God was doing with me by way of communication, community involvement, marriage and all that and that. I could talk about it. And I wasn’t trying to draw attention to myself, but hopefully to be an encourager for others because I think we’re all broken and we all need words of encouragement, unconditional love and people to lean in to our lives like mine was leaned into. So I tried to lean in to others. So don’t let being humble stop you from saying what you need to say and let God worry about the outcome if your heart’s in the right place.

Brian Pruett: [01:01:56] That’s right. I told you last week that I was told by my mother that I needed to think of a new word, but all I can say is just awesome.

Stone Payton: [01:02:03] I think that sums it up. Yeah, it’s a perfect word.

Brian Pruett: [01:02:06] All right, guys, Everybody there listening. Let’s remember, let’s be positive and let’s be charitable.