How Isaiah 117 House Turns Trauma Into Care On Day One

The hardest day of foster care shouldn’t start on a linoleum floor. When a child is removed from home, the first hours shape everything—what they feel, what they fear, and whether they sense anyone is on their side. We sit down with Isaiah 117 House founder Ronda Paulson to unpack a simple but radical shift: replace office waiting rooms with an actual home where kids can bathe, eat, rest, and choose new clothes while caseworkers and foster families get real support.

Ronda shares how a personal call to obedience led her from teaching to building a movement. She walks us through the reality of removal day, the strain on caseworkers, and why “day one dignity” matters for long-term outcomes. We trace the first debt-free home in Carter County to statewide momentum—boosted by cross-agency trust and a governor’s backing—and onward to 62 locations in 13 states, with tens of thousands of children served. Along the way, we talk about the fears that stop families from fostering, the power of proximity to change hearts, and the small acts that mean everything, like cooking a peach cobbler with a nervous 17-year-old who just needs to be seen.

If you’ve ever wondered how to help, this conversation offers clear steps: get informed about local foster numbers, consider taking foster classes, tour or volunteer at a nearby Isaiah 117 House, or donate to keep pantries stocked and beds ready. Foster care is hard, but communities are not powerless. With practical compassion and a home that feels like one, we can give kids safety and dignity on the day they need it most.

Enjoyed the conversation? Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who cares about kids and community. Your share might be the nudge someone needs to say yes.

To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.jonathanandsteve.com.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Local Roots
• 2:45 Rhonda’s Call To Foster Care
• 6:30 Seeing Removal Day Through A Child’s Eyes
• 11:30 The Birth Of Isaiah 117 House
• 16:40 From Pilot To Statewide Standard
• 21:10 Growth Across Counties And States
• 24:30 The Need Behind The Numbers
• 28:30 Saying Yes When It’s Hard

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

This is Benchmark Company. Brought to you by Jonathan and Steve from Benchmark Homeland, Northeast Tennessee, Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, the Trump City, one of the most beautiful places in the country to live. Tons of great things to do and awesome local businesses. And on this show, you'll find out why people are dying to move to Northeast Tennessee. And on the way, we'll have discussions about mortgages and we'll interview people in the real estate industry. It's what we do. This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Benchmark Home Loans. And now your host, Christine Reed.

SPEAKER_02: 0:45

Well, welcome back, everybody, to another episode of Benchmark Happenings. And today, the star of our show is Rhonda Paulson. So, Rhonda, thank you for being here today. Oh, I'm so excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01: 0:58

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02: 0:59

Well, I'm excited. I know we've kind of played some a little bit of tag uh getting in you are one busy lady. And uh so we're very thankful to have you today. And and for those of you who do not know Rhonda, you need to get to know Rhonda. Um, she is actually founder of Isaiah House uh 117. So Rhonda, just we're glad to have you here and to talk about, I call it a ministry. Um I call it a this is a call of God upon your heart of what you've done. So uh tell us about for those, and you know, it's it's hard to believe, but probably some people don't know what Isaiah House is.

SPEAKER_01: 1:43

Well, yes, and I gotta say one thing about your intro. Um I've lived in Northeast Tennessee my whole life. Didn't do a lot of traveling, honestly, besides maybe summer vacations before I started doing this job. I now travel the country. Everywhere I go, I think I live in the prettiest place in the whole of United States. Like no matter where I go, I cannot wait to get back to my home. So your intro is not, you're not lying. It is one of the prettiest places to live in the whole world.

SPEAKER_02: 2:13

I agree. And thank you for saying that. I mean, I totally agree. My husband and I both were born and raised here. We were born and raised in Kingsport. Uh, we moved to Johnson City probably about seven and a half years ago. And my husband, Steve, has been in the mortgage industry for I hate to say this, but 40 years.

SPEAKER_01: 2:34

But he looks really good. He does not look that, yes. He doesn't look like he's been in mortgage since I was 10. He does not look like that.

SPEAKER_02: 2:44

We're giving you a good kudos there, Steve. He'll listen to this later. So um, but yes, and so now you are traveling the country. I mean, so tell us um, you know, wherever you want to start, Rhonda, about you know, how God laid this on your heart, the need that you saw, and really what Isaiah House is and how people can get involved.

SPEAKER_01: 3:05

Absolutely. So, yeah, I I didn't see myself traveling the country. I was a cheer and dance coach and an anatomy professor, an adjunct anatomy professor at Milligan University. Um, two children, pretty, pretty easy, simple life. Didn't know anything about foster care. Didn't know anybody who had done it. Um, but my word of the year was obedience. Oh. And my word of the year the year before was surrender. And what year was this? This was 2014. Wow. And so somewhere between me trying to surrender everything to God and walk in obedience, I found myself being called to the world of foster care. And um, so my husband and I found ourselves in classes to become foster parents, and that is when we learned um what it really looks like for a child entering foster care. Um, you know, when you're not on the inside, you think about a child being removed, and I've been there, you think, yay, they need to be removed. And we're not wrong, they do. Right. They're not safe. That's the only reason they're being removed. But you think, yay, they're gonna be removed, they'll be safe, they'll they'll be fed, they'll be at school every day. Removal day, that's a good day, right? You know, that's what you're thinking. And then when you start to learn about foster care and you start to see removal day through the eyes of a child, and God starts to open your eyes to what removal day really looks like, you realize there's nothing to celebrate. They've just lost their mama and they will always love mama. They see nothing wrong with mama. That's true. They just lost their home. They see nothing wrong with their home. Um, they just lost their pets. You know, we have children enter our Isaiah house and say, Do you think somebody's taking care of my dog? You know, um, there's no promise they'll be kept with their brothers and sisters because large sibling groups are hard to place. There's no promise they'll be kept in their same school. That means they'd lose their teacher, their friends. And so removal day is one of the hardest days a child will ever walk. That was the first thing that we learned. Like this is not a good day for a child. It doesn't matter what they've lived. This is actually one of the most traumatic days they'll ever live. And it happens usually at a moment's notice. It happens at the end of a school day. Instead of getting on the bus, you're told you're not allowed to go home. Or it happens in the middle of the night with a police officer and you're put in the back of a police cruiser. I mean, this is a traumatic event in a child's life. And then we found out that the plan across this country is that child in that fragile, tragic, traumatic state, goes to a state office and they sit and they wait. Wow. Four hours, eight hours, twelve hours, oh my goodness. Two days they sit in a state office, sometimes with only the clothes on their back, sometimes with a black trash bag with whatever was grabbed quickly in a moment of chaos. They're eating some McDonald's from a drive-thru that a caseworker used their own money to buy. They're taking baths in drug testing sinks or toweling off in a public restroom. Um, they're sleeping on cots or in a floor. All of a sudden, this picture started to emerge that I didn't know existed.

unknown: 6:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 6:42

And my heart broke because what child should ever have to walk that journey?

SPEAKER_02: 6:48

After they've already been through so much trauma. After they've already been through so much trauma. And then it's exacerbated exacerbated immensely.

SPEAKER_01: 6:56

Yeah. Yeah. And so that was that was the first realization we had as we entered this world. And then we said yes to our first foster placement in 2015. Actually, a year ago yesterday, November 5th of 2015, 10 years ago, it's not year 10 years ago yesterday, we said yes to our first foster placement. Um, November 5th, uh, 2015. And when we went to pick that child up, they had on a borrowed outfit, they'd been bathed in a drug testing sink, and they had a roach-infested diaper bag. That was it. And that's when we knew it was true. Like we'd heard the stories, but now we were living it. Um, and our friends started to deliver it because all of a sudden you're in this world. And they're like, we picked a baby up at the hospital, they had nothing. We picked up a teenager, they had the clothes on their back. You know, and it's all of a sudden it's true. And now you're seeing as a foster parent, oh my word, how do foster parents say yes to this? Like you're picking a child up that has nothing and you have nothing, you know, and then you start to see the plot of the caseworkers. And it was all just swirling and swirling until January of 2017, when I felt like God had been just calling and calling Rhonda, do something for my kids, do something for my kids, do something for my kids. And I got on my knees in my bedroom in January of 2017, and I said, I do not know what you want me to do, but I will do it.

unknown: 8:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 8:22

And that was the birth of Isaiah 117 house, but I didn't know it yet. Um and so the dream became, what if there was a home? Instead of going to a state office, what if a child going through their heart of stake could go to a home? Because if you need a bath, we don't have a drug testing sink, we have a bathtub, because we're a home. And if you're hungry, we don't have a vending machine. We have a fully stocked kitchen because we're a home. And if you want to play outside, we don't have a parking lot, we have a basketball goal and a playset because we're a home. And if you need new possessions, we have an entire second floor that's new shoes and new pants and new clothes, because we see you and we're here for you and you're loved. And what if we had an office for that caseworker and we could love on them? And what about when that foster parent came, we could provide everything for them? And so the dream became what if there was an Isaiah 117 house based on the verse, Isaiah 117, which says, Do good, seek justice, take care of the widow, take care of the orphan, a home that could reduce trauma for children, lighten the load for caseworkers, and make that yes, easier for future placements. That was the dream in early 2017. That is beautiful. And I love the scripture too. And I love, I always tell people I love what comes before it because God is speaking to his people. And I feel like this is very timely because that's what the Bible is. It's living, it's breathing, it's absolutely always for the moment. And he's looking at his people and he says, You think I want what you're currently doing? Like you think I want what you're currently doing? No, I want you to do good, seek justice, take care of the widow, take care of the orphan. And so that was our family verse. And that had been our family verse as we started foster care. And um, now it just seemed fitting for the name of this home. And so we opened our first home in 2018 in Elizabethan, Tennessee. Um, as I travel this country now, I tell people Carter County, Tennessee lost their minds in the best way possible. They heard that their children were sitting in a state office and they said, Not our kids, not anymore. And they rallied. And in less than a year, we had a debt-free home. It'd been beautifully remodeled by Mitchcox Companies completely for free. Um, we had 40 trained volunteers, we had every cabinet full, every closet full, and we were ready to serve the children of Carter County. Um, and then I tell people the really crazy thing happened. It worked. Like the house did what it was created to do. And then I realized that I had watched God bring all his people together. Like I watched him bring landscapers and and you know, subcontractors and contractors and firemen to do demo. I mean, I watched and all the first, always say all the first Baptist, first present, first method, all the first came. Like I watched him bring all his people and they all just gave up what they had. And suddenly we had this little white house with a red door ready to serve the least of these. It was just beautiful to watch. But then I realized God built this house for children that he'd never forgotten. He's not gonna just do that in Carter County. And so then Sullivan County called and Washington and Green and Severe and Knox, and it just started to explode.

SPEAKER_02: 11:46

Wow. So why, how did you uh when when God had laid that on your heart, how who did you reach out to? I mean, where where do you it's so overwhelming, Rhonda? I mean, even with the one house in Carter County and Elizabethan, how did it start?

SPEAKER_01: 12:03

Well, I went to our DCS office that we had been working with, and I sat down with a sweet lady named Pam Harr. She had been with the department for almost 30 years at that point. And I tell people all the time, she should have been bitter, she should have been jaded, she should have been over it all, she should have seen things come and go. And I sat down in her office and I told her my idea of this home. And we sat there and cried together. And she said, You work on the community, I'll work on Nashville. And that's what she did. And she got permission to try this pilot program in Carter County, Tennessee. And I say, you know, without without the Lord and Pam Harr, I don't know if we'd have gotten this off the ground because they trusted Pam because she'd been with the department that long. They trusted Pam to try this pilot program. They didn't know who Rhonda Paulson was, but they trusted Pam. And so we got to try this pilot program. And about the same time, there was this guy running for governor. I don't do politics. And they said he wanted to come see the house. And I said no. And they're like, my board. And they're like, what do you mean no? I was like, I don't do politics. I'm not gonna get my picture made in front of a bus. And they're like, you're gonna meet this guy. He wants to come. He's running on this platform of if faith-based organizations are doing good work, we should allow them to do good work. So this guy named Bill Lee stops by the Carter County house. And I'm not even paying him attention. They're hammering, I don't make them stop, they're sawing. We get to the top of the stairs. He says, What do you want me to tell Nashville? And I literally lit into him. Like I'm crying, I'm screaming. It's like you tell Nashville that they have forgotten their children. And the reason I know that is I had to build this house because you put them in offices and you leave them. I mean, I'm crying, I'm screaming. Oh my. And him and his wife Maria are standing there. There's no cameras, there's no photo op. He says, Can I pray for you? And we stood there and we cried and we prayed. And it was just a really pure moment. It didn't feel political. It didn't feel we got done. And I said, Can I get my picture made in front of your bus? And my husband always makes funny. But anyway, he ended up winning the nomination, becoming governor. And that was the catalyst we needed because he believed in us probably before he should have. But he ended up traveling the whole state telling people about this new program called Isaiah 117. What a beautiful model of the state and a faith-based organization coming together. And so he showed up in Green County for our groundbreaking in Green County with$100,000 and stood up and said he wanted this to be the new standard for children entering foster care across the state of Tennessee. And so that just gave us a wide open go, go. So it really was this perfect storm that God had arranged. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 14:59

And so how many do we have in Tennessee just in Tennessee alone?

SPEAKER_01: 15:03

We have 23 locations. 19 of those are open. The others are under construction. We'll have 20 open as of November 23rd. We're going to cut the ribbon in Shelby County, Memphis. Okay. November 23rd.

SPEAKER_02: 15:15

November 23rd. I saw that on your event calendar. And then how many states so far have Isaiah houses in them?

SPEAKER_01: 15:23

We have 62 locations in 13 states. Out of those 62, as of November 23rd, 38 will be open. We have another 11 that are supposed to wrap up construction by the end of the year. So we hope to have 11 ribbon cuttings early 2026 will take us to 49 of 62 will be open by early 2026. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 15:46

And how many children have been served?

SPEAKER_01: 15:49

Over 14,500 since 2018.

SPEAKER_02: 15:53

Since 2018. That is an enormous amount of children, Rhonda.

SPEAKER_01: 15:58

It really is. And I that number, like, it does something to me like physically when I say it. I mean, it's it's like so beautiful and so hard to think about. Like I am so glad we're there. But 14,500 is the tip of the iceberg. Really? There are 11,000 children in custody in the Houston area. I mean the the foster care crisis is unbelievable. I just don't think people can wrap their heads around the amount of children with nowhere to go. Um, and so we are doing the absolute best we can, but the need is great.

SPEAKER_02: 16:48

The need is so great. And the need is you we need more uh families willing to be foster parents, right?

SPEAKER_01: 16:58

We do, we do. And I tell people all the time, you know, it is a hard ask. It is not an easy ask. We try to make it easier because we're gonna provide everything that family needs and we're gonna give them support, but at the end of the day, it is not an easy ask. Um, and people, you know, they'll always say, I don't know, I don't know how you did it, I could never do it, you know, I could never do it. And I always say, I wish my husband was here because he did not want to do it. He he did not want to do foster care. Um But what finally got him to say yes was the only reason he could come up with not to were completely selfish reasons. He's like, I like my house the way it is, I like my extra time, I like my extra money, I like going on vacation with just two kids that are getting older and older, you know, like he's like, and when you realize there's a child at the end of that story with nowhere to go, all of those start to seem a little less important, you know. Um, and so it's not an easy ask. But if more and more people could realize we're talking about a child that has nowhere to go. That's what we're really talking about. A beautiful soul made in the image of God. Yeah. That needs to know someone is fighting for them and loves them.

unknown: 18:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 18:25

You know, I think so many people, and I think us included, is, you know, the fear. Oh, yeah. You're you're afraid of what you're gonna step into and you hear these, you know, stories and things like that. And it's like, you know, you know, how am I equipped to deal with someone that's been abused and traumatized and exposed to so many horrific things?

SPEAKER_01: 18:53

Well, and I remember, you know, when we started down this path, somebody looked at me and said, Well, you don't know what you're gonna get. And I looked at him and said, Did you know what you were gonna get when you got pregnant? Oh, that's a good one. I like that. I was like, I didn't know what I was gonna get when I went into labor and delivery either time. I don't know about y'all. Um, but I do know what they mean. And you're not wrong. You're not wrong. Foster care is the hardest thing I ever did. It's not, I'm not, you're not wrong. Um, I was actually um working on a talk that I'm doing at a conference this weekend, and I was actually reading a scripture from Philippians 3 10, and that scripture basically says, make me more like Jesus. Like I want to be like Jesus, but what we forget is Jesus went to the cross. He did. And there's nothing easy about carrying your cross up a hill and dying on it. And so we want to be like Jesus, but we don't want to go to the cross to get there. Um and so I think sometimes we forget that uh this wasn't uh we weren't called to easy. We were called to a cross, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 20:11

I think we forget that, Rhonda, because we've we're in our and we're blessed where we live, we're blessed to be in the United States. But, you know, even being the wealthiest country in the world, we are we have the most drug addiction, the most alcoholics, um, you know, the amount of prescription drug usage, um, just all the myriad of health problems, depression, suicide, and you know, and I almost think, is it because life is easy?

SPEAKER_01: 20:48

You know, I've I've traveled to other countries and I've actually thought that I've thought, I think sometimes being an American has gotten in the way of me relying on God. Because when I'm in these other countries and they sit for four hours and they praise and worship in these hot rooms where I'm like so uncomfortable and think, you know, are we going to lunch yet? Are we done? And they don't want to leave. They don't want to leave that room. They don't want to stop praising God. They don't, they are relying on him for their next meal. They are relying on him for their next place they're gonna live. They're like they are literally relying on God for everything. Most of us, most of the people that are listening right now, we don't rely on God for our next meal. No, we don't rely on God for the roof over our head. And so sometimes I think, is my privilege actually getting in the way of me truly relying on God? Well, I will tell you, foster care had me on my knees in my bathroom day after day, begging for God's help because I couldn't do it. Wow. I can pay my bills, I can put food on the table, but I could not do foster care. I could not do foster care without God. And this is with your first how many foster children do you we fostered two little boys, adopted them both, and then started Isaiah 117 house.

SPEAKER_02: 22:20

Oh were those little boys brothers or they are full sibling brothers. Okay. How old are they now? Ten and eight. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01: 22:30

So you So I have a 22-year-old, a 19-year-old, a 10-year-old, and an eight-year-old. Oh my goodness. I'd say it's gonna keep me young or kill me. Haven't decided yet.

SPEAKER_02: 22:39

I think it's gonna keep you young. It's gonna keep you young. That's what we're gonna say.

SPEAKER_01: 22:43

That's what we're gonna say.

SPEAKER_02: 22:44

Yes. I mean, you look young now. Um so you talked about your husband, Corey, and uh he was not for this, and and I'm sure you weren't the type of wife to to browbeat or you know, to to bring it up all the time. How did you I mean you said he was he finally changed his mind, he was against it, but what were your responses throughout that process? You were for it, you wanted to do it, you you God laid it on your heart, but it's like, you know, in a marriage, unless the husband and wife are 100% ready to go, you really can't do it.

SPEAKER_01: 23:25

Well, you maybe sound real good, and then people are gonna hear the story be like, oh my gosh, but you gotta know your man. We've been married 28 years in December, been together 30. I feel like I know him. Um, so I ask him to go on a date and we went to foster care classes. Oh, okay, that was the date. And he was so mad at me. I just remember he was so mad. And we did not speak all the way home from that date. Yeah. And then the next morning we got up and act acted like everything was normal because that's kind of how we roll. But he didn't say he wouldn't go back to week two. It was an eight-week study.

SPEAKER_03: 24:01

Oh.

SPEAKER_01: 24:01

So then we went back to week two, didn't say a word, didn't speak all the way home. He didn't say he wouldn't go back. Went back week three. But what he was learning, I didn't have to say anything. What he was learning in those classes. And so we were coming home week three, and he said, I do not want to do this. And I was like, Fair enough. I mean, I tricked you into it. You thought you were going on a date. Um, you've been a good sport. Fair enough. And he was like, Don't fair enough me, Rhonda. And I was like, What? And he said, You and the Lord have wrecked me. He's like, I'm a wrecked man. And he said, you know, now I know the numbers. Now I know the statistics. Now I know there are literally children in our county with nowhere to go. How am I supposed to ignore that? We have the means, we have a house. Like, how am I supposed to ignore that there are children with nowhere to go? We have to do this. And so that was just him getting information and him and God processing that. That was not me saying, we're gonna, we're gonna, you know, right. I just thought if I can get into the classes. Um, and if he'd have said no, then that would have been, but I thought, if I can get into the classes, and I have told several wives that because they come to me and they say, I want to do this so bad, but my husband doesn't. Try to get into the classes. Just let him learn for himself. And if he's still not open to it, he's not open to it. Right. But, or get him in an Isaiah 117 house. Let him volunteer. Let him see that it really is a child at the end of that story. You know, we have a lot of people, we have a lot of people initially afraid to volunteer in our homes with like a teenager. They're like, Call me when there's a little one, but don't call me when there's a teenager. I remember there was this one lady in particular. She's like, I just don't think I could do teenage boys. If there's a little one, call me, but not teenage boys. And she was signed up this one day and there was gonna be a teenage boy. So we called her, we told her, we believe in you. We really think God doesn't do anything by mistake. You're signed up this day, He's coming, just give it a try. If you want to leave, if you don't feel comfortable, it's okay, you know, because she's not in charge, the volunteer's not in charge of the time. Right, right. So she comes and they start talking. Come to find out he loves to cook. They end up watching the cooking channel together, food network. They hit it off. Ends up, he's gonna spend the night. She's not on call the next day, but she wants to come back. She asks him what he'd like to cook. He wants to make chicken casserole and a peach cobbler. She writes out all the ingredients, goes and buys it, comes back the next day. They make a chicken casserole and a peach cobbler together. This scary 17-year-old and her make a chicken casserole and a peach cobbler. And when she gets ready to leave that day, he says, Do you mind if I give you a hug? And I mean, uh they're children at the end of these stories. And yeah, their folders sound really scary. But for the majority of the ones I have met personally, you'll read you know, struggles with anger, you know, or what if you read their story, you'd be angry too. Yeah. If you read what they have lived through, you'd act out too. But when you start talking to them as a person and treat them with respect and dignity and love and compassion and security, that's what every child is longing for. That's what I'm saying. It is be longing.

SPEAKER_02: 27:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 27:46

It's it's it's it's it's heavy stuff. It is heavy. Because it's kids going through things that kids should never go through.

unknown: 27:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 27:54

That's right.

SPEAKER_02: 27:56

So, Rhonda, what do you want the audience to know, to take away of how they can get involved, help? What would be some of those things?

SPEAKER_01: 28:06

I think the bigger picture is maybe just get informed. Find out. Where whoever's listening, wherever, find out about how many foster kids are in your community. What happens when they get removed? Where are they going? Just get informed. Start there. Um, if you have ever thought about being a foster parent, you know, statistics say that people think about it sometimes for five years. If you have ever thought about being a foster parent and you are listening, now is the time. Just go take the classes. You're not signing up for anything, just go take the classes. You are needed. Um post 2020, you are needed. Um so that's probably my biggest thing is we need good foster families and we need people to be aware of what's happening to the children in our community. Um, a lot of times people say these kids, and it feels separate to me. What they don't understand is these kids are the ones sitting beside your child in third period on your kids' soccer team. It's not an us and them anymore. It's that widespread, you know. Um, and so we need foster families, we need people to be aware. Um, you know, we hear this statistic all the time, but I think it's so powerful. I was in Knoxville not too long ago, excuse me, Nashville not too long ago, and the minister said there's 880 kids in custody in Nashville. And there are 900 churches. But we are not so broken that we cannot be fixed.

unknown: 29:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 29:37

And that is still true. We are not so broken that we cannot be fixed, but we have to have people step up and say, I'm gonna step into the life of that child. And it is a big ask, and it is scary, and it is hard. Um, but it is a child. Um, and then if all of that seems whoa, whoa, whoa, just go to Isaiah. Isaiah117house.com. Mess around, look around the website, see if there's a location near you. Maybe click on that location, reach out to that location leader, see if you can start being a volunteer. Maybe start there. And if that seems too much, maybe just hit that donate button and you know, let us continue to do the work that we're doing. Oh, it's my pleasure. My pleasure.

SPEAKER_00: 30:30

This has been Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Jonathan Tipton and Steve Reed from Benchmark Home Loans. Jonathan and Steve are residential mortgage lenders. They do home loans in Northeast Tennessee. And they're not only licensed in Tennessee, but Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to like, rate, and review. Our passion is Northeast Tennessee. So if you have questions about mortgages, call us 423-491-5405. And the website is www.jonathansteve.com. Thanks for being with us, and we'll see you next time on Benchmark Happenings.