Mama of the Wild Crew Podcast
Mama of the Wild Crew Podcast
Hosted by Alexis Schmoker – wife, mama of two, nurse, and Jesus lover. This podcast is all about embracing the beautiful chaos of motherhood, finding joy in the messy moments, and leaning into faith through it all. Whether you're navigating sleepless nights, toddler tantrums, or the everyday miracles of raising little ones, you're not alone. Join Alexis as she shares real-life stories, heartfelt conversations, and encouragement to help mamas everywhere find grace, laughter, and purpose in the wild adventure of motherhood.
Let’s find the joy in the chaos—together!
Mama of the Wild Crew Podcast
From Tinder Match to Family of Four: How God Transformed Our Family | Alexis & Jordan Schmoker with surprise special guest
In honor of Wilder Hanson’s baby dedication this week, Alexis brings on a special guest. From a Magic Mike-inspired dance to a fiery connection on Tinder to a courthouse wedding during an ice storm. Host, Alexis Schmoker welcomes her husband Jordan.
Jordan joins the podcast as a special guest - a two-time All-American retired professional soccer player, high school soccer coach, biology teacher, Native American children's book author, and most importantly, a devoted husband and father. With disarming honesty, he shares his biggest "dad fail" , while Alexis recounts their unconventional path to finding each other.
Their journey to becoming a family of four wasn't without challenges. They faced unexpected fertility struggles with their second child. Through this season of waiting and uncertainty, Alexis found herself clinging to Philippians 4:6-7, learning to surrender her timeline to God's perfect plan.
Their story reminds us that God's timing, while not always aligned with our plans, is always perfect.
✨FOLLOW MAMA OF THE WILD CREW ON INSTAGRAM ⬇️
https://www.instagram.com/mamaofthewildcrew_podcast?igsh=dGd1Z2dkZnBneHhj&utm_source=qr
It would mean the world to me if you would like, subscribe leave a review and/or share with a friend if you enjoyed this episode! Please find me on Instagram, tag me, comment, or DM me. Let me know what you enjoyed and what you’d like to hear next. I love hearing from you!
✨FOLLOW MAMA OF THE WILD CREW ON INSTAGRAM ⬇️
https://www.instagram.com/mamaofthewildcrew_podcast?igsh=dGd1Z2dkZnBneHhj&utm_source=qr
XO, Alexis Schmoker
Mama of the Wild Crew
📸: A heartfelt thank you to Jordan Allen of Cr00ked Teeth Photography for capturing this stunning cover photo.
Hey there, mama, and welcome to mama of the wild crew podcast. This space is for all the mamas out there, whether you're a mom to be a mom of one or six or even an empty nester. Motherhood isn't always easy and it's definitely not perfect, but it's a beautifully amazing wild ride, from tantrums to sleepless nights, to first bike rides without training wheels, to college graduations. We're here for all of it. I'm your host, alexa Schmoker. I'm a wife, mama to two beautiful babies, I'm a nurse and a lover of Jesus. I created this podcast to connect with other mamas, share their stories and find joy in the beautiful chaos we call motherhood. So grab your cup of coffee or whatever fuels you, let's dive in.
Speaker 1:Hey, mamas, and welcome to another episode of Mama of the Wild Crew podcast. I am Alexis Schmoker, your host, and today I have the absolute honor of introducing a very special guest, a man who wears many hats and holds many incredible titles. He's a two-time All-American retired professional soccer player, a men's soccer coach at the largest high school in Oklahoma, a biology teacher, a Native American author of a children's series that's a new one, an avid student of mindfulness. But, above all, he's an amazing father of two beautiful children and my absolute favorite title holder, my husband, and I know he's cringing right now because he does not like bragging about himself, but that's what I'm for. So, listeners, I'm beyond excited to introduce you to the man of my dreams, the love of my life, today's guest on the podcast, jordan Schmoker. Hey, babe, do you want to say hello and share a little bit about yourself with?
Speaker 2:the listeners hey, what's going on? Listeners, I'm Jordan.
Speaker 1:Okay, sorry, we had to redo that three times because we were just dying laughing, but okay. So, as you know, babe, because you listen to every single podcast episode, because I make you listen to them first, so thank you for being such a good sport. In the spirit of keeping it real, every mom who comes on the Mama of the Wild Crew podcast has to answer this one question. So can you share what is your dad fail?
Speaker 2:My biggest dad fail. I like to say I'm doing it better the second time around, but the first time around I've had a couple of dad fails, kind of in a series. So I'm just going to tell you the story of the dad fails, because they kind of accumulate and go on top of each other. So my first one going into it was not knowing my wife was in active labor. I thought we were at the hospital and I thought you know this big thing. I thought you would always know when your wife is in labor, because everything I've seen they were screaming. It was very apparent. There was all kind of nurses in there. There was all kinds of nurses in there and I actually slept for, I want to say, 12 out of the 15 hours that you were in active labor. So that was the start of me.
Speaker 2:On my dad fell and then going to it it was the next day or maybe it was a couple of days, but the next day I forgot to fill the car up with gas and I don't know where my mind went. Next day I forgot to fill the car up with gas and I don't know where my mind went. But I just did not fill the car up with gas and we only had one car seat in at the time and I actually made us miss our first uh crew pearls first doctor's appointment and that was on me okay, but in your defense, we went into the hospital unexpectedly, so the car, yes, was out of gas by the time we got home.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't say out of I don't know. I've never ran out of gas in my car, so I don't know what was going on. So the car was out of gas and on top of it it was an ice storm. So, yeah, it was just kind of a series and not. But we made it through and, like you said, the second time around you were on it and you knew you were resting up for your moment to shine. The first time, during active labor, guys, we went in the hospital at like 4 PM the night before and he slept all night long like a sweet little baby just preparing himself for labor, while I was up all night in labor. But it's okay, you're right, the second time was much better and I thought it was great, okay. So my mom Pearl also known we call her Mother Pearl she took the kids after church today to give us some time to prep, because we have Wilder's baby dedication coming up at the end of the month and we're so excited to get him dedicated at our church at the end of the month. But we have some homework that we had to do for this baby dedication.
Speaker 1:So we attended this orientation class and then we had two videos that we had to watch, which I thought were both really great. The first video it was like a husband wife duo, so the husband did the first video and the wife did the second one. But in the first video the husband spoke about just thinking of three to five characteristics that you want to pray over your child and that you want your child to embody throughout his or her lifetime. And then the wife spoke about just widening your circle, which I thought really resonated with me, because that is one of the reasons that I wanted to do this podcast too is to widen the circle, not just for me but for other moms out there, and there are so many voices out there that I really feel like it's essential to have a strong, jesus-loving individuals pouring into your child, because there are Jesus-loving individual pouring into your child, because there are so many things out there pouring into your child. So just surrounding yourself with those people.
Speaker 1:Oh, another thing that the husband said too was about thinking about not what you want your child to do right, but who you want your child to be. So we had to make this video and we finished the video before we started this and it only took us like 57 tries because we couldn't stop laughing and then like I would mess up mine and that he would do his part well, and then he would mess up his. I mean, it was, we got through it and you know. So we will get to the rest of that at the end, um, but I think it's important to give a little backstory on how we have these two beautiful children. What do you think?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would love to.
Speaker 1:Okay, um, so I don't know. I think with our love story like the overarching theme in the early years, because I feel like our love story started way before we knew it did. The early early years was that, when I'm like looking back on our journey, our paths actually crossed three different times. Before our first big, like meeting, well, we already knew each other, but our first big, what would you say, like dating, time, first dating time or first even like looks at dating time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, consideration of dating time, I guess. So here we are, like in this beautiful season of marriage with two children, and we look back and we cross paths in high school, we cross paths in college and then we cross paths kind of like post-college, before we both moved. So in high school we were both dating different people and you were playing soccer and we kind of were like acquaintances.
Speaker 1:And then in college, um, we were both visiting friends at a college that neither of us went to. When I was walking by a window and saw you eating inside of the restaurant with the Gunters, who are some of our very best friends to this day eating inside the restaurant and I pounded on the glass fuzzy's taco shop in stillwater. I pounded on the glass and, like, made a funny face or something.
Speaker 2:I didn't think you said anything. I think you just like stuck your tongue out and said and then just kept walking.
Speaker 1:Um, and then, right before, we both moved. So one of my best friends had a big breakup when we were, I don't know, maybe 20, just turning 21. Had a big breakup and so I did what any friend would do and I threw her a fake bachelorette party. And in that fake bachelorette party I had to hire dancers. I say that like in a joking manner. So I texted my friend to come over and do a performance and nonetheless, here comes Jordan Schmoker that night to be a dancer at my friend's fake bachelorette party. And the next day I moved to New York for nursing school and kind of went through like the hard season of my life there and you, right after that, moved to Antigua.
Speaker 2:Yeah, pretty much like a year after that, Antigua.
Speaker 1:Antigua because you were playing soccer. So I think it shows like in Leviticus 26, god will be faithful even when his people are faithless and he will pursue us even when we go astray. So I feel like those times when I look back I can see myself going astray, even though I didn't feel really like I was in the time. And there God was like planting you in my life the whole time. I mean hours before I was going on a path that really like led into a hard season of my life. And even this morning I was listening to that County my Blessings song and it says the more I look at the details, the more of your goodness I find, and I think that's so true for me. I don't know about you, but looking back I just see so many moments that God orchestrated together in our lives that I just had no idea at the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say so. I think, even getting the call to come on over that night, it was something I've never done before, I've never done since, or even thought about putting myself in that situation. But I just got done. We had a game that day and Kasparis calls me up and says, hey, you got to come do this, and when a friend calls I usually answer. And so we went and yeah, it was a yeah, set the scene.
Speaker 1:It was like a magic mic performance. Can I say that?
Speaker 2:I think you have to say that. I think we have to set the tone. Magic mic had just come out and yeah, and my friend was sad.
Speaker 1:So anyway, it ended up being a super fun night. And now I mean my friend has made it through, she is now married with three beautiful girls and we had a great time. So I recommend, if your friend is going through a hard time, throw her a fake bachelorette party, because that brought a lot of joy and we had fun.
Speaker 2:It could lead to your future husband.
Speaker 1:It could lead to your future husband. You never know who's just right there ready to dance for you. Okay, enough of that. Okay, so that brings us to the point where we're both back in Tulsa. So I moved back from New York and you just moved back from Antigua. Well, I had been back from New York for about a year and I needed that time to like rediscover myself, I guess. Um, so you just moved back from Antigua and we both got on Tinder. Y'all remember Tinder. Yeah, like the, the dating app Tinder. So, yes, we're a Tinder marriage. So, babe, tell them about Tinder. What was your first impression? Where did it go from there?
Speaker 2:My first impression on Tinder. I had never actually used Tinder before that Like I had got on and I messed around, but I had never messaged anyone or anything like that.
Speaker 1:Um he has to say that.
Speaker 2:No. I'm serious, uh. But yeah, we got on and I saw this button that said super like and I said, oh, that's pretty cool. So I was going through and Alexa showed up and I of course, hit the super like and then it came back that she had super liked me back and it was a super like moment and that kind of sent it to the forefront. I don't even know what happened on it either, but I don't know what I opened up with. I don't know what I said, or maybe you said something.
Speaker 1:I think you sent a song, but I don't remember what song it was.
Speaker 2:It was probably something from Magic Mike.
Speaker 1:So I was leaving for a work trip like a couple days, the next few days for training, a work trip like a couple days, the next few days for training. Um, but we had, oh no before I left for the work trip we had, the hop jam was coming up.
Speaker 1:So in tulsa they do mayfest and the hansen brothers, like you know, the song, are from tulsa, so they were doing this thing at Mayfest called Hop Jam, and so I was going with a few friends and so I texted Kaspars again and said hey, we're going to Hop Jam, you should invite Jordan. And so of course we're there all day and Jordan has a game, so he comes later, and so that's kind of like our first hangout with other people like friends. The first time we hang out but there's other friends there, so it is at a Hanson concert. So a little pre-shadowing, because our son is named Wilder Hanson, and that's from our first hangout at the Hanson concert. And then I leave for a work trip for a few days and then I come back and he asked me out on a date. And this is kind of like crazy, but this is the first kind of date that I've had where someone like came and picked me up at my door, all the things, tell them about our date.
Speaker 2:Um, to be honest, it was my first kind of date as well to ever like really go out and be intentional about um, picking someone up, bringing them flowers, having a theme, telling them what to wear, and it kind of went through all the things and just try to do it right, cause it felt different. I mean, even from the, from the start it kind of felt different. Uh, we were in a different time of life. It was I wasn't really dating to date at that point, it was dating for marriage and looking into that or I guess I was. I've always dated for marriage, but now it was a little bit more serious and so wanted to do it right and yeah, and he, so he did.
Speaker 1:He texted and gave me a theme. So he said that it was a Hawaiian theme and that I should wear Hawaiian theme clothing. So I wore like a cute little pink Hawaiian outfit kind of thing and he took me to Paradise Cove, which is like a Margaritaville kind of restaurant, and we pretended like we were in Hawaii and had a Hawaiian themed date and it was so fun. I thought it was so silly at first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I had just gotten back from the Caribbean. I was in an island state of mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:All of my uh clothes at that time were Hawaiian shirts anyway, so yeah, and I had never had someone like tell me, um, like a theme or what to wear. You know, I feel like normally you're like, oh, what should I wear? Texting, and I felt like it was nice to like not have to decide or have a guy text and say like, where do you want to go eat? I don't want to decide that. And if you really get to know me too, you know I do not want to decide that I cannot decide. I want to decide that I can not decide.
Speaker 1:I can make a lot of big decisions but little decisions I feel like I can't make. I can't compare things because it I just can't do it and I cannot decide where to eat. I need you just to tell me. And so I thought that was really nice that you had texted like had a plan, you were intentional about having a plan and it made me feel like you thought about our date and put effort into it. And it made me feel like you thought about our date and put, you know, effort into it. So I thought that was really nice. And then our third date I already knew that I was in love and we were getting married, so I invited him, obviously on our family vacation to Florida for our third date.
Speaker 3:And he went.
Speaker 1:So what did you think whenever I was like, hey, um, I know that we've well, we really only had like one date on our own. Um, yesterday and tomorrow my family is going to Florida, do you want to come with us? And you agreed.
Speaker 2:No hesitation, absolutely yes, let's go to Florida. Um, I think at that point it was, I think when you had the feelings and you know it's, it feels good, it feels right, and there was never like an awkwardness looking back like outside, in hearing that I'm like how did I ever agree to that? But in the moment and in time it was yes, let's go have a good time. Met the parents.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I mean like my family, like my family vacation like it was my parents, both of my sisters, me and my um not even new boy, my guy that I've gone on two dates with that. I had declared that I was ready to marry Um, and so we kind of we just started. It was just that from there we were just dating. And well, one of us was we were both dating, but one of us were engaged because I already loved you. So can you tell, do you remember when I first told you I loved you?
Speaker 2:No, you remind me all the time.
Speaker 1:So he was asleep. I thought he was asleep and it was kind of one of those things where I thought I was being so sweet, like looking at him, oh, he's so cute, I really like him, and I just had this overwhelming feeling like oh, I love him. And so I was just petting his head while he was sleeping and I whispered I love you. His head while he was sleeping and I whispered I love you. And he opened up his eyes so big and said oh no, and then fell back asleep. And then we didn't talk about it for like two months. We just acted like it didn't happen. One time I was like two months later I was going into work. I think I worked a night shift here and there because I worked like crazy at that time and I think we were how old were we? Maybe 22 or 23.
Speaker 2:It's all a blur.
Speaker 1:We were both 22, I think, and turning 23. Or maybe we were 23 turning 24. 24, yeah, yeah, 2017, however old we were then turning 24. Yeah, 2017, however old we were then. Um, so I had dropped you off at a birthday party and I couldn't go because I was going into work. And you got out of the car and you said I love you and shut the door, and that was the first time you said I love you. Do you remember that?
Speaker 2:I hate to say it, but I do not remember. It's okay.
Speaker 1:And then after that you just said I love you, and then we just said I love you, and then we just said I love you to each other, and that was that, and we just went from there and now we're married. So it's fine, it all turned out fine, but it was embarrassing, but we made it.
Speaker 2:Well, now that you know me a little bit better, I might have been sleep talking, sleep walking. Well, well, I'm trying to say that I do remember you staring at me. I do remember that.
Speaker 1:I was traumatized. I was traumatized. I actually worked with my mom and so I was at the hospital the next day working and I remember going into her office and just sitting down and like she could tell that I was freaking out and she's like what is wrong? And I was like, well, and I told her the story and I remember her just like trying to come up with something to say that was reassuring and I remember just be like mom.
Speaker 1:I know, I know it was weird, because it was weird and um, I don't know what else to say about it. It was weird. So, anyway, fast forward. I was ready to get married right away and jordan said that he thought that we should be dating for four years before we got married. So we compromised, um, and we dated for four years before we got married. And so, fast forward, we got married in the courthouse in february of 2021, due to COVID, and we're still not really sure about the date because we went in and got the paperwork and signed it and then again, an ice storm. We live in Oklahoma, but and there's only an ice storm maybe once every two years, but all of our big life events have happened during that ice storm Um, so we got the paperwork and signed it and it was quite a show there at the Tulsa County Courthouse.
Speaker 1:The people in front of us didn't know each other's last names. And then there were people like getting in a van in handcuffs and jumpsuits right in front of us and we had had this big dream wedding planned and it got completely canceled because of COVID. It was 100% done, ready. I'd planned, all of it, done, all the meetings, just canceled. So that's when we decided to go to the courthouse. So then we go home and we have dinner with just our immediate family that night to sign, like have the witnesses sign the paperwork. And my youngest sister, or my middle sister, addison, had gotten ordained, so she did the the ordaining part and then both of our moms signed as witnesses, except for your sweet mom signed where I was supposed to sign. So whatever we went to go turn in the paperwork, it almost got filed that you're married, your mom.
Speaker 1:What a story that would have been, though, and so thank goodness the clerk caught it and they gave us another piece of paper but now that you're a boy mom, it doesn't sound so crazy now that I'm a boy mom, I understand, because I would do anything to marry Wilder, but at the time I was like what?
Speaker 1:So we got it fixed and now we really are not sure like what date we got married we say February 10th and then we had a well okay, back up we found out we were pregnant with crew in may, so it was the very end of may and our wedding reception was going to be the first of june, or it was the first of june. So we found out we were pregnant with crew and we were so excited. And the same day that we found out we were pregnant with crew, you got a call that you were offered the position at Broken Arrow to coach soccer. So you had been coaching soccer at another high school and Broken Arrow being the head coach of Broken Arrow was always a dream, but we just didn't think that it was going to come so soon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was one of those thinking down the line maybe 10 years, 8, 10 years, trying to work up to something like that, and then all of a sudden you get a call.
Speaker 1:And so that was like a crazy day, we find out we find out, we're pregnant with crew pearl and you get that call. It was what memorial day? It was a holiday. Is that memorial day? You're asking the wrong day. I should know that. I should know that too, it's either memorial day or labor day, and I can't remember which one's which, but one of those, I think, is memorial day.
Speaker 2:You're asking the wrong guy, that's in May. I should know that.
Speaker 1:I should know that too. It's either Memorial Day or Labor Day, and I can't remember which one's which, but one of those, I think, is Memorial Day. So that was Memorial Day of 2021. And so we have a big day and then the next week we have our wedding reception and we go and live in Hawaii for the summer, and then we come back and we have our wedding reception and we go and live in Hawaii and for the summer, and then we come back and we have our beautiful daughter, crew Pearl, and she is just our entire world. She was born January 19th of 2022.
Speaker 1:And, like we said earlier, it was kind of a unexpected, early, scary delivery. But even with it being so scary, like I said, jordan rested and I had some sort of just, you know, like that peace that makes no sense kind of feeling. So, even in the craziness of her having a scary delivery, I feel like it was still so beautiful and just God had his hand in every part of it. Um, just us finding out that we needed to go have her. I feel like he had his hand in the staff there at St Francis that had her whenever they all came in and they were needing to get her out immediately, and just the utter craziness of it. I felt so confident in them, like in the staff that was in the room and there was I don't know. I felt like 30 people and there may have been 30 people in there.
Speaker 2:It went from zero to I think, yeah, absolutely 30 people.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:It was a wild one minute. It was a wild one minute and this is when I thought it was my time to come alive and I just want to circle back to the dad films In this one minute. I came alive.
Speaker 1:He came alive. He came alive. I had her doing her breaths.
Speaker 2:I had her squeezing my hand and then I realized I'm not.
Speaker 1:We already had the baby. We had already the baby was already out. Yes, the baby was already here. She was out, so it was like we need to get her out immediately. But even in that moment, when I think back to it like I remember feeling peace and my mom and my youngest sister, avery, were in the room and my middle sister, addie, was not, because she just had a baby a couple of days, three days before she was leaving the hospital, whenever I had, crew went into the hospital and Avery, my youngest sister, put on Lover by Taylor Swift. So I remember that playing in the background because that was our wedding song, and I just remember feeling like so excited to meet her and just this piece is even in the midst of such a chaotic moment. So thank you to all the people that we encountered through that entire experience. Everyone was just absolutely amazing and we could not be more grateful for each and every one of you, especially Dr Brotherton. We love you.
Speaker 1:Okay, moving forward, we have a beautiful daughter and I feel like everything was just absolutely going great. We were moving right along, ticking off all the boxes, the things that I had on our like ideal life checklist in a sense we had bought, like this little house that we absolutely loved. Everything I had envisioned was happening, and the next thing on my list was to have a second child, and with Kruperl, like I said, we didn't have any issues getting pregnant and it was, you know, just so easy and we were blessed with such a beautiful girl. And so in my naive state I guess I assumed that everything was going to go the same way the second time around and it didn't. We were trying and I was doing all the tracking and following all the diets and reading everything I could and talking to everyone, and like we still just weren't getting pregnant, and I had finally reached a point where I thought at what point does it go from we're trying to have a baby into wait a second, we're having a hard time trying to conceive, and I think it was just hard for me to even admit, almost like I didn't feel like I had the right to struggle with fertility issues, or it was hard for me to vocalize it, I'm not sure what it was, but I reached out to the doctor and she had told me that we needed to be trying for at least a year before we could do any big test, which I thought seemed a little crazy because a year was not in my timeline that I had set.
Speaker 1:But okay, so we kept trying and the year mark came and at that time then I was able to get all the blood work done and the ultrasounds done that I had been waiting for and everything came back fine and I should have been overwhelmed, but with joy. But I think I was almost more frustrated at that point, like, okay, so you're saying everything's fine, but for some reason this isn't happening and I'm not sure why. And I really had a hard time through that season. And, jordan, I know you were also having a hard time, but I think that you have just always been one that is at peace with God's plan and following God's plan and kind of you've always had a grasp on his timing.
Speaker 2:I think really where I find peace is just honestly thinking that he's got a plan for me and it's his plan and I've just got to do. I got to put myself in the right situations and be ready for when he calls on me or when life goes that way and I just sound silly. But I just try to always stay ready, whatever that looks like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and today our pastor, chad, had kind of given this example of being like living your life in between these two pillars. One of the pillars says you know God is good and God is loving, and the other pillar says God is in control. And if you stray too far left or too far right, that's when you kind of get into this state of anxiety and I feel like that is what I was in. I was straying too far past. God is in control and it's God's plan and God's timing to trying to get to. But this was my plan and this is my earthly plan and this is my timing and it's not working. And that really caused me a lot of anxiety. Um, so I was still holding onto my own earthly plans that I wasn't like releasing control or surrendering to his plan in that way. I feel like this is kind of when God really stepped in and completely changed our lives. It was during this time of uncertainty and struggle that I began to lean on him more, realizing I couldn't carry the weight of it all on my own. Uh, it was a moment where his peace really started to settle in.
Speaker 1:We were in my mom group and they talked about the Philippians 4, 6 through 7. Don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all of understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in Jesus Christ, will guard your heart and your minds in Jesus Christ. And it was something that I really clung onto and I even wrote it down, like on an index card, and put it on our refrigerator and just looked at it. And which is just crazy, though, because I wrote down my ideas and notes that we were going to talk about early this morning, and then we went to church today and Chad said this exact verse and explained it kind of how sometimes people can take it out of context whenever it says do not be anxious about anything, that they almost misunderstand the concept of do not be anxious about anything. It's not a god of of punishment or how would you say like, it's not a mean thing, it's not do not be anxious about anything. He kind of used the example of like whenever his kids come in in a thunderstorm, he doesn't yell at them like do not be anxious about anything, it's more of like hey, like, don't be anxious, come here like your dad's here, I've got you, you're, you're gonna be okay, and that's really how I'd always received it in this. This scripture really brought me peace in that time. Man, we're really hitting on Chad today.
Speaker 1:Chad also said he was preaching yeah, he was preaching a sermon amidst all of this that was going on, um, and he had given a powerful message about baptism and something he said had really stuck with me. He mentioned that some of us were christened as babies, which, of course, we both were, because we were both raised Catholic and he talked about how some people feel like they don't need to be baptized again because it might be going against their parents' wishes that they wanted for them, or that they felt like they already had been baptized or whatever it may be. And honestly, that's how I felt and that's kind of how you express that. You felt too right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I kind of felt the exact same way, like I'd already been baptized. I was good and I had been through church and I'd seen baptism before and I always thought it was kind of I don't know how to say it, but I always felt kind of weird about the whole situation. And then, once he actually explained it to me, some things started moving within me, and then we had those conversations. But it at least started the conversation between us, because I think we were both feeling the same thing in the same moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's kind of what I was going to say too is that you know he explained it like your parents christened you because they had dreams for you to have a relationship with God and you're not going against what your parents wanted, but you're fulfilling everything they prayed for you. And that really hit me hard because we had just baptized or just christened Cru Pearl in the Catholic church not long before that. So I remember like standing there in such conviction and it being so clear that of course that's that's what's happening, because that is exactly what we just did and that's absolutely what we pray for. Her is to have a relationship with God, and that was kind of like our dedication to her that we will raise her like in faith and love and hopefully one day that she'll choose to have a relationship with God on her own. Whenever that comes, that she needs to make that decision. And I could feel you standing next to me, like holding my hand, and I could sense that you were feeling the same way, but neither of us said anything like in that moment. And he really did like an altar call then and people went up and got baptized right there and right as we got in the car. We got crew buckled in, we looked at each other and we both said like we should have gone and got baptized. We were both feeling it and so it really was heavy on our hearts.
Speaker 1:And that night we went for a walk at our park, and it was October. We had been on a walk at this park every single night for years, because this is we live in the house that I grew up in, so I have been on a walk at this park every night for years and years and years 20 years and we were on a walk and we were talking about that. We felt like we should get baptized, um, and kind of how we felt about what he had spoke about. And crew Pearl was just kind of toddling along at that point, but she wanted us to sit in the grass and she was going to walk along the trail and it's like an asphalt trail, um, and she's toddling in front of us and she's looking back at us smiling, and all of a sudden a snake comes out of the grass and goes across the path and she's looking back at us and I don't. She didn't see the snake and the snake didn't see her and she tripped over the snake and it coiled her up. How do you say it?
Speaker 2:um, how do you, yeah, coil up. So they coiled up, they kind of got wrapped up. She fell over.
Speaker 1:She fell like three times and the snake was all around her, wrapped around her and I jump up out of the grass and go like sprint I don't even remember like sprint over there and rip the snake off of her.
Speaker 2:It was like a superhuman moment because I was even in the moment. I saw everything happening. I was looking at the sunset, I saw the snake kind of going across. Crew didn't see it.
Speaker 2:They got wrapped up and then, as soon as I knew it, my wife was already up. My wife was already grabbing the snake by the tail and ripping it off of my, off of our daughter, and I didn't even have time to like stand up yet. So even seeing that kind of I know they talk about moms lifting cars off of their children or whatever but I feel like it was another time like that like my wife moved with super speed, got over there, got the snake off, threw it off, made sure our daughter was okay and all I, all I could do was go up and after I I just pretty much identified the snake and then it came back. We, we took, I took pictures of the snakes, we saw it, I kicked it, we kicked it off, um, and it ended up being a little water moccasin, not a little water moccasin the size of my daughter, water moccasin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was huge.
Speaker 1:Maybe four feet long, would say three to four feet long, but it was. It was thick, it was huge, it was scary, it was so scary and so sorry. Anytime I talk about my kids I'll probably cry, so I'm, you know, bear with me. But so we get the snake off of her and I immediately start taking her clothes off of her and we're running back to the house, because now we have to go all the way through the trails, through the park, through the neighborhood and back to the house.
Speaker 1:Um, I don't even know where Jordan is at this point. He's back trying to find like what kind of snake, cause we don't know if she's been bit. She's bleeding. I'm bleeding, like there's, just we don't know what is what, and so I'm taking off all of her clothes. I don't even know where they were or where we put them, um, and we get back to the house and we get inside, and I've worked in the ER in the past and all I can think of is, like these cases that I've seen and that is kind of a theme in my life too, is that I just have a hard time like leaving some of that in the past, and so I am struggling to like put on my logical nurse brain because my mom brain is like taking over, overwhelming.
Speaker 1:I can't think straight. So I have Jordan call my mom, who can at least speak like some logic and truth, and she's obviously saying you need to go to the ER because we can't tell if she's been bit or if I've been bit or anything. So we get in the car and we take her to the er. There's a local er in snakes. However, you want to say it, yeah, yeah, like that's his specialty and like what in the world, how is that possible? So we're telling him the story and I could tell at first he was kind of like what I don't know, you know. And then Jordan shows in the picture and he just kind of explains like how lucky we are and she does not, she's not bit.
Speaker 1:There's no bite on her. The blood is like just from me tackling her on the asphalt um and we get from you tackling her, from her getting tripped up yes, well, I also tackled her.
Speaker 1:It was an event, um, and so we're all fine, everyone's fine, and we leave, and it was just the craziest thing that I think I've ever been through. And so, as we're driving home in the silence with our safe, healthy baby in the car, we look at each other and we are like we need to get baptized, like that was our sign, I think.
Speaker 2:I come into Jesus moment. Yeah, yeah, that's what I like to call it.
Speaker 1:And so we text um one of the pastors at our church and say, like we're ready, Like we need to, we want to get baptized. And the next night we go into the church and it's just us and James, one of the preachers on staff, and Jordan got baptized first, and then he baptized me, and so I feel like that's I don't know that it was just like the start of our new lives again, Um, and that decision truly deepened my faith and transformed every part about me. Like every part about me. I don't know. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2:Um, pretty similar. I had never really uh, to be honest, I've never read the Bible before this. And after that, we we kind of both sat down and decided what we wanted to pour into our children, what we wanted into our lives, where we wanted to take this, and I think the decision was pretty easy. So we started reading the Bible. I went through it by myself, just randomly reading whatever, but now we're on this Bible app. Every day we read a little bit and get it and I'm really enjoying it and it's. It really has changed changed, kind of changed, but even changed your outlook on life and outlook on situations and how you deal with different things.
Speaker 1:And we've both been very blessed with mentors that apport into our lives, like right around the time that we had Cruz. When Jamie came into your life, it was very strong Christian leader and a great mentor to you and I feel like becoming a mom put me in the space to be a part of mom collective, which you'll hear me talk about, and game leaders that have poured into me and other moms that have poured into me, and it just has opened so many doors and like why, like I said, widening my circle to those people that just speak truth into you has made such a difference. And later that, well, the next month, we found out that we were pregnant with Wilder. So that was just also kind of another crazy thing. That is so much gratitude in that time and like being in it, I would say being in it, I felt that that was the hardest season of my life that I had gone through and then, looking back on it, that was the best season of my life that I have gone through, the most fruitful.
Speaker 2:Most fruitful, most transformative, I would say, and it really put us in the right direction.
Speaker 1:It absolutely did. So that brings us up to speed, and here we are feeling deeply passionate about our children having their own relationship with God. We truly believe that this is the most important thing that we can do as parents is, you know, building that trust and that strength for them to have their own walk with faith, and we hope that we can just show them by our own actions and then you know whenever it's time they have their own relationship and choose him every time. So, babe, can you talk a little about the characteristics that we've chosen for Wilder and why you see these important?
Speaker 2:Yeah, our characteristics for Wilder even as we go through it, as we've been looking into it, it's not really characteristics specifically. I guess it is specifically for Wilder, but also specifically for what I think is most important in life and what young men should strive to be, and it's something that's kind of come in later in life. Like you said, Jamie came into my life and I think he's led me in the right direction, but led by example, and kind of gave me a whole mindset shift and my coaching philosophy has changed. What we look for has changed, but our five words that we went for were happy, healthy, strong.
Speaker 1:Faithful, what do we?
Speaker 2:decide yeah, faithful God-fearing or faithful.
Speaker 1:I think that's what we decided happy, healthy, strong, faithful. We didn't pick a fifth one.
Speaker 3:I don't think we have a fifth one everything.
Speaker 1:So we'll have to pray over that and see we still have some time.
Speaker 1:Right now we're recording, it's March 2nd and his dedication is at the end of March, so we're excited about that. And one of the other questions that we were asked to think about were the people that we wanted to pour into our child's life, and I couldn't help but feel just so incredibly grateful because we were given eight invitations. Incredibly grateful because we were given eight invitations and we are so blessed to have siblings and in-laws and friends that are more like family. We have an amazing amazing church community, um, that our kids see as family, and on top of that we have a soccer community that loves and cares for our children. Crew is blessed to attend a wonderful preschool that has amazing leaders and staff who love her so dearly, and we had a hard time picking eight people Like we just had to do our parents and grandparents, because we could not have enough invitations for how many people we could think of that we would want to be there and that just felt like so overwhelmingly clear how blessed we are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Great problem to have.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So to all the people who pour into our children and who will continue to pour into our children and the people who come into their lives, please know that we pray for you daily. We're going to interrupt just for a moment for a special guest.
Speaker 3:Hey, I'm a big sister and I can help my water.
Speaker 1:Okay, Cooper. So dad and I were talking about who would help brother and who would help him love Jesus. Me me, me and love like Jesus, me, me, me, me, me. In love like jesus, me, me, me, me, me, you. Yes, who is your best friend wilder? Can you tell everyone what is your name? Crew, pearl, crew, pearl, how old are you? Three, three, and your best friend is wilder. And did you know that it's almost Wilder's baby dedication?
Speaker 3:Me, me me.
Speaker 1:Do you know what a baby dedication is? Yeah, you do. What is it?
Speaker 3:It's where babies can play. Get the baby toy with the big sister and he's going to learn to crawl.
Speaker 1:That's pretty good, yeah, it's so. Whenever, like mommies and daddies and big sisters and big brothers, say that they're going to help teach their baby to know and love Jesus, and I thought, well, you love Jesus, don't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true, don't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true, it's true, yeah. What is your favorite Jesus song?
Speaker 3:Pray Lord on my soul.
Speaker 1:Oh, that is a good one. You do love that one, don't you? Yeah, yeah. What are you going to tell Brother about Jesus?
Speaker 3:It's super fun to play with sister.
Speaker 1:It is super fun to play with sister. Do you think brother's gonna grow up and love Jesus like you do?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and get a popsicle. It's super yucky.
Speaker 1:He's gonna get a popsicle. That's super yucky.
Speaker 3:No, I just eat it, like a bird going to get a popsicle.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 3:It's super yucky.
Speaker 1:What are you going to tell Brother? If he's ever scared, Will you say Brother, you're brave.
Speaker 3:You're smart, you're strong.
Speaker 1:Can you say a prayer for Brother? Thank you for today.
Speaker 3:We pray woofy and fruity and mommy and louder and crazy Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen and please help everyone.
Speaker 3:I want to say Shh, I've seen that I want to say and happy and healthy. Love Jesus, and love like Jesus.
Speaker 1:Amen, good job. Creeper Say say thank you, thank you, and we are so grateful More than words can express. Thank you, thank you. Anything else you have, that's all I got. Yeah, well, thank you, so grateful, more than words can express Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you Anything else you have.
Speaker 1:That's all I got, yeah, well, thank you so much. Thanks for having me For being here today and sharing your heart with all of us. I'm so grateful for you and everything you do for our family and our children, all your love and support and unwavering faith. You're truly a blessing and I love you more than words can say. I'm so thankful to have you by my side in this journey and thank you for being part of this podcast. I love you.
Speaker 1:Love you too, Mama. I'm so grateful that you took time out of your busy schedule today to listen to Mama of the Wild Crew podcast. I'm Alexa Schmoker and I hope you love this conversation and that it resonated with you. Thank you so much for opening up your circle and letting us in as we walk through this wild ride of motherhood together. Remember, in the chaos of motherhood, there is always joy to be found, so keep looking in those little moments that make it all worth it. Be sure to follow along on Instagram at mamaofthewildcrew underscore podcast. Please don't forget to like, subscribe and share our podcast. I'd love to hear from you, so comment, tag me, DM me, let me know what you think and let me know what you'd like to hear next. Mama, I am praying for you, I love you and I cannot wait to see you next time.
