Untold Stories and a whole lot of Sarcasm

So excited to drop our first episode of Us Unveiled! 🤍

We're a Christian couple unpacking the real stuff: the laughs, the random moments, and the realities of marriage and everyday life. Each week, we keep it fun, light and honest while sharing what God is teaching us through it all. From Sunday sermons to everyday situations, we break down how faith actually plays out in real life (not just in church). 

Episode 01 is a lot - we talk about Joseph's hyper fixations, tell stories from when we first met, got married, and also get into the Devil's recent attacks on our lives. 

If you don't know Amanda and Joseph, you're about to know them really well after this episode! 😁

⛪️ Dropping the church service we referred to here: 
https://youtu.be/LyBJ6WTkoII?si=pDjbxn25geVd4YEO

‼️ Don't forget to follow and leave a comment to help us out  and let us know what you'd like to see more of on this series! Sooo much more to get into!!

➡️ Subscribe to my YouTube channel or follow along wherever you listen to your podcasts, as we will drop new episodes weekly. You also can't miss the everyday fun on my Instagram stories @movinwithmandy - https://www.instagram.com/movinwithmandy/

Thanks for letting us talk your ears off ! 😋

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hey y'all, welcome to Us Unveiled!

unknown 0:03

Woo!

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Woo! Our new So excited! How excited.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

This is our new YouTube slash maybe podcast. I'm not really sure what to couple it, but it's episode one.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

The best one.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Kind of nervy.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

You shouldn't be. Well, I feel like You're literally the pro at this. I'm the one who should be nervous.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

I know, and you're coming in here relaxed and chill and like.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

This is easy.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

He's like, I got this. You want me to be sarcastic and come in here and talk? While I'm over here setting up these lights and I'm like, We're just talking about life. We are we're just talking about life. Life of a Christian couple, realities.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Our boringslash mildly adventurous life.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Oh, you think it's boring now, huh?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

No, I just It's mildly adventurous. That's what I would call it.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

I don't know what that means exactly.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Well, we're not like the most the most adventurous, but we we do have fun and I feel like there's I think I'm a hoot and a hauler.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

I don't know about you, but Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Sure. That's what you want to call yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

So uh lately Joseph has had these fixations in life in general. He just has these like hyper fixations that he like is so about, and that's like all you hear him talk about for.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Are we talking about the shirts right now?

SPEAKER_02 1:27

We're talking about the shirts. He knows it.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

This is dumb.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

He he it is dumb.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Okay, you know what it's not dumb actually, because it it is a serious matter. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

So he talks about this at least once a day every day, and it's the fifth t-shirts.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Cotton t-shirts. I've been on the pursuit for good cotton, preferably organic cotton t-shirts. And let me tell you, they are so hard to find.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Key, but do you hear this? He makes it a pursuit.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

It's not a it is a pursuit when you try it. Well, and then the other thing too is you have to order it, then you have to wait for the order and then you try them on, and then you return like all but one.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah, you spend like $400 on clothes and then in the same different colored t-shirts, but the same t-shirt, and then you return them all, and then we have to do it all over again every single week.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Well, and then they're from you know, God knows where, and they're all sized differently, which is super frustrating. I mean, how hard is it to find a nice cotton t-shirt? And I have hope right now.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

I just don't understand what the difference is. Like, he I know you don't want the like box the boxy fit. You don't want the boxy fit, you don't want them too short. Like, I know this because you've told me so many times. He doesn't want you don't want them too tight around this around the arms.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Which but I'm right up on the on the armpit, it's not okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

But like the people with my buff muscles, like, you don't even have buff muscles yet. Like, yet um keyword yet in progress.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

You don't even have buff muscles. That is something every man desires to hear from their wife.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

You have so many other amazing qualities.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Why don't you name a few?

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Anyways, so but like those guys have like the giant arm muscles like biceps, they're not complaining about the fit of their shirts, and those things fit those them tight.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

That's because they're buff, they don't have to worry about anything.

SPEAKER_04 3:26

What do you have to worry about?

SPEAKER_01 3:29

The belly?

SPEAKER_04 3:30

Come on, come on, do we have to like oh gosh, okay. Well, if anybody has any t-shirt recommendations, please drop that.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Well, I actually hold on, time out. I'm on like brand what three or four right now of ordering returning right now. I'm waiting on an order from built B-Y-L-T, I think. And I have a lot of faith in those things.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

I think You know you've ordered those in the past and didn't like.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

I don't think I did though.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Yeah, you did.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

No.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

You ordered the scoop bottom though.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

But these are these are just the the flat bottom. Okay. So I I think they're the ones. Oh. They seem like they're the ones.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Shoot, I've liked almost every single every single one that he's gotten, I've thought, looked the exact same and was honestly really nice. So Built. I don't know. And then he's gonna get it and complain even more.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

No.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Anyways.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

So You're already making me tired. I already had a late night last night.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

What was your late night?

SPEAKER_01 4:31

I I don't know. I can't lately I've been waking up for no reason, and I've been like starving at two o'clock. And so last night I tried to like power through and just go back to bed because normally I get up and eat a protein bar, which is becoming a bad habit.

SPEAKER_05 4:49

You told me to stop doing that.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Yeah, so I last night I tried to power through, and after an hour of powering through, it did not power through, and I gave gave in and had a protein bar.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah, no, 3 a.m. I literally wake up and I'm like, where is Joseph? I literally, I'm like, probably because I'm like rumbling around. No, you weren't even there.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

So I texted him and was like, Joseph, where are you? Are you home? Are you okay?

SPEAKER_01 5:19

I'm like that that kid in the pantry.

SPEAKER_04 5:21

Like you are, you're like you're like sly. You're you're probably you probably have a stash of cookies hiding in the pantry for your late night snack.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

No, but that's a good idea. Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 5:33

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Well, but anyways, yeah, I I don't know what the deal is. I'm mildly convinced it's a uh um a blood sugar problem. I'm I'm self-diagnosing myself because it's the weirdest thing. I'll wake up, well, and specifically too, it's when I have like a lot of uh carbs before bed. So like Yeah, we definitely didn't have any vegetables. Like pasta, stuff like that. And then if I go to bed, I'll wake up and I'm like super high strung. And then I'll eat that protein and I'm done. I'm knocked out. Wow. Yeah, this is crazy stuff. So suggestions, anyone? You know what else is becoming a bad habit.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

It is becoming a bad habit. You know what else is crazy?

unknown 6:20

What?

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Um, when we took our couples' photos the other day.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

What about them?

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Well, first of all, the internet thought I was pregnant.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

I wish.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

They're kind of exciting.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Unfortunately, no.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

No, they could there could be banned for it when those when I post those photos and they're like, oh, they were literally just couples' photos.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yeah, and they're actually pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

They were such good couples.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

It was probably one of the more like natural ones.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

But do you know how many DMs I got that literally were like, oh my gosh, you're about to announce a pregnancy. Oh my gosh, she's finally pregnant. I've been praying for you, you're pregnant. And I'm like, Nope. Nope.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

You and I were both about to be disappointed when those photos come out.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

But the photos were good though.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

The fo yes, we got a sneak peek of the photos.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

And I will say too, the minute you are pregnant, people will know.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

Why?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Because I feel like you're gonna be so excited, both of us are gonna be, that we're you think we're gonna be able to hold that in for.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

Oh, I'm not keeping it secret.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

I don't know how people hold that in for what is it?

SPEAKER_02 7:32

What's the normal four weeks at least? Yeah, give it like that's before a lot of people even tell family and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Really?

SPEAKER_02 7:40

I said, uh-uh, I'm gonna be spilling the tea. Y'all will know before.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

I mean, I get it why you would wait, you know, just to be safe.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Yeah, but like I also want people to know, like, if something was to happen, um, so that like if I like am not on social media as much, and if I'm like not as joyful as I typically am, like there's a reason for that, and it's normal, and people go through this stuff, and I want the support from my community.

SPEAKER_04 8:06

Like, yeah, but also if I'm pregnant that's hard though.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

That is hard. But also if I'm pregnant, I want the full nine months of pregnancy. I don't want just seven months. I want nine months of me sitting on a throne.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Does everyone know that pregnancy apparently starts like potentially be f like what is it? Nine it could be longer than nine months.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Well, yeah, technically it's like ten months. But it's like the start of it starts at the date of your last.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

I'm 31 years old, and I just found that out this last year.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Joseph, we just never had a baby. There's gonna be about to be a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

I was a baby at one point, though.

SPEAKER_04 8:45

There's about to be a lot of things that you're about to find out.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

We're in for it.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

I got it. We got it.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

We'll see if this even happens.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

I think we're so prepared.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Aside from like To be parents or what?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah. Um I feel like five years ago, we would have been fine, but now, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

I think it's funny because we've been married now, going into nine years this year.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

A long time ago. What do you got planned for a tenure? That's a real question.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Oh, I don't know. All of my all of my DCC friends want us to throw a second wedding, like a 10-year renewal, vow renewal, so that they can be a part of it too, because they've never been a part of my wedding. Yeah, anywhere. They probably go. I mean, I go to all their weddings all over the place. They can come to my wedding anywhere else. I honestly don't think I want a wedding though. I already had my wedding.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

What would you do? Like a party?

SPEAKER_02 9:47

I don't even know. Like, do I I I don't need to be celebrated. I kind of like I'm good with just like a two point.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Who doesn't love a uh a wedding 2.0? I've never even been.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Been to a wedding 2.0?

unknown 10:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Well no, nobody we know has been married this long time.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

By the way, too, we're not talking like a wedding where they got divorced and then are remarrying because that does happen. It does. That you've been to one just a uh renewal.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Yes. I don't, I don't, I just don't know. I know. Am I being boring by that?

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Kind of. I mean, I want to have fun.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

I just like I'm like, do I need an excuse for uh I I love party planning? I don't know. I may maybe we throw a big tenure, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

I think it'd be fun.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

That would be fun. We got a year to plan. If we throw like a wedding 2.0 though, we probably need to start planning right now.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yeah. Are you gonna like dress up? Full wedding?

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Like Halloween? Or like what do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

No.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

Dress up.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

No, like go find your dress and put it on. Where is your dress, by the way?

SPEAKER_04 10:59

Oh, you want me to put on my old dress?

SPEAKER_01 11:01

No, I am I I'm actually genuinely curious. Where is your dress?

SPEAKER_04 11:05

This is embarrassing.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Where is it? Where do you think it is? I don't know. Great question. Where's my crocs, too? Because I would love to know that too.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Oh, I knew that was coming. Okay, we'll talk about the procs another one.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

By the way, too, I asked you two or three weeks ago, and you told me then you would find them or reveal where they were, and I still haven't been given an answer.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

To give y'all a kind of like behind the scenes on what we're even talking about.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

All of our friends seem to want to buy Joseph Crocs because they know that I don't like them. So for years, friends have gotten him Crocs.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Well, I like them.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

And I don't. So I have tossed them every time he's received them or given them to somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

I have to follow my sword every single time I gave them away. I had these beautiful camouflage crocs that even had the pins on them.

SPEAKER_04 12:10

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

They were cool pins too. They had like Texas, you name it. I had to give them away to my dad.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Thankfully, someone were there out of our pick them and use them.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

Yeah, so he got another pair from one of our friends, and and he wore them. I let him I let you wear them for a couple weeks, and then I hit him one day, and he he didn't realize he forgot about them. So, and it went on for probably a month. He did not notice that I had hid his crogs until it came back up in conversation one day, and he's like, Where are those things? I haven't seen those things in a long time.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

I was not happy about it.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

I said, Well, they're in hiding.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

You acted like you threw them away.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Maybe I did.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Alright. Well, either way, they need to come back. It's not right. I don't throw any of your stuff away.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

The wedding dress was not thrown away.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Where is it?

SPEAKER_02 13:08

It's embarrassing because I I okay, let me just um preface with the fact that I got married at 20 years old and I had never been to a wedding. My wedding was my first wedding. I knew nothing about I didn't even know what a spray tan was at my wedding. So, like, that'll tell you something.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Can you just tell us where the dress is? I feel like you're beating around the bush here.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Well the dress is like, I think it's just like folded or up in a in a bin in the garage.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

In a bin in the garage. There could be spiders crawling around in that thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

I'm never gonna wear it again. If we do a wedding 2.0, I wouldn't wear that dress again because I wouldn't pick that dress. That was 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

You looked beautiful in that dress though.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Thanks. You're so kind.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

I need you to to dye your hair blonde.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

Oh, and get no.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Get rid of the get rid of any sort of tan. And in fact, do really, really dark hair makeup.

SPEAKER_04 14:09

Just okay, then you need to do the opposite because you were like super, super dark.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

I also had hair that was like a half an inch long. Like all around. It was like a little bit more. Damn.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

You looked good though. You were you were so tan. He was a ranch hand. Like, this is back in California too. He was a he was a country boy when I met him. But he was also.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

I was a real hold on. We need to tell you a real country boy too. You come to it's so funny. When we came to Texas, I was totally thinking, like, oh, this is the place where it's like country, all this stuff. Um, not Dallas. Dallas is like the most bougie city place I've ever been to. Bougie. And I feel like we're just in LA, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

It doesn't feel like I mean it's not LA.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

I don't want to go that far. No, but it is a big city. It's it's big.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Even Frisco's getting very big city.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

But not to derail from what we were talking about is the country boy. I worked on a cattle ranch and I loved it.

SPEAKER_05 15:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

I mean, there were some tough moments, but I loved it. And honestly, if money wasn't an object in our lives, I would still be doing it. If I could, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

We need to get some land in the future and get you on a riding lawnmower and I would love that. Doing some cow, kettle, yeah, whatever you do with them.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Cattle calf operation.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Yeah. And then I'll just look pretty on our ranch.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

You could you could sit on the front porch and in your rocking chair.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

You know, it's my dream come true.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

And then I could roll up and say, hey, wife, looking good today.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Howdy, wife.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

And then the sun will be coming down and we'll just look out into the sunset and think, wow, what a dream.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Oh dream. What a life I'm dreaming.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

That is the dream.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

That is the dream. That's my dream. In Texas or where?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

I know. I don't know if I should reveal this.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Okay.

unknown 16:12

California.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

I'm pretty sure everybody heard you.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

No, California is like Oh, I just it's so beautiful. It's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

It's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Like, honestly, if you could get a plot of land in California in the hills, probably Northern California, and not really see a whole lot of people, and just have like a beautiful sunset with the oak trees and the hills, like I don't know what more there is to life.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

And then you don't have to work. I would be so no, you do have to work.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Oh, you're thinking retired, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

I'm thinking I'm no thinking retired. I'm not thinking retired. I'm thinking just not working.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

I don't know what that even means.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Okay, well, let's let's talk about how, because it's the first episode and we're kind of like already on this track, I feel like we should tell everybody about how we first met.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Who?

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Well, I swooped into a Starbucks and who was the barista there making all the good coffee and lattes for all the folks.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

She was a tall blonde at the time. Wink wink. And uh what what did I order?

SPEAKER_03 17:29

Let's first um oh you do you like the tall blonde coffees?

SPEAKER_02 17:33

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

I was literally on something and you just kind of derailed me.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

I missed it. I'm so sorry. Yeah, so when I was 16, I started working at Starbucks.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

But I did not meet her when she was 16. Let's let's be clear there.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Thank the Lord. This all happened like literally. You asked me out on a date like a few months after I graduated high school. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Then I was 20.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

So I had worked at Starbucks for a few years as a barista.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

I was in like year two of college.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

I was getting numbers like all the time from people. Like they would like hand me their number at Starbucks. Starbucks customers were great. They would literally be like, oh, what's your number? Like you'd think I would write my number on people on the cups. No, people were handing me their numbers on their receipts and stuff. I used to have a box in the back that had like just a stack of phone numbers. Nope. Never ever ever. And then this guy walks in, and I would nerve it.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

And it it probably is good to mention I worked at a bank at the time through college.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

Also on the cattle ranch.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah, worked in the cattle ranch in the morning and then bank during the day. And then I would go to school in the evening a lot of times. So when I met you, the first time you saw me was in a suit.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

He was in that suit and tie. Y'all, you want to talk about like love at first sight?

SPEAKER_01 19:00

The funniest part is too, so you're like all gung-ho about like the country life now. If I had met Amanda and she had seen me in Wranglers and cowboy boots when we first met, there's no way I would have had a chance with her.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

That was not about the country life.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

She hated it. She threw away all my wranglers. I after we eventually, you know, started dating.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Yeah, I did. I threw them all away. I didn't like it.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

But anyways, keep keep going on how good I looked.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Yeah, tell him, tell him everything.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

He was so cute. He was very, very tan because he worked outside on the cattle ranch, so he was dark. And then he wore a suit and tie. You just you just looked good. And you would come in early in the morning, like what, 5, 6 a.m.? Something.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Probably like six.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Six? Well, and then in the suit. Sometimes you'd be in the suit because you would go, I don't know. I have no idea. But, anyways, he would come in, he would order himself a sausage breakfast sandwich and a black coffee. Tall blonde. There you go. That was the tall blonde. Anyways, I all the girls behind the counter would always be like, Amanda. Amanda Joseph's outside. Joseph's outside. He's coming in. Joseph's coming in, and I'm like, okay, okay. So we all we all get nervous, and Joseph would come in and get his coffee, sprint out the door, running for the field as fast as he could.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

Not one word was spoken to me.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

I was nervous. Nervous? I was. You were so pretty.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

You would run away from me.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

You were so pretty, and I just didn't want to like say the wrong thing. So I needed to well, and I needed to make sure you knew who I was.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Well, and then his mom later told me that every time he would come into Starbucks, he would then get in the car afterwards and call her and say, That pretty barista was there again.

SPEAKER_04 20:53

Like, oh, that's so sweet. It was love at first sight were both of us.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Yeah, I'm surprised that you uh had some interest in me, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

He was so cute and so nice, and it was obviously meant to be. I feel like God was putting us together.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

He definitely did. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of crazy how like looking back on everything, like I mean, I shouldn't even have been in that small town.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

Okay, so that's the weird part is Joseph is born, well, he was born in Olympia, Washington, and I was born in Olympia, Washington. Weird.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Secondly, Joseph and I both lived in this small town of what, a thousand people at the time?

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Yeah, it was tiny.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Called Rainier, Washington. And we both had lived there at the exact same time for a couple years. Families didn't.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

This is also how we knew it was like love at first sight. It was meant to be. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:50

Yeah. You know, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

You get it.

SPEAKER_04 21:54

Um, so uh where was I at? Now I'm lost.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Just all these.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Things were like Yeah, but our families didn't know each other or anything. And then my parents move us out to California, and that's where I'm raised in Northern California. Joseph goes out there for college. And like, what are the odds of it?

SPEAKER_01 22:14

But Yieldsburg, though?

SPEAKER_02 22:15

In like this small little town?

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Actually, man. And Yieldsburg was like, I don't know, what was it, seven or eight thousand or ten? I don't know. Either way.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

It was like 15. It was like probably.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Either way, it was small.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Yeah, it was a small town.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

It was just a small little farming town.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

Yeah, it was a wine town. It was a touristy win town. But uh, but yeah, so like what are the odds that after all of that, like we end up meeting together and like I feel like there were all these invisible strings that just made us connect and then poof sparks and love.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Our first kiss?

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Oh wait, wait, okay, tell them about wait, wait, what? You have to go back. Okay, so at Starbucks when you finally approached me. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Do we have to say this part?

SPEAKER_02 23:06

You want me to tell?

SPEAKER_01 23:07

No, I'll I'll say it.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

I think I might tell a little better.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

I think I was wearing glasses at the time, and I came up to Amanda's.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Wait, what day at Starbucks was it though?

SPEAKER_01 23:17

It was nerd day.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Yeah, so Starbucks had been around.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Starbucks used to do dress up days.

SPEAKER_03 23:23

Like high school. I loved them. I thrived in them.

unknown 23:26

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

So I'm in suspenders. I have glasses with tape around the front. What else? I I I think I was wearing like I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

I just looked like a nerd.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

But I went I went up to Amanda and I said, So what did I say? What if if I'm wearing glasses or so, does glasses make me a nerd or something like that? Something like that.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Like, does does glasses qualify me as a nerd?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

And she got beat red. She just like You're lying.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

You're lying.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

She was so nervous. She had no idea what to say. No. No, I'm joking here. I was the one who was like shaking at the hip.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

I don't know your hip control.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Anyways, so finally she responded and said I was like, well, maybe, or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

And then we kind of got to talking. So we're I'm at the Starbucks bar making drinks, and he's over on the other side of the bar. So we're like talking at the bar. And um, and he starts talking to me about stocks and bonds.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Alright. I I didn't You sure did.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

And I was like, yeah, and I'm like, and I just remember I was trying so hard.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Do you know what it was actually? I'm gonna defend myself here. Okay, I had I used to like to get the Wall Street Journal and just to like glance through it and like not on his phone, like the physical newspapers. Anyways, so I had the Wall Street Journal, and I think you were actually trying to start conversation with me. Instead of reading the paper. You said something about the Wall Street Journal, and I'm like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

No, because I had never heard of the Wall Street Journal. I didn't even know what that was.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

I knew what it was.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

I was just like, this man has a newspaper in his hand.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

How old is he?

SPEAKER_01 25:08

So that led to me getting her number.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

No, no, hold on. Can we just skip to the part? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Go visit. So I asked her for her number.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

And you asked me on a dinner date.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

Yes. I said, hey, let's go out to dinner. And um so I was texting her, and then I'm like, you know what? I've got the perfect date for you and I. And I invited her to a birthday party.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

Not just any birthday party.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

It was a beautiful birthday party. Let's just it was in the middle of wine country.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Because it was a 60-year-old millionaire's birthday party that we went to.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Yeah, and it was nice. 60, not so I invited her to this birthday party. And she literally, you were so nervous that you didn't even drink water. Oh, I was like, I've never even heard of that.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

I had never been on a date with a guy. I I I knew I was gonna marry you. I was so nervous because I was like, man, like this is my dream guy. He I had searched him up on Facebook prior. Stalker. So you did the exact same thing, so don't even lie. We just do your homework. Yeah. Stalker. Anyway, so we both kind of knew that we were both from Washington, and we knew that there were some like invisible strings. And so, like, I was just like, man, like I really like this guy, and like I hope this works out.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

And it did.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

And it did, and it did fast.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Yeah, it did. The coolest part, I I would say the one thing with you, like as we first started dating, was I never even thought twice about like our future. Like, it was always just like what are we gonna do? Yeah, it was always just like us, and it was never a question of like you know, oh, like we're breaking up or anything like that, or she talking to other guys or anything like that. I literally didn't even think about it. It was just like boom, like running full force, just the two of us, full force, literally full force, like it, and it was fun. Like I didn't talk the first day, yeah, but then we didn't stop talking. She didn't stop talking after that. We would I actually this is funny too. Oh shit. So I became a CPA, which is what I do now.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Well, explain what that is because I feel like some people don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

An accountant.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

They do taxes, certified public accountant.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Anyways, so uh I was in an accounting class that semester that I met you, and I didn't really get the courage to say this until this last year. Um, but I actually got a D in that class. First accounting class ever. I got a D and I actually had to retake it. Um, and I can really only credit that to one person and one person only, and that's you. Because Amanda would keep me up till like what two o'clock at night?

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Just talking away.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Yeah. Well, I liked I I we yeah. I like like uh uh uh I liked you. I wanted to talk to you now.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

I'm like 10 o'clock, I'm done. Like, I don't want to talk to you.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Okay, but to be fair, you also caused me an F in a class and had I had to retake in my economics class because Joseph took the class with me and in college, and he was doing the whole class and I was doing the class, but obviously I wasn't doing it because I had this smart accountant guy that was willing to like do it for me. So I'm over here, like we would take the test together and like or at my house he would come and take the club the test at my house like later, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

We were so dumb.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

We were dumb. Um, our economics professor had tracked my IP address. I didn't even know that teachers were allowed to do that or couldn't.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Yeah, this is like 2016. This is a while ago.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

Before AI was a thing, they're tracking IP addresses. I had no idea. Who knew? Well, they attracted our IP addresses and decided that I was cheating off of Joseph. Not didn't even consider that he was cheating off of me.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Yeah, he he actually, oh, this is the I was cheating off of Jesus. He actually sent me an email saying, hey, I don't, it was almost like to the words of like I don't know if you should be friends with this person anymore.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

He was like, hey, I don't know if they're like ethical or or morally, you know, sound.

SPEAKER_04 29:47

And I'm thinking like morally sound.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

I don't know if that's a good person there.

SPEAKER_04 29:53

Oh yeah. I'm just gonna marry you were like about to marry me. We're like engaged.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

This guy made me rethink everything.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

Uh-huh. So he failed me past Joseph. I had to retake the whole class. Anyways, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

That's so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

We basically that's how we first met, and then we the 60-year-old's birthday party was a dream.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

We kissed under the stars. First kiss ever.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

It was, it was like shooting stars, it was beautiful. It was a vineyard shooting stars.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

I have to say, I used to see shooting stars in California all the time. All the time. Like probably once a month, I would say, at least.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

Texas, I don't even think there's a star except the lone star. State.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

Yeah, wherever that is.

SPEAKER_04 30:46

Whatever that is.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

I feel like we're ragging on Texas. I do. I love Texas.

SPEAKER_04 30:52

I love Texas.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

I want to understand.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

It's a great place. I love the people. I love everything about Texas. Oh, yeah, it's so funny.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Anyways, anyways, yeah. So um, should we move in on to a new topic? I kind of want to talk, let's talk faith. We've been talking a lot about us. Let's talk about the one who truly matters. The Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Jesus. Okay, so uh at our church, we talked um this last Sunday all about like your conscience and um just like differentiating your conscience from God's voice and the difference of like good conscience versus like poor conscience and stuff like that, which I thought it was good. It was so good.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

It was kind of good too, because um like he does such a good job of tying these real life things into biblical teachings too, and vice versa, and like correlating the two so it becomes practical, which um I thought is good. But it one of the biggest things I took away was like there is a difference between our conscience, which is our thoughts, and then the Holy Spirit, which is not our thoughts, it's from from God, and and on top of that, like you could be influenced by a bad conscience. The biggest thing that I took away was you can actually start with a good conscience, but if you allow like yourself to make bad decisions, even though you know it's bad, that good conscience slowly gets quieter and quieter, and you almost like become used to like making bad decisions, and I think like over time too, like it you're you're gonna run into a brick wall. Um and I feel like that's almost like God's way of waking you up, maybe. Um, but it is interesting like how you do have to be careful of like because I mean there's so many things in life where you can just kind of like brush things under the rug, and like even though you know it's kind of wrong, you can still kind of like let it go, and I feel like it might be fine in the moment, but eventually.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

But if that keeps adding up, yeah, and I think that's the difference of like fearing God versus fearing man. Yes. Is like if you fear God, you know in your heart and you can your conscience can tell you, and God can tell you, like that what you're doing is wrong and what you're doing is right. You can go back to your Bible and like make sure that what you're doing is good and that your just values and morals become a lot more aligned. But when you're fearing man, you start, you start contradicting what the Bible says, and you start like only picking pieces of what the Bible says and making you're picking and choosing to what feels good, and I think that's like where a lot of Christians like miss the point is like it's not a feel-good thing, it's a it's a structured thing.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

It's a I mean, how do you well and trust and faith? Like, we I feel like we're afraid, like, let's say that there is something that I should tell someone and I know that their reaction is gonna be bad, but it'd be easier to not tell them, yeah, it'd be much easier not to tell them, but like I have to take the I have to take the initiative, tell them, but more importantly, trust God and trust that He He's gonna figure this out, like He He's gonna control the outcome, not me. And that's the funny thing too. It's like we try to control things so much by deciding, you know, whether it's morally right or wrong when we truly know.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

That's literally what the whole Bible is about. Like I'm doing the Bible in a year, and I'm like reading through the Old Testament right now, and I'm like, dang, the whole Old Testament is just about watching humans fall when they don't trust in God, when they don't have God.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

And the the funniest part about that too is it it's just more proof that we are born sinners.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

It it's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Like we are sin is of our nature. I like to think of myself as not like a full-blown sinner, but like it is like deep down, like that's what we unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

We naturally have bad intentions sometimes for things, and even if it's even if it's not like that big of a deal to us, like it's still poor intentions.

SPEAKER_05 35:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

But it's it's when we're when we believe in God, we're called to turn away from our sinful nature and move into this new life, this new renewed life that God is doing in our body to renew us.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

And I think the Holy Spirit does help, you know, with guiding you once you do accept Jesus in your life. I mean, I've seen that at least. Like, and it's not for me, it hasn't been an over-the-night like radical change type thing, but it has been, you know, um like I would say since September or October, once I fully committed to Jesus, like I definitely have seen my life transform, you know, day by day. I've seen your life transform into you know I for me it's been fearing God. Like, and I don't say that as in like I'm scared. I mean, I am like, you know, like he controls everything and like you know dictates it all, but for me it's more so like respect and fearing disappointing his. Yeah, like you if you make a bad choice, like he's he's gonna be up like sad about that, and like through our Bible readings, like understanding God gets angry. Like He does News Flash, like I had no idea of that. Same with Jesus, like I didn't know he got I I always thought he was like, you know, give come give me a hug type thing. And then he saw him. But like he's he still has you know, he still gets disappointed, and I think fearing that has been an absolute game changer for me. Yeah, I think like you can't just like slide something under the rug, he knows.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

Oh, he knows your thoughts, he knows your actions, he knows he knows every single number of hairs you have on your head. Yeah, like he knows everything about us, so it's like we can't hide anything from him. So the only thing we can do is go run to him and ask for repentance and have him help lead us through it.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

Yep. I would say the biggest thing I've seen in my life though, since since September or October is the control aspect. Like I have full-blown, like relinquished control of my life, our life, like you name it. Like, which is something that's yeah, like let's talk about wildly crazy to me.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Because I I mean I literally have gray hair on my head, and I think it's specifically about like it wasn't even about success, it was like more so like financial freedom and like stressing out about like debt or when I first met you though, you were like, I'm gonna be a millionaire, I'm going to have all this money, I'm going to do this. You were so motivated. You woke up every day, you read the newspaper, you made the bed, you you were the most motivated individual I've ever seen at your age alone. Like, and I was like, man, and to see your transformation now, like you've really set aside like all those desires to make all this money and to like be so successful and to have the best business in the world and to do all these things, and you've really like just surrendered it to God and said, God provide, like and he he is like more than he I feel like he's at least like two times the amount of business or whatever you want to call it that I ever would have imagined was possible since I started my own business. Like he's he when you trust in God, he will provide. Yes, he and when you and he sees that you're like trying so hard, he sees that you're opening up your Bible every day, he sees that you're doing it all, and like Josh, our pastor, said last week, like he's turning you on throughout the whole thing, yeah. And it's so cool, like, and you can see it, you can see the fruit of it in your life.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

You can see that God is giving I think peace is like that's been by far the biggest thing that I've seeked, and he has given me so much peace in my life. Like, yeah, we like it's not even a dollar amount. That's the funny thing. Like, I used to be so hung up on like, oh, if I hit X dollars in investments or whatever you want to call it, like we'll be financially free, like we won't have to worry about a house payment, you name it, and I feel like there's a financial freedom that's available right now without a dollar amount like hung up on it. Just surrendering it all to God, yes, the control and understanding like he will provide.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

Well, that's the beauty of God is like he doesn't want you to do all this alone. He wants to help you, he wants you to run to him and he will help you. It's kind of like what I talked about with the I I did a speech to these little girls um last weekend, and I just talked about like our earthly desires versus like the desires of the Lord, and like how when you keep doing these like earthly things, you become so full that like you push away the Lord, and it's the same with like your conscience. Like, yeah, if you keep sinning, you're just gonna push your conscience, which is like just this counts this good counsel that you've been given since you were born, that is gonna just be blinding you, and you'll never actually know what's right from wrong anymore if you keep sinning.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

Yeah, no, it's so true.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

It's crazy. Well, it's interesting too, like, I feel like I have a pretty good conscience and a pretty good like moral values when it comes to like I grew up very like goody toosh.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

Straight edge.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

He keeps calling me this straight edge.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

I'm like that means you're a good person.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

It means I'm a square. A straight edge is a square.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

You called yourself a square, not me. Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

Joseph's a circle, if anyone was asking.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

I don't even know what that means.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

I don't either, but I just not a straight edge. Anyways, but yeah, I am, I I like to follow the rules, and but I also like to like I just like I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

Structure.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

Structure, thank you. I like structure. Um but also reading the Bible with the structure. I'm running into a lot of things that like aren't black and white, and I'm like, what's right then? Because I'm a very black and white individual, and I always err on the side of caution. So now I'm like, shoot. What's right? Like we I went to a bachelorette party a couple months, maybe a month ago or so.

SPEAKER_05 42:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

And um and I didn't have alcohol the entire time. Not one lick of alcohol. And then, and I was like, man, I'm so good. And it wasn't because I of anything, I just I just didn't want to do it. And I was proud of myself for not doing it. Um and very last day we go to a steak dinner, and I'm like, I'll have a glass of wine with dinner, right? So I have a glass of wine, one one glass, one glass of wine, walked back to the Airbnb with another girl. We I didn't go clubbing, I didn't do anything that entire time. Walked back to the Airbnb after dinner, and I'm like, man, I'm not feeling good. What's going on? I don't feel good at all. I ended up throwing up, and then I'm sitting there throwing up, and I'm looking at my friend Sophia, and I'm like, I'm so mad. Why am I throwing up right now? Like, I was so good all weekend, and the one time that I do I had one glass of wine, like, is that wrong? Because now it feels like I'm doing something wrong. Like, I throw up after one glass of wine. Who threw up on this bachelorette party? The one girl that did not drink the entire trip. So it's so frustrating because I'm like, man, like, is that God telling me that, like, hey girl, you shouldn't have had that glass of wine? Like, that's like you were doing so good, and then you like stopped, or was it the devil being like, Amanda, here, let's make you feel like you like are doing yeah, make you feel guilty for that glass of wine. Let's bring it up again.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

I think that is for sure the devil. I think one glass of wine.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

Well, and that's that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

And just fine.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

I get home and I'm literally in tears crying to Joseph, like Yeah, you were really worked up with God. I was really upset because I was like, man, I it's like you try so hard to do something like good for yourself, and like, and I felt like I had like disappointed God or something. Even though it wasn't even like I just didn't want to drink. And so it was like, what the heck? And I know it was Satan getting to me trying to tear me apart from God, but it's like those, it's those things. It's like, what did I do something wrong? Like I felt guilty for having one glass of wine. And I know it sounds so stupid, but like I was like, is this God telling me that like I shouldn't drink? That I should not have a glass of wine, or is this Satan? How dare you, Amanda? Yeah, that's how I felt. Or is this like Satan knowing my conscience and knowing that I'm going to like feel guilty if that's the case?

SPEAKER_01 44:57

And so he's Yeah, I I feel like it was definitely Satan interjecting and using your own like guilt to his advantage.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

Well, and that's the crazy thing is I think Satan knows us better than we think he does because he knows that like I have that mindset where I want to do excellent. I want to be a good person, I want to be, I strive for these things, and so it like he knows that like my conscience, my soul will be hurt. Yeah, if like I'm if I hurt somebody else or I'm not like acting like a good person or whatever. And so I feel like it was Satan that was making me feel guilty for my one glass of wine.

SPEAKER_01 45:42

Yeah, but that's like it's just crazy that he used something that is good. It's good that you have a conscience that's like you know, deciding that you shouldn't drink or whatever it is, but it's crazy that he used that against you. I wouldn't underestimate Satan.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

Don't underestimate the power that Satan has over us, that's for sure. He is the God of this world.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Little G.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

Little G of this world. Not the big G God, but he is the God of this world.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

And he'll manipulate us.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

God is more powerful though. Big G.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

And that's why we go back to our Bible to like to solidify what is right and what is wrong. What is what is the final authority? Like, is it the things of the world, the things that we feel, the guilt that we feel? What is our final authority?

SPEAKER_01 46:34

I feel like that also helps you with deception of like, because there's to your point earlier, like there's there's even pastors now that can, you know, like say things in from the Bible in a certain way that might not be actually accurate, yeah, just to make you feel good. And it's like, well, no, like you're being deceived by that. It's like you have to live and die by what the Bible says.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

You have to pick what you're finding, what your authority is if you read it, so like open your Bible and read it. Yeah. It's just like what's the what's what holds authority over your life, like how you feel, or the Bible, God's word, you know? And I think it once we pick and choose, like, um, that's how we decide to live our life. It's just so interesting. Man. Um, well, should we end our first episode?

SPEAKER_05 47:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 47:31

Yay! Oh, there it is, there it is.

SPEAKER_02 47:34

I was waiting for it. I was like, is he gonna do another sarcastic? Oh, this is so much fun. Okay, before we leave, I want to pray us out and then um, and then we'll say our goodbye. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the person behind the screen watching this video, and I thank you for the opportunity that we get to share our story and our falls and our um thriving moments and just everything that we face as a Christian couple, too, Lord. Um, I thank you for this day, and I thank you for this community. And God, I just pray over everyone watching this video and that they can see your light in everything that we do, and that they can bring your light into the world around them, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 48:16

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 48:17

Woo! We're done. Episode one is complete. He's happy that he can go back to work.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

Ah, finally.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

But like, subscribe, comment, give us direction on what you want to see in the next episode, and we will obviously take that into consideration because this is first thing.

SPEAKER_01 48:37

First go around.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

Okay.