#51: Snapshots of Joy

#51: Snapshots of Joy

Note: The Love Thy Neighborhood podcast is made for the ear, and not the eye. We would encourage you to listen to the audio for the full emotional emphasis of this episode. The following transcription may contain errors. Please refer to the audio before quoting any content from this episode. 

JESSE EUBANKS: So let me start by saying something that is pretty obvious. We are living in a time of heightened anxiety, heightened anger, burnout, depression. There’s division on social media, division in our neighborhoods, even division within the church. And it could be easy to look at all this hardship and just fall into despair. So today we wanna do something countercultural, something radical. We wanna lighten the narrative by bringing you short snapshots of people experiencing joy, and I can think of few people that I know who are as passionate about joy as my friend, Leandro Lozada. So do, do you know what we’re talking about today? 

LEANDRO LOZADA: We’re talking about joy. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

LEANDRO LOZADA: Yeah.

JESSE EUBANKS: So you talk about joy a lot. 

LEANDRO LOZADA: Yes. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Why is it such an important topic to you? 

LEANDRO LOZADA: Well, it all started, uh, about maybe 15 or 20 years ago when I, uh, went to actually Denmark to visit my dad and, uh, I was a young believer and I was like, “I need to, like, show him that Christianity is different. I need to show him that Christianity is awesome.” And uh, so I was like, “Okay, how do I do that? Well, I need to, like, be a rule keeper, like I need to do things right. I need to not lie and I need to not -” And I get to Denmark, and that plan, like, fails, like, miserably because he’s a very moral person. I mean, kind of, you know, he has his dirty laundry, but, uh, overall he’s a person that cares, uh, about truth and cares about what’s right. So there was nothing in which I had an upper hand on him when it came to, to morality. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Yeah. 

LEANDRO LOZADA: Uh, or when it came to, when it came to, you know, behaving well, quote unquote. So, uh, I came back, and I was like, “Well, well, what do I have to offer him?” And that’s when I started to – uh, John Piper influenced me back then and then I read, um, The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards and I started to think, “Wait a second. Like, I think that Christianity is not necessarily about people who are perfectly moral, but people that have had a transformation in their hearts and something about them is different.” And, uh, as I tried to understand that, I was like, “What is that? What is that?” And uh, after thinking through things, I was like, “I think that is joy.” So joy to me is, like, the key ingredient that makes a Christian stand out. It’s the key ingredient that makes the Christian experience beautiful and wonderful. It gives you peace. It gives you strength. It gives you eyes to see the world in a particular way.

One question that I often hear in Christian circles is, uh – what should you believe? Another question that’s important among Christians is, uh – what should you do? Those are wonderful questions, very important questions. A question that I don’t always hear is – what should you feel? And I believe that the answer to that question is joy. Does that mean that we cannot feel grief? No. Does that mean that we cannot be angry sometimes? No. But I mean that overall, the ultimate trajectory of the Christian life is towards joy.

JESSE EUBANKS: So today we’re going to practice joy. We’ve got five short stories of people experiencing joy – stories about family, about laughter, about nature, and about finding delight in the simplest of things. Stay with us.

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JESSE EUBANKS: You’re listening to the Love Thy Neighborhood podcast. I’m Jesse Eubanks. Today’s episode – “Snapshots of Joy.” Welcome to our corner of the urban universe.

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JESSE EUBANKS: Alright, let’s dive into our five snapshots of joy. Our first one comes from one of our own co-hosts, Lachlan Coffey. Here’s story number one – “Undefeated Joy.”

LACHLAN COFFEY: I find joy is something very difficult to bottle up and contain. It’s just not designed to be stifled. Rather, it demands an outlet, and if you don’t let joy out in some way, it will find a way out somehow. And that’s how I found myself one cold February day sitting in front of my television 10 years ago. Let me give you some context.

I love movies, but not just any movie. I love good movies, and one way that I find out if a movie is good or not is by the Oscars. So I always watch the Oscars to try to find film recommendations, and it’s a tried and true method for the most part, except for the time that the Academy gave an Oscar to Star Wars Episode One: Phantom Menace. I know, I didn’t know that either. Jar Jar Binks, guys, has an Oscar. That’s crazy. But I digress. One category of movies that I absolutely love is documentaries. And in 2012, the Oscar for the best documentary was to a film called Undefeated. Undefeated follows the true life story of an underdog high school football team in Memphis, Tennessee, trying to turn their luck around. Well, as I do, I took my cue from the Oscars, and the next day I watched this now award-winning documentary, Undefeated. I normally watch movies with my wife or my kids, but for some reason that evening they weren’t there, so I was left alone in an empty house watching this film. The movie begins with introducing you to several down on their luck high schoolers in the inner city, and of course it also has their new, very optimistic, opportunistic volunteer coach. And their football field is broke down, many of their lives are a bit in shambles, their families are broken in a lot of ways, and they have to band together to do everything in their power to achieve success. And I know it’s cliché – you know, that’s how every sports movie is, like you’re rooting for the underdogs – but it’s actually really quite inspiring. Well, without getting into any particulars – because you really should watch this movie – the movie builds towards the big game, you know, high stakes. And at this point, I invested, I don’t know, a little bit over an hour or so watching these young men. And right before the big game, the music is swelling. There’s a fervor in the air. I, I don’t know what fervor really is, but I, I could sense it. And all of a sudden, by myself with no one else around, an involuntary sentence escaped my mouth. Now, before I share this sentence, I need to note a few things. Number one, I have never lived nor live now in Memphis, Tennessee. Number two, I do not know anyone in the movie Undefeated. And number three, I don’t have a deep affection for football, let alone high school football. But here I am at the climax of this film, sitting in a recliner, no one else around – out of absolutely nowhere, I say out loud, “We can do this.”

And I remember I heard myself saying it. As it was coming out, I could hear myself saying, “We can do this.” I’m wondering who just said we – did I just say we can – What? Why would I even say that? Like, what do I mean? I mean, the word “we” implies that it’s, it was me plus the team and we’re in this together and we have got to do this. I guess that “this” is the game and we’re all in it together – I don’t know what I was thinking. It was a weird moment. But throughout this movie, I had become so swept away with pride for what these young men had achieved, and that pride had led to joy. And like I said at the beginning, joy just has to come out eventually, even when no one else is there to feel it with you. I’m not gonna tell you the outcome of the big game. Go watch this movie for yourself. It’s a fantastic film. And maybe, like me, you’ll find yourself expressing an outburst of joy, believing that this Memphis, Tennessee high school football team really can do this – well, with my help, of course.

JESSE EUBANKS: Story number two – “Big Shoes to Fill.” Our next story actually comes from producer Rachel Szabo. Hey, Rach. 

RACHEL SZABO: Hey, Jesse. Yeah, so, um, this story might not sound like a cause for joy for everyone because it, it actually involves clowns. 

JESSE EUBANKS: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Clowns can either be like delightful or horrifying.

RACHEL SZABO: Right. Yeah. But for a woman named Lenore Podolski, clowns are really joyful because she herself is a professional clown. But she’d never aspired to be. It actually all happened on a whim when one day the circus came to town.

LENORE PODOLSKI: Well, um, I studied costume design at the Goodman School of Drama, and they were having auditions for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. And I don’t know – if you’re listening out there – somebody said to me, “You know, you should go audition. You’re sort of goofy.” Ah. I was like, “I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult, but maybe I should.” So I did. And then Ringling holds auditions throughout the whole country. They would hold auditions every arena they would be in. They would hold special ones like the one they had at our college. And they would only take 50 people a year, and of those 50, 10 or 12 might be women. And they said, “Come on down.” I said, “Well, I’m a-comin’.”

RACHEL SZABO: So that’s Lenore from a conversation on the Gifts for Glory podcast. So Lenore spent the next 10 weeks in Sarasota at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College learning how to be a professional clown. 

LENORE PODOLSKI: At clown college, we covered a lot of stuff. We learned mime and juggling and all these circus skills because a lot of the clowns who go on the show would need to do other things, stilt walking, unicycling. I got to train two Dachshunds for a walk around. That’s when they are clearing different things in the rings. They have the clowns walk around with something visual while they’re, you know, setting up the trapeze or whatever, so I got to train two dogs. 

RACHEL SZABO: But, y’know, for Lenore, even beyond the fun of, like, learning all these skills and how to do these cool tricks – Lenore actually found joy in just having a place to finally belong. 

LENORE PODOLSKI: When I was growing up, I always had this weird voice people would comment on, and, and I always was kind of self-conscious of it. When I got to clown college, it was like, “Oh, this is why I have this voice. I am home. Yes.”

RACHEL SZABO: So as a clown, Lenore wears a green and yellow curly wig, she wears big green glasses, and of course, you know, she has the signature painted red nose. 

LENORE PODOLSKI: I still do clowning, but not too often anymore. Um, but I’m an Auguste clown, which is like Lou Jacobs, where it’s more flesh-colored makeup and then white around the eyes, not just all white like Bozo. The Auguste is usually the one who’s getting bonked with the hammer or tripping over something, and, um, that was me. 

RACHEL SZABO: But the highlight of clown college was actually being part of a CBS television special. So Lenore happened to be there in the year 1987, which was Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s 20th anniversary. And so CBS came to the college and filmed this TV special and celebration and the special was hosted by Dick Van Dyke and they showed a bunch of the clowns doing all their stuff. 

LENORE PODOLSKI: So I got to meet all kinds of people who graduated, and I got to meet Dick Van Dyke. I got to be up till four in the morning, you know, pretending to be funny, uh, while they were shooting. You know, it was a fun experience. 

RACHEL SZABO: And after graduating from clown college, you know, everybody hopes to get a job offer with the circus, and that’s what Lenore wanted at first too. But then she actually changed her mind. 

LENORE PODOLSKI: I did interview for some smaller circuses and I got an offer for one and seriously considered it, but I really liked my apartment. I didn’t have money to have my own RV, so I would’ve had to been on a little room in, in a 18-wheeler. They made little spunks, and then you’d get your daily five-gallon bucket of water for your water for the day. And I was like, “You know, I, I think I could be funny in a comfortable apartment.” 

RACHEL SZABO: Lenore actually went on to be a clown for private and for community events, and she still does clowning though, not very often. She spends most of her time now raising her family and making fun costumes for her two kids, and she’s also done some standup comedy with Well Versed Comedy, a Christian comedy team in Chicago. But clowning always holds a special place in her heart because she says it gives her access to be playful and joyful in ways that she otherwise just can’t.

LENORE PODOLSKI: Clowning, I think, is great because you get permission to play with people. People don’t always wanna play when you are just a regular person, but they’re a little more open to you. Like I did a, a gig once in, um, Lincoln Park and I just was riding my bike to it ’cause I lived in Lincoln Park and normally I would never mess with police, right? But I was in my full get-up and he was directing traffic and I’m like, “You know what? I’m gonna play.” So I got behind him when he wasn’t looking, was doing my, you know, mimicking his stuff, and I thought, “I’m either gonna get arrested or he’s gonna laugh,” and he laughed. So (laughs) that red nose gives you permission to play, and people will connect with you in a different level.

RACHEL SZABO: Special thanks to the Gifts for Glory podcast for Lenore’s audio. And you can find them at gifts4glory.com.

JESSE EUBANKS: One expression of joy is, of course, laughter, so here is musician and part-time standup comedian Dave Barnes with story number three – “Like Manna From Heaven.”

DAVE BARNES: So a few years ago, my wife and I, uh, had just had a paver patio built in our backyard, uh, in 12th South and, uh, here in Nashville where we live, and we’re so excited about it cause we’re gonna be celebrating, you know, this fun new little back porch we have. So we’re, we’re putting up, uh, lights in the backyard, you know, the little, um, you know, like outdoor lights, not Christmas lights – ’cause what am I, crazy? It’s not Christmas. Okay, listen, back off. Don’t judge me – but they were, uh, just, you know, like outdoor lights you can get at Home Depot, whatever. And so as we’re putting ’em up, we hear this very unique sound of something hitting the ground. And, uh, you’d be surprised at how you sort of know what things are without even knowing by the way they, they hit the ground. We’re just used to knowing like, “Oh, that was a baseball or that was, um, you know, my phone fell off the desk or that’s my youngest child falling down.” (laughs) It’s just weird how sort of God made us with this crazy ability to sort of understand by the sound of something hitting the ground what it is. But in this particular, uh, instance, Annie and I both were like, “What the heck was that?” ‘Cause it was a really weird sound. It was like you could tell it was small, but it just made a thud that I was very unfamiliar and honestly pretty uncomfortable with. And I turn around, and sure enough, it’s a piece of fried chicken. Now for context, there’s nothing above where the chicken came from. There’s no plane that’s flying overhead. There’s no second floor. There’s nothing that this chicken would come from. And so I immediately have sort of a existential crisis of like, “Why, why did the Lord gift me – is it from the Lord, first of all, but why did the Lord gift me this fried chicken?” You know, there’s a lot of things to infer from this one. You know, is this him telling me we’re about to go through, uh, a season of, uh, famine and like, “Hey Dave, you need to bulk up,” or, you know, was he answering a prayer I prayed about? “Lord, should I drop some lbs?” And he’s like, “Nah man, you need to thicken up. You know, you’re looking good. Just, let’s pack on some lbs.” Even more, was it something where some child down the road had prayed for fried chicken and, you know, just some celestial mishap, some heavenly mishap where, you know, Gabriel’s doing the arcade arm and somebody tickles him and he drops it two houses too short and then I get it and then that kid has a terrible, you know, prayer life for the rest of his life (laughs) because he didn’t get the gifted fried chicken and instead I did. And that sort of changed my whole prayer life because now I’m, I’m really believing things that aren’t true (laughs) because of, you know, Gabriel’s not good with the arcade arm where he hits a button and it drops the chicken too fast. But so Annie and I are sitting there going like, “What, what is this?” I mean, you can imagine we’re just having this hysterical conversation. We’re both laughing like, “Where did this come from? Did somebody chuck it over the fence?” Like, there was just no context for where this fried chicken was from, and so we kind of just, like, laugh about it. You know, we’re, like, trying to guess what the heck happened. And so a couple hours later, you know, we, we’re sitting on the back porch. It’s, it’s starting to, you know, turn into night and the, the sun is setting and all of a sudden we look over and we see a squirrel is running up the tree with a whole piece of pizza. So imagine the size of a squirrel and then it’s pulling a pizza, a piece of pizza up – a full piece of pizza, not a half-eaten pizza – up the tree. And I’m thinking, well, first of all, that’s impressive because that would be me like running up a tree with a Honda Accord in my mouth. I mean, that’s, (laughs) that’s about the proportions here, maybe not the weight distribution exactly, but pretty close to proportions. And then I start laughing, and I’m like, “Oh my gosh. I bet you wherever that squirrel got that pizza from is where the fried chicken came from.” And then I remember that we, you know, we had a church that was kind of catty corner to the back of our house, and I thought, “You know what? They had a big Sunday lunch out there, and I guarantee you this is just food that got in the trash can and that squirrel hit the mother load of all mother loads and, like, now he’s running a small, like, mafia ring up in the tree (laughs) where he’s got all this food housed in some hole in the tree.” And be like, “Listen Johnny, I just need a couple. Listen, I don’t need much, just a couple of bites.” He’s like, “What you gonna do for me? You know, listen. I remember when I needed some nuts. You didn’t have -” These character voices are sounding a lot like Grease as I do them, which is not exactly my intent. But it made me laugh so because I thought, man, that squirrel is running things in this neighborhood right now (laughs) ’cause he has found the mother load of human food and is just, like, gotta be setting up shop. But still to this day, every now and then, you know, I’ll, uh, see fried chicken, and it makes me think of this, uh, you know, “Donny the Squirrel, who’s up in the tree? What do you need? What do you need from me, Frankie? You need a couple pieces of, uh, the hamburger? I think it’s from McDonald’s. You know, it’s a couple days old, but still tastes pretty good. But what you gonna give me now? (laughs)

JESSE EUBANKS: We have two more stories to share, so our snapshots of joy will continue after the break. Stay with us.

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JESSE EUBANKS: Love Thy Neighborhood podcast. Jesse Eubanks. Today we’re bringing you five snapshots of joy. Here’s story number four – “Not a Turtle Disaster.” Or actually, turtle-y awesome. So this story comes from Joni Eareckson Tada and her husband Ken. Joni’s actually an author and speaker since the 1970s. She’s also a quadriplegic after a diving accident in 1967 left all four of her limbs paralyzed. As you can imagine, life can be very challenging for her at times, but she still finds cause for joy – like when her husband, Ken, decided they were going to take a vacation. So here’s Ken and Joni in an interview with Haven Today.

CHARLES MORRIS (CLIP): Ken and Joni Eareckson Tada, you’ve been married over 30 years. You never take any time off. You’re in ministry all the time. But you finally got a vacation, didn’t you? 

JONI EARECKSON TADA (CLIP): Absolutely. Ken –

KEN TADA (CLIP): We did. 

JONI EARECKSON TADA (CLIP): You insisted, didn’t you? 

KEN TADA (CLIP): I did. Joni worked so hard, so we decided, “You know what? We’re gonna take a real vacation, no ministry,” and I surprised her by asking her to go to Hawaii. 

JONI EARECKSON TADA (CLIP): And, uh, we went to the Sheraton Maui, and oh, it was beautiful. At first I’m thinking, “Man, I should have brought my computer with me. How am I gonna keep up with emails?” I kept checking my iPhone and then my iPhone went dead and I don’t know, it just felt, it just felt okay that it went dead. I didn’t have to recharge the batteries, but Ken surprised me one day. Um, the second day we were there, he took me snorkeling – me, a quadriplegic, in the ocean. Just, just imagine that, Charles – me, lying face down in the water. Last time I laid face down the water, I broke my neck. Oh no, excuse me. I think I reenacted that one scene for the movie, but still, it was pretty terrifying even then. And Ken got me dressed in my swimsuit. We had a friend along to help and, uh, the two of them, uh, manhandled me past the breakers and my one friend as we were getting me into the ocean squealed out a prayer, “Oh Jesus, please let Joni see one of your sea creatures!” Of course, what a prayer. How’s God gonna answer that? The guy from the Sheraton Maui who was watching getting me into the ocean said to Ken, “Have you done this before?” 

KEN TADA (CLIP): And I said, “No.” (laughter) We had taken a, uh, handicap accessible wheelchair down to the edge of the water and transferred Joni into the water. The thing that was, that we didn’t realize, even in an island there is a current. And so as we waded out into the, to the water, we were getting pushed back by this little current, and we got about chest high. Joni was in between the two of us. And, and so we decided we better put this mask on and snorkel quickly, otherwise we’re gonna lose time here. 

JONI EARECKSON TADA (CLIP): And I said, “Just keep the little air hose above the water. Just keep it above the water. Please.” And so he flipped me face down, I opened my eyes through the mask, and I see a giant sea turtle. Now Ken, show, show Charles how big this sea turtle was. 

KEN TADA (CLIP): Well, it’s hard to, to describe –

JONI EARECKSON TADA (CLIP): With your hands. 

KEN TADA (CLIP): Well, it’s bigger than my hands, the span on my hands. So it must have been maybe four feet in, in length, and the head on the turtle was about this big. I mean, it was this long, the neck, but the head was about this big. I mean, it was a big turtle. 

CHARLES MORRIS (CLIP): What a blessing from the Lord. And this, this, this took you back because on your honeymoon, 30-plus years before, you went to Hawaii as well, didn’t you? 

JONI EARECKSON TADA (CLIP): Yes, we did. And uh, never would I have snorkeled then. I can’t believe that, you know, being 63 years old Ken would get me in the water to go snorkeling. I was not a pretty sight, me in a swimsuit with my leg bag and catheter hanging out, but, um, you’re absolutely right. It was a gift of the Lord, Charles. Five minutes sooner in the water or five minutes later, and he would’ve swum away. But we just happened to be there. And, and right up near the edge of the water near the breakers, this sea turtle had just for some reason come close into the waves and I got a chance to see him. That was an awesome memory, and in fact, Ken bought me a gift. 

KEN TADA (CLIP): Yes, I did. And actually, she’s wearing it today. It’s a little necklace and with a turtle on it. A gold turtle. Just to remember – remembrance of our, our time in Hawaii. 

CHARLES MORRIS (CLIP): Alright, well, I’ve gotta say this because it was said 30-plus years ago and I’m sure it was said on your 30th anniversary exactly – Ken, now you may kiss the bride. 

KEN TADA (CLIP): Oh my gosh. (laughter)

CHARLES MORRIS (CLIP): Thank you, guys.

JESSE EUBANKS: Alright, we’re down to our last snapshot. This one comes from Lauren Maddux. Lauren is actually our donor relations manager here at Love Thy Neighborhood. And here’s Lauren with story number five – “Dream Girl.”

LAUREN MADDUX: For as long as I could remember, even when I was little, I had this dream of me being an adult and this little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, like, dancing around me. And, um, and that was a very constant recurring dream. And I, when I got older and I started, uh, to have babies, I thought, “Well, I wonder if God, like, gave me that dream ’cause maybe I’m supposed to have a little girl.” Well, I didn’t ever get pregnant with a little girl. But I still, even after I had both of my boys, still had this recurring dream of this little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl running around and, and, and dancing really joyfully.

JESSE EUBANKS: So fast forward several years, and Lauren actually ends up getting a divorce from her first husband. And so several years after that, she ends up meeting a guy, she gets remarried, and her husband’s name is Blake. 

LAUREN MADDUX: Yeah, so Blake and I, yeah, we are married to each other, and this is our, both of our second marriages. Um, my marriage, uh, fell apart because of infidelity, and it was really traumatic, my first marriage. And then his first marriage, um, his first wife passed away of cancer. And so I came into the marriage with two boys, and, um, and he came into our marriage with Anna Claire. 

JESSE EUBANKS: So Anna Claire is Blake’s daughter, and now she’s seven years old. But when Lauren first met her, she was actually just four years old. 

LAUREN MADDUX: When I first met Anna Claire, she immediately started running around me and twirling and dancing and she has blond, bright blonde hair and bright blue eyes and it was shocking how much that scene I had already seen so many times for years. I just could not believe that God had been preparing me with that dream of that little joyful, bouncy little girl. He had been preparing me for Anna Claire, not for me to give birth to a little girl, but for me to be with Anna Claire. 

JESSE EUBANKS: And of course, Lauren finds so much joy in being Anna Claire’s stepmom. But what Lauren didn’t know is that that joy was about to be expanded even more. 

LAUREN MADDUX: We didn’t have the boys this past weekend and Blake told me that he wanted to take Anna Claire and I out for brunch and I kind of just thought that it was, you know, he’s taking his, his girls on a date, you know, kind of. And we hadn’t done that in a while, so I was excited to go. We get there, uh, get the table, white cloth table, and I need to go to the restroom. As I came back to the table, I noticed that they were kind of whispering to each other and then I sat down and Blake said, “Hey, this brunch isn’t for you and Anna Claire specifically. It’s – we, we have a question that we want to ask you.” I was still, I hadn’t had enough coffee and I, I literally wasn’t expecting anything and I was like, “Okay.” So having no idea what they were gonna ask me. And then Anna Claire – she loves carrying purses, so she has, like, this bedazzled purse, uh, that she was taking with her for brunch. And she, out of her purse, she pulls an envelope that she had clearly drawn on and hands me the envelope and I opened the envelope and she had written on the piece of paper. It’s just like blue ink. She loves writing little notes and stuff. Um, it says, “Roses are red, violets are blue, moms are nice, and so are you.” And then big letters – “Will you adopt me?”

I was 100% stunned. Um, I kind of felt like I was being proposed to again, really similar feelings. I was really overwhelmed, um, in a really good way, and immediately, um, tears just started falling down my face. And I will say it was funny, like, as soon as I opened it and read it, then the waiter came to take our orders and I’m like, “I can’t eat.” Like, so I came there hungry. I’m not hungry anymore ’cause I was just a bundle of feelings. So I sat there for a second, I just clutched onto the paper, and I, and I just, I grabbed Anna Claire. Blake has pictures of us just holding each other, and I, and I told her, “Of course I’ll adopt you, babe.” I’m like, “Of course I will.”

I was just overwhelmed with joy and love, and that image of that dream that I had had for so long immediately popped in my head. But I’m looking at her, and I’m like, “This, this is why God gave me that dream.” I was dreaming of Anna Claire my entire life and, and that dream has been realized in our story now, today, and adopting her is just one of my deepest honors. The boys are really excited too ’cause they do say stepsister and stepbrother but, um, Samuel, my oldest, said, “I’m gonna be really excited just to say this is my sister.”

I still sometimes can’t believe this little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl is twirling around me, and I, I have not had that dream since I met Anna Claire. She is my joy. She has become my joy and getting to know her, getting to live life with her – and there’s just a lot of things I could, I could say about her – but it has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life to be invited into her world and even deeper, humbling invitation to be asked to be legally, fully her mother. Yeah, she is one of my greatest, deepest joys.

JESSE EUBANKS: So that concludes our snapshots of joy. I hope that these stories have reminded you that joy can be found almost anywhere, no matter your circumstances. In a Christian calendar, Advent is known as a season of expectant joy and our Savior’s presence in our lives was announced as good tidings of great joy and we hope you experience that joy this season. Oh, and one final thing – at the top of the episode, we heard from Leandro Lozada. And five months ago – he actually became a father. So here’s 15 seconds of his daughter Mila laughing. (Mila laughing)

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JESSE EUBANKS: If you benefited at all from this podcast, please help us out by leaving a review wherever it is that you listen to podcasts. Your review will help other people discover our show.

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JESSE EUBANKS: Special thanks to our interviewees for this episode – Leandro Lozada, Dave Barnes, Lachlan Coffey, and Lauren Maddux. Special thanks also to the Gifts for Glory podcast for Lenore’s story and to Haven Today for Joni and Ken Tada’s story. Today’s episode was hosted by me, Jesse Eubanks. Rachel Szabo is our media director, who also recently told me that her greatest wish this Christmas is just to be a contestant on The Price Is Right.

LENORE PODOLSKI: They said, “Come on down.” I said, “Well, I’m a-comin’.”

JESSE EUBANKS: Anna Tran is our audio engineer. Music for today’s episode comes from Lee Rosevere, Poddington Bear, and Blue Dot Sessions. Theme music and commercial music by Murphy DX. Apply for your social action internship supported by Christian community by visiting lovethyneighborhood.org. Serve for a summer or a year. You’ll grow in your life skills and your faith. Learn more at lovethyneighborhood.org. Which of these was a neighbor to the man in need? The one who showed mercy. Jesus tells us, “Go, and do likewise.”