Fit for Hiking

In this very special episode, I am joined by my parents, Rich and Cherry Smith. If you're new to this corner of the internet, my parents moved to Guatemala seven years ago to fulfill their life's purpose. We dive into topics like experiencing and accepting culture in a new country, hurdles and logistics of life in a developing country, reflecting on the conventional life they left in the U.S., and what they are doing now with The House of Grace - Orphan Transition Home.

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What is Fit for Hiking?

Where fitness and outdoors meet. In this space we chat all things hiking, exercise, wellness, adventure, motherhood, and metabolic health from a female perspective! Get ready to learn + be inspired to live your fullest, most adventurous life!

Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a long time fitness professional and midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. And combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for Hiking podcast. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the fit for Hiking podcast. Today I am joined by some special guests, Rich and Sherri Smith, who also happened to be my parents. We are here in Guatemala together and so I thought, why not bring them on the show? I wanted to do kind of an unconventional episode and have them share about their adventure in completely overhauling their life over the past seven years. It all began with a decision to quit their current jobs and move to Guatemala. So at age 50, they had to learn how to adjust to a completely different culture language and rebuild their lives while finding community here. So now that they're really living proof that you can start over at any age in life and pursue a higher purpose, even if it takes you places you never imagined for yourself. So without further ado, welcome to the show, you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you. This is amazing. Thanks for doing this. I'm just super relieved. This wasn't like a sneak intervention on my eating habits. 1s I mean, we can definitely go there if you want to. It's not. Let's save that for another time. Okay, so if you could just start by telling us a little bit about what it was like arriving at the decision to move to a foreign country after you guys lived in the US your whole lives. What was that like and why? Guatemala. Well, first we had this is not something we had ever, ever contemplated doing. Um, our first time out of the US, um, was to travel to Argentina in 2010 when, um, your sister was going to be doing an overseas study abroad, and we were nervous about her going out into the big scary world. And so, as you remember, we did a two week vacation, um, in Argentina. And that was our first that was my first foray into life outside of North America. And, um, so this was not something we'd ever talked about doing. We did work for years with our church, um, on the side, uh, working with young adults, working with high school and then working with university age students. And, and through that, we were exposed to some, um, short term mission trips, both in the, in the United States and outside. And I think the culmination or the combination of both of those two things, our first trip outside of the States in Latin America and then working with young people, is how God started using, um, those topics to prepare us for an enormous change. Y Guatemala, that was a combination of events that happened through introductions of family members, um, through um ministries that they were working with, with individuals here in Guatemala. And so our first trip to Guatemala, just to see it was, uh, January of 2017 and seven months later, we were living here. And we've been here now for just over six and a half years. So cool. And before that, if you could just give a little context of what your guy's life was like in Indiana at the time, I mean, this it's been like a complete 180 from what you guys were doing before. So what was that like for you? Yeah, so I worked in business finance for a really large insurance and retirement services organization. Um, I was an executive in, um, in different aspects of the organization, uh, in claims operations, HR and internal audit. So I had to life in an office every day, wearing a suit every day. Um, slaving for the man. Um, yeah. So massive change. Yeah, yeah. And we, you know, suburbia, Indianapolis and rambling tours of the Midwest. Honestly, for years. Yeah. And just and yeah, him with his career in finance and and I, me working in, in schools and uh, and with the kids and with young people with high school and college age girls discipling them, um, through our church and through, uh, local high school. Okay. Yeah. So what were some of those initial growing pains, obviously, moving to a new country after you've lived somewhere else for 50 years is a massive change. So what were some of the biggest growing pains that you guys experienced when you were adjusting to a different culture, a totally new language, all of that? Yeah. Wow. Um, trying to learn how to live a whole new way, especially at the age of 50 is a is a it's a great adventure. Honestly. It's it's amazing. It's beautiful to learn another culture. It's. It's a super big challenge to learn another language. If you have not grown up in a context where you just automatically began learning another language as a child. And, um, so it was a big challenge learning another language, learning how to do everything else in another language. How do we do our banking? How do we pay our rent? Um, um, uh, go to the store, you know, get our food. Um, also, we learned quickly that learning the language is huge. I mean, obviously we live here. We need to know how to speak Spanish, but learning the culture is huge. Um, you really need to understand the culture you're living in to the best of your ability to, um, to really respect it, to appreciate the beautiful parts of it, and to not be a bull in a China shop. Um, and not just be, hey, I this is my adventure. Well, it is, but I'm also I need to respect. The people around me. I need to respect the culture I'm in. And and it's been a great process of, um, learning the beautiful parts of other, other cultures like to learn another language. To learn another culture teaches you so much about life, about yourself, about, um, other people. And, um, even just things like you don't just learn the words to translate word for word. Sometimes there are whole other thoughts, other concepts that you didn't really understand in your own language that are communicated even better in a different language. And you just start learning some of these things that are really amazing, really beautiful. And, and you realize, wow, there's so much more, so much more out there. It's it's amazing. You get a whole new worldview. I feel like every time I come here, I experience that all over again. And it is a good reminder that sometimes you just go about things a certain way, because that's always what you've been taught or told or how your culture looks at things. And then when you go to another place in your immersed in that culture, it can kind of be eye opening as to, huh, is that really, like the best way to go about things? Or is that just what I've always done? And you kind of have to grapple with some of those questions, right? We've we've learned that over and over that just because it's different doesn't mean it's wrong. And so we had to come here with that mindset, but also how many times we've realized, wow, just because we've always done it this way. Actually, here's a better way. I do like this way and I yeah, maybe it's even a better way. So there are just some really beautiful things to learn. To be clear, sometimes it still feels wrong. It's not always beautiful processes or lack of processes or are unbelievable. Sometimes it takes you three days or even three months just to pay your rent. So yeah. So that being said, what are some of the biggest differences that you've seen in the culture, people and lifestyle here I think. I think we would be remiss if we didn't lead off with the. I think the biggest difference in culture is the time that people give to family and friends. This, um, the Latino culture is such a relational culture. And I, I read that in advance of coming down here, and we saw that a little bit with some of our, um, friends that were from Mexico, um, when we lived in the States, but I had no idea. Um, and when you, when you have a friend that, you know, calls you spur of the moment here and says, hey, I'd like to swing by, I'm in the area. Um, can I stop by and we can get a cafe and and a day and a half later, there's still at the house. Yeah. You learn to be a lot more flexible. You learn to appreciate the people around you and realize it's not all about efficiency. You know, my last job in the States was the head of operations for a division. And so I'm all about efficient and effective ways of doing things. And that will really frustrate you in many other countries around the world, because that just doesn't exist. You know, they they literally will sweep parquet central in, in Antigua, Guatemala with palm branches. And they'll have five, six guys every morning walking around sweeping with palm branches. When you look at that and you think they're spending hours doing this and it's 5 or 6 guys, one blower, and they could blow through this thing in 15 minutes, right. But that's not the point. The point is they're employing 5 or 6 people that will make enough money doing that, that they can survive. And and it doesn't ruin the atmosphere of Antigua with a lot of unnecessary noise. And, and so, you know, as Sherry mentioned, when you when you see another culture in action, at first it's really all honeymoon. Isn't that so cute and quaint. And then you, you, you go through this period. Maybe it depends how long. But for a lot of people it's around six months. And then you start to get angry at how stupid everything seems. Annoyed? Yeah. You're just annoyed. Why? Why do they do it this way? That makes no sense. And it's frustrating. And it's. And. You have to keep coming back to. It's not necessarily wrong. It's just different. Yeah. And and thinking the the US has a lock on culture and the way it does things is extremely arrogant and and wrong. It's it doesn't have a lock on many aspects of culture. I would say it's worse. Yeah definitely. There are some positives and efficiencies and, and you know, the way they do things logistically. But from a relational standpoint, so many people are too busy to spend time with their family. They're too busy to spend time with their grandparents to appreciate the elderly and their life experience, or kids or their or their kids. And so, you know, it has prompted us to look back at some of the things in the way we spent a good portion of our lives, as everybody's been harping on the fact that we moved here when we were 50, as if that's super old. Okay, so a little old, but you know, we do. We look back now and we wish we had done some things differently in light of what we see life here. Yeah. So you really do learn, um, from other cultures. And that's why it's such a wonderful thing to get out of your current culture for more than a week. You know, a week is great. It gives you a little sample, but you really you don't really understand the depth of cultures until you spend more time. Yeah, actually, after our trip here last year, I was here for two months and one of my girlfriends asked me, so what's something from the culture that you want to kind of bring back to your lifestyle in Colorado, which I thought was such a good question. And last year when I was here, I read the book, um, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. And that combined with kind of just how the culture functions here, that was on my mind a lot. It was like the slowing down, really taking time to appreciate relationships and actually be present and be intentional and stop feeling like I'm just in this frantic rush through my life, through each day, from one moment to the next, just trying to get as much done as humanly possible instead of just kind of enjoying and being present. Um, so that was definitely a big thing, but also just the the relational bit that you were talking about is so obvious when you're here and like the village kind of aspect of it. So, you know, everybody says like, oh, it takes a village to raise kids. Well, here in Guatemala, like, you really do kind of feel like you have that village, even people who aren't a part of your family, like, we'll just stop by and bring clothes for Junie or bring diapers and like. It's just so crazy how everyone's very willing to stop their day and be helpful and be intentional. Whereas in the US, I've heard so many moms, myself included, talk about like, where is this village? Because I feel like I'm doing this completely alone, and it's so hard because I'm like, how do we bring that back, that component back to the US when everybody's so caught up in the hustle? Yeah. And that's one of the key. That's one of the the flip sides of the culture that I mentioned here being so relational. Um, when you get when you step out of the culture in the US, what you see is it is extremely individualistic and, and isolation. Yeah. You isolate yourselves, you back out of your garage, you open your garage door, back out in your car, drive someplace by yourself, run in and do it as efficiently and quickly as you can. Climb back in, drive back, pull into your garage, shut the door, exit the car into the house and you never see anybody. And that is not possible in Guatemala. And more so now because of like work from home and kind of like the ramifications of Covid. I feel like that's still kind of playing out in people's lives. And we were created for community. Yeah. I mean, that's played itself out with, you know, the the later studies after Covid, which was should have been obvious to the so-called experts in the moment. With that isolating people is a bad idea. Yeah. It doesn't pan out well for anyone. And yet that's much of the culture of the US. It's not on a daily as extreme as it was during Covid, obviously, but in many respects, when you compare it to other cultures around the world, it is very isolating. It's self-isolating. Yeah, yeah, it definitely forces you to kind of question some of the things that you start to accept as just normal or the way it is when you do put yourself in another culture for a long period of time, like you were saying. Um, okay. So you came here primarily to focus on missions work and serving the needs of the people here. But what are some of the main needs that you've seen and experienced since actually moving here? What has that looked like? 2s Uh. Wow. 1s So Guatemala is still a developing country. Mhm. Um, here Guatemalans will just go right out and say we're a third world. Yeah. But in a more politically correct version, it's a developing country. And with that there is a lot of poverty. Um, intense poverty leads to some pretty messed up situations. Um, so when we came here, we tried to really, um, as I said, learn the culture, but also learn the needs and and get to know what what goes on here? What is life truly like? Um, in these different parts of the country where there is a lot of poverty. So we have helped with everything from building homes to doing medical clinics, dental clinics, um, handing out food bags, feeding programs for kids, tutoring programs for kids. But what we've tried to focus on primarily has been, um, training nationals, really trying to come alongside nationals and equip them in their own context because they're amazing people, they're amazing people, and this is their country. And, um, but how can we help educate them? How can we? So we we have a, a program that we do that's a pastoral and leadership program. Um, and through all of that, we began to see some of the deeper needs and realizing, okay, you can't go around fixing everything and putting Band-Aids on everything, right? If we are here to train nationals and our heart has always been youth work, we've always for almost our entire marriage, we've worked with young people in a high school, college age setting. Um, that's just something God's wired us to do. Um, and so somehow, which we didn't see coming. Um, we ended up doing a lot with youth and, um, and then through that, learning more and more of the needs and realizing that there are still a lot of kids here in Guatemala, over around 5000 that are still in systems of protection around the country up to the age of 18. Um, and there is no I mean, they're trying to start a foster care system here, but essentially there really isn't. Mhm. Um, so kids are still in systems of protection for all kinds of reasons. Um, and we started realizing the needs of those kids and especially when they turn 18, they are. Forced to leave their system of protection, and they're alone and they're just incredibly vulnerable. And they, uh, end up on the street. They end up in prostitution, they end up in gangs, they end up being trafficked. Um. The the statistics show that by age 25, so many of them, they're either in jail or they're, um, addicted to something, which leaves them incredibly vulnerable and typically, um, either in jail or in a gang or dead. Yeah. Um, so the the statistics are terrible. And we, you know, we just kept learning more and more about this, but specifically we learn more about this because we met our son Edwin, and he had to go through that process. He went through, um, 13 years in an orphanage and then at 18 was forced out. And and as we learned his story, um, and the things that. That he kind of opened our eyes, really, to what the intense needs are here for young people and the things that he went through. So, um, that that's kind of a that's the the beginning, the tip of the iceberg for, um, for the what we are now focusing on. But that changed our lives, obviously as a family, um, being able to adopt him into our home, into our lives, into our family. Um, and it changed the trajectory of, of our focus in, in what we're focusing on at this point. So, yeah, I feel like that's not something that hardly anybody is really looking at. It's kind of like you look at young kids who are in orphanages or, you know, are really vulnerable at a young age. And then you look at other different needs like hunger or homelessness or things like that. But a lot of people aren't really looking at like, what happens to those kids who grow up in orphanages? And then. They don't have families, they don't have a lot of prospects or resources, and then they're just booted from the orphanages and are just in a really terrible place with not a whole lot of guidance. So now you guys are working towards building an orphan transition home for girls who do age out of orphan care at age 18. Um, so you've kind of shared a little bit about what made you passionate about this particular cause, but could you tell us a little bit more about what that will look like? Yeah. So I'll add to what Sherry mentioned, um, related to meeting Edwin. And, and about four years ago, shortly after we really started to get to know him, um, much deeper. He invited us with him. He was mentoring some young, young guys at the orphanage in which he had grown up, and he invited us to go and meet them. And that was, you know, we were 52 years old. Um, and that was the first time we'd ever been in an orphanage in any context. And, you know, we've we've been Christians for many years. And throughout the Bible that talks about, um, God's care for the orphans and that we as Christians are supposed to be protecting the vulnerable. And Sherry and I, your mom and I both realized we were not living that out. Uh, it was like we were purposely looking past that and assuming that that was meant for other people to do something. And when you start looking at these, at these young people, and you look at them in the eye and you realize. 1s Even if they're in a really good. And there are some really good orphanages. Um, there are some really bad ones also. But even if they're, they're privileged enough to be in a really good orphanage, you know, we in our context in the US, we we all look forward. Most of us look forward to turning 18 because now we're an adult and now we can get on with college. And, you know, being our own person and all the other things, because we have this incredible safety net of family, friends, government protections, opportunities to get loans for school, and you name it. Whether you whether you recognize it as such or not in the moment. Um, there are a lot of protective mechanisms in place. Well, that's not the case here in Guatemala and many other countries. Um, you know, they're forced out, mandated by the government when they turn 18. And, and Edwin has, has talked about the fact, you know, even in his own experience, when he turned 18, out he went and you step out of that front door of the orphanage, and you look to the left and to the right and decide, which way am I going to start walking? Yeah. Where am I going to go? Where am I going to sleep tonight? How am I going to get money for food? What am I going to do? And what if it's rainy season, you know. I mean, just. So when you hear those stories and you and you meet some of these, um, you know, we heard it first through Edwin, and then we heard it through his friends that had gone through the orphanage or were currently in it. And you realize, yes, they're excited because they want to get out. They don't want to still be an orphan all of their life and and be told how to do everything and what to do. But there's a terror in that aspect as well. So that's where we really became passionate. Um, the more stories that we've heard and, and we realized the danger that these kids are in and they're just there are so many dangers in this, in this world of individuals that will take advantage of the weak. And these young people are very, very often in positions of weakness. And they they may or may not even realize it. And the girls in particular are particularly vulnerable to they want a sense of security, and they will take whatever attention or sense of security the first person comes along that offers them. And and that guy could be a really bad guy and takes advantage of them. They move in together, the girl becomes pregnant, and then. 1s A very high percentage. The guy disappears. And now the girl is not only alone in terms of economic support, but now she's got a baby also, and thus the cycle continues. Yeah. And so in talking with Edwin, uh, our son, um, he had a dream from the time he was 14. A vision of creating a transition home, uh, program, 2 to 3 year program for young adults, and, um, and helping them transition into adulthood and giving them a purpose and a sense of identity. Mhm. Yeah. It's such a big, such a big need. And it's really cool that they're not going to have to one just worry about all the logistics of where am I sleeping, where am I getting food. But also they can have that sense of hope and purpose of moving forward as they go through the program and realize that they do have potential. And there there are reasons to remain hopeful. That's exactly right. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about what this program and transition home will look like once it's up and running. So we're we're focusing the the home the transition home. And I want to emphasize the word home because we don't want it to feel like they've just gone from institution to institution. Mhm. Um, Edwin has really coached us on that. Like yes, maybe a couple girls might need to share a room, but we're not putting bunk beds and, and all the things we are um, we are wanting this to feel like a home. So we are designing the, the homes as such, um, to feel like a home with house, parents and family meals and things like that. Um, a lot like we have a lot of details we're working on that we want to integrate into this. Um, so it is, like Rich said, intended to be about a about a two year program. Each girl, each young person that we work with is going to have their own story. They're going to have their own set of trauma, baggage and scars and things. So it's it's not a one size fits all. You know, it is a in a sense, you know, it's it's intended to be about a two year program, but there will be some who probably will be there longer. Um, so that's the plan for the girls that they will live there on site. But we also have, um, the program intended to be for guys as well, because we're going to be putting on the property a trade school where they can learn woodworking, knife making, metal, um, welding, forging, um, things like that. We also will be putting clinics on the property so they can learn from the dentists, the dental students that are fulfilling their, their practicums, um, they can learn how to be dental assistants, or they can learn how to be an administrator for an office. Um, there those will all be opportunities, because the plan is we want it to be it's like a three pronged program for the girls and the guys that they will be deciding. And so that's a like for their heart and soul, for their spiritual needs that they can find their identity, find their identity in Christ and not just think that they are somehow a second hand human, that they really come to know that they are created and they are created with a purpose. So there's the that part. And then we will have the, the equipping, which will be helping them with job skills with like through the trade schools or education if they, you know, depending on what each one is desiring. Yeah. And then the, the third will be like a mentoring and equipping in that way so that they can learn life skills, things that they haven't been taught. How do you. Do all the things that that your parents teach you. You know, you know how to everything from learning how to manage whatever money you have to learning how to take a chicken bus and go to the market and buy the food that you need, or. Yeah, um, a hundred, you know, a thousand other details that that will be part of that. Um, and we're working on those programs, um, to, to walk them through those things on a daily basis and create spaces on the property where we can have teaching times, classroom times, um, individual times where they can be journaling and, and going through some healing of from things that they, you know, they're still going to need to do some a lot of healing. And so a lot of it's, it's, it's those three basic aspects. Um, the guys again, that we don't have a home for the guys, at least not at first. If God provides that money, then we will absolutely find a a place for the guys as well, because they are also very vulnerable. And it's it's brutal. Honestly, it's brutal to see, to hear the stories of Edwin's friends who are who he still friends with and those who have already died, those who have of have already passed away, um, because of these situations that they find themselves in. And it's it's truly heartbreaking. Yeah. It creates that sense of urgency. Exactly. For sure. So where are you guys at right now with the project as far as, um, completion and like getting ready to actually get this thing off the ground. We are, um, waiting on all the final permits to be able to do all the excavation and all the infrastructure work, and that's really probably going to go pretty quickly once we have that, because we've already got the money for that. So we have the whole property walled in with the security perimeter wall. We have all the guard station done, the whole front, everything from the outside looks amazing. Yeah. And now we need to get the inside done. And so within a, um. Our hope, honestly, is that maybe by June we can start the buildings, start the home, start building the transition home, the the trade school, a home for us, um, because we will also live on site and be obviously very involved, um, in the lives of, of these young people. So, um, that we hope to be able to start that process, this, you know, June or July, but we'll have to we have to start the fundraising for that process at this point. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's exciting. Yeah. So any words of advice for listeners who want to live a life of purpose, even though it may require kind of stepping out of their comfort zone or making big changes? 1s Yes. Um, 1s I can speak to that because this was a hard change for me. Um, I was, uh, 30 years in corporate life and working my way up the chain and finding, honestly, finding security and a steady paycheck and seeking the next promotion and, um, feeling like. That was the path that was responsible. And this is what everybody does. And. 1s Wow. I look back now and I and I know it was for a purpose. I know our time there and all of our experiences. We're building character and and different experiences that we need here as well. But, um, you know, I'll say it this way. One of the last things, uh, youth trip that I went on before we moved to Guatemala, we were doing high ropes courses, and I'm not a fan of high ropes courses. And, um, I know that now that I've done one, and, um, and it was raining and I was one of the first guys with somebody else, a younger person, to go out together as a team on the high ropes course in pouring rain. And I struggled and struggled and was terrified of falling, um, because it was rather high up. And even though you're wearing a harness and the whole deal, and at about 90% of the way through, I fell. And scraped myself up on the steel cables because I was trying so hard not to fall. 1s Yeah, and and then I realized the harness has me. And then I watched after I finished and was just, you know, sore and hurt from struggling so much not to fall. And then I watched some of the high schoolers or, or university age students that followed, and the very first thing they did was they climbed to the top of the course and immediately jumped and fell, laughing hysterically. And then they proceeded to have a blast the rest of the way, because they had already proven to themselves that the harness catches them. Yeah. Why do I mention that? It's because I was so afraid my entire career of failing. Mhm. A falling of of being fired from a job that I was willing to give myself fully to my job, because I did not want to ever fail. Mhm. And I look back at it now that is no way to live. Yeah it is, it is a waste of your life and your talents to do something out of fear of failing. And, and so what I would recommend to any young person. And by that I mean anybody younger than me or frankly, even older than me, it really applies to anyone is. Live your life. Pursue the things that God has designed you to do. Pursue the things that from a from a you know, using your talents, your abilities, your skills, your interests. 1s Don't wait. We see so many elderly people come to Guatemala for vacations, and that was what we would have had in store for ourselves to work our entire lives doing what was expected. And we do things now that, you know, we're 57 and we still turn to each other and say, we can't tell our parents about this, or let's not tell our kids that, that we ended up in this situation. And it's hilarious. Yeah. So I would say go for it. Yeah. Go for it. 1s Yeah, I, I would say everything. Everything has pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I needed that. And I'm so grateful because, you know, I needed so much structure. And I had, you know, my lists that never end. And I still have to have some structure and I still have my list. But my life is so different, and I'm so grateful that, um, that I have allowed myself to take steps of faith to get outside my comfort zone and to have this life that that we're able to have, that God has grown our family and that we are, um. 1s That we get together as a family, we're doing something that we feel like can impact others. Don't be afraid to live an uncommon life. Yeah, and live a life that you feel like that you know is going to count for eternity. That's going to impact others and not just be focused on your on self. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. But anyway, I, I love this podcast and that, that I, you know, this podcast that Brady does on a just on an ongoing basis. And I'm super thankful to be on here. So thank you for allowing us this time. Yeah it's so cool to hear you guys story. And hopefully listeners will resonate with so many of the the key elements of just not going through the motions of life when it's sucking your soul and right and not being afraid to to make big changes to pursue your purpose. So how can listeners connect with you and support what you're doing here in Guatemala? And just kind of stay tuned on what's going on? Yeah, we we have a website that is Casa de Gracia dot love L-o-v-e. It is uh. 1s It's it's something we put occasional blogs, blog posts on. We have videos about our our progress, our purpose, and our team. And, um, if you're interested in coming down and serving, uh, with us on a part time basis or something longer term, we would love to hear from you. Um, we're probably, uh, one and a half to two years away from actually having, um, the young people physically on site working with them there. Um, but that time, the time is flying. And so we would love to hear from any of your listeners that, that have an interest. Yeah. We also have an Instagram page and, um, House of Grace, okay, on Instagram and, uh, also on Facebook. And yeah, we are more than excited about this project, about this adventure. It's not just a project, it's a lifestyle. It's a lifelong thing. Yeah. Um, can't wait to to open our, our doors and open our arms to these young people and start pouring a bunch of love onto them. Awesome, cool. Well, we will list all of those out in the show notes so that people can keep tabs on what's going on and connect with you guys. And thank you so much for coming on. This was such a fun episode. Our pleasure. Thanks so much for not fat shaming me. 2s All right, we'll see you guys. Thank you very much. 2s Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this, be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at Pony Tail on a trail.com. Happy and healthy trails.