Family First: The Generational Wisdom of Gwen's Girls

Three sisters sit down to share their family's rich maternal legacy in this touching Mother's Day special. Known as "Gwen's Girls," Tina, Gina, and Ericka open their hearts about the women who shaped them – from their beloved grandmother "Bigga Mama" to their resilient mother (Gwen) who raised them as a single parent.

The conversation takes us into the kitchens and living rooms where family traditions were forged. We hear about a grandmother who always had "Love in a pot" to share, who could produce a meal for unexpected visitors at a moment's notice, and whose look from the choir stand could quiet misbehaving children in the back of the church. The sisters reveal how daily visits to their great-grandmother's house after school, followed by time at their grandmother's home, created a multi-generational support system that taught them the value of family bonds.

Prayer emerges as the central pillar of their family's approach to life's challenges. One sister recalls the scent of cinnamon on the stove signaling her great-grandmother was praying over adult children facing difficulties. This practice of turning to faith during trials was passed down through generations, becoming their own response to hardship: "We fall down, but we get up."

As they reflect on motherhood today, the sisters don't hold back their concerns about cultural shifts away from family-centered values. They discuss how contemporary emphasis on individual achievement often leaves children "crying out for mothers" in a way that reveals a profound societal need. Yet their message remains hopeful as they share advice for today's mothers: lean on God to help raise your children, express pride in your children's efforts, and trust divine timing for life's seasons.

What makes their story especially poignant is how they now care for their mother (Gwen), who suffers from dementia – completing a circle of care that spans generations. Join us for this heartfelt conversation about family legacy, resilience, and the enduring strength found in maternal love. How might your own family traditions shape future generations?

Thank you for listening! YouTube - @3KeysforYourJourney -Tune in for a new episode every Sunday. Connect with us at www.ocfo.info

Chapters

• 0:13 Introduction to Gwen's Girls
• 1:40 Memories of Big Mama
• 4:36 Family Traditions and Values
• 10:25 Becoming Mothers
• 16:31 How Motherhood Has Changed
• 23:08 Resilience and Faith
• 29:33 Honoring Their Mother
• 32:07 Advice for Today's Mothers
• 35:38 Legacy and Final Reflections

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:13

Are you ready to unlock your potential? Tune in to Three Keys for your Journey podcast, where business owners share invaluable insights and empowering strategies to guide you towards success. Based in Oklahoma City, our host, Greg T Jones, will inspire and motivate you every week. Get ready to join our conversation as we build community together.

Greg Jones: 0:40

All right, my host, greg Jones, for your three keys for your journey. We have a special, a special special Mother's Day event. Gwen's Girls that's what we're talking to. Gwen's Girls Tina, gina and Erica, erica being the youngest, who's my wife?

Greg Jones: 0:57

And then we have these other two that three years apart, that right yes okay, three years apart and, um, I got a special edition today, so we're gonna get a chance to really think about some oral history, some background motherhood journey, resilience and strength, and just kind of have them share, from their own words, some things about, um, mother's day and some advice and all that good stuff. So let's go, let's get started. I mean, okay, when y'all think about mother's Day, I know kind of, as I came into the family, you know, I thought about your grandparents and particularly Mother's Day, bigger Mama, which would be your mother's mother, right, yes.

Greg Jones: 1:40

So tell me a little bit who is. Who is Bigger Mama?

Speaker 3: 1:45

Well, I'll start. I gave her that name, big Mama, because I had so many other grandparents and grandmothers and they already had a different name, so to keep it separate, I came up with the name Big Mama, even though she was not a big person. I called her Big Mama because in my young mind she was the bigger mother than my own mother, and so it stuck obviously, and we use that name very affectionately today.

Greg Jones: 2:16

What I thought was also interesting. Then her then husband was called Bigger Daddy.

Speaker 3: 2:21

Yes.

Greg Jones: 2:21

So it's Bigger Mama and Bigger Daddy? Yes, Was it for the same reason? I mean it just kind of worked so yeah, bigger Mama and Bigger Daddy. Yes, so it was Bigger Mama and Bigger Daddy, yes, was it for the same reason? I mean?

Speaker 3: 2:26

it just kind of worked yeah.

Greg Jones: 2:28

Bigger Mama and Bigger Daddy. Okay, gina, what was your, what's some of your memories of Bigger Mama, bigger Daddy, particularly Bigger Mama, since his mother's day?

Speaker 3: 2:37

Bigger Mama, best friend, that was my ace, if you would say, but I knew she was my grandmother. But the relationship we had was different. I knew I felt super comfortable, comfortable always going to talk to her, and the look she would give me when I would go into my mode like Gina pray about, gina, pray about it. And that was just the closeness that we had that's good.

Greg Jones: 3:06

Yeah, that's good. I got another thought, but let me go to erica first. What was some of your thoughts about big mama?

Speaker 3: 3:13

I would say big mama was one of the just the cornerstones of our family. She was one of the pillars in our family and I remember just the cooking, the you know raisin pies, sweet potato pies, just um her love in a pot that she would um just share, you know share. And so I um remember that Um, and I also remember that she was just a serving person, one of the things I remember. She was always prepared If someone came and visited her. I mean she could just, you know, come up with a meal, you know something to you know to share and to give, and so that's a little bit of what I remember.

Greg Jones: 4:08

As you think about traditions and values. Obviously, one of the questions that I'd asked was name some of the women in your life that have shaped your life, and obviously she was, uh, a big part of that and one of those. What and you meant you started talking about that, erica, but just in general, for any of you like was some of the traditions and values that that you got a chance to participate in, and it may not just be specific to Big Mama, but what are some things that just come to your mind?

Speaker 3: 4:40

We used to. Of course, you know we would go to my grandmother's house holidays, and even as children we went there just about every day because of just the way our routine was. But before we would go to her house, we would go to her mother's house, and so family became very key to us. It was a part of our lives. We didn't know anything differently.

Speaker 3: 5:06

So when we would get out of school we would go to my great-grandmother's house and my great-grandfather was alive too, but we always referred to it as her house because of the love and the involvement and everything that she did. It kind of centered around her, and so we would go down there, and so after we would leave there, my mom pick us up, we go to my grandmother's house, her mother's house, and so for us the legacy of mothers was really big, and so we had some big shoes to walk in because we watched what they did in our lives. And so for us it became about oh, they've gone on, now it's, it's our turn, you know. And so we we recognize that and we didn't see it then so much as we do now.

Greg Jones: 5:55

It feels like to. I remember, uh, you tell me your thoughts. There were traditions like um were there certain days of the week like y'all would go. I mean like it feels like there were. There were these things that would just happen, not just on holidays but like during the week. What were some of those traditions?

Speaker 3: 6:17

well, one of the things that I think about is, um, the way we celebrated family.

Speaker 3: 6:23

You know, grandma and papa had 12 kids. Two died at, you know, very young, but out of the 10, they had a lot. They ended up with a lot of you know grandchildren, and then, of course, we were greats, and so the family always came around and met down there at their house, and so we knew, at certain certain points in the year, you could expect that the family was going to be down there, you know. And so after a while, you have so many people there that half of us had to be outside because it was just too many of us for that little house, you know, and we knew the family just automatically surrounded that home, that family it was. It was just interesting watching the clans, you know, come down there their 10 kids and then they bring their kids and then, after a while, their kids started having kids. And then, before long, it was too many of us, you know, but it was something about this home here is is everything stops here and starts here, and so we um we.

Speaker 3: 7:31

We knew that you didn't have that option. We're there.

Greg Jones: 7:38

That's good, yeah, so Gina tell me, I mean, I know in some of our latter years like there was a Sunday routine, like every Sunday I went to church together.

Speaker 3: 7:45

Yes, what was that?

Greg Jones: 7:46

like.

Speaker 3: 7:47

I enjoyed it. Good question it's. Just hanging out with her and just being in her presence was a blessing for me. She taught me a lot. I learned a lot. I'm the kind of one that's why I come that family is so important to me. Traditions is important to me, because that's what I got from her. Moving around, with her going in, we always made sure she checked on everybody and so you know, that's just kind of some of the things I picked on is checking up on everybody, trying to make sure everything is okay, and you never knew if something was going on with her. You know, so it was. It was just kind of the thing and I, and sometimes I see myself like, oh, how did my grandmother do this? This is cause I I kinda don't build myself, I try to be her, but I, I I value so much of what she done and instilled in me that I tried to keep it going as far as it led, even telling my daughter, my granddaughter you know, this is what we do. Family's important.

Greg Jones: 8:50

You know you have to know about your family because this is all you have is your family, which is that kind of how you're, because you have a saying right or you post a saying all the time. Is that where that came from?

Speaker 3: 9:00

that's where it came from what is that saying?

Greg Jones: 9:03

family first love minds okay, eric, how about you? What? What comes to your mind as it thinks about traditions and values, as it relates to your mom or your grandmother?

Speaker 3: 9:16

I think one of the things that I think about is just serving. I think about when we were growing up, there were I don't know what the correct word is, but there were family partnerships, what the correct word is but they were family partnerships. You never felt like there was lack, because someone you know, someone, was always filling in the gaps. And so I, you know, I appreciate that. I just thankful for you know just even her serving attitude and just how she lived life, and I think that's a huge part of me and why I like to serve. I think being in the background is, to me, the most humbling thing, because when you serve others, I think it's just good for the heart, it keeps you humble and it helps you to remain grounded that you never start to look so high, you know, of yourself than you should, and so that's some of the things that I think about.

Greg Jones: 10:33

That's awesome. So now, now all three of you have are mothers yourself. So I'd love to just kind of pick your brain and I guess, erica, I'll ask you this question. You know how did, how did you feel when you first became a mother?

Speaker 3: 10:45

Ooh, ooh. I was thankful. Um, we went through, you know a little, you know some, some trials during that time. I don't want to go too much into it because it's a long story, but you know we had to go through a process to have, you know, have children and um, just I think, when I think about that process and everything that we had to go through, and you know you put so much faith in what man could do, but with God it always through that process, it always came back to I still have to trust God. I still have to lean on him because he's the only one that can provide that. The doctors could do all they can do, but yet I still have to trust God because God gives the yes and he gives the no, and so just going through all of that and just the support from you, I think that was encouraging too for our marriage. So when we had our first child, I was elated. Yes, I was elated. I was thankful that I had an opportunity to be on that journey.

Greg Jones: 12:17

Which is interesting because it was right before Mother's Day, if I don't remember right. That's another fond memory because, then I remember Nate and Tina. There was a tornado and, oh Lord, that's a whole nother story. I do remember all that. Oh Lord, that's a whole nother story. I do remember all that.

Speaker 3: 12:39

Tina, what was one of the most joyful memories you had of you and your children when they were young, I think, recognizing their interests and giftings, just seeing the little people that they were becoming in front of me. It was just cool watching that and then recognizing how do I help them develop. That I've always kind of been into this development thing, you know, and I didn't know it. You know and recognize it until I reflect back and I think I've always done it. I did it with my own children. I remember when, when they went to kindergarten, I wasn't sad, I was excited. A lot of women, you know, they cry and they talk about my check, my baby's going to school. I was like I want to see how they're going to do, I want to see how, if they, if what we've taught them, if they're going to make it, you know, and so I was excited about that. But I was just really loving to see and I still watch my kids, loving to see how they develop.

Greg Jones: 13:45

That's good. So y'all think about it. Anybody can take this question how has motherhood changed? I mean, you talk about, you, talk about you, talk about your mom, your grandmother, great-grandmother, like when you think about now, 2025, how has motherhood changed? In what ways has it changed? Sound like there's so much center around family and getting together and, you know, filling in the gaps, and you know there was this even as you started having children yourself, and you know how has it changed?

Speaker 3: 14:21

I think it's not as honorable as it was, you know, in the past. In the past, I think, there is a period of time where people, people, cared more about you know how much they can succeed, how far they can succeed, and you know what are some of the phrases. You know the getting the bag and all of these. You know other statements that people make in this day and age, and children are the last you know they're not the first thing that they think of, and so I also think that it's important. I mean family is important. I think as an individual, you choose whether or not you want to have children or not, but if you do, you have to understand that there is a legacy that you know, a legacy that you are leaving which is, you know, important, and then what you do right now has an effect on many, many years and generations after you leave this earth, and so I don't know for sure if it's really valued like it was before.

Speaker 3: 15:36

I agree, for me, I think, teaching, being in the school system, you just see how kids don't value family anymore. We was taught to value your family, your parents, the adults, and it's kind of like now everything else is important. The world has taken over where I don't have time for this here, but I make time for everything else, but what I need to make time for and I say family, that's what I think is just the value of it and the way we look at it. The respect level has changed just with the world changing, technology coming in. And it's tough for me because you know you have to move and change with the world, but you have to know that you're not of the world and I think that's kind of some things that didn't happen. We forget. Yeah, things have changed. This is this, but you're not a part of this world. You still have other people. You still need this help. People feel we can do it all on our own now we don't need help anymore. Um, that's just my, my opinion.

Greg Jones: 16:46

That's good. Tina, you always talk about seasons. Do you think it's just a different season now? That's changed? What's your opinion about that?

Speaker 3: 16:55

I think it's a different world. The culture has changed so drastically. It's a very selfish culture. It's a culture that says me and mine and what I want to do, and that's not the way of motherhood. A mother gives, a mother supplies, a mother cares for, and all the new language of society today is counter to that, you know. And so our children really are crying out for mothers. I mean, you know, we always were saying you know, they're crying out for fathers, but now it's gotten so bad, they're crying out for mothers. When a mother is not there, you know, we're in bad shape, you know.

Speaker 3: 17:44

And so children today are looking for the heart of the mother. And the heart of the mother is one that cares for, protects, feeds um, there's so many things that that mother does that the children today are missing. And it's because and a lot of times I think that's happening because a lot of people haven't really processed one, what motherhood is? Two, why are they a mother? And I think many of them have become mothers and really hadn't given any thought, you know. And so now you know, it's got this kind of an afterthought, even though you can recover, you know, if it was unexpected, but because of the selfish nature. In society today, people still aren't thinking about the children, you know people still aren't thinking about the children.

Greg Jones: 18:35

You know that's good so, and we know that. You know life is tough, I know, I'm sure. Obviously motherhood at times is tough. You know what are the things that keep you going prayer oh, y'all, all three said that yes sir but that, yes, that's what we learned.

Speaker 3: 18:53

My great grandmother. I used to watch her pray, you know, over her adult children. Things would be going on, and the only way that I knew stuff was going on, I'd walk in the house and I would smell cinnamon, and she would be. She put some on the stove and she'd be singing and praying. And I began to recognize this pattern and know that something was going on. And a lot of times as a kid watching, you know, as I was she died when I was 14. And so I got to watch that for a lot of years and begin to pick up on the pattern.

Speaker 3: 19:31

And there was things that was that was troubling her heart, and so she would be praying and I would hear, you know, talking under her breath, but she was praying, you know, and she'd be singing, but she'd be in there stirring around in that kitchen cooking, but she'd be praying, and then her daughter, my grandmother, as Gina has already said pray about it. She would tell my children I'm praying for you. I woke up with you on my mind this morning, so I'm praying for you. You know, that's what we heard, and so it's become our way that we learned it, we watched it. Now we're doing it.

Greg Jones: 20:08

That's good, wow, okay, how do you define resilience In your own life?

Speaker 3: 20:20

Well, I say it like this we fall down, but we get up. When you fall down, you gotta get back up. You know, when you get back up, that's showing that resilience and recognizing that it's okay to fall, but staying down is not okay. It's just not okay. We got to get back up. Too much has happened before us that people went through and I don't feel like we got the right to stay down when we watched everything that they that our ancestors went through.

Greg Jones: 20:56

Yeah, that's good, I was just. You know we we've all watched roots, I'm sure a thousand times, a hundred times, and I was watching and it's just amazing, you know, and the depiction of you know back then.

Greg Jones: 21:10

But then thinking about slavery and then thinking about you know how black folk fought in the war and their own communities, and then you think about you know, we live here in the great state of Oklahoma just the atrocities that took place here in our own state and sundown towns and all this kind of stuff, sundown towns and all this kind of stuff. And it's just interesting to me how, when we think about resilience, it's it's, it's just, it's very, very, very, very interesting. Eric, what about you? Is there some? There are some spiritual or cultural practices that have helped you stay grounded?

Speaker 3: 21:45

Just really is just faith and prayer. You know, as you continue to grow and grow in the word and have a deeper relationship with God, at some point, when you, you know, you face adversities and challenges, you still have to put to practice what you believe. And so that, to me, is when we talked about resilience, it's putting to practice what I believe, because I put my trust in God. I'm going to put it into practice, I'm going to, you know, have faith, you know, in, in whatever it is that I'm doing, but I'm going to, and that faith is going to manifest because I'm going to move, I'm not going to be debilitated, I'm going to walk it out, it's not going to change. So just trusting God and putting it into action.

Greg Jones: 23:01

We've talked a little bit about your great-grandmother, grandmother, bigger mama. Talk about your mom a little bit. What comes to mind when?

Speaker 3: 23:16

the enforcer for me. You know she was the one that um is, the one that kept us balanced. You know you would say we got out of line. She was the one that um had the road to her and and I think that's me but she has a big heart and if you didn't know that about her, all you would see is that rough edge of her, if you didn't really look down or to see that soft side of her. But she was the one that really put it in lame words for us perspective, like looking at it differently, not coming well, like the grandmothers, big mama was real soft with us. We're gonna pray about you're not gonna do this. I don't think I ever got a whooping by, did y'all?

Speaker 3: 24:00

no no, okay, and not. We didn't get many by mama, I don't. I don't recall that there, but you know just the tone and letting us know. She always let us know we, when we was out of line and didn't have to say much. I can remember and they still talk about it at her church, st John is that when she would be in the choir stand and we'd be back there acting up in the back and they said who was she looking at? But it calmed us all down. We all knew Somebody knew we was out of line, and it wasn't just us, it was the other kids too. Knew we better straighten up. And that was just from a look way up in the choir stand.

Speaker 3: 24:50

What else she was a rock. Um, she get it done. Um, you know, through thick and thin she kept pushing, you know her. Her going into the reserves and stuff like that was because she was like I'm going to get this done for my girls, you know. And now, as a result of that, you know it took care of us along the way. But as a result, now it's taking care of her. But she did it. She did it for us initially, you know, making sure that she could provide, you know, and so my mom was a rock. She was a rock, yeah.

Greg Jones: 25:23

Anything to add there, Erica?

Speaker 3: 25:25

One of the things that I can, I would I remember, is that she was involved. I remember, I think during that time when we were growing up, a lot of activities came from church. We didn't go, you know, out. There wasn't a lot of auxiliary organizations or teams that they have you know now, so a lot of things just came from the church. If you play basketball or some kind of a sport, you would be in school and it would be, you know, be a part of school. So she was just a great support. She was, I think, our Girl Scout. I was a Brownie and, excuse me, girl Scout troop, you know, leaders, I mean, she was just, she was involved and she was.

Speaker 3: 26:13

Another thing that I will say is she was, she was hardworking and she was a single mom, but she had support. Yes, but I would like to preface that in saying it's difficult. Regardless of whether or not you have support or not, it's a difficult job and you know, mama worked for the state and back then she, you know you got paid once a month. So the discipline was high. You know, on the list, when I think about how do you manage what you manage with the little that you had, and I also just remember pride.

Speaker 3: 26:55

You know pride in you know yourself. You know presenting yourself a certain way. There was no way, you know, we were going to go out with bonnets on our heads nowadays and rollers. You know it was just a different time. But being able to present yourselves appropriately, that came from mama and a grandmother, you know as well. But those are some of the things that I think about when I think about her, and she is still living. I know we're talking about these things in past tense, but she has dementia, and so I wanted to say that.

Greg Jones: 27:33

Which I was where I was going was, I think, is admirable, now that your testimony of your a lot of your years in your life was he did things to prepare a way for you and create a discipline and all these things, and now you all have the opportunity to take care of her, which I think is fantastic. I mean it's admirable. Yes, which I think is fantastic. I mean it's admirable and I I can't speak for it, but I feel like what I know, doing that with the same level of dignity and respect and making sure she's taken care of, and some of the same kinds of things that we've been talking about already. That's been instilling you. Now you have the same thing to be able to surround her with.

Speaker 3: 28:22

Yes.

Greg Jones: 28:37

Which I think is very, very much. Each of you have children, uh grandchildren. Like Erica, we don't have grandchildren yet, but it feels like we have bonus grandchildren, bonus dogs and everything else going on.

Greg Jones: 28:44

But, um, but the, the, the, the I'm trying to get at. There's this. There's something about um, caring for the children and the grandchildren and, at some point, great grandchildren. Now, what is the thing that? What's the hope that you want them to most remember about you? So imagine, imagine, like you're thinking about your mom and the time you get to spend with her and what she's done, and your grandmother and your great grandmother like I think generations ahead and what she's done, and your grandmother and great grandmother like I think generations ahead, and and there's I mean, I even have podcasts then but, but they get a chance to think about you what is it that you hope that your children and grandchildren will remember most about you?

Speaker 3: 29:30

Well, for me, I I want them to know that this granny had a love for her people and a love for family, and that the family came from the people you know, and there's something special about us, and so I want them to know that about me. When, when they talk about black history, they say, that's, that's BB, that's, that was my grandmother. I want them to say that about me.

Greg Jones: 30:07

How about you, Gina?

Speaker 3: 30:10

Family. I'm really big on family and try to the importance of it and how much we need them. Even when we disagree, we still need our family Church. How important it is to foundation because that's where it started for us, with my grandbaby starting out early being involved in the church and then, when the times is going to get tough and rough, but when you have that foundation, you know how to go back and get what you need.

Greg Jones: 30:46

so, family and a great foundation that's good, and then erica any lessons or wisdoms that you hope to pass on the next generation.

Speaker 3: 31:11

I think I'm learning this later in life, but I hope, well, I hope that they remember that I had joy, that there was joy, a presence of joy and laughter about me that they appreciated. And family you know family as well, family, and you know my faith. And just remembering that I put those things, you know that we put those things first.

Greg Jones: 31:38

That's good, so I'll kind of. There's a couple of other questions. Now I'm starting to reflect a little bit and think about kind of advice. What do you cause I? I pray that there are mothers that are listening to the podcast and you know what's podcast and what's at least one thing and there may be several things, but what's at least one thing that mothers should hear but rarely get told.

Speaker 3: 32:07

I don't know that I hear people saying it so much outside of a, you know, a church circle, but I think young mothers in particular need to be told that you are more than capable to raise your children and lean on God to help you to raise. Don't feel like you got to. You know you got to have all the answers. You got to do all this. Let God help you raise your kids, because we want to raise our children with good character. We want to raise them, you know, to be good people and you by yourself can't do that. You need to lean on God to help you to raise your kids.

Greg Jones: 32:50

Would you add anything to that, Gina?

Speaker 3: 32:53

They were proud of you. They don't get to hear that much. Everybody's so busy trying to correct them and tell them what they're not doing right and I'm guilty, you know, I don't say it a lot, but I'm very proud of mine. But as parents sometimes we forget to encourage. So just tell them that you're proud of them. You're doing good, because everybody's motherhood, the way they raised, is totally different. I can't expect you to do the same way. We come from the same household but we all three raised differently. Just tell them that you're proud of them.

Greg Jones: 33:31

Yeah, anything you would add to that, erica?

Speaker 3: 33:34

Yeah, Anything you would add to that, erica, I would just, you know, reassure them that you know they're fearfully and wonderfully made in the. Don't try to to be OK with the, the speed of your growth, don't you know? Look outside of yourself or look at someone else to determine how fast or how slow you know or what path you should be going. That you know, you trust God, you know and he'll, he'll reveal, he will reveal it to you. And one of the other things that I've learned is you know the word of God talks about we. You know we make many plans, but it's the Lord's that prevail.

Speaker 3: 34:29

And so I would say, continue to get in practice with laying your plans before the Lord and trusting that he's going to reveal what you should do and what you shouldn't do, because and it doesn't necessarily mean that what you're thinking about doing is something that's bad you know there's something that is negative. It could be great things, could be wonderful things, but it may not be in the season that God is desiring for you right now. So, being able to lay your plans down and trust that, if you give them to him and he gives you direction, that, um, it's where you need to be, and so I would. That's what I would wish for them, or say to them.

Greg Jones: 35:17

I think that's wonderful. So let's begin to kind of wrap up. I mean, as you, as you also reflect. I mean, does there any one of you have, like you know, if your life was a book or a song and you're thinking about motherhood, what, what, what would the title be? Or what would be the verse, what comes to mind?

Speaker 3: 35:39

The first thing I thought about it was a song, and it's by Nina Simone. I don't know all the words, but it's that everything must change. Nothing stays the same. There's some other words, tina. Do you know the rest of it? Everything must change, change nothing and no one goes unchanged.

Greg Jones: 36:04

The young becomes the old yes.

Speaker 3: 36:08

I thought about the same song oh my god, I cannot believe she said that that I mean we cannot just stay stuck. Yeah, you know where we are, you know, and so there are seasons that may be plentiful, there may be seasons that are lack, but you have to be able to be willing to go into the season. That's one of the huge things that I have learned for myself and I believe that that has, um, it's helped me adjust really fast. Um, when change, when change has to come, just be all in, just go ahead and dive in.

Speaker 3: 36:52

Don't be the person that you know sticks your toe in the water and it's cold, and you take it out and you just kind of keep testing it, you know, and thinking about what you're going to do, and then you talk yourself out of it, and then you sit on the side, you know, and then years pass by and then you finally, you know, decide to do what you were supposed to do in the season that you were supposed to do, and so now you're trying to do something that is not even in the season now that you should be doing, and so I would say, just jump in, be all in. If God is directing you to be that way, just go get wet, go immerse yourself in it. You're not going to know all the answers, but God is going to order your steps and he's going to direct you and he never puts you out somewhere that he is not going to protect you. Keep you safe.

Greg Jones: 37:52

Anything else, book or title that Think on your mind, Gina.

Speaker 3: 37:57

I'm really mad at them because they sung and they know I can't sing. No, but seriously, I would say for me as a book I would say hard on the outside but soft in the middle. Hard on the outside, soft in the middle.

Speaker 3: 38:14

So soft on the inside. So you know, because sometimes, as she said, getting stuck, um, that you forget, because of that hardness, you just want to say I'm gonna stay here, I'm not ready, not listening, and um, probably for me that's been my biggest challenge is that in my walk with god is not listening, I ain't ready for that there, I don't want to do that there. So, missing out on opportunities because seasons, because you want to do it on your own instead of doing it when it was told to you or when it was your season. So I thank my sisters for that there too, because they not being judgmental, because sometimes we can just tell you you should have did that. You know, he was told. You know, because we speak and we talk to each other, but it's kind of like when you ready, it has to be your choice when you ready. So that would be my title that's good.

Greg Jones: 39:08

I mean this and I want you to think, if you have any last thoughts, I want you to think about this, but I do want to just say, like there's admiration for not not only the mothers, that you are the women. You are the mothers, grandmothers, aunties, the all of that. Because I just think about, um, as you describe family, what it takes in a community, common unity, where people come together, uh, that have different approaches to things, that see things, but you see things a different way, you see things, you discipline a different way, but all of it is to lift up and to encourage, and the importance of having mothers like you are invaluable in a community. So my admiration to you is we sit here in the middle of Oklahoma City and we think are we really making a difference? And I just want you to know that you are making a difference. Your spears, your churches, your family, your block, your neighbors, the people you've come in contact with, but, most importantly, those kids, nieces and nephews and grandkids and all those. It makes a difference and it's admirable to be where we are in the season that we are, the year of 2025 that we are.

Greg Jones: 40:22

I mean we think about you, know what's going on in our economy and around us. It don't look good, but God has put something and he's instilled something in each one of you that you have to give. And I think it's also as I, as you're reflecting on those little things that you remember. You know it's the next generation and next generation after that will remember those things that were instilled in their hearts so that maybe they can just run a little further, they can go a little longer, they can endure a little bit more because of the things that you've actually endured. And there's something that they're watching, whether they say it or not, I think has a distinct effect on the way they live, and I think we're starting to see that Some of your kids where they're going, what they're doing, how they want to give back, how they want to participate in various things in the family I think stems from a lot of the examples that you've left for them.

Greg Jones: 41:17

So be encouraged today. I hope people that are listening to this are also encouraged, and that's the reason why we're doing this. You know it's a podcast is a podcast, but it's digitized. They ain't going nowhere, and so somebody somewhere might listen to this and be encouraged by three sisters that made a distinct decision not only to love one another, but also be who God has called them to be. So I think that is pretty awesome. All right, any last comments that you think about.

Speaker 3: 41:49

Anything else that before we wrap it up, comes to mind. Well, I love my children, my grandchildren, my nieces and nephews and all bonus kids that that I've had the opportunity to work with over the years and will continue to work with, and hope that something that I've done, you know, helps them to, helps them to live their lives in a better way.

Greg Jones: 42:11

That's awesome.

Speaker 3: 42:14

Just be encouraged, simple, just be encouraged that's it, simple.

Greg Jones: 42:18

Just be encouraged. Well, thank you, tina, gina, erica, now I don't have to promise this, but we'd love to have you on sometime in the near future so you're always welcome to come on. Whoa, whoa everything must change. Thank you for joining us on three keys for your journey.

Speaker 1: 42:39

We'll be back with you next time thanks for joining three keys for your Tune in. Next time for another episode, thank you.