In part two of this episode, we'll zero in on about a three year period of time from 2008-2011. Be sure to listen to the whole story because it gives a lot of important context and details, but the short story is that when my dad was serving as the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Florida, he was indicted, and ultimately his case went to trial in March of 2011. During that time, his character was called in to question in over 2,000 news articles, he had to step down from both his job as Speaker and his job as a representative, and it was a very publicly excruciating season for our family.

A few weeks ago the kids and I headed to "Honey and Poppy's House" for a quick weekend stay. I was so thankful to have an afternoon that we could record their story while the kids were napping! In part one of this episode, Ray and Tricia share their story in what has become sort of the norm for this podcast -- it's the bird's eye view, if you will. They share about their lives growing up and raising a family in the beautiful area of Northwest Florida (that's the Destin/Fort Walton Beach area), as well as how they met (spoiler alert: it's super cute), fell in love, got married, and raised my sisters and me. They share about my mom realizing her calling was to become a stay-at-home mom, and some of the challenges they faced with that, as well as my dad's calling to run for public office. They also discuss some stories from when my dad was elected to be a County Commissioner in Okaloosa County. They'll even end this part of the episode with a bit of a cliffhanger, because they're excellent storytellers :)