Maybe there's more to life than just
isolating ourselves and protecting ourselves from people
that we think are dangerous, or scary
or different.
I'm Corbyn Tyson. This is my wife Sarah
We've got three kids. This is Max, Owen.
and who thinks she's Princess Elsa. I'm on a journey
to find out what it means to be a good dad.
Recently, I spent some time with the Martin family.
Cory had a thriving political career and decided it wasn't the life for him and his family.
He quit his job and became a chaplain at a county jail
As a dad, he's showing his kids what it means to live beyond yourself
and how helping others is way more important than money
and success.
Our life, up until a few years ago probably don't look any different than anybody else's
life.
Now you get married and you live in the same house your entire life and you
work at the same job your entire life
and you have kids shortly after you get married and you have three or four of them
that's just the way I was raised and
I think that's maybe what I felt comfortable with and what I was used to
None of that ended up happening
I think maybe most couples do this, but I would wish that my kids would look just
like Corey.
they still think he's so handsome. I think we waited
a few years before we decided that we were ready
to have a family now we just never got pregnant and
the doctor can really explain why we both tested okay
you kind of know that it happens to people but you don't assume that it will happen
to you.
How we started thinking, well, if this isn't working,
maybe we should think about adoption.
Calvin and Silas were adopted from South Korea.
Ruby was born here in Indiana.
we want to really teach them that it's not a part of their story that they
should feel ashamed of
I don't sit around and think of my family as different
it's just our family. It's all we've ever known. We're living
in a really nice town and that's when we started thinking maybe there's more to life than
just
isolating ourselves and protecting ourselves from people
that we think are dangerous or scary or
are different. Shannon and Corey put those thoughts into action.
They closed up shop and their beautiful farmhouse
and downsized. They moved into the city and changed jobs.
I think it's really easy to talk about doing something crazy.
It's really hard to put that in action. You move into a neighborhood that's unfamiliar
and different than the neighborhood you were
living in before your neighbors are different and you look back and you think
it's kinda silly to worry about all that stuff. The kids
took it better probably anybody else. The first day they came home from school,
They had all made best friends. We're so worried about protecting our kids because we think they're
so fragile.
They can handle quite a bit and I think they're going to be much
more well-rounded people because of
the people they go to school with and who their neighbors are and they're gonna grow
up knowing that people really aren't that different
might look different, they may have grown up in different circumstances
But, at the core, they're no different than us
On one of Cory's first days on his new job, he met a 16-year-old boy
named Robert. Immediately they hit it off and immediately the accepted Robert into
their home
they frequently had him over for dinner became very involved in his life
a lot of other friends and family were baffled by their generosity
Why would you let a complete stranger with a record into your home?
Robert became more more part of their family and then one day
he disappeared
he vanished with no trace
fearing for his life, they didn't hear from him for six months
and then out of the blue one day he reappeared as if nothing happened
We were just glad that he was back and he was still alive. And then two things happened pretty quickly
shortly after that. He had twin boys that were born
and a month after that, we got a call
from the Elkhart County Jail and he had been arrested. You know, we go to visit
Robert twice a week and then when he was transferred to
the Indiana State Penitentiary we'd visit him every other weekend
after visiting him for a year in jail
I remember he called us one day on the phone and just
would start calling us mom and dad. We'd just start referring to him as our older
son. It was easy for us to call him our son because it didn't cost us anything, there was no
sacrifice, or really, commitment involved,
but then when he got out on home detention,
There's not a book that's written on how to bring a
19-year-old convicted felon into your home
as part of your family once they're release from prison and so our philosophy you
with not just, you know, Robert moving in, but with anything is
if you wait until you think you have it all figured out, you'll probably not do
anything
but it's been a wonderful experience. It's been frustrating and challenging and
inconvenient sometimes
And the kids just view him as their older brother. In the beginning,
we saw our job as a parent to keep our kids safe
I think we just started to realize that the world needs our kids
I think dads can teach their kids to be
brave and to go make an impact on the world around them
I think not only do you encourage your kids to take risks,
but I think your kids need to see you taking risks
and in my opinion taking risks on other people
I think is what really has really impacted our kids
they're gonna grow up thinking this is normal because what we're doing we
don't really view as crazy anymore. It's just
a part of our life. It's like anything in life. The more risk you take
the more reward there is. I make corporate videos for a living
I'm pretty sure my kids won't remember me for how I help the wire company increase
their sales
I think it's important for my kids to learn how to work hard
but more importantly I really want them to understand that when they live a life
focused on helping others that they're going to find fulfillment and they're going to find much more
happiness than a McMansion in the suburbs
my mortgage and my flat screen are reasons I don't take risks
the normal life that Corey talked about is what prevents a lot of us from taking
risk
and doing something that we've always wanted to do. I tend to spend a lot of time
wrapping my kids in bubble wrap
I try to shelter them from risk and the scary world around us
but what's more important? Is it having a thriving business or
teaching my kids how to be selfless? What's more important to you?
and what will your kids remember about you? Let me ask you this
what's preventing you from doing something that you've always wanted to
do?
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