My guest for today's interview hardly needs an introduction. Korie Robertson is a New York Times best-selling author, the wife of Duck Commander® CEO Willie Robertson and star of A&E’s Duck Dynasty, and mom of 5. Be blessed as you hear from her today!
"...He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4
Korie says, "When Sadie went to DWTS or when any of our children go out into the world this scripture reminds me that God lives in them and He is greater than the one that lives in the world."
This painting was inspired by the verse and florals that blesses Korie. We're honored to offer it in the Mother's Day Collection in GraceLaced Shoppe.
Tell us a little about your family, Korie!
We have six children from ages 27 to 14 Rebecca, John Luke, Sadie, Will, Bella, and Rowdy. Rowdy is the newest member. His adoption was final September 2016! Rebecca is married to John Reed and John Luke is married to Mary Kate.
What has surprised you the most about motherhood?
How each child is incredibly and entirely uniquely and originally made. There are no two alike. God created each with unique gifts and talents and desires. We have loved seeing their personalities emerge, and tried to encourage them to be who God created them to be, and to use those gifts and talents for Him. It can make parenting hard because just when you think you have it figured out, the next kid comes along and is totally different. But it also makes life much more fun. We love to ponder what their lives are going to look like, how they are going to use their unique calling, but honestly we don’t know! It’s fun to watch!
How do you raise down to earth children in a celebrity-crazed world?
We remind them and ourselves constantly that none of this is about us. Our job is to bring God glory, to love Him and love others, that is it. Humility is a Godly virtue that is not valued enough in our society today, but one we believe is important to instill in your children, and to live out ourselves. When people see our lives we hope they see faithfulness, not success.
That is so deeply encouraging, Korie! Your book Strong and Kind: Raising Kids Of Character is wonderful encouragement to families. What’s one way you’ve cultivated those characteristics in your children?
We’ve strived to live them ourselves. You can’t say to your child, "be brave," but never leave the house. You can’t say "be generous," and never invite someone into your home or give to someone in need. You have to live it. That’s the really hard part. Also, placing God’s Word on their heart. He gives us this beautiful guidebook, the Bible, of how to live the best life on this earth. We should use it!
If you could go back and give your 25 year old self a piece of advice, what would it be?
Forget what the world tells you you “should” do. Let go of the expectations of what you’re “supposed” to do or your husband is “supposed” to do or your kids are “supposed” to do and DO live the life God calls you to. Unmet, unreasonable, and mostly unnecessary expectations can steal your joy. Let them go and live joyfully.
That's such great advice! Korie, what routines in your day to day make the biggest difference for you as a mom?
I’m honestly not a very routine person, every day seems to be different when you’re running your own business, and especially when you’re making a television show. But I’d say just the consistency of getting the kids up and off to school in the morning and into bed at night. That looks different as your children get older, but is no less important. Also, I think it’s very important to greet your children and your husband with a hug and a kiss every time you see them, make them feel special and loved and missed. Kindness matters. Sometimes we treat people we don’t know with more kindness than we treat our family. Those we love the most we should treat the best and never take for granted.
When you feel weak or struggle as a mother, what truths of Scripture do you turn to the most?
Col 3:12 "Therefore, as God’s chosen people holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you have a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all the virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Great reminder of how to live and how to treat others, as well as a reminder that I am God’s holy and I am dearly loved by my Father in heaven.
Truly...what a great reminder. Now...care to share an embarrassing mom moment? :)
When the kids were young, between the ages of 1-8, I was driving home from a family camp with all four kids in the mini van packed with sleeping bags, etc. Willie had gone back early because he had to work, so I had spent an exhausting morning packing up the van and four little kids. I was driving down the road and the kids were fighting in the backseat. Then the worst happened, Sadie spilled an entire box of Nerds candy in the backseat. I was fussing at the kids reaching back trying to clean it up and I heard sirens. The cop stopped me and said I was swerving all over the road. I promised him I had not had anything to drink! The kids were just fighting in the backseat and Sadie spilled the Nerds, I said through the tears. The cop offered to speak to the kids (I must have looked like a wreck, and not entirely emotionally stable, ha!). I told him no thank you, we would be okay. To this day I wish I’d have let that cop talk to the kids. It would have been an even better story. I sat there a minute, said a little prayer, talked to the kids and got back on the road, banning Nerds from our car forever!
That is too funny! Korie, what is something we don’t know about you?
I had a fan club when I was a little kid. I was a pretty quiet, shy child and my mom was a director at a summer camp. I loved living out at the camp every summer. One of the other director’s thought that I was so quiet I needed some extra attention so he started the Korie Howard Fan Club. There were two members :)
Seriously, that's too cute! So, now that Duck Dynasty has had it’s finale, what’s now on the horizon for you and your family?
We really don’t know! We always tell people if we would have set a goal for what happened with Duck Dynasty we would have way under-shot it. God did immeasurably more than we could have every asked or imagined. So we are trusting Him with the next step. Right now it’s been nice to just spend time with family, focus more on our businesses, Duck Commander and Duck and Dressing, help Sadie with some awesome opportunities she has going, and get back more involved and do some exciting things with our home church.
We’re passionate about adoption and helping people around the world so will continue that. As far as entertainment, we’ve loved being in the entertainment business, and have a few ideas, but really are up in the air on what the future there looks like. Duck Dynasty brought us incredible opportunities and made an impact on peoples lives. We hope that we used whatever success or fame we gained to point people to Jesus and to bring glory to God. Whatever we do, we will continue to do that!
Thank you so much for this beautiful insight into your motherhood journey and for sharing your life with us, Korie!
Connect with Korie! Follow her on Instagram @bosshogswife or visit their website www.duckcommander.com
Because of grace,
