In The Middle Of It
We’re all living stories that aren’t finished yet, and this podcast picks up right in the middle of some really interesting journeys. Whether it’s navigating adulthood, the Christian life, marriage, a music career, grief, healing, or parenting, this podcast hosts conversations for everyone to find themselves a part of. Tune in every other week to find new episodes full of great conversation, laughter, vulnerability, and more!
In The Middle Of It
Anna Redmon (Costume Designing and Raising Teenagers)
Anna Redmon is a costume designer for feature films like I Can Only Imagine 1 and 2, a wife to Jeremy from Big Daddy Weave, and a working mom of teenagers. Anna speaks so honestly about parenting, including how we apologize, repair, and let go of impossible expectations. The conversation moves from sacrificial parenthood to creative calling, showing how surrender can reshape a marriage, a career, and the stories we bring into the world. Anna shares how wardrobe in films shapes character arcs, time periods, and emotion without the audience even noticing, and why collaboration on set feels both brutal and beautiful. We also unpack the push to bring excellence to Christian film and hopeful storytelling. If you’ve ever wondered whether God can reroute your dream and bring you to a totally new path in life, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show!
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Cold Open The Hardest Question
SPEAKER_03She goes, you would let mom die? Oh my gosh. And it was such a hard question because we were like, we both, and Jeremy walked up the stairs and we both looked at her and we were like, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Mom would die for you. Wow. And I would let her. That's that kind of thing Which is wild.
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Welcome And Meet Anna Redman
SPEAKER_00Hey guys, welcome back to In the Middle of It. I'm your host, Hannah Kerr. My guest today is Anna Redman. She is a costume designer for so many future films that you know and love, including, I can only imagine, one and two, I still believe, Jesus Revolution, and so many more. She is married to Jeremy Redman, who is one of the founding members of Big Daddy Weave. She's incredible and she's navigating music and motherhood and wardrobe styling, all the things. Please welcome Anna Redman.
Parenting Teens With Transparency
SPEAKER_03I think where we are now, though, is such a new adventure that it's every season for me is the best.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Even when it's the hardest. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Um, yeah. You're raising teenagers too. Like I was thinking about that when I was preparing for this. I was like, wow, what is it like to raise teenagers and to dig world? I have no idea what I'm doing. Anybody though?
SPEAKER_03Like and I tell that I will say that I tell my oldest all the time she's about to be 16, she'll be 16. I can't believe that. That hurts me. I'm like, how much she's talking about? It's like it just keeps time, just keeps going. Um I tell her all the time, especially when we're fighting about something, I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I'm like, you are my first one. And I'm like, and I'm sorry. I'm figuring it out as we go. And I, you know, um, you make mistakes. Yeah. And then you go, okay, how do I how do I parent in my mistakes and be transparent about those and say, I hurt you, I'm sorry I hurt you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I I want to fix it. But some of that damage, I tell her sometimes I tell her, I'm like, I will pay for the therapy yet. I don't think she'll need it, but no, I feel like I think that that always being honest with my children and transparent has made parenting, I think, in some ways, um, feel more successful because I'm not hiding anything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And I'm not living up to an expectation that's not real. Yeah. Um, so the expectations even on myself are able to be removed and laid down.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And expectations of what I even thought they would be. That's what's crazy too, is like she asked me a question recently. Are we good to go ahead? Yeah, we're going to go.
The Life Or Death Scenario
SPEAKER_03Okay. We were right in the past. She asked me one of the most this is the thing about teenagers too, that I I really enjoy because you know me, I'm a talker. Yeah. And I like that about you. I go deep so fast. I love it. And I love it because my children ask really hard questions. Adrian, my middle one, he asks the hardest ones. Yeah. He's a thinker. I feel like there's a depth to that boy that I'm just I'm in awe of, honestly. But my oldest, Irabelle, she is she's fun, but she every once in a while, she'll crack out with a like really hard one. And the other day, last week, thankfully Jeremy was home. And um she asked me the question that I think I don't know how it came up for her, but it was at school or something. But she asked the question of uh the scenario of if if the mother or the the baby was gonna die, which one would you choose? Right?
SPEAKER_00And you're like, Where's the thing?
SPEAKER_03I'm like, why are you like thinking about that?
SPEAKER_00We were just like thrust into this conversation in this moment on a Tuesday at 4 p.m. I know.
SPEAKER_03I'm like, why are you thinking about this? And um, and I said, I would choose the baby. She said, So, mama, if you were gonna die for me to live, you would choose me. I was like, every single day. Yeah. And I said, I would choose it that now. I said, Irabel, there is something that happens that is so incredibly powerful. And now you know this. Before she was born, my whole world revolved around me. Yeah. Like it just did. I'm I'm pretty self-absorbed, to be honest. We're just selfish people. Right. We came out the womb that way. And Jeremy and I got together um because we were big dreamers together. We both had big goals and big dreams. Yeah. And so we've always been big thinkers, and the center of that were was me. And um, I was 32 when I had her. So I had a lot of time to focus on me. And I was honestly quite nervous about having children because I was I didn't know what uh that would do to me psychologically and emotionally because it was something that I knew would take sacrifice. Um and a lot of times I think we think we're the ones that are gonna lose, right? When we have a child as women. Um as men too, I think, but but women specifically, it requires so much of you to to to have a baby and to um bring a child into the world. And um I I something that I I would have never thought would happen, which I know every other mother that's had a child knows this, but I didn't know this. Yeah. And I told her this, I said, the moment they put you in my arms, all of my dreams paled in comparison to yours.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03All of a sudden, every dream that you were gonna have mattered more than mine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Because your life extended beyond mine. All of a sudden, my life lived on without me. Yeah. Everything inside of me was now out of me. And I was like, I honestly don't think you can fully understand that until that happens. Right. And it is so beautiful and it was so interesting her asking that question because she's almost 16. She doesn't know. Yeah. Um that when you have a child, like no matter what, their world becomes your world. Yeah. And I thankfully, you know, I have felt called to as a mother to continue to live out the calling on my life in a career as well. Yeah. To show her that that is not necessarily show her, you know, that that's possible. Because I think sometimes determining that we're going to prove something can be problematic. Yeah. Um, God's like, oh, were you? Um for me, it's more of like as long as I'm obedient to where I am, that's what I want to show her. Yeah. Is the obedience to where God has called me. Now, if God tells me tomorrow to lay it down, I will. Yeah. Absolutely, hands down. And won't be without some suffering. Yeah. But I would. Yeah. Because her life and my children matter more than mine. Um, and if that's what it was needing, I would.
SPEAKER_00So anyway. That's so beautiful. And I feel like I know you're such a good mom. And now everyone listening knows you're a good mom because you take this question that she wasn't necessarily asking for like this beautiful declaration of your love for her. She was just asking a question, and then you take it to this place of like how much you love her. Yeah. And that's stuff that she'll remember forever. Like it's not just a question, then it's like, wow, my mom would choose me over her biggest dreams.
SPEAKER_03Like, that's and what was really interesting as well is that she was upstairs in her room and she was on the phone with a friend, and they were talking about how my answer was that. And Jeremy was downstairs, and she yelled down to him and said, Dad, mom said that she would choose me. And he goes, she goes, Would you? And and um, and he said, Yeah, I would choose you. He goes, She goes, You would let mom die? Oh my gosh. And and it was such a hard question because we were like, we both, and Jeremy c walked up the stairs and we both looked at her and we were like, Yeah, yeah, mom would die for you. Wow. And I would let her. That's that kind of thing. Which is wild, because that means he actually feels the same about her life, even though to men, really, husbands, um, it means that he would lose right everything to him, which uh is me, right, you know, right, and so it is a very interesting uh emotion as parents where you realize it's very self-sacrificing. Yeah. And I think that's the beautiful representation of Jesus too. I think that's where that relationship with Jesus and the father is so profound. Yeah. Is that he did sacrifice. And when you're a parent, yeah, you see that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you go, oh, I get it even more. Like I thought I knew how selfish I was. I thought I knew how much I had to give up, and then I had a son. And I was like, wow, okay. This is like a different level, and it's so beautiful, it's so sanctifying. It's like a whole new journey. I'm like, it's not just like a new season of my life, it's like a whole new life. Like, I'm just entering a whole new life, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's exactly what you said. It's like, you know, the moment he was put on my chest, I was like, this is a whole new life that I get to steward. Yeah. What a privilege. And something that's like, oh my goodness, like I have to make sure that this little boy is exactly who God made him to be, and like help him and shepherd him. And that's a big responsibility.
SPEAKER_03But you know, though, you said something that's interesting that I have wrestled
Trusting God With Your Kids
SPEAKER_03with. Um I remember holding Adrian when he was probably around the same age, and I was I had just finished nursing him, he had fallen asleep. And I'm holding him in the rocker, and I started to weep because I I loved him so much. Yeah. And I remember saying to the Lord, I was like, I have no control over what's gonna happen to him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03How can I do this? How can I love like this? And I was like, God, I have no control over what's gonna happen to his life. How do I do this? Yeah, and the Lord says to me so clearly, Do you not think I love him more than you do? Yeah. He was mine before he was yours. That's so good. It's so true. Was this moment where I had to go, he does not belong to me, and his future does not belong to me. His future belongs to the Lord. Yeah. And I have to submit myself to the Father to be willing with open hands to let whatever happens in that journey happen. Yeah. And not try to control it, and not try to predict what he's gonna become. Yeah. And man, he is Adrian Redman, he will not let me predict what he's gonna be. He will do. He's he's so fiercely independent. And I I say that I don't think I've ever said that before. But what's so interesting is that that's what my mother used to say about me. Wow, when I was growing up. And it used to be if my mom is listening, please forgive me, mom. Mom would say that to me out of frustration. It was always, oh, you're so inversely independent. Yeah. She couldn't control me. Yeah. You know. Yep. And as I got older, I'd go, yeah. That's what I would. I would literally go, it was such a like force that I was fighting against in some weird way. And it used to feel like something that I had to like break. Yeah. I'm gonna break this, you know. And um now when I just said that about Adrian, it was a compliment. Yeah, it was actually something I'm celebrating in him. And I think that's how far God has how far I've come with the Lord and my and my mother is a great mother. Yeah, she did a great job. She was a lot younger than me. Um, and so I think in some ways my journey into parenthood being later in life has formed something different in me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, but yeah. That's amazing. You're the best mom. I feel like so. For those listening, like I met Anna when I was, I guess, like 18. Um, which is just so crazy. Like, maybe I was 19, I don't know, but I was a teenager when I met you, which is crazy. Anna did all of my styling for all my like photo shoots, video shoots, all the things. Um, and now she's like on to bigger and better things. Okay, say that she's doing like amazing things. But like I in in those moments, like I was such a little baby girl, and you were such a friend to me. And like, I just feel like I got to watch you be a mother to your kids as they were growing, like they were so little then. Yeah, um, which is just crazy how much they've grown too. But like you have just done the working mom thing so well. I feel like you've always balanced that um with grace, and like being able to say, I would lay this down tomorrow if God asked me to, that's such a beautiful perspective. And I believe you, like, I know you'd be obedient if he asked you to do that.
SPEAKER_03It's interesting because I mean that is super flattering because I I I think that it hasn't been without wrestle. Yeah. Like there have been moments of the journey that I've definitely cried out to the Lord wanting my own way. Um but I think it it the center is always back to if you call me to lay this down, yeah, I
Music School To Marriage Story
SPEAKER_03will.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03And that came from just learning. So early on, so Jeremy and I met. Do you want a little backstory? I do.
SPEAKER_00You guys have almost been together for 25 years.
SPEAKER_03We will celebrate 25 years of marriage.
SPEAKER_00I can't believe it because you look 25, so I'm like, when did you meet? And like kindergarten.
SPEAKER_03I was telling the guys earlier what just a few minutes ago. Um, I had this weird thought on the way here that my mother, I did the math. My mother was my age when I got married. Whoa. And I was her last to get married. Oh my goodness. Yes. So she I'm I'm about to be 48 when she was 48 when I got married. That is wild. And it's crazy because my twin sister. I didn't know that you were a twin. Yes. Anna does. Another one. I know. So interesting. I know. Um, she's amazing. I love my sister. Um, she's we're nothing alike. She is an amazing nurse. She's such a nurturer. She's like motherhood came really natural for her. She was in some ways mothering me when I was growing up, which was so annoying. But um, she is super nurturing, super kind. She's one of the best nurses. Oh my gosh. Her patients, her doctors will tell everyone the same. So I'm not saying anything that no one else knows. Um, she's married to a firefighter. Wow. They have the most beautiful relationship, the most beautiful family that they've built. She's a grandmother. Yeah, she has two grandbabies. No way. Yeah. I would love to rub that in now. That is crazy. She is, yeah. Which is a bit of a like reality check for me because I have a six-year-old. And I'm like, like I could be a grandmother. Yeah, she was pregnant with her oldest child in our wedding, which was 25 years ago. That is wild. So that's that 25-year-old has two babies now. Wow. Yeah, he and his wife. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Isn't that crazy? I feel like that's how it is though in adulthood, is like there are so many different paths, so many different journeys. Like I have friends that are on their third kid. Like I have friends that are literally having their third child today. And then, like, the maid of honor of my wedding is still single. Like, you know, it's so it's just like you have all different ways. And then you end up just being like, wow, okay, she's a grandmother. It's a six-year-old.
SPEAKER_03Well, and and that's the thing is like I look at her and her husband, and the path that God had for them was so perfectly built for them because um they're equally matched in in their careers. And I think the same for me and Jeremy. Yeah. Um, we met in music school. I have a music degree. Do you really? I know. Wow. Don't tell the people who hire me as a costume designer. It just means you're literally multi-talented. Like well, well, this is it goes back to what we were talking about about sacrifice. I um I really thought I was gonna be a singer. I have a vocal performance degree. I I didn't want to be like you. I actually wanted to be a session singer. That's what I wanted to do. I was really, I really enjoyed being in the studio and doing vocals in the studio. And I started working for a record label, my junior year of college, integrity music, um, when I was 19. And hadn't started dating Jeremy yet, but we knew each other. He had a girlfriend. Um, and I was dating a lot of different people. Um and um we became really good friends, super good friends. And I started singing background vocals with Big Daddy Weave. No, we first started, yes. So I joke, I joke all the time that they kicked me out and put him in, so I had to marry him to stay with the band. Yes. Yeah, no, I Big Daddy Weave wouldn't be where they are today without Jeff. So funny. So Mike and Jay, who has since passed away, we lived in a duplex together. No, and it was yes, it was this old, it wasn't even old. This woman, this plea I hope no one in Mobile hears this, but she was crazy. She built a wedding chapel in her backyard.
SPEAKER_04What?
SPEAKER_03And then realized that she couldn't sell it as a wedding chapel because she has to have some sort of license or whatever. The permit. Oh my god. So she built this wedding chapel. And so she ends up turning it into a duplex. So my side of the duplex had a giant cross window. That is hilarious. Oh my god. And so me and my roommate were on one side, and Mike and Jay were on the other side. That is so funny. So Jeremy was over all the time. And so we were just friends hanging out. And then I started working for the record label. He got a job there as a studio engineer. And so we our lives just kept intersecting. And then, and we were in music school together. And so then um his senior year of college, um he was the golden child. Um, he got through with school much quicker than I did. And so he um he and I started talking, and really that's how our relationship started. What it was Big Daddy Weave. Big Daddy Weave. Your origin story. Oh my goodness, that's amazing. So, yeah, so we um so the the interesting thing is that our lives became intertwined back then. But really, what made us fall in love with each other was that we're both dreamers. Yeah. And we just love to dream together. I love it. We're still dreamers.
SPEAKER_00You are it's complicated because you're going two different directions a lot of the time. Yeah, beautiful when it intersects, which it does. Yeah, but you guys are both like Jeremy's full time on the road with Big Daddy Weave. He's producing Big Daddy Weave, he's playing guitar. Yeah, you are out filming in Morocco. You're you know, and then you have kids, like you guys are doing the most. And you're like mushroom farmers. Are you still doing that?
SPEAKER_03So um, we love growing mushrooms, by the way. But we're putting a pause on that because we kind of bit off more than we could chew. But when we love it. Yeah, but it it'll come back one day. But um Dreamers. I know. Well, and we bought the farm. We bought 25 acres and anyway that we one of the biggest things that was very um instrumental in our relationship was when Big Daddy Weave got signed.
Sacrificing Dreams And Finding Calling
SPEAKER_03Um I was working for the record label, he left the record label to go on full time, but they were not making any money because we all know you don't make money when you first start. So I had to be the bread bone winner. So in that process, I it got hard really, really early on in our first few years of our marriage. It got hard. They signed a record deal two weeks after we got married. Whoa. Yeah, and he was gone. Happy honeymoon. Yeah, yeah. And so it it was me having to die to my dreams to be able to serve us as a family at that point. Yeah, it was not easy. Yeah, I did not like it. Yeah, I was very angry about it for a very long time, and it really was very challenging for our marriage early on. But we got to a point where I was like, I'm choosing him over everything else because I would rather live my life with him than chase my dreams. So I laid them down and it was out of surrender, and I just said to the Lord, I'll do whatever you want me to do. Just please use me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And so that's when God started forming the new dream, and it was really in a place of complete blank page surrender. And I started to see how much I loved being behind the camera. And I started working a lot with the photo shoots and the video shoots that we were doing with the record label. And so I moved quickly into a marketing role where I got to sort of oversee the creative direction of a lot of the marketing campaigns that we were doing and um fell in love with it. And so it was really out of that place of just completely sacrificing and laying my life down and letting God build it the way He wanted to. That's amazing. So yeah, so it was just this at that point, it was like my eyes were just opened, and I was like, Oh, there's this new adventure that I can have. And wow, yeah, so so it was really me and Jeremy that that really was the catalyst for what and it was our marriage, and it was all the things of walking through Wow, being dreamers together, and one of us having to shift.
SPEAKER_00And if you had held so tightly to your dream of being a session singer of all those things, you would not have been where you are today doing something completely different. I'm so grateful. It's unbelievable to me what happens when we lay our dreams at the feet of Jesus and say, Do with all of me what you will. And then he takes you somewhere that you never thought you would go. Um, it's amazing to me the movies that you have worked on. Like every movie that people know and love, I can only imagine one and two. I still believe like all these incredible movies that are coming out in theaters, like you are the costume designer for all of those movies. Isn't that crazy? It's insane, and it's amazing, and you're the perfect person for it. Like, it's you could do a million things, but I love that you're doing that, and you're so good at it. Like, I want to hear about what your life looks like right now, like what you're in the middle of with costume designing. Yeah, like what are you doing working on right now? What are you doing?
SPEAKER_03So, right now, I this is the beautiful thing is like when you and I met, I was still styling. So I so I've been styling for about 25 years at this point. But um, just about probably three years ago, four years ago, I finally decided I was like, I have to cut that side of my life off because what would happen was I would go and work on a movie and then I would come home and try to be mom. Yeah, but I was getting phone calls all the time. And I love serving people. So that can be a little bit of a a difficult thing for me because I don't sometimes I don't know how to sorry, I'm trying to get myself together. Um, sometimes I don't know how to say no. Um and so I would just work myself to death. Yeah. And then try to be mom. And I got to a point with um my oldest where she was, she was about 12, I guess, when I started to really think she really needs me to be present when I'm home. Not that she didn't before, but we were getting into the years where my mental presence was definitely an emotional presence was definitely needed. And so those middle school years like that. Middle school is terrible. Terrible.
SPEAKER_00It's the worst.
SPEAKER_03But yeah. But yeah, so I think um then is when I I made the hard decision to step away from styling and just focus on film so that when I am not working on a film, I'm home. I'm just mom. Yeah, and that's what we are.
Morocco Set Life And Scheduling
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I I finished my film um in Morocco, which oh my gosh, that was amazing. That's incredible. I can't believe I got to go. It was such a blessing to get to go. How long were you there? I was there for um, we filmed for two weeks. I think I was there for three.
SPEAKER_00Wow. I can't remember.
SPEAKER_03Did it bring your kids or were they home? And you So they were still fit, yeah. So it was before I got home on December 21st. Okay, so they were still in school. And so um, thankfully, Jeremy was not on tour. Um, so we had done um most of the film in Birmingham, Alabama, which is my hometown, so it was nice to go for. That's awesome. Yeah, it was fun. Um, but then we went to Morocco and we were in um a place called uh Eseria, or they say it Suera. Um, and it was amazing. It's beautiful. It was it's not the desert because a lot of people go there to film the desert. We were filming on the coast. It was gorgeous. My trailer every morning was set, it was set on on the beach. No way. And this the those the sun would rise on the water. It was so beautiful. It was magic. Not too bad. This costume design to do this again. Yeah, so it was, and the people were amazing. They were so beautiful and kind, and um it was just a great cultural experience. And so yeah, so that was fun. And um this film, I think that it will probably release sometime before the end of this year, I think. But it's a crime drama and it's like yeah, original story. It was it's really cool. It's a really uh Brian Baugh was a director, he's wonderful. And so um, yeah, so it was just it was great. And so when I got home, I got to just really dive into Christmas and then um I you know this is the hard thing sometimes is I start getting if I'm not careful, I start getting a little anxious about what the next one is because as a mom, you have to plan. Yeah, I have to figure out is Jeremy gonna be on tour? Is that am I gonna have to like wrestle with having someone come in and stay in our home and keep with the kids? So sometimes that has to happen. But right now, the blessing with this one is that I mean, there's a little tiny bit of stress uh financially when I'm not working because we have built our life on both of us having careers. But um this time of rest has been really needed for my older children. I think for the younger one too, but we're just in the throes of the big things, yeah. Like all the adult things that we're now facing, and it's hard. And I have always prayed that God would make me available for the moments that really, really impact their lives. That the voice that they hear until they can hear God's voice is my voice, yeah, and my husband's voice, and um that that is the preparation for them to understand how to hear God's voice. And so God's been faithful with that. So right now I'm home because I think I need to be home. Yeah, so I will start prepping the next film. It looks like the next film, um, it's kind of up in the air, but it looks like mid-May is when I'll start on that one. And then uh that'll take me through August.
Homeschool Plans And A Mother Daughter Trip
SPEAKER_03And then my oldest, she has decided for her junior year that she's going to be homeschooled. Oh wow, yeah, which I I am not a homeschool mom. Like I I've never been one to think that I was even capable of. Oh my gosh. So I told her, I was like, if this is what you want, it's on you, babe. And I was like, if you fail, you fail. Yeah. I was like, I guess you gotta give her the space to try, you know. Yeah, so she's super creative, so she's got lots of ideas. So actually, we are now going to take a trip. Me and her and my mom and her best friend and my sister and her daughter, we're going to Scotland and Ireland. Yes, you are in August. Oh, that's right. And we're super excited because we're planning that right now. Wow. And so, yeah, so we'll we're gonna take a trip for that year. That sounds okay. Beginning of her school year. Yeah, so it does give us a lot of flexibility, which I've always thought would be nice for what I do to take the kids with me. Yeah, but I've just never felt that I had the capacity to teach them while I was working too. That makes sense.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that's amazing. I feel like someone was saying the other day, like, you know, you have 18 summers with your kids. Like, of course. I know the hardest thing it like hurts so much. I'm like, what are those things when they go, that's the last time you lay them down and you didn't. Oh my god. I'm like, oh my god. I was sobbing the other day because I was watching a video of a mom say to her, I think he was like nine years old, her son, honey, there was a time where I picked you up and I put you back down and I never picked you back up again. So can we do one last time together where we know it's the last and I'll pick you up and hold you and then I'll put you down. That is weeping. My son is literally eight months old, and I'm just thinking about the fact that there will be a time where I put him down and don't pick him back up again. It's like I could cry right now. But like life is so short with that time that you have with your kids. Like my brother was saying the other day, he's like like 80% of the time you'll ever spend with your kids is before they turn 18. Yes, like, and then from the rest of their life, like you get them in moments, but you just don't have that same time. So honestly, taking that trip, like being so present with her in this time when she needs you, like that's that's time well spent. It's gonna be beautiful.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's really good. Oh wow. I can say too, like, um, it's so great that Josh is a dad. Yeah, so great. I know it. Um I I think one of the most beautiful things about marriages and parenting is that you know, I didn't know Jeremy as a dad until I gave birth to Arabelle. Yeah. There are so many things about our spouse that we're still discovering that is beautiful in our marriage as well. Yeah. To see my husband be a father of teenagers. I mean, I I had a big sort of wake-up moment with him uh last year, and I literally sat him down.
Letting Dad Lead Teen Years
SPEAKER_03I was like, here are the keys. You're driving now. Because I was like, I've already known I can't. Well, and I think that there's this transition of motherhood. Because when they are little, yeah, they need you to pick them up when they scrape their knee. They need you to hold them when they're going to sleep. When they there is a transition and you're not really sure when it is. I didn't know when it was. Yeah. But you do start to feel it because there's this tension that's happening in your relationship. And a lot of times it's them pushing you away, which is very hard. But at the same time, if you can step back and go, this is natural part of them becoming adult. They want a leader at that point. Yeah. They don't want the nurturer, they want the leader. Yeah. And it's such a beautiful experience to see my husband become the man who's going to lead them into adulthood. Wow. Yeah. And I'm very proud of how he has stepped into that role. So I mean, it's like it's a funny thing as a wife you have this uh helpmate authority to speak something into your husband. And I've had these moments with Jeremy along the way where I have said, This is you. Yeah. And it's like there's this thing that happens. Wow. That he he it's like almost like uh you you give him this mantle that you go, okay, I'm gonna hand this to you now. Yeah. Because you are needed. Yeah. Because men want to be needed. Yeah. Right. And you're speaking. And when you evidence into them to lead. Yeah. And when you say you are needed here, um it is it they want, they want that. They want to step into some a place where they're needed. Yeah. And so um it really has been a beautiful thing to see him. Even it's hard when he's on the road, um, but he's doing an incredible job. And and it's changed our relationship. I've been able to sort of rest and and go, even even as much to say, I don't know, you're gonna have to ask your dad. You're like, wow, what a what a concept. That's not up to me. Which is so nice. Wow, I love that so much. Yeah, so it's it's changed our marriage. Yeah. Um, I'm so grateful to have a partner in him. We've always been great partners. Yeah. Always been great partners. I see that in you guys for sure. Yeah. And uh it's nice to see this new season of our life where he's driving.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
Making I Can Only Imagine Two
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And your partners in life, and also you guys recently were partners in film because he worked on I Can Only Imagine Two, and so did you. And so did your kids. Okay, tell us about that. Yes.
SPEAKER_03It's funny because I'm so proud of Jeremy. Yeah. Like, I just think he's I I'm excited that the world gets to see how talented he is because I've always known how talented he is. He's so talented. It's crazy. And he and he's so gifted working with people because he's so kind. He's so kind. I tell people all the time, like, he is nicer than me, I promise. Like he's the nicer.
SPEAKER_00You guys are both pretty nice, I will say. But he is very intense, though.
SPEAKER_03Like, he's at least like he has this way of dealing with people that is just so gracious and kind, but he can get something out of them that I would not be. I'd be like, why are you not doing this? You know, and he's patient, like, you know what, that was great, let's try that one again. You know, and I'm like, I'm like, that was terrible, you know. But anyway, um, he um so he the first film we ever did together was um the film that Addy was born on, which was um almost seven years ago, which is called I Still Believe, which was the Jeremy Camp movie. Love that. So Jeremy um worked with John Debney on the score for that one. So cool. So he since then he's really been stepping into this film score world and he's cool. So loving it. He's so good at it. And so on this film, because it was in Nashville, we were able to really live as a family in the process. So Jeremy was on set a lot because he was producing all the on-screen music. So he was also doing a lot of the artist coaching with the talent. So, like Milo is not a he's not a singer-songwriter. Yeah, he does he never even played the guitar. All those Jeremy had to kind of coach him through a lot. So it was fun, and Jeremy's so good at it, and so that was fun. And then Adrian would come on set and hang out while Jeremy was doing all these, and there is just it was beautiful. And then when I was on the film uh that I was working on in Birmingham, so we'd already rapped, I can only imagine. And I moved on to the next film, and um, Jeremy sends me a text of a cue of a of um just a small cue that he had done, and he goes, You need to listen to this one. Oh my god. And I I put it, I was in the car and I put it on, and all of a sudden there's this moment, and I hear this vocal part come in. And I just started to weep because I was like, It was Arabelle. Oh my god, her voice was so beautiful, and he put it in there where it's it's it's an instrument, it's not like and it's the only piece of score in the entire movie where there's a vocal.
SPEAKER_00No way, yes, and it's so beautiful. Oh, that's it.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I I was just like so proud. Which part of the movie is that in? So there's a scene, it's a very emotional scene where they're all sort of having these, there's no dialogue. Um, they're on the tour bus. Um, Tim is like writing in his journal, and Bart is like reading uh the book that Tim gave him. And then um you see the bus. It's just a really emotional sort of revelation moment where they're all starting to starting to clue in to what the the purpose is of where they are. So it's just really beautiful, and the the music starts to swell, and then you hear this beautiful vocal part that's just sort of like panning back and forth, and it's just it's so good. That's so cool. I love it.
SPEAKER_00Like all of your kids being involved in small ways and big ways in the movie, and you guys, it's just that's so special.
SPEAKER_03And Abby was in the movie too.
SPEAKER_00Yes, in the costume scene, right?
SPEAKER_03The part she's this little ladybug that runs through the back.
SPEAKER_00So I looked for her specifically. After you said that note, I last night I was like looking for her specifically.
SPEAKER_03I was like, there's so much.
SPEAKER_00I know. That's just so sweet. And that's like such great memories for them. Like such a good time. Like, oh yeah, I was part of a movie. Like, what kid gets to say that?
SPEAKER_03Well, and I was saying that's one of the beautiful things about working with the people that I do. Um, Kingdom, everyone at Kingdom, they are all family-oriented. I mean, all their kids. I have seen Andy Irwin's kids grow up. That's so cool. And and they've and they've grown up with my kids. Yeah. I mean, we get together and the kids hang out and they have such a great time. Um, Kevin Downs, his kids. Like, we have been a family together for a very long time. The first film I ever did with Andy and John was October Baby. And Arabelle was born on that movie. That is crazy. So that was seven, um 16 years ago.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_03And so we started working together almost like 18, 19 years ago.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_03But um, but yeah, their first feature was October Baby, and so they saw her born. I mean, that was, and then Adrian was born on one called Grace Unplugged. Wow. And then Addy was born on I Still Believe. So they have seen my children born on their film. That is wild. Not literally in my trailer. Yes.
SPEAKER_00But can you imagine?
SPEAKER_03I mean, they wouldn't put it past me, I'm sure, but I'm a little insane. But yeah, it was, it was, it's always been a family environment. Um, and my children have learned how to behave on film sets. Yeah, because they've, you know, it's like you growing up in the music industry. Yeah, you learn how to behave and operate within that culture. And so they really do cultivate. The Kendrick's do the same thing. A lot of the people that I choose to work with, I actually do get the blessing of choosing the people I get to work with, which is I can't say that that's normal. I think that's just me being in a position where I can lay it down and I'm not desperate for the work.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And so the work comes and I get to say yes or no for the season that I'm in, and if I'm willing to put myself in an environment where one, if my children can watch the film, that's important to me. Yeah. Um, it may not be that they can watch it at that moment, but at some point I would I would be proud for them to see it. But the other part is that they would be welcome to come and visit me on set. Um, that's really important. Yeah. And so they've never been told that they can't come. Yeah. You know, there are times that I'm like, we're filming in a heavy scene, you can't come this day. But they've never felt like they weren't a part of what I was doing. That's really so that's yeah. So that's been important in and being able to be a mom first. Yeah. And and the people who I work for know that about me. They know that that is a priority for me. I love it. And so they just support it. Yeah.
Costumes That Tell The Story
SPEAKER_00I was thinking, like, as I was watching, I can only imagine two, just really paying attention to the costumes, the wardrobe, and just thinking like it really is something that shapes the whole movie. Yeah, it's emotional. It's so important. It's showing progression with characters based on what they're wearing. And like some of that is really subconscious, like you don't even realize, but it's telling the story. Like you're part of telling the story, and that's really cool. And something that I feel like people wouldn't realize. Yeah. Like the behind the scenes of what it looks like to actually tell the story through the wardrobe. Um, can you talk a little bit about that and just what that is like and what your mindset is going into a movie?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's funny because I have been a stylist, you know, a wardrobe stylist. Yeah. Different process. Um, because when I'm dressing an artist, I'm trying to figure out who they are. Yeah. Right. So I'm trying to really get to a point with you that I can tell your story. Yeah. Right. With a film, I'm telling a broad story that's a big story with lots of different characters. An actor that comes in is not playing themselves. They're playing a character. Right. So I live with their character a lot of times before. They do they they sometimes don't get even cast until like the week before, sometimes. Yeah, so I've lived with who they are. One of the things I love about filmmaking is it's so collaborative. You you have an entire team. I have an entire team of beautiful people that are I do not do it alone. They are the reason that I'm able to pull it off. Yeah, they're amazing. Um, I just love the people that work with me and um and they all I hope feel uh seen and heard, and so therefore they give their best to it as well. Yeah. So I'm I'm not solo. So so as a ward upsellus, you're you're on your own a little bit. Um in film, you you're a part of a big team, and so I think storytelling with a big group of creatives is super exciting and exhilarating because there's this energy of creatives that just gets to a point where you're just like, this is like camp. You know? Yes, and it's fun. So great. Yeah, it's so great. It's hard. Um, I tell people all the time it's like running a marathon up a mountain. It's very hard. Yeah. It will take you to the end of yourself, which I think is why, in a lot of ways, why God put me where I am, because I am fiercely independent and I have always been fiercely independent. I blame my mother for this too, because she taught me how to barrel race when I was little and I grew up barrel racing horses. So yeah, so I'm a tough cookie. Yeah and so um I think that putting me in an environment where I will always reach the end of myself and I get to see God show up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Because I am not capable of everything. I do have limitations, but I walk into situations now where I go, I know that God is not limited to where He's called me. He's called me to go further than I've ever been, to go deeper than I've ever been. Um, everything that I walk through, I look at as an opportunity for God to make me more than I was yesterday. So I it may be a project or um a concept or a time period even that I've never done before, but I know I can. Yeah. And so there's this, there's this sensibility inside of me that I go, when God calls me there, he will equip me and empower me to do what he's called me to do. I am not alone.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And it is not me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And I can honestly say that when it is successful and it always is, it is because God is successful. Yeah. And so I just try to step into it and lay down my pride and walk in humility. Yeah. To go, okay, Lord, equip me to do what you call me to do. And and and I get to sit back in some ways and just watch God show out.
SPEAKER_01That's so cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. You're like, I couldn't have done that on my own. I get to show up, He shows out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And so it it really is an amazing process that I I have grown to really love deeply more than I did as a stylist. I love being a stylist, don't get me wrong, because I love my people and I'm a relational person. But being a part of something bigger than myself is just I it's amazing. I don't really, I'm like, okay, Lord, I don't want to do anything else. So don't ask me to do anything else. Yeah, but please keep it. But I'm also like willing. But um, I've been uh blessed to be able to do this as long as I have and have. I mean, I I can't I've lost count of how many features I've done at this point, which is such a crazy thing to say, but it's like in the high 30s at this point. Wow. And um every one of them, you know, has significance to my journey and molding me and making me more than I was before. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You're doing ministry, it's amazing to me. Yeah. And you're so aware of that. Like I think you could show up and be the costume designer and not see it that way, and you'd be missing such an amazing plan that God has for you. And I honestly do think that the success of movies like the ones you've worked on, it doesn't just depend on the actors. Like, it's people like you who are being obedient, seeking the Lord, trusting him in your calling. Like, there's so many different people that are putting all their gifts into this movie, and that's just so cool. Yeah, I feel like it this is a world that I've known nothing about, but I'm so grateful to get to learn from you. Like it's just so amazing. I feel like I'm watching movies differently now. I'm like, wow, somebody like picked out every one of those outfits, and like it's important. Like even Jesus Revolution. I'm like, that's a whole that's a whole era, you know.
SPEAKER_03I loved that one though. It's so cool.
SPEAKER_00It's you dressed Jesus. I mean, it was a Jesus in that movie, but Jonathan Roomy is doing this.
SPEAKER_03It's so funny because he so I do a lot of his styling too. Do you? Yeah. He um he's such a good friend. And the funny thing is, this is gonna sound terrible. I don't get to watch a lot of TV. I don't get to watch a lot of movies. Yeah. Because like I said, when I'm home, I'm usually watching something that's like, I don't know, Little Mermaid. You know, I've watched Little Mermaid more times than I can count. And I love it still. But um with Jonathan, I had when we were doing Jesus, I had never watched The Chosen. So I didn't see him as Jesus at all. And so I think I'm happy about that because it didn't inhibit me making him Lonnie. Yes. And and I think, yeah, I think it was really good. And I think it was good for he and I because I think we we became such good friends on that project that I don't see him as anything but an actor. Yeah. And um now, he is definitely called doing that project. Yeah, uh the chosen. I mean, he's doing amazing with it and he really does want to honor the Lord from what I have seen of the way he operates in that role. It it is with humility that he walks in that role because it is so important. But but making him Lonnie was really fun because Lonnie's a great character, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it was it was lots of dynamics, just yeah, the movie is fun. It was so good. I really loved it. I feel like Christian art has come a long way. Like Kingdom Story Company, all the movies that they've done are just so good. And I feel like yeah, like they really are so good. It's not like, oh, you know, it's a Christian film. So you know what you're getting.
Raising The Bar In Christian Film
SPEAKER_03I'm ready. When I um when I was working for the record label, I have this really vivid moment of memory where Jeremy and I, we hadn't had children yet. We were driving down the road on a road trip, and this has never happened to me, probably never happened since. But all of a sudden, the Lord just impressed on my heart uh this burden to pray for these three different actresses, and he named them specifically. No way, yeah. And I'm not gonna tell you the word, but but it it put this weird burden on me to pray for these actresses, and I was like, I was still working for the record label, I had no intentions of going into film. It was like no idea that that would be a path forward. And so I just got really burdened to pray for them, and so uh that process was the seed that started to grow into God guiding me into film, which is wild because I do feel uh very much like called to it. But I remember when when the first inkling that I was getting asked to do Christian film, I really was wrestling with it. And I really said I I was arguing with God about it. I was like, uh, I don't want to do Christian film, it's terrible. It's terrible. I was like, no, if I'm gonna do something, I'm like, I've been styling all these great artists. And I was like, you know, I was working a lot in the country music industry at that time, and I was like, if I'm gonna do something great, I want it to be excellent. Yeah, and at that moment, the Lord said, then bring excellence to Christian film.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It was a conviction at that point that it was don't run away from the Christian film industry because you don't think you think it's beneath you. Actually bring the excellence that you bring to everything to it. Right. And I think that was the goal of everyone that God started to sort of um magnetize together. Yeah. Andy and John and and all the people that I started working with. It was all their desire to do the same. Yeah. And so I think it was it's been an intentional desire for everyone to bring um Christian film and Christian story storytelling and and not necessarily blatantly Christian, but positive, yeah, family-oriented, yeah, but just hopeful stories that inspire you to bring excellence to them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And I think they've I think we've done well. And I think we're continuing to do well. I think we're gonna get even better and better. I think that um one of the biggest things I hope to see is that original content will start to be developed in a way that is is uh super uh per like um what's the word I'm looking for? Just successful. Yeah. That I I hope that that's what you're gonna start to see is original content coming out of Christian film. And and Jeremy's working on a project right now that I think is really hilarious. It's called Promised Land. Have you seen that?
SPEAKER_01No, it's really funny.
SPEAKER_03Um Mitch Hudson is uh he I I knew him when he was at uh Liberty University in college still, and he is um uh writer-director. It is a television series that is basically set up kind of like the office where they break the fourth wall. Okay, and it is the Israelites in the desert.
SPEAKER_00After wait, I think I have it's a comedy. Yes. So Jeremy's doing the score for that. No way. It's so funny. Okay, my dad was literally. It's so clever. That looks like it's like the office. It's so like the chosen, but the office. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I'm so proud of Mitch for doing it. I'm like, it is so good. Yes. So I I think we're like, you're gonna start to see more of this original content that um I think that we we have an endless amount of true stories we can tell because that's the beautiful thing about testimony. Yeah. Um, we have endless stories of God's goodness and grace. But to tell original stories, I think that's the next, the next level up, I guess. Yeah. That I'm gonna see. We need it. Yeah, I think we're gonna see it. Yeah, I think it's already being done. That's okay. And so, um, yeah, so it I think that's exciting for the Christian film industry. Me too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Anna, you're amazing. Oh gosh. I have loved every minute of this. It's gone by so few. I'm like, I you're just no, you're just amazing. You're such a deep well. Like, it's yeah. I'm like, maybe we're gonna talk about where we shop. Maybe no, no, we're gonna talk about God's faithfulness and being obedient and laying your dreams at his feet. And I know it's just amazing. I love it so much. Thank you so much for doing this.
Superpower Game And Goodbye
SPEAKER_00I'm so grateful for you. Um, to end the podcast, we're gonna do a fun little, like a two-minute game. Okay. Okay. So I have this wheel. Okay. Um, you're gonna spin it. It has all different my readers on. Get your readers on. It has all different topics. You're gonna spin the wheel and then whatever it lands on, we'll talk about for like two minutes as a fun way to close. Okay. Your readers are so stylish. I should have known. I should have known they would be.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I'm so it's because I have a million of them. I was sort of joking when I got here. It's like I everything I wear has pockets because I don't like carrying a purse. And so I was literally pulling what pins and tape measures, tape measures skipping. Okay, so I have to like spin it.
SPEAKER_00Give it a little spin. Okay, wait.
SPEAKER_03I didn't I land on a line. Let's see.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah. Do do another. What did it land on? Superpower? Superpower. Okay, tell me if you had any superpower, what would it be? Oh.
SPEAKER_03Oh my gosh, superpower.
SPEAKER_00There's so many options.
SPEAKER_03You can Can I just be real transparent?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, I wish I I wish I could clean my house in an organized way. That's so real. Me too. I'm like, the superpower would be that I could always keep my house tidy and organized.
SPEAKER_00I think I've I've realized that like every time I clean my house, I'm like, see ya in a week. Like it's the worst. I'm like, could there just be a little fairy that comes in and just constantly tired? I know, I know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, and our house is under construction, it's been under renovations for like four years and I'm going crazy. But um, in that state, it's like nothing can stay organized because there's like a hammer on the counter or there's like, you know, Jeremy has his toolbox because Jeremy's doing it all himself and he's amazing. Oh, bless him. And he's honestly amazing. Yeah. But he's also control free. And he's also had to do it all by himself. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So good at it, but yeah. That's amazing. So if I had a superpower right now and I could just wave a wand and uh have your house clean. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00That's such a mom's answer too. I love you for that. It's like if I could have any superpower in the world, put the world at my feet and I would say someone to clean my house or the ability to do the world peace. It's you all so real. I love it.
SPEAKER_03Just clean something to clean my house. Yeah, I love it. Somebody daily to keep it organized. Yes, just because it's not just once a week that it's needed. It's constant. Because it's honestly like, especially with like two teenagers and a you know, six-year-old, it it's like I clean it and I turn around and I'm like, what just happened? Yeah, everything I just did is undone.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I feel like if I wanted a clean house, I would have to put my husband, my baby, and my dog outside of it. That's the only way. That's the only way it's gonna be clean for me. No one can live in my house. Yeah, including me. Like I'm part of the problem. I just visit it. Yeah, me too. Yeah, just show up, have my coffee in the kitchen. Hello, clean, perfect pristine counters. I love that. Oh man. Anna, thank you so much. This was so fun. Thanks for being in the middle of it with us.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. Anytime.
SPEAKER_00Yay.
