The Women of Duck Commander (29 page)

INTRODUCTION

Korie

Everywhere we go, people ask us questions. Sometimes the questions—and their answers—are really funny; sometimes they are very serious. They want to know everything from whether we like our husbands’ beards to how we juggle busy schedules to whether they can have Miss Kay’s biscuit recipe (which is included in this section). They ask us how we keep our children grounded and whether or not Uncle Si really is everything he seems to be. They also ask about our faith and about what it’s like to have such a large family. Sometimes, girls ask me if they can marry John Luke or guys ask me if they can have Sadie’s phone number. I’ll go ahead and answer those now: no and no.

Before we finish this book, we want to address some of the most
common questions we receive. Some of those questions are directed to a specific person; others are ones we all want to comment on. I hope you will get to know us even better through these last pages, and if you have a question we don’t answer, maybe we’ll see you in our travels one of these days and you can ask us then!

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ANSWERS TO THE TWENTY QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK US MOST

1. Do you like the beards?

Miss Kay:
If Phil ever shaved his beard, I’d think I was committing adultery.

Korie:
When I married Willie, he was clean-shaven and had short hair. Boy, how things change! Over the years, I’ve really come to like the look he has now, including the beard.

Missy:
I love Jase. I don’t like the beard. I miss the days of scratch-free kisses. Besides, he’s just too cute under there!

Jessica:
Yes! Although Jep is really cute under all that hair, and although he does have the Robertson dimples, I still prefer the beard. I think sometime over the course of our marriage I transitioned to loving the beard. I do make him trim the mustache every once in a while for better kisses! I also feel safer with the beard; I know no one is going to mess with us because the beard
kind of scares people. For some reason, I think they think he’s a madman!

Lisa:
Alan is often referred to as “the Robertson without a beard,” and I like it that way!

2. Tell us the truth about Uncle Si.

Lisa:
Si is one of the most gracious people in our family. He is willing to do almost everything I ask him to do. He has a soft spot for kids. He is a kind, generous, and loving man. He loves his wife, his children, and his eight grandsons. Si is a little eccentric, but he is a lot of fun to be in a family with.

Korie:
When Willie and I travel and get to interact with our fans, someone almost always asks us, “Where’s Si?” People just love him! I usually give the same answer every time: “Taking a nap.” I figure if I say that at any given time, there’s a very good chance it’s true!

Jessica:
Si is one of the sweetest men I have ever known. He is such a great uncle to the kids in our family, and in fact, all kids seem to love him. I have
never
heard him say a negative word about anyone—and I mean
anyone
. He has the biggest heart!

Missy:
The specific question people most often ask me is “Is Si really as crazy as he seems?” Yes.

3. Miss Kay, you seem like a very wise woman. What’s your secret?

Miss Kay:
All I know to do is just live by what the Bible says is right and wrong. It’s that simple. To me, the only way to raise a family is
to do what the Bible says to do. People often want me to talk about family values or say that
Duck Dynasty
is based on family values. But, plain and simple, family values come from the Bible. My parents and grandparents taught my sister and me how to behave, about respecting other people, about forgiveness, and about discipline when we were very young. All those things come from the Bible, and I’m so thankful I was raised to live by what the Bible says. I did the same for my boys.

I love God’s Word and I have a lot of favorite Bible verses. The one I call my “clutch verse”—because of the way I hung on to it through the bad years—is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
(NKJV).
Another one of my favorites is Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”
(NKJV).
I did my best to teach my boys what God says when they were very young. Even though a couple of them had rebellious seasons, they all came back to their roots of faith. Now that they are older, they have not departed from the lessons they learned as children.

4. Korie, is Miss Kay’s cooking really that good, and is yours really that bad?

Korie:
The answer is yes and yes. I have never eaten anything from Miss Kay’s table that I didn’t like. She really enjoys cooking, and she loves watching people enjoy what she cooks. She is the kind of mom who gets her feelings hurt if you come to her house not hungry. If
you show up there at dinnertime, you’d better at least take a bite and let her know how good it is!

I, on the other hand, always seem to have too many things going on to be a good cook. I really tried in our early years of marriage, but I would get distracted and burn the bread or put apple cinnamon muffin mix in the corn casserole instead of corn bread mix (true story) and ruin the entire dish. Corn and cinnamon do
not
go together. I’ve learned to accept that there are other things I’m good at and leave the cooking to Willie in our house.

5. Jessica, you have four young children. How do you juggle it all?

Jessica:
Well, lots of prayer. God is my strength! And with being blessed with such a large family, we lean on each other for support. As a family, we help each other out. When I am gone, I can call on any one of my sisters-in-law or on Miss Kay to help, and they know they can call on me any time they need me. I also have great parents who help out a lot. And we have one babysitter who has been with us since Lily (our oldest child) was little. She is more like a family member than a babysitter; the kids view her as a big sister.

6. Missy, who’s the better shot: you or Jase?

Missy:
The quick and obvious answer is Jase. He is well known for his accuracy (even though Si claims he shoots all the ducks). However, I love to share this story: On the last day of duck season 2012, Jase took Mia and me on a late-afternoon duck hunt. Mia was shooting BBs at the decoys and Jase and I were waiting for the last run of ducks to come through for the year when two ducks came
flying over from right to left. We both fired when they got in front of us. He aimed for the front one, and I aimed for the back one, and the back one fell. Jase missed. It was a glorious hunt.

7. Lisa, does the entire Robertson family
really
vacation together?

Lisa:
Well, almost everyone. We call it EBP, “Everybody but Phil.” He stays home because he simply does not understand what we love about the beach. The things he doesn’t like, we love—such as sand and sun. There are thirty of us, and we try to rent a large house or a duplex when we vacation. We lead very busy lives, and even though we film together, we also love to go and just let our hair down and have fun together. The guys golf almost every day, while the ladies sun and shop.

8. Are the Robertson kids really as respectful and obedient as they seem?

All:
Yes. We have raised them to respect and obey their elders. They are all typical kids, but respect is one of the core values of our family and they truly are respectful kids.

9. Korie, what’s your favorite episode of
Duck Dynasty
?

Korie:
This is a hard one because there are a lot of episodes I love, but I think my favorite is “Driving Miss Sadie.” It’s fun to see what happens when I’m not around, like hearing the driving advice Si gave Sadie. Plus, it’s like having really great home videos of milestones in our children’s lives.

10. Lisa, why do the boys call their parents “Kay” and “Phil” instead of “Mom” and “Dad”?

Lisa:
I am not sure anyone remembers exactly how the boys started calling their parents by their first names, but I have a couple of ideas.

For one thing, during the boys’ formative years, when Granny and Pa lived next door to Phil and Miss Kay, the entire family worked together, ate together, and enjoyed very close relationships. Phil called Granny “Mom” and Pa “Dad,” so maybe having two people called “Mom” and two called “Dad” was too confusing. Granny and Pa called Phil and Kay by their first names, so maybe the boys picked it up from them.

The other reason it may have started is that for a lot of years, Phil and Miss Kay ran their own business. The boys helped them in all kinds of ways. When dealing with customers and vendors, using first names for every employee is more professional than calling the boss “Dad.” They would not have said to someone who called, “Yes, you may speak to my mom,” but “Yes, you may speak to Kay.”

Sometimes people think the boys are being disrespectful by calling Phil and Kay by their first names. The important thing is that Phil and Miss Kay do not think it’s disrespectful at all. They know how much the boys respect them, and they do not need to be called by any particular terms to prove it. Miss Kay likes to say, “I’m fine with them calling me ‘Kay’ as long as they call me!”

11. Jessica, what’s it like being married to a serious hunter?

Jessica:
It’s definitely not like having a husband with a nine-to-five job! A lot of marriages and families have to adjust to whatever a spouse does for a living. People who are married to doctors,
soldiers, firefighters, or others all have to find a way to make life work in the midst of unusual schedules. One difference between us and some of our friends is that hunting is part of the job for Robertson men. Sure, they enjoy it, but it’s also how they make a living. There were times when duck hunting and the things that go with it were the
only
way they made a living. So, hunting is not a hobby in our family; it is part of our livelihood.

All of us wives know we will not see as much of our husbands during duck season as we do at other times of the year. For example, during duck season, Jep gets up and leaves the house at about four o’clock in the morning and does not return until about six o’clock at night. When he gets home, he is exhausted. His day may have included not only hunting but also filming, editing, and producing hunting videos, because those are also part of his job responsibilities.

During duck season, I have had to learn to let him rest when he gets home and to find creative things to do with our children while he is away. We all miss him when he’s gone so much of the time, so he and I have had to find ways to make the most of the time we do have together during hunting season, which isn’t much. Thankfully, my sisters-in-law and Miss Kay understand this well. We’re all in the same boat!

12. Missy, did you ever think your life would turn out like this?

Missy:
Never in my wildest dreams. I knew I wanted to be used by God in big ways. I always prayed He would trust me enough to use me to make a difference in His Kingdom, but I never dreamed it would be through a cable television show, the number one cable television show in A&E network history, as of this writing!
Ephesians 3:20–21 best describes how I feel: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” It is not because of any power or wisdom we possess that this happened. It is all because of His power, His power working through us. What a dream come true!

13. Miss Kay, may I have your biscuit recipe?

Miss Kay:
Sure! Here it is, and you can find more great recipes of mine in my cookbook,
Miss Kay’s Duck Commander Kitchen
.