Mar 11, 2020

episode one

On Sunday evening, the first episode of our new series This Life I Live aired on television all across the country on RFD-TV.

In a blog post this past September, I shared that I was going to be making a new tv series. The date that the tv network ended up giving me for the premiere was March 8th. I didn’t realize until that date was almost here, that it was exactly four years to-the-day from Joey’s funeral.

And so on Sunday night, we had a special gathering in the concert hall here at our farm that night, seated in the same place where we held Joey’s funeral service, and watched the first episode as it aired on the big screen.

There were some smiles. Some laughs. And more than a few tears.

It was so special to be there, watching together, for so many reasons. First off, it has been the support of our wonderful family, friends and neighbors that helped us to move forward these last few years, and continue to see the hope and possibility in each and every day, even when they’re difficult ones. It was also special to see our story come full circle. To see something so healing coming from something that was so hard.

I couldn’t help but think about the last, and only, other time we watched the first episode of a tv show we made. It was in July 2012 and we had been working for the past few months on a new variety tv series we were making with friends here at the farm called The Joey+Rory Show. The day it aired, Joey and I were on the road, and watched it on the tv of some family friends at their farm in Holton, Kansas. Little did we know at the time that that show was going to change our lives. Bringing us into he living rooms of hundreds of thousands of people all across the country every Friday night, giving us the chance to share our music, our lives and our love for each other, on a scale we never even knew was possible.

…watching episode 1 of The Joey+Rory Show together at the Patterson’s farmhouse in July 2012

Over the next two years, we would make 52 episodes of that show, and ultimately stop in the early 2014 to prepare for, and make sure we were completely present for the new baby that was about to arrive. That is when I started writing this blog. Which would again, change our lives. Ultimately allowing our story to be shared with millions of people online who would cheer, pray and root for us in the coming months and years. And now, to see that blog, four years later, come full circle, back to being a tv series on the same network we started on, is such a blessing.

When we originally made The Joey+Rory Show, people were only able to watch it on tv. And unfortunately lots and lots of folks who didn’t have RFD at the time, were never able to see it. But now thankfully, our new series This Life I Live is not just a cable tv series that will air every Sunday night on tv at 8 pm CST (9 EST)… it’s also a digital online series that will ‘air’ a few days later, on my YouTube channel and Facebook page, and even Instagram for people who don’t have, or have no way, to access the RFD-TV channel on tv.

And so here it early Wednesday morning, and I’m blessed to get to share episode one with you…

For the first few weeks, the series will spend time “catching up” on the last four years. The things that have changed. The things that haven’t. How Indy, and my older girls and even I, have grown and what life is like now. As the series moves forward, we will share more and more of what is happening in real time, or as close to it as possible.

Just as it was in 2012, when we made The Joey+Rory Show here at home, it is still so special to me to be making this ourselves, with the help of some of the same friends who were part of the first tv series. It is truly my blog – what you are reading now – come to life.

On Sunday evening, besides gathering to celebrate the new tv series, we were also celebrating my sister Marcy’s birthday. She is a couple years younger than me, and still has the energy of a twenty-year-old. She and a number of our neighbors worked all afternoon to make the concert hall look great and we had a wonderful dinner and amazing time together.

Though it is a whole lot of work, I have loved working on this new show. Getting to capture and tell new stories and also going through and sharing lots of moments from our past. Some we’ve share some of before, and some, this will be the first time. Many of them are with Joey, which is one of my favorite parts of this show. I’m so happy that just as she was in 2012, she is still a big part of this series too.

I love that through the power of video, the internet and storytelling, Joey continues living, long after she was alive.

God is so good.

———————— MORE RFD-TV INFO ————————

Tune in to “This Life I Live” on Sunday nights at 9 PM ET / 8 PM CT on RFD-TV. Find the cable channel in your area by going to RFDTV.com/Find-Us. Or subscribe to RFD-TV Now to watch this series and “The Joey+Rory Show” online and on-demand at WatchRFDTV.com. To find out if RFD-TV is available via your cable-provider, click here. Below is a list of cable, social, and streaming platforms that carry the network and our new series :