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Marriage Feb 27, 2017

Bad Attitude: Is It Killing Your Marriage?

Can a bad attitude really kill your marriage? Yes! Attitude affects the way we communicate with our husband; so if our attitude toward him is negative, that’s how we’ll sound when we’re talking with him. Mark and I work together every day which makes having a loving attitude really hard. One day whe

Lists to Love By Feb 22, 2017

Marital Differences: Asset or Liability?

Are you different from your husband? Mark and I are opposites and it can be a point of contention. I often crave the marriage compatibility I observe in other couples. If you are like us, it’s easy to feel frustrated and want your spouse to be more like you. However, that might defeat the point of t

Encouragement Feb 20, 2017

How to Deal with Life’s Disappointments

I have a friend whose life hasn’t turned out the way she thought it would. In some ways it’s better than she ever hoped for — she has two wonderful children, a beautiful home, and she married a good man. But then there are the things that haven’t turned out the way she envisioned — she doesn’t have

Parenting Feb 15, 2017

How to Discipline Your Child

It’s such a struggle to discipline our kids. I think it’s a struggle because it doesn’t feel good and it’s not fun. We had children to love them and nurture them and see them grow, so to talk about what they did wrong, or trying to train them not to do things that are wrong… let’s just say it’s diff

Parenting Feb 13, 2017

Are You Your Child’s First Love?

Yes, you are! I think all children have the same first love — their mom. And we are usually their first Valentine, too. All of the future Valentine’s Days our children celebrate will echo the love they learned from us. And, the way we show our children love will also affect their future marriage. So

Parenting Feb 8, 2017

6 Ways to Know You’re Being a Good Parent {Podcast}

Can you know how to be a good parent? The answer is yes. This is an important topic because we so often doubt ourselves, especially when our children go through tough phases. We tend to feel like it’s our fault and we look back and say, “Uh-oh, how did I fail in these areas?” Today I want to assure

Lists to Love By Feb 7, 2017

Lists to Love By 30 Day Challenge

I have an awesome new marriage printable to share with you that will help make your relationship with your husband stronger and more loving. It’s the Lists to Love By 30 Day Marriage Challenge. The printable was inspired by our Lists to Love By, Simple Steps to the Marriage You Want books (there is

Lists to Love By Feb 1, 2017

Can You Read Your Spouse?

My husband can read two languages — but reading body language isn’t one of them! Mark does his best to be an attentive listener, but because he’s so focused on what I’m saying (I’ve written before about how we are completely different animals when it comes to wordsmithing), he often misses the nuanc

Lists to Love By Jan 23, 2017

Do You Love Your Spouse the Right Way?

Have you ever noticed that when someone from another country speaks a different language, people feel the need to speak louder? We think speaking loudly will bridge the communication gap. But it doesn’t. Their ears are working, it’s their brain that can’t understand the words. The same problem occur

Parenting Jan 18, 2017

8 Lies Your Teen Believes {Podcast}

We often don’t understand what’s going on in the heads of our teenagers. In my case, this happened with one of my boys. He was such a good, compliant child that when he hit the teenage years I really didn’t know that he was having a lot of self-doubt. He based it on things that had happened to him t

Parenting Jan 11, 2017

5 Ways Parents Frustrate Their Teens {Podcast}

I loved it when my children were babies. I also loved it when they were teenagers—really, I did. Yes, there were challenges, but the bonds we formed during those years will last us a lifetime. What’s the key to parenting teenagers? In this podcast episode, Mark and I talk about how first, you’ll nee

Parenting Jan 4, 2017

How to Raise Your Child to Be a Leader {Podcast}

Mark and I both had leadership positions in college. He was president of an on-campus leadership group and I was president of my sorority. But we’ve tried to teach our children a broader sense of leadership–the power of influence in daily life. There’s a question we asked our kids a lot over the yea

Lists to Love By Jan 2, 2017

New Year, Renewed Marriage: Follow These Simple Steps

People are usually a little surprised when we tell them the story in the video below. You see, our marriage didn’t have the most promising start. Our hearts were in the right place, but our personalities were on a crash course that was bound to implode our marriage. There were so many things we stru

Parenting Dec 29, 2016

Share the Love, Share the Book!

Mark and I need your help. Our new books, From Me to You: A Conversation Journal (both son and daughter versions), releases April 2nd! We would love your help sharing the news. To make sharing convenient, use any of these posts or tweets below to get the word out on your social media. Thank you for

Marriage Dec 28, 2016

4 Things to Do When Your Spouse Is Feeling Down {Podcast}

Mark has been dealing with back pain for the past few months. It’s getting better, but there are still days he doesn’t feel 100 percent. For someone as on-the-go as Mark, this experience has, at times, caused him to get discouraged. I’ve tried to be there for Mark, to encourage him and let him know

Parenting Dec 26, 2016

Teaching Your Kids Good Cell Phone Manners

When the first hand-held cell phone call was placed in 1973, I’ll bet the inventor didn’t realize what a cultural and social phenomenon had begun! With the advent of Smartphones and the rapidly improving technology that makes more knowledge and convenience available at our fingertips, cell phones ar

Marriage Dec 19, 2016

The Wedding Trumped the Blog

Confession: I have been MIA and haven’t blogged in months, but for good reason! The wedding trumped the blog. In my memory it actually trumped everything. Are there ever times in your life when several things are happening all at once? And somehow, in the midst of it all, you get the distinct feelin

Marriage Dec 19, 2016

For Better, For Worse

When my daughter Megan got married, I don’t know who was happier…me or Megan! The day of the wedding was rainy, which was bad since the plan was to have the ceremony outside. But all of a sudden (I think it was because of the prayers of me and my network of praying friends!) the sky cleared, and it

Marriage Dec 19, 2016

Marriage Messages to My Daughter

When I got married 27 years ago, it was a bit different. I wasn’t as consumed with the to-do’s of weddings as young brides are today, but rather infatuated with the idea of becoming Mark’s wife. I longed for the ‘happily ever after‘, not necessarily the ‘happily ever before’. So, I wanted to give Me

Marriage Dec 19, 2016

Megan’s Wedding Vows

Here is an example of my daughter, Megan’s wedding vows. Pastor Denny Heiberg surpassed all of my expectations on what a wedding ceremony could look like. And as the mother of the bride you have control over a lot of the aspects of the wedding, but not the ceremony. That is totally reliant on the pa

Marriage Dec 19, 2016

Wedding Details

Megan and I couldn’t have been happier with the wedding venue or our vendors. Here is a peek at the wedding details and all the amazing vendors who created this special day! The Wedding Invitations The welcome bags were left in the hotels for the guests. A friend made the bags out of fabric I found

Parenting Oct 23, 2016

What to Teach Your Son (and Daughter) about Locker Room Talk

“Locker Room Talk” has become a trending topic in the news recently. Some people brush off these types of remarks with “boys will be boys,” or by saying it’s “just talk.” However, the reality of the situation is that there is no such thing as “just talk.” According to Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark R

Parenting Apr 6, 2016

How to Help Your Child Succeed in School

Help! Moooooooom, I need help. I helped my kids in school and my kids really did need help. School today is hard! I think it is so much harder than when I went to school. I got into the University of Florida without a single AP class. I took the SAT one time. I didn’t need or receive any help from m

Marriage Apr 4, 2016

7 Things Wives Should Tell Their Husbands

Words of encouragement is my love language but not Mark’s. I absolutely love it when Mark compliments me. In fact, I NEED him to compliment me! Sometimes I forget, though, that he also needs affirmation from me even if it’s not his love language. We all need some level of affirmation, and there are