Mark and I often get asked a lot of personal questions over social media, through email, or sometimes even in-person. They range from our relationship, marriage, parenting, hobbies, to the more personal side of our lives. So today we are doing something we’ve never done before! We are answering some frequently asked questions we get about our life. We hope this not only answers a question or two that you might have, but also gives you a glimpse into our real-life world.

In this episode, you’ll hear about how Mark and I have been growing in our lives recently, where our kids are at, some insight into why we find our marriage intensives so energizing, Mark’s recent eye surgery, and what we’re excited for in 2022! Grateful to share this with you!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• [Book] The Ins and Outs of Rejection by Charles R. Solomon
• [Book] The Hard Good: Showing Up for God to Work in You When You Want to Shut Down by Lisa Whittle
• Hope Renewed Marriage Intensives
• My Mom’s Florida Condo Rental
• Get notified when registration opens for our marriage retreat in Holland, MI (Sept 30-Oct 2, 2022) 
• As a thank you for listening, get your 3 free eBooks!

My Key Takeaways:

1) Keep learning and growing. In this episode, both Mark and I share what we have been reading. Both of them have to do with personal growth and understanding our pasts. When we were first married, we didn’t realize how our past affected how we interpreted our present. We have made a practice now of learning about our pasts, ourselves, and how that impacts our present.

2) Life is messy. Every family has things that make life messy and ours is no different. As an easy example, when people ask us how many grandbabies we have, our go-to answer is it’s complicated! But while it can be a bit complicated at times, we love everyone and it’s a good reminder that life is messy. That’s normal!

3) Love what you do. People have asked us if we get tired of hearing about other people’s problems (with our marriage coaching) and our answer is an enthusiastic no! We get a front row seat to seeing lives change and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The coaching we do with individuals and couples can be physically exhausting for sure, but being able to see God work in their lives makes it so energizing.