When you close your eyes and imagine what a thriving family looks like, what do you see?
- A quality home environment filled with encouragement and harmony?
- Husband and Wife on the same page and enjoying their relationship?
- Children laughing and enjoying one another and excelling in their development?
- Wonderful and meaningful holidays and vacations?
Whatever vision you hold of what a thriving family looks like, do you see that in your family?
Building a healthy and thriving family is challenging. Without practical tools, strategies, and encouragement, many families are burdened by confusion, conflict, and uncertainty. It’s for this reason that we, the Howards and the Marrs, created OneFamily so that couples can gain clarity on the critical issues that constrain family well being. From our own personal experiences, we know how difficult and exhausting it can be to manage the busyness of life, let alone find a semblance of balance!
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
We were married ten years and in our thirties when we had Trevor and Alex. Our marriage was good and our boys’ behavior was just ok, definitely not great. We would occasionally fight and have disagreements in our marriage and assumed that was normal. Likewise, our boys were boys, so acting out of control occasionally and ignoring our instructions (more like pleas for compliance!) was a normal part of parenting we had to accept. It wasn’t until we attended a parenting class that we discovered we didn’t know what we didn’t know. From this class, we learned that our marriage and family dynamic was not setting us up, or our kids, for positive outcomes. We also discovered that our reactive and child-entitling parenting style was certainly not leading toward the thriving family life we wanted.
Fast-forward to today and we can honestly say that our family truly is thriving. Our marriage has never been better and we actually enjoy our boys and their teen years. However, it all started by equipping ourselves with practical information we didn’t know we needed. Family well being comes from understanding.
“I don’t know what’s more exhausting about parenting: the getting up early, or acting like you know what you’re doing.” – Jim Gaffigan
Our mission with OneFamily is to provide you with the sustainable resources that will support and encourage you in your roles as husband/wife and mom/dad. We want you and your family to succeed and thrive…not just act like you know what you are doing! By reading this letter, you are already familiar with our Tuesday Letters of Encouragement and daily thought-provoking quotes. This is just one aspect of OneFamily. Over the past year, with limited time and money, we have been able to:
- Provide and lead over a half dozen Parenting Classes impacting over 150 families
- Present and speak on family topics to many small groups and organizations
- Host a Parenting Workshop featuring Gary & Anne Marie Ezzo reaching over 50 families
- Partner with MOPS International and Christian Family Heritage to expand our outreach to more than 1,000 families
- Provide parenting curriculum in Spanish to six Spanish Speaking churches and a Women’s Shelter, as well as missions to Central and South America.
- Develop a small group of volunteers who lead tables discussions and help sustain OneFamily efforts
OneFamily is committed to helping families, like yours, to thrive and we welcome any questions you may have. So please feel free to contact us or visit our website for more information.
Blessings to you and your family this Holiday Season,
Shelly and Rich Howard