Family Culture

20 08, 2018

Marriage First

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2018-08-21T13:47:48-06:00August 20th, 2018|Family Culture, Marriage, Relationship|

Having a healthy and thriving family begins with a health marriage. We believe that the marriage relationship should be the first priority within the family structure… even before our kids! In today’s society, there is constant pressure to put our children first above EVERYTHING else in the family environment. This misguided prioritization can ultimately lead to child-centered parenting and even divorce. Don’t get us wrong. Our children are a top priority. And just because we [...]

6 08, 2018

Back to School and Back on Track

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2019-08-03T14:32:30-06:00August 6th, 2018|Family Culture, Parenting|

Back to school has always been very similar to the start of a new year for our family. It marks the start of a new school year with renewed expectations and resolutions not only for our boys, but also for us as parents. For the kids, it’s a great time to get them refocused on their schedules, routines and revisit some lessons that were learned or challenges faced in the previous school year. For mom [...]

31 07, 2018

Getting FROM the Day

By Lis and Dave Marr|2018-07-31T13:01:40-06:00July 31st, 2018|Family Culture, Parenting, Relationship|

Talking AT or Talking WITH Growing up, Dave’s dad would lecture. Great guy and all, but with a military background Dave’s dad wasn’t used to engagement. He would talk AT Dave. As a result, Dave often was frustrated with just standing there listening. Dave often thought he’d heard it before, so he’d say, “Yeah Dad, I know.” That response would upset his dad as being disrespectful and the heat would go up. Now, 40+ years later, Dave’s [...]

18 07, 2018

Camping Vacations!!

By Lis and Dave Marr|2018-07-18T08:50:14-06:00July 18th, 2018|Family Culture, Relationship|

Neither of us had done much camping growing up, so when we were invited to join some new friends to go camping, we jumped at the chance. Despite our little boy being only 1, we were sure it would be great fun. Ahem. Snow Mountain Ranch, the YMCA of the Rockies, is nestled among the lodge pole pines in near Winter Park. Before we were invited, the group had been doing the Labor Day weekend [...]

10 07, 2018

Travel Buddy or Travel Bandit?

By Lis and Dave Marr|2018-07-11T09:36:35-06:00July 10th, 2018|Family Culture, Parenting, Relationship|

Since we’re amidst the travel season, we thought it’d be appropriate to talk about traveling with children. This week is about planes, trains and automobiles, but next week is about camping. Yes, parents love their kids, but those rose-tinted glasses get a good cleaning when kids suffer the gauntlet of cramped seating, long waits, time changes, strange food, disrupted sleep schedules, and stressed parents. Strangers will give your parenting ability the evil eye if your [...]

2 07, 2018

Independence Day Fun Facts

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2018-07-02T14:29:28-06:00July 2nd, 2018|Family Culture|

Holidays are a great time for families. But it can also be a great time to reflect on the meaning of the holiday… and it's fun as well! Here are some fun facts to share or make a game of guessing the answers. Fun Independence Day Facts The image shown on this letter is the oldest known “rough draft” of the Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson’s handwriting. Jefferson’s original draft was lost and the [...]

25 06, 2018

Don’t Forget the Orange Slices!

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2018-06-26T10:31:17-06:00June 25th, 2018|Family Culture, Parenting, Personal, Relationship|

1.47 million orange slices! That’s how many orange slices our family provided throughout the years at our boys activities and sporting events. Or at least it felt like that many! So what’s deal with orange slices anyway?!?! When Trevor and Alex were young, their favorite thing, like most of the kids that age, was the orange slices at the end of the game or activity. For them, nothing was better than to share delicious, sweet [...]

19 06, 2018

Finding Your Family’s Passion

By Lis and Dave Marr|2018-06-19T10:03:13-06:00June 19th, 2018|Family Culture, Personal|

There are a thousand things to take up one’s time: Responsibilities at work, emails, organizing and paying the bills, the abundance of life’s maintenance like cooking and laundry, mowing the lawn and taking out the trash, school events, sports events, and unending child socials, and then throw in your own socializing and time to just relax in front of a Netflix movie. Why would you take what few precious unscheduled moments that remain and volunteer [...]

12 06, 2018

5 Elements of a Good Dad

By Lis and Dave Marr|2018-06-12T07:01:18-06:00June 12th, 2018|Family Culture, Parenting, Relationship|

As Dave was driving with his young family through a mostly empty parking lot after attending parenting class, he slammed on the brakes, “OOOHHH!!!”, he yelled. Lis and the kids were alarmed. “WHAT?!! What’s wrong?!” “OH! MY! GOSH!!!” Dave exclaimed. “What daddy, what is it?!” the kids in the back seat were tense. “I LOVE YOUR MOM AND YOU GUYS SOOOO MUCH!!!” The tension in the air popped. Dad was just goofin’ again. “Daaaadyyyy!” Lis [...]

7 06, 2018

Sleepovers

By Lis and Dave Marr|2018-06-07T06:31:30-06:00June 7th, 2018|Family Culture, Parenting, Relationship|

In a recent OneFamily Letter “Summer Time and the Livin is Easy”, we mentioned one of the positives of summertime was the kids having a sleepover, where play time doesn’t want to end, and pleading ensues to let “Timmy spend the night”. That letter caused some questions on the concerns some of our readers had about sleepovers. Today’s Letter expands on the idea of sleeping over and addresses those concerns. You are charged with the [...]