Marriage

5 12, 2020

Parenting with Confidence and Joy

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2020-12-05T13:26:49-07:00December 5th, 2020|Family Culture, Marriage, Parenting|

Young parents and even experienced parents cannot anticipate the wide array of challenges that come with raising their children. Many couples are “winging it” and can be blindsided by children’s unexpected emotions, behaviors and logistical issues that arise. In these stressful moments, any parent can feel overwhelmed and frustrated and their best intentions go out the window. This is when parents wish they had been laying a solid foundation for their marriage and children early [...]

24 08, 2020

Thriving Families – Fall 2020 Schedule & Registration

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2020-08-24T17:21:29-06:00August 24th, 2020|Family Culture, Marriage, Parenting|

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 [...]

20 04, 2020

Timeless Marriage Advice

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2020-04-20T17:01:41-06:00April 20th, 2020|Marriage, Relationship|

Let your love be stronger than your hate or anger. Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend a little than to break. Believe the best rather than the worst. People have a way of living up or down to your opinion of them. Remember that true friendship is the basis for any lasting relationship. The person you choose to marry is deserving of the courtesies and kindnesses you bestow on your friends. [...]

6 04, 2020

Let Your Faith Be Bigger Than Your Fears

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2020-04-06T14:41:36-06:00April 6th, 2020|Marriage, Relationship|

This is a unique time of life with stay at home orders and we’ve focused on many issues surrounding parenting. But we cannot overlook the health of our marriages while focusing on our children. These are challenging times for couples for so many reasons and fear can wreak havoc on the health of our marriages. We are thankful to our wonderful friends Michael and Melinda Parisi, who lead a local marriage ministry - Re|Engage, for [...]

21 01, 2020

Rewinding The Tape

By Lis and Dave Marr|2020-01-21T09:00:53-07:00January 21st, 2020|Marriage, Personal, Relationship|

Last week Rich and Shelly talked about Success in Marriage Excellent points in there! Each marriage has an era where things are going well or where issues need attention - where a little idea can mean a lot. That little idea can compound over time into something fantastic. That was the case with us. At a time when our marriage was at a fork in the road, we discovered 2 important things that helped our relationship [...]

13 01, 2020

Success in Your Marriage

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2020-01-16T15:28:06-07:00January 13th, 2020|Marriage, Relationship|

For nearly 32 years, we would say that most of our married life has been characterized by happiness, blessings and growing together. Yet, like all couples, there have been a few bumps in the road. The issues and challenges weren’t anything we couldn’t fix, but they did require emotional resiliency and attention on both our parts. Without this resiliency and attention, we would have ended up on the wrong side of the divorce statistics. One [...]

30 12, 2019

We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2019-12-30T13:11:10-07:00December 30th, 2019|Family Culture, Marriage, Parenting, Relationship|

Parenting doesn’t come with a manual. Like many others in the beginning, Jon and I were surviving the sleep deprivation and just keeping our little ones clean, fed and rested. As their little personalities developed, we realized our two girls were very different. Using the parenting techniques that came naturally to us didn’t always give us the results we wanted. Jon and I soon realized we were not on the same page with how to [...]

16 12, 2019

Private World Moments

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2020-04-10T17:44:10-06:00December 16th, 2019|Family Culture, Marriage, Parenting, Relationship|

One of the greatest parenting joys is when your child lets you into their private world... especially during the holiday season! What is the private world? Generally speaking, it is a special place where we all hold deeper thoughts, treasured memories, and feel the most vulnerable. It is the essence of who we are. The private world is what we share with our spouse and only our most trusted and closest friends. As our children [...]

2 12, 2019

Creating a Thriving Family

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2019-12-02T19:57:08-07:00December 2nd, 2019|Marriage, Parenting, Relationship|

What does a thriving family look like? Certainly, there are many answers to this question, but we believe at the heart of a thriving family is a healthy marriage and effective parenting. It is an encouraging home environment where children are flourishing and everyone is feeling emotionally and spiritually fulfilled in each other's company. Our marriage and family life is definitely not “Perfect.” Yet, our home life is characterized by our efforts toward being the [...]

20 09, 2019

Permissive & Authoritarian Parenting Styles

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2019-09-20T14:41:26-06:00September 20th, 2019|Marriage, Parenting, Relationship|

Finding the balance between permissive and authoritarian parenting styles can be challenging. Often times, when left unchecked, they can create behavioral issues with your children and put a strain on marriages. This typically happens when one parent is perceived as fun loving and easy going, while the other is perceived as the harsh disciplinarian. Generally speaking, your parenting style tends to be the opposite of how you were raised. See if one of these descriptions [...]