Relationship

29 12, 2015

New Year’s Resolution for 2016

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2017-03-06T11:16:05-07:00December 29th, 2015|Letters, Personal, Relationship|

With New Year’s coming up, many of us are thinking about our resolutions for 2016. Losing weight, eating healthier, paying off debt, quitting smoking and drinking less are among the most common resolutions according to research. However, there is one resolution you might consider that will rejuvenate your spirit and help you with all your other resolutions. Engage in Community! When most people think of “community”, they usually think of volunteering or awkwardly associating with [...]

14 12, 2015

Holiday Stress – Finding Peace and Joy

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2017-03-06T11:16:06-07:00December 14th, 2015|Letters, Personal, Relationship|

For the Howards, this is our favorite time of year. It’s a great time to reflect upon our blessings, enjoy many family traditions, and refocus our perspective on our life’s priorities. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! However, in all that wonderfulness, it can also be the most stressful time of the year! Between Christmas shopping, decorating the house (Inside and Out), mailing out 10 million Christmas Cards, baking that never [...]

20 10, 2015

CouchTime 2.0

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2017-03-06T11:16:07-07:00October 20th, 2015|Letters, Marriage, Parenting, Relationship|

In our Overcompensating letter, we mentioned that CouchTime was one of the most impactful tools we had implemented from the Parenting from the Tree of Life class (formerly Growing Kids God's Way). Since mentioning it earlier this year, we have had many parents ask us to provide more insight regarding CouchTime. So we thought it might be helpful to provide a little more detail regarding the why, when, where, and how of CouchTime. Why The [...]

8 09, 2015

The One Thing

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2017-03-06T11:16:08-07:00September 8th, 2015|Family Culture, Letters, Personal, Relationship|

What’s the one thing I can do to… Improve my marriage? Find balance in life? Lose weight or get healthy? Get out of debt or become financially independent? Be the best mom or dad? … and the list goes on and on and on! There are so many virtuous intentions that often we are looking for the one thing – a cure all – to find peace, health, happiness, and fulfillment. And usually the one [...]

7 07, 2015

Let your Yeses be Yes

By Lis and Dave Marr|2017-03-06T11:16:09-07:00July 7th, 2015|Letters, Relationship|

“Can I ride my bike to the park with Ryan?” “No, not today sweetie!” Starting during the toddler years and continuing all through the adolescent years, there is a parenting tendency that seeps into a child’s psyche and deeply influences their motivations, efforts, and even their very personality. As individuals we brought our own upbringing into the marriage and needed to get on the same page when providing answers to our children’s request.. Here’s what [...]

30 06, 2015

The Five Minute Warning

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2017-04-10T17:09:25-06:00June 30th, 2015|Letters, Relationship|

As a parent you want to see your children succeed in obeying your instructions. You also want to see your spouse succeed in respecting your relationship. Their opportunity for that success can be greatly improved by you proactively creating an environment for them to succeed. One simple tool that creates that environment for success is the Five Minute Warning. This tool has worked wonders in our family and elevated many potentially frustrating and exasperating situations. [...]

15 06, 2015

Family Fun Night

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2017-03-06T11:16:09-07:00June 15th, 2015|Letters, Relationship|

When our boys were young, we mistakenly thought our summers would eventually get less busy as they got older. Between summer vacations, sports, camps and family visits, our summer schedule got completely booked… and this summer is no different with our teens. And while the anticipation of it all is very exciting and fun, we made sure to always schedule Family Fun Night in the midst of all the busyness. For us, Family Fun Night [...]

9 06, 2015

The Husband/Father’s Unique Contributions

By Lis and Dave Marr|2017-03-06T11:16:09-07:00June 9th, 2015|Letters, Relationship|

Society’s push to rightfully empower women towards accomplishment and esteem has a seemingly negative underside whereby men are viewed as mere accessories, bumbling unshaven incompetents whose biological urges and egoistic preening is a distraction to the main event. However, men, as all but the most extreme would admit, are essential to the well-being of a family and to each member’s development and fulfillment of their individual potential. Of course this Letter to you in OneFamily [...]

2 06, 2015

Words Matter

By Shelly and Rich Howard|2017-03-06T11:16:09-07:00June 2nd, 2015|Letters, Relationship|

How often do you consider the words you use when texting, emailing, or speaking? Do you consider how you will be perceived and the impact your words might have on others? How about the words you choose with your spouse or children? Every day we get to choose the words we use to communicate. It is very important to be mindful of them because our words can manifest virtue, encouragement and love or they could [...]

26 05, 2015

Navigating Rapids

By Lis and Dave Marr|2017-03-06T11:16:09-07:00May 26th, 2015|Letters, Relationship|

Marriage certainly has its highs and lows. Yesterday marked our 30th year together with 25 of them being fantastic. The other 5? Well, those were the growth years. One of the ideas behind our OneFamily letters is to provide you behind the scenes insight into how we created a great life and how we navigated those challenging rapids. Hearing about 25 years of marital bliss is nice, but sometimes is not helpful. Everyone needs examples [...]