Happy 2018!!

Buckle up your seat belts as you're about to take a ride on a roller coaster.

That's the way our marriage has been just like everyone else out there if you've been married for more than a week. We both came from hard working middle class families, but never had wealth growing up. Both of our families worked really hard to provide, and we cherish that work ethic that was instilled in us from very young ages. We know that sometimes it was a struggle to put food on t

he table. Bryson had a paper route at age 10 that taught him how to run a small business. Johnna started working at a local restaurant as soon as she was able to. Bryson found football that also taught him how to work hard and Johnna found band. We both learned early on to work hard. As part of that teaching we were taught like a lot of you to go to school, get a good job, and you'll do okay. Well the world has changed and that advice isn't working for a lot of people. They get a good job only to be downsized when the economy turns. They save for retirement only to have a economic hardship drain their savings.

Our Journey to find faith

Along our journey through High School, we both struggled with Alcohol and tried a few drugs. We struggled with finding our purpose and identity just like a lot of kids do without faith. I remember that a lot of my friends had faith but they were at the same parties as me except for a few and those were the people that I respected the most. Johnna had a friend come along side her and show her the light of Jesus as a teenager and Bryson found Christ at age 19 after God removed all the things he thought were important to make room in his heart for Jesus.

Becoming very successful college dropouts

That's right we are both college dropouts. Bryson went for 1 year and was offered a job while starting his first business venture and then stopped going to school. Johnna went to College for a few years but after meeting Bryson before finishing she never went back as her calling to be an amazing Mom was much greater than finishing school. We say this not to say that School is bad, it just wasn't for us and today we earn more, and have more freedom than if we would have stayed on the path we were on. The world will beat you up for being different, just know that if you're calling is different its okay! If you find your passion and do what you Love you really won't feel like its work at all.

Keeping dreams alive in the midst of chaos

This is one thing that we all do when we are dating right? We dream together, we encourage each other to dream. Then we get married and we stop dreaming, or we look at each other like we're crazy for continuing to dream. We have bills to pay, kids to feed and nurture so we don't have time to dream. We need to keep the dreams alive and keep each others dreams alive by encouraging each other and never be a dream crusher. Even if you don't agree or can't see it yet, before you say anything pray! Johnna and I have most of the time been great at encouraging each other in this area. I say most of the time because we are not perfect. We did so when we first met, on our first date we both shared the dreams in our hearts and listened to each other. We still do so today, we listen and encourage each other to dream. We know that the more we dream together the more we will stay together. Couples drift apart when they are living separate lives and separate dreams. If dreaming is hard for you, because you've failed time and time again, just pray that God would awaken that big dream in your heart and mind again. You can also read some books about dreaming such as The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson, or Visioneering by Andy Stanley.

Not as perfect as you think

We know a lot of you see our posts on Facebook and you're probably either encouraged or irritated. You see us as getting along and happy and fulfilled. Well, that hasn't always been the case. We struggled for about 10-11 years of our 14 years of marriage. We wrestled with areas such as parenting, sex, money, love, respect, jobs, business, affection, space apart, prayer and spiritual leadership. You name it, it had been a struggle during that time. We still wrestle with things today, the difference is we get out of those arguments as fast as possible and choose to believe the best about each other in those moments. We got pregnant the week after we were married so we've had lots of time to be parents and disagree about parenting philosophy. We've studied a lot about the importance of sexual intimacy in marriage and for the first time in our marriage (only took us 12 years to learn it) we are starting to get on the same page about sex. Do we still struggle, yes, but we know that God has a plan for our sex life together. We've almost been bankrupt, and almost lost our house. We've overspent, and made poor financial decisions. Bryson has worked 3 jobs sometimes to put food on the table. We've been unloving at times and disrespectful at times. We are both leaders and we've struggled with the role of spiritual leadership in our home. We still struggle with space apart and what a healthy balance looks like but the difference today for us is that we choose to believe that we are married to a good willed person who wants to be the Husband/Wife that God wants and we trust each others hearts. Does that mean we won't let each other down, heck no, we will always let each other down. We are human and we are not perfect, but we will both work hard to show that we are committed to each other by seeing the best in each other. We will both choose to give each other unconditional love and respect even when we don't deserve it.

The freedom to turn us off

There is so much negativity on social media and in the world. Because of that we are choosing to be different, we will choose to post tips about how to have a great marriage, encouraging Bible verses, how to financially succeed, and how to live the life that God wants to live. We know this might ruffle some people's feathers but know that if it does, pray about it. God might be trying to reach your heart. Maybe you've lost your dreams and the hope that you can have a great marriage. Maybe you've given up on your finical future and accepted a mediocre life. Maybe you've just plain given up on life. After you pray, If you still don't have peace about it, then please we want to bless you with the freedom to turn us off. That's right you can block us, unsubscribe, do what ever you want. We don't do this for us, we do this for our King and we hope that it blesses you in the process. We also know that some of you have gone through hard times in past marriages, abuse, ect. Our intent is never to offend anyone but only encourage you in your future relationships if you so choose to get married again so you can be successful. Our intent is never to condemn the past.

God has given us heart for marriage and we are going to fight for it!

God has not called us to be poor in anything, we are called to blessed in all areas and work and fight for it because lets face it, we want to point our lives to Jesus and have people see the great things that Jesus is doing. The world wont care to follow if we don't have what they want and thats hope! They want and need Hope for today and tomorrow. They need us to show them the light and they wont want to follow if we aren't positive (not fake), thankful, and loving. We are going to fight for our marriage, our finances, our dreams. We encourage you to join us! We aren't doing these things to just be selfish, we know there are lots of you out there that want that too! If you do, then follow us on this journey and we will help you do the same!

We believe in you!

#intimacy #marriage #love