Growing Home Together Podcast

Adopting our youngest son through the foster care system ten years ago was truly one of life’s greatest gifts. But one thing we didn’t fully understand as we looked forward to a bright future with our beloved little boy was just how much trauma a child suffers when they’re separated from their birth parents. Like many foster and adoptive parents, we are on a constant learning

There’s a common misconception that it's always the big things—like dishonesty or infidelity—that cause marriages to fall apart. But the truth is, many marriages experience death by a thousand cuts as small areas of misalignment add up over time.Every marriage has its squabbles, clashes, and little flare-ups of friction. Over our more than 30 years together, we’ve cert

We all have wish lists in life—wishes for bigger houses, more quality time with our spouses, or even just a simple wish for better weather. While there’s nothing wrong with dreaming, we find our spirits dragging when we grow too preoccupied with the parts of life we wish would change. When this mindset takes over, it can prevent us from finding joy in the present.So what’s th

Raising our two sons has been one of the most rewarding journeys of our lives. If you have boys of your own, you know that parenting sons comes with its own unique set of blessings and challenges.One skill we strive to help our sons build is the ability to overcome the lies they encounter in life. We want to help them better understand what’s true and false about who they are, wh

Our son entered middle school this year and he is growing in all sorts of new and fun ways! He outgrew his shoe size, his appetite is bigger, he’s grown a wider circle of friends, and he’s definitely sleeping longer and longer hours. Along with that growth, his desire and appetite for screen time is growing bigger too!Honestly, navigating our son’s screen time isn’t a new c

The goal of our ministry has always been to help you care for the soul of your family and help you nourish relationships that keep God at the center of your home.We know that many couples desire the closeness and encouragement of sharing their faith with their husband or wife. Instead, they feel a painful sense of disappointment when their spouse isn’t stepping into the role of s

Before you got married and into the first year of marriage, you probably spent hours dreaming about what your life would look like together. But today those dreams may feel far out of reach. Your marriage may have settled into a predictable routine that seems impossible to get out of. You may even feel like you're stuck in a rut and have lost your sense of excitement for what

I take you to be my wedded wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.Whether it’s been one year, ten years, or 25 years since you uttered those vows, we can all agree that they have and will be tested! We all experience some kind of disappointment

Words are powerful! They have the potential to tear down our relationships or build them up. Ever since I (Joanna) was a young girl, I loved words. I would spend hours writing stories and poems. When I went to college, it just made sense to pursue a major in communications. Even though I took numerous writing and even a public speaking class, I was never taught was how to talk to p

From the time we had the first of our five children, some of our most special moments were snuggling up to read books together. And some of those stories became like familiar old friends as we read them over and over until the kids could probably recite them by heart.We found so many gifts in reading together with our kids – the quality time, our children’s enjoyment of languag