Our Bedrock
Disclosure: Post may contain affiliate links, meaning we earn a small commission if you make a purchase, at no cost to you. As an Amazon Affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
We often get crazy looks when we mention we are leaving soon for a year to travel (confined) together on a boat. How in the world are you going to do that? On a boat? For a year?!?! We are able to pull off an epic family adventure like this because we are launching from a place of strength. We couldn’t do it if our family were fraught with dysfunction at this stage of our lives. We’ve not always lived lives where we could say this. We’ve had our ups and downs in all of these areas, but we’re currently solid and we attribute that to hard work, growth, and strength in four main areas:
- Faith
- Strong Marriage
- Awesome Kids
- Knowing Ourselves
Faith
When we are connected to God, in study, prayer, and community, we are able to take on more than we could imagine and be blessed in ways beyond what we could dream. We have learned to go to God with our fears and worries, and time after time, He has delivered. He has taught us to trust in Him and in each other. He has taught us that life is more than just ourselves and our desires. We are a part of His plan and we pray that we can be of service to Him and others.
Strong Marriage
If you’ve ever tried to dock a boat with a spouse, then you know you need to start from a foundation of strength before adding that to it. Showing grace, keeping your cool, and showing love in a way that honors your spouse are all life-changing ways that we have learned to improve our marriage and quality of life. Our marriage has certainly had its stresses over the years, but through a variety of resources, we have grown, evolved, and are better than we have ever been. We’re not perfect, but now we know how to deal with it!
Awesome Kids
Our kids are rock stars. Truly. We’ve tried hard to do our best as parents, but there is also something about how they are wired that makes them exceptional, awesome, and fairly stress-free to parent. I know we are uniquely blessed to be able to say that, but it’s true, and it is allowing us to take this trip. Our main methods of parenting are: being present, being good role models (they are watching), prioritizing hard work, and investing the time/money it takes. I didn’t want to homeschool our kids, but in retrospect, it has served our kids in the best ways possible. It wasn’t the easiest path, but it was by far the better one for us, and I thank my wife for recognizing it.
Knowing Ourselves
Knowing our own strengths, weaknesses, love languages, personality types, etc. is important in both self care but also in how we interact with others, how we recharge as individuals and as a family, and how we delegate jobs within our family. The extroverts do our communication and help us make family friends. The introverts teach us to relax and be mindful. The engineers solve problems and the artists show us beauty. All of us drive the boat. We are each different, and expecting others to think, feel, and react in the same way that we would in every situation is a recipe for disaster. Use everyone’s gifts and unique talents, and the advantages will pay huge dividends. When people feel free to be themselves and feel like they are useful, everyone is better for it.
Invest in these areas if you identify one or more that are deficient and getting in the way of going after your dreams. Start from a strong foundation of bedrock and see how it changes your ability to take on more than you imagined you could.
