The Family First Podcast

Expectations: It's a huge word in marriage and something that many couples, ourselves included, struggle over. We oftentimes have unfair and unrealistic expectations when we go into marriage or even throughout our marriage. When we were writing our two new books Lists to Love By for Busy Husbands and Lists to Love By for Busy Wives, we found that this was a common denominator that was present in many of the historic blogs as well as current blog posts. People were looking for what should I expect from my husband, what should I expect from my wife, and what should I expect from our marriage. Expectations in marriage could be the biggest threat to your relationship

It's been said that we should never say never in our marriage and we should never use the word always, because, usually, they are unhelpful in navigating through issues or through conflict, but today we are going to talk about things you should always do in your marriage or that you should never do in your marriage. This is a list from our Lists to Love By for Busy Husbands and Lists to Love By for Busy Wives books, and it talks about 7 Must Do's and Don'ts for Your Marriage.

Today we have an exciting show because we are going to be talking about things that spouses wish the other knew. In List #8 of our newly released books, Lists to Love By for Busy Husbands and Lists to Love By for Busy Wives we have things wives wish husbands knew and husbands wish wives knew. We wish for our spouses to know our heart. We both learned that knowing what your spouse desires is key to investing your time wisely and getting the greatest return for your marriage. We will share a few of those today.

Susan and I recently released our new books, Lists to Love By for Busy Husbands and Lists to Love By for Busy Wives and we both felt it very necessary to have our first list in both of our books be about truths. For today’s podcast, we will share with you 7 truths about marriage that we have come to know to keep us grounded and have become particularly important when we experience rough patches in our relationship.

When we initially think about what we should do for our kids every day, we think of things like help with homework, make their lunches, take them to school, but really it’s the relational things that they will remember. For today’s podcast, we will go much deeper with the things we should be doing for our kids!

There are lots of not-so-great choices families make once in a while with no major consequences. But when those choices become habits, you’ve got a problem. Such is the case with most of these 8 negative habits to kick. If you see them making regular appearances in your family’s life, act fast to correct them. […]

Toxic words poison, and sometimes even kill relationships. I confess there have been too many times when harsh, harmful words have come out of my mouth toward my wife, Susan. It grieves me. I’m continually working hard to choose my words wisely.

This can be a challenge for both husbands and wives. When your spouse is feeling down, it’s hard to put yourself in their shoes. There used to be days where Susan would vent to me about an issue with one of our children and really needed my support. Instead of showing her that support, I felt I needed to fix the problem and move on. I would always want to fix the problem but that never works to resolve anything. So I’m learning how to uplift Susan when she’s down. On today’s show, we will be discussing 4 things to do when your spouse is feeling down.

We are in the month of November and some may not realize that this month is National Adoption Month. National Adoption Month hits home for both Susan and I because we have two adopted children as part of our family and are so blessed to be their parents.

One of the hallmarks of this year's presidential campaign has been plain rudeness on both sides, from the primaries to the conventions. We also see that lack of basic courtesies and manners on television, online, social media, and in life. Manners really have taken a back seat.

During last week’s podcast, we started discussing the trigger points of conflict that Susan and I have and how we try to disarm them. We will continue with a few more this week.

In our 28 years of marriage, Susan and I have had our fair share of conflict. What causes marital conflict, you ask? Well, a root cause is our selfishness. It’s frustrating because it seems like a constant struggle that will always be there no matter how hard we try.

It’s been almost 20 years, and it’s amazing what God has done with the organization of All Pro Dad. All Pro Dad is one program under Family First, the non-profit organization that provides parenting, marriage and relationship resources that help people love their family well, along with iMOM, the Family Minute, MarkMerrill.com and this podcast. I'm in the studio today with the co-founder of All Pro Dad and NFL Hall of Famer, Coach Tony Dungy.

A leader is simply someone who has followers-followers they influence. Susan and I have tried to raise all 5 of our children to be leaders. We’ve taught them it’s not just what you do, it’s who you are at the core.

Today we will be sharing with you a little bit about a very important topic that we all have faced and we are all trying to figure out, and that issue is anger. Nobody likes it, but everybody deals with it. Why? Because anger has a way of sneaking up on us. Somehow small moments of frustration can quickly escalate into anger. But there's hope! I believe that getting to the root of anger will help us deal with emotions in a healthy way.