Summary: A late bloomer in business, Ann started a new adventure working with women as a relationship mentor, coach and speaker after raising her 5 kids. For the past 15 years, she’s helped ordinary women live their extraordinary lives by redefining their marriages, families and professional careers. Ann is a certified John C. Maxwell coach, mentor and speaker.<br> This Post Contains Affiliate Links<br> <br> <br> From this episode<br> <br> Ann teaches women in a course based on the book "How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk" by John Van Epp. Our relationships can shape the course of our lives.<br> <br> Family culture is the vehicle that takes us toward our vision. Family culture is rooted in connection and fostering the love we feel for each other. Our family culture is rooting in stories, your family stories, your history and memories that you create. Stories are a way to process grief and difficult times.<br> <br> Foster connection through stories, and through the dinner table. We learn and connect at the dinner table.<br> <br> Establish and keep reinforcing our values. Consistency is the important key to helping our kids know what to expect. Our values establish<br> <br> Connection: stories, dinner table, reinforcing values, play!<br> <br> I love the stories Ann relates in this episode to illustrate how we can share stories that strengthen our family connections.<br> <br> Five Magic Hours that strengthen our marriages:<br> <br> 1: Partings<br> 2: Embraces when we come back together<br> 3: Meal times<br> 4: Hugging and praying together<br> 5: Discussing high and low points of the day, and other points of discussion<br> <br> Also, weekly dates. All of these add up to create space for a thriving marriage.<br> <br> John Gottman marriage books<br> <br> "Hold On To Your Kids" by Gordon Neufeld<br> <br> Our marriage relationships consists of three: you, me, and US. We have ourselves, and we have our relationships, and both are important to nourish.<br> <br> "His Needs Her Needs: Building an Affair-Proof Marriage" by Willard F. Jr. Harley<br> <br> Marriage is a team effort, though you may ebb and flow between strengthening each other.<br> <br> Connect with Ann<br> <br> 4better4ever.com<br> <br> Ann's quiz: http://www.4better4ever.com/be-curious-quiz-family-culture/<br> <br> Recommended Books<br> <br> Listen to your favorite books on Audible, click on the banner below to sign up!<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */<br> <br> <br> Subscribe to our Newsletter<br> * indicates required<br> First Name <br> <br> Email Address *<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);<br> <br> Start your own blog. Sign up for web hosting at Sitground. <br> <br>
