Destination Marriage

In today’s episode, we thought we would have a little fun with phrases we hate (mostly from Millennials) and also have a serious talk about how passive aggressive phrases can cause real issues in a marriage.  Many of these phrases, whether intentionally or unintentionally can be a sign of immaturity, or often times, something worse.  First we discuss a few phrases you hear that really annoy us: Ph...

Happy New Year everyone!  We’re officially in 2021 and looking forward to all the possibilities a new year brings.  So, each year we set aside a weekend to focus on our annual planning and if you’ve been following us since the beginning then you may have already listened to an earlier episode dedicated to this topic but this year we are making some necessary changes and thought it might be helpful...

Today’s episode is our response to a question one of our listeners posed to our Instagram account recently. “I have been looking for resources on how to not nag my husband and how to stop trying to control him. I nitpick and it drives him into crazy anger.  I try to stop, and then I mess up and it’s driving us apart.  Do you have any recommendations, or could you cover this in a future podcast?” M...

On today’s episode, we have special guest Chelsey Creswell, as we discuss women’s health and wellness with a focus on Hormone Replacement Therapy.  We discuss a variety of topics, with a focus on the two below: The signs and symptoms you may be experiencing that might make you a good candidate for hormone replacement therapy The impact your hormones have on your health, your daily life and in the...

In today's episode, we discuss how to manage outside influences in your marriage.  We have been thinking about this topic for quite a while and when we received a couple of questions from our listeners on this topic, we though now would be a great time to have a conversation.   Big idea = being careful and intentional about who you let speak into your life and into your marriage   Influence from e...

In this episode, I (Tommy) go solo to honor the working mothers in my personal and professional life.  There is a heavy emotional weight on everyone right now and it is even heavier on working mothers.  I say in the episode that I could not handle the emotional weight of having to be an effective worker interwoven with the constant worry over your children. So, I thought it would be a good time to...

Timeliness of Thanksgiving, Covid-19 & practicing gratitude What is gratitude? Expressing thanks for something in your life whether it’s tangible or intangible Is it harder or easier to practice gratitude during Covid? Contentment vs. Complacency Contentment is a state of happiness or satisfaction. Gratitude and contentment go hand in hand. Complacency – being self-satisfied or secure in a given s...

I’m sure most of you have heard of The Five Love Languages.  It’s a wildly popular book amongst couples and we both enjoyed the insight it brought to our marriage but today is all about the five love languages of children. Gary Chapman the author of The Five Love Languages teamed up with Ross Campbell with the goal of helping parents gain a better understanding of how to meet the emotional needs o...

Today’s episode is called “What every husband needs from his wife . . . the newlywed vs. the veteran”.  This is a unique episode of Destination Marriage as I will be flying solo, but will be co-hosting with my nephew Chris Ford, a newlywed of just over a year. Chris is Jackie’s older sister’s son and I have known him since he was about 5 years old. It’s still weird calling a grown man your nephew,...

Today’s episode is called “Catching up with the Keipers”. We typically have a focused topic for each episode, but we thought it would be fun to share with our listeners what we’re up to, what we’re into with entertainment, fitness, what we’re watching as we continue to navigate these unprecedented times! Enjoy

Today we want to talk about preparing your teens for relationships in their lives that will have significant impacts in their lives. Primary relationships First love and dating - Boyfriends/girlfriends Friendships that will define their lives Other mentors or outside influences – teachers, coaches, friend’s parents What boundaries do you put in place as parents? Based on age, maturity level? Rules...

Today’s topic is something we all experience as married couples.  Whether you call it arguing, fighting or simply conflict, it’s inevitable that two married people are not always going to agree on everything.  Ultimately no one will go through marriage without experiencing a disagreement, but you should learn how to fight fair.  In today’s episode, we discuss ground rules we have learned and try t...

So, today is all about getting to know us better.  We shared a little about who we are in the first Destination Marriage episode, but we thought we would revisit that conversation because we want our listeners to get to know us better.  We dive into each of our childhoods and discuss how a Maryland boy that grew up in the country fell in love with a Bronx city girl. Then we have some fun asking ea...

Today we continue our Destination Growth Series by discussing “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by author Angela Duckworth.  Angela Duckworth is a professor of Psychology at UPENN and also the founder and CEO of Character Lab.  Much of her professional focus is on using scientific insights to help children thrive.  However, in her best-selling book Grit, the insights go far beyond only...

Today we are doing the second episode in our now regularly recurring series that we call sExpectations!  We want to have a lot of fun with these episodes as we talk about the sexual expectations and sexual needs, wants and desires between married couples.  We will explore highlights, pitfalls, blind spots, hurts and the pleasure that encompasses activities in the bedroom! We plan to open up about...

I’m sure most of you have heard of the saying...Comparison is the thief of joy which is a saying originally attributed to Theodore Roosevelt.   It’s been a pretty popular saying on social media as of late, but we thought it could be and should be applied to marriage as well.  So many of us look at social media and struggle with comparing ourselves to the person on the screen or the idea of who the...

If you are following us on Instagram, then you probably noticed that we just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary!!   And if you know us personally then you know we always make a point to plan something special each year. So, in today’s episode we will talk all about our recent trip for our anniversary and then shift towards the bigger picture and talk about why we believe celebrating your anni...

It’s back to school or is it? We are currently in the middle of figuring out what this new school year is going to look like for our middle schooler.  I know we’re not alone either.  I have had so many conversations with other moms about what they’re choosing to do for the new school year or perhaps what was chosen for them per their school district. There is no manual for this because it’s brand...

Today we continue our series on Destination Growth. We are going to discuss “The One Thing  - The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results” by Gary Keller w/ Jay Papasan. This is a fantastic booth that we found extremely applicable and timely with the ongoing Covid Pandemic and a lot of transition in our own lives personally, professionally and with our family. How many times have yo...

On today’s episode, we discuss our experience of parenting a child with severe food allergies, environmental allergies and eczema.  We give some advice to managing as a parent, but what we are really excited about was having our 13 year old - Dylan join us on the podcast to give his perspective on actually living with these allergies.  We are so proud of Dylan’s confidence in not letting these all...

Today we are launching the first in what we plan to be a regularly recurring series that we are calling sExpectations!  We want to have a lot of fun with these episodes as we talk about the sexual expectations and sexual needs, wants and desires between married couples.  We will explore highlights, pitfalls, blind spots and the joy that encompasses activities in the bedroom!   We plan to open up a...

Today’s episode is very special for me and Jackie.  Mary, Jackie’s best friend of almost 30 years, joins us on the podcast to talk about real and truly meaningful friendships.  We share funny memories, discuss the past and the present and have fun quizzing each other on how well we know each other.  But most of all, we talk about how meaningful adult friendships have a positive impact on our lives...

On today’s podcast, we discuss the very popular Enneagram Personality Test and the insights in can offer into our marriage.  Both of us took the full 144 question test and were surprised how on point the results were for each.  We really enjoyed reading each other’s results and discussing how we can both use the individual characteristics to become better spouses for one another.

It sounds like a no brainer to be selfless or to put your spouse first, but it may not come natural to you, especially when putting our spouse first may require us to step away from something we want.  Today we discuss 10 ways to be selfless in your marriage while fighting the negative influences around us.  10 ways to be selfless in your marriage Being what your partner needs vs. looking for your...