Being Raised and Loved by a Step-parent: My reflection as an adult

Welcome! Today is week 2 of the guest bloggers 

Celebrate Love Series.

Today I am honored to introduce you to 

Jackie.

Jackie blogs at Best Life At Home.

Read her encouraging story of love.

My parents got divorced when I was very young. I still remember the day my mom packed up all our belongings into a moving truck. She buckled my three siblings and me into our seats, and we headed up the road to a town three hours north. I remember thinking the whole family was moving, not realizing that my dad wasn’t coming with us.

I was in kindergarten, just five years old, and oblivious to the ramifications of divorce for most families. I had no idea how terrifying this decision was for my mom, especially since our family was large by today’s standards. There were four of us kids, each two years apart (which meant my younger brother was 3 and my baby sister was 1).

Since this blog post is about love, I wanted to bring special attention to the man who married my mom and raised us as his own: my step-dad, Gene. His love for my mother must’ve been over the moon, considering we were a package deal: her + all four of us kids, ages 8 and under!

The first years weren’t easy. Looking back, I can’t believe my mom and step-dad were so understanding and patient with us as we fought to accept Gene into the family (or not accept him, as it often was early on). Gene is an educated and loving man, though, and he believed in boundaries for kids in a way that I didn’t understand at the time. Now that my husband, Mitch, and I are raising three kids of our own, I admire them so much more for sticking to their guns and being firm when we tried to push in every direction.

Being a child of divorced parents is hard, confusing, and leaves a gaping hole in your heart. Step-parents don’t have an easy path to navigate as they try to love and fill the holes, while respecting ex-spouses and children’s feelings. My dad moved seven hours away, a distance that seemed to grow further and further every year, as we saw less and less of him. He also re-married and started a new family.

My step-dad, Gene, raised us as his own. He was there for us to teach us things like hunting and fishing (yes, I grew up in small-town Minnesota, where girls do these things!), and he sat through hundreds of hours of basketball and volleyball games. He handed out $20 bills when we desperately needed money to go out to movies or dinner with our friends, and he was even there when we were teenagers and the cops brought us home (just once or twice!).

When God brings two people together in a second- or third-marriage and there are kids involved, you know He has a big plan to overcome the obstacles. My parents’ marriage has been tested so many times by the actions of their kids, but somehow they have remained strong and bonded through an amazing love and remarkable ability to forgive.

I’m forever blessed to have had a loving father in my life. One who cared enough about me to put up with my early days of wanting him to go away so I could have my “real dad” back, my adolescent troubles and craziness, and my ever present need for parents to love me.

Gene now has 10 grandchildren, and another on the way (my sister is expecting), and has been the most loving and caring “Grandpa Geno” any child could ever as for.

If you’re reading this and have a step-parent, or are re-married and are raising someone else’s children (or they are helping to raise yours), I pray that you understand the importance that a step-parent’s devoted love and attention can have on a child. And I’d like to say thank you, Gene, for always loving us and being there all these years.

By Jackie Johnson

Giving It All Up To Get It All

Welcome! Today is the first day of the "Celebrate Love" 

guest bloggers series. 

Today I would like to introduce you to our first blogger 

Elisabeth. 

You can visit her at her blogs

Coffice Girl and Adventures In A Hallway. 

Read her love story below.

Seven months ago, I did something crazy. I gave up my high-paying job, my house and the community I’d lived in for 12 years to move into a 300-square-foot RV with my husband, two dogs and a cat. Permanently.

Mike has been traveling nearly every week for his business as a technical trainer since we began dating.  Before the motorhome, he was gone during the week, back on the weekends, while I worked at my day job, took care of the household, and did freelance writing and taught painting classes on the side.  The lifestyle got old, so we decided to buy an RV and travel as a family to Mike’s gigs.

It sounds romantic: two lovebirds and their fur babies traveling the country, working side-by-side during the day and walking hand-in-hand at night. Despite that rosy image, it wasn’t easy for me to make the leap. Part of me felt like I was giving it all up. Giving up everything I’d worked for, my friends, my beloved community. 

Would it be worth it? Would Mike and I survive being together all the time when we’d hardly spent more than a week together for our entire relationship? And doing it all in a hallway on wheels??

It’s totally been worth it! We’ve had amazing adventures: visiting far-flung family and friends, seeing the gorgeous landscapes of this beautiful nation, waking up and falling asleep next to each other seven days a week. If that wasn’t enough, my freelance business as the Coffice Girl has been growing steadily since we hit the road.

The constant togetherness isn’t always stress-free, but we’ve found ways to ensure that we stay strong as a couple.

We don’t just love each other; we like each other and respect each other’s gifts and talents. That’s critical for success in any marriage but particularly one in such close quarters.

We talk a lot. We listen even more. Listening to each other and acknowledging what’s been said are essential for soothing hurt feelings, overcoming miscommunication, and arriving at a consensus.

We celebrate the journey, even the hard parts. When it’s five degrees out and the water pump breaks, we deal with it together – and then we thank each other. We try never to take the other person’s efforts for granted.

We may not live in a hallway on wheels forever, but making this change for my man and his career, however long it lasts, has given me more than I ever dreamed.

By Elisabeth Daniels(Coffice Girl)

5 Ways To Show Our Husbands Love Through Actions

Hi, thanks for stopping by.  I know you must be new here, because I am new. Please check out My Story to get to know me better or subscribe here. Welcome!

Today I have the honor to guest post at Whole Lotta Momma.

I'm excited to share with Kristin and all of her readers.

Please check out her page and share the love from our 

God Life Happy Wife community.

Women are known to be communicators. We often have a reputation of over using our words, especially when it comes to the husband and wife relationship.

As wives we can clearly express to our husbands how much we love them.

We probably have over a thousand ways to say, “I love you,” but what about saying it without speaking a word?

Visit Whole Lotta Momma to read more of this post.

Be Blessed!