Hello Family, Welcome!

Paul & Ali here! We are a husband and wife team raising 4 boys (2 Elementary & Identical Twins on the way!), building businesses with creativity, healing from dysfunctional pasts and pursuing an authentic, wholistic relationship with God.

Our mission is to support Christ-centered, cycle-breaker families in transforming their faith, family and legacy into one of peace, wholeness and endurance.

We did not start in this place (at all!) but we have come SO far and are committed to running our journey wholeheartedly along side you. We work hard every day to build a healthy & fruitful family and we want to provide YOU with valuable resources, tools and encouragement as you build your fruitful family and life.

Let me tell you something important to know ...

We always end our podcast with this phrase: "We're on the Journey with you" and there is a reason for that. While we research thoroughly, care deeply and think critically about how we live our own life, the information we share with others and the resources we recommend, we don't feel right positioning ourselves as "experts"; as people who have "figured it out".

Yes, we have walked through many challenges of life and grown in resilience, skills and wisdom that are absolutely worth sharing, but we are also just like you. We mess up. We fail. We say the wrong thing. We question. We wonder.

In an age where everyone online has a hack, a solution, an answer for your struggles (and present themselves highly) it is easy to slip into overly exalting these people (and overly diminishing ourselves) thinking they've got it all figured out and must never wonder, struggle and fail (the way we do).

We are proud of the skills, understanding and progress we have built in our own lives and want to share the parts that will benefit you, AND we are not perfect and do not want to be seen that way.

So our phrase, "we're on the journey with you" is a reminder: to you that we are just people, not God and to us to stay humble and let God do the work.

So what's up with this word: INTEGRATED?

Well, we could always start with a proper definition:

*in a British voice* The definition of integrated is to combine or coordinate separate parts in order to provide a harmonious, interrelated whole. *end British voice*

But... definitions can be a little dry and boring and they don't capture the full context and intention behind the word choice. So let me give you some examples of what I mean:

We are an Integrated Family because ...

Our Healing Journey: Paul & I both came from dysfunctional, broken homes with many layers of trauma woven throughout our stories. We have worked (hard!) to heal and integrate our past wounds and trauma so that they no longer significantly control and dictate our daily lives and relationships (as they used to!), without ignoring the impact of that part of our story. We hold the tension of the healing and the hurt.

We are ALSO an Integrated Family because ...

Our View of Family as a Team NOT as a group of individuals: Being the modern millennials that we are, we naturally grew up with highly individualistic goals and dreams for our life. We had personal goals, ideals and passions to live out; how dare anything or anyone get in the way of what we wanted!

However, when we started to build our family, this mindset created A LOT of tension and conflict, both in our marriage and parenting. Everything we each wanted seemed in opposition!

We came upon this paradigm shift of family as an integrate team with shared vision and goals, serving the whole unit, creating impact together and spanning generations. (I know, it's a lot to take in at once, but we get much more into this on our podcast.)
This shift began to change everything for the better in our family dynamic the more we learned and embraced it - which is WHY we are so passionate about it!

And one more example of being an Integrated Family ...

Our Lifestyle Choices that increase our "togetherness": Early on, even before we were married, we decided to make lifestyle choices that maximized our ability to be together - whether it was working or playing.

Initially, this looked like building a freelance media business together. (I won't lie, this had many pitfalls and challenges, but we butted heads and grew together through it). Then, after welcoming our first son, it looked like Paul continuing in entrepreneurship in a work from home style while I focused on new motherhood. By the time the 2020 worldwide trend of "working from home" rolled around, we had plenty of experience ;)

Presently, this looks like homeschooling our two elementary aged boys (and eventually our twin boys on the way!) and building family businesses that we will slowly include our children in as they grow and mature. Our lifestyle circumstances may change in the future, but the principle and priorities remain the same; to maximize the opportunities for our family to be interconnected in various areas of life.

And I would be remiss if I did not also include the integration of our faith into every facet of our life. We have a deep desire to cultivate a personal and grounded relationship with God, with a deep understanding of the Bible while also being VERY willing to challenge modern Christian norms. We want REAL TRUTH to influence every area of our life and we are committed to the journey of discovering what that is and integrating into our life.

Do you see yourself in any of these examples?

Do you desire to become more of an integrated family?

(healing past wounds, building a team-oriented family, establishing a connected family lifestyle & infusing faith into daily life.)

We invite you to grab a chair, get comfy and stick around!

3 Reasons You Might Enjoy Hanging Around with Us:

#1

We LOVE practicals! Ideals and theory are great for discussion (hence us having a podcast), but at the end of the day we have a life to LIVE and that requires a lot of nuance and real life practicals. That's where the rubber meets the road.

We want to get practical with you!

#2

We hold our convictions and give space for others to hold theirs.

We are committed Christians seeking grounding and truth and are ALSO able to respect and honor each person's unique faith journey (Christian or not).

We ask hard questions, dive into nuanced topics and are uniquely good at standing in the tension of differing ideas, while holding to what we believe (or admitting when we are wrong or just don't know!)

#3

We are avid researchers, readers and learners.We are always working to grow AND to apply what we know.

This way we have tested perspectives and a backing for what we share.

To Wrap Things Up...

We each have different journeys we have already walked and we are each in a different chapter of our current life story. And the fact that you are still here with me reading this tells me that there is a common thread through your life journey, my life journey and everyone else who engages with this page, and that is:

We have a deep, unquenchable desire to build a flourishing family, despite a broken past.

It’s hard to appreciate where our own family is today without knowing the roads we’ve walked. The devastations, trials and challenges we've faced are not evident in our joyful faces in the photos above. Instead, they are chiseled deep in our hearts and tenderly held as we press forward in building a joyful, healthy & thriving family. And I believe you have similar stories within you and your family.

And this, my friend, is our main mission and purpose in building the Integrated Family Co:

We open up our personal life journey to allow others with a similar heartbeat to learn from our mistakes and triumphs, to feel seen, gain insight and find useful tools to make walking this road a little easier and a little less lonely.

If we have done this, we have succeeded.