I (Deanna) was a bright eyed, 18 year old college freshman when I sang in front of the school at a morning chapel. As I walked off the stage, a very cute, very well dressed, freckled-faced red head walked up to me, introduced himself, and gave me a hug as he complimented my singing. What seemed like the very next week, I looked at Jon across the dinner table and we had been married for 19 years, and had 4 kids. OK, maybe it hasn’t felt like a week. Honestly, sometimes it feels like 17 lifetimes since that day in chapel, and other times it feels like it’s literally just been one really fun long weekend.  

The reality was, we ended up dating all through college at Azusa Pacific University, where we both graduated with degrees in Music… and got married 11 days after graduation.  Jon got his first job out of college - as a worship pastor at a church in Long Beach, CA, and I finished recording my first album. We lived in a tiny one bedroom apartment not far from the church and treated every night like a slumber party (think late night trips to Taco Bell and eating popsicles in bed. No seriously.)  

In the 19 years since that honeymoon season, we have lived all over Southern California, had 4 amazing, yet sometimes overly dramatic children, and added a puppy to the mix… for a whole 3 days. (long story for another time) We have experienced some incredible highs and have also become close friends with deep Suffering. Loss and grief is just not something you think about when you’re a freshly college-graduated-optimist-turned-bride-and-groom. 

And yet, spoiler alert: The Hard, as we Ramsays often call it, is found in every one of our stories, whether we like it or not. Whether we expected it or not. So… this youngest child, Enneagram 9 (Deanna) and this only child, Enneagram 3 (Jon) have found ourselves on a journey.  A journey toward discovering how to experience JOY in the midst of real life. Discovering how to live in your TRUE IDENTITY when the world says you’re not enough. Discovering how to give GRACE when your partner doesn’t meet your expectations. Discovering how to LOVE your kids well when you don’t even like them at times. (Don’t judge. You’ve thought it too.)  And discovering how to ACCEPT LOVE yourself.  

So, join us on the journey. 

You’ll find everything from The Messy to The Miraculous here. 

Stories, hope, honesty, failures… The Real… The Practical… The Hard… The I-Can’t-Breathe-I’m-Laughing-Too-Hard.

You’ll also find a whole lot of Jesus, as HE is the giver of every good and perfect gift and the author of redemption in our stories.

And join us in person! We get to spend many of our days traveling, speaking to women’s groups, couples groups, at church events and retreats… encouraging people in their journey! Faith, family, friendship… The Glorious and The Hard. We’d love to see you!