Jessica was raised in Northern Virginia. Her father was an elder at McLean Presbyterian Church, which is part of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a conservative Presbyterian denomination. She attended Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Covenant is affiliated with the PCA as well. After graduate studies in music therapy at Shenandoah University, she and Tom were married. They attended PCA churches until 2009 and were received into the Church at the Easter Vigil of 2010. They have four boys and one baby girl.

Tom was raised in a Navy family, living up and down the east coast and overseas. His father was a Navy chaplain, ordained in the Christian Reformed Church, an historically Dutch Reformed denomination. Tom studied maritime transportation at Maine Maritime Academy, and later went into active duty with the Navy. He graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 2009. Tom is currently assigned to Washington, D.C.