Raising children. It's a noble thing, and honorable thing, and if you are trying to do it right, it's one of the most challenging things a couple can do. The process of being a parent never ends and that long winding road can be filled with growth almost daily. Fatigue sets in, kids don't listen, and we run out of patience and our words get sharp. Every parent has been there. Ana Tigre talks about raising four little ones and how she has learned to get better at mentoring, teaching, shaping and loving little people that lack wisdom and continuously fail to make make adult decisions. It's a thought provoking interview about perspectives and what we do and perhaps should expect from our children.

Ana talks about the evolution from professional athlete and globe-hopping fitness supermodel to homeschooling mom and housewife and where she is now with life, love and the Lord.

We have lived in Florida for over a year now and while we knew we would experience a hurricane eventually, it wasn't until Ian was bearing down on us that I started to get properly prepared. Ian was gigantic, and slow moving so that means the winds and rain keep pounding you for hours. We were very blessed to have no damage beyond some debris in the yard when so many suffered catastrophic losses and death.

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I often view change in retrospect with a measure of self-reverence in how it I weathered it. Those stories are most often inflated by tales of immeasurable pain and anguish somehow overcome with inhuman perseverance and divine intervention. And sometimes there may even be some truth to the story, but at the end of the day, if it didn’t kill me, then it didn’t kill me. It may have been hard, but clearly not impossible, and if God intervened, then the credit for getting through it all goes to him and not me.

The last year of our life has been an absolute adventure. A God that loves us beyond understanding has fed and watered us through whatever discomfort has come our way. And those challenges strengthened us, made us more confident. We became a tighter and stronger family and grew infinitely closer to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. And we learned to have gratitude for the blessings we have and just as thankful for the things and people we didn’t have any longer.

We live in a state and city we love. We have a church that was an answer to prayer. Our two oldest children asked to be baptized after learning and fully understanding what that means. Emma cracked everyone up with her very frank answers before her immersion in the water.

This podcast is a recap of the year, and a testimony of sorts. And it’s the start of us doing regular podcasts again. We hope you enjoy.

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I met Chaundra Tangi many years ago when I was a fitness industry photographer and she was an athlete and model. From our times working together a great friendship was born with her and her husband, and it has remained and greatly strengthened since then. Their three children have been a great blessing to them through many years of marriage and all the challenges they have faced together. Chaundra is a pastor now and she joins us to talk about her choices in the fitness industry, and the path that brought her family to today.

At night, when they are sleeping sound in their little beds, we have stood by and wondered how such a precious little thing, these gifts from God himself, when touched by daylight, could manifest into the patience devouring little monsters they can be most days. 

Part of raising kids is correcting bad behaviors. They do something they shouldn't, and we let them know it and tell them not to do it again.  They promptly do it again, and we repeat ourselves, with less and less patience with each new offense, until someone gets an earful or sent to their room. 

And then they do it again.

If you have ever raised a child, then you have been there. It's the thing we ask forgiveness for most nights just to find ourselves in the same frustrated hole the next day.

We love our kids beyond words. We thank God for them every day, all day long, and marvel at every little thing they say and do. We have hours of video and thousands of pictures of them, and every single decision we make is made with them in mind.

Just imagine how it would have felt the day we realized they didn't feel that love. It happened when they were playing family with each other recently. They were taking turns playing their version of us, and we saw exactly how they think we feel about them. 

So we asked him for forgiveness. We prayed, and God laid it out plain as day for us. We then told our kids we were sorry and asked them to forgive us as that is what we teach them to do when they do something wrong.

And then we did what God directed us to do, and everything changed.

We talk about what we are doing differently in this episode, and we are blown away at the result. As always, we share our experiences, hoping it helps someone else. 

We all have days we wish we hadn't, or at least parts of them that we wish had gone differently. Most of the time, the level of discomfort a situation brings is the measuring stick we use to determine if it is good or bad. But easy and smooth rarely add much wisdom, confidence, or overall benefit to our lives. It's the most challenging jobs, the most demanding workouts, and the most uncomfortable truths that can spark the most remarkable positive change in our lives.

In the Bible, James 1:2 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." 

That verse, and the realization that discomfort has been the fertile soil from which all improvement has come, have changed my perspective on life and challenges.

Ana and I talk about perspectives and what we do each day to make the very best from bad situations.

As always, we hope this helps someone.

We left Las Vegas in a whirlwind of danger, feelings and loss but we left because God led us to leave. He took us to an amazing place we never expected to visit let alone live at and from that day in August to now he has pour miracles and blessings on our family, and in our faith and obedience he has directed our paths to a place we could only dream of being at.  

Elaine sits down with Ana and I after the kids were tucked into bed to talk about the last few weeks, and the crazy road filled with twists and turns where God has taken us.

As a father and provider, it's easy to think mistakenly that my kids don't need me as much as they do their mother.  Ana is with them 24/7, and they rely on her for everything.  Whether I am there or not, they ask permission from mom, even if I tell them it's ok.  I have accepted that she is the meat and potatoes in our parenting role, and I am the desert.  I'm there to fix things, change batteries in toys, and play, but they call on mom to solve all the important stuff.  They are young now, and when they get older, they will appreciate a father more, or so I thought.  

I know a lot of fathers that have expressed similar sentiments. 

I was recently gone for ten days taking care of some business back in Las Vegas, and while I missed Ana and the kids immensely, I never imagined they missed me that much.  Ana explained how wrong I was, and after listing what they needed from me and how they felt about me, I realized I had underestimated my role in the family.

Ana and I decided this would be an excellent topic to discuss in a podcast to help fathers better understand what their kids need from them and help moms understand how some dads may be thinking and how to explain how needed they are no matter how small their kids are.  

As always, this is shared with love and the hope that it helps someone.

Faith is only an easy thing to have when the risk is low.  There was a time when Faith got tossed aside when the stakes were high, and I took the wheel because I needed to manage the crisis to make sure it got done right.  And that has been the foundation of every struggle and failure I have had as a Christian.  Having Faith that God is in control, and while the path may not be clear, it's not supposed to be because we wouldn't need Faith if it were.  It's an exercise in Faith and obedience because of Faith.

Most times, the path to answered prayers is not direct from A to B.  I had prayed for things in the past and was sent on what seemed to be a wild-goose chase.  That was until I got to the next level and discovered that the previous steps had prepared me in some way for what came next.  When my prayers finally got answered, I was where I needed to be with all I needed to be successful. 

Ana and I talk about the Addisons - and that gets explained during the show - and how they may seem like dead ends or wasted time but never are.  

As always, we hope our experiences help others.