We met as public school music educators in separate districts when introduced by a mutual friend. We were both attending a choir festival and Duane and I talked while sitting on wooden bleachers in the gymnasium and listening to the kids sing. It was nice! After our first date at a Symphony concert together, we talked into the early morning hours. He called the very next day which was a shock to Sally, and the rest is history. The wedding was 20 months later in August of 1992.

We had 5 moves in 6 years, and after our son was born and Sally was pregnant with our daughter, we found out Duane had cancer. We were in a new community, new job for Duane, and 3 hours away from the hospital where Duane was receiving radiation treatments. Our daughter was born in January and 6 weeks later, Sally was diagnosed with cancer. The challenges we faced were way beyond our control and ability to manage. We relied on God, family and friends to get through it. These events put tremendous pressure on our marriage. We did the best we could. We were eventually both told we were cancer-free, hallelujah! But the pain and unhealthy coping of that time would linger and lead us to seek our first round of counseling. We learned some tools to get by.

Round 2 of counseling occurred a few years later and worked again for a time. We discovered we were needing inner healing for old pain and the resulting triggers from it. Round 3 came at 23 years of marriage, when we admitted to each other that our marriage had cancer and we needed specialists to treat us. It was a familiar way for us to describe the condition and severity of our situation. We realized we had to make therapy a priority in order for the marriage to survive. We were scared. But we dug in, worked, learned, prayed and eventually came out with a stronger marriage!

We are both believers in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and active in our church. We are comfortable coaching with faith based language, but as public school teachers we spent our careers coaching from a secular perspective and will honor the couple’s preference. We do commit to praying for the couple.

Even following a beginning session, we want our clients to say that they were listened to with respect; that they became aware of aspects of their marriage that needed some attention; that an action plan was made by the couple through open ended questions by the coaches; and that they were each supported in the time they spent with us.

We feel we are specially suited to walk alongside marriages in crisis because we received such miraculous help when our marriage was facing its darkest times. We know that even the toughest times can lead to transformational growth even when it seems impossible.

We believe that each couple we work with is unique in their background and individual traits and deserve an individualized coaching experience. Just like a sunset, no two marriages share the exact same blend of colors, timing, or atmosphere.

We were given a needlepoint as a wedding gift with the verse from Ecclesiastes 4:12 “…a cord of 3 strands is not quickly broken”. Which for us means that with God at the center of our marriage it can withstand whatever comes against it.