A little bit more about us and why we chose to start a blog called “Our Peaceful Family“.
When we first got married, back in 2010, there wasn’t a whole lot of resources out there for our generation of couples. (Yes-gasp!-We’re millennials.) There also seemed to be a lack of information specific to newlyweds and those first few years of marriage.
Marcus is from Ghana, Africa, used to work as an IT Business Analyst, and enjoys watching/playing football (also known as soccer in the U.S.).
Ash was born and raised in New England, United States, and is an avid reader.
How we met
We met in Virginia of all places when we’d both moved there for educational reasons. We’d met in person briefly as we worked at the same restaurant, but on opposite shifts.
I (Ash) was friendly and said hello, and Marcus ignored me! Sometime soon later I had a friend request on Facebook and he’d commented on my pictures.
We started chatting online and then texting before agreeing to meet up in person. He was always so direct with his questions, and the bluntness was refreshing.
I was not looking for anything serious, but I guess you could say it was fate – if you believe in that sort of thing. One night turned into a relationship really fast.
Five months later…
We were married! I know you’re thinking that’s way too fast. I totally would agree with you if I hadn’t been the one to fall for this amazing man I call my husband.
Part of the reason it was fast, was because there were no games between us. What you saw was what you got.
More importantly, we asked each other the hard questions which helped us decide to commit to each other.
I came from a traumatic background and didn’t trust easily, but his honesty, respectfulness, and open-mindedness encouraged me to let down my walls at an unprecedented pace.
We’ve overcome a lot together.
As of writing this post, in 2020, we’re going on ten wonderful years together.
In that time, we’ve faced:
⇒ Immigration issues
⇒ An unexpected pregnancy
⇒ Job losses
⇒ Autoimmune disease diagnosis
⇒ Cultural differences and clashes
⇒ Racism
⇒ Communication problems
⇒ Parenting disagreements
⇒ Loss of religious beliefs
⇒ Food allergies galore
⇒ Boundary issues with family
⇒ Trust issues
⇒ Unmatched sexual desires
⇒ Financial struggles, and more.
We started from the bottom and worked hard to improve ourselves which in turn had a trickle effect on our marriage, parenting, and life.
On this website…
You won’t get some sugar-sweet coated examples on this blog, but our real, raw struggles.
We share how we overcame the challenges in our marriage by admitting how we messed up – and then show you how we fixed it. We focus a LOT on improving yourself and looking inward, as well as boundaries, respect, empathy, and an equal partnership.
Also, our articles cover aspects of life that are important to us having and maintaining a peaceful family, finances, parenting styles, eating habits, relationships, personal development, and life!
We try to keep this blog inclusive and have started combing through old posts to make sure they reflect our current values.
More about us
We currently live in New Hampshire, homeschool as self-directed by our two daughters, and work from home running this blog as a team, the same way we live our life. In addition, we write a cross between romance and women’s fiction under our pen name A.M. Kusi.
Our family has several food allergies so it’s a good thing we love to cook!
One of the goals we set as a couple in the very beginning was to have a peaceful family. It wasn’t easy, especially having to unlearn so much from childhood. I (Ash) chose to never let my children go through the kind of life I had growing up.
We hope our words will help and encourage you, wherever you are in life, whatever creed, country, orientation, you happen to be.
Now:
Click here to visit our Getting Started page.
Thank you for visiting us!
Ash & Marcus
