Paint us a picture of your family and how you interact with one another

Kelly and I live in Nashville and were recently married on October 8, 2016. We have a sweet dachshund/beagle mix named Bailey. We met on a dating app called Bumble, and realized we both attended Southern Miss at the same time, and even had mutual friends, but somehow never met. Looking back, we realize that was all God’s timing, because I know I was not mature enough back then to handle a serious relationship, and things wouldn’t have worked out. Kelly feels the same way. But now that we’re in our early 30’s, we have grown closer to God and as a result, He decided to put us together. It didn’t take us long to know we were “the one” for each other, either. We were married one year (almost to the day) after we met. As newlyweds, we are being intentional about spending as much quality time together during our first year of marriage as we can. This means that sometimes we turn down the invitations of friends and family and instead work on bonding together as one. We think that this will pay dividends in the long run. We are also blessed that our families live nearby and we get to see them at least once a week, sometimes more. The family life is something that we both believe strongly in; we both come from Christian families, and we found that common bond very appealing about each other when we were dating.

What does your average week look like? 
We both work full time jobs; Kelly is an assistant principal at a local middle school, and finishes at 4:00, and I am a legislative assistant for a state representative, and I get off work at 4:30. So we get home and have plenty of time together. We run errands, walk around our neighborhood, visit family, and attend church together. We eat supper together each night – Kelly cooks and I clean (well, most of the time). Saturday mornings we usually do chores around the house, run errands, and spend time with friends. Sundays are always dedicated to church and family.

How do you balance home life and work life?  
We are blessed that when our jobs are over at the end of the day, they’re over. The only exception is that Kelly is required to attend some football and basketball games, and during the legislative session I work later some days. For the most part, we don’t have to bring work home, which again is a blessing.
Being newlyweds, we don’t yet have children (which we hear is quite time consuming), but we’re hoping to start a family soon!

How is your faith displayed in a daily basis? 
The greatest commandment is to love one another. We believe in our everyday lives, the best way to display our faith is to sincerely love everyone we come across. That means smiling at strangers in the grocery store, having patience with coworkers, giving a helping hand to our neighbors, volunteering at the soup kitchen, etc. Those seemingly small acts of love can’t be underestimated. Beyond that, any chance we get to share the message of Christ with people, we certainly take that opportunity.

What is a significant opportunity that you have had to share your faith with others?
Kelly has a good friend who is a non-believer, and takes every opportunity to show Christ’s love in various ways. My brother struggles with faith, and I’m constantly praying for him and maintaining my relationship so that the seeds that were planted during his youth will produce a fruitful, faithful life one day.

Living in the South, just about everyone has had some contact with Christianity. Most folks know the basic tenets of the faith. I find that often they may have been turned off by a bad experience with a church or with another Christian. Sometimes they’ve just been deceived by Satan through modernism, scientism, relativism, or humanism. In any case, it’s a matter of showing how Christ’s love makes a difference in our lives. It’s something real, not just lip service. Our faith gives us joy, hope, purpose, and best of all – eternal life.

What are some of the greatest challenges that you face on a daily basis, and how do you overcome those challenges?
For Kelly, it is time – time to balance everything from work to family to personal and spiritual growth. To overcome these challenges, she prioritizes and is very intentional in regards to time management.

For Theo, one of my biggest challenges is staying positive about my career – making sure I’m making a difference and growing professionally. To overcome this, I read relevant articles, keep up with the news, try to learn new skills, and work on professional development.