Hi, we’re Jeff and Mandy Rose. We are the couple behind Marriage More.
These days it’s rare to find a married couple passionate about working hard to make their marriage and commitment a priority.
The Beginning
When we first got married, we were young and had no idea what unconditional love meant. We spent a good portion of our marriage living in the hamster wheel, as we like to call it. Getting up everyday and going through the motions, but not living and loving intentionally. Then came career changes, kids and greater responsibilities.
Our life and our marriage suddenly started to take a backseat to the less important things in life.
Luckily, we realized that our commitment to choosing each other on a daily basis was failing and we knew, that if we didn’t begin designing our marriage how we envisioned it?
That life would design a marriage for us that wouldn’t last.
We started this blog as a way to work through our struggles while sharing with you the hardships and the happiness.
We want to show you that your commitment to change has to be greater than your desire to change.
We want you to know that if you want that perfect marriage, you have to take steps to make it happen.
We hope that the stories we tell on this blog will help you design YOUR perfect marriage.
We are not licensed therapists, professional psychologists or educated counselors. We are simply a husband and wife learning how to live a life of joy and grace.
Our Marriage is far From Perfect
But, to us, a perfect marriage is more than one without struggles and triumphs. We’ve used the mistakes we’ve made as a way to grow and become closer. We hope we can show you how to do the same.
To hear a little more about our story you can watch our video…
10 Random facts that will help you get to know us better:
Fact #1: We both have our own blogs, but decided it’s way more fun to do things together.
Jeff writes a personal finance blog called Good Financial Cents. He is also a Certified Financial Planner and owns his own investment firm.
Mandy writes a lifestyle blog called House of Rose where she talks about motherhood, home decor and how she keeps from going crazy living with so many males.
We love having our own blogs, but honestly? Our passion is about helping couples make more of their marriage. That’s when our team project, Marriage More, was born.
Fact # 2: We started this blog originally as a “How To Make Money Blogging” themed blog.
If you came to this blog looking for the old blog (Dollars and Roses) then you are probably confused. We rebranded in September 2014 as a “Marriage More” blog.
Don’t worry, we still left our tips and tutorials up in case you were an old reader and could care less about marriage. Just click here.
Fact #3: We have three boys (and we aren’t done yet).
Parker (7), Bentley (4) and Sloane (3). They be crazy y’all. Like super cray-cray.
So crazy that we want to have another. This time…we felt called to adopt. We are currently waiting to be placed with a child from the Philippines.
Fact #4: Mandy is the co-founder of a care package service for moms called Happy Mommy Box.
One of the greatest things to do as a mother, is find other moms who can help lift you up. Mandy and her business partner, Natalie, started Happy Mommy Box as a way to offer encouragement and support to moms who need it.
You can build a box of goodies and brighten someone’s day by sending them happy mail! They also have the Happy Mommy Shop which has tees, totes, mugs and more things all designed to encourage moms.
Fact #5: Jeff is an In-N-Out Burger fanatic.
He used to live on the West coast where there are In-N-Out Burgers on every corner. But now that he lives in good ole Southern Illinois, where there are no In-N-Out Burgers, he has serious withdraw.
The last time we visited a destination with In-N-Out Burger we ate it five times in six days. Jeff is also the one in the family who encourages the healthy eating challenges.
Make sense of that, will ya?
Fact #6: Mandy prefers her fountain coke in a styrofoam cup.
She could care less about eating greasy In-N-Out burgers, but give her a fountain coke in a styrofoam cup? And she’s set for the day.
She also took up playing the guitar last year to raise money for charity and she is a mild obsession with Instagram.
Fact #7: Jeff is a 9 year veteran of the Army National Guard.
Jeff spent the first 17 months of their marriage serving his country in Baghdad, Iraq. How about that for a challenging first year of marriage?!
Fact #8: We took a 2 week RV trip last summer with all the boys and we left on day 1 with no agenda.
For a type A mom who likes to go shopping and stay in nice hotels…it was quite the experience. Jeff Rose is already planning the next one.
Fact #9: We got baptized together 3 years ago at our church.
That was an awesome day for the Roses and something that has helped mold our marriage into what it is today.
Before we had Jesus in our lives we were broken and hurting. We lacked compassion, commitment and grace. Our life is forever better because God is at the top. #jesusrocks
Fact #10: Jeff looks like “The Rock”.
Yes, I do know that and yes…he has been told that before. Approximately 12492726453948 times. He finally embraced this and wrote this funny post on his blog: 7 Life Lessons I Learned from the Rock.
It think he’s hotter than Dwayne Johnson. #justfortherecord
What to expect from us (after all, isn’t marriage all about expectations):
When you live with all boys? You are bound to get your dressed pulled up. All men are created the same folks – no matter the age. How’s that for some expectation advice?!
One of the main things you will see on this blog is our 22 day challenge called The Love Habits. These are 3 things you can incorporate into your everyday routine to grow closer to your spouse.
After you have completed The Love Habits we want you to join us on all of our other challenges. These simple challenges will lead you to making MORE out of your marriage. You will find Intimacy, Adventure, Better Life and Spiritual Challenges… <<drumroll please>> We did say intimacy in case you missed it (yes, we talk sex) challenges that will keep you from falling out of love with your spouse.
We are passionate about sharing all that God has done in our marriage and family.
If you are like us and looking for ways to keep your marriage a priority then join us by completing 22 days of The Love Habits.
You can also subscribe to our podcast HERE.
You can get in contact directly with us through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or via email at info@houseofroseblog.com.
Dan Höering says
Good stuff, thanks for your active marriage story! If God isn’t in a marriage between a man & woman, it’s doomed I tell ya! I’ll be back to share more, and I’ll tell my wife Cecilea all about this. Good stuff. God is in our marriage and he has helped build a very strong Foundation.