Our Christian Journey
Growing Up Christians in the Rural Midwest
We both grew up in Christian homes in very small communities in the rural Midwest. Derek’s hometown was an agriculturally-based community in Nebraska. Amy grew up in rural Wisconsin, where her father was a pastor. The church building was right next to Amy’s childhood home, and the church was a very big part of their lives throughout her younger years. In college, Amy became friends with Derek’s sister, and it was at his sister’s wedding in Nebraska that we met. A year later we were married and moving to Tampa, Florida for Derek’s residency. After Derek completed his education in Tampa, we moved back to the rural community in Nebraska Derek grew up in. We have been living here since 2012 and plan to continue to raise our children here.
Educational Background
We were both personally blessed with a Christian education from elementary through high school. This education was a strong priority for both of our families. After Derek completed high school and went to college at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, he was initially pursuing an athletic training degree while also taking premedical classes. Following his undergraduate education, he was blessed to attend medical school at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
After that degree was completed, God gave him the opportunity to go to a five-year orthopedic surgery residency program at the University of South Florida in Tampa. During his residency, Derek was also able to obtain a Master of Business Administration through the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Derek is a lifelong learner, continuing to grow his knowledge through reading books and blogs, listening to audiobooks and podcasts, and attending seminars and Mastermind events as often as he is able.
After Amy attended her Christian high school, she enrolled at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota. She received her degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in English. Amy continues to educate herself regularly by reading books on topics such as Christianity, relationships, education, and parenting. She also enjoys attending seminars and Mastermind events alongside Derek.
Spiritual Background
We have both been blessed to be born into Christian households and were baptized as infants. We were brought up in the Lutheran Church, Amy’s father serving as a Lutheran pastor. We have continued to attend Christian churches throughout our childhood and adult years, and all of our children were baptized children of God within a week of their birth.
We both feel strongly that Christian education is a very high priority in our household. We will go into more detail about Christian education and how we incorporate that into our lives in other portions of this blog.
Our Christian Beliefs
We know that we are not perfect and that we are sinners like everyone else. We have been blessed in many ways but have also failed and stumbled many times, both individually and as a family. Some of these failures have been more significant than others. We pray that God will allow us to grow and learn from those failures and that we can also give Him praise, honor, and glory through those failures. We will plan to share our challenges and failures through this blog in the hope that others can grow from these experiences.
Travel
We enjoy traveling together as a family and have been blessed to do so a fair amount, both in the United States and internationally. Within the United States, some of our favorite places to visit are Branson, Missouri, Disney World and Eastern Tennessee. In this blog, we will explain some of the things we like to see and do in those locations. We have also enjoyed going on cruises together as a family. So far we have been to the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and Alaska. Our most amazing trips, though, have been our family’s international volunteer trips. Together we have been to Peru, Costa Rica, South Africa, Guatemala and Kenya with an organization called Globe Aware and Indonesia with an organization called Kingdom Workers. These trips have been very educational and rewarding! We will talk about those trips on our blog.
