Our Marriage Story
Hello and welcome to A Purpose Driven Marriage! I’m excited to share my passion for marriage with you and hope to encourage you to see how God’s design for marriage can lead to one of the most amazing and fulfilling relationships in your life.
I’m a proud mom of six (five daughters and one son), and am also madly in love with my college sweetheart for over 25 years – well 30, if you count the years we dated. Duane and I met in our Psychology 105 class our freshman year in college at Washington State University (Go Cougs!) and got married shortly after we graduated.
Duane and Nadine in 1994
But even with all that love we had for one another, it didn’t take long for us to realize that we didn’t know a thing about being a married couple. Google didn’t exist at the time so we couldn’t just search, “how to have a successful marriage” online.
We were an interracial couple coming from very diverse cultures and backgrounds, who also happened to be strong-willed (and stubborn) individuals. And now, we’re somehow expected to know how to live together, get along, and (gasp!) raise a family?
Thankfully, an opportunity to attend a 2-day marriage workshop presented itself shortly after we had our first child. It’s a good thing we had nothing else planned that weekend because that experience was life changing!
We learned the right and wrong ways to communicate, how to resolve conflict in a loving way, that there are five love languages (this blew our minds), differences between men and women in relationships, how to keep intimacy a priority, and what the Bible says about marriage. The simple, yet critically important concepts we learned that day, became fundamental “rules of the game” that helped us navigate marriage from that point forward.
:Fast forward over two decades later and we still look back fondly on all that we learned that day, and are grateful that we had enough wisdom to begin investing in our marriage, even at such a young age.
Of course, just like any other couple, we’ve experienced our fair share of challenging seasons as well as many wonderful ones. But one of the most important things Duane and I discovered is how much we truly LOVE being married to each other. There’s no other person on the planet that we’d rather share this journey with and we enjoy helping other couples get to that same place in their relationship.
Contrary to popular beliefs, you can have conflict and still stay connected. You can be polar opposites, and be great friends. You can have differences in perspectives, and still be able to communicate effectively. You can have children, and still have great intimacy. You can go through difficult seasons, and bounce back as an even stronger couple.
The bottom line is: you can have a thriving relationship, no matter the season you’re in or what you’ve been through. And if you want to learn how to make that happen, book an appoinment or a complimentary consultation with me. I look forward to meeting you soon!
xoxo,
Nadine
OUR LITTLE FAMILY
Duane and Nadine have many years of experience mentoring and supporting couples towards reconnecting and reconciling, as well as strengthening their relationship. They lead marriage classes in the Seatte area and teach online courses through their ministry, A Purpose Driven Marriage.
Nadine is a trained Gottman Seven Principles Leader and Certified Marriage and Relationship Coach, and is frequently invited to speak on topics like Sex and Intimacy in Marriage, Creating Your Family Legacy, Understanding Your Purpose, and From Clark Kent To Superman (using your influence to help your spouse achieve his potential as a husband and man).
(Interested in booking Nadine to speak at your event? Click on this link to send us a message).
She works with couples in all stages of relationship in her Marriage & Relationship Coaching practice located in the Renton Highlands, a suburb near Seattle, WA.
Are you in need of help with your marriage and want to work with Nadine? Book a 15-minute complimentary Zoom consultation to learn more. (serious inquiries only please)
If you’re feeling like you and your spouse have become more like roommates than life partners, you’ll want to check out our eBook “10 Days to A Healthier Marriage.”
It will help you make simple, yet critically important changes that can turn a GOOD relationship into a GREAT one.
A Purpose Driven Marriage’s mission is to encourage, educate, and equip couples to strive for a marriage as God designed it and not as the world has defined it – through marriage coaching, online courses, marriage workshops, a podcast, and our social media pages.