The Book

When we got married in 1983, all we knew was that we wanted more than what we had, and that together was the surest way to get it. Those first couple years, we were headed in the right direction – great jobs, good friends, a home of our own, our first baby, and a start to our savings plan. Then in 1985, opportunity knocked. It changed and expanded our vision of the future. We had to try so we sold everything, quit our jobs, moved away from family and friends, went into a new level of debt, and took a huge risk to start our own business. We were entrepreneurs in our mid-twenties learning how to bring a new dream to life.

By 1999 just over a decade later, we had moved nine times, nearly lost the business for incorrect tax collection, survived a fire that razed our main store/corporate office (and an entire city block), rescued a failing marriage by facing addiction head on, and were struggling to raise our three kids to live out their best potential. That we made it and succeeded to have the life we have now took a lot of days just doing the next right thing, never giving up on each other, and having a constant faith that God held it all.

This book tells our story in the hope it encourages you to live yours. We began with nothing, and are now blessed with so much. If you think success is not meant for you, or that the American Dream can’t happen in today’s political and economic climate, this book is for you. In these pages you will witness how that dream begins in lessons taught by parents, what the dream is for us, how it constantly changes, and some of the things which can get in your way or make it feel impossible.