Mandy & Drew Hendrix
I met Mandy through her Mom, Rita. One day Rita and I were attending a mutual friend’s baby shower when I mentioned I was starting a Mentor Group for Younger Women. She said her daughter, Mandy, might be interested.
Mandy ended up joining the Mentor Group and I quickly fell in love with her beautiful spirit and her desire to live life to the fullest! During our conversations in group, she learned about a marriage curriculum my husband and I facilitate at the church called Thrive, which helps marriages go deeper. It was through Thrive that my husband and I met Mandy’s husband, Drew.
Both Mandy and Drew jumped into the curriculum and embraced the principles. It was inspiring to watch them invest in their marriage. We can all benefit from learning through each other’s marriage. Below are questions we’ve asked Mandy and Drew to answer about their marriage journey. Enjoy!
How did you meet your husband?
Drew and I met while I was working at an apartment community and he was working at the bank right next door. He came into the leasing office one morning and brought our whole team breakfast and then asked if the bank could sponsor one of our resident events. Of course, we obliged, and were grateful for the offer. After the event I thanked him and his team for sponsoring everything, and then shook each of their hands as I was leaving. Drew decided to hold on to my hand a little longer than your typical handshake, which threw me off a little, but then made me giddy like a school girl. The rest was history…
How did your husband propose?
It was Sunday, March 9th, 2014. We went on a walk with the dogs along the nice trail that surrounded our condo community, like we normally would do daily. I was wearing a sweatshirt and leggings, and I still remember him saying before we left, “Why don’t you throw on a sundress or something?” I was comfortable in what I had on and thought that his “suggestion” was odd- as if what I had on wasn’t good enough to go walk the dogs. Little did I know… he had a photographer hiding in the woods taking pictures of the whole proposal. There was a wooden swing along the trail that we walked the dogs on that we would swing on from time to time… which we decided to do this day. As we walked up to the swing I noticed a bible sitting on the swing. Confused, and blonde, I said “Oh no! Someone left their bible here!” He then told me to look at it, and I noticed that on the front of the leather cover, it had Amanda Peace Hendrix engraved in gold writing. My jaw dropped, and by the time I turned to look at him, he was down on one knee. It was simple and sweet and perfect.
How long have you been married?
3 years!
Did you go through the Thrive Curriculum? If so, describe your experience:
Yes, we went through Thrive and found it to be very beneficial. We continue to use some of the tools learned through Thrive to help get us through hard times. Thrive was great for accountability. It forced us to come face to face with our issues and to solve them with a group that became family behind us supporting us along the way.
What are your thought about counseling? Do you and your spouse go?
Yes. We are huge supporters of marital counseling. It’s always great to have a neutral third party present to help navigate through tough situations and to give advice on how to solve problems. It allows you to talk through things that you otherwise may have tried to avoid.
What’s one piece of advice you would share with someone before getting married?
Wait before having kids immediately. While our kids are our biggest blessing and wouldn’t have our life be played out any other way, we also think about how great it could have been to have spent the first few years of our marriage as just a family of two. Learning how to co-exist together, before bringing others into the circle.
Do you feel that there is something unfulfilled in your life – something God wants you both to do? What is it?
Find the friendship in our marriage again. The friendship is what brought us together in the first place, but through the years we have lost sight of that completely. We love each other, and are each other “better” half – but most times don’t consider each other “friends.”
Do you think your children and friends see your marriage as beautiful? Why or why not?
I don’t know how one would describe “beautiful” but if beautiful can be described as “real” then, yes. We don’t air out our dirty laundry to everyone and keep most of our arguments private, for respect of the other. But we do not go around acting like our marriage is perfect, because it’s not. It’s a constant work in progress.
Do you focus too much attention or not enough attention on your children?
Too much. It’s hard to even have a date night without mentioning the kids in every other sentence or checking in to make sure they are okay. Circling back to our advice about newlyweds waiting to have kids. The foundation of our marriage started with growing a family, and in most cases, it happens in reverse. No regrets here, we are just having to work backward to get back to the root of it all.
Do you have any ideas concerning your finances that need to be examined?
Yes. This is a current, and what feels like a constant struggle for us. Drew recently started a business with a friend that happened to fall into place right after I went on maternity leave. With no income coming in on my side during that time, and very little coming in on his side during that time, has left us still playing catch up from a year ago.
Are you hopeful about the future?
Always. Without Hope you have nothing. We named our 2nd surprise little baby girl “Hope” for a reason. 🙂 And she has given us just that already!
Many thanks to Mandy & Drew for sharing and being “real” about their marriage journey. We are so proud of this couple who works hard to invest in each other and their sweet young children!!
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