Help For Marriage Problems

Online Counseling Information

About The Author of MarriagePeace.Com

Hi, My name is Shannon Minnick. I am 37 years old and have three children ages 12, 9, and 7. I have a Master of Arts in Counseling degree from Seton Hall University in South Orange N.J. (2005). I have been married for 13 years.

My Work Experience

I am currently employed as a psychotherapist at Pinebrook Services for Children and Valley Youth House, two counseling agencies in the Lehigh Valley, PA. (Lehigh and Northampton Counties.) At both Pinebrook and Valley Youth House, I work with children and adults providing counseling services, in both individual and family settings.

I have been working in the human services field since I was 18 years old, beginning in day-care centers and as a nanny, and then moving into human services agencies with a focus on helping parents with and troubled teens and marriage problems. I have also worked in a tutoring program for at risk adolescent boys and girls at the Boys and Girls Club, in their Learning Club program. I helped staff occupational therapist, speech and language therapists, and physcial therapists at Invo HealthCare.

Life can be hard, and helping people through difficult times is my passion and my calling. I've been through my own hard times too, but the challenging times in my life have had purpose because they help me better understand and relate as a therapist. We are not alone in our struggles. And our struggles are not without meaning and purpose. It's what we can learn from them that counts the most, and how we can use what we've learned for good. That's what I'd like to help you with.

How I Learned To Run A Website!

I used SiteSell's web design building tools to create this website and run my own work at home business. Read More about it by clicking on the Work At Home tab on the home page, or by clicking here! I knew absolutely zero about working at home or web design! I found out about Site Sell and became a member. I love creating this website and running my own home business. SiteSell is a great choice for web design for those who are total beginners and for those with experience.

My Love Story

I married Glenn Minnick in 1995, we have just recently celebrated our 13th anniversary. Our years together have included many good times and bad times, sicknesses, and heartaches, four pregnancies including one miscarriage, exciting vacations, and memorable warm summer nights together.

We have certainly had our martial problems. We don't agree on everything, that's for sure! We look for common ground when we can. But, we always agree on at least one thing...our love for each other, and our commitment to never give up on each other or our family.

Glenn and I met when we were about 10 years old in Bucks County Pennsylvania. We went to elementary school together, and then to two years of junior high school. Glenn moved away to a nearby town, and I ran across him once in awhile. I have a keen memory of seeing Glenn walk past my moving car once in that town while I was dating another boy! Little did I know then, that I had just seen my future husband walk past! I was 17 years old then.

Glenn moved to California and joined the Marine Corps when he was 18 years old. I attended Temple University as an undergraduate majoring in journalism, and then in psychology.

Glenn and I met up accidentally, one day as I was driving home from Temple, and Glenn was home on leave from the Marine Corps and the Gulf War. It was at the Citgo gas station in Plumsteadville, PA. I pulled my 1986 Dodge Charger into the station, and there was Glenn, buff as a young Marine could be, sitting in the back of an old pickup truck with some buddies.

Glenn called out my name, recognizing me immediately. With some hesitancy, because it had been years since I had seen him, I greeted him with a smile. He meandered over to my car as I filled up. Our eyes met, and I was changed forever. Somehow, something told me that I was looking at my future husband. I might not have known it at 17, but some mysterious inner voice told me it was true when I was 20! That was in 1991.

We married in the Spring of 1995, when we were 24 (almost 25!) Our son, Luke, was born in 1996, Jack in 1998, and Brett in 2000.

Currently we reside on a 3 acre gentlemen's farm, where chickens run free and delight neighborhood children, and pine trees line the driveway.

Glenn and I enjoy sitting in cushiony wicker chairs on our front porch, sipping green tea, and watching the wildlife, deer, birds, sometimes skunks, (and of course our three wild boys!) roam our property.

And if...just if...we get into an argument while sitting on that front porch because I say it's too cold outside, and Glenn teases me for being wimpy about the cold, sometimes we just take a break from each other, and I will go in the house and read a book, surf the net, or maybe do the laundry and Glenn will work tending to the chickens outside, or cleaning up the yard. And sometimes, that's just fine!

The Marriages in My Family

My parents live about 20 minutes away in Nockamixon, PA. They have been married since 1963, which makes 45 years of marriage for them! Certainly, they have had their marriage problems too, but they are stoic and private. It doesn't take a private investigator though, to see their committment to each other despite the hardships and through the good times too.

My grandparents also triumphed through long marriages lasting over 50 years.

My brother, Colin, has also been married for nearly 13 years. He has two lovely little girls, Haeley and Madeline, with his wife Ruth.

We're a family that doesn't give up on each other.

The Key to a Successful Marriage

The key to a good marriage, is commitment. Never giving up as long as you still love each other. I know that there will be good times and bad times, but that the good times should hopefully outweigh the bad times. And that in the bad times, lessons can be learned.

Don't expect perfection. It doesn't exist. You will be happier if you are not expecting your spouse to be a knight in shining armor at all times. Sure, sometimes, you might expect that...but not always, everyday. There WILL be struggles...and when you get through them by working together and staying committed...your marriage will be stronger.

Remember that most struggles are fleeting in the grand scheme of life. And true love can withstand the struggles as they pass like imminent green waves, cresting, and then crashing, finally turning to harmless white, fluffy foam on the shore. Then there is calm. Other waves will come. But, you'll know how to ride them out because you know they won't last forever, unlike the love you have for your spouse or your partner in life, your children, and your grandchildren.

On Being A Mom

I always struggle with the inner conflict of being a working mother outside the home, and the need to be at home and available to my own family and children. While I love to be helping other families, sometimes I feels that work takes me away from my own family and leaves my children feeling neglected.

The continued need by my family to have me home with them, coupled with my passion for helping other families, is what led me to start this website and to help others with their marriage problems, parenting problems, and general relationship and to provide coping advice.

I hope that I can continue to help other families, while being home with my own family while my children are still young and need me.

Please Use This Site

Please feel at home on this site to tell your own marital story, and to online counseling or advice.

Each navigation bar is a topic, linked with 5 informational and educational pages.

This site is written with love and compassion for families throughout the world, and is devoted to creating stronger marriages to develop stronger more peaceful families in order to strengthen our common world.

Marriage Problems can be solved as long as love still exists. When marriage problems are solved, homes become more peaceful, children's foundations are solidified, and beautiful, unique families strengthen our Earth. Parenting, Infidelity, Marital communication skills are topics that have been written about on MarriagePeace.com.

Additional pages of information will be updated weekly.

New topics will be added.

Let's all work together for Marriage Peace, because Marriage Peace equals Family Peace.

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