Call me a dork, but I’ve always loved board games. Even in high school and college, my friends and I were all about taking over the world in Risk or becoming the next Picasso in Pictionary.

We’d play thinker games, party games, ridiculous made up games…

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I’ve had the incredible privilege to work with youth most of my life. One of the things I love about teens is that they’re always up for a game. (Thanks for keeping me young guys!)

Unfortunately, many games didn’t work with just two people.  

So upon getting married, I began my quest to find good games for two. We’ve found some keepers for sure!

Here’s just a few of our favorite two player board games:

Azul

This pattern creating game seems simple, but the layers of strategy make each game fun and exciting! Bonus, no reading required, so you can play it with your younger kids if they enjoy thinking games. When my dad played this with us during a visit, he immediately got on his phone and ordered one!

Trekking Through History: The Board Game

Ok, I am SO impressed with this game! Much like Wingspan (which I review a little further down in this article), Trekking Through History is a really fun play, with plenty of strategy and variety WHILE incorporating TONS of learning! Some “educational” games are boring or only fun once, while others are fun but there’s very little learning happening beyond a cute theme. This game is neither of those options and I’m a massive fan! The creators of this one have a couple other “Trekking” games that I plan to check out.

Jaipur Board Game

This game is ONLY for two players. It’s quick to learn, lovely graphics, and a lot of fun. Simple trading type game. Doesn’t take very long so it’s a good one for killing time in an enjoyable way without getting waste deep in strategy or world building games. 

The Quacks of Quedlinburg

This game has such a unique and whimsical backstory. Add ingredients to you cauldron, earning more points as you go, but be careful not to explode! Lots or replayability and strategy, but still fun even if you don’t want to take it too seriously.  

Monopoly Deal Card Game

This game is really nothing like monopoly. I mean, it’s still fun and cut throat, but it’s also fast paced and gives you more control than lady luck. Everyone we’ve introduced this to has loved it! You can play with two people or a bunch of people. Back when this first came out, it was only $5. Now it’s $8 and I can’t seem to find it anywhere but Amazon.

7 Wonders

When our boys studied ancient history, I decided to pick up this game and boy am I glad! This is our currently family favorite (and my husband and I play it by ourselves all the time too!). Each player picks one of the seven wonders of the ancient world to build their civilization around. I will admit that this game seemed EXTREMELY complicated when we were trying to understand the instructions. We watched a youtube video of how to play it, and once you see it in action, it’s not nearly so hard to understand. Our six year old played it with us just fine (though he is an experienced gamer). I love that 2-7 players can play this without needed an expansion pack! We’ve been playing this gamer regularly for six months and it’s still one I’m itching to play! It also is a decently short game 20-40 minutes and that doesn’t really increase with the number of players since everyone plays at once. 

Forbidden Island 

This is a cooperative board game that is fun to play with lots of ages. I think it’s games like this that have helped our boys be comfortable with games that are geared for higher ages. Something about having to discuss strategies and options out loud together prepares them for higher level thinking. As few as two people can work together to keep their island from flooding while they race to gather artifacts from around the island. Each player is assigned a unique skill set and you’ll have to work together to keep from being swept away.

Qwirkle is like Scrabble for those of us who can’t spell. (Oh man, I misspelled Scrabble the first time. Yikes.) At first it seems too easy and childlike. Then half way through your first game, it dawns on you all the strategies you’ve been missing. This is super fun and can double as a learning game for younger kids!

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER FAMILY GAMES THAT DOUBLE AS PRESCHOOL LEARNING TOOLS

Lost Cities – The Board Game

In this game, players have five explorers that journey down five different paths to uncover treasures and artifacts. The further you go down the path, the more points. But be aware, you can actually get negative points if you start an explorer and he doesn’t get very far. 

Wingspan with Swift Start Pack

This game knows the way to my heart. The game play itself is really fun! Similar to 7 Wonders in that there are many ways to earn points throughout the game from bird cards, eggs, bonus points, attacks etc. It takes a game or two to get the hang of the way this game works, but once you get used to it, the strategies are infinite and exciting. But what I simply adore about this game is it’s beauty and accuracy. Each bird (and there are no repeats in nearly 100 cards!) is gorgeously illustrated and everything about their “powers” are accurate from amount of eggs they lay, to wingspan size, habitat, and food choices. We learn SO much and it all feels so lovely!

Pandemic  Another team cooperative game! It’s all of your friends against disease spreading rampant throughout the world. Each player has their own roles and strength. You have to strategize together to save the world. More complex than Forbidden Island, but more robust. 

Rummikub is a classic tile game where you try and play all of your tiles down before your opponents. Runs and straights are the basic structures but you can rearrange already played tiles as long as they abide by the rules when you’re all done. It’s a good time!

Imhotep Builder of Egypt 

This game is fun and frustrating! Each player has blocks that they want to add to Egypt’s monuments and buildings. The more of your blocks that you add to the pyramid, obelisk, burial chamber and the temple, the more points you get. But those blocks have to sail on ships and sometimes the other player gets to steer those ships before you’re ready. Lots of strategy, yet lots of chance makes this game tons of fun for two to four players.

Sushi Go! – The Pick and Pass Card Game

You don’t have to like sushi to get a giggle out of this game! Build points by collecting similar sushi rolls but good luck because every turn you pass your entire hand on to the other player. When played with two people, strategy is pretty essential while playing with a bigger group makes it easier for younger kids to get lucky and win. 

Dominion is pretty new to me, but I’m loving it! It’s a card game where you keep buying cards and trying to have the ultimate deck with which to get the most victory points. It sounds lame, but each time you play is unique because you use different action cards each time. (Some action cards are mean, like the spy, while others are good news for everyone.) You’ll just have to try it, you won’t be disappointed. (There are expansion packs to this game, be sure you get the original Dominion first since it’s necessary for all other games.)

Liar’s Dice. Oh my goodness, this game is a riot. Call your partner’s bluff and watch them turn beet red. Simple to get the hang of and not a time consuming game. Good for smaller groups as well. (Or over skype when your friends live too far away!)

These are just a couple of our favorite two person (or more) board games. Do you have a favorite game? I’m ALWAYS up for suggestions! Comment below!

The post Board Games for Two People (Or More) appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

While this post makes me feel extremely vulnerable, I know that women with PPD are not the only ones struggling. Husbands are desperately trying to understand and help their wives navigate the murky waters of depression.

(Please consider sharing this article on social media. There are those who need to read this information but might not be seeking it out.)

My wife has said many shocking things to me.

“I’ve never seen ‘Last of the Mochicans'”. “I think we should move to Texas.” “I think we should only buy organic food from now on.” “You’re going skydiving for your birthday!”

And who could forget, “We’re pregnant.”

Yes, she’s full of surprises. But as I sat with my 5 month old son on my lap looking up at my gorgeous bride in her new role as a mother, I heard the most unexpected words pass over her lips. “I’ve thought about killing myself.”

I didn’t process the words at first. It was partly due to the child held in my lap screaming at the top of his lungs like he had been for the past 2 hours, but mostly I just couldn’t navigate the emotional path my wife had traveled from experiencing the first few months of parenthood to thoughts of suicide. True, our oldest was an exceptionally difficult baby, screaming his head off when he was awake and only sleeping for short increments, but there had been smiles too. We both adored our new son, and there had been many family members and close friends there to support us and lend a hand.

How could it have gotten to this point?

Probably the hardest part for a father (but plenty difficult for a mother too) is living with the effects of Postpartum Depression and not realizing it. I often found myself asking, “What am I doing wrong?”, or “What can I do to make her happy?”

If you’ve found yourself in a similar situation, first, I’m sorry. I know it’s painful, and frustrating but second, please allow me to disillusion you. You did not do this. Postpartum Depression is a clinical illness caused by the myriad of hormones that have overloaded your wife’s system for the last few months. (I know there are much more accurate medical explanations; bear with me) So be encouraged that this present darkness is not your doing.

Recognizing PPD in Your Wife

Recognizing the signs of PPD in your wife can be really tricky. Caring for a child is stressful, frustrating, and exhausting. The pressure will be the fuel for a few marital spats. Add to that a debilitating lack of sleep, and maybe a few more of these children pint-sized relationship assassins and its easy to see why it would be hard to draw the line between normal parenthood rigors and depression.

One of the things to look for are the “Calls for Help”. (Well that doesn’t sound too bad does it? “Call for help”, that’s like a damsel in distress searching for her gallant knight in shining armor. Right? Wrong.)

“Calls for help” in my limited experience, have been one of two things. An expression of debilitating hopelessness, or uncharacteristically biting, mean, comments.

It’s a nasty spiral. She was expecting to feel contentment and joy over her new baby. Instead she feels overwhelmed and out of control. Adding to this are all the changes that her body has just gone through during pregnancy and is continuing to go through after birth. Enter PPD. Instead of concluding that it is normal to feel overwhelmed and understandable to be discouraged at the difficulties, the PPD convinces her that she is the only mother that has felt like this.

That thought makes her feel incredibly guilty; both about her supposed shortcomings as a human being, and about her feelings toward her child, because, of course, in reality, she loves that adorable poop-machine. PPD has convinced her that this is never going to end. Life will always be like this now, and there is no way out. That’s the kicker. That’s what drives the situation from feeling bad into the realm of depression.

So, what will this sound like? Depression doesn’t always manifest itself as sadness, often times it looks like rage, or anxiety and worry. “I’m the worst mother ever!”, or “I can’t live like this.”, “What if I screw up and the baby dies” or “My child hates me.”  It is not her normal demeanor, and it usually seems like an over reaction to the situation. My wife would fixate on escaping her situation via drastic means like running away or suicide.

Women will often take out their feelings on their husbands. For instance, she may not be able to let the little things go. Small character flaws or habits that she doesn’t find particularly endearing will be extra grating now. Forgotten chores will set her off like they never would have before. PPD makes it so she has little capacity to deal with life and no patience or grace to cope with your shortcomings.

What Should You Do?

OK, you’re pretty sure it’s PPD, now what? Dads, please please please, don’t do what I did and get defensive. I understand the reaction. You have my every sympathy, but you need to take some time to understand what I’ve been telling you. She doesn’t feel like she can handle things in her life anymore. She feels like she isn’t able to do what is best for her child, and she thinks it’s never going to get better. Please do not make her feel like she is under attack from you too, her best source of empathy, and strength, and help.

What should you do?

First and most importantly, get help. Find a counselor, find a Psychologist, find a medical professional that is qualified to diagnose and help deal with this. It is not a cowardly response, it is not a shameful response, it is not a cop-out or a dismissal of another problem. Remember, you, neither of you, caused this, and neither of you can fix it by yourself, and it is not worth putting your family’s life or health on the line thinking that you can.

After that, Dads, get ready to be the big strong hero… by taking every verbal punch she may throw at you. You can take it, and now you are going to prove it. Also, be ready to serve her like crazy. Nothing is too unimportant, and nothing is beneath you. This is what being a Daddy is all about; putting yourself out there and being willing to hurt so your wife doesn’t have to.

Moms, I will never really know what you are going through and neither will your husband, so if I may humbly suggest it, I would advise you to seek out a mom that has gone through PPD before. She will be an invaluable source of hope to you and a real physical evidence that it does, in fact, get better.

I hope this has been helpful to your family. Please remember I am not a profession, I’m just a witness, and these are just guidelines and experiences that I have found helpful. 

Read more about our family’s journey through post partum depression.

The first round when I almost ended it all.

Getting PPD again and why I’m glad it happened.

The choice to have more kids after PPD.

The post What Husbands Need to Know about Post Partum Depression appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

Let’s face it. Guys are HARD to shop for. I think it’s the combo that they don’t like frilly, crafty things, and they already have all the practical stuff. If you’re hard pressed to find a good gift for the man in your life, or you need to help your kids find the perfect Father’s Day gift, here’s a couple ideas to get the juices flowing. A gift guide for Dad. He’ll thank you!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Please read my full disclosure policy here. 

What guy doesn’t like to fix things??? This credit card sized multi-tool is SO cool! Dad will never be without a solution when the going gets tough.

Not sure what it is about grilling, but guys love it! And we gals can’t complain because we don’t have to fix dinner! Woot! But grills can get super gross and are crazy hard to clean that’s where Grillbot, the Automatic Grill Cleaner comes in. The grill can be impressive again!

Men work hard. Unfortunately, that can sometimes bring a stench with it. If you’re a regular to this blog (and you should be), you know our family tries to have eco-friendly, natural household products. When I happened upon these Natural Soy Wax Candles with “Man-Cave” friendly scents,  I knew I’d found a compromise both my husband and I could live with! They come in masculine scents like leather and mahogany.

Does your guy love the latest and greatest in tech gadgets? Check out the new DROID Turbo Sapphire Blue by Motorola. It exudes power and performance. It has the sharpest display and the newest most powerful processor. What I love it the battery. 48 HOURS! Imagine not being tied down to cords for a full TWO DAYS! And, when you do need to recharge it, just 15 minutes will give you 8 hours of power. Nice.

If Dad likes to wrestle, the DROID Turbo Sapphire Blue is ready for the struggle. Water-repellent nano-coating and Corning Gorilla Glass help protect the device from spills and scratches. It even has a layer of Kevlar. Now that’s durability! There are tons of ways for your dude to make the phone his own too, including Moto Voice, Moto Assist and Moto Display. It’s a great looking phone that stands out from the crowd!

The post Get Him What He Wants: A Gift Guide for Dad appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

How you handle a financial crisis can make or break a marriage.

I would know.

I almost blew mine. 

I always knew we wouldn’t be well off. When you go to Bible school and go into ministry full time, you don’t exactly expect to be rolling in the dough.

I did however think that I would always have enough.

Enough to pay bare bone basic bills. Enough to eat. Enough to live on our own.

Well, that didn’t happen.

(This post is part of the March Marriage Challenge. Hop on over to read tons of different post about marriage from other bloggers.)

We’ve only been married for 6 years, but it seems like the large percentage of our marriage has been one financial crisis after another.

I know the fear. I know the anger. I know the hopelessness.

I wish I could say I always handled it well; that I was my husband’s biggest supporter.

I wasn’t.

But God was gracious to us.

We survived. Our marriage survived.

And I learned a ton about what I should have done when the funds plummeted and the bills mounted.

Be willing to be Ridiculously Frugal

I’m cheap. I’m not a big spender and my list of ways I’ve pinched pennies is extremely long. But often times, I would use that list to justify an unnecessary expense. Example: “I can buy this shirt because it’s 75% off. I could use a shirt. AND we don’t even have TV, so I mean, I’m really frugal.” But the reality was that while the shirt would have been nice, I wouldn’t have been naked without it, so I should have just dropped it like it’s hot. I’m ashamed of all the stress I added to our situation, justifying it with recalling previous times I had made financial sacrifices.

Make Extravagant Memories 

When I spent so much time trimming our budget, it was easy to have a pity party. I’d often punish my husband by taking ALL the fun out of life. Example: “We can’t go on a date because we have no money, remember??? You have got to get a job before we can do stuff like that.” Instead, I should have made the effort to fill our life with joy; the kind money can’t buy. It takes time, creativity and some determination, but it can be done. And it will be so worth it.  Husbands want to know that their families are happy, they need to know it. When the money pressure cooker is on, it’s a great opportunity to delight in the small stuff and ease some of your husband’s fears.

Encourage

This can be so hard. I’m a realist. I hate sugarcoating things. When things are bleak, I tend to run around like a chicken with its head cut off. I found that the best way to encourage my husband was to first, shut my mouth about how worried I was. We both knew where we were at financially, panic wouldn’t help anything. Second, help him when he’s the one freaking out. Remind your husband of all the things you know to be true. Example: “I know you can’t see anything but this looming problem. But don’t forget: we’ve struggled before and gotten through by God’s grace. It seemed impossible then. Someday, this problem will be behind us too. And I’ll be by your side through it all.”

Respect

I screwed up the most in this area. I’m convinced the reason money/job issues are so destructive is that they attack a man’s confidence in who he is. Guys are hard wired to want to provide and when they can’t do that adequately, they tend to take it personally. My husband will be the first to admit that he screwed up with our finances too. There was some laziness, some immaturity. But the way I handled it was wrong. I blamed. I criticized. I did not build him up or affirm his true value. He needs to hear what you respect about him. Example: “Character like yours is rare. I’m so thankful that you put our family first. You are such a gift to me.” Heap it on. The world is beating them down. You have got to be their biggest fan.

Pray

Sometimes talking about money issues can turn into a never ending freak out fest. When the conversation is going in circles, call a time out and pray. Cast your cares on God. We weren’t meant to handle all that pressure. Prayer is the glue that holds a marriage together.

This is really what got us through our myriad of financial crises.

God.

He provided, abundantly and undeniable. He spurred the generosity of scores people. I’ve lost count of how many anonymous gift cards, random checks, and bags of groceries have been given to us at just the right time. Friends and family opened their homes to us. My brother even paid for some medical bills on a monthly basis. It was overwhelming, and I could write a book on what I learned about God from it all.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t explain that my greatest debt; the one I couldn’t even possibly repay, was already wiped clean. I owed my life because of my rebellion against a holy God. But Jesus gave His life in my place. Knowing that my most hopeless situation had already been paid for, gave me a confidence and hope as we went through those dark times. I love Romans 8. Paul says in verse 32: “He (God) who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Now that doesn’t necessarily mean material things. But the point is, God’s not holding back on me. He paid the ultimate price and I can always look back on that and know that God is for me. And he’s for my marriage.

I’ve really put my marriage through the ringer… Click an image to read more.

The post How to Stay Married Through a Financial Crisis: From a Gal Who Almost Blew it! appeared first on My Mundane and Miraculous Life.

I think if dating-me saw married-me, she’d be appalled.

I put make-up on once a week. I don’t get up before dawn to sweetly kiss my husband before he leaves for work. We don’t do couples’ devotions. The house is far from the haven I wanted to provide for him. Dates are extremely rare. I don’t get butterflies anymore.

And here’s why I’m ok with it.

I’ve learned over the years, that there’s nothing more romantic than when my guy willingly offers to change a poopy diaper. There’s nothing more thrilling than when he comes home to me every. single. day. There’s nothing more comforting than knowing my husband has loved me when I was unlovable. My love is no longer new and exciting, but it’s been tested and found true.

My husband has been faithful to me when I just wanted to run away from it all. He’s seen my ugly and still finds me beautiful. We know each other. Like, REALLY know each other. Intimacy isn’t always pretty. But dang, when you know you’ll be loved no matter what you dish out, that’s security.

So while my love story may not be Hollywood swoon-worthy, it’s what I really want. You young’uns ain’t got nothing on us!

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