Blended families do not come with a manual. Sometimes they come with a three year old who gives the game away at bedtime prayer.
In this episode of the Making Love Podcast, Tish Times and Pastor Roy Times get personal about raising children in a blended family, starting with the night little Lavelle ended his prayer with "and Lord, thank you for my new daddy." Tish was mortified. Roy did not flinch. And that was pretty much the whole marriage in preview.
From there it is the real stuff. Roy admits he was freaking out seventy percent of the time as a brand new parent, and credits the people he could call who talked him through it. Tish confesses he thought she was mean for giving a five year old an iron, but points out that same young man now runs his household, pays his bills, and yes, can press his own pants. Together they tackle the question every couple with kids eventually hits: what happens when two people raised completely differently try to raise children as one?
Their answer is equal parts honest and practical. Parents have to get on the same page, which means some of what you planned to do as a parent has to make room for how your spouse was raised. Kids already know exactly what they can get from each parent, so a divided front never stays secret for long. And for anyone stepping into a family that started before them, Tish drops the sentence that changed everything for Roy: there are no barriers, you are their father, get in there and raise these kids.
Whether you are blending a family, raising littles, or just trying to co parent without losing your mind, this one will make you laugh and leave you with something to use tonight.
The Making Love Podcast with Tish Times and Pastor Roy Times is where love gets real, faith leads the way, and marriage becomes something you actually enjoy.
Tish and Pastor Roy Times have been making love and making it last for more than three decades.
They met at Joy Center in El Paso, Texas, dated for two whirlwind weeks, got engaged, and married four months later. Thirty-plus years, three grown sons, and two-and-a-half grand-babies, they're still each other's favorite people.
Roy serves as the local pastor of Joy Center Phoenix, shepherding his community with the same steadiness he brought to a 13-year career as a government contractor and many years in sales and technology.
Tish is an ordained minister of nearly 20 years and the CEO of Tish Times Sales Agency, where she helps high-achieving women build companies that scale beyond them. Together they bring the head and the heart strategy and Scripture, candor and compassion to every conversation.
On the Making Love Podcast, Tish and Roy pull back the curtain on what it really takes to build a marriage rooted in friendship, faith, and purpose. They're not interested in the filtered, picture-perfect version. They're here for the real thing the laughter, the growth, the hard conversations, and the practical, faith-filled tools that help love get better every day.
They live in Phoenix, Arizona, where you'll most likely find them loving Jesus, chasing good coffee, and out on a hiking trail together.
