Homemade Courage: Ariel Forsberg on Faith, Tallow, and Raising Brave Kids

On this special episode of Courageous Crossroads, Jeff Johnson welcomes Ariel Forsberg, a resilient and deeply grounded woman whose story of faith, family, and fearless commitment is both inspiring and refreshingly authentic. Ariel lives with her husband and four children on the North Shore of Oahu, in a sugarcane plantation home just a stone’s throw from the beach, where feral roosters roam and the rhythm of life reflects old-school simplicity and deep spiritual conviction. A self-described “old-school hippie,” Ariel homeschools her children, tends to their homestead lifestyle, and believes in going back to the roots of healthy, intentional living—from making homemade tallow-based shampoo to cultivating family values rooted in faith and independence. Raised in a tight-knit pastor’s family in rural Colorado, Ariel’s courageous journey includes marrying Drew, a Navy SEAL, facing long deployments and seasons of isolation, and raising young children without extended family nearby. In this heartfelt conversation, she reflects on what it means to be courageous as a mother, wife, and believer and shares how God has shaped her life through seasons of change, trust, and steadfast love.

Thank you for listening! We hope you feel inspired and encouraged by our conversation today. If you did, be sure to share this episode with others.

Let’s stay in touch:

• Follow us on Instagram @crossroadsapologetics
• Email us at info@crossroadsapologetics.org
• Visit our website www.crossroadsapologetics.org

See you in the next episode! Be blessed!

Full Transcript

Intro Audio: Welcome to Courageous by Crossroads Apologetics, a look into what motivates us to step out in courage and the everyday bravery of men and women like you. In each episode, we hear a personal story of bravery centered around this question. What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And now your host, founder of Crossroads Apologetics, Jeff Johnson. 

Jeff Johnson: Hey everybody, welcome back to another edition of the Courageous Crossroads podcast where we ask each guest the question, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And then the rest of us get to sit back and be edified and enriched and encouraged by the answers that the guests give. And, um, gosh, we’ve had some amazing guests. All of them have been absolutely fantastic. And we’ve got another one for you today. Ariel Forsberg is the wife of a previous guest. This is the first time we’ve ever had a husband-wife combo on the podcast, but Ariel is the wife of Drew Forsberg. The retired Navy SEAL that you might remember from several episodes ago. But Ariel is, uh, accomplished, uh, In her own right and a homeschooler and has an amazing past and a beautiful perspective on courage. And really demonstrates it every single day. And uh, you are absolutely gonna love this episode. I think this is gonna be one you’re gonna be passing along And sharing with a lot of your friends. So anyway, without further ado, here is Ariel Forsberg. How are you doing? 

Ariel Forsberg: Good. Doing really good. Um, hot. Uh, we don’t have air in our house yet. Now that my husband’s working from home, he’s a little more sympathetic to us being at home, homeschooling, and it gets so hot in August and September. Like, what’s your temperature? It’s not bad here in Iowa. It’s like sixty degrees today. It’s a lovely day. You know, I don’t even know what it is. It’s probably in the 80s already, but it gets, it’s very humid. 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. 

Ariel Forsberg: And then the house just heats up all day, so. Oh, and then can you hear the roosters and the chickens?

Jeff Johnson: I can’t. Are they? 

Ariel Forsberg: Okay, well, you probably hear them. They’re making a racket, huh? Oh, yeah. We have the feral chickens all over the place, so they just. Go off all day long. 

Jeff Johnson: Ariel, I’ve got so much to talk to you about. You are so interesting. So where are you? Where do you live? What island are you on? You’re in Hawaii. What island are you on? 

Ariel Forsberg: we, we live in Oahu. 

Jeff Johnson: Okay. Okay. 

Ariel Forsberg: And we live on the North Shore. Yeah. Okay. That’s the rooster. 

Jeff Johnson: That’s a feral rooster. Okay, so you live on the north shore of Oahu. So if you walk out your door, do you see water or do you have to go a ways before you can see some water? 

Ariel Forsberg: Um, it’s not far. Um, it’s just like right around the corner, the beach. We are in a neighborhood that was built for the sugar cane workers back in the day in the seventies. And then they shut down the sugar cane. Um, I don’t know what, how long ago they shut that down, but so we technically live in a sugarcane plantation home. And then right across the street, um, the main road is the beach, like a bike ride. So do you surf as well as your husband or? Um, oh no, I support. Um, I can go out, I’ll do the phone board and I was. Attempting to pick it up and I can stand, but just the paddling and one wave is just exhausting. And then I’ll be out there paddling for my life and my little girls will come up next to me like, Mom, we need to be paddling like this. And I’m like, I am paddling like that. I get more joy from watching them and I just love being in the sun anyway so we have a great Relationship with me watching them surf and supporting. It’s the best case scenario. 

Jeff Johnson: Okay. So I’m, I’m, I’m hopscotching around a little bit. So I’ll. Go back and kind of clean this up a little bit with some better questions. But thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today, Ariel. 

Ariel Forsberg: Thank you for asking. 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah, it’s such a blessing to have you. So you and I know each other through your husband, Drew, who was… A previous guest on the podcast and you and Drew were in Scottsdale, Arizona a few weeks back and my wife Danielle and I got to meet you for the first time there and uh, struck up a conversation and I thought This is somebody who I need to have on the Courageous Crossroads podcast for sure, because you homeschool and married to Drew and you know, you’re, you’re. Are very, I’m assuming holistic. Am I saying that word? Yes. Hippie, whatever you want to call it. You would call yourself a hippie, Ariel? 

Ariel Forsberg: Yes, I’m the old school hippie now. I love it. Doesn’t trust the government doesn’t trust our food source and so it’s it’s funny I never would have thought myself that way but definitely or just going back to trying to go back to our old school roots. Okay, get back to the way things should have been. Well, take me there then. Let’s just do that. Let’s start there. 

Jeff Johnson: Take me there. Where are you from? Born and raised. 

Ariel Forsberg: Okay, so um, my… I was born in Illinois. We were there for a short time. My dad has been a pastor for forty some odd years. And so I was born and raised as a pastor’s kid. But we moved to Colorado when I was about five. And so I grew up in Colorado. Um, Durango, Colorado, which is in the Four Corners area. Yeah. Little small mountain town. Familiar. Durango’s beautiful. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so, and your dad was a pastor. Yep, he still is. Um, our church is Frontier Baptist Church and, um, there’s five kids in my family. Um, the church that we… Where he’s in town now we have a church in town, um, but my childhood church like we moved locations when I was in college, so my church. That we were at was a little one room building, had one little bathroom in the back. The building was built in 1911. It was like Little House on the Prairie. There was a cemetery next door. An old outhouse that would us kids would still use and we would baptize in the river so I grew up very old fashioned like we just. We didn’t do play dates. We didn’t have neighbor friends. We would go to church and just play for hours at the church playing tag and hide and seek. And it was a very wholesome, great experience. Church life. Is it still like that? Is the church still like that? It is still like that. It’s kind of funny. So we. I want to go to this church. We moved in town and my dad gets. It’s hilarious because a lot of the church, I would say almost all of the church members don’t even live in town. The majority of them drive an hour to church. Everyone lives outside of Durango in the country. Yeah, and they drive an hour one way to get to church and because of that I think it’s because they won’t drive so far, they will stay forever and the kids are just playing outside, and everyone stays for like an hour after church so my dad just started saying okay if you’re Hey, here you gotta lock up cause I gotta go home. And so everyone just hangs out at church for hours talking and hanging out. 

Jeff Johnson: I love that. How, okay. How many siblings do you have? 

Ariel Forsberg: Um, I am one of five. I’m the second oldest. Okay. Well, so you’re right. You’re in a good slot then for playing with your siblings. That would, I would think that would be the perfect. You’re kind of, you’re kind of on top, but not completely on top. So you don’t have all that responsibility. You can have fun, but you get to have other people do stuff for you too. Yeah, I was the oldest girl so I was the little mama and my siblings, my younger siblings definitely say I was the bossy one so close with all your siblings. Very close. Um, yes, very close. I am very thankful for that. And I, I feel like it was partly because we didn’t have any family that lived close by. My parents’ family was in Iowa and Nebraska. And so we were very isolated from family. So my dad would always say that your siblings are going to be your best friends. And it is so true. 

Jeff Johnson: So how do you stay now? You’re in Hawaii. Have they all moved to Oahu? 

Ariel Forsberg: Oh, I wish. No. Um, the majority of them live next to my parents. Um, my, my littlest brother is the assistant pastor at, um, my dad’s church. And then one of my sisters lives there right down the road. On her little farm. And then my oldest brother lives. He’s a pastor, um, three hours away. And then I have one sister who married a Marine and she lives in San Diego. Lives in San Diego. 

Jeff Johnson: Do you get to see them very often? 

Ariel Forsberg: Um, we’re actually going to get to see her next week. When we first moved to Oahu, we didn’t travel for like the first three years just because it was so expensive. Yeah. And that was really hard. I missed my family the most. That was really difficult. And then the Lord’s allowed us to travel more. So, um, Um, we talk on the phone. It’s like one of those things when you talk on the phone, you space it out. But then when you do, it’s like three hours later. Yeah. Wow. That’s fantastic. Okay. Just a couple more. And I, I qualified this by saying I’d be all over the place. So I apologize in advance. How many people at the church, like how big of a church is this? Oh, it’s always been a small country church. So, uh, probably like a Sunday morning around a hundred people and then like core group, maybe eighty people. Um, it’s definitely a hard area. Um, it’s very, Durango is, um, very, um, They have nature as their God and they’re not really interested. So like we do, we would do door knocking and stuff and there wasn’t a lot of fruit from that. So it is definitely a hard area. I don’t feel like it’s a very God open. 

Jeff Johnson: Okay. Is the, is the demographic younger or is it an older set that’s just aging? You know, are you getting some new people in and. 

Ariel Forsberg: Um, it definitely is continuing to replenish. So my dad kind of jokes about that. A lot of the older people are still there. But all their kids stayed. So the, the, the boys and girls that I, we had mainly boys my age, they stayed married and now all of their kids are in our church. So we have a ton of kids. We’ve always, God’s blessed us, which is unique for a small church. We’ve always had a ton of kids. There was always like. For our little country church, there was always like fifteen teenagers or something like that. And for a small church, that’s exciting. 

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. Did you, um. Did you. You’re obviously a Christian. How would you characterize your faith? Is that a terrible question? Like I said, I don’t want to say like, what kind of queer Christian are you? Because that’s not even a question. But here’s what I want to get at. I think it’s fascinating when you, when you meet people that are children of a pastor. Because my belief is we all have to get adopted in on our own. You know, I want my faith so much for my kids, but I can’t give it to them. So they’ve all got to come into it on their own. So I’m curious how you came to faith because I know you as a strong Christian. So did you, did you, uh, obviously you, you were immersed in that. At what point did you say to yourself, yes, this is, I believe in this and this is what I’m doing.

Ariel Forsberg: I am very thankful because I do know a lot. I think part of your question is being in a preacher’s home. I do know a lot of preacher’s kids that are I would say bitter and have left the faith. Yeah. Um, I think so much of that. So I got saved when I was five and my dad. This explained sin and he used the term, God took your looking, Jesus took your looking for you when he went on the cross. It always burned in my memory that phrase. What a great way to put that. I know, uh, Nebraska boy. So. I got saved super young and um, I remember different times in our life we had a church split um, and just seeing my parents go through that. I think just what made me stick with it was my dad constantly, I knew he loved the Lord the most, both my parents, I knew my mom and my dad loved the Lord the most and they, I knew that they loved me. More than anything and that uh, never was shook ever. And then just throughout our lives, um, my dad would constantly say things. So we also played Christian bluegrass, not well, we couldn’t afford lessons for too long. So we got the basics and then kind of took off with that. And so my dad would travel around, people would have him preach, and then we would sing. All the siblings? All the siblings. So I played the fiddle, my sister played the mandolin, the guitar, my mom played the upright bass, my dad played the banjo.

Jeff Johnson:  Wow. 

Ariel Forsberg: And, um, the, the youngest two were just, you know, they’re just saying and look cute. So we would sing. And so because of that, and it was hard cause we couldn’t read notes. So it was all by ear. And, um, But that experience, we would get to travel. We would, we’ve, we’ve sang in Oklahoma. We went to Texas and we got to go deep sea fishing once. And I remember my dad would say, There’s no way we could have ever done this. It’s because you’re in the ministry. We get to do this. And he would always make things special. Like he, we all love history and he especially love history. So when we would travel, he would find all of the. Historical things to take us to, um, or museums and things like that and so. He would always just tell us it’s because you’re in a preacher’s home. We get to do this. We would never get to afford to do this. And instead of making it like, oh, I I’m in a preacher’s home when I have to, it was. God is good like God has blessed this like I get all these blessings from it what a cool experience I am getting because of my life and against as far as staying with the faith. I think a lot of it is when you have kids, you realize those core values that you were taught. You definitely want that goodly heritage passed on. It’s very valuable to me. How I was raised, um, very old school like I said and I love the King James and I love old school hymns and I want that Um, heritage passed to my kids because I, it makes me sad around me. I don’t feel like a lot of children are learning. Old school hymns anymore. Those old hymns are beautiful and are saying something and that’s just important to me and my husband that they learn that. 

Jeff Johnson: Wow, that’s wonderful. Do you have a favorite old school hymn?

Ariel Forsberg: I love Come Thou Fount. Oh, that’s one of my favorite, favorite, favorite songs. I play that in the shop sometimes when I go down. 

Jeff Johnson: Beautiful, right? 

Ariel Forsberg: Yeah. I’m not found of every blessing. 

Jeff Johnson: Oh, that’s so beautiful. Yeah. Um. Wow, that’s wonderful. So you would say it’s a little bit of a mix of, of nostalgia and heritage, but the biggest thing is rooted in faith. You came to believe at a very young age and it just made sense to you. Yeah, and I guess I’m also thinking too, my dad would also point out other things like, you know, he would be realistic, like, you know, my parents weren’t perfect parents, but then he would You know, point out, uh, people that were in church, like the struggles that they had. And he would just be like, I don’t know how they make it without God. And, um, it’s because of God, we get to do these things and, um, Yeah, I guess just pointing out the value and seeing it for myself my whole life that it was God is important and it does need to be my beliefs and I can’t trust what my dad says I have to make it my own. Yeah, wonderful. Well, we’re talking to Ariel Forsberg from Hawaii, beautiful Hawaii, and I always… I shouldn’t be jealous. It’s such a sin, but I always say Hawaii is so nice. It’s so lovely every time I’ve been there. It is. Yeah. Um, and we’re talking about the topic of courage here on the Courageous Crossroads, and we’re going to come down to the question, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done here in a bit? Before we do that, can you tell me… What does courage mean to you personally? When you think about courage, what do you think about? 

Ariel Forsberg: I think courage to me is following through with something even if you are doing it alone or if you feel like you’re doing it alone. Okay, so it’s a it’s a solitary kind of a thing. Just if you know something is right to do and you’re going to do it. 

Jeff Johnson: Okay. Is our society full of courage or is it lacking courage? 

Ariel Forsberg: Based on that definition. I think we’re seeing a wave of people that are becoming more courageous just with different politics and, and standards and things. I feel like there’s a courageous younger people coming up and it’s exciting to me. Yeah, 

Jeff Johnson: yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes I wait to ask the question a little bit further on down the road, but I think with you, Ariel, I’m going to ask it first because I’ve got a bunch of other questions for you and I don’t want to betray your answer to it. So let me just go ahead and jump in. Ariel Forsberg, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?

Ariel Forsberg: I think it was marrying my husband. Um, because I was a homebody and I loved just being. At home, like even when I would go spend the night or go hang out with a friend, I would change my mind to be like, you know, I’m good. I think I’m going to go back home. I just love being with my parents and my siblings. And I remember when I met Drew, I didn’t know what a Navy SEAL was. I knew nothing of military life. And I remember, um, telling my mom, when I marry him, I’m kind of choosing to be alone. Because he was going to be gone so much. And my mom even told me after I got married, like right around when I first got married, she said, out of all my children, you are the last one I would have thought that would have moved so far away. And so for me personally, my journey of. God pushing me constantly to depend on him instead of my family or even my husband, just trusting him and being alone. You know, I was. I didn’t know anyone in San Diego. Like I said, I didn’t know anything about the military life and I knew no one in San Diego and. Then I’m a new bride. He’s leaving me when I added up his work trips, our first four years of marriage and that time of him being gone throughout the four years, it added up to him technically being on two years. Basically first four years he was gone for two. So mothering alone, all of that, not having family close by. And then even us moving to Hawaii, not knowing anyone. So God has constantly been pushing me to stop depending on my parents, my family, my siblings, and then my friends. And just trusting in him. 

Jeff Johnson: Was Drew in the SEAL teams when you met him? 

Ariel Forsberg: Yes. Okay. So he had already been in, oh, I’m trying to remember how many years it was. It was several years, eight years, maybe. Okay. So well-established. And then you knew that when you met him, you needed to uproot and go to San Diego. We, I, um, he bought me a house as a wedding gift. So I. Um, moved in right after we got married. So I was in Colorado with my living at home until my, until I got married and then moved to San Diego and hit the ground running. 

Jeff Johnson: How did you and Drew meet? Um, I will try to shorten this story. We met in Montana. He had gotten out of a bad relationship. He was there to meet the Lord and my family was trying to find me a husband cause I was finishing Bible college and hadn’t met anybody. And so he ignored me all week. In Montana. 

Jeff Johnson: Why were you both in Montana? 

Ariel Forsberg: Oh, it was a Bible conference for a week. It was in this little… Beautiful town, Dillon, Montana, and we had never gone before. So that was a new experience for us. So he ignored me all week. Meanwhile, I was. Attracted to him. And then I was constantly watching him, you know, was he taking notes? Cause I didn’t want to waste my time, you know, during the. You didn’t know him before. That’s the only place. No, I just saw him and I was like, oh, he’s a good looking guy. Who is this guy? Okay. And I, you know, I did the whole Baptist peak during prayer. Like, is he going down to the altar? You know, things like that. So, and then, um. And then, yeah, he just ignored me. And then the last day I was walking, um, into the hallway and we were by ourselves and I thought, well, if I don’t take my chance, I’m gonna regret it. And he turned around and I just spewed nonsense information that he didn’t need to know. And he just smiled. He’s a very good listener. And he just, you know, always does that. Well, he’ll just smile and nod. And so he did that to me. And then he said, it was very nice to meet you. Walked away and I thought, well, I put myself out there and I tried. And then the next message after that was five things to look for in a mate. And it was, you know, physical, it was all the physical attraction, finance, philosophy, all that. And then the last thing the preacher said was if you’re up here and you’re not, you should be because if people are. Taking vacation time for a whole week to come out in the middle of nowhere, then their priorities are probably right. And that got my husband’s attention. And so then he, he knew I was watching him. I guess I wasn’t as sly as I thought. And he was like, well, there’s that girl who’s been staring at me. So he came up to me and got my dad’s church name and my name and then a couple weeks later he called my dad. And then my dad said he would pray about it for a week. And then in that week, he called his pastor and his Sunday school teacher. I feel like there’s one other person he called and just asked, you know, if you had a daughter, would he pray? Would you let him date your daughter and just how faithful is he and things like that and he passed all the the checks and so I got permission he got permission to call me and we did long distance for about two years and got married. 

Jeff Johnson: Wait a minute, Ariel. 

Ariel Forsberg: That’s right. 

Jeff Johnson: You said that that was the short story. You’re putting all of us to shame. So this is not, he didn’t come over to you and say, hey, would you like to go out on a date? 

Ariel Forsberg: No. Nope. He called your dad and your dad didn’t say, yeah, sure. He said, hold on a second. Let me go talk to the Lord about it for a week. Yep. And then Drew went home and asked, oh, wow. Yes. And for Drew, he had just gotten saved. He was only saved for three years at that time. And so he went to his pastor, Pastor Fisher. Um, he asked him, like, I’m new to this and I want to do it right. So I asked her dad and he called me and pastor Fisher said, well, you did the right thing. And just so you know, he’s already called me. And he might, he, so he said, you’re, you’re doing the right thing. And he said, I can tell by her dad, he is going to be. Very hands-on in this relationship. And when you get married, he will definitely pass the baton. And my dad is like that. My dad is not, um, even when we first were married, uh, My dad, my dad would always take Drew’s side. So if we would call and he knew we were fussing, he would just tell me, you know, I was like, I don’t know what it is, but you better straighten up. And I’m thinking, you don’t even know what’s going on. Like, it’s not my fault. He would be like. I don’t want to hear it. You just straighten up. So then Drew knew maybe we should call you dad because he knew my dad would always take his side. 

Jeff Johnson: Wow. 

Ariel Forsberg: But no, my dad just, you know, was very much like you guys work it out and fix it. So.

Jeff Johnson:  What a, what a beautiful way to go through that courtship. What was your dating life like? Cause you said you dated for a year and this is, this is such a fascinating backstory because you’re saying. The most courageous thing you ever did was marry a Navy seal. So you would absolutely want to have people in your life affirming this decision. This is the right thing. So what was your dating life? 

Ariel Forsberg: Um, we dated also very old school and so many people think it’s so crazy. We did chaperone dating and um, So we had, when I would go visit him, my mom would come. And of course I told him, drew, I said, Hey, my mom’s coming. You’re going to pay for gas and you’re going to pay for her meal, but she shouldn’t have to pay for it. And he was like, okay. And then my mom really got to know drew that way because he, um, Well, then later when he bought the house, she would come visit, she would fix it, but that was later. So we, we dated and engaged all and married. That was two years. It was two years by the time we got married. So then when he would come visit me, we usually would have a sibling tag along. And of course, it’s annoying to have your little sibling tag along. But then I look back at it as such a gift because they would have not had the opportunity to get to know him. Any other way because it was long distance, but because they were always tagging along, they got to know him. So by the time we got married, he was already a brother. And, um, so that was a gift. And of course, you know, we talk about our kids about this and I just say, uh, you know, the, and other people say the physical things will always work out. That doesn’t matter. But because we were on the phone all the time, we didn’t fill our dating up with, you know, miniature golf and going to dinner. It was talking about. Hard relationship things that we needed to work out or how we were going to raise our kids because he came from a different background. He came from an unsaved childhood and background so. I wanted to make sure we were in agreement with how we were going to raise our kids and our standards and we had talked through everything and. Um, yeah, so the dating, getting to know each other that way and always being chaperoned, you know, you’re. You’re just working things out and getting to know each other and um, the most important things is what you’re working through. Cause this is a permanent. You’re coming, you’re coming into a covenant. And so you’re being that purposeful, you and Drew are being that purposeful about we got to make sure we know what we’re walking into. We’re not walking back out of this. I think that’s fantastic. 

Jeff Johnson: Was somebody mandating that the siblings went along with you? Or was that your idea? Was that Drew’s idea? Or did somebody have to… I’m sorry I’m asking so many personal questions.

Ariel Forsberg:  No, no, no. Um, my, um, cause my oldest brother had already, he had, um, he Was already dating someone at the time and he got married, um, right before, like a year before Drew and I got married. So we saw what was to be expected. So my dad had already told us, we already knew that we were going to be chaperoned. And so it’s always like understood. And so when he was dating, we were chaperoning. And then by the time I came around, it was no question. Everyone kind of knew. And then, you know, just as far as like, oh, who’s going to go with us? I mean, most of it, we would just hang out at the house with everybody playing games and or sitting over on the couch while everyone’s around talking and Um, but if it was like, oh, we’re gonna go grab coffee, who wants to go? And because we all were so close, most of my siblings weren’t like, oh, brother, I don’t want to go. Most of them were like, oh, hey, I’ll go or maybe two of them wanted to go and. He would always buy them stuff too. So he would get them a coffee. So it was like, oh, I’ll do it. 

Jeff Johnson: Good man. 

Ariel Forsberg: That’s right. 

Jeff Johnson: So when were, when was the first time. Again, you just slap me when I’m going too far here, Ariel, but when was the first time you and Drew were able to just be alone together? Were you, I mean, did you have a, uh, just a date, the two of you before you got married? Absolutely alone. 

Ariel Forsberg: Yeah. No. 

Jeff Johnson: Wow. But we had, you know, our, I mean, Kind of alone and people are around. It wasn’t like somebody was sitting on the couch with us, you know. So we were still able to have deep personal conversations. Yeah. Um, but it wasn’t like you could just get up to no good. Right. It was, we were still able to talk and things like that. Very deep conversations. Yeah. That was just making sure we were above board, I guess. I think it’s, I think that is such a beautiful model for it, Ariel. And yeah, tip of the hat to you and Drew for doing that because that’s I’m thankful. I’m thankful that he submitted to it because he was twenty-nine and people, his co-workers like these other Navy SEALs are like, you’re doing what? 

Jeff Johnson: I would imagine. It was so crazy. 

Ariel Forsberg: So I’m very thankful for Drew for, I mean, that just shows. Yeah, probably told you everything you needed to know about the guy. Yeah. Oh, he’s willing to do this. This is a keeper. Yeah. Yeah. Done. 

Jeff Johnson:  Oh, wow. Well, congratulations. Okay. So along the lines of, um, The most courageous thing you’ve ever done, marrying a Navy SEAL. Tell me something the world misunderstands about being married to a Navy SEAL and what’s something that only somebody in your shoes would truly understand about that. 

Ariel Forsberg:  What the world misunderstands maybe is maybe how glorifying it is and not seeing how hard it is. Um, and then something that I and other Navy SEAL wives know would also be how hard it is like looking back. It was much harder than I thought at the time I was going through it. Cause you know, he’s retired and our kids are much older. Yeah. Um, but looking back, it was a lot harder at the time and I just didn’t know it. And then being gone, I remember, and any, any spouse being gone is hard, not just the Navy SEALs. I remember other wives like, oh, my husband goes on a hunting trip and it’s, you know, two days and I just, I miss him so much and inside I’m like dying because I’m like my husband’s been gone for eight months and I don’t sometimes know where he is and or they’ll tell me oh it’s not that hard you know just belittling that. Like, oh, you’ll be fine. It’s not that difficult. My husband goes on trips and I’m thinking it’s, it’s different. It’s different. And so I always tried to make a point. Um, when I met other women, when they say, oh, my husband’s gone. It doesn’t matter what it is. Just be like, that is so hard. 

Jeff Johnson: That is tough because I know it, it was very hard. You, cause you’d have to assume a certain amount of potential danger. Mm-hmm. 

Ariel Forsberg: Yes. And I just decided at the very beginning, I’m not going to worry because he’s good at what he does. And again, he’s in the Lord’s hands and whether I worry or not, That’s not going to help. So I just chose I’m not going to worry what he’s doing. Okay. Well, tell, I want to hear more about that. 

Jeff Johnson: How did you and drew cultivate courage when you’re faced with seasons of uncertainty and danger and that sort of thing? I mean, I would assume it’s anchored in your faith. 

Ariel Forsberg: It is definitely. I don’t know how. And maybe that’s why the divorce rate is so high in the teams. Um, when I met. 

Jeff Johnson: Oh, it is. I did not know that. 

Ariel Forsberg: When I met Drew, the statistics were like 98% divorce rate. It is, and it’s gotten better. I feel like when I met Drew. Um, things had started to change in the teams and I think they realized we will not get the best work out of our guys if they are not. Their home isn’t good and they don’t if they know their home life is struggling. So they made more because I had talked to because I didn’t know what a Navy SEAL was. I’d read a lot of books. I read a couple books by Navy SEAL wives. And they talked about their husbands coming home and grabbing their gear and like, I’m going to be gone. I can’t tell you where I’m going. And they’d be gone for six months and they would have no idea. And that was maybe in the nineties. And then when, by the time I met drew, they stopped doing things. So. Flying by the seat of your pants, you know, it was more like planned and then they would try to be better at giving them more time off when they got back from deployment and then giving them more of a support. Um. worldview support, but still something. So I, but a lot of the divorce rate is still terrible. Um, and I, and I feel like it has gotten better because they were giving guys more. Time off and trying to keep their family unit tight, but it’s still difficult. It is still really hard. And I do think it was only the Lord because if you have nobody else, you don’t have your family. Um, I would say a huge help to me was our church. So because I didn’t know anyone and my husband had told me you’re probably not going to have the military wives as a core group. Of friends. And I was like, oh, why is that? I didn’t know. And he said, they probably just don’t have the same values that we do. And looking back, you know, the divorce rates high. So maybe not. So then I just threw myself into our church and um, They are still my best friends. The church friends that I have are from San Diego that I made as a new bride and a new mother. And, um, it was a, and, you know, things like, you know, I’m very handy, so I’d always try to fix things myself, but when your husband’s gone, that’s when, you know, your sewer line busts in your garage. It was always the worst things. Right. And so I would call my girlfriends and they would say I’ll send my husband over and they would fix things for me and So that was just so great. And then we would and I was by myself so much like doctor’s appointments, I would bring my kids, you know, I’d be pregnant and bringing my kids dentist appointments because you know we homeschooled. And so they went with me everywhere. And so we did everything together, but then when we would have church. The people just became such a family like the dads would all take my kids and hold my kids or take the baby from me, and then the moms who would just sit and visit so it was like old school family like the church family just sitting around just enveloping me. So it became I remember a distinct time when my I was probably pregnant with one like my third. And I had, you know, maybe she was like four and six and it was a Thursday night church service and we live thirty minutes away. And again, I was by myself and it was raining and it was dark and I was. Like I said, probably pregnant, probably feel good. I remember standing in my door with the door open, looking at the rain and going. I don’t want to go to church tonight. It’s such a hassle. And I shut the door and I said, we’re not going to go tonight. And my, my girls were like, no, please, please. We’re going to go to church. And the Lord smote me because, you know, my dad would say, even if you don’t feel like going, even Jesus, it was a habit and you, Jesus went. So you need to go no matter how you feel. And so I always went to church three times a week. And so Thursday night, my, I got smoked and I thought it doesn’t matter what I feel like I’m making habits for my kids. And then plus I need, they go to class and I can sit in church by myself, not getting, you know, crawled on. So what am I doing? And so I was like, you’re right. We’re getting in the car. We’re going to church. And so that was one deciding moment where I, for the first time in my life was like, I. Didn’t want to go and I was going to skip out just because I didn’t feel like it. And then, like I said, I got my kids convicted me. And then I was like, I can’t do that. I can’t teach them like oh I don’t feel like going I’m not going to go. Wow. 

Jeff Johnson: That’s amazing. Um, when, when drew would come home from his deployments, Because you said, this is what I’m fascinated with, and I, Ariel, I never know if I ask good questions, so I’m just struggling. Let me try to, let me try to get it out. I’m curious about cause he can’t tell you where he goes. So when he comes back from deployment and you’ve been dealing with all this stuff with your kids and this busted sewer line and et cetera, et cetera. How is that interaction then when he comes back home? I mean, are you guys just right back to A warm, fuzzy, happy family, or is it difficult because you’re like, tell me what you’ve been doing, but he can’t tell you and you know it. 

Ariel Forsberg: So before deployments, we would have codes like. If he was going to be gone and I, he couldn’t contact me, he would have like a phrase. So when I was pregnant with my first, he was gone for. Was it two months? And I couldn’t talk to him and I had no idea where he was. And so our deal was he would give me a code knowing Ahead of time that he wasn’t going to be able to contact me because that’s depressing. Like, oh, I’m not going to get a phone call today. Where is he? So he would give me codes. I could mentally prepare. And then we had a deal that when he got back from deployments. I wanted to know what he was doing. And if he could tell me, he would tell me. And the other thing is, um, my person, I think it depends on the wife. My personality was I wanted to know and I could handle it. I wasn’t going to hold things over his head or worry. And I think it was a trust value. If I wanted him to tell me, then I knew I had to not worry about it or bug him about it. Um, and so it was like, if I wanted to be the safe space for him, then I need to make, make him feel safe to come to me. And so that was our deal. And it was really hard, um, when he would come home, especially. Maybe the first eight years when he would come home, it was almost like getting to know that person all over again. Um, I would be like almost like a shy bride again, like, oh, hey, you know, like it was really emotionally hard because you had to turn a part of you off. Um, because phone conversations were so short because they had to share phones. And so I wouldn’t always get to talk all the time. Or sometimes we’d only get to talk for five minutes. And even that grew me up because I would want to fight about something and he would just. I don’t have to be like, I’ve got to go. And then I would cry and be like, I wasted those five minutes being mad at him. And so I grew up and stopped wasting time on little things and just valuing the moments we had and just being like, it’s not worth it. And um, but then it was really difficult. It wasn’t hard passing the baton because that was something else other wives said they struggled with. So I was trying to figure out, am I going to struggle with passing the parenting baton because I’ve been doing things this way and he’s going to come back and I have to give that over. I didn’t struggle with that at all. Part of it was we were on the same page. So I was like, oh, good. You’re here. You can be the disciplinarian. Oh, good. You’re here. You can take over bedtime routine. It was our relationship was hard. It took me several weeks to kind of get back into being. One on one with him like holding hands and feeling comfortable around him because he was like a stranger all over again. And he knew that and I would tell him like, I’m sorry, I’m really struggling. Um, so he just needed to be patient with me. Emotionally. You’ve got to do, 

Jeff Johnson: you’re defining for our audience right now, Ariel, a tremendous amount of courage for both you and your husband, especially the two of you, you know, as the married couple, I just have so much respect for that. And now I’m thinking, um, I wish I had never scheduled this call with you because I feel like… Feeling a little lacking. That’s so beautiful because you talk about the purposefulness in the courtship. You know how you said we didn’t go play putt-putt and whatever. We were talking about things that were really important. What a beautiful model into the marriage to the most courageous thing of marrying a Navy SEAL. And now he’s got to go on these deployments. And you’re, and you’re refreshing that learning all over again when you got these little snippets of time. You’re not wasting it with petty stuff. You’re talking about the things that are important. Do you guys ever talk about anything petty now out in the north shore of Oahu with the chickens? Or is it, I would imagine you guys have just very wonderful conversations. 

Ariel Forsberg: We, I do feel like we, we still are best friends and we, We don’t have a lot of friends here, which God has uh, even taken that away to make us seem alone, but yet make us more united. Um, I mean, we have friends, but it’s just different. It’s, it’s not like it was in San Diego. And I think it’s because God’s like, okay, you had that. And now I want you to have the family unit of you and your kids. So we just do everything together. And we’re together. Now that he’s working at home, we’re always together. And that was a transition. It was a huge transition. Can’t you go on deployment sometime? I know. I kind of would miss that. And that hurt his feelings. He was like, you don’t want me around. And I was like. I am not used to you being home and our roles had changed. And so for the first six months of his retirement, that was probably the second hardest time in our marriage. Um, his, that first six months. And I’m kind of digressing off. I’m kind of going off of what you asked.

Jeff Johnson:  No, that’s good.

Ariel Forsberg:  But that was another hard time because we had to learn each other again. Like, okay, what are you doing all day? And what are you doing all day? And he was thinking, I’m home now and I want you to be with me working outside in the yard. And I was like, no, I have things that I’ve I have to do. And then I didn’t understand what retirement looked like for him. And I’m so silly. I thought retirement would be, you’re going to be with us more. My husband’s a busy body. He cannot, he’s got ants in his pants. He cannot sit still. He doesn’t like to relax. So I’m like, why would this be different? So he’s always busy and I need to accept that too. And so I worried a lot of, this is the one time I did worry. Was financially, how are we going to make it? Um, so that did, that was funny. You’re a Navy SEAL and you’re on deployments. I’m not going to worry about that. Oh, you’re home now. And, you know, you’re trying to figure out what job you’re gonna have now I’m gonna worry it’s just kind of ironic that that’s what would make me worry but I started worrying big time that first six months like how are we gonna do this. And then God just finally like smack me up the head and said. Just go along with the ride. You’ve always been just going along for the ride. And I was like, you’re right. What, what am I doing? And so he would say, I think I’m going to do this, or I think I’m going to go here. And I’d say, I’m just along for the ride.

Jeff Johnson:  That’s going to be great. Wow. Well, it goes back to the same concept, right? Either you can worry or you can trust God, but you can’t do both that you talked about earlier. So, right. And that applies to. Whether your husband’s gone on a deployment or whether you’re trying to figure out how you’re going to make ends meet in retirement. Wow. Yep. Tell me, I, um, I don’t want to keep you forever. I might, but I don’t. But I want to know a little bit about this home schooling. Yes. So were you homeschooled?

Ariel Forsberg:  Mm hmm. So that’s where it came from. This was not Drew’s idea. 

Jeff Johnson: This is Ariel’s idea. Uh, no, 

Ariel Forsberg: I did not went to homeschool. Okay. Um, so I was homeschooled and I did go to Christians, a couple of Christian schools in my life, but I always hated school. Terrible at school and I loved homeschool the best versus going to school again because I’m the homebody at that time. And when we first got married and when we were dating, Drew was like, well, I want our kids to homeschool. And he even grew up in a great public school, even though it was a public school. He grew up, he was like, my home, my, my education was great. And, but we both understood that was the exception to the rule. And, um, so when we first got married, I was like, well, I don’t want to homeschool. And he’s like, well, I think we should homeschool for the first few years. And I said, deal. I said, but I need you to understand putting me in charge of our homeschooling kids is like putting somebody who has a spending problem in charge of the credit cards because I’m a procrastinator. I’m terrible at school and I don’t like school like even now I can say I wish we didn’t like my kids be like oh I hate homeschool like me too I wish we could just frolic around at the beach all day long but I love you we can’t do that like I don’t like doing school. Yeah. So our homeschooling has changed through the years and we had a great Christian school at our old church in San Diego and I kept telling myself I’ll put them in next year. And then another year would go by. And I thought, well, maybe the next year. And it just got, I loved being with my kids. I love, I couldn’t imagine them being away from me, even though I would be crying in the closet sometimes because I was so stressed out. Um, but I am more of an assistant than a teacher. I will say that because we do streaming. So we started off with a Becca, which is a, um, great. And then we’ve switched to Bob Jones, mainly because those both have streaming services. So I have a teacher. So you say you’re an assistant or an administrator, so you get them up in the morning, brush your teeth, breakfast, breakfast. Put the shirt on unless they’re surfing and then you sit them in front of the monitor and you’ve got lessons. And they had their lessons and I pull their papers, they read to me and I Like I said, it’s kind of been changing through the years. We are valuing life skills more and we Just feel that those skills are more important than grades even so I don’t grade them anymore. Um, and you know, each state is different on requirements, you know, you have to do letter of intent and or. In high school, you have to start keeping records and things like that. But at the younger years, you know, I don’t even grade them because it’s like, well, what is the purpose of grading? I’m already seeing What they’re struggling with and what they’re doing. So I know one of them needs to work on their math and one of them need, but they don’t need to know that. They don’t need to know the pressure of I’m failing math, you know, because they already know I hate math. I’m failing it, you know, so. Right. Um, and then, 

Jeff Johnson: so. But also you said, but also you said the practical skills. So you would say. You would say some of the academic stuff is important, 

Ariel Forsberg: yes, but I really want my kids to know animal husbandry and how to plant a potato. Yes. So my kids make their own breakfast and their own lunch. And they can make their own dinner. So if we are doing our own thing, I’ll tell them go make dinner. Um, my. She just turned eleven She’s better at making sourdough sandwich bread than me. I’m not a great cook and that’s part of the reason I want them to be better than me. And I always… Tell and then I always tell them I am training you to be a housewife and to run a household better than me. And I will take those chores and all those things back when you move out but I’m training you so they clean up the kitchen to at night so. Dishes, table, everything. So I will say goodnight. And I will know in the morning that kitchen will be spotless because they clean everything. My nine-year-old son, if I asked him and he does this sometimes surprise me, he will make me an omelet. Cracking the eggs, turning on the stove, cutting the vegetables, whatever, with the night, everything. I won’t even be in the kitchen supervising and he will bring me an omelet to my room. So yeah. Wow. Those life skills. My kids know how to kill and pluck a chicken. Right. Um, and growing things. And so again, going back to our roots, we just made them so happy. We made our own tallow. And then we just made our own shampoo, me and my girls, and then we made like a face balm from tallow. So things like that, like I said, going back to the old school roots of what’s more important do they know how they need to know how to read they need to know how to do math and they need. To know science and we love history so my kids don’t struggle with wanting to they all of them think the word love history, but then like the other things like do they need to know. Uh, all the politics right now and all those, you know, civics and things like that. Maybe not at this grade. Maybe when they’re a little bit older and they can grasp it. Right now we’re just focusing on, like I said, the life skills and other things. That we find more value in. 

Jeff Johnson: What? Okay. Now my head’s spinning. I hope you got another hour. What kind of tallow did you make, Ariel? Not beef tallow. 

Ariel Forsberg: Yes. You don’t have any cows there. Okay. So we got beef from the Big Island. We’ve done that a couple times. So me and my husband joke, we are so happy how… We’re on the same page because I was like, I come up with this new thing like, we need to be wearing orange light glasses at night, because that makes your brain turn off so I, I have my orange light glasses that I wear at night before bed. Or we, you know, I’ll just come up with these things that I’m seeing like we need to be drinking out of copper cups and my husband’s like I love it or he’ll come up with me and so we’re both just like What are they lying to us on our health? And we just want to be old school, healthy and like hippies, natural path, like grounding and things like that. So the tallow, we got beef from the big islands. We got a deep freezer. And so we’ve done that a couple of times and then my husband and my daughters were the one that made the tallow. And, um, cause to me, some of the things I’m like, oh, this is so much work. And I got to do this research and it actually wasn’t that difficult. So he had this tallow sitting in our fridge forever. And I was like, okay. Shampoo is making our hair fall out and it’s probably not the best for us. And so I’m going to make shampoo and then I researched it and I was like, oh my gosh, that’s a huge science project and I hate science. So I bought the lie for it and then I let that sit on my counter. For about three months. And then I’m like, well, I’m going to use up all my shampoo and then I’m going to make it. So then I finally made it and it wasn’t that difficult. And we used essential oils. It smells like rose. And I was just like so excited because some of these harebrained ideas, it’s hard to follow through because again, I’m a procrastinator. I’m like, that would be a great idea, but that’s a lot of work. I’m not going to do it. So this one we finally did to do. 

Jeff Johnson: This is fantastic. This is so fantastic. Um, okay. Jeff, you cannot take up miss Ariel’s time all day long. So I’m going to yank this back. To the topic of courage again and now I’m gonna, I’m gonna rest on your kids. Are your kids courageous? 

Ariel Forsberg: Yes and no. Each kid is so different. Um. They are super courageous. We have seen some things, um. With their values on standing up for themselves. So just our personal preference, we did not do masks with the mandate and this was just a moment where we saw our kids are super strong because and they’re listening. So moving to Hawaii and they were really, they went overboard with the mask and did it longer than they needed to. So my kids did not wear a mask when we were here. Except to go to the dentist one time. I fought it. I submitted, but within I wore like a Trump mask and then a fake mask, which was like mesh. Right. Just to stir the pot. Just to let them know. Just to let them know. But then I fought my kids cause I’ll, and so they would chase me through the store and I just feel like they’re exempt, they’re exempt. You know, leave me alone. If you just put your foot down, people finally let you do it. So then my kids saw that. And then when it became a mandate, Instead of a requirement, I would argue that when I took my mask off and they would, I got yelled at so many times and then. I got the manager and the manager would apologize because they realized I said a mandate is not a law. It’s a request. So you cannot make me. So then the courageous moment where I thought it’s paid off and this is amazing. Was my one daughter at the time was eight and she was in a store and we were buzzing around the store. So I wasn’t next to her and like a fourteen year old girl. So much older comes up to her and says, you have to wear a mask in the store. And my daughter said, no, I don’t. And she said, yes, you do. There’s a sign on the door. And my daughter said, it says it’s a mandate, which means it’s a request and you can’t make me and I don’t have to. And I’ll And I was like, wow, she just stood up for herself. She was listening. She knew all the things to say. And that girl just walked away. And my daughter came and told me that. And I was like, all right, look at you. 

Jeff Johnson: That’s wonderful. 

Ariel Forsberg: Yeah. And so then, but you know, one of my other sons, he like my kids, there’s this bridge that the locals jump off of. And it’s a huge bridge and I have yet to jump off of it because I’m not as courageous as there, but my kids all jump off except my one son. He does things in his own time. He is the one kid that you really have to push. Like, he didn’t want to surf. He didn’t want to do jiu-jitsu. Mm-hmm. But there was, you know, different things. So we didn’t make him jump off the bridge all this day. We waited and then he did it in his own time. Yeah. And so different things uh, I have to accept in their time they will Do it when they’re ready if we give them the tools to do it. Um, but thankfully we we talk a lot about a lot of things and so our kids stand up for themselves and stand up for each other. So I’m thankful for that.

Jeff Johnson:  Yeah, that’s good. Is it, is it important for you and Drew to cultivate a spirit of courage in your children? I mean, is that a quality that you point to top of mind or is that a. Is that a benefit from something else? Being a Christian or, you know.

Ariel Forsberg:  I think it’s without realizing we’re doing it when I think about our conversations and stuff I don’t think we realize that we are telling them to be courageous, but we do with. How we’re talking about doing things differently. Um, so I think it’s an underlying topic. Like even you asking me that I’m like, oh, I guess we’ve never said you need to be courageous or we’re being courageous by doing this. But we are. And so it’s funny without even intentionally meaning to we have been. Yeah. I think more is caught and taught. You know, you’ve heard that said all over the place. And I think everybody that has faith has courage, whether they recognize it or not. And so you and Drew, for sure, I’m sure your kids would see that. If there, this might be another unfair question, but if your children look back one day when they’re much older, thirty years down the road, and say, my mom was so courageous. 

Jeff Johnson: What do you think would be the thing, the primary thing that they would point to? You mentioned some stuff already, but I’m just curious. 

Ariel Forsberg: Right, because they’re like, when I think of me being courageous was being by myself, but they don’t remember that because they were so little. Yeah. You know, they don’t remember those times. So, hmm, I think maybe us sharing that or maybe once they become parents, I guess maybe them looking back on me doing that by myself. Going through being a mom, they might look back and be like, oh wow, that was really crazy that mom had to do that. So maybe they would realize it after going through it themselves. Um, or. Maybe us being here in Hawaii. So we’re in a very similar life group where everyone, there’s a lot of homeschoolers and there’s a lot of people like us, you know, a lot of hippies. So everyone’s surfing, everyone’s doing the same life skills, but one thing where we feel maybe we’re alone is our There are several great churches churches. A lot of my friends have some awesome churches. But again, like I said before. What we’re wanting is King James and hymns and they don’t have that. So we don’t go to those churches. We have a baby church next door. Our pastors from a missionary from Alaska, he and his wife and their son. So it’s just them and us. And so my kids could look back and say, wow, we were all by ourselves, but my parents, their values were most important. That we had that. And so we were doing it and it, you know, a lot of our friends are like, why do you go there? Or why don’t you come to our church? And I just, you know, that’s so nice of you. And, but we just, we, we like what we’re doing and it does seem like we’re alone sometimes. Um, but maybe that would be a way where they could also see that we’re being courageous by standing by what our personal convictions are. For them. Well, that makes sense. Billy Graham says God’s first picture of the church is family. 

Jeff Johnson: How many kids do you have? Four. So there’s six of you. So you got a big church. 

Ariel Forsberg: Yes. I mean, the first 200 and… What, fifty years after Christ was resurrected, it was home churches. And so if you had, you know, that’s ten that’s a dozen, that’s something like that is a typical church. If you got forty or fifty you’re in a really Rich guy’s house, you know, with a bunch of people, but that’s the size of it. And so I just think good for you. Yeah. I mean, it’s a, it’s a cool experience. Cause like I am playing the piano again, which I don’t play very well, but it’s. Good for me. And then my son, my youngest, who’s seven, he leads singing and he doesn’t know how to do that yet. And he usually does it barefoot because it’s. You know, it’s Hawaii. So he’s barefoot, leading, singing his best. So it’s like, well, these are great skills because he’s learning to stand up in front of people. And then we try to do specials and sing. And then my girls are learning piano. And so I’m like, well, this is, and then my husband preaches on Sunday nights. So then he has them read scripture when he’s going to the scripture. So I’m like, okay, they’re learning to read out loud in a public setting. They’re learning to stand in front of people and play. And so I’m like, this is a, it is great tools for them in the future. Yeah. In our little church. 

Jeff Johnson: That’s fantastic. There it is. There’s the rooster. Okay, the rooster is probably wanting me to leave you alone because I’ve kept you for so long. Do you want your… Do you want your kids to follow in the same path that you and Drew followed in? Either being a Navy SEAL or being a Navy SEAL spouse 

Ariel Forsberg: and My, I always tell my girls my dream is for them to be moms. I don’t want my boys to be in the military. My oldest son wants to be a farmer and he’s always wanted. Like, I really feel like that’s never swayed. So I think he will be. My youngest now has said he wants to be a Navy SEAL and he is very much like Whatever’s dangerous. He’s like, I want to do that. So I’m worried he is interested in that because he is fearless. He just wants to do everything. But as far as not wanting him in, I just don’t. And the Lord knows the Lord. I just, it’s not the best environment for Christians because, um, you really, really have to have a strong faith. To keep your values because you know you’re just around a lot of unbelievers and not the best environment. Um, so. I wouldn’t necessarily want that for them. But again, if the Lord calls them to that, then they’ll be miserable if they don’t do what he calls them to do. Yeah. Why do you think God sent you here? I think to tighten my family unit. I always wanted my family to be as close as me and my siblings were. And he used to say that, oh, I want us to be as close as we were. But then looking back when we were in San Diego, I depended so much on my friends. We had so many play dates all week long. We were surrounded by other kids and play dates and events and ladies things. Where we were still around other people and then moving here being away from those friends and then kind of being isolated like I said we I do have friends here, but it is different. Not as intimate as my other friends were. And I really struggled with that for a year. When we first moved, I really. Struggled not having those friends. And then God was like, hey, you wanted your family to be your best friends and to be close. Here you go. And then again, it was one of those smack me in the head moments like. Oh, I was praying for that. Oh, right. And so now just doing everything together and being with my husband and my kids all day long, we do everything together. It’s what I wanted. And so I think that’s why. 

Jeff Johnson:  Amen. Amen. Ariel Forsberg. Uh. Woman of immense talent, making her own shampoo and tallow, mother of wonderful children, wife of Drew, and a woman of tremendous courage. Thank you so much for spending time with us today. 

Ariel Forsberg: Thank you for having me, I’m very honored. 

Thank you for joining us today on Courageous. If you’d like to hear more about the work and ministry being done at Crossroads Apologetics, please visit our home on www.crossroadsapologetics.org. Would you or someone you know like to be featured on Courageous? Send us an email at info@crossroadsapologetics.com or info@crossroadsapologetics.org telling us about the most courageous thing you’ve ever done.