Life Long Love: Meet the Hauses

Mike and Treesa Hause, 1986

How many years have you been married and how old were you when you got married?

Mike was 33 and I was 24. We have been married 36 years.

Where & how did the two of you meet?

We met at our church, New Testament but did not get to know each other until we taught together at Williamsburg Christian Academy after Mike came back from teaching in the Philippines and I came back from teaching in Bolivia.

What first attracted you to one another?

I liked the way Mike loved the Lord and had a heart for missions. I also liked his kindness and gentleness and how he listened to the Lord and cared about people. He was also very handsome and fun to be with.

Treesa was a spiritual, vivacious and friendly, had a desire to serve in missions and was beautiful and exciting to be with.

We all have ideas about how marriage is supposed to be when we say our wedding vows. What was one of the first challenges you encountered that challenged your ideas of what marriage was supposed to be?

I truly have to say our marriage although not perfect has been everything and more than we ever dreamed of. Doing life and ministry with your best friend is an amazing joy and privilege!

What has helped you stay together? What's your secret?

Have always loved serving together in ministry and work. We are sincere friends and have a lot of fun and adventures together. We laugh a lot and can talk and listen to each other and encourage each other. We don't let differences in opinion get in the way of how we relate to each other. We can work out disagreements and have learned to find the middle ground.

Do you pray together? Or have other faith activities?

We pray together, go to church regularly and love to do ministry together.

Do you date? How do you play together? How has that changed during your years together?

We go on adventures together like to the mountains or lately more to the beach. We ride bikes together, take walks, shop and go to parks. We also visit our friends all over the east coast. We are not as apt to take long trips now.

What do you call your in-laws?

Generally we called them "mom" and "dad".

How do you KNOW your spouse loves you? How do you let your spouse know you love them?

We tell each other a lot, are physically involved - lots of hugs, hand holding, encourage each other, pray for each other.

Share a nugget of wisdom you wish you could give to your younger selves.

I would encourage myself to not let things get me angry or upset but to walk in peace and freedom, instead of trying to control situations. Spend more time with the Lord, listening to Him and hearing what His advice is in different situations (Treesa).

Learn to take events in life as they come and hold unimportant things loosely.

What do you do on a regular basis for your marriage?

We communicate, pay attention to how each other is feeling and try to help and encourage each other. We spend time together in ministry and enjoy doing things together.

Mike and Treesa Hause, 2018