Wow, what happened to April? It seems I went away at the beginning of the month and never returned!
April has been an extremely busy month for my husband and me. I hope to be back soon, but I have a project in May that will take most of my time for that month as well.
Hopefully I will be able to at least post sporadically in May if not regularly.
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
Posted in Musings on Marriage | No Comments »
As the challenge continues, remember these ground rules:
30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge: Day 3
“And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 4:19
Love indeed suffers long and is kind. As you consider your Encouragement Challenge, determine today that you will not say anything negative to or about your husband. Speak kindly to him with words of genuine encouragement.
If your husband is considerate of your needs, let him know that you have noticed. Thank him for his kindness and consideration. Thank the Lord that your husband knows how to be both tough and tender.
Sometimes it’s difficult for a man to be gentle, kind or tender—especially if he hasn’t had role models in these areas. If he’s not a considerate person, appeal to him for help without complaining. Let him know that it’s hard for you to handle some things alone. Then, when he moves in to help, don’t insist that he do it your way. Be glad that he is responding, and express your gratitude.
Ultimately, you can’t expect your husband to make you feel more secure, loved, etc.
Remember that only God can meet the deepest needs of your heart.
If you are along with me on this challenge, leave a comment to let me know how it’s going.
If you missed Day 1 or Day 2, click here to catch up.
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
The Anniversary Shop, modern and traditional anniversary gifts.
Copyright Revive Our Hearts. Written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Used with permission. www.ReviveOurHearts.com
Posted in For Women, Friday Focus | Tagged encourage, husband, love, marriage, wife | No Comments »
Ok, so I cheated. There isn’t a single recipe in this post, but you can click on this link and have instant access to 94 Crockpot recipes (to date) that have been taste-tested by a real-life husband and wife and a kid or two who will actually venture out and eat something other than peanut butter and jelly every now and then.
Ever since I found this site, I am obsessed with it. Granted, I’m a bit of a picky eater myself, but there are a few recipes that I definitely want to try, though I forgot to write them down or add them to my favorites so I have to go back through nearly 100 posts to find the ones I want to try, but that’s half the fun.
You might be wondering about now why I include recipes in my marriage blog. The sarcastic answer is, “Because I can,” but in reality, because my brother-in-law reminds me that sarcasm is not one of The Five Love Languages (more about that in weeks to come), the real answer is found in my subheading ”Because a great marriage encompasses all facets of life.”
It’s hard to come up with meals that are nutritious, exciting, and fun, let alone ones that the kids will eat, so I like to include some of my favorite recipes from time to time to give you ideas that might make your next meal or snack a little more enjoyable and give you one less thing in a day to stress over.
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
Incredible books to strengthen your marriage
The Anniversary Shop, modern and traditional anniversary gifts.
Posted in Recipes, carpe diem | 1 Comment »
The first Wednesday of every month, like clockwork, a long shrill siren sounds near my house. Because I am usually in the house at noon when the siren blows, it usually takes a minute for it to register. But once it registers, my first thought is usually, “Is that a siren?”
After that I look outside and wonder, “Is the weather bad enough that a tornado or some other natural disaster is heading my way?”
If the sky looks clear, and even if it doesn’t, it takes me a minute to remember that this is the first Wednesday of the month, the day that the fire department tests the siren in case a tornado or severe storm is heading my way and I need to be aware of it.
Then, convinced that that’s all there is to it, I head back to whatever I was doing before the sound of the siren entered my consciousness with little thought that maybe I really should take cover from pending doom.
In reality, the siren is meant to spur me to action, to get me to a safe place, not to give me time to logically consider whether I need to run for cover. My first response should be to grab whatever necessities I might need to weather the storm and head for cover. Only after my needs are taken care of and I am in a safe place should I allow myself to process the fact that the sky is blue and it’s noon on the first Wednesday of the month.
What if … we heeded the warning signals in other areas of our lives? What if we ran for shelter first then processed the situtation logically?
I believe if we ran when the siren sounded in our own lives, in our conscience, we would suffer far fewer consequences of our own actions.
The next time you are about to do something and your conscience warns you against it, flee first, taking whatever you need for the protection of yourself and your family, then only after you and your family are safe from pending disaster, whether it be an extramarital affair or fighting for your own selfish desires, consider what might have happened if you had not heeded the warning.
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
Incredible books to strengthen your marriage
The Anniversary Shop, modern and traditional anniversary gifts.
Posted in carpe diem | Tagged love, marriage, warning | No Comments »
Sometimes by being patient we save ourselves as well as the person to whom the patience is extended.
In his book Quiet Strength, Tony Dungy, coach of the Indianapolis Colts, recounts this story of patience in action.
My dad was usually a quiet, thoughtful man. A scientist at heart and by training, Wilbur Dungy loved to be outside, enjoying the scenery. My dad used fishing to teach his children to appreciate the everyday wonders of the natural world God created — the sandy shoreline, the dark pine forests, the shimmering water, and the abundant wildlife. The lessons were always memorable, whether we caught a lot of fish or not.
Although we [Tony, his brother Linden, and his dad] fished countless times together throughout our lives, one particular day stands out in my mind. It was a summer day in 1965. My dad had taken us fishing at one of the small lakes around Jackson. On that day, my dad was teaching my brother and me how to cast. We were both working on it, mostly in silence, until my dad’s voice finally broke a period of stillness.
“Hey, Linden, don’t move for a minute, please.” I looked back and watched my dad move his hand toward his face. Calm and deliberate, he continued to speak.
“Now, Linden, always make sure that you know not only where your pole is while you’re starting to cast” — at this point, I realized my dad was working my brother’s hook out of his own ear — “but also make certain that you know where everyone else is around you.”
I learned something about proper casting that day, but I also learned something about patience … I finally understood the importance of staying calm and communicating clearly.
How many of us would have yelled first and thought about the consequences later? What reaction would yelling have caused? Linden probably would have jerked the line and could have ripped his father’s ear in the process. The same lesson about fishing would have been learned, but the pain involved would have been tremendous.
Consider today how quiet, calm communication of a problem at hand sooths the situation rather than making it worse.
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
Incredible books to strengthen your marriage
The Anniversary Shop, modern and traditional anniversary gifts.
Posted in Men's Marriage Minute, What is love? | Tagged love, marriage, patience | 1 Comment »
I’m taking time off this week to spend time with family and celebrate my niece’s wedding so I’ll be pointing you to some of my favorite web sites on marriage and sharing quotes and such.
I gotta tell ya, though, I’m writing this week’s posts early and munching on my fa-vo-rite Chocoloate Chip Cookies. Are they ever scrumptious!!! Move over Martha Stewart and Otis Spunkmeyer.
You just gotta try ‘em and let me know if they aren’t the best cookies you’ve ever eaten.
Back to the subject at hand, if you know someone who just got engaged or is in the process of planning a wedding, point them to these articles:
Better yet, invest in their marriage with this book and offer to answer any questions they might have about a successful marriage:
The time spent preparing for the marriage will be of much greater value than the time spent preparing for the wedding.
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
Incredible books to strengthen your marriage
The Anniversary Shop, modern and traditional anniversary gifts.
Posted in Musings on Marriage | Tagged engagement, love, marriage, relationship | No Comments »
As the challenge continues, remember these ground rules:
30-Day Wife Encouragement Challenge: Day 2
We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. George Bernard Shaw
How did you do with your list of things you admire about your wife? Did you start off slow and gain momentum? Did you find it hard to come up with even one thing to be thankful for? I certainly hope not!
As a husband and wife live together on a daily basis, taking care of the kids, the house, the pets, the bills, and everything else that goes into daily life, we tend to forget to have fun together - to play.
Now that Spring has sprung, it should be nice enough in most parts of the northern hemisphere to be outside doing something fun.
Ask your wife to join you outside to play frisbee or go for a walk or look at the stars. Take her out for coffee and enjoy the drive. Do something together that you enjoyed while you were dating.
I know you love your kids and you love spending time with them, but you need to take time to spend time with each other without the kids to remember what it feels like to be Bill and Nancy or Ted and Alice, not Mom and Dad.
Sure the bills and the dishes and the tax forms all need your attention, but take time to enjoy being friends, not just husband and wife or Mom and Dad.
Today’s assignment for encouraging your wife is to do something fun together today that will make you forget the cares of the world and make you feel like young lovers again.
If you missed Day 1, click here to start at the beginning. You - and your wife - will be glad you did.
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
Posted in For Men, Friday Focus, Men's Marriage Minute | Tagged communicate, encourage, husband, love, marriage, wife | No Comments »
Have you heard the words “I’m sorry” from your mate but feel that it falls short of being all that you wanted or needed as a full apology? Have you said “I’m sorry” to your mate but feel that he or she hasn’t quite forgiven you or isn’t as certain of your sincerity as you are?
Perhaps you or your mate need to go one step beyond just apologizing to hear “the rest of the story,” the How of apology.
Watch this video and you’ll know what I mean.
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
The 5 Languages of Apology
The Anniversary Shop, modern and traditional anniversary gifts.
Posted in Men's Marriage Minute, Musings on Marriage, Women's Wedded Bliss | Tagged apology, husband, love, marriage, wife | No Comments »
Next to “I love you,” I’m sorry” must be two of the hardest words in our vocabulary to say.
From a young age, few of us are eager to utter those words that can so quickly change the course of a conversation, keep a relationship in tact, or salvage a marriage that is in desperate need.
In case you don’t know when to say you’re sorry, follow these guidelines from one of my favorite books: Lists to Live by for Every Married Couple.
12 Times to Say “I’m Sorry”
And I would add one more: When there is a rift in your relationship for which you are even partly to blame (which, quite frankly, is true in most conflicts with another person, isn’t it?).
Being the first one to say “I’m sorry” often has benefits that far outweigh your sense of pride.
We’ll get into some of the other facets of apology in later posts, but for now if you focus on being the one to say “I’m sorry” when the situation warrants, where and how to do it won’t be quite as important as when and why.
Oh yeah, when should you apologize? As soon as you can!
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
Incredible books to strengthen your marriage
The Anniversary Shop, modern and traditional anniversary gifts.
Posted in Men's Marriage Minute, Musings on Marriage, Women's Wedded Bliss | Tagged apology, conflict, husband, love, marriage, wife | No Comments »
As the challenge continues, remember these ground rules:
30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge: Day 2
“…through love serve one another.”
How did you do these past two weeks blessing and encouraging your husband? Was it easy? Was it hard to hold your tongue when you wanted to say something negative? We hope you’re off to a good start. (If you blew it, don’t give up - start again today!) There are so many practical things you can praise, if you look for them.
Today, find some way that your husband is serving you or your family. Does he help around the house? Take care of the car? Fix things that are broken? If your budget allows, give him a new, small tool with a big bow attached. But make sure he doesn’t think it’s part of a “Honey Do” list!
Maybe your husband’s not a handyman, but does he run errands for you? Let you go first? Take care of you when you are sick? Help you make decisions? Praise him for his willingness to serve others. Let him know that you see his unique service as a great strength.
If you are along with me on this challenge, leave a comment to let me know how it’s going.
If you missed Day 1, click here to start at the beginning.
Yours for the celebration of marriage,
Claudia
The Anniversary Shop, modern and traditional anniversary gifts.
Copyright Revive Our Hearts. Written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Used with permission. www.ReviveOurHearts.com
Posted in For Women, Friday Focus | Tagged appreciation, encouragement, husband, love, marriage, wife | No Comments »
