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Yelping my Spouse-Round Two
We have plenty of reviewable materials between the two of us that we can Yelp so when we were asked to write another Yelp Review, we jumped at the chance. Here is our Yelp Review-Round Two. The ‘Quick Target Run Rating: ⭐ (1/5 Stars) Review Title: “It’s a Trap” Review by Chris: Management pitched the trip to me as, “I need to get some hand sanitizer and tissues. Five minutes, tops!”. We walked through the doors of Target at 2:15 p.m. By 3:05 p.m., we were looking at the seasonal décor. Our cart had two summer themed throw pillows and a watermelon scented candle. We had also acquired a 24 pack of “vibrant summer” felt tipped pens…
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Finding Peace
Working our way through an unusually busy week last week, we finally reached an evening where we managed a little date out together to regroup. When we are having chaotic or taxing times, it’s always good to seek out a little bit of peace.
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In Sickness and In Health – Part 2
Matt When we left off in our last blog, we were looking at our changing roles when one or the other of us may get sick….As our journey continues, we will continue to look at the changing dynamics of our relationship. Gail At the beginning of the summer Matt had open heart surgery. Talk about a lifestyle and relationship change. With lots of love, understanding and prayer Matt (and I) made it through. After a few sessions of Cardiac rehab Matt came home all excited “I graduated to being able to lift up to 25Lbs!” We celebrated and gave thanks for Matt’s continued healing. Which brings us to our first…
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A Good Time AND a Good Story
Ahhhhhh…the crackle of the campfire, the smell of pine trees, the stars stretching out across the sky – for us, camping in the great outdoors is the ultimate escape. But let’s be honest – @#$% happens and Mother Nature loves a good laugh. Over the years, we’ve endured raccoons robbing us blind, strangers stealing our cooler, our tents literally floating – the list goes on. As our niece likes to say, “It’s either a good time or a good story.”
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Earning a Time Out
Marriage requires serious accountability to each other in order to last. This is why we are wary of advice to spend time away from each other as if that alone will improve our relationship. Perfectly valid solo activities can be chosen for the wrong reasons, particularly when the reason is avoiding my spouse.
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Listen, Linda!!! Active Listening In Marriage
Did you ever watch the viral YouTube video called Listen, Linda? (Watch video) It’s pretty funny, but also good food for thought. Really, what we all want is to be heard and understood, which is part of being loved. But this is sometimes easier said than done. Easily Distracted & Uninclined: My Default Setting KEN: I’m easily distracted and not inclined to listen to things that don’t interest me. This naturally creates a challenge for good communication in our marriage. JANINE: I like quiet time at home. When I’m chipping away at my to-do list, or even when I’m doing dishes, I like to spend time with my own thoughts…
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We Are In Our Netflix Era
Chris♥️Michelle: Recently, we were talking to some friends about staying relevant in today’s world. They made the comparison of Blockbuster and Netflix. Blockbuster was great, back in the day, but where are they now? We imagine that their late fees, out-of-stock favorites and resistance to change is why they’re no longer around. Compare this to Netflix. When they started, they were a mail order DVD rental company. Now, they are an always evolving web-based giant! We thought about a similar comparison with our marriage. Shift from Transaction to Subscription • Blockbuster Way: every interaction was a transaction and if you’re late, there’s a penalty. I do this when I say…
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Playing Games
“You sunk my battleship!” was a TV ad tagline we used to hear about a popular game when we were younger. So many memories were about fun games we would play. But in our marriage, playing games can be dangerous.
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In Sickness and In Health
Matt: When we got married, like many who may be reading this, we recited a vow of commitment and faithfulness to each other. And it is also a safe bet that all our vows included something like “For richer or poorer” and “In sickness and in health.” Trust us when we say that we could fill more space than we have here on the “for richer or poorer” topic and likely will try to tackle that one later. But today we are going to explore what “in sickness and in health” means to us, especially lately. Gail: On our wedding day, when I uttered the words “I take you Matt,…
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Family Ties
Julie: We’ve just had the privilege of living in the funny, dramatic, wildly unpredictable world of our 13-year-old twin nieces as we took them camping with us. We’ve taken them for a weekend each year so that John’s sister and our brother-in-law can have time to reconnect and focus on just them (plus it’s fun for us!). It’s something we look forward to and that has helped strengthen our family ties not only with our nieces, but also our siblings.
