The Five Relationships You Have With Your Husband (and a Marriage Prep Giveaway!)
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Cory Honickman. Cory is a marriage educator who specializes in assisting couples during the marriage preparation process. She is also an active member of the Engaged Marriage community, and I’m happy to have her contribution!
Although her words are written from the perspective of a wife, I think the guys reading this will see similar roles in our daily interactions with the wives that we love…
Whether we admit it or not, we all wear several hats in our lives. It doesn’t mean we’re fake or a “poser,” it’s just that different situations call for different versions of us.
There’s the hat we wear at work when we’re taking care to contribute our ideas and relay our professionalism and the hat that we put on when we are spending time with friends and letting loose. There are also the times when we are empathetic and vulnerable.
The reason we wear these different hats is so we can adjust to our environment and the people that we surround ourselves with. Human beings innately want to have relationships and get along with and be accepted by other human beings.
Marriage Preparation: Get Sold on Awesome Intimacy…Not an Expensive Wedding
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Jessica MH Smith. Jessica is a former Family Planning Coordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Madison in Southwest Wisconsin. She is passionate about Natural Family Planning, and it shows in this post and on her great blog NFP Works. Whether you embrace NFP or not, I think you’ll find value in her message about focusing on a healthy marriage rather our culture’s focus on a single (wedding) day!
The selling of the American wedding is a symptom of a culture that’s lost its moral compass in a morass of marketing. The glossy facade of wedding sales people would crumble in a minute if it didn’t have the infrastructure of a 161 billion dollar industry holding it up.
I don’t mean to suggest that everyone in the wedding industry is out to get you. There are some really lovely people who do genuinely good work in preparing couples for their wedding day. However, there are a lot more people less concerned about your sacramental marriage and eternal happiness than they are concerned about the number of zeroes in your wedding budget.
Prenuptial Agreements: Good, Bad or Just Plain Ugly?
“Sweetie, you mean everything to me, and I’d like to spend the rest of my life with you in wedded bliss. Will you take my hand in marriage?”
“I’d love to, dear. I’ll just need you to sign right here. And initial here next to the alimony section. That part’s really important.”
Prenuptial agreements strike me as a bit of an oddity. I have to be honest and tell you that I don’t actually know anyone personally who has entered into a pre-marriage contract.
Of course, I’ve heard of the wide array of celebrity prenups, which usually get dissected in the media when the couple splits. But no one I know has admitted to signing any agreements for how things will shake down when their marriage goes down the tubes. Are we Mid-westerners just naive and simple folk?
Marriage is Grand. Divorce is Fifty Grand.
Well, I recently came across an article on USA Today’s site entitled Prenuptial Agreements: Unromantic, but Important that had 340 comments. As the title may infer, it’s pretty much a prenuptial agreement love fest.
Why Take Marriage Preparation? Plus an Awesome Giveaway!
Editor’s Note: This a guest post by Dr. Michelle Gannon. Please check out the end of the post for details on a very generous giveaway being sponsored by Dr. Gannon!
When couples get engaged and plan their wedding, they are often busy with the excitement, details and stress of wedding planning. We spend a lot of time, money and energy on planning our weddings.
What About Planning Our Marriages?
Current research shows that the best way to build a lifelong marriage is to prepare for it. In our Marriage Prep 101 Workshops, we apply the latest scientific research that shows what makes marriages succeed and fail.
Marriage preparation can help couples enhance their strengths, clarify expectations, identify areas needing change, learn and practice communication and conflict resolution skills, and develop more emotional and sexual intimacy. With attention and effort, most couples can create a strong relationship that will safeguard them against the inevitable strains of modern life.
Unfortunately, fifty percent of marriages end in divorce. Half of those report being happily married, so only 25% of married couples consider themselves happily married. Taking a marriage preparation workshop can help couples increase the likelihood of happy, successful marriages.
A Wedding Prayer: What Special Memories Do You Hold From Your Wedding Day?
Editor’s Note: I often think back to all of those that helped make our wedding day special, and I remember all of the good wishes and blessings that were bestowed upon us on that crazy, incredible day. Looking back nearly nine years later, I can really appreciate the Scripture readings, the Homily and all the many prayers for goodwill that have since been realized in our lives.
When Nadene Woelfel generously shared with me a special wedding prayer that she prepared several years ago, I was moved by the words and reminded once again of all the God-given blessings that marriage provides. I asked Nadene if I could share her prayer here for your enjoyment, and she generously agreed and provided a bit of background about the honor of being asked to provide such a cool gift to a newly married couple. Enjoy!
A few years ago I was asked to say the prayer for my Cousin’s wedding. I thought, “Wow, what an honor and how wonderful to be asked.” Then, I started to write and it was not easy. I wanted to portray to my cousin and her new husband my wishes for them in the future, and of course I wanted it to be perfect. So, for all of you who may be struggling with a similar duty honor I want to share my prayer.
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I'm Dustin, the guy behind Engaged Marriage. I'm living and loving the crazy life of a young husband and Dad.
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