‘The glances over cocktails that seemed to be so sweet, do  not seem quite so amorous over shredded wheat.’ Benny Fields  

I can’t stop reading old Carolyn McCulley posts! Talk about being great with words. Plus the content is so—enjoyable, challenging, helpful, encouraging, practical, God-centered. (I could go on and on.) Here’s a post I just LOVE: Crush Catalyst   My favorite line? “It’s only an introduction, people!” 🙂  

Many thanks to Justin Taylor for posting these great links. I’ve only listened to one of them, but I’m looking forward streaming them all just as soon as I have the time: The Rykens on Men, Women and Marriage The one I listened to is entitled, “The first twenty years are the hardest.” Apparently, Dr. Ryken’s mother used to tell them as they were newlyweds, “The first year is the hardest.” Then, the next year, she told them, “The second year is the hardest.” And at their twentieth anniversary celebration, she told them, “The first twenty years are the hardest.” What she meant was, “Relationships are hard work. Marriage takes…

Worth the read: Avoiding Old Flames on FaceBook And brings more to the forefront various concerns I’ve had about how some people I really care about, especially young people, interact on FaceBook. I SO don’t want to be the overly-concerned critical adult … but at the same time, I cringe at how much personal information is being revealed and stored PERMANENTLY about these pre-teens and teenagers. I’m not sure they (and their parents) understand the permanence of the internet—college, jobs, ministries, future relationships. I wonder if they understand that the zillion things they “heart” on FaceBook and the zillion groups / causes / fan pages they “like” might affect them…

I’m convicted. Maybe this will help Fred and me to get back into a better pattern ourselves: Scraps of Thoughts on Daily Prayer It’s all great. But this paragraph caught me: “The last form of prayer that I do daily is prayer with my wife, Kathy. About nine years ago Kathy and I were contemplating the fact that we had largely failed to pray together over the years. Then Kathy exhorted me like this …   … I realized she was right. And for some reason, the penny dropped for us both, and we can’t remember missing a night since.” (Thought I was going to give the punchline away? Nope.…

Do you find any irony in the fact that I found this article on the IX Marks blog yesterday: Save Your Marriage — TALK (Seriously!) Gave myself a task for today to put the link up for you … And then Fred and I spent pretty much every minute of last night and thus far this morning fighting? You know. “Talking”—to be sure. But also really REALLY not wanting to keep talking. (Fred and I are both prone to flight. Big time.) But we kept trying until late in the night. Slept fitfully. Woke up and kept trying some more. Until finally our need to take care of little girls…

Fred showed me this video after our date last night and while I enjoyed it (and enjoyed having a tear go down my cheek as I looked up into my dear husband’s wobbly tear-stained eyes too), I don’t know if I would’ve necessarily blogged it. But two very specific details that the singer/songwriter referenced about his own marriage just struck me as so serendipitously delightful that I wanted to share it with you. The two details are his own “$40 wedding rings” (the exact price of our wedding bands) and their “fifteen years” of marriage—the exact length of marriage we will celebrate, Lord willing, this coming August 5th. So, with…

I’m pretty sure I’ve posted this link before—but the series is so good that I may end up posting it every summer: Leadership and Family Vacations Though directed at husbands, there are helpful and wise insights for every member of a family that has ever ended up fighting, “miserable,” and anything-BUT-the-happy-Disney-brochure-family on a vacation. We’re actually doing pretty well around here (praise the Lord!)—but we’re in the home stretch now … a little fried, a little out-of-sorts from not being in our own home, etc. etc. But mostly happy and grateful, so that’s good. And VERY aware of our need for the grace of God in Christ, so that’s great.…

Randy Alcorn titled this article about sexual purity, but I think it’s just a great read filled with great reminders for strengthening all areas of the marriage relationship: Pursuing Sexual Purity in Your Marriage Fred and I are really working on the second point—last week he actually CALLED ME UP and ASKED ME OUT ON A DATE. And even though (REAL LIFE!), it was only an hour or so after we had a big fight (!!), it STILL felt so edifying for him to ask me out. Just like a man who is interested in a woman would do. Yes, yes. Fifteen years into our marriage, we are listening to…

Fred and I continue to muddle our way through that exhausting and challenging-for-marriages season of life called “parenting small children.” Of course we love our girls! And deep down, we know that we love one another. But lately, it’s sure been hard to FEEL very loving toward each other. We’re sort of in some communication ruts that lend themselves to misunderstandings, hurts, and the easy-to-fall-into fight or flight responses to conflict. No fun. So this week, I said to Fred: “I have an idea. How about if we just FAKE IT for one week. You know. Act toward each other like we USED to act toward each other—all lovey-dovey, best-friendy,…