Fred and I just registered for the 2010 CCEF Conference — Mariage: One for Better and Worse and I hope to get to see you there too! If you’re not familiar with CCEF (the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation), I hope you’ll get to know them. Their materials are the finest practical theology (counseling the heart) resources that I know of. They are biblical, Christ-centered, and yet imminently practical and readable. (I’m obviously a big fan.) See you in November? Gratefully,  Tara B.  

Owen Strachan just summarized and linked to an insightful message by Bruce Ware that I commend to you: An Essential Talk by Bruce Ware on Godly Manhood As I read his points, I was struck by two thoughts: 1. I hope women (including me!) don’t warp these excellent points into LAW to thrust on our husbands and criticize them, even just silently to ourselves. 2. I wonder how I could be an encourager and helper to Fred in regards to such things? (Oh, and I also thought to myself: “What an excellent grid for a woman to think through what she is praying for and looking for in a potential…

I just snatched Paul Tripp’s latest book (What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage) from WTS for practically FREE by redeeming my Challies Friends of the Blog WTS credit before their huge sale ends (a hardcover book  that I wanted to buy anyway for only $8.99!). Combine that sale with my $10 Challies credit so I’m just covering like $2 in media mail shipping?! Hooray! What a deal. Just wanted to be sure you knew about it too … 🙂  

Yup. “It’s Almost Naptime” is SPOT ON in this great post: The Marriage Bed Enjoy, dear soon-to-be Mr & Mrs Adams!   Enjoy, dear friends who are married 15+ years (like us)! And thanks, mis. Great post. 🙂  

Fred and I are hoping to attend the 2010 CCEF Conference this November: One For Better and Worse Three great men from our own little church in Billings will be serving during the pre-conference sessions. And I’m so hoping that CCEF might grant me the joy of live blogging the event for them again. That was such a blast! (My LiveBlogs from their 2008 conference on Addictions continue to receive consistent replays. You can read them here if you are interested. I also LiveBlogged Jerram Barrs’ Plenary Sessions at this year’s PCA Women’s Leadership Conference if you’d like to check them out too.)   Off to get the grandparents now!…

HT to TakeYourVitaminZ for linking over to this JD Greear article: What Advice Do You Have for a Newlywed  Husband? It’s strongly written—I would have said some of the things differently. Still, it’s worth the read—and not just for newlyweds.  

My friend and I were just talking about the 2010 CCEF Conference: Marriage—One for Better and Worse. Her husband will be a speaker there and boy! I sure do wish we had the funds to attend. If there is any chance you can make it, I strongly urge you to start saving now and GO. 🙂 Here is a little conference preview video to further tempt you:    

Fred and I recently had a helpful and relatively profound epiphany—at least it’s been profound for our friendship and marriage. We realized that at the heart of many of our recent quarrels and fights, we were presuming that the other person was upset, unhappy, or frustrated. With us. And usually? We were presuming that the other person was extremely upset, unhappy, or frustrated. So then we either backtracked into some sort of “make it all better” over-reactive mode OR we became quickly (and disproportionately) defensive or even attack-y, so before you could say the word IRONIC, the other person WAS upset, unhappy, or frustrated. Needless to say, this was not…

TakeYourVitaminZ continues to link to great articles and this one is a definite MUST READ if you enjoy the (occasional? frequent?) chick flick (including, btw, Jane Austen): You’ve Got Lies: Chick Flicks and the World’s  Approach to Men and Marriage (It’s an interesting article. Well written. Not condemning. But it did make me at least pause re: the videos I was planning to bring for my four-days-in-the-hospital “getaway” (hah!) next week …)  

Fred and I were reflecting on our (almost fourteen-year) marriage by remembering the counsel we received near our wedding. (Due to a car accident that closed down a highway, the message ended up being given at our reception, not during our actual service because our dear friend, Dr. Paul Jensen, missed the service by just a few minutes. So, yes, we had the world’s shortest wedding. But hey! We left married–which is my only standard/goal for all weddings. Everything else is nice, sure, but if you leave married? Success!) But I digress … I know it may be strange to actually remember anything from your wedding message, but we both…