Search Results for: blog resolving differences

The Marriage Blog Week in Review for December 31 – January 6

The New Year has officially begun! But in case you were too busy last week ringing it in (or recovering from ringing it in), here’s your Week in Review so you won’t have to wonder what Lyn and I wrote about. Monday, December 31 Resolving to Make the Best of Marriage in ‘08 My goals for the Marriage Blog in 2008 included accentuating the positive and figuring out which tools to use to have the best marriage possible. Tuesday, January 1 Personality Differences in Relationships Lyn examined how personality differences can sometimes cause marriages to fail, but they don’t have … Continue reading →

The Elderly Teach “The Baby Borrowers” Lessons in Love

I may not have children, but last night’s episode of “The Baby Borrowers” was one I could definitely relate to: The teens had to care for the elderly. Since I’m fresh off my duty of caregiving for my mom, the episode struck particularly close to home. Even more so because one of the ladies was on oxygen and two others had suffered strokes. (Except only one, Hedy, was actually being cared for by a teen. The other, Reggie, was the wife of one of the men, George, who had volunteered to stay with a teen couple.) The only thing missing … Continue reading →

Different Ideas About Boundaries

I have probably had to over-compensate in the boundary department with my “side” of a post-divorce family due to very different ideas about such things with my children’s father. Believe it or not, I have only been inside his house once and I am constantly having to remind him that he cannot come in my house when I’m not home. And, we have been divorced for YEARS… The other day, my kids were sharing with me how at the other house, they “joke” about my strong boundaries. I think they said that folks over there actually say “boundaries! Boundaries!” in … Continue reading →

Primary Time: Treating Others Kindly

One difficult but important thing to teach your children is to be accepting and loving of others, especially in Primary. This can be a difficult concept to teach, and it can be difficult to know when to begin to teach it. For example most young children do not recognize if a child has Down Syndrome, and so would not treat the child any differently than any other child. However, there may come a point when your child notices the difference or becomes uncomfortable. You do not want to point out differences that your child may not notice and draw attention … Continue reading →

Marriage Tips: Assume Good Intentions

I love that phrase: assume good intentions. I have loved it for years. I heard it for the first time from my husband in the few months after we first met. You can say that at the time, I was something of a cynic. I suppose I still am, yet because of this one phrase, I’m a great deal more optimistic than I used to be. But let’s think about the phrase: assume good intentions. What does it mean? When you assume good intentions, you don’t automatically presume that someone forgot something because they just didn’t care enough about it … Continue reading →

Marriage – A Meeting of the Minds

The hallmark of a superior intellect is one that recognizes that we need to keep an open dialogue on all issues both those we agree on and those we don’t. I’m such a huge believer in debate and differences of opinion, the largest reason being that when you have the ability to see the other person’s point of view, you are opening up the opportunity to learn something and to learn more than what a limited viewpoint might offer. We Don’t Always Agree My husband and I have different approaches to life. We have different backgrounds. We have different experiences. … Continue reading →

Express Yourself

Enjoying your Saturday? Great! I am too. We got the lawn mowed, I’ve got some weeding to do and I need to go and find something that will help me eliminate the worries of crab grass – my very much nemesis. My husband and I got into this great debate, however, while we were doing our yard work and the debate began a little on the snippy side – but actually became pretty ribald at the end. Now I am not going to bore you with the details, but here are some of the conclusions we came to. What Came … Continue reading →

What Didn’t I Say?

When it comes to arguing with our spouse, we ask ourselves what did we say? But more often than not, it’s not what we said in the argument that matters – it’s what didn’t we say? A lot of arguments come from the things we didn’t say and when we hold back, that withdrawal can lead to feelings of hostility and defensiveness on both sides of the relationship. What do I Mean? Well, let’s look at it this way: your husband comes home from work. He’s in a bad mood and he had a really bad day at the office. … Continue reading →

Agreeing to Disagree

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When it comes to marriage and problems, sometimes couples get too focused on winning an argument. The simple truth is when you focus on winning an argument – you are both deciding that one of you will be the loser. This is especially true when you are in the early years of a marriage. There is More than One Truth When we talk about arguments, it’s usually because the parties involved have different viewpoints. Your perspective and your perception are two of the main ingredients in determining not only how you feel about a matter, but also how you define … Continue reading →

Nurturing Your Marriage

I am grateful that I am married to my husband. It may sound silly to say it, but I truly am. Marriage is a wonderful blessing in my life. It is a wonderful relationship in which we have the opportunity to work together and have a family. It is great having a friend that I can spend time with every day. It is good to talk to someone that places the same values on things that I do. My husband and I are not the same person, and so naturally we have interests that are different from each other. We … Continue reading →