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7 08, 2016

Rewind The Tape

By |2017-03-06T11:16:04-07:00August 7th, 2016|Letters, Marriage, Relationship|

At a time when our marriage was at a fork in the road, we discovered 2 important things that helped our relationship immensely. The first thing was Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages (here’s a link to take the Love Languages Test). This well-known concept that people grow up giving and receiving love through these 5 modes of love was absolutely revolutionary for our marriage taking it from a 6-7 rating on the happiness scale to [...]

29 06, 2016

Romeo and Juliet Harmonize Sex

By |2017-03-06T11:16:04-07:00June 29th, 2016|Letters, Marriage, Relationship|

Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways' eyes may wink and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen. Lovers can see to do their amorous rites By their own beauties; or, if love be blind, It best agrees with night. Come, civil night, (Juliet awaits Romeo to come in the night and describes in Elizabethan language metaphors for sex. Act 3, Scene 2: Romeo and Juliet) Sexual intimacy evolves. Passion highlights the [...]

26 06, 2016

Romeo and Juliet’s Tipping Point

By |2017-03-06T11:16:04-07:00June 26th, 2016|Letters, Marriage, Personal, Relationship|

Let’s pretend that this true story is typical of marriages. We’ll call the wife Lis and the husband Dave just for convenience sake. This marital drama developed over many years long before children arrived. It started out happy, took a turn for the worse where arguments were not uncommon, then righted itself into a ‘happily ever after’ scenario. The story starts as they typically do identifying threads of meaning long before the players come on [...]

24 06, 2016

Romeo and Juliet Grow Up

By |2017-03-06T11:16:04-07:00June 24th, 2016|Letters, Marriage, Personal, Relationship|

ROMEO If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.    JULIET Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. ROMEO Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? [...]

8 06, 2016

Commitment, Exchanging Value, and Sex

By |2017-03-06T11:16:05-07:00June 8th, 2016|Letters, Marriage, Personal, Relationship|

It’s wedding season. A recent nuptial at a beautiful location south of Denver captured the fantasy of many a blushing bride. The location was pastoral perfection, the weather ideal, the ceremony handled with the right balance of solemnity, humor, and emotion. It really was enjoyable to watch the couple exchange vows, the participants and parents hold back tears, and the attendees dance the night away. A dream wedding. Today’s letter is the first part of [...]

16 05, 2016

Graduation Season

By |2017-03-06T11:16:05-07:00May 16th, 2016|Family Culture, Letters, Parenting, Relationship|

Whether it’s preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school or college, May is a big graduation month. It marks the ending and the beginning of a new season of life. This can be an exciting, emotional, daunting, and joyous time for the graduates and the parents! With our first baby boy, Trevor, graduating from High School this week (pictured above), we are reminded of what a significant milestone each graduation has been for him [...]

2 05, 2016

The Art of Neighboring

By |2017-03-06T11:16:05-07:00May 2nd, 2016|Letters, Relationship|

Do you know your neighbors?  Do you know their first names? We recently attended an event where we were challenged by these same questions.  Embarrassingly, I could only admit to knowing about half of the 15 neighbors in our cul-de-sac and only 6 of them by their first name (Shelly knew a few more). Not very neighborly! Sure we are pleasant enough and we readily acknowledge all of our neighbors with the occasional wave or [...]

24 04, 2016

Consider it ALL joy

By |2017-03-06T11:16:05-07:00April 24th, 2016|Letters, Relationship|

There isn’t one among us who hasn’t had to forgive someone for something small or large. None of us will escape this earth without doing so again. Of all the spiritual tasks God has assigned to us, forgiveness is of the highest order. No other quality speaks to love and grace with as much reason for it. Forgiveness can release demons, restore relationships, establish a base on which to build, and set a path for [...]

12 04, 2016

The Right Crowd

By |2016-04-12T13:17:01-06:00April 12th, 2016|Letters, Parenting, Relationship|

Your 2nd grade son has become friends with a little classmate and is excited for his first “Spend a night” sleepover. You meet the family as you drop your son off and they seem nice. You visit with them and find out that this is their youngest child at 7. The oldest is 13. You think nothing of it. The next day when you pick him up and ask how it went, he seems unsettled. [...]

4 04, 2016

Freedom To Grow

By |2017-06-20T07:25:16-06:00April 4th, 2016|Letters, Parenting, Personal, Relationship|

Do you give your children the freedom to fail or make mistakes?  Or more appropriately, do you allow them freedom to grow with personal responsibility and ownership? Whether you are a child or an adult, failure is not failure if you learn and grow from it.  As parents, it’s especially difficult for us to see our children suffer frustration, experience emotional pain or the discomfort that comes with failing or making mistakes.  However, in order [...]

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