Marriage and Family Blog

How to Have a Good Day

September 29, 2015

Have you ever noticed that people often tell you, “Have a good day!” but they don’t tell you how to have a good day? Doesn’t that seem a little odd? It’s like telling someone, “Have a million dollars” and then walking away without telling them how. Wouldn’t it be great if they said, “Have a […]

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Marriage at McDonalds

September 22, 2015

I have a graduate degree in Marriage and Family Counseling. I work with married couples weekly, and I regularly write about how to improve marriage. Still, it was an elderly couple at McDonald that taught me my most recent lessons on marriage.

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Are You Listening?

September 17, 2015

“Are you listening to me?” “You never listen to me.” “I’ve tried to tell you, but you just don’t listen.” “If you would listen you would know.” Have you ever heard your spouse say something like this? If so, join the ranks of the many. Not listening is one of the most common complaints I […]

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Is Your Marriage Meaningful or Mundane?

September 15, 2015

Is your marriage meaningful or mundane? It’s easy to skip over that question. An honest answer to that question might not be what we want to hear. But if we’re brave enough to ponder it, the question will lead us to ask another question. What makes a marriage meaningful? I recently read a post by Donald Miller about what […]

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Comfortably Uncomfortable

September 10, 2015

We all want to be comfortable. We want comfortable chairs, comfortable shoes, comfortable beds, comfortable clothes, comfortable retirements…comfortable everything. We especially want comfortable marriages. We want marriages that are calm, happy, and easy. We want spouses who like what we like, act like we act, and always think we’re wonderful. We also want to win the […]

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A Labor Day Lesson on Disappointment

September 7, 2015

It’s Labor Day and I’m sick. Not loosing your last meal in the commode sick. More like head full of concrete can’t breathe sick. I’ve tried every remedy I could find in our cabinet of over-the-counter promises, but no magic bullet. I woke up early this morning, after a hit-and-run night of sleep. Restless and mouth-breathing, […]

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Falling Behind

September 1, 2015

Have you ever felt like you’re falling so far behind on something that there’s little hope of getting back to where you need to be? Have you ever thought, “What the heck. It’s too late now. Why even try. I’m too far behind.” Maybe you’ve felt that way about a project at work, or a […]

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Be an Amateur at Marriage

August 20, 2015

Every time I think I have this marriage thing figured out, something changes and I feel like I’m back to square one. I had just figured out how to be a married couple when we had a baby. When I felt I had the family-of-three thing down, we had a second child. Just when I was […]

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Going From Zero to Sixty

August 13, 2015

There are car commercials that tell you how their car can go from zero to sixty in so many seconds. Then there are car commercials that tell you how their car can quickly and safely come to a stop…from sixty to zero in so many seconds. Zero to sixty is not just for cars. Marriages can go […]

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One Thing You Must Do if Your Marriage is in a Rut

August 12, 2015

Ever feel like your life was in a rut? I was struck by that feeling this morning as I grabbed my usual stuff and headed out the usual door at the usual time to do my usual job. Don’t get me wrong, I really love my work and I can’t imagine doing anything else. Still it’s easy […]

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