This e-zine is our way of keeping in touch with you while providing simple tips and advice for you and your partner to use. Enjoy!

Love Quote

"The world moves for love; it kneels before it in awe."
by Edward Walker, in The Village

"There are three things that are too amazing for me,
four that I do not understand:
the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a maiden."
-Proverbs 30:18-19

In this Scripture we have a Hebrew idiom “three things…four” that is used to bring emphasis to the fourth item in the list (in fact, the same idiom is used in Amos chapter 1 and 2 eight times!). We suppose a sermon could be preached on the text, but the writer is pointing to the wonder, the amazement, and the inability to fully understand romantic love!

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A Tip for You to Use

The Secret Word!
When we teach pre-marriage classes, we always tell the engaged couples about our secret word! It is the word, Absolutely!

Early on in our marriage, we found during conversations between ourselves and with others, that we would frustrate each other by interrupting. Carrie would be speaking, and I would cut into her conversation to finish the story, or add my two-cents’ worth—and frustrate her. And, it did happen the other-way ‘round as well! We decided a good way to stop this irritating behavior would be to introduce our secret word, “Absolutely!” every time we interrupted each other.

For example… it happened one time that our friends were listening as Carrie was talking — and then I interrupted her. As I continued speaking, Carrie said, “Absolutely!” in response to what I had just said. Others thought she was agreeing with what I said. What I heard, however, was “Hey! You just interrupted me!!” I then responded with, “Oh, Carrie, I’m sorry, I just interrupted you. Please, continue!” Our guests came away thinking I was polite, when actually I was corrected—and Carrie and I had fun with our secret!

Try it. Secret Words really work!

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Florida Vacation, Working in the Garden?

As our earlier e-zine and blog indicated, Carrie and I spent a week in the West Palm Beach, Florida area. Yes, it was very much like a second honeymoon! Actually, it was a working vacation—but without the time pressures and deadlines. As we reflected on our week, we recognized how needed it was!

Have you ever heard of the expression, “A man’s home is his castle”? It’s a little antiquated, but I’d like to spin it differently and say that A Couple’s Marriage is their Garden of Eden. It is very possible for a couple to experience a degree of intimacy that starts to transcend the mundane and problematic of life, and become the sanctuary it was meant to be!

This level of intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and sexual connection takes work and the investment of quality time. Stop for a moment and ask yourselves,

When was the last time you spent even one night away
to be together and develop your relationship?
If it's been at least six months, you need to stop and plan something soon! Think about it! You’d give your car a regular tune-up to prevent a mechanical breakdown; a similar investment might even prevent a marriage breakdown! Think of it as developing your own Garden of Eden! You hear about couples working in the garden in their backyards. Perhaps we can think of working in

Books We're Reading

Is There Really Sex After Kids? by Jill Savage,