Marriage: A Top Priority

Is your marriage important to you?  How are you making your marriage a top priority? We all have lives and responsibilities outside of marriage, so we need to find a balance and prioritize these other commitments to avoid getting too busy to make time for our marriage.  I know for me I’ve got school to worry about and my husband has his job, both of which require huge amounts of our time.  Maybe for you it’s the kids, the house, your career, PTA meetings, Church callings, or an elderly parent? Marriage isn’t easy.  Though, it’s...

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Keeping the Attraction Alive in Marriage

My mother told me shortly after my wedding day to continue to dress up and get myself ready for my husband.  I think on that particular day I wasn’t wearing any make up and hadn’t done anything with my hair.  I wasn’t offended by her comment, because that’s just how she’s always been.  I reassured her, I still wore makeup and did my hair, just not every day.  It seemed to be enough for her to back off. Though, lately I’ve reflected back to what my mother said to conduct a self-check.  I asked myself if I was still dressing...

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Infertility: Physical Intimacy Issues

Taking care of the clinical side of things isn’t the entire solution to many infertile couples’s problems.  There are often emotional issues that arise from trying to conceive aside from the expected medical procedures.  Infertile couples receiving fertility treatments should seek emotional support as needed. Sexual intimacy is an important part of strong marriages.  It can be difficult to enjoy the physical intimacies of marriage, when couples are solely focusing on conceiving a child.  Sex is meant for more than just...

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Imperfections

No one’s perfect.  We hear this all the time, so why do we still foolishly believe that our spouses need to be perfect themselves?  How do we get to a place of loving our imperfect spouse and marriage? I think it’s natural for us to judge others while turning a blind eye to our own negative qualities.  In no way do our natural tendencies justify our doing this. At times when I find myself focusing on my husband’s faults or imperfections I like to remind myself that I’ve got imperfections.  They may not be the same imperfections,...

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Take an Interest in What Your Spouse Loves

Do the things they love.  Take interest in your spouse’s interests or hobbies.  Doing novel things as a couple is a great way to keep the love alive. My husband loves four wheeling and his annual trips to the Dunes.  This weekend I went on a trip to the Dunes with my husband and his brother.  He wanted me to go with him and so I said I’d go. Last year’s Dune trip was miserable, hot, and humid, so I really wasn’t looking forward to going this year.  My desire to be a supportive wife outweighed my desire to stay comfortable,...

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Differences Can Be Good

I think we are all guilty of expecting our spouse to act or think like us at one time or another.  I know that I am.  I often forget that my husband grew up differently than I did.  I also forget that our life experiences that shape us are even different.  Logically, there is no way that my husband will experience the same event the same way I will.  His and my separate experiences in our lives prevent this.  I often wonder why I make these assumptions about him and others.  Maybe, it’s a control issues,...

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Infertility: Adoption

It is natural to desire children of your own or to have your child naturally, but infertility sometimes times prevents this desire from becoming reality.  Fertility treatments often reverse this otherwise reality in married couples and they become parents.  Still, some married couples receiving fertility treatments do not experience success and remain childless.  These married couples must decide to accept they will not be parents or they will find an alternative to be parents. For many married couples that alternative is adoption. ...

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