Marriage Moments will include questions and/or exercises to start conversations. They will provide an an opportunity to know yourself and your partner better. Check in with your LifeMate to see if this is a good time for them to answer these questions. If it is not a convenient time schedule a later time that would work for both of you. When you are the listener, show up with an interested and curious attitude. Be careful not to interrupt. After one of you has answered the questions, turn the tables and give the other partner their chance.
Have fun getting to know each other better!
1. If you are a young couple with a new baby, consider adopting an older couple that find themselves in another stage of parenting or grand-parenting. Spend an evening together and swap stories.
When David and I moved to California from Canada we left both of our families in Canada. We started praying for an older couple to adopt whose marriage we respected and who would be willing to be our “adoptive parents” and our children’s “adoptive grand-parents”
After three years we found such a couple, Dr. Eugene and Jean Coffin. They celebrated holidays, birthdays and ordinary days with us. They became a treasured part of our family.
They needed us too. They had two adopted adult children who now lived in another state so they enjoyed being part of a family again.
When we opened our counseling office, they came and prayed over it with us. One day when our daughter was eight, we were going somewhere in the car together when out of the blue Amy said, “Mom, do you know who I want to be like when I grow up,
Grandma Jean? ”Need we say more? It was a treasured friendship.
2. If you have older children, reminisce about the newborn stage. What are your memories? Was the experience different for each of you? Can you relate to the ten differences mentioned in this week’s blog?
