COMMUNICATION IS KEY

Tim and I are currently reading a book written by our pastor and his wife titled “Creative Marriage”. (SIDE NOTE- This book is GREAT. It answers sooo many questions on marriage. I suggest all you married folks run out and get one today!) Anywho… the last chapter was about communication. Here are some of the key points that we learned-

A. 1. GOD 2. spouse 3. children

B. You only have 216 months to train your kids and get them ready for the real world!- then it’s just you and your spouse

C. Date night should be once a week, but definitely twice a month

D. Communication= 7% Verbal, 36% Tone, and 57% Facial Expression

E. You and your spouse should have a recreational pastime (not sex) that you do together- for fun

F. Have a “Sweet 16” every day.

There’s more.. but those will be the key points in today’s lesson.. LOL

Okay, so the bible tells us that your marriage is the most important relationship on earth!!! Did you know that?

With the 216 months that you have your children at home you MUST teach them the importance of your relationship with your husband/wife. I believe that this is sooo important! I want to show our children what a healthy-GOD BASED- marriage is like, for their future marriage!

Along with those months, you must maintain communication with your spouse, or like so many marriages we see- you’ll wake up and think “who are you”. Marriage is not just about the big things like being faithful. Marriage is about the small things, like complimenting your spouse, leaving little notes, sending a text to say “I love You!”, etc This is what keeps the love alive!

Date Night- you NEED that time to focus on each other. – we all know this!

Soooo, onto the facial expressions… oops, something I am definitely going to focus on! I don’t know what the statistic was based on or if it is completely accurate, but it does make sense. Think about it! When you are telling a story and someone is making an ugly face, we start to start sugar coating the rest of the story, etc When you ask your child to do something and they role their eyes but don’t say anything… we all know what they meant. etc


Recreational Pastime- your spouse is your BFF… besides raising kids, working, paying those darn bills, etc… y’all need to have fun. Tim and I decided we were going to take cooking lessons together! Sounds fun!

And, the “Sweet 16”- 16 minutes a day stop everything you are doing and find out about each other days. Men- interview your wives. Women feel that you are completely tuned in when you ask questions. Even if it sounds silly to ask- “How did you feel about that”… it sends us a message that you do truly care. Women- well, we know how to ask and talk.. so this part I believe is mainly for the husbands.

Prayer Request for the Littrell Family-

Heather- Positive Facial Expression Communication
Tim- Positive Tone Communication
The kids- to do it with a smile J

21
Ephesians 5
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing [b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.