Laura's Strengthening Marriage Blog

In honor of celebrating 19 years of marriage with my sweetheart, here are a few wedding anniversary traditions to consider for your own celebrations. 

• Get your rings cleaned.
• Go out for a special breakfast, lunch or dinner.
• Watch your wedding video.
• Go through your wedding photo album.
• Review and revise your lists of the top 10 things that make you feel loved.
• Get away for an overnight stay.
• Have a special couple portrait taken.
• Make love as many times that day (or week, or month) as the number of years you’ve been married (whichever is more doable! : )
• Go for a nice romantic walk some evening…be sure to hold hands though!
• Get some pretty flowers. You gotta have flowers! (…unless your wife is an anti-flowers type! : )

We welcome you to share your anniversary traditions and/or other marriage traditions here! Read the rest of this entry »

The Twilight Fervor

The Twilight fervor seems to be heating up again with the release of the next movie in the Twilight saga. What isn’t being talked about though is its potentially negative effects on relationships.

After seeing this disturbing Twilight parody music video, and hearing about “Twilight Moms” and such on Oprah, it seemed necessary to comment on the Twilight phenomenon, and it’s detrimental effects on marriages.

What may begin as harmless fun or a little escapism from the rigors of real life can easily become an obsession–especially if there is a void in one’s life that is hankering to be filled.

If the connection in marriage is already weak, and there is little happening to nourish it, filling the void with a fantasy is an easy snare to slip into.  Read the rest of this entry »

One of my favorite websites/blogs for couples–The Love, Actually Blog (creative date ideas) is having a giveaway of our book “And They Were Not Ashamed–Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment” and my talk on CD “Love 101–Learning to Love More Meaningfully.” Be sure to check it out! The Love, Actually Blog is a fabulously fun site for couples to receive many fun date night ideas to keep your marriage strong!

Read the rest of this entry »

Yay for Date Night! In light of the news of Al Gore and his wife getting divorced it’s a reminder to us all that marriage requires constant nourishment. Date night nourishes the relationship mentally, emotionally, physically and even sexually…if you’re lucky! : ) 

Don’t miss date night. Make it a habit. Make it your highlight of the week!

For more date night tips, visit “Yay for Date Night!”

Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re planning to join us on our Feb 2011 Couples’ Valentine’s Cruise to the Eastern/Southern Caribbean there are only 10 cabins remaining before we’re sold out!

Act now! Call or go online to reserve your room today, so that you don’t miss out! We’d love to see you there!

CLICK HERE — for all the Couples’ Cruise details!

This post is in connection with episode #030 “I Am a Sexual Being, and It’s Good” of The Marital Intimacy Show. For your convenience, the questions from that episode are posted here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve recently come across some interesting research about women and the sexual issues they face, and what some of the best approaches are for helping women with these issues. It really boils down to women developing a sexual identity, or having that foundation for their intimate relationship in marriage.

Sexual Identity

What is a sexual identity? Basically it means that you see yourself as a sexual being, and embrace that as a good thing. And I’d even take it a step further to say that part of a healthy sexual identity is understanding the fact that your sexuality is of God. Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent sex therapy training I attended at The Institute for Sexual Wholeness (ISW), it was a bit disturbing to hear that some people have very mistaken ideas of what sex therapy is all about.

Just to be sure that everyone is clear on what sex therapy is and what it isn’t I thought I’d share a few things to dispel any fears or misconceptions that may be lurking out there.  Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. Read the rest of this entry »