What we learned in our first year of marriage. We haven't been married for a full year yet, our wedding was on the 06 April 2013. But we have learned so much already. I must confess that our first year hasn't been that straight forward either. Carl proposed to me just before I got very sick. I had shown signs that I wasn't well, but we didn't realise that individually the symptoms weren't too bad. However [...]
there is no blueprint for marriage. because every marriage is made up of two different people and so it will never look the same. but that doesn't mean we can't learn from each other. we all have different stories but there are similarities and areas of overlap and moments of intersection that teach and instruct and inform and encourage and challenge. which is what this series is all about. i asked a bunch of friends [...]
aka Jamie the very worst missionary's position on sex [part I] My youngest son is about to turn 13, so for the next 9 months, until my oldest turns 20 (holy ape balls!), I will be Mom to three teenage boys. That means our dinner table feels like a locker room... if locker rooms were full of nerds. The conversation tumbles easily from Xbox to music to girls to MineCraft to push ups to girls to [...]
I remember the first article I was invited to write for Truth magazine back in the day had the title, "How far is too far?" so I wrote, "Belgium. Belgium is too far!" and then proceeded to write the rest of my article [for some reason, they let me stay.] And the main point of the article was that if we are asking 'How far is too far?' then we are already in trouble because [...]
Another week, another photo challenge and this time to find the right picture or pictures to capture the idea of fleeting. I could not look past our wedding pics for this, both because I think they really do capture the idea of a moment caught in time, but also give the idea of this thing will move on and this moment will pass. The commitment will continue and is hopefully strong and steadfast and true, [...]
And now a glimpse into the story of Steve and Helene from Helene's side: I will start with the here and now – Steve and I have been married two and a half years and together six years. I feel very blessed and fulfilled by our physical intimacy, and am looking for many years of exploring what that will look like in the various seasons that await us. Knowing where the other comes from with [...]
Val and I met Steve during our time at the Simple Way and although we have spent a really short amount of live time together, he has quickly slotted into my folder of 'Favourite people.' Steve is someone who really strives to live out the Good News of Jesus practically and is an absolute inspiration. He jumped at the chance to share his story here and I hope that it will encourage and challenge many [...]
Wow! So this one should get people clicking on it. It may seem like a bit of an unusual topic to list under 'Taboo Topics' which after all was a series designed with the aim of talking about some of the issues that are very prevalent in the world, but that the church [and often even the outside-of-the-church world] rarely speaks about, or into. But think about it for a second. Preaching about sex in [...]
the other day i posted an answer to a 'how much sex in marriage?' question that someone left after a 'Singleness' blog post and it got a whole lot of attention... realising that Sex in Marriage is a bit of a Taboo Topic that doesn't get much attention, this felt like a healthy conversation to continue and so i had an online chat with Val about some of the stuff that came up in the [...]
little did i know when i responded to someone's comment about how much sex should take place in marriage [ironically in the comments section on a blog i posted on 'Singleness'] that this would get as much attention as it did... ...and not just people viewing it, but people talking about it and i appreciated some of the comments so much that i felt like they deserved their own blog and so i am simply [...]