Written by Candace on June 3, 2014 | 4 Comments

Love & Respect
Make Marriage Happen

Well, this week marks the beginning of June and I am going to try my best to keep the Make Marriage Happen series going.

I’m going to combine my topics for May and June into one month. For the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing two necessities for marriage: love and respect. One of the best marriage conferences I ever attended was the Love & Respect Conference. Not only is the speaker, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, extremely funny, but the advice he gives is so practical. I actually have the DVDs and have been thinking about going through them again. Would anyone be interested in joining us? It’s always encouraging to do it with others. I believe it would be a 5-week series, just throwing that out there to see if there’s an interest.

While we all need love and respect equally, Emerson lays out a great amount of research showing that the felt need differs between men and women during conflict. Vitaliy and I can definitely see the difference in our own relationship. So, I’ll be sharing how this plays out in our own marriage and hope you find it encouraging for your own.

Until then, I want to leave you with one last thought to ponder. We had guest speakers at church on Sunday, Jeff and Stacy Kemp. Jeff is Vice President with FamilyLife and HomeBuilder Catalyst. Together, they often speak at Family Life’s A Weekend to Remember, a marriage retreat that I have always heard is phenomenal. They shared a ton of great things, but I took note of one small thing I thought was worth pondering on. He gave an example of a friend of his that wrote a question on his mirror to remind himself to better love his wife each day. The question was this, “Would I want to be married to me?” I cannot think of a more convicting question to ask myself for accountability in my own marriage. So, what do you think? Would you want to be married to you? When I ask myself that question, I have a few things that I know I need to change ASAP. Perhaps, writing that down on a sticky note will give you the kick in the pants you might need to better love or respect your spouse this week.

Let’s Make Marriage Happen! Together.

Couple walking on the Kobylianska street in Chernivtsi

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Written by Candace on May 28, 2014 | 6 Comments

Date Idea: Wine & Cheese Night At Home

If there is one thing I appreciate, it’s having an honest friend. One who is willing to take a risk to tell you the truth. That is love.

I have a very dear friend named Kris who is married with two beautiful daughters under the age of 5 years old. She and her husband Peter (our web designer) have always been our #2 fans (#1 fan goes to my mom). They have cheered us on since day one and comforted me while I sat and cried tears of disappointment as I waited impatiently for the day I could quit my day job and join Vitaliy full-time on our business. Their friendship for this reason and many others will always be cherished.

Kris recently told me that she loves our date nights but they are completely impractical for this season of their lives. With two little ones at home and living away from family, they don’t often have the luxury of going out just the two of them. I know there are a lot of people in the same boat. While we don’t have children yet, we have implemented a new budget that does require we get a little more creative and budget friendly with our date nights. With these two things in mind, I’ve been trying to brainstorm more at-home date ideas.

My first one up is a wine/cheese date night at home. I realize it’s nothing new, but it’s definitely one I forgot about and recently thoroughly enjoyed. I used this guide to help make our menu. I find this idea perfect for so many reasons! It’s a no fuss kind of meal and doesn’t require much prep at all. You can enjoy over a movie, a good conversation, or a fun game together. And let’s just be honest, a little wine always helps in the intimacy department. And if you didn’t know, now you know.

I hope you enjoy! Let’s Make Marriage Happen! One date night at a time.

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Written by Candace on May 21, 2014 | Chime in

Invest In What Matters Most

The last few weeks have been hard to invest in writing. I almost wrote a blog post to say I’d see you next month. Thankfully, I pushed past the fear and here I sit today, putting my words down on paper.

It’s not necessarily that I fear to write. The problem is that when I have too many items on my plate, my first instinct is too put off the creative projects. It’s so much easier to invest in the busy work that doesn’t require you to put your heart on the line. Stay safe. Stay comfortable. But life begins at the end of your comfort zone. I don’t know who said that, but it’s written on my inspiration board as a constant reminder.

Along with striving for a life of less, I’m also constantly working to enjoy grace. God offers it to me on a daily basis. Why am I so infrequently willing to offer it to myself? In hopes to seek grace, not perfection, I’m not going to have a themed Making Marriage Happen series for May. I had it all planned out in my head, but I’m not going to be able to invest the time this month to write the articles. I’ve got other things I’d like to share here, other projects to accomplish, and relationships I’d like to invest an extra amount of time in.

But we do have to Make Marriage Happen this month! So, if I can encourage you in your marriage, it would be to ask you one question. What do you need to quit or give up today in order to have more time and energy, patience and love, for your wife or husband? We can’t always do it all. Sometimes we have to give up something good or something we love in order to invest in what matters most.

This month I said “no” in order to say “yes” to surprising my mom and family for Mother’s day weekend. It was the best decision!

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