How Do You Define PDA?

Recently my volunteering friends and I discussed PDA (public displays of affection). My two friends talked about their husbands’ discomfort with PDA. Well, I could relate to that: it tends to make a lot of people uncomfortable. But then I learned that what they meant by PDA was hand-holding, hugs, a quick kiss. My one friend said it took her husband years before he would hold her hand in public. The other said that when she and her husband meet up somewhere, when her husband arrives all the other women in the room get a hug, or sometimes even a … Continue reading →

The One Who Makes the Difference …

Last week, I had the opportunity to read Minor Adjustments, an LDS fiction novel by Rachael Renee Anderson. The premise is one we’ve heard before—a child is left an orphan, and an unwilling person is chosen as guardian, only to fall in love with the child and decide to follow through. This book, however, brings in a lot of elements that keep it from being mundane. It’s set in the gorgeous land of Australia, the guardian isn’t even related to the child, and there are moments of tenderness and humor throughout. I enjoyed it a lot. There’s one theme throughout … Continue reading →

What I Love about Being Married- Part 2

This continues on from yesterday’s post about what I love about being married. I love that when I have a problem or am trying to work something out, my husband is the first person I turn to. He’s always gives a listening ear and often helpful suggestions. Similarly if he wants to talk something out or has a problem he comes to me, because we are each other’s best friend. I love that there is still physical affection shown between us. I love that when we go to bed at night, we are curled together and I know he’ll still … Continue reading →

The Way of Love

Well, it’s over. No, not my marriage, but the book launch of my newest novel Streets on a Map. Now our lives and marriage can go back to normal a bit. On Valentine’s Day, as it already is here in Australia, what better chance to write my own verse inside his card thanking my husband for all his love and support. This book launch would never have happened without him. He was my right hand man. He em ceed the event introducing the how the afternoon would work and the first speaker, taking money for books sold, taking photos for … Continue reading →

Lasting Love

Did you notice recently when I posted the article about the seven Fs I read about, that you need in a marriage the first one mentioned was friendship? That struck me at the time. The thing you might expect would be love. But no, it was friendship and food for thought. The trouble is love today has come to mean many other things. People talk about ‘falling in love’ when often it is a physical attraction or it’s tied up with lust and the sexual appeal of the other person. It’s how they feel when they are with them. We’ve … Continue reading →

Staying in Love

Falling in love is easy. ‘Staying in love, creating a love that last, is the tough part.’ These were words a mother said to her son who was soon to be married. I read them this week in a novel by Marie Bostwick, called A Thread So Thin. Just because it is a novel the words came from doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of truth in them. In fact a lot of the advice about love and marriage handed out in this novel rings true. You suspect many of them came from actual conversations. I’d be interested to ask … Continue reading →

Remedies When Love is Fading

So you’ve discovered your love for your spouse is fading, what can you do about it? Here are some suggestions. Remember Remember where you started. When I lose sunglasses, keys or something, which is fairly common with me, I retrace my steps. It is no different with marriage. If you have lost your love for your spouse or are just having trouble remembering why you fell in love with them in the first place, go back to the beginning. Make a list of the reasons why you fell in love with them. Share that list with your spouse. Work on … Continue reading →

When Love is Fading

Do you remember the joy and excitement when you first fell in love? Remember how you couldn’t stop thinking about the other person and wanting to talk about them to anyone who’d listen and even those that didn’t. You just wanted an excuse to hear their name. You wanted to hear their voice on the other end of the phone, to see them and spend all your time with them. You couldn’t wait for the day you’d be married and have more time to spend together. And then you married and it’s all great for a while. Then reality and … Continue reading →

What Love Is

We’ve looked at what love is not. Now let’s look at what love is. One of the best descriptions ever written about love comes from the bible- from 1 Corinthians 13. These are words often read at wedding ceremonies. ‘Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeing, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.’ In other words it … Continue reading →

What Love Is Not

Love means wanting the best for someone. It does not mean putting them in a compromising situation, or expecting them to sneak around and live a double life so you can have time together. It does not mean hurting them willfully by forcing them to choose between family and them. They’re all the things that people who have affairs do. And the excuse? They’re ‘in love.’ But I can’t help thinking it sounds more like selfishness because they are more concerned with what they want and getting their way rather than what is best for the other person, and selfishness … Continue reading →