Communication in Marriage...

Notes from Sunday School at Southside Baptist Church. Jackson Boen is the teacher for our Young Married's class.

Ephesians 4:29-32 = The "prerequisite" for today's study.

6 Gold Nuggets from the Boen's (Jackson and Becky):
1. Understand men & women are different:
- doesn't mean one is better than the other, just different
- women's needs:companionship, significance, emotional responsiveness (regarding intimacy)
- men's needs: admiration (the "superhero syndrome"), physical responsiveness, regarding intimacy), companionship
2. use your ears
- relative verses: Prov 1:5; 17:1; 18:2,13-15; James 1:19
- our spouses perception is our reality: don't waste too much time defending your comments, but deal w/ the reality/perceptions. (if you say something and it's taken the wrong way, that is simply how your spouse perceived it and that perception should be addressed as opposed to defending what you originally said)
3. be intentional
- spend 15-20 minutes each day talking. "couch time"
- schedule some talking "dates". give each other 3 questions to answer the day prior to the date, then talk about them on your date.
- be creative: letters, notes, cards, shoe polish car, sidewalk chalk messages, etc.
4. learn his/her love language. there are 5:
- acts of service
- touch
- quality time
- gifts
- words of encouragement
(note: mine is quality time and words of encouragement, but jennifer's are different. so I have to make sure i'm speaking "her" love language and not mine; make sure i'm not solely trying to give her words of encouragement when her #1 love language might be acts of service. It is, however, to remember that all are important and good.)
5. Dream big and plan.
crazy things are going to happen. what if you were asked to move out of the state b/c of your job. do you know if you spouse and/or family would support you in that? talk about it now before you have to make the decision.
6. Learn how to apologize.
(note: i had to skip out early for worship practice, so i missed the explanation on this one, but it seems pretty self explanatory).

Leafy Ocotillo...

After 1 year, our Ocotillo plant is finally putting out some leaves. Only on one stem, but hey, at least we know its still alive. It appears to be in the beginning stages of leafing out b/c even the one stem still only has a few leaves. I'll be watching this over the next few weeks to see if we get any more leaves. As always, here are a couple pics:

Southside Shootout...

You know you're in a good church when you have activities like a shootout. This was "advertised" as a Father & Son shootout, but was really open to anyone who wanted to come out and shoot. We met out at the Police Training Center on East Lake Road by Fort Phantom Lake just outside of Abilene city limits. Pretty awesome place. It was hot, but we had a lot of fun. It was cool to see dad's there with their kids, husbands and wives, and friends; all there having a great time of fellowship and bonding. Here are a few pics: