Your chance to help/ Madonna/Voters/Father's Day/ $2 million to Washington State -

Wed Jun 15 14:19:31 EDT 2005

- LOOKING FOR COUPLES
- MADONNA ON MARRIAGE
- AND, THE VOTERS DECIDED....
- FATHER'S DAY
- ALMOST 2 MILLION AWARDED TO HELP FORM AND SUSTAIN HEALTHY MARRIAGE
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- LOOKING FOR COUPLES

One of our best and most responsible journalists is looking for couples for
two different articles for two different prominent women's magazines. Great
way to get our info about marriage education out there.  Puleeze help.
She's on deadline.  - diane

She is looking for subjects to interview for a story on marriage friendly
therapists - couples who saw a neutral (not marriage friendly) marital
therapist and split up after counseling AND couples who saw a
marriage-friendly therapist and stayed together through their marriage's
hard time.  If you're interested in being interviewed, e-mail
amandarobb at nyc.rr.com.

She would also like to interview women whose husbands have suffered a
mid-life slump -- a project they couldn't get off the ground or finish, a
husband whose career tanked while his wife's took off.
  She would like to know about the effect of the husband's slump on the
marriage, if the wife was able to help the husband back to productivity/a
feeling of meaning, and if so, HOW.
  If you'd like to be interviewed, e-mail amandarobb at nyc.rr.com.

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- MADONNA ON MARRIAGE
> Diane, Just in time for the 2005 Smart Marriage Conference!!! Check out the
> July issue of Ladies Home Journal...page 120. Interview with Madonna with MANY
> interesting quotes from her about marriage I am not a BIG fan of hers,
> but......She promotes marriage..refers to it as "hard and challenging and in
> so many words says if everyone got married and worked on their marriage..the
> world would be a MORE compassionate place.. WOW! Can't believe I lived long
> enough to read those words from her.
> Meg Haycraft
> TWOgether, Inc.
> Chicago,IL.
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- AND, THE VOTERS DECIDED....

> DeWine Is Corked
> 
> The GOP primary to select a successor for Ohio Rep. Rob Portman, who
> resigned to become U.S. Trade Representative, was supposed to be a cakewalk
> for Pat DeWine, the 37-year-old son of U.S. Senator Mike DeWine. But his
> campaign crashed and burned last night, as Mr. DeWine came in fourth. The
> primary in the overwhelmingly GOP district was won by former state Rep. Jean
> Schmidt.
> 
> Not only did Mr. DeWine boast enviable name recognition, a $1 million war
> chest and experience in Cincinnati city government, but last year he had
> successfully overcome negative publicity about his ugly divorce when he won
> election as a Hamilton County Commissioner. But in the searing heat of a
> Congressional campaign, he melted as voters learned that he had left his
> wife when she was pregnant to begin a relationship with a lobbyist.

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- FATHER'S DAY
Here are some quotes from the smartmarriages.com quotes page to remind us of
how important fathers are in all we do and all we are.

> The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their
> mother.
> Theodore Hesburgh

> Commenting on paternity establishment programs:  What these millions of
> children want and need is not a name on a form or a promise that the sheriff
> will arrest these guys if they don't pay child support. What they want and
> need is in-the-home, love-the-mother fathers,. . .
> David Blankenhorn, Family Scholars BLOG, www.marriagemovement.org

> It is instructive that 87 percent of those incarcerated in American prisons
> either don't know who their father is or have not had any contact with their
> fathers in years.
> Herbert London, Hudson Institute

> I talk and talk and talk, and I haven't taught people in 50 years what
> my father taught by example in one week.
> Mario Cuomo  (on why it's important to have a father in the home.)

> . . . in the end, there is nothing a man can do that a woman can¹t, except be
> a father.
> Frank Pittman

> Diane,
> A woman in my online group was being very negative about her husband and the
> group leader told her to try to think of some positives, even if it were
> difficult.  This is what she came up with.  I thought it was touching.  I
> just wanted you to see it.
> - - - - -  - - - -
> H was very helpful in the kitchen. He usually got home from work around 3
> PM, and he usually made dinner for the family. I don't get home until around
> 5 PM. He did all the yard work, took care of all car maintenance, always
> called me if he was going to be late, instilled complete trust, did the
> lion's share of bill paying because I hate to write due to carpal tunnel
> syndrome, balanced the checkbook, fixed the toilet when it would break
> (regularly), painted the outside of the house.
> 
> He usually remembered to put the toilet seat and lid down. He vacuumed
> occasionally. He spent lots of time with the kids. He bought advent
> calendars with chocolate behind each day for the kids every Christmas
> season. He laughed and joked a lot, and didn't like to be serious. He told
> me when I looked good. He learned to enjoy horses because our girls and I
> loved to ride.
> 
> He was willing to try new dishes I prepared. He loved my lasagna. He went to
> church with the family every Sunday, even though he had trouble staying
> awake during preaching. Although he doesn't like classical music, he went to
> almost every concert our daughters played in when they were in youth
> symphony (4 years for one and 6 years for the other).
> 
> He held my hand through 3 labors and deliveries, and whispered in my ear to
> encourage me. He lovingly dressed an open wound for me after surgery for a
> breast abscess after the birth of our 3rd. Four years later, he stood beside
> my bed as I was being wheeled to surgery to remove a breast due to cancer,
> and tears filled his eyes as they did mine. That was in 1989.
> 
> He walked the floor for hours at night with a sleepless, cranky child. He
> spooned cereal and baby food into little mouths, and endured spit-up and
> baby poop on his clothing. He helped me take care of my mother as she was
> dying of cancer.

> Is this what you mean, JJ? It was difficult to get started, but look what I
> accomplished! I also have a huge lump in my throat and tears in my eyes
> right now. He was a fantastic husband! My sister told me he "adored" me, and
> I guess that's correct for a lot of the 26 years we have been married.
> Unknown

> Ever wonder why people are so determined to reach for white picket fences,
> supposed normalcy, a nuclear family? Well, try growing up without one.
> Chuck Eddy, The Village Voice, 1/03

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- ALMOST 2 MILLION AWARDED TO HELP FORM AND SUSTAIN HEALTHY MARRIAGE

Go Yakima and Lakewood!!

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

HHS AWARDS WASHINGTON $1,990,000 FOR TWO CHILD SUPPORT DEMONSTRATIONS
Funds help children, support healthy marriage and parental relationships

HHS' Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Dr. Wade F. Horn today
announced $1,990,000 in federal funding for two demonstration projects in
the state of Washington to promote improvements in child support enforcement
efforts. The awards include $990,000 for a project in the city of Yakima and
$1 million for a project in Lakewood.

"These projects in the state of Washington will help improve the well-being
of children, promote paternity establishment and help parents provide
increased financial and emotional support for their children," Dr. Horn
said. "With today's announcement, we now have twelve child support
enforcement projects aimed at developing and testing new strategies in
communities across the nation to support the goals of child support
enforcement through services that help couples form and sustain healthy
marriages and parental relationships."

The grants are awarded under the authority of Section 1115 of the Social
Security Act and require that each project be designed to improve the
financial well-being of children or otherwise improve the operation of the
child support enforcement program. Section 1115 authorizes states to conduct
experimental, pilot or demonstration projects likely to assist in promoting
the objectives of the Social Security Act.

The goals of the demonstration projects include improving the establishment
of paternity and increasing financial support for children as well as
improving fathers' relationships with both their children and the mothers of
their children. The projects also include efforts to improve couple
relationships and reduce the potential for domestic violence. The projects
are required to screen participants for domestic violence and refer
appropriate individuals for services.

HHS' Administration for Children and Families will conduct a comprehensive
evaluation to assess how the projects were implemented and their effects on
families, children and the child support program.

The projects will each last five years and will be supplemented by private
funding. The grants represent additional funding to the state and will not
affect the amount of federal funds available to administer the child support
program. 

Services for Families | Working with ACF | Policy/Planning | About ACF | ACF
News     

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