1 %/Parenting Ed/ Laugh Your Way/ Marriage-Feeding/Singles Week - 8/06

Mon Aug 21 16:16:17 EDT 2006

- "1% SOLUTION" TELE-CONF CALL TUES AUG 22 AT 2PM EST
- PARENTING EDUCATION TO STRENGTHEN MARRIAGE
- MARKETING CHATTANOOGA STYLE
- LAUGH YOUR WAY TO A BETTER MARRIAGE SEMINAR SEPT 29-30, IN CHATTANOOGA
- MOMS, DON'T FORGET TO FEED YOUR MARRIAGES
- SIGN OF THE TIMES

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-   "1% SOLUTION" TELE-CONF CALL TUES AUG 22 AT 2PM EST

I've heard enthusiastic support from those that were on the first call Aug
15th.  The "1% Solution" is a campaign directed by Chris Gersten and FAMLI
to help you organize to tap state TANF money for marriage education efforts.
You must register for the call and get the phone number and code at
http://www.famli.us/signup.php

CORRECTION: I was wrong.  The calls are completely FREE - your long distance
charges are subsidized/paid for.

Tomorrows call (Aug 22nd )is for the following states (and other curious
folks - you CAN listen in even if your state isn't listed. Listen and
learn.) 
States for Aug 22nd:
CA
CO
IN
KY
MD
MI
NC
NY
OH
PA
VA
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- PARENTING EDUCATION TO STRENGTHEN MARRIAGE

> Diane, Regarding the NPR story about fighting poverty in America:  What the
> low income couples in Joe Jones' couples' skills program in Baltimore need
> next is training in parenting skills. If the goal is to improve children's
> outcomes, in addition to couples becoming married, children's adjustment is
> more closely related to the quality of parenting skills than any other factor.
> How to communicate and resolve conflict with your partner does not necessarily
> translate to good parenting. The more challenges families have and the less
> functional they are, the more instruction needs to be tailored to their
> specific circumstances. In other words, while upper income couples may be able
> to transfer couples relationship skills to parenting skills (is there any
> evidence that this is true?), less priveleged couples are likely to need more
> structure and help to improve their parenting. Parenting skills such as
> discipline, supervision, managing problem behavior, praise, attending to
> prosocial behavior, point systems, etc. are not automatically learned  (or
> taught) in couples classes. I expect that there is a reciprocal relationship
> between couples' success in parenting and in their marriage. Disagreeing about
> how to deal with their children's challenging behavior has destroyed many
> marriages, especially in stepfamilies.
> Don Gordon, http://www.parentingwisely.com

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- MARKETING CHATTANOOGA STYLE

I'm sharing this article (below) about a "Laugh Your Way" event co-sponsored
by First Things First of Chattanooga as an example of what you can do to
strengthen marriage in your community while also raising funds for you CHMI.
To sample Gungor's work, you can listen to several of his very highly rated
(!!) Smart Marriages Conference sessions. You might also want to listen to
the "Marketing Chattanooga Style" session by Julie Baumgardner, director of
First Things First to hear how she organizes her very successful community
marriage/fundraising events.  See info on sessions below. - diane

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- LAUGH YOUR WAY TO A BETTER MARRIAGE SEMINAR SEPT 29-30, IN CHATTANOOGA
The Chattanoogan 
August 17, 2006

The Laugh Your Way To A Better Marriage seminar is set for Friday and
Saturday. Sept. 29-30, at Ridgedale Baptist Church.

Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage is a two-day event that gets couples to
laugh about and to make changes to, their marriage. Most marriage seminars
tend to be serious, technical and emotionally taxing. The Laugh Your Way to
a Better Marriage seminar is very different because it helps couples by
dealing with tough issues in a way that is fun and non-threatening. There
are no workbooks to fill out, no emotional ³break-out² sessions, and no one
is ever forced to speak in front of people.

The setting is more like that of a comedy club than that of a typical
marriage seminar. Yet couples continually testify to the life changing
effects this incredible event has on even the most troubled marriages, said
officials.

The seminar is hosted by pastor, motivational speaker, musician and writer,
Mark Gungor. With 30 years of speaking all around the globe, Mr. Gungor¹s
latest endeavor is to help couples unlock the secrets of a successful
marriage.

Mr. Gungor¹s unique blend of humor and truth reaches to the core of
audiences seeking to improve their marital lives. Enhancing existing
relationships by using his thought provoking style of humor, Mr. Gungor
infuses and empowers his audience with invaluable information, said
officials.

On Friday night, Mr. Gungor breaks down the walls by making couples laugh
about the differences between men and women in the first session, ³The Tale
of Two Brains.² In this session he shows couples how their problems may
result from how men and women think about life in a different way. He also
tells couples that the struggles in their marriages are not the result of a
heart problem, but a head problem.

Saturday morning there are three different sessions. The first session is
called ³The #1 Key to Incredible Sex.² In this session, Mr. Gungor shows the
importance of sex in marriage. He shows how the sexual messages of our
culture are fundamentally flawed at best and destructive at worst. He then
shows the steps they can take to achieving a great and healthy sex life,
ending with the #1 Key to Incredible Sex.

Other sessions include ³Why Does He/She Do That!?² where Mr. Gungor shows
couples how to discover the true reason why their spouse does what he or she
does. ³How to Stay Married and NOT Kill Anybody² is the final session. He
explains how to avoid building resentment in your marriage and he gives the
key to staying married for a lifetime.

Tickets are $50 a couple and available at First Things First, Ridgedale
Baptist Church, online at www.laughyourway.com, or by calling
1-866-52-LAUGH. Childcare for children 10 years old and younger is also
available at a cost of $5 per child / $15 per family maximum. For childcare
reservations please call (423) 267-5383.

For more information contact Bobby Daniels with First Things First at (423)
267-5383, bobby at firstthings.org.

Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage is presented by First Things First and
is sponsored by the Hamilton Country Baptist Association, Summit Counseling
and J103.

-------------------------
> Order at 800-241-7785 on DVD, CD or MP3.
> 
>> B-3 Sunday, Keynote
>> Flying Our Flags!
>> Mark Gungor
>> The Flag Page is a simple assessment tool that helps couples understand their
>> own and each other's motivations - WHY they do what they do - and what it
>> takes for each of them to be truly happy. It's not a personality or
>> "match-up"
>> test. It's about knowing - and supporting - the one you're with.  Flag Page
>> marriages report improved communication and connection, reduced conflict, and
>> a greater sense of purpose.
>  
>> 756-801
>> The #1 Key to Incredible Sex
>> Mark Gungor
>> Learn a humorous and incredibly effective approach to understanding the
>> misinformation that kills off sex and passion, and how to turn things around.
> 
>> 755-P-9 Keynote 
>> Saturday Night Live! - Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage
>> Mark Gungor
>> Starting with "The Tale of Two Brains" Gungor shows couples how their
>> problems > result from how man and women think in different ways and how they
>> can resolve > their differences and stay happily married for life.

> 756-418
> Marketing Chattanooga Style
> Julie Baumgardner, MS
> Learn strategies that use both paid and free advertising to get out the
> message about marriage, fathering, and abstinence and increase participation
> in community marriage events and classes.

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> - MOMS, DON'T FORGET TO FEED YOUR MARRIAGES

And, just to remind us that there are always several perspectives on every
thing, here is Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on breast feeding, or as he puts it,
"why nurturing a passionate marriage is more important for the well-being of
a child than breast feeding."

> - MOMS, DON'T FORGET TO FEED YOUR MARRIAGES
> BeliefNet.com 
> August 9, 2006

> The science section of The New York Times recently featured a lengthy study on
> breast-feeding and its benefits. Breast-feeding, the study found, helps reduce
> the chances of infection, cold, diarrhea, illness, and even later childhood
> obesity. No one argues with any of these benefits, but what the report
> neglects to mention, and what I have personally witnessed when counseling
> couples, is how breast-feeding can come between a husband and wife.
> 
> One of the episodes of "Shalom in the Home" this season featured a young
> couple in Pennsylvania who were madly in love when they married, but had
> slowly drifted apart after the birth of two children. Indeed, a Harvard
> University study maintains that a couples' love life decreases by 74 percent
> in the first year after the birth of a child. Now, given that sex is nearly
> dead in the American bedroom anyway, with national sex rates in marriage
> figuring at about once a week, a three-quarters decrease means that sex takes
> place once every few months‹sparse pickings indeed.

> I am surprised that when scientists discuss all the benefits of
> breast-feeding, they neglect its most negative consequence. If breast-feeding
> gets in the way of the marriage‹if it means that a husband and wife never go
> out on dates, or that the mother is so tired from always waking up with the
> baby that she has no energy to ever be intimate with her husband‹the child
> will probably end up worse off, however many colds or bouts with diarrhea he
> now avoids. 

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/194/story_19451_1.html

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- SIGN OF THE TIMES
> 
> U.S. Census Bureau News release:
> 
> ³National Singles Week² was started by the Buckeye Singles Council in Ohio in
> the 1980s to celebrate single life and recognize singles and their
> contributions to society. The week is now widely observed during the third
> full week of September (Sept. 17-23 in 2006) as ³Unmarried and Single
> Americans Week,² an acknowledgment that many unmarried Americans do not
> identify with the word ³single² because they are parents, have partners or are
> widowed. 
> 
>  89.8 million - The number of unmarried and single Americans in 2005. This
> group comprised 41 percent of all U.S. residents age 18 and older.
>  
> For more singles/unmarried facts:
> 
>http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_>>
special_editions/007285.html

> ##############################

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11th Annual Smart Marriages Conference, Denver Adam's Mark Hotel,
June 28-July 1, 2007
Pre-Conference Training Institutes June 26-28
Post-Conference Training Institutes July 2-3
Details: http://www.smartmarriages.com/conferencedetails.html

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