Obama team Inquiry / CO & NM Call / D-Day & Holiday Reading/ Marriage Week - 12/16/08

Tue Dec 16 13:56:07 EST 2008

- THE NEW ADMINISTRATION IS ASKING FOR INPUT
- CALL FOR COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO
- D-DAY: DIVORCE DAY PREDICTIONS/HOLIDAY READING
- MARRIAGE WEEK CELEBRATION IN ORANGE COUNTY

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- WORKSHOPS SELECTED?

Some of you are emailing to ask whether or not your workshop application has
been accepted for the Orlando Smart Marriages Conference.  As it says on the
application: Presenters will be notified of acceptance by Feb 15, 2009.    I
will try to get notification out much earlier, but it will be AFTER the New
Year.  Watch your inbox.  Notification is made via email.  - diane

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- THE NEW ADMINISTRATION IS ASKING FOR INPUT

>From the transition team website:

> Our policy teams will be sharing new developments with you, the American
> people, and asking for feedback. It's up to you to respond.
> 
> Question from the Transition Team
> What social causes and service organizations are you a part of that make a
> difference in your community?
> 
> http://change.gov/page/content/discussservice

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- CALL FOR COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO

If you live/vote in Colorado or New Mexico and care about Marriage Education
TANF funding, Chris Gersten, Director of FAMLI, has scheduled a conference
call just for you. 

It's his opinion that your Senators Bingaman (NM) and Salazar (CO) (members
of the key Senate Finance Committee) can save marriage education funding
and, thus, need urgent and targeted attention.  Register for the call at:
http://www.famli.us/

CALL Date:  Tues, December 23
Time:  1PM  MST

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- D-DAY: DIVORCE DAY PREDICTIONS/HOLIDAY READING

This is from the UK, but we know that what happens there around issues of
marriage and divorce also happens here  usually worse.
This is an article from Divorce Online, the UK's leading divorce resource.
Those of you with Community Marriage Initiatives might make note to get info
about your classes/services to couples at this critical
"back-to-school-after-the-holidays" make it or break it time. Maybe saturate
with what's available as you begin your Marriage Week marketing....convince
them to hold on for one more holiday - Valentine's Day with Rx - marriage
education 'fall-back-in-love" classes. Or, maybe just get all such couples
to read When a Family Man Thinks Twice by Joshua Coleman, PhD.
It's written from a Dad's perspective, but works equally well on Moms.

In fact, I encourage ALL Marriage Education Activists to read this from time
to time.   It's an excellent, to the gut, reminder of why we row so hard,
and why we must keep at it.  It's why I keep it on the Smart Marriages Home
Page....so that I remember to read it every month or so. Thank you, Josh.
Maybe we should ask him to read it on CDs we could distribute - or post on
YouTube.  

> And you wouldn't know that going home to that [post-divorce] silence , a
> silence you craved many times while married, is a silence found more often on
> hillsides, after a large-scale fire.
> 
> And being married, you and your wife may have just put your child to bed
> with Harry Potter or the Little Engine That Could or other magical
> children's stories that teach the value of never giving up and struggling
> against the odds.  . . .

And so on, 
http://www.smartmarriages.com/coleman.html

- diane 
------------------------
D-DAY: 

More couples will decide to divorce on January 12 than any other day,
lawyers claim

[Some] Lawyers believe many couples whose marriages have reached breaking
point have stuck together over the past year as they calculated whether they
could afford to go their separate ways when the economy is heading into
recession. They predict they will stick together for one last Christmas as a
family then split up the Monday after their children go back to school
according to Divorce Online. Legal experts are expecting a record number of
separating spouses in the New Year as the rising unemployment rate and the
crumbling housing market puts relationships under greater strain.

It comes just weeks after academics claimed that a 10 per cent drop in
property prices leads to a 5 per cent increase in the divorce rate. Shelley
Hesford, of Cheshire law firm SAS Daniels, said: "We believe January 12,
2009, the first Monday after children return to school, will be D-day -
divorce day. We get more calls in the first few days of New Year from
couples wanting to separate or divorce than any other time of the year - and
the reasons behind divorce are often, though not always, based on money
problems having pushed a relationship to breaking point. And it's blindingly
obvious that a large part of the population has money worries. We've also
had a considerable number of enquiries from people who have been asking
about the divorce process but said they will be thinking things through over
the Christmas break. From first contact with one of our solicitors to the
instigation of proceedings has been, on average, around two or three times
as long in 2008 as in any previous year. In our experience, and going on the
evidence of previous years, combining those factors means we can expect far
more appointments than in recent years from couples who believe their
marriage is beyond repair."

She went on: "This has been simmering for most of 2008. People have been
delaying for a number of reasons - sometimes it's simply a worry about the
cost; many are concerned that divorcing when house prices are plummeting
means they'll lose a great deal of money from what they view as an
inevitable sale. Of course the key factor for many is their children - we
know of a surprisingly high number of couples who are having, very sadly,
one last family Christmas together before mum and dad split up."
<http://www.divorce-online.co.uk/news/newsroom.asp?story=3065>

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- MARRIAGE WEEK CELEBRATION IN ORANGE COUNTY

Here's a Marriage Week Celebration from Orange County. Now is the time to be
getting out your invitations. Send yours and I'll share your ideas with the
list and also post them on the Marriage Week ideas website.  Remember to
find a way to fill them with hope for the couples who are
struggling......throw out a lifeline.
http://www.smartmarriages.com/marriage.week.html
- diane 

An Evening Together Celebrating Marriage in Orange County
Feb 17, 6pm

Marriage Vow Renewal in the Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove California
Hors d'Oeuvres & Resources in the Courtyard
Candlelight Dining and Dancing in the Arboretum
Celebrity Speaker: Dr. John Townsend (co-author of the Boundary books)

$100 a couple/Cocktail Attire
RSVP: http://www.OCMarriage.com
Hosted by: Crystal Cathedral, OC Marriage and Relationship Research
Foundation, Inc. (RRF)

Special note to Marriage Educators:
We need Marriage Education resources to be available to the 500 to 600
people we're expecting to attend. We'll have 10 to 15 booths available for
$150 each and sponsorship opportunities will be available on a
first-come-first-served basis.
Reserve a booth at 949-752-2888 or DrMP at USrelationships.org
Sponsors and Resource contributors will be listed in the event program with
their information.

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13th Annual Smart Marriages® Conference, Shingle Creek Resort,
Orlando, Florida, July 6-12, 2009 (General Conference July 8-11)
Pre-Conference Training Institutes July 6-8
Post-Conference Training Institutes July 12

Shingle Creek Resort: http://www.rosenshinglecreek.com/

Conference schedule, registration, & exhibit information:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/conferencedetails.html

List your program and resources on the Directory of Classes at
http://www.smartmarriages.com/directory_browse.html

Order conference audio & video CD/DVD/MP3s: 800-241-7785 or
http://www.iPlaybackSmartMarriages.com

Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (CMFCE)
Diane Sollee, Director
5310 Belt Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015-1961
http://www.smartmarriages.com
202-362-3332

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