Flyers/Advance/ Team Obama / Fathers stay? / Alabama Conference & Teens / Gov Crist - 12/12/08

[Smartmarriages]

- CONFERENCE FLYERS: PLASTER THEM EVERYWHERE
- CONFERENCE ADVANCE PAYMENT
- TEAM OBAMA ASKING FOR INPUT
- ALABAMA CHMI CONFERENCE
- ALABAMA COMMUNITY HEALTHY MARRIAGE INITIATIVE TEEN SITE
- WHY UNMARRIED FATHERS STAY
- FLORIDA GOVERNOR CRIST MARRIES

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- CONFERENCE FLYERS: PLASTER THEM EVERYWHERE

We just created a new Orlando Smart Marriages flyer.  Take a look and you'll
get a sneak peek at the brochure cover - the photo in the top left corner.
If you're one of the listed presenters (only space for a few) let me know if
your name is misspelled, or your Institute title wrong - or if anyone sees
any other errors. I'm sure they're there and appreciate all the help I can
get.   - diane 

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- CONFERENCE ADVANCE PAYMENT

>  Diane, 
>         I need to prepay some expense this year for 2 ministry
> couples who oversee marriage ministry in our church. Can you give me more
> details on cost of registration.

Several folks have needed to use 2008 dollars to pay in advance for the 2009
Smart Marriages Conference.   Send payment and I'll send you a receipt to
use when you complete their registrations in March (select workshops after
the brochures are printed).

Conference fees are posted at:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/conference.fees.html

The general conference fee includes all workshops and keynotes.  You can pay
now and make workshop selections in March.

If they plan to attend pre and post conference training institutes, those
are an extra fee - the schedule is here:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/institutes.html

Tues and Thurs night banquets and the Wed Fireproof lunch are also extra:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/banquets.html

To pay in advance, simply send a check payable to CMFCE Conference and a
letter stating who and what payment is for to:

CMFCE, LLC
5310 Belt Rd NW
Washington, DC 20015

 - diane 

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- TEAM OBAMA ASKING FOR INPUT

Wow, Patty Howell took this notice and improved it. I want to share her
instructions to her California list with you.  Note that team Obama is
asking for input, especially on child well being.  The front page of the
Tuesday New York Times prominently features a story about the likelihood of
the new President's plans to seek major spending for early learning and
other programs for children http://tinyurl.com/472poy.  Let's be sure to
help them make the connection that marriage is the best Head Start/Early
Education/Anti-Poverty program anywhere.  Invest in Marriage to invest in
children!  - diane 

> Dear California Marriage Education supporters,
> 
> The Obama Administration Transition Team is asking for input on social issues
> of concern to Americans.  This represents what I believe is a significant
> opportunity in the course of our nation's history for us to communicate the
> importance of Marriage Education/Relationship Skills Training and to encourage
> the continuation (and expansion) of funding to help couples form and sustain
> healthy marriages and families.
> 
> The way to give your input to the Obama Transition Team is to click on the
> link below, and then under "Agenda" at the top of the screen, pick a social
> cause about which you wish to give input and then click "Join the Discussion".
> There will be a simple form to fill out, including a section where you can
> write the message you want to convey.
> 
> I have already submitted inputs under "Family" and "Health Care".  In
> addition, you may also wish to talk about how Marriage Education/Relationship
> Skills training link to other topics such as "Education", "Women", "Economy",
> "Poverty", etc.
> 
> Please share your expertise and your passion!  We know that Marriage Education
> and Relationship Skills represent cost-effective interventions that can
> prevent numerous costly social problems.  I encourage you to take seriously
> this special opportunity to share this key information with people who can
> help us have a positive impact in the years ahead.
> 
> Patty Howell

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- ALABAMA CHMI CONFERENCE

Registration is open for the Alabama Healthy Marriages, Healthy Families,
and Responsible Fatherhood Conference on Best Practices, Feb 3-5, 2009
In Montgomery.  
http://www.myvizimail.com/vizicenter/link.php?M=2520&N=49&L=9&F=T

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- ALABAMA COMMUNITY HEALTHY MARRIAGE INITIATIVE TEEN SITE

And, speaking of the Alabama Initiative, check out their site for teen
relationships: http://www.realteenrelationships.com/index.php

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- WHY UNMARRIED FATHERS STAY

For this one, visit the website.  The MANY comments and author replies are
as interesting as the article on study design and restraints.  -d

Why Unmarried Fathers Stay
By Lisa Belkin
The New York Times
Dec 16, 2008 

In a cross between academic analysis and an update to the ³man-catching²
guide ³The Rules,² researchers at the University of Maryland in College Park
have found that the ³best chance of Œreeling-in¹ an unmarried father and
building the foundations for a stable family life are the critical months of
pregnancy,² according to the school¹s own analysis of the research.

Getting a man to the altar is far less a guarantee that he will stick around
than getting him emotionally involved in the preparation before a baby is
born, concludes the study, which is published in the December ³Journal of
Marriage and Family.² The report is based on data about 1,686 couples, most
of them unmarried, from the ongoing Fragile Families Child Well Being Study,
which is a joint project between Princeton and Columbia.

Describing the findings yesterday, Natasha J. Cabrera, professor of human
development at Maryland and a researcher at the university¹s Population
Research Center said: ³Unmarried dads are less likely to drift away if they
are involved with their partner during this vital period when a family can
begin to bond.²

By looking at the answers to three questions from the data set ‹ Were you
present at the birth of the child? During the baby¹s mother¹s pregnancy did
you give her money or buy things for the baby? Did you help her in other
ways like providing transportation and doing chores? ‹ Professor Cabrera and
her colleagues found a predictive relationship between degree of involvement
and the likelihood that the father would still be in the child¹s life three
years later. That likelihood was not changed whether the parents did or did
not marry in the interim.

³It is the decision that couples make to strengthen commitment and move in
together that is important, rather than marital status per se,² Cabrera
said. ³You don¹t need much imagination to see that a live-in dad is likely
to be more involved in child care and family life. It¹s the personal
investment in the child¹s and the mother¹s future that counts the most, not
the paperwork.²

http://tinyurl.com/676gk8

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- FLORIDA GOVERNOR CRIST MARRIES

Sharing this because Smart Marriages Conference will be in Florida in '09.
Good to be aware of the state marriage news.  And, maybe someone on the list
can get the Gov and First Lady to take a marriage education class and come
talk about how wonderful it was - open the conference in Orlando.  - diane

Florida Gov. Crist's wedding tonight marries money to politics
By Fred Tasker
Miami Herald
December 12, 2008 

It'll be the social event of the year in . . . St. Pete. And in Tallahassee:
Crist will be the first Florida governor to marry in office since Claude
Kirk in 1967.

And it will create an interesting social-political duo. Crist has spent much
of his life in public office as state senator, education commissioner,
attorney general and Florida governor. He was on the shortlist to be the
running mate of GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Rome is a socialite millionaire and president of Franco American Novelty,
her family's New York Halloween costume company. Court records in her recent
divorce said she made more than $1 million a year and was accustomed to
chauffeurs and nannies for her two children.


. . . For Crist, it was love at first sight when he met Rome on a trip to
New York in September 2007. There was a whirlwind of dates -- dinner at the
White House with President George W. Bush, a Jimmy Buffett concert -- before
he proposed to her last July.

''I was taken with her right away,'' Crist told The Associated Press. "You
know how it is when you fall in love. It's pretty overwhelming -- a very
cool thing.''

In fact, Crist is walking around with ''puppy dog eyes,'' longtime friend
Brent Sembler says. "It's been college since I've seen Charlie act like
this.''

Rome returns the sentiments.

''I've never been happier in my life,'' she told the Tampa Tribune. "I have
been so blessed to have finally found the man of my dreams. I am so in love
with Charlie Crist, I cannot express how blessed I feel.''

It's the second marriage for both. Crist was married to his college
sweetheart in 1980, but it lasted less than a year. Rome was married to Blue
Star Jets president Todd Rome for 14 years before they divorced last March.
Their daughters, Skylar, 10, and Jessica, 12, go to school in New York.

Full story: 
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/810399.html

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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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