Hispanic Marriage Day / Healthy Marriage, Healthy Heart/Prayer/ REALITY TV - 7/10/08

[Smartmarriages]

- HISPANIC MARRIAGE DAY LAUNCHED AT THE SF SMART MARRIAGES CONFERENCE
- HEALTHY MARRIAGE, HEALTHY HEART
- PRAYER AND MARRIAGE
- ARRANGED MARRIAGE: NEW REALITY SHOW
- BABY BORROWERS: REALITY TV

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- HISPANIC MARRIAGE DAY LAUNCHED AT THE SF SMART MARRIAGES CONFERENCE

National Hispanic Marriage Day/
Festival Nacional del Matrimonio Hispano-Latino 2008
Strengthening Families...Strengthens Communities...Strengthens the Nation

The first annual National Hispanic Marriage Day Sunday, Oct 12, 2008 will
kick off an awareness campaign to remind us that the greatest heritage we
can leave are strong marriages and families with strong values. Hispanic
Marriage Day will be the closing celebration for Hispanic Heritage Month
(Sept 15 - Oct 15) in many cities. We encourage faith based and community
groups across the country to mobilize by planning special events that
celebrate marriages which we will post on the National Hispanic Marriage Day
(HHMD) website. Visit the site to post your events, for resources, and to
share your ideas with others. http://www.nationalhispanicmarriageday.com/

National Hispanic Marriage Day 2008 / Festival Nacional del Matrimonio
Hispano-Latino is a project of Asociación Misión Latina, a 501c3 non-profit
corporation, in cooperation with Carolyn Curtis, Executive Director of the
Healthy Marriage Project in Sacramento, CA.

Asociación Misión Latina's passion is to be a catalyst for transforming the
Hispanic-Latino community and strengthening marriages by raising awareness
and providing education and follow-up support. Our goal is to make an impact
that will not only strengthen today's families, but our nation for
generations to come. http://www.festivalnacionaldelmatrimonio.com

If you would like to partner with us contact:
Enid Reyes 
National Hispanic Marriage Day Chair
hispanicmarriageday at gmail.com <mailto:hispanicmarriageday at gmail.com>
President, Asociación Misión Latina
214-859-3443 

For ideas from the Smart Marriages Conference, visit the Latino/Hispanic
track at: http://www.smartmarriages.com/latino.track.html

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- HEALTHY MARRIAGE, HEALTHY HEART

Here are links to two articles on bolstering your marriage health to bolster
your physical health:

This one "Married to Heart Health" is interesting because it's by Dr.
Agatston, the South Beach Diet guy and is on MSN's home page, so will be
read by zillions. He writes that as a cardiologist he monitors the status of
his patients' relationships for one reason: Marriage affects your risk of
having a heart attack.  We're making progress! You might visit the site and
leave a comment on how couples can bolster their marriage health.
Read here: 
http://tinyurl.com/6dfgfh

The second, same theme: "A Good Marriage Creates a Healthy Heart", we love
because it quotes our own Patty Howell, VP of the California Healthy
Marriage Coalition who gives guidelines for how to improve your marital
health. They also include a link the the California Healthy Marriage
Coalition, but, alas, it doesn't work.
Read it here: 
http://tinyurl.com/5qtlbm

For much much more on this, listen to the recording of the highly acclaimed
workshop: 

> #758-517
> Healthcare Connection Strategies
> Jennifer Baker, PsyD, Duane Nelson, MS, Carolyn Curtis, PhD, Don Ferguson,
> PhD, Jana Staton, PhD
> Learn how to provide marriage & relationship education in health care settings
> ­ Relationship First Aid Kits, ob-gyn connections, PPT for busy docs, and
> training health care providers for brief interventions.


Order conference recordings online:
http://www.iplaybacksmartmarriages.com/

Or, download an order form to fax:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/uploaded/Playback.08.orderform.pdf

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- PRAYER AND MARRIAGE

These surveys remind me to encourage you to listen to the workshop on the
very promising Prayer and Marriage research being done using the PREP
program. -diane

> #758-714
> Prayer and Marriage Education
> Steven Beach, PhD, Frank Fincham, PhD, Tera Hurt, PhD
> Learn how this project added prayer to engage rural African Americans; how
> prayer enhanced learning; and how to add prayer to any existing marriage
> program.  Order at 800-241-7785


Church Attendance Beneficial to Marriage, Researcher Says
July 2, 2008 
Michael Gryboski
Correspondent

(CNSNews.com) - Married couples who attend church together tend to be
happier than couples who rarely or never attend services, according to
sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox of the University of Virginia.

Using three nationally representative surveys - the General Social Survey
(GSS), the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), and the
National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) - Wilcox found that married
church-going Americans across denominational and racial classifications were
more likely to describe themselves as "very happy" than their non-religious
counterparts.

Couples who attended church regularly were also less likely to divorce than
couples who seldom attended church services, Wilcox found.

"Attending church only seems to help couples when they attend together,"
Wilcox told Cybercast News Service. "But when they do, they are
significantly happier in their marriages, and they are much less likely to
divorce, compared to couples who do not attend church. I would say that
church attendance is a beneficial component of marriage when it is done
together."

Wilcox explained that regular church attendance offers certain positive
benefits to a married couple: "Churches supply moral norms like sexual
fidelity and forgiveness, family-friendly social networks that lend support
to couples facing the ordinary joys and challenges of married life, and a
faith that helps couples make sense of the difficulties in their lives-from
unemployment to illness-that can harm their marriages."

"So, in a word, the couple that prays together stays together," said Wilcox.

However, Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry, took issue with the findings. In
an interview with Cybercast News Service, Flynn questioned whether there is
an actual cause-and-effect relationship between church attendance and good
marriages.

"Some studies have reported a correlation between church attendance and
successful marriages," Flynn said. "That may reflect the fact that males who
are settled in their lives and highly socialized are both more likely to
succeed in their marriages and more likely to attend church."

Flynn said other studies have suggested a link between church membership and
better health or longer life.

"That doesn't necessarily mean that believing in God makes you healthier,"
he said. "Once again, it may mean that folks who have their lives together
tend to avoid substance abuse, practice good health habits, and go to
church."

Skeptics of the claim that religion is beneficial to marriage point to a
2001 Barna Research poll that showed that individuals who describe
themselves as "born-again" Christians were just as likely or more likely to
divorce than other Christians and non-Christians.

"A few studies have shown that seculars who do marry have a better track
record at staying married than members of Southern Baptists and other
conservative denominations," the poll found. "Those seculars who bother to
marry may be marrying more successful than very traditional,
male-authoritarian Christians."

Wilcox, while acknowledging there is truth to the Barna findings, pointed
out that his research goes beyond "just looking at people's beliefs."

"Men and women who hold a religious faith and put that faith into practice
by attending church on a regular basis do look different in the marital
realm," Wilcox said.

"At least in the marriage arena, faith alone doesn't work. You've got to
combine faith and works to enjoy a happy and stable marriage. You need the
consistent message, the accountability, and the support a church community
can provide to really benefit from religious faith," he added.

Wilcox presented his findings in a new book, "Is Religion an Answer?
Marriage, Fatherhood, and the Male Problematic," published by the Institute
for American Values.

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11578546
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- ARRANGED MARRIAGE: NEW REALITY SHOW

It sounds like they heard the John Van Epp keynote, Waiting To Marry when he
advised to listen to what your parents/friends think about your prospective
mate. - diane
 
> Lifetime Television and Magical Elves, the production company behind such hits
> as Project Greenlight (HBO), Top Chef (Emmy-nominated) and Project Runway
> (Emmy-nominated / Peabody Award-winning), are teaming up to introduce America
> to an ancient practice that may have a great deal to teach our modern
> relationships.
> 
> It's a way of finding a lifelong mate that works in many cosmopolitan cultures
> of today, and over the course of their first year of marriage, four couples
> will show us how our own culture can embrace and make love work - when
> marriage comes first.
> 
> We are looking for four people who will ask their closest loved ones - whether
> family or friends - to team up and choose a spouse for them; they know you,
> they love you, they want what's best for you; they may even have better
> judgment about who would make a good lifetime partner for you.
> 
> You must be ready to commit to marriage. Your loved ones will match you with
> someone based on shared goals, values, experiences and the commitment to
> making it work. It will be a leap of faith that this choice will be the basis
> for a healthy, loving, sturdy relationship, and you must be willing to make
> the leap.
> 
> Click here to apply today!
> http://www.arrangedmarriagetv.com/apply.html
> 
> Click here for more information: http://www.arrangedmarriagetv.com

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- BABY BORROWERS: REALITY TV
Have you seen the Baby Borrowers reality show? The concept is that you lend
a baby for three days to slow down in-love teen couples who are in a hurry
to get married and have babies.  Sounded pretty bizarre but I recorded and
watched the first three episodes last night and have decided it just might
be the best abstinence education/reality check teens out there. Just as
effective as Oprah's show that featured teen moms talking about the reality
of their lives which had such power.  I'm assuming teens will watch Baby
Borrowers.  I admit I fast forwarded through a lot of it, and that it's
flawed in that, of course, these are not their own babies so they don't know
how to handle them (as they would know if they'd taken care of and bonded
with them from birth). BUT there are the time/sleep/money/cooking/parenting
decision reality check aspects. First they had three days with babies
approximately 8 - 18 months old, and then toddlers - the terrible 2s/3s -
and next will provide care for pre-teens, then teens, and conclude with
providing elder care.  I'd appreciate hearing from any of you that watched
it, or seeing reviews from popular press. Sorry, I forget what channel it's
on but it's Wed nights at 9pm EST. - diane

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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 will be posted as
it becomes available at:
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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