The Love Triangle (not what you think)

First, take a look at my very first bulb flower to bloom yesterday! It's a snow crocus, aptly named since today, a mere one day after it bloomed, it's covered in snow. I'm not sure how it will fair, but I sure enjoyed it for it's one day of glory:).

Now on to the second speakers from Focus on Marriage.

Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott- It was wonderful to get to hear from this couple. I read one of their books back before Travis and I were married called, "Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts". It was a great book that really laid some good foundation for starting a marriage. Their primary focus for the conference was the concept of a love triangle. Each side of the triangle represents one of three elements that make up any marriage, Passion, Intimacy, and Commitment. They talked about how love is fluid and we move through different seasons and changes in each of these areas throughout life, but that each is important and we need to ask each other how we're doing in each of these areas regularly. Much of what they shared was review from what I've read/heard before, but it was a fresh reminder to be purposeful in the maintenence of my marriage, to make time to talk about our marriage, which we don't always think to do. The biggest thing I took from what they shared was the part about men and intimacy. As women, we love intimacy, we love those deep talks on the couch with our mate, being raw with what's in our hearts, talking about our relationship and how we can better meet each other's needs. It comes more naturally to us to go there, but Leslie talked about how men are wired a little differently. For them, they are most likely to open up and share their hearts when they're doing something with us that we both enjoy. She shared some stories about how this has worked in marriages she's come accross, it was both funny and inspiring! It really made me think about how many times Travis has talked about wanting more time to do fun things with just me and how hard it can be to make time for that when we're in the throws of raising young children. And yet, it's important to put our marriage first, even when it takes a lot of effort.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekened! Spring is here, that's worth celebrating!