Marriage Preparation
As of Saturday, Fred and I have completed our Couple to Couple program!! This program was apart of the marriage preparation that Fr. Jeff asked us to complete before the wedding. In their words: "A program to guide engaged couples in self-examination of their values, concerns, and views in preparation for marriage."
The way the program works is you recieve a mentor couple from a group of trained married couples at Epiphany (who have been married at least 3 years). The mentor couple faciliates a Foccus survey and discussions (similar to the Engaged Encounter). The Foccus stands for Faciliating Open Couple Communication and Understanding Study- it is a self-diagnostic inventory designed to help couples learn more about themselves and their unique relationship. The Couple to Couple program uses it as a tool to help couples identify and work through issues before marriage.
There is also homework- a book called "A Decision to Love" by John and Susan Midgley. It was a very interesting book which had us working out a budget worksheet and potential communication barriers.
Joe and Linda Neihaus were our mentor couple and we really enjoyed our time with them. They were very insightful and gave very good advice. They really understood our situation and how traveling/distance will be apart of our first few years of marriage. They gave us a lot to think about and discuss. I really feel like I understood where Fred was coming from better after the Couple-to-Couple program.
Thankfully, Joe and Linda were so understanding about our situation that they traveled to Nashville to meet with us for the last meeting! This was extremely useful for Fred and I to have a weekend where we could concentrate on being together and not traveling the entire time. We were able to go paintballing with some of my co-workers on Saturday and on Sunday we were able to see the Temptations in concert. I actually got to see Fred and not the side of his head while he is driving!
I am sure there are some things that we still have to discuss but after the marriage preparation I feel like we are more open to disagreeing and challenging eachother so we can resolve our issues in a Win/Win (or Lifegiving) way!
135 days until the wedding!!!
The way the program works is you recieve a mentor couple from a group of trained married couples at Epiphany (who have been married at least 3 years). The mentor couple faciliates a Foccus survey and discussions (similar to the Engaged Encounter). The Foccus stands for Faciliating Open Couple Communication and Understanding Study- it is a self-diagnostic inventory designed to help couples learn more about themselves and their unique relationship. The Couple to Couple program uses it as a tool to help couples identify and work through issues before marriage.
There is also homework- a book called "A Decision to Love" by John and Susan Midgley. It was a very interesting book which had us working out a budget worksheet and potential communication barriers.
Joe and Linda Neihaus were our mentor couple and we really enjoyed our time with them. They were very insightful and gave very good advice. They really understood our situation and how traveling/distance will be apart of our first few years of marriage. They gave us a lot to think about and discuss. I really feel like I understood where Fred was coming from better after the Couple-to-Couple program.
Thankfully, Joe and Linda were so understanding about our situation that they traveled to Nashville to meet with us for the last meeting! This was extremely useful for Fred and I to have a weekend where we could concentrate on being together and not traveling the entire time. We were able to go paintballing with some of my co-workers on Saturday and on Sunday we were able to see the Temptations in concert. I actually got to see Fred and not the side of his head while he is driving!
I am sure there are some things that we still have to discuss but after the marriage preparation I feel like we are more open to disagreeing and challenging eachother so we can resolve our issues in a Win/Win (or Lifegiving) way!
135 days until the wedding!!!
posted by kydanigurl | 10:12 AM
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