Thursday Thoughts to Ponder On: Secrets for Staying Married for Life

Whenever I go to SM Megamall, I always drop by Book Sale store, and more often than not, I walk out with 2 or 3 books in my hands.  I found lots of inspirational books from that store and also books for Faye who shares my love for reading.  

One of the inspiring books that I found was the Secrets for Staying Married for Life (Helpful Advice from Couples Married 50 years or more). 

It's a nice little book, easy to read and with lots of stories from several couples who have been married for 50 years.  What's so striking about the stories are they all injected with phrases from the Bible, from which the couples draw their strength.  

One story emphasized the importance of your spouse as your neighbor (as equated in the Bible: Love your neighbor as yourself).  Be the best of neighbors to your spouse.  Treat your partner exactly as you want to be treated --- with honor, respect, gratitude, gentleness, civility, patience, kindness, humility, politeness, thoughtfulness, forgiveness. God's command to you, His desire for you, can be summed up, once again, in one word.  Here are some inspiring points from the book:

• Talk things out and never give up. Never give up trying to express your feelings; never give up trying to understand your spouse. Communication can be hard work, but the rewards are worth it.
• Agree that it's okay to disagree. Invite God into your debates. He's a great referee, and He will eventually lead you to unity. He might bring one of you a fresh insight, convince one of you to submit to the other, or perhaps direct you both to a compromise solution.
• Everyone has problems --- just stay together and work them out.  Make God a partner in your marriage today, and He will make your marriage strong for all your tomorrows.
• Remember your vows. They're supposed to be true. Why not memorize your wedding vows? It wouldn't be any harder than learning the pledge of allegiance. Commit them to memory so that every time you look at your wedding ring, you can recite them, meditate on each one, and rededicate yourself to keeping them.
• Work together and always help each other. Sometimes you have to take a risk to discover this important truth about marriage: Your partner is your partner, not your enemy! When you succeed, your spouse wins, and vice versa. God has put the two of you together to help one another.
• Life isn't always sunshine; learn to survive the storms. Sometimes an argument gets out of hand and goes unresolved for far too long. At other times you find yourselves enduring a stormy season of life, when important matters like career, family, or health get caught up in a whirlwind and the outcome seems uncertain. The means of survival are the same: go to Jesus, ask for help, and trust God.
• Don't ever nag or holler at each other. Take advantage of what God offers. Pray for help when your spouse disappoints you. Ask for wisdom and the ability to forgive. Create a home where you love to spend time and where friends love to visit to enjoy the peace and love they feel there.
• Don't expect everything in your marriage to be perfect.  For the sake of our marriages, it's time to say goodbye to Never-Never Land. It's time to embrace life as it really is and grapple with its challenges. It's time to see our spouses as they really are, and not complain when the glass slipper falls off.
• When faced with a mistake, forgive and go on. Take a look at your heart and be willing to burn past records and forgive. After the smoke clears, the air of your marriage will be clear.
• Talk and pray your way through problems. You and your spouse are sure to encounter many problems in your marriage, both small and big. Communication is a powerful tool to help you fix them, but don't rely on your own proficiency as you try to make repairs. Get some help. God can take your hand as you struggle to use the tool of communication. Lending His wisdom and strength, He will enable you to achieve amazing results.

How to Make Sure Your Kids Enjoy Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner.  If you have young kids, it will be doubly fun for you, because they're the ones who are excited with the costumes and the candies. In my family, we were too late in celebrating Halloween, so, it was only Faye who enjoyed the costumes and the trick or treat in the nearby villages.  I remember the first time we went to Ayala Alabang for the trick or treat, the kids were very excited and overwhelmed with the decorations, the candies, and the costumes of the other kids.  The candies that they got lasted I think for 1 month!  After three years of going to Ayala Alabang, we stopped because of the horrendous traffic that we had to endure every time, most especially, on our third trick or treat.  We just joined some friends on the Halloween celebration in their village.

  

If you want to go the extra mile in making sure that your kids have fun, try the following:

• Play dress-up. Most schools celebrate Halloween with a costume parade and contest. If you're not the type of mom who makes her own kid's costumes, go visit Quiapo or Divisoria. They have lots of stores selling charater and princess costumes at affordable prices. 
• Treat yourselves to a bag of goodies. Let your kids participate in the Halloween activities in your village.  Make sure that you have more than enough loot bags and goodies for trick or treat.  Lollipops make for fun treats. They are colorful and sweet and you can buy a whole lot without denting your budget. Buy a stack of brown paper bags. Let your kids draw monsters and ghost outlines on it, and then fill with cheese-flavored popcorn.
• Camp out. You can also hold your Halloween party under the stars. Place tiki torches all over your lawn, spread out some mat, and party on!
• You can also cook and bake Halloween dinner at your house, and if you're good at it, you can offer your sweets to family and friends, and make money on the side. 

My 3rd Google Adsense Earnings: Thanks to Triond!

My Google Adsense earnings have been so slow, until I joined Triond. Ever since Triond integrated Google Adsense (last quarter of 2009) in all the articles submitted by its publishers, my Adsense earnings have increased tremendously. I got my first payment last April, my second payment last July, and just recently, my third payment, so, in effect, I'm reaching the minimum payment of $100 every 2 months. My articles have been earning steadily, and I continue to add more articles every month, and hopefully, I'll be able to reach the Google minimum payout every month.

My earnings in Triond are also good enough, but my goal is to get at least $100 per month, and I'm still far from that. But then, if I add both my earnings from Triond itself, and the Adsense earnings of my articles, I think I've already reached my goal, so, I should aim for a higher earning, right?

If you're interested to learn more about Triond, just click here.