KADENCE TURNS TWELVE TODAY

10,11,12. She turns Twelve today, my youngest grand-girl. And I do marvel at the sensation of speed for the passing of years, since on Kadence’s second birthday I wrote this … “She is a cuddler. She comes to me with ease and climbs aboard my lap, lays her head on my chest and loves me. We will walk for long times together, her head on my shoulder as I sing nonsensical songs while she tucks into my warmth and the reverb of my voice. It’s a good match.”

I reprise a poem that I composed shortly after she was born. It has turned out suitably descriptive of the young woman celebrating today. 

DAYS OLD, SHE SLEEPS
Long awaited she came, first a wife for a son
Then a daughter for them both
A sister for their boy.

A new sight for older eyes
Another life to love and nurture.
And now on one of those following days
The two girls sleep
Gina and her child.
'Kadence' meaning “with rhythm”
Is rarely given
So Kadence with a K she is
A strident girl, a girl with a voice
A girl who will be heard
A girl who will sing and laugh
And make parents proud
And give grandparents joy.
They sleep now, one only days old
But soon we will wonder where the years went. 

And today, March 13, 2019, Kadence will fully possess each moment, posing, smiling and filling everyone around her with cheerfulness. Happy Big Birthday sweet girl, Kadence.

Marriage Should be Better

A NEW LEARNING
After being married for forty-one years and after officiating hundreds of marriages over forty years, and after observing the confusion, dysfunction, dissolution and calamity of many marriages I know that marriages should be better. Whether they can be is going to always be a matter for two individuals within a marriage to determine.

Having been around the block a few times I have seen good speakers address the subject. They come around cyclically, different spokespeople in every decade as though adjusting the important value lessons within the culture of the time. Currently one of the best presenters is Mark Gungor who is the senior pastor of Celebration Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a church that is multi-site with three campuses. He is also a motivational speaker, author, musician, producer and CEO of Laugh Your Way America. He has been married to Debbie for 34 years and has two married children and three grandchildren. Mark has developed seminars in which he teaches in a comedic manner principles that empower marriages. I am sure that his approach could become clichéd and tiresome as all these tutorials can, but Mark is an effective communicator even on video.

The very fact that you can draw a husband and wife to the same venue to listen together is a breakthrough in some marriages. Humour and truth are a good blend for effecting learning. I could consume 30 minutes of your time right now if you watch all the links I am going to list for you. These are on YouTube

1. Men’s Brains and Women’s Brains – 10:28 minutes
2. Men's Sex Drive – 3:54 minutes
3. Ask More Than Once – 5:21 minutes
4. Rainbow – 2:36 minutes
5. Song of Solomon Girl - 4:06 minutes

Mark’s popular seminar, Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage® is available for purchase as a DVD and has now as a book. It can be a helpful personal or group study. Bailing on a marriage is a pretty common solution for people these days. In these formats, then content explores numerous subjects such as the myth of a "soul mate," the different ways men and women think, the conflicting levels of libido, and the necessity to forgive. Gungor asserts what many of us have heard before that the key to marital bliss is not romance but work and skill. Couples must work at maintaining their relationship and developing the skills to make it succeed.

Mark has been featured on Focus on the Family, TBN and ABC News. His daily radio program, The Better Marriage Minute, is heard on 250 radio stations. In the fall of 2008, his new radio talk show, The Mark Gungor Radio Show, debuted, broadcasting live over the Internet weekly. He is also the creator of a new television series, Love, Marriage, and Stinking Thinking.