Search Results for: blog living separate lives

Separated But Not Really

Sometimes it takes the insights of someone else to come to the realization about an issue in your life.  That was the case when fellow blogger Michele Cheplic recently posted, “No Chance to Miss Your Kid.”  The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. My 18-year-old son is two weeks away from graduating technical school (Security Forces) at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.  His first duty station is going to be Turkey, which we anticipated to not happen until March. Yesterday I received word from him that his orders to go will likely be earlier, possibly the beginning of February.  … Continue reading →

Who’s Separated, Who’s Not?

Once again, it is time to throw the celebrity marriage dice and see who comes up with snake eyes. First up this week – a surprise split. After about a week’s worth of rumors, supermodel Heidi Klum and singer Seal have announced their separation. No mention of divorce yet, but can it really be far behind? No one knows, especially since Courtney Cox and David Arquette have been separated for well over a year now. But, this cannot be good for this super couple. Klum and Seal began dating in 2004 while Klum was pregnant with ex-boyfriend Flavio Briatore’s child … Continue reading →

Living with a Cat with FIV

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FIV stands for feline immunodeficiency virus — it is a virus related to feline leukemia (FeLV) and HIV in humans that can impair a cat’s ability to fight off infections. Once, a diagnosis of FIV was considered a death sentence. These days, cats with FIV can live long and happy lives. Many FIV positive cats live a decade or more with the disease! Here are some tips to help you if your share your home with a cat who is FIV positive. Take care that your FIV positive cat does not spread the disease to others. The best way to … Continue reading →

Spencer and Heidi: A Case Study in Living Together

A couple weeks back I wrote about a show I watch on MTV called The Hills. It follows the lives of four girls as they deal with friends, careers, dating, and all the other stuff life throws at you in your early twenties. One of the girls is Heidi. Last season she hooked up with a guy named Spencer. They had a tumultuous beginning. He seemed to be two-timing her with one of her good friends, Audrina. (Someone else the show follows.) Then when Heidi was supposed to go out of town but a last minute change kept her in … Continue reading →

Are Separate Bedrooms An Answer?

Sometimes it can be very difficult to balance your need to satisfy yourself and to satisfy your spouse. In our marriage, we both have a need for some relative privacy and to create our own space. For many years, we shared office space in the home, but in the last couple of years, we’ve had our own offices and that’s allowed us to express ourselves in our own space. Many times, spouses ask the question: what can I do? Sometimes, it’s not what you can do for your spouse, but what they need to do for themselves. For example, when … Continue reading →

Marriage Tips: Having Separate Lives is Not a Good Plan

Independence is a good thing. Yet the fact is, in marriage, we are interdependent on each other. We need each other financially, socially and emotionally. While we may have independent needs and even independent interests, we cannot lead separate lives from each other. What we need to do is balance our lives and our needs with the needs of our marriages. Separate Lives You may wonder how a couple can live together and yet live their lives separately. When a married couple is actually living independently of each other it’s called living in parallel. They can do this even when … Continue reading →

Reaching the One

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Since I am a part of the new Relief Society presidency in our newly combined ward, we have been going on visits to get to know some of the other members that we don’t know already. Since we had portions of 3 wards combined into one, it is a daunting task to get to know everyone. However, I have found that when you visit someone in their home, you truly get a better sense of who they are, and how you can help them. I think this is why the idea of Visiting Teaching is so important. I’m realizing this … Continue reading →

Building a Marriage on Dependency and Independence

I was recently reading an article that stated the key to a happy marriage was living separate lives.  That this is how you feel validated as an individual. What’s interesting about this is that in order to feel validated, you need to feel important and acknowledged.  That generally doesn’t come from within.  Sure, it should be a part of feeling validated as a person.  But since we are humans, we crave receiving this from others. Isn’t that where a spouse comes in? Don’t get me wrong.  I am not saying that you need to be so dependent on your mate … Continue reading →

Thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Today is Thanksgiving and while my family that is close is not celebrating until tomorrow I can’t help but sit down for a few minutes today and think about all the things I’m thankful for as it relates to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. First, and foremost, I am thankful that I have a loving Heavenly Father that sent his son, Jesus Christ to die for my sins. I don’t often reflect on that miracle, but I do try and be thankful for it everyday. But, when you think about it, it really is miraculous. To have Christ as my … Continue reading →

We Cannot Live on Love Alone

During my first year of marriage I wasn’t as happy as I should have been. Despite the supposed “honeymoon period,” I often felt listless and depressed. It took me a while to figure out why. Jonathan has an excellent job with the government. Unfortunately it’s located in a rural area, so most of the jobs are related to the military base that his position serves. Few jobs exist outside of the technology industry. Basically, my plan to start freelance work once we had children, so I could stay at home with them, had to be bumped up a few years … Continue reading →