FOUR WAYS TO MAKE YOUR MARRIAGE GREATER IN 2012

Late December. . .It’s that time of year for resolutions. Often they’re about our weight, exercise, harmful habits we want to break, and changing our job performance. Those are worthwhile topics for attention as we launch a new year.

Beyond those pursuits, we recommend another quest. We invite every married couple who reads our blog to take 4 specific steps to make your marriage greater than it has ever been–even greater than you expected it could be.

Watch our brief video above to see what these 4 steps are. Of course, we hope you and your spouse watch the video together. Afterward, discuss how you are going to apply our recommendations in your marriage. But don’t stop there–watch the video again two months later, to check how well you are following our L-O-V-E formula.

ORDER OUR AUDIO CD, “LISTEN TO THE SPOUSE IN YOUR HOUSE!”
No matter what you have been through as a married couple, you’ll become much closer when you boost your listening skills. So order our audio CD–”Listen to the Spouse in Your House”–today.

You can click on the link under the video, and scroll down the Web site page until you find the CD’s description and ordering instructions. Or you can click here to access the Web site page:
http://tinyurl.com/ljr54y

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We welcome your comments and questions. Just go to the end of the blog entry in the section below and click NO COMMENTS if none have been made, or if comments have been made click 1 comment, 2 comments, or whatever the comments button says. The comments section will appear.

SPEAKING/SEMINAR ENGAGEMENTS
We’re available for speeches and seminars for your organization. Note that stronger families generate more harmony in your workplace, and elevated productivity. Call us: 678-316-4300

So, you and your spouse have gotten an invitation to a family reunion. Should you attend?

Having just returned from a reunion of Sandra’s relatives in Baton Rouge–the first time this group of first cousins has gotten together in many years–we are eager to tell you, through this video, why a reunion will bring you closer together as a couple.

We invite you to hear about our very rewarding reunion with cousins who came from Georgia, Louisiana, Wisconsin, and New York to reminisce about the family’s heritage. Our brief video includes photos of some of the relatives–and even the famous LSU mascot, Mike the Tiger.

Now. . .please play the video–and see why we are confident that your family reunion will bring you closer together as a couple.

ORDER OUR AUDIO CD, “LISTEN TO THE SPOUSE IN YOUR HOUSE!”
No matter what you have been through as a married couple, you’ll become much closer when you boost your listening skills. So order our audio CD–”Listen to the Spouse in Your House”–today.

You can click on the link under the video, and scroll down the Web site page until you find the CD’s description and ordering instructions. Or you can click here to access the Web site page:
http://tinyurl.com/ljr54y

ADD YOUR COMMENT
We welcome your comments and questions. Just go to the end of the blog entry in the section below and click NO COMMENTS if none have been made, or if comments have been made click 1 comment, 2 comments, or whatever the comments button says. The comments section will appear.

With Kevin Butler Just Before UGA Kickoff

In the photo above we are smiling big as we stand beside Kevin Butler. As long-time Georgia football fans, it’s no wonder we were delighted to spend a few minutes with Butler–after spotting him just outside the stadium before a Georgia game, and introducing ourselves. Why was meeting Kevin Butler such a special treat?

When Kevin Butler kicked a 60 yard game-winning field goal for the University of Georgia Bulldogs in 1984 against Clemson University, he became an instant folk hero. Georgia fans continued to marvel at Butler’s kicking skills throughout his professional career. During his ten years with the Chicago Bears, he became the team’s all-time leading scorer with 1,116 points. After concluding his playing days with the Arizona Cardinals, he became the first kicker ever inducted into the National Football League Hall of Fame.

We’re happy to say that Kevin Butler was exceptionally cordial and friendly, and graciously accepted our invitation to join us for a photograph as our conversation wound down.

Have you as a couple met any of your heroes? If so, we’ll be happy to hear about your memorable experiences.

ORDER OUR AUDIO CD, “LISTEN TO THE SPOUSE IN YOUR HOUSE”
No matter what you have been through as a married couple, you’ll become much closer when you boost your listening skills. So order our audio CD today:
http://tinyurl.com/ljr54y

NOTE: You’ll see that you have a choice between ordering the audio CD, or ordering “Listen to the Spouse in Your House” as a downloadable MP3.

ADD YOUR COMMENT
We welcome your comments and questions. Just go to the end of the blog entry in the section below and click NO COMMENTS if none have been made, or if comments have been made click 1 comment, 2 comments, or whatever the comments button says. The comments section will appear.

Enjoying Tybee Island Beach Near Savannah

For us, beaches are ideal spots for celebrations. Most of our vacations have involved beautiful beaches, in locales that include St. Lucia, Antigua, Grand Cayman, and Aruba.

Fortunately, from our home base in Gainesville, GA, we don’t have to travel long distances to find splendid beach scenes. In the photo on the left, we enjoyed a day on Tybee Island, near Savannah, Georgia.

Speaking of celebrations. . .we hope that today on July 4th you are celebrating–as we are, gratefully–the freedoms that America’s founders made possible for us.

Please join us in recognizing “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

No, certainly you wouldn’t invite New York Congressman Anthony Weiner to teach a Marriage and Family seminar. Yet, strangely enough, totally by accident his behavior–continuing to send lewd messages and photos over the Internet even after he had been married for a year–showed married couples how NOT to behave in their interactions with the opposite gender.

In this brief video (just over eight minutes), Sandra and I talk about 3 potential instances that could prompt a man to contact a woman he doesn’t know. First, we describe the wrong way–the impulsive, hormone-driven way Anthony Weiner might choose. Second, in each case we describe the appropriate professional way the man should interact with the lady.

Our conclusion: OK to be texting, but not sexting. OK to be friendly, but not flirting.

LISTENING TO EACH OTHER ENRICHED OUR MARRIAGE
Near the end of the interview, we say–as we have said before in every blog message–that ours has not been a storybook marriage. Yet the last few years became wonderful, and stayed that way. . .primarily because we started really listening to each other.

ORDER OUR AUDIO CD, “LISTEN TO THE SPOUSE IN YOUR HOUSE”
No matter what you have been through as a married couple, you’ll become much closer when you boost your listening skills. So order our audio CD today:
http://tinyurl.com/ljr54y

ADD YOUR COMMENT
We welcome your comments and questions. Just go to the end of the blog entry in the section below and click NO COMMENTS if none have been made, or if comments have been made click 1 comment, 2 comments, or whatever the comments button says. The comments section will appear.

Yes, it’s that time of year again–for making your New Year’s Resolution.

However, in this video we take a different slant about resolutions, moving away from the most popular topics, such as diet, exercise, and the family budget.

It’s well worth 7 minutes of your time to hear about our 3-part resolution for 2011–and then adapt it to your needs and goals as a couple.

Once you have watched the video, we invite you to order our popular audio CD, Listen to the Spouse in Your House.

You’ll find the CD on Bill’s shopping cart on his Web site.

NOTE: Also, you can purchase “Listen to the Spouse in Your House” as a down-loadable MP3.

Here’s the shopping cart link:
http://www.commlampton.com/store/index.htm

And very importantly. . .We wish you a Happy New Year!

For 69 days most of the civilized world followed the fate of 33 Chilean miners trapped a half-mile below the earth’s surface. Fortunately, immense human effort and technology brought them safely to their loved ones.

Yet there are other trapped people who experience the same terrible feelings–isolation, hopelessness, frustration, fear, and even resentment. We are referring to many married couples.

What qualifies us to talk about those destructive sensations? Because we experienced them ourselves for decades. Eventually, we are thrilled to say, as a couple we learned how to climb out of our despair–and find the happiness we had hoped for and expected when we pledged our love at the altar.

Like those desperate miners, we escaped the darkness and found much-welcomed, long awaited light.

We invite you to watch this brief video, in which we describe the Five Rung Ladder that we used to climb from the cave of despair to the pinnacle of joyful love. We are confident that ladder will work for you, too.

ORDER OUR AUDIO CD
One of the major ways we became closer as a couple was that we improved our listening skills–dramatically. We explain how you and your spouse can do that as well, in our popular audio CD. To order this CD–”Listen to the Spouse in Your House”–visit this Web page:
http://www.commlampton.com/store/index.htm

ADD YOUR COMMENT
We welcome your comments and questions.  Just go to the end of the blog entry in the section below and click NO COMMENTS if none have been made, or if comments have been made click 1 comment, 2 comments, or whatever the comments button says. The comments section will appear.

Ora Bolin Watson left this earth at age ninety-six in 2006, departing from Columbia, Mississippi. Yet her daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren, and great grandchildren believe wholeheartedly that she didn’t leave them.

How strongly do we still feel her presence? Well, strongly enough to carry out a promise we made to her when we celebrated her 90th birthday, along with some of her best friends. A memorable conversation took place that evening with the family.

“How long do you want to live?” we asked her lightheartedly. “To 100?”

“Not quite,” she responded. “Think I’ll settle for 99.”

After chuckling, we continued: “Guess what. We’re going to celebrate your 100th birthday big-time. Hope you show up.”

Ora laughed the hearty laugh we had become accustomed to through decades of her zestful life.

Four years prior to her promised 100th birthday party, Ora Watson succumbed to an illness that had kept her confined for more than two years. Amazingly—and yet typically—she never complained about her discomfort, nor about her declining condition. Her bouncy sense of humor did not fade at all.

As her 100th birthday approached on July 20, 2010, we kept the phone lines busy (from Gainesville, Georgia to Savannah, Georgia and to Columbia, South Carolina) planning a celebration of her life. We agreed we could do that best by engaging in fun activities she would have enjoyed in her younger years.

With pink being her favorite color, we ordered a lovely bouquet of pink roses for the dining room table—which we set with the finest tablecloth and silverware. After our Friday dinner, we enjoyed a huge birthday cake, decorated with tasty pink roses, inscribed: “Happy Birthday,  Mopmee.” Mopmee, you see, was the name her grandchildren called her as soon as they started talking. And they never stopped referring to her that way.

Then the nostalgic celebration of her life and legacy began, as we looked at picture albums, shared stories about her, and watched videos of family occasions and visits that included her.

However, our celebration became very active, too, as Mopmee would have wanted. On Saturday afternoon, the seven of us who had gathered for her 100th birthday drove from Gainesville to nearby Helen, Georgia, and then spent more than two hours tubing down the river. Believe us, this was not a lazy outing. In addition to encountering the challenge of rapids and rocks, we endured a brief thunderstorm halfway through our tubing venture. Bet she was laughing hard when the storm surprised us.

Sunday included another festive outing, this one much fancier. We attended “Phantom of the Opera” at the fabulous Fox Theater in nearby Atlanta. Throughout the performance, we thought about how Mopmee would have enjoyed the magnificent scenery, the stirring music, the compelling story—and just being with us.

Make no mistake, please. Her 100th birthday tugged heavily at our hearts. We missed her dearly. We thought about how much family always meant to her. We remembered her unselfish life of service, while she taught in the Columbia public schools and remained active in civic clubs and in her beloved First United Methodist Church. Sure, we had moments of moist eyes, even tears. That’s natural, and a clear signal that love between us remains strong.

Even so, joy filled our family get-together on her behalf. We talked about the funniest experiences about her that each of us treasured. We cherished the good time we had while tubing and then attending a splendid stage performance the next day.

So, you see, Ora Watson really did participate in her 100th birthday party—quite vivaciously– just as we had invited her to do in 2006.

We thank her for taking a few hours away from her beloved “Watt” (her longtime earthly mate, now her celestial mate) who probably said something like, “Yeah, go ahead. After all, they invited you and you can bet they expect you to show up.”

Why have we shared our very personal story with you? Because one day you will face an important family milestone—birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s, or anniversary—that revolves around a loved one whose hand you can no longer hold physically. When that happens, we encourage you to give your grief its proper expression. And then move ahead to joyfully celebrate all the good things about this person that enriched your life beyond description, both then and now.

ADD YOUR COMMENT
We welcome your comments and questions about moving triumphantly through grief, into the joy of treasured memories.  Just go to the end of the blog entry in the section below and click NO COMMENTS if none have been made, or if comments have been made click 1 comment, 2 comments, or whatever the comments button says. The comments section will appear.

What words could adequately describe the fresh attraction between a male and female? Ecstatic, mind-boggling, magical, mysterious, compelling, spellbinding? Those words help, yet fall far short of portraying fully what a man and woman feel when the first sparks begin to fly.

We know about that indescribable, tingling sensation. Bill was 17 and Sandra 14 when we started dating. Many times, we said “I love you,” though we could just as candidly have said, “I lust you.”

Amazingly, our relationship has gone through three stages–stages we believe every married couple can achieve:
Lust Stage
Realistic Stage
Deeper Romance and Support Stage

Please note: Ours has not been a fairy-tale marriage. In this video, we talk candidly about the numerous times we considered “splitsville.” To the surprise of many (including ourselves), we endured. We’re glad we did. That’s why we want to help you move from what Sandra calls “the bad times to the beautiful times.”

Just stay with us for 13 minutes, and then examine how you, too, can “live bigger, love better,” resulting in lifetime love.

We want to hear from you, and so do our blog subscribers. So please follow the instructions below to add your comments, questions, suggestions, and other thoughts.

Also, keep in mind that Sandra and Bill are available for professional speaking engagements and seminars for your company and your association.

COMMENT: To Comment on This Blog Entry: Click on the title above the video, and it will bring up the comment space.

INVITATION: To order our just-produced audio CD–”Listen to the Spouse in Your House”–click the CONTACT button at the top of this page, and follow the directions, or click the blue line beneath the video. We are confident that every couple who listens to this audio CD together will strengthen their marriage communication.

CONTACT: To contact Bill and Sandra, click on the Contact button at the top of this page.

Millions of people worldwide celebrate St. Patrick’s Day annually–especially in Savannah, Georgia, where our daughter lives with her husband and children. And soon we’ll all celebrate the arrival of Spring, with warmer temperatures and beautiful blossoms.

We invite you to watch this brief video, which explains why it’s important for married couples to celebrate major family events. Even beyond that, couples enrich their lives by including friends in family festivities–and joining friends in their special moments.

Now, as our video advises–go celebrate!

COMMENT: To Comment on This Blog Entry: Click on the title above the video, and it will bring up the comment space.

INVITATION: To order our just-produced audio CD–”Listen to the Spouse in Your House”–click the CONTACT button at the top of this page, and follow the directions. We are confident that every couple who listens to this audio CD together will strengthen their marriage communication.

CONTACT: To contact Bill and Sandra, click on the Contact button at the top of this page.