Join Me in The Marriage Challenge- and a Giveaway!
Feb 4, 2012 by Breanna 
***GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*** Congratulations to our winners Ticia and Tess!!!
The mister and I have been married over 7 years now, and we’ve received a lot of marriage advice over the years. One of the best pieces of advice we’ve received is to regularly read through books about marriage together. We’ve averaged about one book per year, some have been incredible and others…well others were less than beneficial. But they’ve all been helpful in getting us to talk about our marriage, our priorities, our goals and the challenges we face together. It’s the conversations inspired by these books that have done the most good in our marriage.
A few years ago some friends of ours, James and Andrea Wood, put out an idea on Facebook to take one full year to work on improving our marriages through intentional weekly conversations. I loved the idea, and so did tons of our friends. Over the next year James and Andrea posted weekly conversation prompts for each couple to explore. It was an awesome year of fun, silly, difficult, sometimes uncomfortable, always encouraging and helpful conversations. One of the best parts of the experience was having a big group of people also going through the same conversations. We were able to share our thoughts and experiences of the weekly conversations, ask for advice or prayer if needed. Though the purpose was to improve our marriages, having a larger group of people who were doing the same thing gave a tremendous sense of community and support. James and Andrea have a marriage philosophy that permeated each weekly prompt: “You are the experts of your marriage.” This idea is so empowering, and so refreshing in a sea of people who want to tell you how your marriage “should” be done.
The year-long experiment went so well, that James and Andrea compiled the weekly conversation starters into a book! It’s available in paperback or as an e-book for download. In it you’ll find 52 weekly topics, each with a few thoughts or reflections from the authors, and conversation prompts for you and your significant other to explore. Each week is 1-2 pages of reading, nothing too overwhelming or time consuming! I think you’ll find, as I did, that being intentional about having these conversations will really bless, encourage and grow your marriage! This is also a really great tool for pre-marital couples! This book is not about relationships in crisis, it’s all about making good marriages better! It’s written from an optimistic, proactive perspective that is so uplifting!
A note on the authors: I’ve known James and Andrea for over 10 years now. Not only are they both incredibly delightful humans, they have an outstanding marriage that I have long admired. Why? These people WORK HARD at it. They are some of the most intentional people at being married I’ve ever known. (One of my favorite things that they do is an annual “State of the Marriage” retreat where they spend a weekend having lots of dedicated time to talk about the ins and outs of their marriage- good and bad.) They are also some of the most transparent people I’ve known- not hiding the rough spots of their lives from the outside world so as to appear perfect, but allowing those around them to see the good and not-as-good parts of their marriage. This intentional transparency is what makes their marriage such a powerful tool to other couples because it provides a real life example of how “happily ever after” really happens…through hard work, perseverance and commitment.
Here’s the exciting news! It comes in three parts:
- The e-book is available FOR FREE right now! Just download the free Kindle edition on Amazon through Monday, February 6, 2012. (hint: you don’t have to have a kindle or any other fancy electronic book reader to download this. You can download and read it on your smart phone or computer too!)
- James and Andrea are launching another year-long group on The Marriage Challenge Facebook page on March 1, 2012!! This means that you can have the same support and community of people going through the book together that I did. This is such a valuable part of the experience! My husband and I will be joining in the group this time around too…I’d sure love to see you there!
- You can win 1 of 2 paperback copies of the book! If you’ve missed out on the free download, or you just really love having a physical book to use, you’re in luck! I’m giving away 2 Marriage Challenge prize packs including:
- A paperback copy of The Marriage Challenge
- One of my at home date night cans to help you with ideas for quality time together to foster your weekly conversations
- A custom made mix tape of awesome love-related music created just for you by me! (and by “mix tape” I of course mean cd, but it just sounds WRONG to say “mix cd.”) I promise it will NOT be filled with sappy love songs from the 90′s. Probably.
- Like The Marriage Challenge Facebook page
- Follow The Marriage Challenge Blog
- Leave a comment on this post of the best piece of marriage advice you’ve ever heard
- Tweet about this giveaway! “Enter this giveaway and be the expert of your marriage with #themarriagechallenge http://ow.ly/8Sxlh” Leave a comment with the link to your tweet.
2 winners will be chosen at random and announced on Sunday, February 12, 2012.
(All of the above opinions are my own. I have not been paid for this post. I was provided with 2 books for the giveaway.)
Related Posts
-
Spring Into Free Flavor Sweepstakes with International Delight
Posted on Mar 23, 2012
-
15 at Home Date Ideas
Posted on Sep 22, 2011
-
Blogher Swag Giveaway Winner!
Posted on Aug 27, 2011
-
Blogher Swag- What’s Really in There?!
Posted on Aug 20, 2011
Tags
Share This
Wow, what a fantastic giveaway this is!! Thanks so much for the chance to win, I have liked the Facebook page, become a follower on their blog and am commenting here!!
The BEST piece of marriage advice we were given……NEVER go to bed mad. It’s simple, but so true.
Off to download the book!!
Great giveaway!
The best piece of advice we received is ‘when you’re upset or angry, take a deep breath and remember WHY you married this person’. That pause helps keep a disagreement from escalating.
I followed the website.
Best advice? Go on dates, often.
The best piece of advice that I ever received was to never stop doing the things you did before you were married. Keep dating your spouse and doing those little special things that you did before you were married.
I liked the facebook page.
My tip for marriage happiness is letting God into your life and marriage.
I liked hte Marriage Challenge. I looked to see if it was on the Nook but didn’t come up with it. I came up with some other…… interesting titles.
Hmmm…… Best piece of advice……… The most amusing was to “fight naked, because after a while you’ll forget about the fight.”
Thanks I downloaded the book, And we are going to do it!!
Hmmm best advice, keep God in the center of your marriage.
Welcome to the Marriage Challenge, Ticia and Tess, and congratulations!
Congratulations Tricia and Tess!