HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

HAPPY 1st ANNIVERSARY

BILL AND STEPHANIE HRISKO

Stephanie ADORES Bill! :)

Prom 2009

Ahh Yes! The newlywed class had their very own prom. All over Columbia, high schools were having proms and so we got in on the fun too. This awesome group of newlyweds love to have fun. We are so thankful for the friendships that have formed that will surely last a lifetime. Emily and Caroline
Lindsey and Joey

Emily and Hudson

Amy and Brent

Warren, Margaret, Tyler, Caroline, Hudson, Emily Kynn, Lorie, Cynthia, Joey, Lindsey, Bill, Stephanie, Brent, Amy

Let me know if there are any other pictures that we should post!. We'd love to see them.

A funny song

To all the husbands: These are things you do not want to say to your wife. (:)

Tim Hawkins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK2OakMoW_c

Fighting Fair in Marriage

Yesterday we discussed rules for Fighting Fair in Marriage. We had great discussion and a fun time laughing together. All of us, at one time or another, deal with conflict. How awesome that we have a God who helps us and encourages us in all areas of our marriage. Listed below are a few rules to practice. (Next week we will look at dealing with anger. How about askingGod if you have an angry heart. If you do, he specializes in revealing your anger, forgiving, and setting you free to experience his love and peace. He is good!)

RULES FOR FIGHTING FAIR IN MARRIAGE

1. Face each other.
2. Keep the fight to one issue at a time.
3. Have respect for the other person.
4. Remain focused on the present.
5. Stay focused on understanding the other person first and being understood second.
6. Focus on problem not the person.
7. Avoid distractions.
8. Keep it clean and tactful. (No name calling)
9. Take a time out if required.
10. You can not refuse to talk about a problem.
11. Make an appointment for discussion. (Do this if the other person is very tired, hungry, etc. Timing is very important sometimes.)
12. Don't interrupt.
13. Remember that your reality is not the only reality.

***Remember that you married him/her because you loved him/her. Some times you need to get back to the basics.

(source unknown)

Thank you to Stephanie

A big thank you to Stephanie for heading up our meal to the internationals. We appreciate all of your service. Also, thanks to everyone who provided the food. :)

Quarterly Review #6

This is the last post on quarterly reviews. I would like to thank Danny and Laura for sharing their marriage with all of us. It is our hope that you have found encouragement for your marriage. May God bless you.

Welcome to guests writers Danny and Laura Stiller

OUR FAVORITES & WHY

By Laura Stiller

Laura's Favorite Quarterly Reviews:

Camping at Myrtle Beach - I LOVED this quarterly review because we didn't have a schedule or agenda. Our only goals were to eat, play together on the beach, rent a tandem bicycle and read. In fact, the second day of our quarterly review was spent entirely on the beach playing in the water, reading under an umbrella, talking whenever we felt like it, and eating snacks.

PREP Marriage Video Series - This was a very simple quarterly review. We rented a cabin with a TV and DVD player in "The-Middle-of-No-Where," Oklahoma. We packed all of our own food so we wouldn't have to leave, and we just hung out there for two nights. We watched the PREP dvd series and even took the time to practice the communication techniques they taught. It's alot hard to apply these in real life, in the middle of a fight - but this dvd series gave us communication tools and techniques for working through arguments/differences that we will use for the rest of our lives.

Danny's Favorite Quarterly Reviews:

Christmas Parade in Gatlinburg, TN - Danny likes this quarterly review because it was cold, Christmassy and there was fake snow all over this city and in the Christmas parade! He also enjoyed our drive through the Smokey Mountain National Park and stopping to play in the river.

Kerrville Kayaking - This was just a relaxing camping weekend where Danny enjoyed getting on the river and watching the sunset.To read about all of our quarterly reviews, click here.

Danny and Laura Stiller were married on August 27, 2005. They fell in love while leading an inner city ministry together after college in Bryan, Texas. Two weeks before their wedding, while Laura was busy finalizing wedding plans and dreaming of marital bliss, Danny decided they needed to move to Greenville, SC for a better job opportunity and to pay off debt FASTER. Somehow, during their first two years of marriage, they moved four times, and squeezed there in the middle was a year in Columbia, SC and the Harris' newlywed Sunday School class. They are now half-way through the four years it takes to get a Masters of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, and are maintaining their sanity with date nights, quarterly reviews, and lots of hearty "communication." They blog regularly at: thestillers.blogspot.com.

Quarterly Review #5

Welcome guest writers, Danny and Laura Stiller

SPECIFIC QUARTERLY REVIEW IDEAS

by Laura Stiller

Each of our quarter reviews look different (I'll get to specific quarterly review ideas in a minute), but this has kept them fresh and fun for us. Some of our trips have been strictly for play. Any talk of our marriage just flows, it's not structured or planned. Some of our weekend trips have been fully structured complete with an agenda, discussion topics and intentional questions - sometimes even with homework (or books to read BEFORE the quarterly review in preparation for a discussion).We've needed both of these at different times in our marriage. Danny has been stellar at discerning what types of things to plan for our quarterly reviews and deciding what kind of tone our week needs to take.Let me give you a few suggestions. Please keep in mind that each marriage/couple is vastly different, so part of what will make quarterly reviews beneficial for you is how you tweak and customize them to your needs and personalities.

Free/Cheap Activities:

tubing
outdoor movie
camp out
find a local event rent a tandem bicycle
go back to places with memories
watercolor
go site-seeing with your camera - take pictures together (this is on our "to-do" list)

To Foster Deep Conversation:
attend a marriage conference
plan your future together by reverse engineering your life
take & discuss temperament spiritual gifts, leadership and/or personality tests
watch the PREP Marriage Video Seriesexplore career goals/dreams together

Sample Discussion Questions:
What has been the biggest adjustment being married?
What has been the hardest struggle in our marriage?
What have you struggled with personally since getting married?
What has been most unexpected thing about marriage?
What has been the biggest blessing since getting married?
What do you want to focus on/improve next quarter (marriage & personally)?
Things we've learned since getting married.
What's your spiritual life been like this quarter?
What are some things you've prayed for this quarter?
What are some ways that I have (and maybe currently do) hurt you?
What can I do so that I don't hurt you anymore.
Establish some "Action Steps" for building/maintaining intimacy (in anticipation of a busier semester).
Write down 10 things that make you feel loved.
What are our spiritual, physical, emotional, social and intellectual goals for the next Quarter?
What have our challenging/stressful circumstances been this quarter & how can we relieve the stress? (ie: packing lunches, planning menus, doing laundry, etc.)
What are our prayer needs this quarter (because if we don't feel like we need God then we won't go to Him)?
What is the most humanly impossible thing you'll ask God to do this year?
Where are some places we'd like to try to go on future quarterly reviews? (ie: Grand Canyon, West Coast, New Orleans - we dream big folks)
What did we accomplish this quarter that we had set as goals last quarter?
What's improved in our relationship this quarter?
And that, my new friends, is the book The Stillers have written for themselves on Quarterly Reviews since sitting on a worn leather couch the summer of 2005. It is still being written, with many editions to come.

Danny and Laura Stiller were married on August 27, 2005. They fell in love while leading an inner city ministry together after college in Bryan, Texas. Two weeks before their wedding, while Laura was busy finalizing wedding plans and dreaming of marital bliss, Danny decided they needed to move to Greenville, SC for a better job opportunity and to pay off debt FASTER. Somehow, during their first two years of marriage, they moved four times, and squeezed there in the middle was a year in Columbia, SC and the Harris' newlywed Sunday School class. They are now half-way through the four years it takes to get a Masters of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, and are maintaining their sanity with date nights, quarterly reviews, and lots of hearty "communication." They blog regularly at: thestillers.blogspot.com.