After 39 Years of Marriage, Couple Seeks Improvement and Wins $1,000!

Sandy Tripple had been married for 39 years and yet was still interested in improving her marriage. When she first heard about the class Mastering the Mysteries of Love from her co-worker, she and her husband, George, signed up immediately. “My friend told me about this class that was helping her marriage. It sounded so great! I told my husband and we went to the next class. It helped us so much, we signed up for a second class,” said Sandy. Now, the Tripples are the latest recipients of the $1,000 outcome evaluation drawing.

The Tripples sought help for their 39 year marriage when they realized they needed more help communicating with each other. “My husband had a hard time opening up to me and this class helped us share our feelings privately, but in a class setting,” said Sandy. “It was great to see other couples in the class that were experiencing the same communication issues.”

Both George and Sandy benefited from Mastering the Mysteries of Love. Sandy said, “ I think there is something so powerful about sitting knee to knee and holding each other’s hands; then when you begin repeating what your partner is saying you start to see insights into your partner that you have never seen before, even after 39 years of marriage.” The Fresno based couple have experienced growth in their communication skills within their relationship, but also with other people. Tripple said, “These skills have helped us to relate to our children and our parents.”

The Tripples are grateful for winning the $1,000 prize. “This past year has been really difficult for us because of medical complications with George,” said Sandy. “This money will be a welcome windfall and be used to pay some of the bills that have resulted from George being sick.”

CHMC supports many quality relationship-building classes. To find out more information about Mastering the Mysteries of Love and other great classes, go to www.camarriage.com

OE winners Sandy and George Trippel with Ron and Joan McClain from Healthy Marriages Coalition of Fresno/Madera County

Mastering the Mysteries of Stepfamilies Success Story

Mastering the Mysteries of Stepfamilies (MMS) is a 24-hour course teaching the communication skills and stepfamily guidelines needed to build and maintain a successful, satisfying step-marriage and stepfamily. Why should couples in a stepfamily attend a program like MMS? The divorce rates for stepfamilies is upwards of 65%.  The main reason cited is because stepfamilies have significantly more stress than first families. Stepfamilies have to deal with multiple sets of expectations, stepparent/child relationships, compromising on traditions, and extremely sensitive boundaries in addition to normal marital strain.

Jim and Sheri are just one couple who have the opportunity to see their relationship and stepfamily transform with the help of MMS. This is the fourth marriage for both, whom have been married for ten years.

They have spent years struggling with the same problems many stepfamilies deal with: frustration with step-related issues, disillusioned with the marriage, and locked into their own positions on issues.  Over time, they built a wall of distance and distrust. Research indicates lack of empathy as one of the key factors in stepfamily failure.

Jim and Sheri recently participated in a Mastering the Mysteries of Stepfamilies class where they learned how to “become” their partner in order to think and feel the concerns and desires of the other partner. Empathy has brought about a softening in Jim and Sheri’s positions enabling them to work on solutions that seemed impossible at one time.  Learning and practicing better communication methods as well as recognizing some of the stepfamily guidelines that were being violated, brought renewed hope for the lifetime success of their marriage and family.

Jim states, “This is communication on steroids!” Sheri adds, “When I sense that Jim really gets me—hears and understands my needs—I relax…and feel a rush of love for him.  In addition, the skills I’ve learned have helped to improve my relationship with my step-children.”

Since learning and using communication skills and stepfamily guidelines, Jim and Sheri’s marriage is becoming the happy marriage they had always hoped for but did not know how to create.

RELATED ARTICLES:

>> Mastering the Mysteries of Stepfamilies (MMS)

El Dorado Hills Couple Enhances Communication and Wins Family Vacation!

Desiring to enrich their marriage and enhance their communication, Roberta and Steve Kubes enrolled in a Mastering the Mysteries of Love (MML) class held at a local church in El Dorado Hills.  By participating in the California Healthy Marriages Coalition’s Outcome Evaluation survey during the class, the Kubeses won the raffle drawing and received $1,000 cash, which allowed them to take a family vacation to Santa Barbara with their children!

Offered through the Healthy Marriage Project of Greater Sacramento, MML is an interactive, hands-on Marriage Education program that spotlights ten essential relationship skills that change how people listen, talk, solve problems, and relate to one another.  Through live demonstrations, teaching, and skills coaching, Roberta and Steve learned skills that have helped them build trust and work as a team to enhance their relationship.

Roberta reports that the class helped them realize that they were not alone in seeking to improve their marriage.  According to Roberta, “There are always other people who have the same issues,” and now the Kubeses have skills that help them work through those issues successfully.

For the Kubeses and many other graduates of Mastering the Mysteries of Love, the communication skills they learned extend benefits beyond the marriage relationship.  Roberta says her improved communication skills enable her to “connect with others in a more understanding way,” and as a result, others have begun to view her differently.  “The greatest parts of the course for me”, says Roberta, “were the demonstration videos.  They were great!”  Roberta’s only complaint?  She wishes the 16-hour MML class had been longer!

Mastering the Mysteries of Love classes are occurring throughout California.  Find a class near you at www.camarriage.com.

Couple Builds Their Marriage & Wins $1,100 to Build Their Home

CHMC VP Patty Howell presents Karen and Tim Jobe with $1,100 prize

 

Married for 36 years, Karen and Tim Jobe stepped in to the World Class Marriage workshop in San Diego hoping to gain insights that would provide new direction for their struggling marriage.  They walked out with the insights they had hoped for, plus a cash prize of $1,100 at Home Depot!

 

Offered in partnership by the San Diego North County Latino Marriage and Family Resource Center and the California Healthy Marriages Coalition, the workshop teaches “16 Pillars” of a World Class Marriage, which are built upon the foundation of empathy, acceptance, and genuineness.  The course covers the skills of empathic listening, non-blameful confrontation, win-win conflict resolution, plus skills for avoiding blame, handling hot topics, love languages, and commitment.

 

According to Karen, before taking World Class Marriage, the couple’s 36-year long marriage had fallen upon hard times.  “When we went to that workshop,” she says, “I was ready to walk out.  I was committed to the relationship, but I just did not know what direction to go next.” 

 

By the end of the two-day workshop, the Jobes had new hope for their relationship and had learned skills to make good on that hope.  “It amazed me how quickly we could go from feeling completely hopeless to feeling like we had the key to moving on with our marriage and making the effort to make it work.  Taking this class helped us to know that if we really want to have a great marriage, we can do it!” says Karen. 

 

The Jobes credit the World Class Marriage workshop with improving their communication skills and giving the pair a newfound sense of clarity, direction and purpose for their relationship.  Learning better communication skills has helped the Jobes to feel more comfortable speaking up about their feelings without the fear of causing painful conflict.  They even posted the “Defective Communication Tools” handout from the class in their home, saying, “Having it there helps us to realize when we’re using harmful communication patterns, and also allows us to use humor when that happens, because we can go to the list and catch ourselves.” 

 

What really impressed this couple about World Class Marriage was the “universality of what was presented.”  According to the Jobes, the skills taught in the class are valuable to any couple, “whether you are someone like us who had been married for 36 years, or 20 years, just married, or engaged.  [We] wish a class like this would have been available earlier in our marriage.” 

 

In addition to learning the skills to better succeed in their marriage, the Jobes also entered into a prize drawing by completing Outcome Evaluation surveys for the California Healthy Marriages Coalition (CHMC).  CHMC’s Outcome Evaluation study is the first broad, statewide evaluation of Marriage Education programs, and studies the comparative effectiveness of different programs.  The Jobes chose their $1,100 Home Depot gift certificate from four available prizes.  Other prize options include $1,000 cash, $1,100 at Walmart, or a 43” High-Definition TV.

KCCD Announces Healthy Marriage PSA Campaign to Reach Korean Americans

“PSA Campaign to Promote Healthy Marriages during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Korean American Family Month”
Los Angeles – May 1, 2008 – KCCD hosted a press conference to announce their PSA Campaign to promote marriage education and to strengthen marriages in the community during Asian American Heritage Month.
 
Hyepin Im, President of KCCD, stated, “We’re pleased to be announcing this PSA campaign during May which is not only the Asian American Heritage Month but also Family Month in the Korean American community. As family is so important in all our communities, we thought that May would be timely in raising awareness of marriage education as a tool to strengthen their family and marriage.”
 
“According to our research, so many Korean Americans have such strong negative perceptions about marriage education that we felt it was important to have a broad based campaign to educate the community on the value of marriage education as a tool to strengthen marriages. We are hopeful that these PSA’s will encourage more Korean Americans to take advantage of the Marriage Education classes being offered,” stated Jin Kim, Executive Director of KCCD.
 
Three PSA’s were produced around common marital and family challenges in the Korean American community including retirement loneliness faced by particulary men (“Golden Years”), conflict created by many couples working together (“In Sync”) and the impact marriage health has upon children (“Parental Bliss”).
The PSA’s which have English and Korean voiceovers will be aired on various tv stations as well as posted on Youtube (www.youtube.com/user/kccd3300) and our KCCD website (www.kccd3300.org).
 
“We’re very grateful to our various sponsors including our anchor sponsor, California Healthy Marriages Coalition, for their support. Other partners who provided signficant in-kind contributions of time, expertise and labor include Cathleen Alexander (Director & Producer), Monica Macer (Writer), Pancom, On-Dal Restaurant, Yuna Kwon and many others,” stated, Hyepin Im.
 
The Press Conference was covered by KBS, TVK24, Korea Times, Korea Daily, Koreatown Daily, Christian Herald, and JSTV.
 
Special thanks to the following Media Sponsors will be airing the PSA’s during May and June: JSTV, KBS America, LA 18, CTS, Christian Herald.

Orange County Clergy to Sign FIRST-EVER Marriage Education Agreement on May 20th

Lower divorce rate!  Strengthen marriages!  Increase the health of family relationships!

Orange County clergy believe Marriage Education will make these three goals a reality! 

On Tuesday, May 20, 2008 (11am-1pm), pastors and church leaders will meet at Eastside Christian Church (2505 Yorba Linda Blvd – Fullerton) to sign the Orange County Marriage Education Agreement (OCMEA). 

According to the OCMEA, clergy are committing to

(1) PROMOTE Marriage Education programs and services in the community by informing people about its importance.

(2) RECRUIT & TRAIN healthy married couples, volunteers and staff to facilitate expanded Marriage Education programs.

(3) PROVIDE Marriage Education including pre-marriage, marriage enrichment and for troubled marriages.

(4) INVITE others to Marriage Education and help them feel welcome regardless of their church involvement or affiliation.

(5) SUPPORT Marriage Education by encouraging married couples to regularly invest in their relationship, including participating in Marriage Education activities at least once a year.

Orange County pastors and church leaders will hear Dennis Stoica, California Healthy Marriages Coalition president and other speakers.  In addition, every attendee will receive a free marriage resource kit, OC marriage and divorce data, and lunch.  Also, information booths featuring local marriage-strengthening resources and organizations will allow pastors to find low-cost (and no-cost) training opportunities to impact marriages in their congregation and community!

If you are an Orange County pastor or church leader and would like to take part in the May 20th luncheon and Marriage Education Agreement signing event, RSVP by contacting Laura Quines (714.871.6844 x307 or lquines@eastside.com). 

The Orange County Marriage Education Agreement has been a cooperative effort of Orange County Marriage Resource Center’s Orange County Marriage Education Initiative, AMOR de Orange County, KCCD, Family Savers, Married 4 Keeps and California Healthy Marriages Coalition.  View the Orange County Marriage Education Agreement.

To date, committed partners include: Yorba Linda Friends Church, First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, Eastside Christian Church, Mariners Church, Grace Church of Orange, Rock Harbor, Crossroads Christian Church, Welcome Christian Church, Married 4 Keeps, AMOR de Orange County, West Cypress Church, Calvary Church, San Clemente Presbyterian Church, Mission Hills Church, West Anaheim Church of Christ, Santa Ana Spanish SDA Church, Ocean Hills Community Church, South Coast Christian Assembly, Kings Harbor Church, Zion Christian Center, Garden Grove Korean Church, Capo Beach Calvary Church, The Apostolic Pente Church, Orange Villa Bible Church, Anaheim Vineyard Church, Shoth Shores Baptist Church, The Shoreline Church, Orangewood Academy, Lakewood Life Center, Zion Lutheran Church, LaCathedral De Amor, Victory Outreach, Newport Mesa, Calvary Lutheran Church, Southcoast International, Capistrano Valley Church, Talega Life Church, Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church, Anaheim Adventist Church, Richfield Community Church, Anaheim SDA Church, Grace Church of Garden Grove, Danish Lutheran Church, Mount of Olives Church, Iglesia Fuente de Amor, River 47, Korean-American Healthy Marriage Network, Calvary Chapel Anaheim Hills, Iglesia Bautista Vida Eterna, Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Jesus Christ, Orange Seventh Day Adventist Church, North Hills Church, Rock on Orangewood Avenue, Canyon Hills Friends Church, Communion Presbyterian Church, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Brea Church of Christ, Cornerstone United Methodist Church, Creekside Christian Fellowship, Yorba Linda Church of Christ, Montebello and East LA Family Support Center, M.U.M.C., Santa Ana Edinger SDA Church, Anaheim Foursquare Church, Heritage Christian Fellowship, Relationship Research Foundation, San Nicholas Santiago de Compostela, and more.