Marriage Preparation - Lesson 1

A few weeks since my last blog entry. Been busy, lots of things going on.

I have finished my uni paper for the semester - had my exam on Saturday. I have done a lot of exams in my time - I still dislike them. This one was six essays in 2 hours - I wrote a lot. I just hope that there is some quality in the answers. Next semester the paper is Sports Injuries.

Reports due tomorrow, have got them done. Amazing how productive you can be under pressure - now to the Form Teacher reports.

A lovely catch up dinner was had by the posse and friends on Friday night at Eastern Sunrise, followed by desert at Espressoholic...mmmm mmmm. A great catch up and finally a chance to meet Ed's Belle Donna. I swear she looks like an old friend, Rebecca Henry who used to flat with Nicky.

Weight Watchers - still going. Have lost 11.5kilos to date,although the past weekend wasnt the best in food choices. Dee also gave me a site http://sparkpeople.com where you can track your fitness, food, and weight changes. A lot like weight watchers, but the site is free :) This week is time to refocus, and get back on the exercise wagon. All the study has thrown me out of routine.

Student teacher is still a bit of a nightmare. Continues to think she knows more than me. Kids dont like her, and even my lovely accelerant kids are throwing darts in the classroom. Less than two weeks to go, and I keep thinking of the money.

Saw Shrek 3 last night - good movie. A light hearted 90minute feature. I swear Ant is still Shrek, and me well I thought Fiona, but then Ant said I could be as annoying at Donkey...he he.

And finally, marriage preparation classes started tonight. 11 couples were there, many more than I thought. Had the usual introductions where we had to introduce a fellow couple, how they met, when they were getting married, and how their wedding plans were going. So the beginning of the year at school.

Tonight involved filling out a FOCCUS (Facilitating Open Couple Communication Understanding and Study) quiz of 189 multi-choice questions in which you answered:

A -Agree D - Disagree U - Uncertain

The answers will be tabulated by facilitators who will talk to us about how we answered the questions. What we agreed on and what we may need to communicate further on. Quite frankly I was just excited to be doing a quiz...yes I am a geek, but you have to love quizzes.

Examples from the quiz included:

Drinking alcohol can cause my future spouse to act inappropriately

My future in-laws have accepted me

Cohabiting with my future spouse makes me think he will expect sex on demand

We are in agreement about the husband and wife roles each of us expects of the other in our marriage relationship.

There are qualities about my future spouse that I do not respect.

We have discussed the ways our families solved problems and how this may affect our problem solving.

We disagree with each other over some teachings of the church.

My future spouse and I have agreed that we are open about having children.

I am concerned that in-laws may interfere in our marriage relationship.

My future spouse and I can talk about our sexual fears, hopes and preferences.

We are in agreement about how we will make financial decisions between us.

I sometimes feel that this may not be the right person for me to marry.

My future spouse and I agree that our marriage commitment means we intend to pledge love under all circumstances.

These are all examples from the quiz...189 questions are just too many to list. The tea and biscuits were a nice bonus to get us through the night.