Edited July 26, 2010: Giveaway now closed!
The winners are:
Amber
and
Charity!
Congrats you guys! Thanks for all your input and fresh ideas, I loved reading the comments…
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Package 1- French Plaque and Marital book.
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Package 2- Paris box and Marital book
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A book review:
Marital Bliss {with a kiss of reality}
By:
&
Reading ‘Marital’ to review for this giveaway was so thought provoking for me. I know the book was written intended to encourage a bride with unknown/high expectations.
But I totally forgot that as I started reading.
I got so caught up in applying what I was reading to my life, that one night I literally turned the book over to the back cover, to make sure it WAS geared for new brides. And not just girls like me. 
I learned so much. Yes, after being married 7 years.
There`s also that thing of reading something you may have sort of known already- but you see it in a new light reading it in print. And it just reinforces a way of thinking you may have been having~ and it feels really good to add more to an old former thought trail.
I loved how I didn`t get weary reading- ‘Marital’ is a great mix.
Both Michelle and Christy write (and they are EXCELLENT!), and the book is also FILLED with excerpts from many anonymous women (my favorite part) that were interviewed by Christy and Michelle. At the end, there are also a few guest authors.
Another dimension that was unexpected for me, and might be of great interest for some of you, was the way this book was a subtle window into the life of the Mennonite culture. Both the writers of this book, Michelle Beachy and Christy Smucker, are Christians, living in a Mennonite community. As am I. This comes out many times in the book and I couldn`t help thinking,
This would be a great picture for someone not familiar with the Mennonite lifestyle to get a good picture of what life is like for some of us.
Yes, that is my literal thought. That`s why it is in italics.
Although I have to add, in a lot of ways I feel like I was learning, learning, learning! as I read- even the practical things like meal planning, gardening etc. really got my mind spinning.
I like to look at it at reading ‘Marital’ as a helpful tool, not a high ideal I have to attain to and cannot. Because I did struggle with that a bit in the beginning.
And knowing the authors, (I can say that now! ) I know that that was their intent as well. To come alongside a new bride, and offer helpful advice to her, and love her well, right in the middle of the mess/fun she is in.
C and M are just incredibly down to earth, spunky, interesting, fun girls. Love `em!
The font is fresh, the book is beautiful.
I highly recommend it for a wedding present. It is something I SO wish I had 7 years ago at the beginning. ‘Marital’ is a good friend and a listening ear.
This book is also a great read for a husband and wife to read together. I often read excerpts to G in the car. One night in bed, he read to me for awhile.
Us:
“Is this true for you? Isn`t this interesting? We should make more of a point to do this kind of thing. Oh my, this is not us.”
Yes, those are our literal words to each other. That is why I have quotation marks around them. (Again, not)
Very conversation-provoking, and interesting to talk about as a couple and get the communication flowing.
Bravo! Christy and Michelle. Sensational job!
Additional books can be ordered here.
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C and M have sponsored 2 copies of ‘Marital” for me to give away today.
Yay!
Since so many of my giveaways lately have been sponsored~ I wanted to add something from ME to you, also.
The prizes are pictured above and the first winner gets first pick.
I love you guys, my readers. And today I wish for YOU to win.
Rules.
1. Enter by leaving a comment answering the question:
“I wish (about married life) someone had told me…”
or
“I wish married people knew…”
2. Enter up to 2 more times, by linking to any other social network ( Your blog, Facebook, Twitter) with a LINK BACK to this giveaway.
Steal this one:
http://baileyandme2.com/2010/07/22/marital-bliss-giveaway/
Giveaway closes Monday, July 26.
I can`t wait to read your comments! (Fun for me.)
Jenny
I wish someone had told me how extensive of a job it is to raise obedient and respectful children. I had no idea parenting would be this difficult. On the other hand, I also had no idea how much joy my kids would bring me!
I wish I’d known that normal everyday life was going to mean way more to mean than the fantastic romantic getaways! I like the romantic of course but it’s the tender moments in everyday life that i really get mileage out of!
I wish someone told me how much work it is to be a good mom and wife. I now look back at all the work my mom did for us and want to go back and say thank you, thank you. I wish I would have appreciated it more then, but sometimes I guess you have to walk in the same shoes to REALLY fully appreciate something.
I wish someone had told me how to divide my time between duties at home and other things. How much is too much to be involved in at work, church, friends, etc.?
I wish someone had told me that the drama of the silent treatment or a fight or any other problem within the marriage relationship, and then the ‘making up’, isn’t even HALF as romantic as the novels portray! True love and real life lived by God’s ‘recipe’ is the sweetest.
Being single, I wish married people knew how special it is for us to be included in their lives, especially by sharing their children with us.
I wish someone had told me how much work it really is to love someone w/ an unconditional love…in most of the books out there, love just seem to come automatically and it’s just blissful, ya know?
and btw, I absolutely love your blog…it inspires me every time i read it
I wish I would have known how it is a 24 hr job to be a mom. Raising obedient, respectful children in this day in age is a 24/7 job. For some reason before I was married I thought well trained children just sorta happened. I finding out differently now.
I shared on Facebook.
I wish someone had told me how much “at sea” I’d feel around married ladies. I had married ladies as close friends but had sorta found my niche as an older single. Getting married made me feel totally inadequate around other married ladies.
I linked on my blog.
Linked to fb
This is my 3rd entry . . . and don’t you think that commenting on *your* blog/giveaway on the day that I mailed out the gift you won on my blog/giveaway should go a loooong way in the good luck department!? Keeping my fingers crossed for the book and the french box. I have a ‘thing’ for pretty boxes, and I’d love to read the book!
I wish someone would have told me how much work it is to keep house, hold a full time job and still have time for God and my husband. Now that I am a mother, I am realizing raising a Godly son will also take alot of work. Some days things don’t get done and I am learning to be ok with that
I wish all the stuff i read about marriage (and mainly what I thought about marriage!!) i could make happen alot easier than it happens. (ok. does that make sense?) But i just need to remind myself that my hubby is what I need and somehow it comes more natural that way!
linked to FB
I wish that someone had told me that after ALL of the hard work, I’d be this happy in my marriage by year 11. That would have been kinda nice to know around year 3.
I wish I would’ve known all the things i would have to give up, things that was my hobbies and carefree times. Having children means that you put there need first and sometime it seems like i get second best!
Ok sounds like i’m complaining, not really cause my I love my children its just gets frustrating when you go long nights without sleep or give up social life because of sick children.
linked to fb
I wish that someone would have told me that moving to another state/community is not easy! And it hits hard every now & then!
I wish someone had told me that I would be more in love after 9 years, than I was the first. I thought that was as good as it got.
Linked on FB
I wish some one had told me how hard it would be to cook ALL THE TIME!
i wish someone had told me a lot of things i won’t share on here.
but i will say, i wish someone had told me its worth paying big money for lingerie because the expensive stuff fits and wears better!
I wish someone would have told me how rarely I would actually wear the stuff for more then five minutes.
I wish someone would have told me how hard it is to keep up good communication. When you’re dating, you talktalktalktalktalk all the time, now it’s hard to get a word in edgewise with the kids and when you do, it’s just the necessary stuff… you get the point.
I wish married people knew……that communication is the KEY to a great marriage! It takes work to make time for each other when you have numerous children to care for, but the time you spend with just the two of you is what will help your marriage be strong enough to last….
Posted on Facebook.
linked to facebook
I wish I had realized there would be so much “giving up of myself” in marriage and motherhood. it is worth it, but wow!
oops. ^^^ that’s me…
It would have known more about keeping expectations realistic both what I expected from my husband and what I expected from myself. I was all set to go sailing into marriage being super woman, meeting my husbands needs, and keeping a house all while radiating with Love for my man and my God. Yea…..
i wish someone had told me how temptations dont just go away, i thought oh once i get married what will my temptations to sin even be? but satan hates marriage and will do anything to ruin it. And i wish someone had told me that even if you have been through hard stuff with men, they are not all the same. and that it is not cheeper:) i love the prizes and want to read the book, please dont let me being your sister effect your decission….
I wish someone had told me that our biggest challenges may not come as disagreements with each other, but how we individually deal with stressful situations. I know that sounds confusing, but sometimes there is a difficult situation (church, family, friends) and I want to talk, actually need to talk about it, and he does not want to talk about it.
I wish that as a young married couple, we would have enjoyed the moment more and not have been in such a hurry to have children. Not that I regret having children at a young age or that I regret having children at all- I just wish we would’ve waited longer and did more things together and worked on establishing our marriage before kids entered the picture. (We got pg on our first anniv trip, and I was 22yrs. old):)
I also wish I would’ve known that it’s ok to share exactly how I’m feeling with my husband, but to do so in a respectful way. Seriously, it doesn’t make you a better “Christian” wife to be a silent martyr.
I wish someone would have told me that telling my husband everything would actually take effort on my part.
hmmm….i wish someone woulda told me how difficult it is to train you husband to do something that his mother always did for him (ex. wringing washcloth out and hanging on edge of tub…not leaving it on the shower floor to soak) yeah…after 3 yrs. I am still wringing his washcloths out
(and no his mother prolly didn’t do that for him, he had his own bathroom 
I wish in the beginning someone would have told me to Trust my husband more….and to just have FUN! Now I wish someone would tell us how to quality, fun time together….in the middle of our sometimes crazy life
I wish someone would have told me that its better just to tell him right away when I’m frustrated with something rather than putting up with it for awhile and then getting really aggravated. (aggravated is putting it nicely)
I wish someone would have shared some creative ways to spend “quality time” together! A dinner out together is wonderful, too, but… and keep it within a budget, as well!
i wish someone would have told me how hard it acually is to keep a clean house, laundry done, meals made.. and still do fun stuff!!!
linked on fb
I wish someone would have told me not to try so hard. He loves me for who I am – not for the perfect person I tried so desprately hard to be…….
I wish someone would have told me to spend less time reading books trying to learn to be the perfect wife and spend more time just enjoying the moment. (no offense to reading…I still like to read)
And I wish I would have understood the wisdom in just simply saying what I need/want/wish instead of hoping he’d figure it out. What is the saying “men read newspapers – not minds?”
It sure cuts out a lot of drama!
I wish someone had told me how really hard it is to work on having a good marriage. Not that I really would have believed them until I was in the situtaion. It’s so easy to think you know it all until you are really there.
I wish someone would have told me how important it is to depend on God’s grace to keep my emotions “even-keeled.” My emotions must be under His control just like every other area of my life. Every husband loves a consistently cheerful wife.
I wish someone had told me how important it is to submit to my husband…..at all times! And how hard it would be!
I wish I would have known …..In order to have my husbands help, I just need to ask . Instead of getting upset. cause they really just don’t think about it ( I know that now:)
i linked to fb.
I wish someone had told me how communication will always be hard work, it doesn’t just happen effortlessly. I also wish I had known how much fun it will be to be married to my best friend.
I wish married people were more honest with single people about their struggles. I think part of the problem with expectations for marriage is that when our friends get married they only talk about how amazing their husbands are and how their kids are so sweet. While I don’t doubt that’s true, I think hearing that marriage also has it’s struggles helps us single people look at marriage a bit more realistically. I know when I hear a friend talk about her struggles(not just the joys) it helps me to be thankful for the season of life I’m in right now.
I wish some of my married friends would not feel they have to share my secrets with their husbands. I realize that married people tell each other “everything”, but there are things that, as a single woman, I am very uncomfortable with a man knowing. If I tell someone something in confidence and then discover they have been talking to someone else about it, I will probably have a difficult time sharing with that person again. For you married people out there, am I way off base in expecting a confidence told to a married woman to remain between the 2 of us? If I’m looking for a woman to help me through a personal issue in confidence, should I look to my single instead of married friends?
I really do want some answers to that one, so if anyone would care to share…
I wish married people knew how truly worth it it is to never go to bed angry. So many people gave us this advice before we got married and we took it to heart. There have been a few veeerrrry late nights and early mornings but we made the commitment to always work things out before we go to sleep. Thankfully I have a very patient husband! Can’t wait to read the book!