Search Results: valentine

Five Strategies to Improve your Marriage

By Francine & Byron Pirola / June 9, 2023

Is it possible to improve a troubled marriage without the cooperation of our spouse? Read on for our top five strategies to improve your marriage. A lot of people feel trapped in a dissatisfying or troubled marriage. They feel powerless to ‘fix’ it because their spouse refuses to join them in counselling or a marriage…

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Made for More

By Francine & Byron Pirola / February 10, 2023

For two decades we’ve promoted the idea of putting the ‘saint’ back into St Valentine’s Day. Every year we blog, pin, post, and remind the Catholic networks in our database of the day’s origin and significance. It’s become so much of a habit it now feels strange for us to mention the event without ‘saint’…

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#1 Marriage as a Mission

By Francine & Byron Pirola / May 25, 2022

What does it mean to make ‘marriage our mission’? With our guest, Philipa Caulfield, we break it down and explore how we’ve done it and why we need it. Guest: Philipa Caulfield, with her husband Luke, are SmartLoving super-sponsors. They’ve been accompanying engaged couples for over ten years and have featured in some of the…

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st valentine

Smiling Saints

By Francine & Byron Pirola / February 10, 2022

St Valentine is the one saint with a feast day (Feb 14) that is known by millions of people, including non-Christians. But how many know why he is a saint?   The back story is that Valentine, a Roman priest at the time of Claudius II, was imprisoned for conducting secret weddings against the orders of…

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Listening is the Music of Love

By Francine & Byron Pirola / September 30, 2021

One of the most supremely loving gestures we can give another is to listen to them. Yet for most of us, being listened to is a rare experience. What makes it so hard to give this simple gift to each other? We remember those days so well. The early romance days. Living in two different…

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Couples need a village too

By Francine & Byron Pirola / July 24, 2020

It takes a village  The saying: “It takes a village to raise a child”, resonates deeply with us. No parent, no matter how attentive, capable and loving, can adequately raise a child on his or her own. Two parents can do better, but they will still fall short.  We’ve seen this in our own family. Our children need…

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Lockdown – show down

By Francine & Byron Pirola / April 17, 2020

Tips for couples to survive the Corona lock down  The Corona virus is not just a threat to our physical health – it’s also a challenge to our relationships.   Across the world, couples are rediscovering the joy – and the pain – of living together 24/7. Without warning, billions of previously interdependent spouses now share…

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Help For Marriages Under Stress

By Francine & Byron Pirola / January 12, 2018

January is typically the peak month for divorce applications in English-speaking countries. Having made the decision to divorce, many couples agree to postpone the application for one last Christmas together as a family. The parents hope that by delaying the devastating news until after Christmas, the children will be able to enjoy the day and then have a few weeks…

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Love Lesson

By Francine & Byron Pirola / February 11, 2016

Love is complicated…or is it? A message from kids on love for St Valentine’s Day.

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Be My Valen-time!

By Francine & Byron Pirola / February 10, 2016

Insufficient time together is one of the biggest contributors to relationship breakdown. Whether our relationship is flying or sinking, time together is like a balm, healing the bumps and bruises of life and stimulating our feelings of affection and tenderness. And with Valentines’ Day approaching, it’s the perfect opportunity to give the gift of time.…

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