Hello, Reader.

My husband and I are in California this week spending time with his parents. We've had a lovely time, but will be heading home tomorrow.

His parents celebrated 63 years of marriage this summer and are still so loving and respectful toward one another. Doug and I will celebrate our 38th anniversary this Friday and feel as if we're still on our honeymoon.

A happy marriage is such a blessing, but it seldom "just happens." Rather, a lot of intentional nurturing goes into building a loving relationship that will go the distance, so that's the topic of this week's link list. Enjoy!

Free resources for you this week:

• ​Secrets to Marital Success - 30 lessons we learned in our first 30 years of marriage
• ​Marriage Subway Art - printable graphic designs detailing marriage-building habits
• ​Recipe for a Happy Marriage - another cute printable on creating something super sweet
• ​7 Reasons to Prioritize Sex in Marriage - not an exhaustive list, but food for thought
• ​5 Things that Would Make Our Marriage Better - a do-it-yourself list to discuss with your spouse
• ​Love and Respect Coloring Page - features the words of Ephesians 5:33

What I'm reading this week:

​Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir A middle-school science teacher awakes from a coma to find himself stranded alone in deep space on a mission to save Earth... but with no immediate recollection of how he got there. Our family first heard of Project Hail Mary when we saw a trailer for a sci-fi movie starring Ryan Gosling (release date: March 20, 2026), and we wanted to read the book before watching the film. We downloaded the audiobook before a recent roadtrip, but Andy Weir's storyline is so compelling and Ray Porter's narration so captivating that we tuned in every chance we got and finished the 16-hour listen long before it came time to drive home.

This week's reader request:

A reader named Kim let me know I'd misspelled "Safety" in my Back-to-School Prayer Guide (looks like I'm the one who needs to head back to class!), and she wanted to know if I could correct it. The answer is I can, and I did. You can download the corrected copy by following this link.

On the podcast this week:

I didn't get a new episode published this week -- having too much fun on vacation to get it recorded! (Also, I normally record in the wee hours of the morning, and couldn't find a place to do that without disturbing family members who were still trying to sleep.) So I'm sharing another episode from the archives this week:

Loving Life at Home: Episode 78 ​7 WAYS TO RUIN YOUR MARRIAGE​ Instead of taking my usual approach and discussing how to nurture your marriage and make it better, today I’d like to examine some very common and very foolish habits that tear down our homes and the people we live with and put unnecessary strain on relationships and threaten to ruin marriages. Listen Now

Progress on last week's goals:

I completed most, but not all the items on last week's to-do list: I ✅ finally began stitching that baby gift, ✅ finished my crocheted navy purse, ✅ met my friend for breakfast (and got an advanced reader copy of her beautiful new book!), ✅ ordered art supplies for my co-op class, ✅ sent August Bible memory challenge to my kids and grandkids, ✅ attended my daughter's six volleyball games, and ✅ kept the scorebook for one before we ✅ flew to California to spend time with my in-laws.

The things I didn't accomplish? I ❌ didn't work on my pitch for our family's upcoming "shark tank" challenge and ❌ didn't reduce my inbox to fewer than 25 messages (but I am ✅ still holding steady at 50).

Personal goals for this week:

• paint car for our anniversary
• attend two more volleyball games
• take son to get his wisdom teeth out
• finish and frame baby gift
• prepare and present pitch for our family shark tank
• record two podcasts
• paint sample tin box for craft class I'm teaching

One last thing: Did you know college students and young adults can get a $0 six-month trial of Amazon Prime? And they also qualify for reduced pricing once the initial trial period ends? If you have a college student at your house, like we do, it might be worth checking into! (affiliate link)

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That's it for now! I'll be back next week with more links, reviews, and resources. If you have any special requests, please let me know. 😊