Inspy Romance

Inspy Romance—Fall in Love With a Good Book

Sunday Edition

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Happy Sunday!

Yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our 22nd Wedding Anniversary. (And sadly, no, the lace above isn’t from my veil. I don’t appear to have a closeup of my veil, which is sad, because it’s the same veil my mother wore and it’s lace she bought in Venice, Italy, on a trip to Europe she won by writing an essay. It’s a lovely piece of family history in my mind.)

To celebrate, we had my sister watch the kids and went out to dinner and a movie. Maybe not the most original date in history, but one we both enjoy (and really, isn’t that what matters?) We have been toying with going to the escape room near us — but decided that’s something to plan when we can get a group of friends who want to go so we can book all the spots instead of having to get teamed up with random strangers. (Have you done an escape room? It seems like it would be a lot of fun — at least to us. We love puzzle solving!)

On the local Christian radio this week, they were asking people to call in and offer their best advice for couples getting married soon. I didn’t call in, but it was fun listening to some of the same advice I was given 22 years ago (like get someone to pack you a cooler, because you’re not going to get anything to eat at the reception. I wish I’d listened to that one. Hubby and I went to the hotel, changed, and then went off in search of food ’cause we were starving.)

(This is us as the hunger started to kick in ;) ) (We might also have been really tired of having our photo taken.)

What advice would you have called in?

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Back-to-School Bash

If you missed all the details about our Back-to-School bash, please check out the giveaways page! We’re looking forward to another chance to share our work with faithful readers and commenters like you! Please feel free to share the giveaway with your Christian romance reading friends — we’d love to have them join our community!

Specials This Week!

Heather Gray’s An Informal Introduction is 99 cents from 8/11/17-8/15/17. Get it here.

Kimberly Rose Johnson’s A Love that Lasts is 99 cents until 8/15/17. Get it here.

Here’s a slightly more formal picture of us with both sets of parents.

Last Week

On Monday, Elizabeth Maddrey asked To Re-Read or Not To Re-Read?
On Tuesday, Deb Kastner told us where she gets her book ideas.
On Wednesday, Janet Ferguson brought us a guest post from Virginia Vaughan.
On Thursday, Elizabeth Maddrey talked about Judging a Book by it’s Cover.
On Friday, Ginger Solomon introduced the Back-to-School Giveaway for 2017!
On Saturday, Darlene Franklin visited the blog to talk about Once Upon A Time.

Next Week

Monday: Carol Moncado
Tuesday: Jill Weatherholt
Wednesday: Autumn Macarthur
Thursday: Valerie Comer
Friday: Jackie Castle
Saturday: Merrillee Whren

NEW RELEASESAugust 2017
Flight 259 (Hope Series 1) by Staci Stallings
The Soldier’s Secret Child (Rescue River 5) by Lee Tobin McClain

July 2017
On Board for Romance (Homegrown Love 1) (Arcadia Valley Romance 7) by Annalisa Daughety
Memories of Mist (An Urban Farm Fresh Romance 3) by Valerie Comer
Cherish by Autumn Macarthur, Heather Gray, Elizabeth Maddrey, and four others
Learning from Experience (re-release) by Ginger Solomon
Season of Hope (Rios Azules Christmas 3) by Alexa Verde
Picnics & Promises by Autumn Macarthur, Marion Ueckermann, and four others
A Courtship for Clover (Seven Suitors for Seven Sisters 5) by Marion Ueckermann
His Father’s Son (Sweetapple Falls 1) by Autumn Macarthur
Love’s Healing Touch (First Street Church Romances) by Autumn Macarthur
A Christmas Surprise (Love in the Cascades 1) by Kimberly Rose Johnson
Heart of a Prince (Crowns & Courtships 1) by Carol Moncado

A complete list of Inspy Romance books by our authors is always available on our BOOKS tab. Find our audiobooks and our permanently free e-books, as well as new releases, on our NEWS tab.

Elizabeth Maddrey (292 Posts)

Elizabeth Maddrey is a semi-reformed computer geek and homeschooling mother of two who lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace on their way to their own romantic happily ever after.


Comments

  1. Congratulations Elizabeth, 22 years is special:) In a world that seems to value fast, throwaway things/relationships/people, it is important to celebrate the steadfastness of a couple willing to put in the (sometimes) hard yards.
    Hmm, I would advise having straws to drink through (saves lipstick), umbrellas (good friends of ours were married the day before us and were rained out!) and here’s an odd one- plan to have a large bathroom available to use somewhere…makes it easier for big skirts!
    Blessings:)

  2. Congrats on your anniversary!
    My advice: if you’re a no-frills kind of person like me, think about skipping the whole wedding gift registry thing and accept cash, checks, etc for wedding gifts. My matching Lenox china and silverware have not been used in the last 16 years….

  3. Thanks, Wemble! I think so often people forget (or maybe were never told to start out) that marriage is work. It’s not always sunshine and puppies, but it’s always worth working through.

    And I love those suggestions!

  4. Thanks!

    Ha – I didn’t even put that stuff on my registry. I only put on everyday stuff. :) I know a lot of my relatives we’re offended by that though and I can only imagine if I’d asked for cash. Gulp. So maybe having at least a small registry for the die hard gifters is smart.

  5. Congrats on your anniversary, Elizabeth. Thanks for hosting Sundays. Love the first picture and this fun question. My advice comes from a recent Hallmark movie – while planning a wedding with all its festivities is fun; IT is NOT so much about the WEDDING, but the MARRIAGE. So often couples spend so much energy, time, and money into one day; but not in the days, weeks, months and years that follow.

    As a pastor’s wife, my husband and I counseled many couples. In today’s world of divorce, another piece of advice is that unless one gets divorced because of abuse, the reason for getting a divorce usually repeats itself. LOVE is a CHOICE. When I said my marriage vows, they were for life. I have been married for 44 years through some rocky times. My husband and I joke that – he has been happily married for 22 years / I have been happily married for 22 years. When he is happy, I’m not and vice versa. We are both first born with strong personalities. Marriage is 100 % commitment from both parties.

    Like Wemble, needed an umbrella for my wedding. Made it to the church between down pours. Like you Elizabeth, I had trouble eating even though the food was delicious. Difficult being at a head table with all eyes on you. Enjoy reading the responses.

  7. Happy Anniversary. Hope it was super special.

    there is a lot of advise out there. But what has worked for my husband and I for that last 32 years is
    1) COMMUNICATION is always open and used
    2) Keep God in the center of our marriage
    3) This is a commitment for life not a whim
    4) Keeping regular date nights/days
    5) Continue to grow with each other in everything
    6) When a disagreement happens, take some time alone to pray/think about it and come back together and solve it together

  8. Congratulations! My advice would be to plan a weekly date night. Dates shouldn’t stop once you are married and you will really appreciate this when you have children. This will also set a great example of marriage to your future children. Be each other’s best friends!

  9. CONGRATS on your anniversary. I love hearing wedding stories and seeing the photos, too! We have 60th coming up in October!!

  10. Happy anniversary! It’s fun reading everyone’s comments. When my husband and I got married (it will be 44 years this December), I’d never heard of gift registries, and in our part of the country, receptions were just simple cake and nuts and mints – no meal! I think communication is the #1 piece of advice I’d give. He can’t read my mind and I can’t read his :-)

  11. Love that fun photo of you two, and hope you had a happy anniversary.

    Here are two bits of marriage advice off the top of my head:

    Love is a verb, an action, not a mushy feeling.
    If you pray and grow in faith together, it will be harder to grow apart.

  17. My advice would be not to get married just because you find out you are pregnant. I was planning on leaving him before I found out and as I was raised without a dad I didn’t want that for my daughter so I married him anyway. Big mistake.

  18. Every time you get disgruntled about something you’re spouse does, remember how much he/she has to put up with from you. Regarding the wedding itself, I will agree with Renate, keep the focus on the marriage more than the wedding.

  21. I’ve never been to an escape room but I think it would be fun, if not slightly stressful. :)

  23. Thanks for sharing your story. We’ve just celebrated #48. We’ve come a long way! Things were sure different then. We had a cake and punch reception with nuts and mints, too. Much different than when our son and then daughter got married . We still couldn’t afford much for the reception but it was nice! Better to focus on the marriage than the Wedding! Advice: put God and Christ first. If you both do that you can weather the troubles that will inevitably come. Be a team. Thanks.

  25. Congratulations on 22 years of marriage! My husband and I LOVE escape rooms! We have done a few and we usually have at least a couple of strangers in the room with us and we’ve had great experiences with all of them.

  27. Congrats on your anniversary. This month is our 6th one and we hope to make it well over 22.. with God’s blessings.
    PS: just need to say I’m living in Brazil to qualify for your amazing prizes this month. Thanks again for the giveaway.

  29. Congrats on your anniversary! I haven’t met my special someone yet so still waiting on that…lol

  30. Happy anniversary! My advice – NEVER be selfish. Marriage is no place for ‘me first’.

  33. Happy 22nd anniversary!! We celebrated our 20th this year and it just seems like yesterday we got married :-)
    My advice, keep God in the center, grounded in His word, pray for your spouse always, forgive easily and always say I love you. The other thing we do before one or the other leaves the house, kiss each other before going out the door. :-)

    Looking forward to a great week on Inspy Romance!

  35. Congratulations on your 22nd anniversary! This month we celebrate our 3rd anniversary, and I hope with God’s blessing we have many more to come!
    I don’t think I qualify much to give advices yet, but I’ve enjoyed reading the ones here.. so thanks!
    PS: about the giveaway… I need to say I’m from Brazil to qualify for one of the prizes. And thanks for the giveaway! :)

  37. Hi Elizabeth,
    For some reason my replies haven’t been showing up. I’m going to try this again.
    I had replied yesterday that my husband and I used to do wedding photography. One thing we always recommended was that there be someone, NOT in the wedding party or family, who could round people up when they were needed for photos and other things. Too often if a family member or wedding party person went to look it take too much time and then we had two people missing.
    The other thing I thought of was, we would tell the bride and groom that when it came time for the kiss, to hold it until the audience started to chuckle or clap because then we could get a GREAT kiss shot. NO PECKS!

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