Family and Marriage Conference

Eric and I went to a Family and Marriage Conference Saturday at Notre Dame.  It was hosted by the Office of Family Life of our diocese and we are so glad we went!  We always said that we should do something like this, but hadn't actually signed up for one.  It also helps that the kids are old enough to be home on their own (Sarah was in charge) and we don't have to worry about them too much.  

Dr. Ray Guarendi was the keynote speaker...he is awesome!!  How can you not be inspired by the stories of a father of 10 adopted children?!  He and his wife are very faith-filled, down-to-earth people and have raised these children after adopting them under some pretty difficult circumstances.  We laughed saying that his books should be required reading for 
anyone having children!  

We attended two workshops and heard two talks by Dr. Ray.  There were plenty of breaks in between and lots of food for the whole day :)

What we took away from it, is that families in general are under attack in our current culture (which we already knew) and what we can do to stand strong.  As Dr. Ray said, "Love without discipline is abuse."  Not only being reminded of our parenting responsibilities but also being reminded of the goals and purpose of our marriage was so uplifting and reassuring.  
If you've never heard of Dr. Ray, you should definitely read about him here...

Or, watch this to see what a great speaker he is - he brought me to tears a couple of times laughing so hard!