When Kelly Marsh shared her family’s story, she also highly recommended two books that both she and her husband had read. One was The Smart Step-Family: Seven Steps To A Healthy Family by Ron Deal. Ron is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor with 20 years experience in local church ministry.
The editorial review for The Smart Step-Family on amazon.com states, “Ron Deal explodes the myth of the "blended" family as he provides practical, realistic solutions to the issues that stepfamilies face. He helps remarried and soon-to-be married couples
- Recognize the unique personality and place of each family member
- Solve the everyday puzzles of stepparenting and stepchildren relationships
- Learn communication skills to deal with ex-spouses
- Honor families of origin while developing new traditions
- Invest the time to grow their stepfamily slowly rather than look for instant results.”
Ron also puts on “Building a Successful Stepfamily” conferences around the country, which Kelly and her husband attended and which she rated as FABULOUS. Information on these seminars and the ministry that Ron and his wife Nancy run are available at their Welcome to Successful Stepfamilies site.
(Interesting note: Evelyn Husband Thompson will be the guest speaker at their conference in Houston. She is the widow of Columbia astronaut Rick Husband who has remarried and is herself working through blending a new family with her new husband, also a widower. Boy, would I love to attend and hear what she has to say. She seems like a very classy lady.)
In addition, Kelly also recommended Life In The Blender by Sandi Patti. Its Amazon editorial review reads, “Drawing from personal "his, mine and ours" experience, Grammy Award-winning singer and Women of Faith speaker Sandi Patty provides insight on how to stay focused when life threatens to spin out of control. A much-needed resource for any woman in a blended family. Birthed in heartache, delivered with biblical insight, candor, grace, and personal humor, Life in the Blender provides acceptance and the message, "you are not alone."“
There don’t seem to be that many resources out there for the Christian blended family, but these are two that come recommended by a family who is demonstrating the principles of successful blending. I’m going to check them out myself.
If you decide to purchase either of these books, would you mind going through my Amazon link? Your purchase helps support the ministry here at TGMT.
Related Articles:
How To Bring The Christian Blended Family Together
Helping Your Child Find His Way Around The Bible, Part 2
Helping Your Child Find His Way Around The Bible, Part 3
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