When his wife became pregnant with their fourth child, Greg panicked, but a focus on the family counselor put everything into perspective.

He said, the first thing you need to realize that kids are a blessing or all of the

blessings that their gifts from God and the second thing you said was kid value

relationships not stuff. I'm Jim Daly let's give more families hope. Any gift you send will be doubled at

Focus on the Family.com slash gift.

Thank you for downloading the Focus on the Family Marriage Podcast. You can find more

relationship insights at focus on the family dot com slash marriage podcast.

I read an article about people who have the same thing for lunch every day and there's something in that routine that reduces stress and I think a lot of us you know we build routines into life about how we get ready for work or when we brush our teeth or how we brush our teeth even.

When it comes to marriage though, it's important not to fall into routines and take things for granted.

I'm John Fuller along with Dr. Greg Smalley.

Greg, what happens in a marriage relationship when things become routine?

One that's totally normal. We know that when things become routine.

One that's totally normal. We know that it's about two and a half to three years

when the honeymoon period ends for every couple.

So it's normal. We crave familiarity. But the problem is that

familiarity usually breeds boredom because familiarity means that we think that we kind of know

everything there is to know about our spouse we we've pursued them asked all the

questions now we kind of have settled into that oh I know you and

that's truly what what breeds boredom okay well we're gonna hear from

less and Leslie Parrot as they talk a little bit about how they as a couple avoid boredom and revel in

staying out of that routine rut that we all seem to fall into.

Here they are sharing with Jim Daly and me.

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