The 5 Love Languages Military Edition: The Secret to Love That Lasts by Gary Chapman, Jocelyn Green Page B
Authors: Gary Chapman, Jocelyn Green
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have a clue as to how to select a gift for your spouse, ask a friend or family member who knows your wife or husband well to help you. Most people enjoy making a friend happy by getting them a gift, especially if it’s with your money.
7. Offer the gift of presence. Say to your spouse, “I want to offer the gift of my presence at any event or on any occasion you would like this month. You tell me when, and I will make every effort to be there.” Get ready! Be positive! Who knows, you may enjoy the symphony or the hockey game.
8. Give your spouse a book and agree to read it yourself. Then offer to discuss together a chapter each week. Don’t choose a book you want him or her to read. Choose a book on a topic in which you know your spouse has an interest: sex, football, needlework, money management, child rearing, religion, backpacking.
9. Give a lasting tribute. Give a gift to your spouse’s church or favorite charity in honor of her birthday, your anniversary, or another occasion. Ask the charity to send a card informing your spouse of what you have done. The church or charity will be excited and so will your spouse.
10. Give a living gift. Purchase and plant a tree or flowering shrub in honor of your spouse. You may plant it in your own yard, where you can water and nurture it, or in a public park or forest where others can also enjoy it. You will get credit for this one year after year. If it’s an apple tree, you may live long enough to get an apple. One warning: Don’t plant a crabapple tree!
Decoding Deployments with Receiving Gifts
Speaking the gifts love language is still very possible during separations. It just requires a little more planning and creativity. Here are some ideas to get you started.
1. Send your service member care packages with favorite baked items and something he enjoys having, such as a special soap, food item, etc. Be sure to check regulations on what is allowed in packages first.
2. Create a special day honoring your service member. Have family and friends send cards, emails, care packages, which communicate their support of him.
3. Service member, bring home unique gifts for your spouse. Tell her when you’ve purchased it just so she knows you’ve been thinking of her.
4. For the service member’s birthday, make and send a cake-sized brownie and place hard candy letters on it that say “Happy Birthday.” Be sure to send candles, plates, napkins, and plastic forks so she can share it.
5. Service member, conspire with some mutual friends or church members to have care packages delivered to your spouse’s doorstep on holidays or ordinary days.
6. Home front spouse, put together a themed care package with memories of one of your special days you shared together.
7. Create a coupon book for your spouse to redeem when you are together again.
8. During the Christmas holidays, send the service member a stocking filled with goodies. Make him his favorite Christmas cookies; send him a very small, decorated Christmas tree, or something that will have great meaning to him.
9. Celebrate Valentine’s Day with special cards and gifts that are meaningful to you as a couple. Also remember birthdays, your anniversary, and Military Spouse Appreciation Day, which always falls on the Friday before Mother’s Day.
10. Service member, order gifts online—books, flowers, coffee, restaurant gift cards—and have them sent directly to your spouse—no special occasion required.
THE 5 LOVE LANGUAGES ®
LOVE LANGUAGE #4
Acts of Service
T he ink was barely dry on their marriage certificate when Erin and Nathan moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for a nine-month assignment. Unaccustomed to military life, Erin was lonely in her new environment and not intellectually challenged the way she had been in the career she had just given up. And, she didn’t know the first thing about how to be an Army wife. Nathan was busy in his new job and completely clueless as to why his bride was growing
7. Offer the gift of presence. Say to your spouse, “I want to offer the gift of my presence at any event or on any occasion you would like this month. You tell me when, and I will make every effort to be there.” Get ready! Be positive! Who knows, you may enjoy the symphony or the hockey game.
8. Give your spouse a book and agree to read it yourself. Then offer to discuss together a chapter each week. Don’t choose a book you want him or her to read. Choose a book on a topic in which you know your spouse has an interest: sex, football, needlework, money management, child rearing, religion, backpacking.
9. Give a lasting tribute. Give a gift to your spouse’s church or favorite charity in honor of her birthday, your anniversary, or another occasion. Ask the charity to send a card informing your spouse of what you have done. The church or charity will be excited and so will your spouse.
10. Give a living gift. Purchase and plant a tree or flowering shrub in honor of your spouse. You may plant it in your own yard, where you can water and nurture it, or in a public park or forest where others can also enjoy it. You will get credit for this one year after year. If it’s an apple tree, you may live long enough to get an apple. One warning: Don’t plant a crabapple tree!
Decoding Deployments with Receiving Gifts
Speaking the gifts love language is still very possible during separations. It just requires a little more planning and creativity. Here are some ideas to get you started.
1. Send your service member care packages with favorite baked items and something he enjoys having, such as a special soap, food item, etc. Be sure to check regulations on what is allowed in packages first.
2. Create a special day honoring your service member. Have family and friends send cards, emails, care packages, which communicate their support of him.
3. Service member, bring home unique gifts for your spouse. Tell her when you’ve purchased it just so she knows you’ve been thinking of her.
4. For the service member’s birthday, make and send a cake-sized brownie and place hard candy letters on it that say “Happy Birthday.” Be sure to send candles, plates, napkins, and plastic forks so she can share it.
5. Service member, conspire with some mutual friends or church members to have care packages delivered to your spouse’s doorstep on holidays or ordinary days.
6. Home front spouse, put together a themed care package with memories of one of your special days you shared together.
7. Create a coupon book for your spouse to redeem when you are together again.
8. During the Christmas holidays, send the service member a stocking filled with goodies. Make him his favorite Christmas cookies; send him a very small, decorated Christmas tree, or something that will have great meaning to him.
9. Celebrate Valentine’s Day with special cards and gifts that are meaningful to you as a couple. Also remember birthdays, your anniversary, and Military Spouse Appreciation Day, which always falls on the Friday before Mother’s Day.
10. Service member, order gifts online—books, flowers, coffee, restaurant gift cards—and have them sent directly to your spouse—no special occasion required.
THE 5 LOVE LANGUAGES ®
LOVE LANGUAGE #4
Acts of Service
T he ink was barely dry on their marriage certificate when Erin and Nathan moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for a nine-month assignment. Unaccustomed to military life, Erin was lonely in her new environment and not intellectually challenged the way she had been in the career she had just given up. And, she didn’t know the first thing about how to be an Army wife. Nathan was busy in his new job and completely clueless as to why his bride was growing
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