3-day marriage workshop trains, encourages, strengthens

Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor
Thursday, September 13, 2012

America’s Family Coaches, Barb and Gary Rosberg, hosted a three-day celebration of marriage with various events at Fort Hood from Sept. 6 to Saturday morning.

The first event was a Marriage Champion Training workshop, which was held Sept. 6 and 7 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and was geared toward couples who wanted to learn how to help others.

“A marriage champion is a person that’s teachable,” Barb said. “They know they want to make the right choices and decisions, and want to pass that knowledge on to others.”

The goal of the Marriage Champion Training is to teach couples how to be marriage mentors – to show others how to strengthen their marriage, and to strengthen their marriages while doing so.

Barb said she hopes these attending couples will use she and Gary’s expert advice to host events in their own homes, where they can talk about the topics learned at the training.

During the training, Barb and Gary went over their six secrets to lasting love: forgiving love, serving love, persevering love, guarding love, celebrating love and renewing love.

“This training is going to help leaders in the military help their Soldiers,” Barb said. “It helps equip them to host, lead and serve

marriages in their profession.”

Along with the Marriage Champion Training, the Rosbergs held a two-part Military Marriage Conference called Guard Your Heart Friday evening and Saturday morning at the Spirit of Fort Hood Chapel.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Justin Thompson, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, and his wife, Erika, attended the military marriage conference to both learn how to keep their marriage strong and how to help others strengthen theirs. Erika attended the Marriage Champion Training and said she liked it so much she brought Justin with her to the conference.

“I wanted him to see what the Rosbergs are about,” Erika said, adding that she and Justin want to be able to integrate these teachings into their Sunday school classes.

“I also want to pass the knowledge of a strong family relationship on to my 15-year-old daughter – it’s never too early to learn the importance of those bonds,” Erika said.

During the conference, Barb stressed how much she and Gary want to help the military Families that serve our country, saying, “We are here to serve you. This is our way of giving back to America’s heroes.”

Chap. (Col.) Matthew Goff, III Corps chaplain, said the goal of the conference was more than helping people enrich their marriages, and also to equip military couples with the tools to manage and resolve their conflicts and stay together through deployments and other stressors that come along with the military.

“You have to learn how to deal with the problems in your marriage, and the rhythm your spouse deals with those problems – but never bury them alive,” Gary said. “When you bury a problem, bury it dead. If you bury it alive, it will continue to nip at you.”

The Rosbergs shared their stories of times when their marriage struggled, and how coming out on the other side made it stronger than ever. They both talked about how a mutual love for their children enriched their marriage, but they needed to focus on their relationship with each other – not just with their children.

“The connection with your children is incomparable to anything else,” Bard said, “But your connection with your spouse is vital.”

The last event in the conference was a rose ceremony, which Gary said was very special to he and Barb. Long-stemmed red roses were provided, and all of the men in attendance were encouraged to give a rose to their spouses – telling them how cherished they are.

“Marriage takes a lot of work, it takes skills, and most people never spend the time to learn the skills it takes to keep their marriages strong and their Families healthy,” Goff said. “Attitude is everything.”