Every child brings new hope and potential into the world, innocent, precious, and entitled to be received by loving arms and to be guided with compassion, kindness and respect.
Since ancient times parents have brought their children to their communities to be blessed, named, and welcomed. A child dedication or naming ceremony is a time for family and friends to celebrate the arrival of a child and his/her potential for intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth. It is an occasion for expressing hopes for the child’s future, that s/he may grow in confidence, curiosity, and joy, joined to a larger humanity and loving of life. It is an opportunity for the family’s beloved community to offer safety, affection, encouragement, challenge, and learning — and to affirm their shared commitment to foster an environment in which that child can grow and thrive.
If there is a child you wish to formally welcome into your world, Vicky Jones can craft a child dedication ceremony with you that reflects your values and honors your child as a unique individual, filled with potential. We can create a ritual in which parents, siblings, extended family, and community pledge themselves to the growth and nurturing of your child.
Nothing is more important to our shared future than the wellbeing of children. For children are at our core — not only as vulnerable beings in need of love and care but as a moral touchstone amidst the complexity and contentiousness of modern life. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes children to raise up a village to become all it should be. The village we build with them in mind will be a better place for us all.
From It Takes a Village
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Memorial services and rituals can assist us in moving through grief. They give us permission to convey our heartache openly and to express our conflicting emotions without judgment. They help us to acknowledge the reality of death and reinforce the power of community to share support and comfort. They give us needed space to speak honestly of the deceased so that our feelings have a fair representation of their source. They remind us to hold hope for compassion and peace of mind. They affirm that life has meaning and healing will come.
Vicky Jones can work with you and your family to plan a thoughtful memorial service that respects your values and honors the wishes of your deceased loved one.
Thank you for all of the effort you put into getting to know about my father and father-in-law. It really helped us to have meaningful services for both of them.
~ E.F.
Vicky, you were so comforting and a great source of stillness during a very turbulent time. Your words and reverence for my loss helped me to acknowledge my own feelings and start to heal. I cannot thank you enough for the care and love you have given me and my family.
~ A. W.
Thank you so very much. I’m not sure we could have gotten through everything without your love, support, and care.
~ The B.H. family
Vicky, thank you so much for leading our memorial service. Our entire family is in awe at your skill and compassion. We are fortunate indeed to have met you.
~ J. H.
Wedding to Marriage can help you craft a vow renewal ceremony that reflects your values, celebrates your achievements, shines a light on your hopes for the future, and gathers in your whole family.
Reasons to invite your family and friends to a recommitment celebration:
- To reaffirm the promises you made to each other on your wedding day
- To make new-and-improved promises, now that you’ve been around the block a few times
- To reaffirm your love and commitment in the company of your families and friends
- To commemorate a landmark anniversary
- To thank your partner for being a good one
- To celebrate the family you are building
- To thank your village for helping your marriage thrive
- To spread some joy with your beloved community
When Zadie was little, she expressed a yearning to be in her parents’ wedding. Of course, she couldn’t be, because she and her brother Milo hadn’t been born yet. Ten years after their wedding Karin and Matt put together a celebration of the love, trust, and respect that comes with being a family. It was a wild, windy day of gratitude and re-affirmation that embraced the joyful energy that was their now community — their children, their friends, their friends’ children. They renewed their promises to one another and to their children. Their children made promises with each other and presented gifts to their parents.
When you married, you promised to take on life’s changes as a team. Keeping up with those changes — parenting, career, family responsibilities, health, and just life in general — can get in the way of keeping your skills sharp.
Are you still great at talking to each other? At asking for what you want? At listening in a way that makes your partner feel heard? Could you use a refresher in how to solve problems together and resolve conflict harmoniously? Do you just want to check in with each other in a thoughtful, purposeful way?
A marriage checkup provides an opportunity to reflect on your marriage intentionally, to ensure that your heads are still as fully engaged as your hearts. It begins with an objective assessment of couple satisfaction in areas such as communication, conflict resolution, parenting, financial management, stressors, relationship dynamics, and intimacy. We review the results of the assessment together and decide whether you want to work on fine-tuning a few focus skills or run the gamut of all of the skill areas covered by the assessment.
Love gets us together. Skills keep us together. A marriage checkup can help you shore up your relationship skills so you can continue your journey together in greater strength, confidence, and trust.
