Three years ago we were asked to tell our love language stories on a promo/surprise video that Gary Chapman’s publisher was going to put together for him as a surprise for the twentieth year celebration of his initial Five Love Languages book. We were excited to do it as his books, including the application of his teaching on love languages, made such a huge impact on our parenting over the past twenty years.
To fully appreciate this short video snippet (our portion of the promo video), you have to hear the darling story of when we first discovered that the five love languages were alive and well in the Reish home.
Ray and I were taking a parenting course/support group (told you we were parenting seminar and book junkies!) when the teacher gave us Chapman’s first love language book and asked us to read it over the next week and give an oral book report to the class the following week. We read it aloud together, and we had a lot of fun trying to guess each of our olders’ primary and secondary languages. Any time one of the kids said or did something, we would say, “See…told you his was _____.”
The evening of our class came, and true to form on class nights (they were held in our home), I was rushing around to get dinner on the table, get the kids around, etc., so that we could have everything ready when people arrived. Ray pulled in the drive-way, and everybody got excited.
Here is where all of our questions about our four olders’ primary love languages were answered:
Joshua (first born, about thirteen at the time; now thirty-two) and I raced through the house, into the garage, and out to the drive-way, acting like we were pushing each other (Joshua is one of the most gentle young men in the world and would NEVER push his mother—or anybody for that matter!), and shouting to each other: “I get him first. I need him more than you do.” “You get him all the time. I need to tell Dad some things.” etc. etc.: LOVE LANGUAGE: TIME….and, yes, still to this day!
Kayla (first daughter, about ten at the time; now twenty-nine) sat in her usual spot at dinner and said the words that she often said to her family members: “Dad, try these muffins. I made them today just for you!” LOVE LANGUAGE: ACTS OF SERVICE….and yes, still to this day!
Cami (second daughter, third child, about nine at the time; now twenty-seven) pulled something out from under her chair at dinner: “Here, Daddy. I made this painting for you today!” LOVE LANGUAGE: GIFTS….and yes, still to this day!
Kara (third daughter, middle child, about six at the time; now twenty-four) stood up and twirled around and around beside Ray’s chair: “Look, Daddy, Mommy got me this new dress at a garage sale. Do you think it’s pretty?” LOVE LANGUAGE: WORDS OF AFFIRMATION….and yes, still to this day!
Within one hour’s time—within minutes before our oral book report was due—all four of our older kids affirmed what we had believed about their love languages. How cool is that?
Here is the video clip of our portion of Mr. Chapman’s surprise video:
To purchase any of Mr. Chapman’s books on Amazon, click here. (Affiliate link)
