Year of Patience/Year of Waiting - Can You Eleborate?

Hi,

I want to know stories of how to plan and implement a most heartfelt, sincere, focused Year of Patience. I haven't found much online about this amazing tool for pressing a "restart" button on our marriages.

Please share!

Here is what I could find, but I imagine there is much, much more about how to plan the separation and manage the separation for the best - the most good for the husband, wife, kids and rest of the family. How does the couple arrange for reflection and improving themselves? How do they arrange for keeping the kids secure and in the loop and understanding the strangeness of separation? How do the parents - stop codependent behaviors that have been around for years? How do they develop new behaviors that work better for the next stage of their marriage and family upbringing?

Please share your thoughts here.

Thanks!

Marriage

Living a chaste and holy life preserves the sanctity and stability of marriage, the bedrock of society. Bahá'í marriage is a physical and spiritual union. Marriage requires preparation. We need to take time to get to know our intended partner thoroughly before marrying. We marry intending an everlasting union. After choosing a partner, we must obtain our parents' permission, in the words of Shoghi Effendi, to "strengthen the social fabric, to knit closer the ties of the home, to place a certain gratitude and respect in the hearts of the children for those who have given them life and sent their souls out on the eternal journey towards their Creator." We are then free to plan our own wedding as we wish, abiding by civil law but in a Bahá'í ceremony in front of two witnesses approved by, and officiated by their Local or National Spiritual Assembly. The ceremony simply includes the reciting of this verse by bride and groom to each other: "We will all, verily abide by the will of God." Anything else added is purely up to the individuals.

The husband and wife are expected to be absolutely faithful to each other in thought and deed. Should the marriage fail the two must make every attempt to prayerfully rise above their differences. They must try to restore harmony while living separately for at least one year (known as the year of patience) as supervised by their Local Spiritual Assembly. If reconciliation is still impossible after the year of patience, divorce may be allowed as a last resort. Divorce is highly discouraged because of its disruptive effect on family life and the discord it creates.

Family Life

The sacred and primary purpose of marriage is to raise a family, to "bring forth one who will make mention of Me (God) amid My servants." Child-rearing is a sacred responsibility. Within the family each member has a role to play, notwithstanding that some families become single-parent homes. The parents have the responsibility to educate their children. Children have the responsibility to obey their parents. The father has the primary responsibility to provide for and protect the family, while the mother is the first educator of the children. This does not exclude men from training children or women from working, but rather is a statement of primary responsibility and not an absolute restriction of roles. Families should pray and study the Bahá'í writings together daily. Children from an early age should be taught to pray and meditate and to acquire spiritual and intellectual knowledge. The family should be the center of unity, affection and harmony.http://info.bahai.org/article-1-8-0-1.html