Love and Marriage!!

One post a week for the last month – what’s gotten into me?!?! :) Our family has been on the go lately, but this past weekend Dave and I were finally able to have some down time – and ALONE time!! :)

(Almost) every year, Dave and I go on our church’s annual Marriage Retreat in St. Augustine over Memorial Day Weekend. We’ve actually been 4 out of our 5 years of marriage!! Every year enriches our marriage in so many ways and it always gives us time to reconnect and rest from the ever so busy day to day lives we live. This year’s speakers, Jeff & Debbie McElroy, spoke on the Armor of God and boy was is GOOD!

¹³ Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. ¹⁴ Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. ¹⁵ For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. ¹⁶ In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. ¹⁷ Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Ephesians 6:13-17

 

Marriage is definitely something Satan yearns to destroy. Just look at the divorce rate among us. By putting on the Armor of God each and every day, we can protect ourselves from the thing that Satan wants. God created marriage to last a lifetime, and that is exactly what I want for my marriage, which is exactly why we need HIM in the center of it all.

It was so good to be reminded of that. How often have I put off my quiet time because I’m just “too busy”? My quiet time is the sword of the spirit. If I haven’t spent time in God’s word, how then will I be prepared if battle (or conflict) arise? One thing we definitely took away from the weekend was putting on the shoes of peace. Cori has been transitioning to one nap a day the last few weeks, which means I have LESS time to get things done during the day without her following me around repeating, “mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy!!” (Another reason I haven’t blogged as much!!) Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE hearing those words from my sweet daughter, but it makes getting my “to-do” list done a little bit harder and I end up still running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get things done well into the night, when I should be spending quality time with my husband and family. SO, David and I decided that if when he get’s home, the “to-do” list isn’t done, we simply just need to move it to the following day. That way I can focus on the important things and our household can be a bit more peaceful. So far, it’s going a bit better. We have had to spend this week working on getting Cori’s routine back on track – that’s what a weekend at grandma’s will do to ya! HAHA!! Just kidding, mom!

When we weren’t listening to our wonderful speakers, we had lots of downtime to spend together. Saturday we spent some time at the pool. The pool feels AMAZING when you’re as pregnant as I am!! We also got to go to the movies to see the new Pirates movie in 3D! We haven’t been to a movie since I was pregnant with Cori – we actually saw Avatar the day before I delivered her and I had contractions the ENTIRE movie!! That wasn’t the case this time around. :) After the movie, we went to Saltwater Cowboys for dinner, which was delicious!! Crab stuffed shrimp and some yummy sauce on them – YUM! They also had the BEST house salad I’ve EVER had!! That dressing was to die for! … We had some great conversations, watched the sunset over the water, and even stopped for ice cream on the way home. Now, that’s my kind of date night!! Here are some pictures from our night out…

Can you see those cute little Mason jars we had as water glasses on our table? During dinner, we decided that we don’t like the glasses we have at home so we are going to sell them all and buy various Mason jars to have as glasses instead! HAHA! Very important conversation!! :)

 

 

Sunday we loaded up after our morning session with a few great friends to head to the beach! Actually our WHOLE table from the retreat as well as a couple from another table went to the beach together. It was so much fun!! At one point we were all out in the water getting pummeled by the waves and body surfing. Two pairs of sunglasses were lost! Thankfully, mine and David’s were not one of the two!! Finley must have felt right at home as I bobbed up and down in the water. HA!

Sunday night at the marriage retreat is always a fun night of dancing!! Every year, David and I do some line dancing, which is a fond memory of the summer we met and how our relationship all began!! This year, we were asked to actually teach a few dances to all 75 couples that attended the retreat. We had a blast! David actually put on the microphone headset (yes, like Justin Timberlake – he kind of looked like him too! haha!!) Can you just see David now with a headset on teaching people to dance. What a perfect fit!! Everyone has such a great time! We shut down the party at 11 pm when it was just us and our small group of friends left. I WISH I had pictures!!

After Mondays session, we headed down to Ocala to pick up our sweet little girl, but not before taking a picture with our table from the weekend.

David & I, Jonathan & Lacy, Travis & Shannon, Lance & Lauren

I just realized that David and I are the only couple NOT holding hands in this picture!! I promise we really do love each other!! :) … We had a wonderful time, as always! And, it was so nice to get some time away ALONE together before Finley arrives and we adjust to life as a family of 4. We were so thankful for this time, but can’t wait to see our family grow!!