I have a lot of things I need to unpack after this weekend. Nothing too gigantic or life-changing; just little decisions here and there, some weightier than others, that are on my mind and heart. I won't go into too much detail, as some things don't need to be put out on the internet for all to see!
One big thing comes after attending the Love and Respect conference. We were invited by our mentors. Honestly, we wouldn't have gone if they hadn't invited us. It's not that we think we have this marriage thing down perfectly. And it's not that we think we know it all or don't have areas we can improve in. When I said "yes" to Jim, we started getting ready for the big day almost immediately. An important thing was getting pre-marital counseling. We had EXCELLENT pre-marital counseling. They sat us down for weeks in a row, gave us books to read, things to think about, asked us hard questions that sometimes made us uncomfortable, and even more importantly modeled for us what they preached. As the anniversaries come, I grow more and more grateful for their wisdom and their faithfulness to share it with us because I know we are better for it. I know that not everyone gets the kind of equipping we did going into marriage. All of that being said, there is ALWAYS room to learn and grow. I can't speak for Jim, but I know there were things that I was convicted over and am challenged and want to change to better our marriage. In the grand scheme of things, Jim and I have a great marriage; at the end of the day, I know he loves me and is on my side and I'm confident that he knows I respect him and will stand by him till death do us part. 1 Corinthians 10:12 says it best, though: "Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence." (MSG) God designed marriage, he designed the inner workings of marriage and has a purpose bigger than procreation and pleasure. Marriage is a refining fire, a work in our lives to make us aware of just how much we need Christ. My youth pastor in high school always told us that "who you are at home is who you really are." There is great truth in that. I left the weekend encouraged, thankful, convicted, and energized to ask God for strength to do better. An unexpected take-away from the weekend came as I thought not only how I relate to Jim, but also in parenting and understanding Jacob.
After the conference, we celebrated my Grandfather's birthday and then Jim, Jacob, and I went for a run. I'm doing the Couch to 5K thing (I'm only on Day 2) but we went 1.5 miles at about a 12:30 pace (it has you walk and run at intervals which is less daunting to me than going out and running a mile and a half outright). After Jacob went down, we finished Season 2 of Downton Abbey. If Season 2 hadn't ended the way it did, I'm afraid I would have had to read ahead about the seasons to see if I wanted to invest anymore time in this. BUT, since Matthew proposed to Mary and she said "yes" and Mr. Bates got his punishment moved to only life in prison, I will continue on. But things are going along too well, I'm afraid, so I am a little nervous about what is going to happen. NO SPOILERS PLEASE.
Sunday, Jacob woke up a little earlier than usual, so Jim went to our 8 am service and I went to the 930 service so that Jacob wouldn't have to be at church until noon and could get his nap in. We tried an afternoon nap after church, but that never happened. We headed out grocery shopping, to Bahama Bucks (Jacob wasn't a huge fan of snow cones, but he did like Jim's smoothie!) and then I cleaned the Cube. Janey (our "good" house trained dog that hasn't had an accident in YEARS) peed on the carpet RIGHT in front of me twice yesterday evening. It was like she was trying to prove a point or get my attention. This was after two small run-ins with some neighbor dogs and Jacob pooping in the tub. Anyone who knows me knows that I love animals, especially dogs, and especially my dogs; but I would be lying if I didn't say that there are some days that I wonder if we might need to find them new homes because they aren't cut out for apartment living. : (
BUT Monday is here- a new week, a new start, the end of the month. What did you do this weekend??
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