Wedding ring

Wedding ring
Originally uploaded by andy.w2008

(Haven't tried posting from flickr before...we'll see how it goes)
Aaron & I went to a marriage retreat last weekend. It was wonderful! First of all, it was nice to just get away without the kids, and stay in a really nice hotel with KING sized bed (and super soft bedding!). And it was fun to hang out with a bunch of fun couples from church...without kids (are you noticing a theme here??). Not to mention, the mouth-watering, delicious PRIME RIB BUFFET! ha
The speaker (Jack Hughes) was awesome. He was completely down-to-earth, very funny, and at the same time, knew when to be serious. Aaron really liked him (I did too). I think the biggest thing we both learned was from the first evening...He asked "Why did you get married?" Of course, we all thought of the obvious answers--we love each other, we want to start a family, etc. He said the problem with those reasons is that they can change. When things get difficult, it's easy to "leave" those reasons behind. In his years of counseling, he's never had a couple get the answer right. Do you know what it is? (Mom and Dad, you can't answer!). He said the foundation of your marriage (after Christ, of course) should be to bring glory to God. You are married to bring glory to God. I Corinthians 10:31 tells us to do everything to the glory of God. So how do we build our marriage to glorify God?
1. We love God directly (with all our hearts, minds, and souls)
2. We love God indirectly (love your neighbor as yourself). II John 1:5-6 talks about fulfilling the law by loving others.
He also gave several reasons for glorifying God with your marriage.
1. When you do, you're not sinning against God.
2. You will have God's blessing on your marriage
3. Unmet expectations won't undermine my marriage (I don't love Aaron for what I can get out of it but for what God can get out of it.)
4. Your marriage will grow & become an awesome blessing.
5. You will be a blessing and witness for Christ to society.
6. You will be a blessing to your children.

I had never heard that before. But when he said it and explained it, I was like "well DUH". The Bible commands us to glorify God in everything we do.

The next day he "picked" on the guys and then the girls. All of that was what we re-learned. He told the guys that they need to be students of the wives. They need to learn and learn again, what their wives love, what makes their wives happy...whether that's a big bouquet of flowers or a walk and a talk (or both!), etc. Husbands need to honor their wives and by doing so, honor God. He told the gals they need to submit to their husbands...as to the Lord. This kind of submission isn't a "cower in the corner, answer his beck and call, downtrodden wife" submission. Did you read how the husbands are supposed to treat their wives? It's a circle--basically I'm nice to him, he's nice to me. ha! That's a really simplified take. But the base of all this is that you're not "being nice" to him so he'll be nice to you. You're doing it because 1) God commanded you to do it; 2) You love him don't you?! :)

Anyway, I better get finished here before my house is torn apart by the tonornado known as Jacob! I hope this makes sense (and it sure better work posting from flickr!!). We learned a lot and had a good time just relaxing and getting refreshed. And THANK YOU, Papa & Binga for coming down in the middle of your stuff to take care of our kids!

Was it really???

Last weekend Mom and I got to attend a women's conference at a church in Hutch. It was amazing. Challenging and yet still fun :) The theme was "More Love to Thee" and my friend had a really good post on it (so you just read what she wrote b/c it's exactly what I would have said!). Anyway, my parents came down on Thursday night and Friday morning we headed out to the farm (my grandparents' farm) for a visit. Mom and I decided to make it a girls' weekend, so we spent the night in Hutch Friday night and left the kids with Papa, Daddy, and Great Gma & Gpa (very capable hands, I might add!). So we go, get to sleep uninterrupted (although I still woke up numerous times...figures!), have a great day of learning and fellowship and then meet up at my cousin's horse ranch for supper with my family. We get there and Susan says "So how was your first night away from Jacob?" I said "What? That was my first night away from him??" HA! I didn't even realize it. Technically I spent a couple nights at the hospital with Mom during her thing, but I don't think that really counts (I basically went up there after I got the kids bathed and in bed and then was back in the morning). So anywho I thought that was funny that I didn't even realize :) Just goes to show how different things are the 2nd time around!! I wasn't away from Anna until she was almost 2!
So here are some pics from the weekend. Looks to me like the kids had plenty of fun without me!!!

Gettin' a ride in the old wheelbarrow (Papa did a much better job fixing Anna's hair this time--last time he used twisty ties!!)

Fun with Papa

Even more fun with Great Grandpa!


They have kitties!! Anna loves little kittens.

No joke--she actually fell asleep like this! Dad said they were playing, bouncing her on his legs and then he realized she was asleep!!


Jacob and Papa doing "Baby Signs". Well, Papa doing the signs. Jacob wouldn't do them with his own hands, he would just take Papa's hands and make him do the sign! Stinker.