Nine Years...

Today is our ninth anniversary. Its hard to believe that its been so long. And yet I can hardly picture my life without my wonderful husband. He is not perfect. He comes with his own unique brand of challenges and quirks. But he loves and adores me and our children. He supports us financially, and emotionally. He leads us spiritually. He thinks I am the most wonderful, beautiful woman he has ever seen. I mean, who can resist that? ;-) I am so thankful for my DH and I look forward to many more happy years together. I love you!


In case you didn't know... Marriage is hard work. It takes us both giving 100% all of the time. And when one of us stops giving 100% it is noticeable. We can feel the effects in our relationship and the way we connect emotionally and physically. Thankfully there are tons of resources out there to help support healthy marriages. Here are a few websites that I like to visit for marriage tips and encouragement.

Jill Savage has a weekly post called Marriage Monday with tips to keep your marriage thriving.

CWIVES - Christian Wives Initiating, Valuing and Enjoying Sex

Women Living Well - good biblical perspective on marriage and family

Time Warp Wife - she has lots of biblical tips about marriage, family life, time management, etc.


So, this year I suggested to my husband that we do something a little different for our anniversary. Instead of buying each other gifts we're exchanging "Date Nights"... I got the idea from this post I found on Pinterest. They were suggesting it as a wedding gift but I figured, why not adapt it for our purposes? So I have gathered a few restaurant.com certificates, gift cards and movie passes (I got discounted ones at AAA) and bundled them in envelopes for preplanned dates for us to open and use throughout the year. Some of them are simple nearby places that we frequent anyway, but others are more elaborate (mystery dinner theater). We are guilty of doing the whole "What do you want to do?" "I dunno, watcha wanna do?" thing on date nights. I hope the preplanned dates will keep us from doing that so much this year! ;-)

If you are interested in putting together your own preplanned date kits or just want some date night ideas check out these websites:

The Dating Divas

Redbook 100 Great Dates

Budget Date Ideas in Indy

List of Top 10 Marriage Websites



Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:7-12