A date for two

Last weekend we got to go on a date. An extended, 24 hour date. It was sooooo nice. I actually surprised Nathan with the whole thing, as it was his last official "holiday" off; and probably his last vacation day until 2012. I asked friends from church to watch the kids at their house (no hotel expense for us), and I wrote-up a little schedule of events for our time alone.

First we went down to the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte. It is an awesome place! If you're never been there, even if you're not from NC, you should check it out. It is quite expensive for  a family; but for a fun day with a friend or your spouse, it's pretty cool. Actually, we didn't even do any of the activities there. We went even cheaper than that - there was a free bluegrass concert being held there, and we went for the entire night. With no kids. With no one to chase, or feed, or take home early before the cool band came. It was lovely. :) (ps - we saw the Steep Canyon Rangers - they were great!)

Then we went out for cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. Probably our most expensive part of the date, because two pieces of cheesecake cost $15!!!! But, they were heavenly. And, we had fun going out past 9pm, and in downtown Charlotte no less. Wow!

The next morning we got to sleep in. I know that's all any parent who's reading this really cares about, and yes, we got to sleep! Then we went on a hike, ate some local BBQ, and watched a movie. A whole movie mind you, not a broken-up into pieces movie. It was really really fun!

Did we miss the kids? Of course! We talked about them all the time, and I went into their little empty rooms at night and almost cried. But they did great at our friends' house, and they had lots of fun too.

 I really feel strongly that God has blessed us so much with our children; and one way that we can care for them is to take time to care for our marriage. Think about it, 24 hours out of 6 months or a whole year is really not that long to be away from the kids. But, the time that we got to talk, encourage one another, and remember how much we love each other (yes - even after only 6 years this is important).....well, that's really priceless. Building a good marriage is like building a good foundation for your family - God first, marriage second, and children third. They all grow-up together into a house of love and praise for God.