Reminders

Things have been crazy around these parts for the last few weeks, hence my lack of blogging. We had my parents here visiting, which is always a great thing. We love them, we feel comfortable around them and we know they love being here with us. It was a great visit, and a reminder of how lucky we our to have our family. We were sad to see them go.

During the time they were here, Doc and I were able to sneak away a couple times without the kids. Any of you who know me well know that I absolutely live for date night! I live for sweet moments with my daughters, too, but taking care of this marriage is my first priority. (I know some of you are ready to bite my head off with some sort of "A mother's first priority is her children!!!!"-comment, but I believe that taking care of your marriage is directly connected to taking care of your children. 1. It sets an example for them in their future relationships, and 2. happy parents = happy children!) Doc and I are both so busy right now, him with working full-time and going to school full-time, and me with pretty much everything else, that it makes it difficult to have those quiet conversations that keep us in check, so we took full advantage of this time we had! We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a date night, and while we were sitting at the restaurant we exchanged cards we had bought for each other. We couldn't help but laugh, because the theme of both of our cards was basically this: Life sucks right now, but I love you so much and there's no way I could keep my head above water without you! I wish I could say that the theme was wine and roses, but that's really just not our reality right now. We're busy, we're paying off debt and downsizing our spending habits/lifestyle, and things really just aren't fun at all. But, we're madly in love and we've been blessed with so much more than money can buy. Sometimes we just need to sit down and remind each other of that.

I think that Doc and I's journey right now is really intense. Things have been really lonely and overwhelming lately. Doc is so busy with schoolwork that by the time we get a chance to have a conversation it's already bedtime. The girls and I miss him so much, and he misses us the same. We're all longing for time together, and there's just not alot of it. We still don't have near the friendships here that we had in Hawaii, and we're really missing that fellowship that we had there. We're in a time of growth and change, and we're preparing for even bigger changes yet to come (mainly financially, but also time-wise, priority shifts, etc). We're desperately trying to be more self-disciplined, and with every ounce of progress that comes there's a tempting desire to throw it all away and go back to the old way of doing things. This desire is familiar. It's come with every single small victory that we've conquered thus far in our Christian walk. It comes from the one who wants to see us stumble so badly that he can taste it. In those quiet moments that I have with my husband, we're able to remind ourselves of the victories we've already won. We can talk about our gameplan, and we can pray together and listen in the silence for God to lead us.

 I'm thankful for the gentle reminders that a great date night give to us. It reminds us that even though there isn't alot of time for deep conversations (sometimes any conversation!) that we are still on the same page. We're still fighting the good fight, and we're loving each other through the tough parts. We're both exhausted, but we're praying for strength confidently, knowing God will see us through.

In the really dark parts of this journey, the lonely and overwhelming parts, I'm thankful for these reminders. We serve a mighty God, and I know that He'll get us through this valley in our life. It may not be pretty, but we're learning and growing and loving each other through it. I needed to be reminded of that.