Date or no Date

People have been asking, did you get the date or not? The answer is yes, Bob and I did have a date. He was unable to find a sitter. So I found us not one but two 13 yr old girls from the church who babysat for us. This was the first time they had babysat our kids, but they did a great job.

What did we do on our date night? We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Great food. And we went to the $2 movie theater. Now don't get your rankles up and say my hubby is a cheap date. It was me who chose the theater. The full price theater didn't have any movies I wanted to see, and we did go by and check it out. Instead we went to see the "Pursuit of Happyness." I know, I know, it will be out on DVD soon. We had not gotten to see it when it was at the big theater, and I wanted to see it without the kids, although they would have liked it too. I loved it and so did Bob.

It was a great night for us. And on top of that it was a Saturday night, you know the night before Sunday worship. I had gotten my sermon done that afternoon so I could go and not worry about it.

So for all the inquiring minds, we did have a date for my anniversary. Oh the other thing we did was talk about what we liked about being married to each other. That was sweet real sweet.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my 17th wedding anniversary. 17 years ago I said yes to Bob that I would be his wife, and he said yes to me. The picture is of the Main Post Chapel at Ft. Benning, Ga, where we got married. Our wedding pictures aren't on a disk and so I can't post them. That may be one of my future to dos. We have had our ups and downs, sicknesses and health, financial problems, disagreements, and yet we have stayed committed to each other and our marriage. We deal with conflict differently. He is an introvert and I am an extrovert on the Meyers Briggs scale. He comes from Texas and I come from Florida. He plays golf, I learned to play golf. I played tennis, he learned to play tennis. He likes Opera, I learned to like Opera. I liked movies, he has learned to go to them with me. We like hiking, biking, boating, and fishing. We also like working on home projects together. He grew up Lutheran and converted to Catholism. I grew up Southern Baptist and converted to United Methodist. He converted to Methodism. We have both grown spiritually together. I like to go the ocean, and he likes to go to the mountains. So we go to both places and enjoy. I have to brag on my hubby. He is one of the sweetest, kindest, gentlest, humurous, loving man yet all man that I know. I am so thankful for him. To steal and redo a line from Tootsie, "I am a better woman from knowing him and being with him." Some of the things we have done to help ourselves and our marriage are as follows; Marriage Enrichment, Marriage Enrichment retreats, and Marriage Counseling. But the most important thing we have done is praying together, reading God's word together, forgiving each other, seeing each other through God's eyes, and turning ourselves over to God.

March Anniversaries

It was a year ago, that we went to China to get our son Zach. Boy has time flown. And how he has grown, and is maturing. He is such a whirlwind of activity, loudness, and fun. I am so glad that God brought us together.

Yesterday, was the date of my father's birthday. I could always remember it because it was the first day of spring. I now remember it emotionally because he died in 1998. I miss him a lot on this earth. I don't miss him spiritually. I know where he is. And he often comes to me in dreams, thoughts and feelings. I am grateful also that God allowed us to be together, as father and daughter.

Saturday, March 24 is my Wedding Anniversary. My husband has been going around saying 17 years, wow 17 years. His first marriage lasted 12, but probably should have ended the day it began. He can't believe we have been married longer than his first and that it has been so much better than the first. I can't believe I am even married, and even still married. I was single for so long, that I had come to the place of accepting that I might remain single for my life. And I will admit that for most of my life I thought I wasn't marriage material, you know, things I thought about myself from some pain and hurt of life. And yet here I am married to this beautiful man for 17 years. Wow. He is working on getting a babysitter so we can have a date Saturday. Ya'll pray, he hasn't been able to find one yet.

And on March 29, I started blogging this blog of St. John's Rev Abi. It was originally named Vicar of Wadley for where I served as pastor. Here is my first post,The vicar is in Maybe.
I originally started blogging about our trip to China to get Zach on our adoption blog under the name of my husband. (I turned that over to my husband, who sadly has not picked it up, but dropped it.) But I have to say I am so glad I started blogging, in that it has opened up a whole new world of friends from all around the world. I have a new family in the revgalblopals, and with those in the Methodist blogging world. I have met some of them f2f at conferences, and will hopefully be seeing some more at the Festival of Homiletics in May. I thankful that God brought us together.

Wow what great anniversaries to have in March. I am celebrating!