Our Long Date!!!

Jeremy and I had wonderful "date night" thist past Friday night. Here's how it went:

We drove down to Graham on Friday and had lunch with my Mom and Maw-Maw who took Stephen and Caleb home with them. Jeremy and I then headed back to Durham. He had told me to pack a bag when we left, but I had no idea where we were going.

My first surprise was the beautiful bouquet of flowers he had ordered for me. We picked them up on the way to my next surprise. Next, we headed to a nice hotel in Raleigh and checked into our room. It was very beautiful (and according to Jeremy not too expensive!).

For dinner, we went to the Cheesecake Factory. Since I've been pregnant, this restaurant has been one of my cravings. I love their cheesecake, of course, but their parmesan chicken with alfredo sauce is even better. Over dinner Jeremy and I talked about how gracious God has been to us throughout our marriage. We reminisced on how He has abundantly met our needs and wants. No one in this world could understand God's provision quite like Jeremy and I understand it together. When our waiter brought us the bill, he told us that our entree was free since it had been prepared wrong (and yes, I was totally nice about this) and took so long to come out. Jeremy and I just laughed again at God's provision and tipped our waiter extra!

We then headed to the Summit for a marriage conference with Paul Tripp. It was so awesome! There were over 600 people there. Both Jeremy and I learned so many new things and were reminded of a lot of other things we had forgotten.

On Saturday morning we woke up and headed back to the Summit for the second part of the conference. Again, Paul Tripp was great, and the Lord revealed many things to both me and Jeremy. I am thankful for this time of growth for both us.

After the conference, we went out to eat with a newly married couple whom we have been mentoring. The Summit has a great mentorship program for engaged couples that carries over into their first few months of marriage. Spending time with these two has strengthened mine and Jeremy's marriage, and I'm confident God has great things in store for them.

At this point in our weekend date, I was tired!=) I could have headed back home and napped for hours on end, but we still had a little while before picking up the boys. There's a golf course right across the street from our home, and Jeremy has been itching to play it. The weather was perfect on Saturday so off we went. Jeremy played 9 holes, and I walked with him. Yes, I got a little tired towards the end, but it was so much fun! It reminded me of our "golfing days" back before we had kids. I admit that I'm looking forward to rejoining him on the course again in the future!=)

We picked up the boys later that night and headed back home and well, really, back to reality. I sure love our boys, but it is so much different without them. Marriage is hard work, especially after you had kids. But after our long date, it was worth it!=)

I'm not digging this picture of us, but it's the only one we took!=)