Married Dating

Sometimes just sitting on the couch together can feel like a date.

Our couple journal-notebook writing every night is like a mini-date. I read what John wrote the night before, he reads what I wrote, and then we add to it for the other to read the following night. Back and forth. Two different colored spiral notebooks, with the pens clipped on as the book marking the page we are on. I highly recommend the practice. Sometimes it is nice to have a place to write a love note your spouse is guaranteed to find!

Max had a free Maryland State Boychoir concert Friday night, so we could have gone out. That counts, except for the driving Max there and back part. One of my favorite things about married dating is the car talking time. I take that back. Not always true, if I am feeling tense and distracted by traffic.

It's hard to write feeling so tired. I have four more library dvd movies to watch while making bow ties this weekend. Solo activity. No, that's not true either. John irons the bow tie strips before they turn into individual ties. He comes and sits by me through-out the process to check on me.
Roxie's turn to cook. She learned how to make pot-stickers! And we ate them with chopsticks. We probably eat with chopsticks at least once a month as a family, to practice.

Timing It Just Right

It took us a few tries to get the rising sun behind us in the right spot. Sometimes, timing is everything. Being in the right place at the right time with the right person.

I rejoiced yesterday listening to uplifting talks about learning from our trials and adversities. I wrote a list out to John in our nightly Love Journals about possible lessons I should be learning, including valuing my time at home, serving others (subject of our family home evening lesson), patience, humility, gratitude, depending on others (a hard one for independent me), and thriftiness (I thought I was doing that already. Always room for improvement on how to use our resources better.)

Enduring to the end is not the lesson I want to be learning.

And that was just me guessing.

John asked me if I have prayed for comfort, not just prayed for him to get a job, but asked for peace and reassurance.

No, I guess not.

I've been specific in trying to quantify our needs. Trying to ask for what I think our family requires to fulfill our duties and callings and exercise our talents and missions in life.

If you have time to read a modern psalm, my brother-by-marriage, Roger's blog, has a beautiful written prayer, thoughts of his heart. I've been thinking a lot about how Nephi prayed over everything, his family, his animals, his crops, his enemies. And if I should be praying for help in learning the lesson this challenge needs to teach me so we can move on to the next test in life.

John has told me he is thankful our trial is just a financial one, and not me sick again, or a death or accident of a loved one. We have extended family going through phsycial trials that are humbling and severe, hard to deal with.

Others are dealing with emotional or spiritual trials.

Trying to think of things I was grateful for I flippantly told someone I am thankful my husband is faithful and sober. She told me she wished she could say the same, and it put me in my place. Sobered me up. Money trial is nothing, thinking of that possible heartache.

We never know what others are going through, unless we ask and listen and love them anyway, support them however humbly we can.