http://www.familylife.com/events/featured-events/weekend-to-remember
It was from Friday through Sunday so Mark's mom offered to take the girls to her house for the weekend. Even as old as they are, I still miss them so much when they are away that long. They always have so much fun at Memaw's though so I knew they were excited to go. Unfortunately Avery was sent home Friday from school with a fever and of course that freaked me out. How was I going to be in the Woodlands while she is almost to Austin for three days while she is sick with a high fever??? I seriously debated not going to the conference but thankfully Mark took her to the dr to make sure it wasn't strep, which would only get worse over the weekend if it was. Her test came back negative but they gave her antibiotics just in case, until her culture came back to confirm. Although I was worried sick, I knew Mark and I really needed to be at the conference. I also knew Memaw would take good care of Avery and call me immediately if anything bad happened or if she got worse. Thankfully her fever went away Friday night and never returned. I was able to enjoy the weekend without stressing over my little ones.
For any married person, regardless if you have the best marriage or the worst marriage, should go to this conference. I think it should be required before they hand out marriage licenses to anyone, but ESPECIALLY before anyone decides to have children. While I would say I wished we did it a long time ago, I think our timing was perfect. Things have been really rocky in our marriage in the last couple years. We've gone back and forth as to whether to stay together or throw in the towel. I am not afraid to admit that b/c I know every marriage is hard. Anyone who says otherwise is only trying to fool themselves. I'm not saying every marriage is rocky, I'm just saying every marriage requires work. Even the pastors at the conference said that every marriage will have some sort of problem at one point or another, whether big or small, but there will be conflict at some point. I will admit our problems are on the more difficult end of the spectrum but we both walked away from the conference hoping for a new beginning.
Everything is a process. If we had gone in November when we were supposed to go, I'm not sure we would have got as much out of it b/c of the things we have gone through from November through now. In the last 6 months we have grown closer spiritually so it was easier to absorb the lessons they taught at the conference. From the minute we walked in the door, I felt like the speakers were talking directly to me and Mark. After hearing them give their own personal experiences I realized we weren't any different than them, just to a different degree. We have handled our conflicts in the wrong manner and worked against each other instead of working together. At the conference they gave us tools to fight fair, forgive, work together, help each other and improve imtimacy. They also helped define our roles in our marriage and family.
Going into the conference I was like "yea right like this will really help us" but when I left the conference I felt a sense of hope. But only b/c we BOTH opened our eyes to see what we could have, and what we could be. We have a road map to help guide us in the right direction. Is our marriage miraculously cured? Not yet, but it can be if we both try. It just made us realize how much we really do love each other and we have to work hard and together to get it back on track.
The most important thing I learned at the conference was my role as a mother. Since my children were born, they have been first in my life after God. I realized this weekend that as important as my children are, my husband should come before them in my list of priorities. If Mark and I don't make it, how will that impact our girls? If they see love in our marriage, chances are they will find love in their marriages. I want them to grow into happy, secure, successful women... not depressed, lonely and insecure women. I need to be a good role model for them so when it's time for them to leave our house, they will make the right decisions for themselves.
Saturday night we had an assignment to have a date with our spouse. Mark happened to have a $100 gift card he won at work so we decided to have a nice dinner at Flemings Steakhouse. It was AMAZING!!! Very expensive but worth it since we didn't have to pay for all of it. It was nice to date my husband again.
This was us at Flemings after we shared the molten lava cake, ha!
We took a walk on the Waterway and couldn't stop laughing at how funny my belly looked. The picture doesn't do justice. It looked really funny when I walked.
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