We had the best weekend. My mom-in-law offered to have a slumber party with ALL THREE kids?! What?!?! Scott usually works on Saturdays, but he happened to get this one off! Do you hear the angels singing, too?
I started looking for a cheap hotel room. I knew that if we stayed at our house we would be doing all of the things that really could wait. Mowing the lawn, cleaning the house top to bottom, grocery shopping, cleaning out old toys that don’t get played with anymore, prepping for the garage sale that we are having soon, and on and on and on. I was so thankful to find a really nice hotel room for super cheap since it was a last minute booking.
We ate at Giordano’s pizza, which is a place we ate during the Weekend to Remember conference. You have to wait close to an hour for your deep dish pizza to cook, so we had an hour of blissful conversation.
I didn’t really know what to expect for the hotel since there weren’t many pictures of it online, and the pictures weren’t the greatest. It had great reviews, so I wasn’t worried. The hotel ended up being beautiful.
We laid around all morning Saturday. We could have had a jump start to the day and done something in town, but why? We both have run ourselves ragged by constantly feeling like we need to be doing something or going somewhere. Go. Go. Go.
Can we just stop this rollercoaster? It’s ok to take a break. It’s ok to rest. It’s ok to lay in bed until 10 every now and then. It’s ok to just breathe and be.
If you are married, don’t forget to date your spouse. It doesn’t have to cost any money. Trade baby sitting with a friend if you don’t live near family. Go for a walk together. If you are new to an area and don’t have someone you trust with your kids (we have been there so many times), have a date at home once the kids are asleep. Do something. Pursue them. Don’t take them for granted.
Scott and I have a great marriage. It’s not because marriage is easy. Did you catch that? MARRIAGE IS NOT EASY. We have gone through hard seasons where we didn’t get along at all; especially after our first child was born. That transition is SO HARD. If you were currently there- be gentle with each other. We have faced job loss, wondered how we were going to afford groceries to feed our family, lost a child together, faced sickness and hospitalization, been without a home, struggled to make ends meet, and dealt with a heavy load of grief over losing a parent. These things and so many more could have swallowed us up and spit us out in separate directions. We could have been bitter and our marriage torn apart. Do you know why it didn’t crumble? Because we refuse to let it. We pray for our marriage and try to keep God at the center of it. We show up every day and fight for each other. We cling to each other so tightly when the hard times come. And they just. keep. coming. I am so blissfully in love with him that I refuse to let anything ruin us.
I truly don’t say this to brag on us. I know that it is only by God’s grace that we haven’t ended up like the countless couples that I keep seeing that are separating or divorced. But for the grace of God go I.. I say this to encourage you. Scott and I have walked through fire. We carry a lot of wounds that we don’t let others see. Your marriage can survive if you are BOTH willing to put in the work and fight. Get help from a counselor if you are struggling. There is NO SHAME in reaching out. If you are in a great season of marriage, don’t stop praying and fighting for each other. Never, ever quit.
I don’t know you, but I am praying over every reader’s marriage. If you aren’t married yet, I am praying for your future marriage. If you are widowed, separated, or divorced, I am praying for you, too.
1 Thessalonians 4:11
