Saturday, February 28, 2009

Reconnect: Marriage Retreat

Friday night we had dinner with some special friends the Busby's and the Merrill's. This was the first time any of us had eaten at Jorge's in Clearwater. The food was amazing and Mike is already talking about the next time! To start off we ordered the Ginger and Soy Calamari. Then Mike ordered shrimp and scallop scampi with crabcake. The chef is from Costa Rica, so Mike knew the rice and beans as a side would be do die for and he was right! I ordered the Panko crusted crab cake, mashed potatoes and broccoli. (If you order off the early bird, you get dessert too.) I got a slice of NY style cheesecake with raspberry sauce. It was delicious! I can't wait to take my parents there when they come for a visit. The retreat was held at the Belleview Biltmore Resort and Spa in Clearwater, FL. Since we live less than 10 miles away, we decided to sleep in our own bed at home and attend the sessions. The Resort is closing in May for renovations, so we enjoyed walking around looking at all the historical pictures are articles. My friend Rebecca and I walked around outside. The weather was beautiful and after walking around I can see why they are going to update the Resort. (While walking around, Rebecca heard a crack from a piece of wood and I cracked a tile around the indoor pool. Shhhh!)



The Retreat was a great get away! The speakers Ken and Jinner Rudolph were open and transparent about their marriage and how much work LOVE takes. I enjoyed how he used God's Word to encourage me in my marriage. On Friday night we had an assignemnt. We had to find out what our spouse would like for us to do for them. I was shocked at Mike's response. He wants me to turn off the alarm some mornings, so he doesn't have to. I'm going to try real hard at this, but I don't know if I'll be able to do it fast enough. He always turns off the alarm before I even hear it. I told him he is going to have to let "play" for a bit longer so I can hear it and then turn it off. (I'll keep you posted on how well this goes. He might change his mind and pick something else that he would like for me to do.) I thought the assignement was fun and the Rudolph's encouraged us to ask each other that question every month or so. Try it, you might be surprised at your spouses response, like I was. We had three sessions and the last session Ken took a vote on what subject he wanted us (the audience) to hear. Our choices were: the broken-hearted OR sex. What do you think won? Remember this was a marriage retreat! :-)

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Thankful Thursday!

I have noticed other blogs have "Thankful Thursday" posts. I don't know where that started from or the "rules", so I made my own. Today I'm thankful for:

T-Teaching at a fantastic Christian School
H-Hubby who cooked dinner 3 nights this week!
A-An attitude that is being changed through my Bible Study "Lord, Change my Attitude" by James MacDonald
N-No bad news from the doctor today!! All the bloodwork came back normal!
K-Kids in my class that know when I need a hug or say just the right words!
S-SKYPE! So I can talk and see my family in SC. I love to Skype my parents and
chat almost every night! (I get to see my sister and niece too.)

Thursday's are my favorite day of the week. I love going to Bible Study with women from my church who love God and want to know him more intimately. This is our 2nd James MacDonald study. In just 3 short weeks our study will be over. I'm already praying what study our leader will choose next. It's amazing to see how God works and He shows himself to me at the right moment when I needed him most! Praise the Lord!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Weekend with the In-Laws

My In-Laws came to town this weekend. Mike and I kept to our tradition though and went to breakfast on Saturday morning. Some friends walked in and so they sat with us. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I remembered that I should have taken a picture to post on my blog. Oh well, maybe next time. We then had some paint to dispose of, so we headed to Home Depot. I was shocked how many people were waiting in line to help our environment! (The Sheriff's Office even had officers out directing traffic.) So after 20 minutes waiting in line, we were off to get Cooper so Grandma would unlock the door.) Cooper is the star at Grandma's. We enjoyed a day of shopping and eating at a local pizza parlor. Sunday was a great service of a guest speaker and a touching message. We headed back to Grandma's for a Sunday feast. Nothing's better than Grandma's macaroni and cheese! Pictures are coming soon!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Bath Time!



Cooper got a bath tonight!

Fabulous Friday

My sister and sister-in-law have blogs, so I thought I would join the blogging world! I enjoy reading their blogs weekly and now I find myself saying, "That would be great to put on a blog". So here I am blogging about our Friday night. Every Friday night my sweet hubby fixes dinner because he only works until noon. So I just love coming home and not having to think about "What's for dinner?". Tonight was a wonderful meal of a steak pinwheel from Publix and fresh vegetables and garlic red potatoes. Our Friday night also consists of watching Monk and Psych our weekly TV shows that are a must! I better go, because Monk's season finale is coming on in just 3 minutes!! I love Friday nights with my hubby!


I changed my font at thecutestblogontheblock.com