H: Happy Anniversary!

Two years past and I'm still this happy!

January 7, 2008 marked our second anniversary. We had a pretty tough first year with all the transition, so we were very thankful for a much calmer second year. We had a very special anniversary celebration. We stayed at a hotel downtown and went to a fancy steak dinner at Jeff Ruby's just a few blocks from our hotel (ok, ok so I had fish at a steak restaurant...what's the big deal?)

Then Kevin took me to see "Phantom of the Opera." I LOVE "Phantom" and had actually purchased the soundtrack for Kevin as a Christmas gift before we had even decided to see the show for our anniversary. So I sang the night away and have continued to do so while doing dishes, cleaning, etc. Everything is better with Raul and Christine, right?

But my favorite part of the weekend was how intentional my husband was. A good friend of ours lent Kevin some questions from a marriage retreat that he had attended, and we set aside chunks of time during our weekend to evaluate our marriage, give thanks to God for His faithfulness in our strengths, and to pray, plan, and set goals to overcome our weaknesses. If you'd like to plan your own marriage retreat, here are some of the questions we discussed:

What could I do to cause you to feel more loved?

What could I do to cause you to feel more respected?

What could I do to cause you to feel more secure?
What could I do to cause you to feel more understood?

What could I do to cause you to feel more confident in our future direction?

What attribute would you like me to help you develop in yourself?
What attribute would you most like me to develop?
What achievement in my life would bring you greatest joy?
What would indicate to you that I really desire to be more Christ-like?
What mutual goal would you like us to accomplish?

How is your relationship with the Lord doing?
How is our sex life?