Falling in Love...Again

This was the theme for the Marriage Renewal Weekend that Todd and I went to through our church. It was held at the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa. 

Friday

We arrived Friday night and our speaker was Wales Goebel. This is a man that I had heard of all my life growing up; but had never had the opportunity to hear him speak. His message this weekend I feel was two fold. He spoke to us about how to have a Christian marriage (how to help safeguard ourselves from the things that could come between us as a couple and what the Bible says our responsibilities are to each other) and also spoke to the men about how important their role in the family is, not only to their wives, but their children. This man with his thick southern drawl spoke the word of God in such a loving but powerfully direct way. On the way home Todd said that he was so impressed that this soft spoken man had such a strong message. It was like an iron fist in a velvet glove.

After the message...we played a getting to know you game. We had to find another person in the room who had the same physical trait as us, such as blue eyes, or was born in the same state as you etc., I think there was about 25 questions in all. Then came the NEWLYWED GAME. There were 4 couples who were picked to play and Todd and I were one of them. Anyone who truly knows Todd can guess that he used the time for entertainment as opposed to actually answering the questions correctly. We came in last with only 10 points but the rest of the weekend we were told that we added a lot of comedy to the game.

Saturday

We had a continental breakfast and then Wales spoke to the group. Again, convicting you in love with the word of God about your life and His plan for us as married couples. We then had a Men only/Women only session. We had the opportunity to write down any question that we had about marriage or men and a panel of four men were there to answer our questions. It was an insightful time into how a man perceives things. We then had our breakout sessions. We had four to choose from and could attend two of them.

Jim Doggett spoke on listening and other rare, exotic habits. The Lost Art of Listening

Dr. Howard Eyrich spoke on How's Your Glue? (We attended this one)

Dr. Dave Matthews spoke on "M" is for Money, Honey

Bobby and Jan Parks spoke on Sexual Intimacy is for Lovers (We also attended this one)

We had about a 5 hour time frame that was "free". I would love to say that Todd and I drove around to see the sights, went on a walk, or spent time going over some of the "for thought" questions that were provided...instead we spent the afternoon napping! Let me take this time to say that this is the first time Todd and I have been away together in 9 years. After 5 years of getting up in the middle of the night to check Emma, we had a lot of sleep to catch up on.

We then had a candlelight dinner which consisted of:

Pan Seared chicken Breast with Tarragon Vinegar Sauce, Roasted Vegetable Couscous, Southern Chocolate Cake, or Banana Carmel Torte. 

Wales continued his talk about marriage and then we were free for the evening.

Sunday

We again had a continental breakfast and then had a worship time with Wales concluding his talk. Todd and I had lunch with our friends Robert and Lee and then headed home to pick up the kids from the G-parents house.

It's so hard to pick out my favorite part of the weekend...finally getting away with Todd alone or the wonderful message that Wales delivered that weekend. I guess it had to be when Todd (whom I had to coax into the weekend) leaned over to me and kissed me saying what a great time he was having---he was so glad he thought of it!!!