Taking the road less traveled: 2014

Happy New Year! We hope you all are enjoying your first day of this year. Last year was surely the year of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for us. We walked through moments of extreme happiness as we finally adopted a daughter and moments of fear as I received the call of Jeff's accident. However, I can say those moments have made us stronger individuals and made our marriage even stronger. Which made me realize as life gets crazier around here with juggling four kiddos, homeschooling, and two jobs for Jeff, our marriage needs to be placed before all of those things. Someday (coming way to soon) the kiddos will be gone, and the schoolroom will once again be a dining room and Jeff and I will be saying how big the house seems to be with them gone. The one thing I don't want us to say is that our hearts have grown apart because we put our marriage on the back burner so we could raise a family. Our marriage is not struggling, so I don't want anyone calling me worried. In fact, our marriage is the best it's been in 17 years and I want to keep it that way. What I'm saying is I never want to be a statistic of unsuccessful marriages. There are too many good Christian couples divorcing in this country because they put so much time and energy in their kiddos. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that at all, but you have to take time as a couple and realize that your spouse's needs should be before the kids. When you do, your marriage not only thrives, but your children feel more secure and can be eye witnesses of how God intended a marriage to look like. I couldn't ask for a more God fearing, loving and considerate husband. In order to help him to thrive I need to be the wife that takes time for him so he knows he is #1 in my life. So, my New Year's resolution is to take more dates together, be a better listener, slow down and take time for him and support my hubby in all area of his life. I've found a few sites that have great date ideas such as:
http://www.wifemomsuperwoman.com/2012/10/01/30-non-cheesy-date-night-ideas/
and
http://www.stayathomesusie.com/77-super-fun-date-ideas/
and
http://zachterry.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/50-questions-to-ask-your-spouse-on-a-date-night/

On the flip side here are our kiddos waiting for the new year last night at the annual New Year's party. This year we rang it in at Chamber's new beautiful home!