Mawiage...twue wuv

Tag yourself! Oh--sorry. Wrong social medium...

Mike and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary last week! We were in the Northwest (of Arkansas, that is--ha!) with Rebecca, because Mike was leading a seminar at a camp. One of Rebecca's friends moved to that area a few years ago, so she was thrilled to be asked to spend the night, which means Mike and I had a night to ourselves! We went out to eat at a fancy restaurant, then back to our friends' house for some yummy dessert. (Listen to this--we shared an appetizer of venison tamales, which were delicious, then I had buttermilk-fried quail in a tasso sauce with whipped potatoes and braised greens. Well, braised greens were on the plate, and I tasted them, but couldn't get past the smell. Mike had a pimento cheese-crusted filet mignon with a potato cake and braised greens. Which he actually ate.)

The restaurant was in here. Who knew there was a World Trade Center in Rogers, Arkansas?

The view from our table

Sweet friends!

Speaking of marriage, we were treated to a weekend marriage conference in Little Rock this spring, and it was very refreshing. Some of the things we learned didn't apply just to marriage. For instance, when God created the earth, what did He say about everything He made? That it was good. So everything was good until the first sin, right? No. God said something wasn't good before the fall:  being alone. They said that there are 2 basic problems in the world, being fallen and being alone. Only God can meet the first need, but we can meet the second. That's why we're commanded to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. It makes people feel less alone and more loved. I liked that.
That weekend was also good for us because, like my friends Matt and Jackie, Mike and I don't fight much--we get irritated and snappy sometimes, but rarely what I would call "fight". We tend to keep things inside instead of airing them. On my part, it's partly because I've always avoided confrontation, and partly because I'm still trying to figure out that balance of communication vs. nagging.  Plus at the last (and only other) marriage conference we went to, the advice to "choose your moment" to bring up touchy issues wisely really stuck with me. So I had something I really wanted to talk to Mike about, but I didn't want to bring it up when he was tired/grouchy, for obvious reasons, and I didn't want to bring it up when he was in a good mood, because I didn't want to ruin it. But after months of praying about it, it was still bugging me, so when our "homework assignment" that weekend was to talk about something you needed to work out--well, it was an answer to prayer. And ended up bringing us even closer together.
One last thing about marriage, and this one just popped into my head as I was reading my One Year Bible the other day. I read Proverbs 17:9 "Love prospers when a fault is forgiven,
but dwelling on it separates close friends." And I thought of all our students who have or are getting married this summer (or in summers past!) and thought that is probably the best marriage advise I've ever heard. If you want your love to grow...overlook faults. That's my new bridal shower verse. :)