A few weeks ago, we discussed dating in marriage. (And by we I mean you and me, not Matt and me.) Remember that?
I loved this discussion because it was so good for me to hear what so many of you are doing to keep your marriage strong. That so many are being intentional, recognizing that a marriage relationship doesn’t take care of itself without two people being dedicated to its care – well, it blessed me to hear your thoughts.
And then, without warning, I became discouraged.
What is it about hearing what others are doing that can sometimes make us feel that we aren’t doing enough or doing it right? Why, when we hear what works for others, do we sometimes choose to feel bad if that very thing isn’t working for us?
Good grief. I know better. But shoot. Some of you actually have dates with your spouse every single week. You’re super creative with your time together. You’ve found fantastic ways to fit dating into your schedule. Even better – it is an actual, non-negotiable part of your weekly schedule. And then there’s Matt and me. We rarely find time for dates, struggle to create alone time, often have unfinished conversations.
So does this mean that surely our marriage is doomed and that we, as a couple, must be a complete mess?
Oh, for real.
There’s no doubt we will always have room for improvement in our relationship. Sometimes we struggle. Sometimes we don’t communicate well. We’ll continue to go through various seasons in and levels of busyness in life. Sometimes there is more time to connect, and sometimes we need to be more creative.
It is so important to recognize that what works for one might not work for another. It’s also so very important to be open to learn and willing to grow. That’s why I loved this dating discussion with you. I learned. I was encouraged (I mean, at first, you know, until I got silly and let myself feel inferior to your awesomeness).
So then I did what I should have done in the first place. I talked to my husband about it.
I’d been praying about this area in our marriage – simply because we are very, very busy and are very involved with several ministries and all of our kids’ stuff and all of our work – and I’d been feeling too much of a disconnect between the two of us lately. Like we’d been spending time together but not really spending time together, you know? So here’s what we did, and brace yourself – maybe even prepare yourself to take notes – because this date suggestion is one for the books:
I hopped in his truck with him while he headed to the gas station to fill his gas cans with fuel for his lawn mowers.
You guys.
He in his grease-stained work clothes. Me in…probably something that didn’t match. Gasoline fumes all around us. It was, quite obviously, the ten minutes of date time I had been longing for.
We discussed and decided that this is where it’s at for us right now: stealing away for a few moments whenever we can even if it doesn’t look pretty. Matt knew the dating topic had been on my mind for a while so in between gas can fill-ups he said, “Define date.” And I was like, “This. Going to the gas station with you. Doing anything with you. I don’t even care. We don’t need to spend any money on dates, ever. I just want us to figure out how we can have more time together focused on each other.”
Ironically – the very week after this discussion, not one but two families randomly blessed us with “thank you gifts” in the form of gift certificates to local restaurants. Um, hi God.
We definitely decided we would have to be intentional about this each week since no two weeks ever look the same for us. It is best for us to look at our days as each new week begins and figure out together when we can block out time during the week for a “date.” Honestly, sometimes this means something as simple as sitting in the van alone together after we’ve arrived home from a family activity. (Mom? Dad? You guys coming? Nope.) And sometimes it means we actually dress in something cute and go to a restaurant to order something yummy.
What if it doesn’t have to be normal? What even is normal anyway?
After our most recent restaurant gift certificate date, Matt grabbed his flashlight as we got back into the van. “Would you mind heading over to the property where I’ve been working and holding the flashlight for me while I go down into the crawl space to access the damage? I kind of need to get that done so I can turn in an estimate.”
I giggled because, this. This is our normal.
I sure do love my hard working guy. So what if our date time looks different from your date time and your date time looks different from our date time? Either way, I still love hearing what you are doing. I love getting new ideas, and most importantly, I love hearing about couples being intentional about their relationship. I think the point is that we look at our individual marriages with each individual need and we let God lead us in keeping our marriages strong, with His power at work.
I haven’t bought the bundle (YET), but the Dig for Kids looks great.
Not sure it would work for anyone else, but our church has a meal on Wednesday evenings before activities. They then deliver some of those to people (not necessarily church members) that have a hard time getting out, are sick, just had a baby, etc; We volunteered to do this several years ago when our girls were little and would take them with us, but then they got big and went to their activities and we have a little hour “date” in the car just the two of us while serving others : )
We’re like you in that our schedule is different each week, so it’s hard to set something regularly. We recently started swapping kids with another couple to give us each some time (alone together) each month. Sometimes we’ll go out to eat, other times we’ll just enjoy being at home with no kids.
I haven’t gotten the bundle yet either, maybe this flash sale will persuade me enough. It looks like there are several fun books!
My parents seldom went on date nights. What I watched was simply them taking the most of daily life. They were always up earlier than the kids on weekends and would sit and chat over coffee. After dinner the kids were excused from the table and they say and talked about the day before cleaning up. They had one of the best marriages I’ve ever seen.
My favorite book in the bundle so far is Life Giver.
My oldest is 14 so she has begun helping us with date nights. It doesn’t happen often but we like to do lunch dates. If I put the little ones down for a nap then we can go on a late lunch and have plenty of time to visit and run errands together. We always come home by bed time, and usually by dinner. It makes it easy on the family but is still really hard to find the time.
For date nights, my husband and i just stay up after our daughter goes to bed and drink kombucha. Sometimes we watch a movie. When we go out on dates we always bring our daughter with us. We prefer having the family time over babysitters because we dont live close to family.
Yes! I think the modern emphasis on needing dates in a marriage is a real disservice — I’m talking about the idea that you need to go out, spend lots of money, even lots of time in order to have a good marriage. What about the kids in this picture? They are without their parents for an entire evening every week of their childhood. That adds up to a pretty big percentage of their time with Mom and Dad. My husband and I spent many years only going out once a year on our anniversary, but we spent quiet time talking pretty much every day. I would WAY rather have it that way, and I think it made our marriage much stronger than a weekly “real date”. Now that we’re older, Home Depot is our favorite date spot. Or the chicken coop gathering eggs. Anything to have some time to spend together. Doesn’t matter what we are doing, the key is in the interaction and communication.
Most of the time we fix a nice dinner at home and just chat about things going on. It’s nice since our schedules tend to clash a bit and we do not get a lot of together time.
After the children are in bed, hubby and I sit in the living room chatting and eating ice cream. This works for now, when kiddos get older we will try to go on traditional dates again. :)
My husband and I like to make special drinks (flavored cocoas, steamers, smoothies, frappes, etc.) and talk after the kids go to bed.
I’m enjoying the Right now Media access.
My husband and I pick a few different places to go, and do a sort of progressive dinner, except we gather each course to bring home, eat a nice dinner and watch a movie in the comfort of our home. We usually get dessert and drinks from the local health food place (so they’re a *little* bit better =]) and the rest from places we don’t often go or we like one appetizer or entrée from. We really enjoy trying new foods, esp. from local, more whole foods places (which would be super expensive if we sat down to dine) and we love being home! A movie theater is great, but I’d much prefer watching a movie on my own couch, where I can stop it a go to the bathroom as often as I please!
Some really great ideas! Thanks for the give away – gift cards are SO exciting!
Our dates consist of trips to Lowes or Costco without the kids. It works. Our 25th anniversary was 2 weeks ago. It was spent going to music lessons, a soccer game, and a band concert. Whatever. We’re happy and that’s just how this season of life is right now. I think our marriage has grown and is stronger now than the first 12 years when we had no kids and had lots of time to date.
My perfect date would be a whole day of dinner,walks and maybe a movie
We are a lot like you :-) We have been married for almost 11 years, together for almost 18 years. We have 4 little kids and #5 on the way and we live far away from family and friends. ‘Date nights’ are so few and far between! Most of the time our alone time is when we are able to run some errands when someone is visiting or we are visiting family :-) We also like to do ‘at home date nights’ after we get the kids to bed we order take out or delivery from somewhere nice and rent a redbox movie that we want to see :-) It works for us for now in this stage of our lives.
Love this ~ even a 10 minute date to the gas station can be a blessing! ??
Thank you for that reminder.
Love this ~ even a 10 minute date to the gas station can be a blessing! ??
Thank you for that reminder.
I am really liking the Motivated Mom’s Chore Planner so far!
Favorite date night? French fries and a rented movie at home!
We are usually so busy working on our property that there is no time for date night but we do enjoy working together and sometimes we take time to canoe on our lake.
My favorite in the bundle is:
Canning, Pantry & Food Preservation Planner
by: Lisa Barthuly
I love the bundle sales. I think my favorite book so far is 81 Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes.
Now that our kids are old enough to stay home by themselves for a few hours, my husband and I like to enjoy dinner together. It only happens about every other month, but it’s worth it.
My husband and I are differing on the dating idea. He thinks it needs to be the restaurant, flowers, movie, etc. I’m fine with a glass of wine on the deck—KID FREE. We’re working on it. :)
Since I’m still working on last year’s bundle (!) I opted out of this year’s bundle. But seeing how everyone is enjoying it, maybe…
We have dates like yours. I try to ride along on any errand I can. So, we go together to take the trash to the dump or pick up a car part. Honestly, I was glad for any of those opportunities when we were dating, too. I always want to be his sidekick girl.
If you think of it, pray for us. He’s leaving today for a 2 month mission trip. Our oldest son is going, too.
My husband and I also have schedules that take us different directions most o the time but we carve out alone time grocery shopping at least once a month sometimes twice and if we need to go to the laundry mat (because my dryer only works when it wants to) we go together. We don’t usually have money or time for dinners or movies or such but we make the mundane into momma and daddy time and it makes it all better.
We are terrible about setting aside time once a week or even once a month for date night; however, we try to walk every morning which not only is great exercise it gives us a time to talk kid free. We sometimes go over important topics or just silly things. Other times we walk in silence. It gives us time to connect before the day begins. We both really enjoy it.
Now that my oldest kids are old enough to babysit the others, I will ride along with my husband to get gas or to run other small errands. I love being with him, even for a short amount of time. It makes me feel like we are dating again! Every now and then he will take me out to breakfast on a Saturday while most of the younger kids are barely awake. Special times!
I live when my husband and I cook together.
We’ve had lots of “going to the gas station” dates. Now that our children have flown from our nest, it’s easier & less costly for us to eat restaurant fixings at times. We often share our work load, too.
We go out for breakfast on Saturdays
Fun date idea: drinks and a movie. My husband and I watch lots of movies together, and sometimes he makes me a fancy drink to go with it.
Bundle: I haven’t looked at the 2016 bundles, I bought them in the past and still haven’t used any of the resources.
I am with you Laura. My husband and I just went out on a date the other night. It was the second date in a year. We usually only go out on our anniversary. Sad.
But you have given a different perspective to dating your spouse.
In my situation, I find I need those dates to get away from the kids and home. I guess that is not a healthy perspective. To me it isn’t important to build my marriage. I guess that is where I err.
I find myself envious of those who have a great spiritual relationships. For me it is non-existent. I suppose that if I had that spiritual head in my household, I might feel differently about date night.
Date night around here lately has consisted of going with my husband to show homes. One of his clients was looking at places over an hour away. Score for a long drive! We stopped for donuts so it totally counts! ;)
I’ve been using the RightNowMedia access a lot with my little one.
Our oldest son is married now, so once in a while he and his wife will take our younger kids for the night. Generally my husband and I will get some Mongolian take out (it’s the best restaurant in our tiny town) and take it home and watch a movie and just spend time together snuggling on the couch. It’s one of our favorite dates.
My favorite date we’ve taken since having kids was to a couples cooking class. It was a blast and the food was INCREDIBLE.
My husband and I run errands together. That’s our time to talk. My favorite time together is when we walk together – no interruptions and no distractions – except for God’s beauty, which is great!
we love to be outdoors esp. on water…canoeing or kayaking…or if time doesn’t allow, sitting on our porch swing talking.
i won’t be purchasing the homemaking bundle, but 175 Best Date Ideas book does look good!
Thank you for the giveaway. I just make sure to go along when my husband is running an errand sometimes, not because I need anything, but just to be with him. That may not count as a real date, but it does count in showing that I still want to hang out with my favorite guy after all these years.
Yikes. It’s been a very long time since we’ve had a date night. Several years ago we would go out to eat without kids. Hubby would pick the restaurant, and we would order pizza for the kids. The last time we just went to a coffee shop to talk without little ears around. This was a good post. We definitely need to do this better. Must put this on my prayer list. Thanks for the gentle reminder.
I haven’t bought the bundle yet, but the dating ideas book sounds great!
I haven’t purchased the bundle (yet)! So many good items in it though.
our special date nights include a dinner and a movie
We try to take advantage of kids activities at church and sometimes sneak a little time away then.
I always like new recipes
One of our favorite date nights was one when our friends booted us out of the house with 15min notice that they were going to babysit. My husband and I headed out and had an evening full of the random little outings we used to do before we had so many little kids (5 of them, oldest is almost 7) – we went on a walk, got coffee, went to a bookstore, went to Qdoba and split nachos, went to a CANDY SHOP and picked out something yummy (just for ourselves!) :o Even getting in and out of the car for multiple stops was a treat, because we weren’t unbuckling and re-buckling ANY carseats!! Kept making us laugh at what a difference little things kept making (like walking at an *adult* speed – amazing). Good times. We spent less than $20 in all, and had a lovely, lovely evening… hm, I need to go find my husband and remind him that we want to do that again soon :D
Oh, but most of our hang-out together date nights are in-home, so we can have dates regularly. We love watching some of the Craftsy classes together to learn some new culinary skills, while laughing – and they even offer some free mini-courses that are fun (“Common Cooking Mistakes” and “Knifes Skills” are a couple of examples – though the real titles of those classes might be slightly different than what I just wrote down, lol.) Just a suggestion for people who enjoy down time together, but aren’t into t.v., etc. :)
We’ve gone camping in our own backyard before. Just took a mattress in our tent, watched the stars, enjoyed the fire from our fire pit, then relaxed in our tent.
My husband and I love to garden together. It’s free plus we get some work done too!
The marriage books from the Bundle look really nice!
One of our favorite things to do . . . is to walk around the property together near dusk holding hands. We look at all the things we have done to the yard and just enjoy being together. Reminiscing and dreaming. :)
Have not gotten the bundle. I have enjoyed reading which books you liked and I think the date night one would be my pick.
We have mixed up schedules too… The challenge of being married to a professional musician. We do movie nights at home when we can and we often add in a pint of custard to split. Crazy inventive, right? Ha! We do try and swap babysitting with another family to occasionally get a little time out as grown ups. It is a way we all can save $$$ since it is beyond the budget to pay what babysitters expect these days and then still go out. We always spend less than what we’d pay just for the sitter and our kids love playing with their friends!
We like to spend some time together with coffee first thing in the morning before the children wake up!
Of course, we also love to go out for dinner together but with 4 children, that’s not always possible.
Is it weird how much I like your, “just stay in the van for a few minutes” date idea? That’s genius — partly for the time together, and partly because I know my marriage would be better if I was always on the lookout for opportunities like that. Thank you!
One of our best dates has been a trip to the farmers market together. We also like frozen mozzarella sticks and a movie after the kids go to bed.
We still have little ones at home, so we plan a special dinner for just the two of us after everyone’s in bed!
We live near a small state park and enjoy driving through or getting a Subway sandwich and eating by the lake.
A fun “date” for us is to pack up a picnic/snacks and ride our bikes somewhere into the country and relax in a ditch talking, eating, and admiring God’s beauty.
I didn’t purchase the e-bundle but I’m sure my favorites would be the marriage builder ones :)
We often have home projects going on, so I simply jump in the truck with my hubby and go to Menard’s to pick up what we need. It helps that our kids are old enough to be left at home. But, like you, we have busy teens and it’s hard to find time alone. Thanks for the encouragement.
Our favorite date night is to carry out food from one of our favorite local restaurants, then take it to the park & enjoy our meal at the park. We then enjoy walking around the park together!
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Grab a picnic lunch and go to the park!!
My favorite resource from the 2016 Homemaking Bundle is Natural Beauty Recipes by Desi Ward! Thanks for a great giveaway!
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Fun date night idea is laying on a trampoline and looking up at the stars!
Loving the Molly Green website that was a freebie in the bundle.
My husband and I are not blessed with any children, however, we still have to be intentional about making time for each other. I take care of five children under 4, so most days I am tired! Sometimes I will say at so and so time meet me on the couch for Netflix time and bring popcorn!
One of our favorites is picnic at a local park. Summertime is a good time for outdoor concerts but that is usually a “family” date rather than just a couple date.
I’m sure someone mentioned this but a picnic somewhere makes a great date.
I think my favorite resource in the Homemaking Bundle is the subscription to Molly Green magazine. I had never heard of it before and am finding the articles so neat and pretty informative. My husband and I rarely ever get out just the two of us, we have 3 small children with one on the way. If I feel like I need some quality hubby time, I either have an early supper, and sometimes even feed the kids before he gets home from work, then the two of us can eat while the kids run out to play. Or I put the kids to bed early and we watch a movie together or just sit in the living room and enjoy each other’s company!! Love your blog!
My favorite book so far is the make ahead breakfasts.
With our boys being able to stay home while we run errands has given us many tiny date opportunities. It is neat how just a 20 min car ride to the grocery with uninterrupted conversation can refresh our relationship! Being content with the stage we are in right now is a big help as well.
I am really excited about the teaching your children to clean book. I missed out on the bundle earlier this spring and am excited to have the opportunity to grab it now. Thanks for keeping us updated!
For date nights we have lately been staying in and trying to do something special when the kids are in bed. I am really excited that the weather is nice now and we can sit outside and enjoy the cool breeze around a fire and just talk. We don’t go out often because it adds up by time you eat out and hire a babysitter. Winning the gift card would be a perfect budget friendly night out! Thank you!
We have a local farmer’s market that runs one evening a week. Walking around the farmer’s market and then buying a treat to share is a simple, inexpensive date night that allows time to reconnect and just be together.
So many wonderful choices, but right now I’m definitely in a breakfast rut, so Healthy Make-Ahead Breakfast Recipes is at the top of my list. Thanks for the giveaway, too!
We are book lovers, so a great date night for us is just browsing through a book store together. Cost – free, though it’s also fun if we get dessert before or after. ;)
I love going for walks with my husband, either at a park or on the campus of our local university. Or just window shopping in a cute downtown area. Yard games are fun, too, like corn hole or ladder ball.
Lately we do a lot of at home dates…just enjoying a little time together after the kids are in bed, but we also try to take advantage of those “gas station” dates too. ;)
A date idea I’ve been wanting to try is the “Flip a Coin Date” I saw on Pinterest. When you leave the house you flip a coin to turn left or right, drive until you’re at another corner and flip again…etc. You could either flip a certain number of times, or just go until you can’t anymore….then explore wherever you end up.
I haven’t looked at the 2016 bundles, but they look good from what you’ve mentioned here. =)
going for a ride in the country and stopping at farms for artisan honey, berry picking and flowers.
With two little ones our dates are normally at home watching a movie after the kids are asleep. Every few months we will pay for a babysitter and go out for dinner or movie but those don’t happen as often. We have gone out with some friends with older kids that watched ours for us. Steal any time you can:-)
Occasionally our church organizes a Parents’ Night Out. It’s a party for the kids, so they love it, too. We might take a walk, watch a movie at home, or maybe get take away.
I’m happy about the Molly Green subscription from the bundle and the Right Now media bonus.
We are kinda boring, but we love at home movie nights or putting the kids to bed and eating a special candle light dinner (our kids are still young so this works for now, but I’m sure once they are older it will be a little harder).
Thank you for the entry—we actually have a date Night in 2 weeks because our children will be at VBS!
We have fun going grocery shopping, just the two of us :-)
The marriage books look the most interesting to me.
My favorite ebooks from the bundle are the Slow Cooker Freezer Meals
Now that our kids are older, my husband and I sometimes run errands together without the kids and take advantage of that time alone.
So far, my favorite ebook is Miracle Dough.
Going on a hike and camp in our Montana mountains is a great date.
My favorite thing in the bundle is the Right Now Media. I have already watched multiple Bible studies, movies and documentaries. Well worth cost of bundle just for this.
I think I may have said these in the original “dating” post, but coffee drives (with a special coffee from a drive-through or a yummy coffee from home), are one of our go-to dates, even if it’s driving to somewhere we need to go together. Usually we drive around and look at scenery and/or find a nice place to park (that could be interpreted many ways, I realize), usually by some water or a trail. Speaking of trails, we also go on hikes/walks together (even just for 20 minutes or so), and always find this a good place to talk and get exercise too! Last but not least, we go out for breakfast (some Saturdays, or on occasion another day we have free), because it’s a nice meal that costs less, plus we can sit and drink all the coffee we want!
I don’t know if this officially counts, 1) because I haven’t yet bought the bundle this time (and may have to pass again, unless I mysteriously come into an extra $30 by tomorrow), but I still totally think it’s worth it, if you have it in your budget :), and 2) because the resource I’m most interested in is not a book; it’s one of the courses….
But here goes: I’m most interested in the Cozy Minimalist course.
We like to hike, snowshoe, etc. in appropriate weather.
If the weather is bad, snuggling on the couch to watch a movie is good – with some really good chocolate, etc.
I have not gotten to look at them much yet, but several in the “Working from Home” and the “Holidays & Traditions” categories look really great.
One of my favorite date ideas is to go to a bookstore, get a coffee, browse books & magazines for things we’re interested in, and most importantly just chat a while uninterrupted. We also are blessed to live near a big city where we can catch some free concerts or plays, but they’re usually to late for our children. We sometimes splurge for a babysitter to attend those.
My favorite resources from this bundle were the Molly Green/Right Now bundle, the podcasts, the Craftsy course, & the organizational forms, especially the one for children’s finances.
We love riding around looking at houses and pretty yards. We try to do this once a month or so.
I love when Hubby surprises me with date night being a picnic
Our favorite date is ice skating & then going out to eat afterwards to talk!
I just bought the ultimate bundle but I would say my favorite looks like the 30 day Marriage Challenge & 81 favorite slow cooker recipes
We try to watch a favorite movie or show together after bedtime!
I like Raising Kids You Actually Like from the bundle!
One of favorites seasons with my five children was when I would go on a bike ride with each of them individually. We would pack a special snack from home and stop and have a “picnic” somewhere along the way. Exercise, the great outdoors and time together…..what precious memories!
Since our kids are old enough to stay home alone during the day but not evening, we like lunch dates. Less expensive too!
We also love to do building projects together.
There is a bundle book about how to organize and prepare for canning and preserving that looks good to me.
One of my favorite free at-home dates is playing a board game with my husband after the kids are in bed. It’s a good change from the default “movie night.” :)
Like you, it seems to be a real challenge to fit regular dates in! I thought when our kids got older and we didn’t need a sitter that it would be easier. Ha! I didn’t realize how busy we’d all be:) We also try to be creative with errands and times here and there with an occasional planned date. One thing we do that I love is that we go running together in the evenings after dinner. This is our uninterrupted time to talk with no distractions. When it’s pouring rain or really cold in the winter, I miss this time as it seems like we get very distracted at home.
My husband and I do go out on dates regularly, but the best thing we’ve done lately, is we go for a walk late at night, after the kids are in bed, try to finish getting our 10,000 step on our pedomenters, and we just talk. 30 min almost every night where we walk and talk. It’s been great for us and it costs $0!
I think I’d like the bundle book My Life as a Middle School Mom. My oldest is just entering this stage and I’ve got several more coming!
My husband and I do date nights, but not weekly or even on a schedule. We’ve done everything from going out to eat to birthday gift shopping for one of the boys or simply going on a walk or sitting on the patio for an hour, just talking. Occasionally he comes home for lunch while all the boys are at school, other times I might stop by the office for lunch with him. The point is to make the other a priority for that time frame that you have available.
one of our favorite date nights is driving up to washington dc (we live about 20 miles south) at night after the tourists are gone and visiting the monuments. the lincoln is our long time favorite. maybe if you have a touristy area near you, try visiting at night when the crowds are gone and you can just enjoy and have time to talk.
My recent fun date night was actually thanks to you, Laura! We got a free copy of the new star wars movie and had an at home date night after we put the toddler to bed. It was fun! (http://maisonraye.blogspot.com/2016/04/project-date-night-16-april-star-wars.html) We don’t typically go out for dates, but we find it important to be intentional about planning time to be focused on each other!
favorite resources…. 175 Best Date Ideas, Plan a Fabulous Party, Rediscovering Joy in Motherhood.
Hubby and I have a date every morning. I ride in the filthy van with him down to the gate to open it for him. Then as he pulls out of the driveway I race him back up to the porch so I can wave to him again from the jasmine. None of that sounded silly in my head, but writing it out….well, it works for us.
I can’t buy the bundles, but I love to read about them and drool on the keyboard. (I bet there’s a book that tells me how to clean my keyboard isn’t there? Isn’t there?!) We live in a rural area with very limited internet connection and limited bandwidth each month, so I can’t download much of anything! My favorites would definitely be the resources on mothering. I could use advice on pretty much everything, but when it comes to mothering, I need a whole cheer squad too – and they need to start by 9 AM.
I can relate to staying in the van together long after everyone else has left (they don’t even notice at first!) just to steal some couple time! After a while someone will come back looking for us …”What are you guys DOING??!” Yes, we are your crazy parents – you just wait until YOU have kids! HA! Some other ways we “steal” time: putting a movie in for the kids while we talk or play a game together, taking a walk around the neighborhood ALONE after dinner, and we have also been known to drop everyone off at mid-week youth group while WE go out for a quick date *gasp*! “What?! You skipped prayer meeting?” Yes, but we prioritize our marriage. God understands! (-: