abe: “i think i’m falling in love with you again.”

deb: “oh, really? what do you mean?”

abe: “i think it has to do with all the time we’re being forced to spend with each other through this process. and even though the time we’re spending together is spent doing the SAME thing over and over again. it’s just nice to be able to be with you.

we don’t have kids pulling on us, we’re having interactions with other adults and it’s just nice.

it’s nice to be able to be working on this project together”

deb: “that’s nice”

that was a snippet of conversation deb and i shared this past tuesday as we drove home from yakima.

we also happened to be driving separate cars home, and we talked on the phone the WHOLE way home. (45 min) we haven’t had a 1 on 1 uninterrupted conversation like that in years. i might even say since our college days when we’d go for long walks or talk on the phone for hours.

i’m looking forward to not having any appointments this weekend – our kids could use some dedicated uninterrupted “mom and dad” time.

we’re two weeks into this process, and from my post last week , you can tell it’s thrown our “normal” routine schedule into a tail spin. that particular tuesday, we had just gotten done with two appointments with great friends and i had been gone from home since 6:20am and returned home around 10:50pm.

but through this challenging/exhausting MPD* process, i’ve been pleasantly surprised to find myself falling in love with my wife all over again.

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*MPD = Ministry Partner Development – that’s the name given to the process of us raising a team of supporters so we can report to Little Rock as fully funded staff missionaries with FamilyLife

Recording a video seems to be easier for me than sitting down and eloquently typing my thoughts; it is quicker, too. So, here is my first installment of “Wednesday’s Wisdom for Parents.” Have a great day!

have you ever read your Bible with married eyes? that is, you are soaking in what the scriptures are saying to you concerning your spouse and/or your relationship to them?

“Outdo one another in showing honor.”

one of the best emails i’ve gotten in my entire life from Danielle, my 7yr old, yesterday.

and if you actually do want to hear it 10 times in a row. ok, so maybe that’s just me. :)

there’s a little thing called twitter, have you heard of it? and on twitter there’s a way to get an ongoing trend from one person or multiple people at the same time/event/place. it’s called a hashtag.

a hashtag is a word, phrase, or just letters preceded by the number sign. such as: #olympics, #superbowl, #election, #christmaslist, etc.

anyone can create these hashtags either for personal use or for use by anyone that knows about it. the other day i started one such hashtag for the days leading up to Valentine’s day (but i plan on continuing it past v-day).

#whyiloveyou

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anyone who’s married knows that it takes a lot of work to make it a successful, happy, thriving relationship. our natural tendency is towards selfishness, not towards serving.

there’s been excellent books written on the “love languages”; words, touch, service, gifts, & time. and regardless of whether ‘service’ makes it into your top one or two love languages, there’s no denying that it will be a part of your relationship at some time or another.

no matter what your top language is or what your partner’s top language is; you must intentionally “serve” that other person by speaking their language to them instead of your top language.

so to that end i’ve developed a method for me to combat my selfishness.

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