Date Night!

One of my favorite things to do is Date Night with Ross! I love it! It is hard to leave the kids with babysitters, luckily they usually do great with them... and thankfully we have some amazing friends that love to watch our kids. Yes, let me just say THANK YOU once again, you know who you are... who love on my kids, that in its self, is such a blessing! My prayer is that my kids bless you in the process!

It's so funny how our date nights have changed over the years. We used to be so consistent in the beginning, when we didn't have to worry about babysitters or money (it seemed). We would usually go to dinner, a movie or to some sort of event (play, concert at the music school, museum, etc) and stay out late and talk for hours at Lake Ella. As much as I miss those days where we had no time constraint, It has changed a lot...for the better I believe now! 

Now we usually spend our time more wisely... and our money (since we currently have a lack of). This actually has been good for us, it makes us do things where we have to talk more and not just sit and be entertained. One of my favorite things to do now is go to dinner, and then to Starbucks or walk around the Southwood lake. That is usually all we have time for, but I don't mind...we get more face time and it seems more critical now than ever. We have to fight for our date nights now...life gets so busy and things always seem to "come up" so we HAVE to make it a priority. 

Date nights aren't just a night out for us, they are critical nights to reconnect, re-evaluate where we are going and what we are doing, and rejuvenate. One of the most important times of the night is when we ask each other "How am I doing lately?" We sit there and honestly asses how we are doing... if something is bothering us, or if we have done something particularly great lately to bless each other. Since we started doing this a few years ago, I feel like we have been so much more productive in our dates and in our time together. We can put any frustrations out there and get over it so we can  enjoy each other the rest of the evening/day. It is also a great time to ask each other "what has God been doing in you lately?" and to reflect and remember what is doing on deeper and behind the scenes in your life. Talk about connecting!

So I encourage you... whether you are dating, married or just hanging out with a friend... use those times wisely and don't waste them...I would even encourage you to asses how you are doing in the relationship with each other. Ask the other person to be honest when you say "How am I doing lately?" and be honest with yourself and repent if you need to... Those are also precious moments to ask "what has God been doing in you lately?"