february dates

by Kristin

As part of our marriage building challenge, we decided to go through a book called  40 Unforgettable Dates with Your Mate.  Each of us planned a date for each other this past month. 

Nathan took me on a date to meet my need for friendship.  We went out to a nice, relaxed lunch, and he asked me about my childhood, my likes and dislikes, and how I was doing in general.  It was a great opportunity for him to find out more about my past as well as to check in with me.  I loved the opportunity to just talk.

I planned a date for him to meet his need for spiritual intimacy.  The book had a really eye-opening chapter on spiritual leadership...I never realized how difficult it is for men to be confident in their role as spiritual leaders!  I drove Nathan to Napa Valley and took him on a hike at Skyline Wilderness Park.  We've never been there before, and I was surprised at how nice it was, especially considering its proximity to the town of Napa.

Here are some of the sights from that hike...

We saw several deer grazing.  They were wary of us but didn't run away when we passed by.

Much of the hike followed this moss-covered stone wall up the mountain.

Lookout over Napa Valley

Our little lizard friend!  Is he a salamander?  We weren't sure.

Beautiful tree-lined path.

We passed an old foundation for a home - the chimney was the only thing left standing!

The lake at the end of the hike.

When we arrived at the lake (3 miles into the hike), we sat down to talk awhile about spiritual leadership.  I asked Nathan to tell me about his spiritual journey and childhood experiences with church.  Then, we talked about the challenges, triumphs, and struggles he faces as he tries to be a spiritual leader within our marriage.  Our conversation provided me with new ideas for encouraging him and provided insights on what my own role should be within our marriage.  

 

After we finished the hike, we headed for some great food from the Taylor's Refresher roadside stand in St. Helena.  We had a beautiful view of a rainbow the whole time we ate!

We were able to sit in a giant bubble of a tent to keep out of the breeze and stay warm. 

We had to order a chocolate shake.  They make chocolate shakes the way they should be made...with chocolate ice cream!

The onion rings were divine...

...and I really enjoyed the hamburger.

On our way home, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the valley.

marriage building

Since we've been married, we have devoted Saturday nights to reading books on Christian marriage.  Lately, we've been reading through Fit to Be Tied by Bill and Lynne Hybels...we love it.  It's geared towards both already married couples as well as couples considering marriage, and it has an excellent discussion guide in the back.  The book raises great points, but it's also funny enough to be entertaining.

One of the challenges raised in the book is to try something new in several different areas of your life, just to keep things interesting and fresh.  Here are a few of our goals:

Dating - Go on two purposeful dates each month that we schedule in advance.  We will each plan a date for the other with their interests and needs in mind.  To get us started, we're going to work our way through a book of dating ideas.  We've picked 40 Unforgettable Dates with Your Mate.  It's got a section on dates that the wife plans for the husband and one on dates that the husband plans for the wife.  Each of their date ideas meets a specific need - the need for friendship, spiritual intimacy, etc.  We're really looking forward to going through it.

Education - We've decided to teach each other something that each of us is good at.  Nathan is going to teach Kristin all about our finances.  Kristin is going to teach Nathan how to use Creative Memories digital scrapbooking software.

Relationally - To build up our relationship with one another, we are going to re-do an exercise that we first completed while dating.  We will each write a list of ten things our spouse does to show us love and a list of ten things our spouse could do to show us love.  These are great ways to ensure that we are loving each other in ways that are meaningful to the other person.

To build up our relationships with others, we've decided to invest more purposefully in several of our friends.  We've started praying for these friends daily, and we're going to do our best to initiate spending time with them.  We've decided to also show appreciation to those mentors in our lives who have meant a lot to us by putting together a meaningful gift basket.

Spiritual - We decided it was about time that we start memorizing verses.  We each have made a goal to learn one Scripture passage a month, reflecting on it throughout the month.  Kristin's going to make magnets for each passage to help us stay reminded of them.

Nathan hasn't picked his passages yet, but here are Kristin's: 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 (witnessing), Philippians 4:6-7 (anxiety), Ephesians 5:22-24 (submission), 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (purity), Philippians 4:8-9 (pure thoughts), Philippians 4:11-13 (contentment), Romans 12:3 (humility), James 1:22-25 (obedience), James 3:9-12 (speech), 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ministry), Ephesians 6:10-13 (staying strong).

catching up

It's about time we posted birthday and Christmas pictures! 

Nathan celebrated his birthday the weekend after we got back from New Zealand.  We went to On the Border with some good friends to mark the occasion.  On Nathan's request, Kristin made a lemon cake that we all enjoyed after our dinner.

Here are the friends who celebrated with us...

 Andy and Moret - Nathan was in a men's Bible study with Andy.

 Cliff and Shannon - Cliff was also in the men's Bible study.

Katie - A great friend from church...we've been close for several years now.

 Yulian and Erik - Yulian is a graduate student with Kristin...they used to be our neighbors!

 Jeremy, Noelle, and baby Kacey - Wonderful friends from church!

After dinner, Nathan came home to open his gift...R.I.S.K!  Now, he just needs someone to play it with him.

This was the first Christmas that we have ever spent away from family.  We didn't have a tree, so we decorated our entertainment center with lights.

On the floor in the corner was our presents pile.

Kristin enjoyed opening gifts from family, including some excellent cooking supplies from Elizabeth!

Nathan was excited to get Settlers of Catan from Wayne and Dolly. Now...if only he could get someone to play it with him... :-)

Kristin got Nathan the Harry Potter X-Box game for us to play together.  We've had a lot of fun with it.

And...Nathan got Kristin the most amazing gift EVER.  Thomas Kincade paintings!!!

Kristin posing with her new paintings.

marshmallow wars

by Kristin

It took me forever to take down Christmas decorations this year (I finally accomplished it last weekend).  My favorite of all my decorations are my S'mores ornaments.  I've got quite the collection now and had them displayed all along our bookshelf.  Nathan kept referring to them as my "marshmallow army", and I would often walk into the room to find them "standing at attention."

One day, when Nathan came home from work, the S'mores were no longer standing at attention.  Instead, he saw this...

Yes, the S'mores had finally gone to war.  It must have happened while I was in the bathroom.

It appears that there were quite a few good spirits among the troops, despite the amount of marshmallow bullets flying around.

One managed to even sleep through the entire battle in his little tent!

Nathan thought it was all pretty funny, until he took note of one particular casualty...

Poor Nathan.