faking romance when the love is real .....

Okay - so just borrowing the title of Martin's book! :-) (which by the way is in production and almost ready for release!!)

It was our anniversary this past week - 15 years!! God has been very good to us - we've had an interesting 15 years, all of it guided by the hand of God. We've been blessed with four wonderful children, and gone through so many years of highs and lows. But through all of it, we have worked hard on our marriage, trying to remember to put God first, family second and ourselves last. We've believed very strongly that our marriage is "more important" than our role as parents ...you need a strong marriage in order to be effective parents.

Over the years, we have gone to many marriage retreats - our first when Danielle was a baby. At that time - 6 years married, we NEEDED a retreat, time to work on our marriage. And it's gotten better since. Ever since then we've tried to get away once a year - even if it's for just one night. Although -- I sure wish we could get away together for a week - just like our honeymoon!! Maybe for our 20th?

But anyways - this past Friday evening we were going to celebrate with Chinese ordered in and a movie in. I was supposed to teach the next day, so we didn't want to party late. :-) However, I ended up having someone teach for me because I was starting to feel overwhelmed with no time to relax. Martin's sister Jen had offered to take all 4 of our kids overnight for our anniversary - so once Martin knew that I didn't have to work he took advantage of it!
And whisked me away for a night away. We stayed local - at the Peace Arch Best Western ...in a room with a king sized bed and an in-room jacuzzi tub!! We had dinner out at "The Knight and Day" (yummy pasta!!) and then just RELAXED. Swam in the pool, soaked in the tub with a good book, and had bad-for-you snacks in bed while watching "Just For Laughs" late at night. Slept in. And then picked up our kids late morning to do normal Saturday stuff. So awesome!!

And that's what romance and marriage is about!!! Keeping the romance alive with things like this. Many couples I know say "we don't need that - our marriage is fine". or " you don't need to go away - you should just be able to keep your marriage alive and well during regular life".

To that I say .... ya, a car will run fine without a tune up - you can fix it when it fails, but you're better off to keep your car running well with REGULAR TUNE UPS.
Most couples could use and need stuff like this on a regular basis.

Ladies? The book "How to Fake Romance (when the love is real)" is a great book to help men learn how to romance you again. You'll love it! :-)

As for me? I LOVE my hubby and very much appreciate the way he continues to romance me 15 years into our marriage. I definitely love him more now than I did then ...and expect that I will love him even more 15 years from now.