Yesterday I had the opportunity to chat with Elizabeth and Lisa on the Faith & Famly Podcast. It was an episode all about love and marriage just in time for Valentine’s Day. Elizabeth shares how she makes these delicious-looking Valentine’s Dots with her kids (yum and so pretty!). And I come off sounding like a total lush talking about at-home date nights involving vino and sipping Mojitos at the beach alongside my husband. :-)
Tune in here, please. While you’re at it, tell us how you try to fan the flames of love and keep your marriage strong amidst the chaos and stress and daily life. You can call and leave us a message on the Faith & Family listener feedback line at 1-413-FAITH-55 (or 1-413-324-8455), or leave a comment after this post or over at Faith & Family.
I’d also love to know how you’re planning on celebrating Valentine’s Day this year with your spouse, your children, etc. (As an aside, my good friend sent me a link to these delicious, pretty, and sound-easy-enough-to-make Valentine Play Dough Cookie Pops. I’m going to have to try these out – if not this year, then the next.)
One of the things we talked about during the podcast was getting away with your husband. Dave and I had our first real getaway in early December, and the alone time together truly was a gift for our marriage. I’d meant to mention that to ease the separation for our children, I carried on a tradition my mom started when she and my dad traveled away from my brothers and me as kids. For each day we were gone I wrote my daughters a short note and also wrapped a small gift. This was my way of letting them know I never stopped thinking of them.
Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy hearing my personal love story as well as advice from far more seasoned brides than I am. (Elizabeth and Lisa have both been married about 25 years!) Just one caveat: I have the tendency to gush about my husband and all things love related. I’m a hopeless romantic. I also don’t believe in griping about my marriage or my husband in the public eye or even to friends mainly because I don’t really have a good reason to gripe out anything. Someone facing real marital strife, abuse, etc. likely needs to reach out to others. But since my marriage consists of more better than worse I try to live this: Build your marriage up or shut up. But none of this means my marriage is perfect, that I’m the perfect spouse (ha!), or that I’m married to the perfect Prince Charming. In fact, because of a lot of changes (many of them good but still stressful), some external forces that were out of our control, and my own interior struggles, I’d say the past year has been one of the most challenging times in our marriage. But we got through it, and we have a good excuse to celebrate our marriage on Valentine’s Day and always. I hope the same holds true for you, too.
Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends! Share the love!
