Once Upon a Date Night

Friday night, Gregg and I got to go on a date!  1 Babysitting Offer + $50 Gift Card = A Few Hours to Ourselves!  Some awesome friends of ours from church offered to babysit our girls so we could go on a date, so we planned it and we actually did it!  Now, you have to understand what a big deal this is.  Dating... hasn't been something we've been good at doing from the very beginning.  First off, our relationship started out long-distance.  I was here in California and Gregg was living in Texas.  When I flew out to Texas to meet Gregg and his family and friends, our first "date" was going grocery shopping.  I'm not sure if Gregg paid for the art museum we visited later that week, but his mom helped fund a lunch date by the lake.  There are two main reasons I believe our dates have been so few and far between: 1) The belief that a date has to cost money (that we don't have) and 2) Lack of time/planning.

Well, our goal this year is to at least have a date once a month and to plan it as close to the 2nd of the month as possible since Gregg's usually really good at remembering what we like to call our wedding "month-aversaries" (we got married June 2, 2007).  Since we look forward to remembering the 2nd of each month and wishing each other a happy month-aversary, we figure that significant date will help us remember to plan a regular date night.  Something else I think that will help us make time for dates is for Gregg to realize that it doesn't have to cost extra money and for me to realize that we don't necessarily have to go out.  Having a date night might mean stringing some white lights out in our patio and enjoying a cup of homemade coffee or eating a special dessert in our dining room by candlelight or snuggling on our couch to watch a borrowed or checked-out-for-free-from-the-library movie.  I think the important thing is that we make a habit of carving out special time for just the two of us to reconnect in a relaxing environment.

So Friday... we got to eat out at On the Border.  The wait was supposed to be 20 minutes, so we took a little stroll around the restaurant.  On the way, Gregg noticed an engraving in the cement that had the year he was born and his middle name.  Kinda interesting, so I took a picture.  The moon was almost full and so pretty.  [laughs] I accidently took a picture of the sidewalk we were walking on, but it turned out, so why not post it up?  Right when we walked up to the restaurant's front entrance to wait the rest of the time in a warmer place, the hostess opened the door and called Gregg's name; perfect timing!  We enjoyed sitting in a booth, side by side, eating yummy Mexican food and just talking about stuff.  We still had some time to hang out after we were done eating, so we looked through our coupons in the car and decided to go to Coldstone.  There I got to ask Gregg if he had any goals or personal vision for 2012 since I got to share with him my New Year's verse and I enjoyed our pastor sharing his vision for our church the week before.  I was surprised and excited to hear that what has been on Gregg's heart is:  1) Finishing Well (specifically his last semester of school which will earn him a B.A. in English Literature and 2) Living On a Mission.  I love the second one he shared because I remember a teaching I heard awhile ago where the pastor said that all Christians should live their lives like they're on a mission, not just those who have chosen being a "missionary" as their profession.  Recently, in Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's book A Love That Multiplies, I read:

"Ten-year-old Jed, making his second trip to El Salvador... said... 'I want to come back next year.  I think God might be calling me to be a missionary someday Mama.'

I told him, 'Jed, you're a missionary right now, wherever you are.  You're serving God right now...'"  

{p. 38} 

I loved that perspective, and this is coming from someone who does have foreign, overseas missions experience.  I've been a missionary to Mexico and Ukraine and believe that I'm still a missionary in my own home, should be in my own town, and will be to anywhere God sends me to do His work, whether in my own country or someone else's.  Every day God has a mission for me... should I choose to accept it.