Why Dating is Important

Dating is important. It is important when you are looking for that special someone. It is important to do after you have found that special someone and gotten married. It is especially important once the children come along.

Mark and I went on the most fabulous date last night. But let me first say that getting on the date was quite the adventure. Mark put Austin in his PJ's then went to get dressed. I was in the bathroom finishing getting ready. I looked over at Austin and he seemed to be fine. I looked over again a few minutes later when he was pulling on my pants and realized he had blood all over his onesie and leg. He didn't notice the blood. He wasn't crying. He just wanted attention.

So I called Mark in and we found the blood. It was pouring out of his finger. He had cut it on a misplaced razor cartridge that was somehow in his reach. So we put him in the bathtub to make sure the blood doesn't get on the white carpet. Who puts white carpet in a rental?! We smash his finger between ours to help the bleeding stop. That's when he starts crying. And he slips in the tub and smashes his face. We eventually manage to get a bandaid on but he tries to pull it off immediately. So Mark has this brilliant idea. We put a sock on his hand and tape the sock using packing tape all the way around the sock, his arm, and hand. Too bad there isn't a picture. It was pretty genius actually.

We go to get the bloody onesie off and put him in a clean one only to find that he has somewhere in that time had a massive poo. So 45 minutes late we are out the door with our club handed baby in tow. Poor kid. We drop him off, he goes right to sleep, and the date finally begins.

It was so awesome. We went to the mall and picked out fancy hand soap that was on sale at Bath and Body Works. We picked out a bunch of wax melts from Yankee Candle that were also on sale for half price! It was super fun picking them out together. Then we went to Dairy Queen and got Buster Bars. We reminisced about eating them with our moms when we were little. We reminisced about all the dates we had been on. We talked about how nice it was to just be the two of us and to have grown up conversation and not to have a 2 foot tall boss dictating just about every move we make or conversation we have. (Although I wouldn't trade bosses for anything in the entire world. Anything.)

Then we went mini-golfing. Did you know we'd never been together? Ever? It was our first mini-golf session as a couple. And it was awesome. We had a great time. We were pretty evenly matched. I beat Mark by one stroke. But he did get a hole-in-one once. That was pretty awesome.

Then we got to go and pick up our little boss (Thank's Jamie!) and do you know what Mark said as we were going to pick him up, "Isn't it awesome that picking him up gets to be the end of every date?" And I said, "Absolutely." He truly is the best kid ever.

But he is why dating is so important! Because today (even though he is the best kid ever) he was being his little rascally self around dinner time; and we were both so tired; and he was bouncing around and making a mess and causing a ruckus. And we were able to look at each other and say, "Wasn't last night awesome? Didn't we have the greatest time together?" Because with a toddler around it isn't possible for us to build up our own relationship in such a way that will keep it strong enough to create a good home for him.

Not only does dating help you build up your spousal relationship but it gets you through those long evenings of toddlerhood before bedtime when you think you just can't go one more step with smacking your kid or pulling out all your hair. In those moments you take a good look at your spouse and your heart is filled with warm, loving memories from your most recent date. (At least that is how it happened for me tonight :) And then you take a good look at your rascally kid and that warm loving memory helps you have more patience and more love for him too.

And that is why dating is important. For everyone in the family.

What I Hope For

I have the most beautiful picture of God in my mind's eye. It is almost indescribable.

I want Him to be everything I imagine: benevolent, firm, understanding, having high expectations, creative, artistic, brilliant. The list just goes on and on.

When I think about God I imagine the perfect parent and I feel so warm and happy inside. I think of how happy I am here and hope that this is not all there is to existence. I want so badly for there to be more. And I hope beyond hope that God is real. I want God to be real so badly. I want to meet this man I have envisioned. I want to meet his son, Jesus Christ.

Sometimes I believe he is real. Sometimes I hope he is real. Someday I hope I KNOW he is real and meet him face to face.