I Do Retreat!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just got back on Sunday from our first ever Existence Church marriage retreat! It was so much fun. We left early Sat. morning for Costa Mesa to check into a hotel for the night! That is the way to do it. But first we had our first session with a guest speaker. As we started the session we had a time of worship and then that lead into a time of prayer. We are couples prayed over our spouses. WOW!!!!!!!! When it got to me I started crying as I was praying. I am not a crier but I was so moved by the words my husband spoke over me and as I started to pray for him I lost it. I just realized in that moment how powerful God is in our marriage and how intimate it can become when you had him to the mix. It was very overwhelming. After this weekend this is something we are going to be adding to our marriage at least once a week. It was a great reminder! The speaker was great and had a lot of great things to share. He was taking a lot of what he said from a book called I Promise by Gary Smalley. We each received that book in our rooms along with a basket full of chocolates, fruit, a candle and a bottle of wine or cider. The team that put the weekend together thought of everything! They did a great job! And best of all Josh and I didn't have to lead at all! It was so refreshing.

Sat. nights assignment was to go on a date with your spouse and they gave us a list of questions to go over over dinner. Josh and I decided to venture out a little and not stay close to the hotel. Not to mention I didn't want to see anyone from church. So we headed to Balboa Island. We had never been there and we had a blast! It's just a really cute small town with beach houses and you have to take a ferry over. We found a really small cute Italian place to eat and we began our questions. I don't think we stopped talking over the whole dinner. It was great! It was anything from your favorite thing about your spouse to coming up with a bucket list of things you want to do before you die. It spurred on great conversation and great things that we hadn't yet thought to talk about. Ways we want to raise our kids and things we want them to see in us and look for in there spouses some day. So, it was a great weekend all in all! I recommend a marriage retreat to anyone! We had 30 couples go and some were only married a few months and others 10 years. So it was great!

Patio Addition Progress

Getting the floor ready to stain.

Acid staining begins~

CHAD came to help.

First coat of stain.

The start of painted walls and a stained floor.

What the floor looks like up close. Really cool~

An idea of what it's going to look likea after it's complete!

We are getting so close!~