5th Quarterly Review

We've made it through five quarters of our marriage - that's 15 months, 1 year and 3 months, just over a year, 454 days. How fast it's flown by. It seems like just yesterday Danny was down on one knee and we were stressing over tux choices and flower colors. And yet, it seems like forever.

We've done more than some people do in ten years. Haven't we always been married? I've moved more since I married Danny than in the rest of my life. I've seen more of the world and flown on more airplanes. How could we have done everything in a mere 15 months?

Well, to celebrate 545 days of marriage we trekked up to Gatlinburg, TN - home of the Smoky Mountain National Park and Dollywood. Smalltown Gatlinburg is tourist capital of the Southeast, and we decided to brave the traffic.

We made the five and a half hour drive in time to catch the famous Gatlinburg Christmas parade, which included all of the towns fire trucks, every high school band in Tennessee, and a few big balloon floats! We couldn't feel our toes or noses by the end of the evening, but it put us in the Christmas spirit.

Saturday, we scarfed down a Cracker Barrell breakfast and then drove out to explore the Smoky Mountains. We took pictures, coaxed Danny's little Camry up the steep mountain passes, and played by the fresh mountain streams.

By the afternoon we were craving some warm coffee and a little sit down time. We found the coffee at Starbucks, but it took so long to get there and so long to get out of the parking lot, that we got our hang out time in the car.

Saturday ended with dinner at the Apple Barn Resturant with my friend Kelly (we worked together at Central Baptist Church) and her boyfriend, Carson. They drove in from Johnson City, TN and we had a great evening of fellowship.

On Sunday we finished out our Quarterly Review with our "Question, Discussion, and Goals" session at Atlanta Bread Company.

Some of the things we discuss included:

• What are some ways that I have (and maybe currently do) hurt you?
• What can I do so that I don't hurt you anymore.
• Establish some "Action Steps" for building/maintaining intimacy (in anticipation of a busier semester while Danny takes an internet course).
• Write down 10 things that make you feel loved.
• What are our spiritual, physical, emotional, social and intellectual goals for the next Quarter?

Quarterly Review History
*1st - 12/16/05 - Raleigh, NC
*2nd - 03/25/06 - Charleston, SC
*3rd - 06/24/06 - Columbia, SC
*4th - 8/27/06 - Boston, MA
*5th - 12/1/06 - Gatlinburg, TN