10th Quarterly Review

We had an incredible 10th Quarterly Review a few weeks ago. It's hard to believe we've been married for two and a half years.

It was a rainy, drizzly weekend, but that had no reflection on our time together.



We spend this quarterly review in Grapevine. And, thanks to a Christmas gift from Voice of Hope we were able to stay in the AMAZING Omni Hotel and enjoy their scrumptious breakfast buffet. Just to tell you how good it was: we weren't sleepy any more, but neither of us could bear to leave the comfort of the soft sheets and down comforter; we weren't hungry any more, but we couldn't stop eating the fresh berries, the customize-your-own omelet bar, the scrambled eggs, or delectable pastries. It was all very luxurious and addicting.

After a restful night and morning we headed over to Grapevine Mills Mall to return some jeans and just walk and hold hands (we're getting old!). We cannot go to Grapevine Mills without stopnig by the skate park - it keeps Danny sane while shopping. And, he took several hundred pictures while there. I guess he's trying to perfect his action shoots.

However, I will spare you and just show you this kid who kept doing front flips off the ramp:

and this father/son pair who sat for the longest time, just enamored by the skaters. This will one day be Danny and our son.

We then enjoyed dinner at a little seafood restaurant called "Big Fish" in downtown Grapevine. I had crab cakes:

but Danny spent the night pulling apart crawfish.

You have to see the fun man I sit across from every dinner. I will give you the play by play.

So excited to eat his crawfish:

"Ooof. They are stubborn little clawy things to get apart."

Mistake #1 - never lick the Old Bay Seasoning off the oustide.

It's a little bit spicy.

Sucking in air trying to cool off his tongue.

Determined to get every last little strand of meat.

His mouth was on fire! And I was laughing hysterically, because it was his own fault that he couldn't taste a thing. You don't lick the outside of crawfish.

Cooling off his palate.

Sunday night, to close out the weekend we enjoyed sushi at a restaurant in Irving called Kenzuko.

This post is turning into a restaurant review, but we'll get to the questions/discussions/heart of the matter at the end - I promise.

Yes, this is me holding my fried rice on my chopsticks. I'm not very chopsticks inclined, okay?!

I play it safe with California and Philadelphia rolls.

Danny orders some of everything: eel, tuna, salmon, and more.

But he never fails to clean his plate.

We finished the night with dessert. It doesn't get much better than fried ice cream.

Okay, onto more serious things than food.

Danny and I both read "Maximizing Your Effectiveness" by Aubrey Malphurs (who is a professor at DTS) in preparation for this quarterly review. The book talks about discovering your "divine design" and maximizing your strengths and surrounding yourself with people who can compensate for your weaknesses.

Danny and I both took numerous tests before our quarterly review and then enjoyed sharing the results of our leadership inventory, leadership role indicator, temperament indicators, and spiritual gifts.

Surprise, surprise - we're about as opposite as they come.

Danny's inspiration; Laura's analytical - but we're both directors!

Danny's an influencer; Laura's a relator.

Danny's extroverted, intuitive, feeling and perceptive; Laura's extroverted, sensing, feeling, and judgmental.

And, so the where do we go from here?

Our quarterly review homework is to write our life map. A life map is a short paper that outlines who we are, our strengths, our weaknesses, our gifts, temperaments, personalities, and leadership styles.

Hopefully, that will give us a great overview of who we are, where we can best serve in ministry, and why we don't get along so great every minute of the day.