4th Anniversary Adventures

This is going to be part one of two on our 4th anniversary and Florida trip. I'm just warning you - that the morning we left Florida to come home we woke up early with the single goal of me having a few hours to wander around the beach and take pictures. You'll see the results of that morning after these messages.

Jake's Hamburgers served as our pre-anniversary meal before we depart for Poppi's condo in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida.



Storm clouds brewed off and on all weekend, but all we had on the agenda was relaxing, so they didn't get in our way.

We took a cab from the airport, so our only way to get around were Mike and Ann's bicycles. It was a wonderfully slow-paced form of transportation.


We even carried groceries for some of our meals home on our bikes. You'll see all the essentials here: licorice, bbq chips, cream for coffee, bagels - you know - the food of vacationers!


The strong winds on the first day brought out all of the kite surfers, and Danny added it to our bucket list to do that next time we visited Florida.




The first morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at The Village Grille.


The second morning we carted our breakfast out by the pool to enjoy the sea breeze with our coffee.
The waves were some of the biggest I've seen.

I devoured books and Danny snoozed in between bouts of body surfing.

Four years ago we were sitting on a different beach wondering what years of marriage would look like - and this is it:

Several people have asked what have happened to our Quarterly Review questions that we usually post after each quarterly review.

The short answer:

There have been no questions asked during our last few Quarterly Reviews.

The long answer:

There was a time, our first year year back in Dallas, that was beyond overwhelming. I worked long hours at a non-profit. Danny studied, went to class full time and worked long/early/absurd hours at UPS. We rarely saw each other. When we did have time to sit down to dinner it was accompanied by budgets, to-do lists, calendars and just too much of business meeting agendas. We argued . . . frequently.

And so, we decided, after all the changes, after all the fighting about the same things over and over again, that we were going to marriage counseling - before things were beyond repair.

Since the beginning of the year we have read books, filled out worksheets, practiced constructive communication and sat across from a fabulous marriage counselor twice a month.

Slowly, wounds have healed and destructive patterns have lost speed. We have become fans and promoters of marriage counseling. And suddenly, quarterly reviews haven't been needed for talking about and reviewing our marriage - we do that weekly now. Quarterly Reviews are now needed for play time, quantity time, fun time and dreaming together. Danny's still a fan of talking about our family and future ministry together.

And that is why there have been no questions on our Quarterly Review blog posts. So, if you're married - we encourage you to not be afraid to work hard and ask for help. And, if you're not married (but plan on getting there one day) know that there's no coasting in "happily ever after." It takes working and learning for the rest of your life to make it "til death do us part."