I mentioned in a recent post that we'd made a couple of New Year's resolutions after hearing a sermon from the pastor who married us. He didn't give specific goals but emphasized thinking about our families as we enter the new year. I've been thinking....it seems that New Years Resolutions are usually associated with dread. We resolve to exercise every day, to stop eating dessert, to lose weight etc etc. Uggg! And who really wants to do that?! (I don't even find those things attractive and I'm a dietitian!) As a society, we decide to try to do the things we've always hated doing in hopes that this year, things will be different, we will be able to make lasting changes. Ha! I think back on my past New Years resolutions and I wonder if I ever met them and I really don't think I did.
So this year, challenged by this sermon, we decided to make a couple of family goals/resolutions. Actually, Graham thought of them and he's usually not a resolution kind of guy. This year, we are going to strive for:
1) a date together EVERY week.
2) biweekly devotions as a couple.
Don't those both sound fun? And fruitful? We are excited to enter the new year with goals that we actually look forward to. The dates will be simple--probably a lot of food sharing, takeout, coffee/dessert dates, (free) walks/talks, movies in etc--because we have to keep our budget, but thankful Graham has this incredible knack (and creativity) for finding cheap or free activities, food, you name it! We've always meant to do weekly date nights (even before Isla!) but for some reason never really made it a routine. Now that life is busier than ever with grad school, it is even more critical that we get this time together. Planning ahead will be key! At the end of each month, we will look ahead to the next month and map out our available evenings (or mornings on the really busy weeks) and start scheduling sitters. Thankfully, we have lots of family members/friends nearby who like to have "Isla time" so I'm hoping we can cycle through our babysitters each month so that nobody gets burnt out (if you want to be added to the list, let us know! :o) We are happy to return the favor.) We have been talking a lot about how blessed we are that this goal is even feasible for us, as we know very few people who are able get out on a weekly basis. Anyway, we are really looking forward to having intentional time with one another and we know that Isla will reap the rewards. What do YOU do for cheap/affordable dates?
If we're not already on it, you can definitely add us to the babysitting list. :)
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