FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember Getaway—March 7-9, 2014
On Friday evening, Ashley and I drove through icy fog to Cheyenne Mountain Resort to attend FamilyLife’s “Weekend to Remember” getaway. There we joined 300 other couples to experience a 2-day retreat and conference to help spouses strengthen their marriages.
Our speakers were Dan and Julie Brenton and Mark Schatzman, and they led us through topics including:
In addition, we were assigned “projects” which gave us the opportunity to discuss our communication, emotional intimacy and physical intimacy in a purposeful, one-on-one setting.
But the highlight of the weekend was Saturday’s built-in date night. For our date, Ashley and I went downtown, grabbed a slice at a pizza parlor and watched “Her” at our local art house movie theater. We had a blast.
At the last session, several couples shared how the weekend had changed their hearts and saved their marriages. Then then the speakers led everyone through a mass vow-renewal. Each couple (except for the engaged couples) stood face-to-face and hand-in-hand and restated their commitment to each other. It was a little funny for Ashley and I as we had just said our original vows only four months earlier, but it was sweet.
As we reflected afterward, Ashley shared that her biggest takeaway was the importance of being respectful in her relationship with me. (She always has been, but said she appreciated the reminder.) My greatest takeaway was the importance of communication - expressing what I’m thinking and not assuming I already know what Ashley’s thinking.
But another thing I’m taking away is an appreciation of Ashley’s humble teachability. This early in our marriage, it would be easy to think we don’t need any help yet - especially after the difficulties we’ve already had to overcome together. But we both took the messages seriously and sincerely considered how to apply each lesson to our marriage.
I’m blessed to have a wife so surrendered to God and intentional about our marriage. And I’m blessed to have parents willing to invest in our marriage by signing us up for a weekend like this in the first place.
