11

June 1st marked our 11th wedding anniversary. But thanks to ministry scheduling, that significant day coincided with our Senior Weekend at church, where our graduating seniors run the adult services with worship, drama, testimonies, and sermons. All 4 services are different, with different speakers, and as usual, this year was great. In fact, I think this was one of our best years yet. We've had a few solid graduating classes, but this one I think is our largest solid class. One small evidence of that is the sheer number of students actually moving on to a 4-year university. Usually, most end up at our local community colleges, but this year close to 75% of the students involved in the service are moving away to college. That's pretty impressive here in Oceanside. And most of them are doing pretty well spiritually. The crazy thing is that 18 months ago, we weren't sure who would be here. It's all testimony to the amazing life change God can do in a short period of time.

Anyways, after all was said and done on Sunday, Jadon went down for his nap, my mom came over to watch him, and we loaded up the Jeep for our traditional outing to the drive-in theater down in Imperial Beach (right across from the Mexican border). We got there around 4, early enough to check into our budget Days Inn and watch a couple episodes of Law & Order before heading to Pizza Hut for our customary dinner and Jack In The Box for our necessary Oreo Shakes (which was our first "unofficial" date over 16 years ago).

 Then we thoroughly enjoyed watching Now You See Me and Iron Man 3

(actually, Jim slept through that one entirely but it was to be expected with the busy weekend he'd had!)...and then we drove across the street to our little hotel and got to sleep in until 8:30 (!!!) (Luxury when you have a toddler!) and eat our little free continental breakfast, and then we checked out and headed to a Starbucks and worked on our Prom Dare movie script for five hours before heading home to Jadon. (So far we have no real promising leads for movie funding, but we figure we want to do everything in our power to be ready for success to enable God to do everything in his power to grant us success.)

It was a wonderfully refreshing little budget get away, and a perfect snapshot of the things we're enjoying in our life right now.

"Romantic" Getaway Weekend

Romance. It's the thing Valentine's Day is all about. It's kisses...and flowers...and sunset walks on the beach...and chocolate...and...

Right?

For Christmas, Jim gave me a "getaway weekend" down to Imperial Beach during MLK Jr. Weekend. We love going down there to the drive-in theater, which brings back tons of fun, nostalgic, childhood memories for me. Because it's so far south (right across from the Mexican border), we usually just spend the night down there at a cheap hotel. We have a favorite one that's right on the beach. I'm talking sand and waves right at your window. It's kind of a dump, but you can't beat the view (or the price).
Unfortunately, this time, it was closed. Apparently, they're tearing it down to build a bigger, better "boutique" hotel. There goes our cheap ocean-front room...But Jim did find a Travelodge a couple blocks away. Not quite the same romantic aura, but it did have free continental breakfast (we're suckers for free!)...

So we raced through a book reading/signing at the public library, and jumped into Jim's pre-packed Jeep, and headed away to our getaway. We checked into the hotel, ordered the $10 Pizza Hut special (they were out of large crusts so they gave us 2 mediums...such a deal!), went to Jack in the Box for 2 Oreo Shakes (that was our first date together), and set up camp at the drive-ins (cushions, sleeping bags, pillows, etc. make for quite a comfy nest!).
Jim got "Book of Eli" with Denzel Washington as our first feature (the other option was "Daybreakers," and I'm just not into R-rated, scary vampires), and then I got "Twilight: New Moon" for the second round (romantic vamps are another story). "Book of Eli" was surprisingly excellent. It's rated R for violence and some language, but it's about preserving the Bible and the power of the words within. Definitely a different approach to a Christian movie than the one we took in our movie, but we both really liked it. (BTW, we almost NEVER watch R-rated movies, just on principle, so it's ironic that the two movies I've praised in this blog fall into that category. But they were accidental finds. And I'm glad we found them...) "Twilight" was well... you know. Jim fell asleep.

The next day on our way to the beach, we drove past our credit union, where it just so happens we needed to sign some papers, but there are no offices in north county. So we made a u-turn and did some business. Romantic.





At the beach we got ice cream cones and walked down the pier. Then we spent some time reading. Then it got cold.


And meanwhile, Jim had caught a head cold and had been sneezing and draining snot uncontrollably since the previous day. Lovely.

So all in all, I wouldn't call this weekend "romantic" in the mushy-love-roses-and-chocolate sort of way. Due to all the snot, I don't think we kissed even once :o(. But we had a great time together. Jim didn't answer his cell phone. I didn't do any school work. And we just hung out. Like the good ol' times.

It was definitely worth it.

How about you? What are some "romantic" ways you keep the spark alive in your marriage?