Great Smokey Mountains Marriage Retreat!

For the fourth year now, Josh and I have been blessed to be able to go to The Great Smokey Mountains Marriage Retreat. This is one of the biggest highlights of our year! The first one we attended was in 2007. We had only been married 2 months. It was a vacation for us. We are already looking forward to next years retreat. Every year the have basically the same topics but the speakers always put a different twist on things. We learn something new every year. There is not one marriage on earth that could not benefit from the retreat! We enjoy so much the meals with friends we haven't seen in a while and the special quality time we get with one another. The layout is wonderful...Allen did a gret job when thinking this up. It was intentionally meant to be a vaca/lecture trip.

So, we left EARLY last Wednesday and drove all day. It was Josh, me, Sarah, Hilton, Gayle and Don...all in the church van. We arrived at Glendale for services right on time (after a 12 hour drive). Then we stayed with Joshs parents. Got up early Thursday to head on toward Gatlinburg...6 more hours. We checked in got dinner and went to the 2 evening lectures. Then, on Friday we got up and had Krispy Kreme and headed in to Pigeon Forge for the day. After the lectures on Friday we decided to show the 'Texans' around Gatlinburg! We showed them a few shopping venues and The Old Mill. Later, we ate with Cliff, Beth, Greg and Crystal at Outback. We dropped everyone off at the cabin then Sarah, Hilton, Josh and I headed back out to have some more fun. We took them to Wonderworks and we all looked like a bunch of kids! Saturday we got up and drove up to Cades Cove and then ate lunch at the Apple Barn...of course!! Then we began the drive back. We stopped in Jackson to let everyone try REAL mexican food. As soon as we got back to Dyersburg (where Josh and I grew up) we stopped for gas...then the van wouldn't crank back up. After calling a wrecker we tried one more time ans it cranked and we were able to drive 20 minutes to my moms house where we stayed. Sunday was services as usual. Then on Monday we had the van fixed and began the 12 hour drive back....about Abilene it began to snow so hard!!! Then it started sleeting...we finally made it home about 11 pm.

Great trip anyway!!!!

It is sad to me to hear people say 'we don't need a marriage retreat!' or 'We have made it work for this long we know what we are doing!'

There is always room for improvement and sometimes you just need a romantic vacation with your spouse!

My prayer is that the marriage retreat continues to grow every year and that people will continue to build on their God given gift! Marriage is the second best thing that has ever happened to me! Thank you God for my Christian husband. Remind me when I nag that I am not perfect either. When I get frustrated with him...help me to remember that I could always improve too! I want to be everything he has ever dreamed of! I have never been more proud of a name until I was able to take his! Thank you for this relationship of three!

how do I keep up?!

It is that time of year again! Girl Scout Cookies!!! I had looked for some for 2 weeks and couldn't find any...then Josh finally says...I know where some are...sneak!!! So we got 4 boxes (I freeze them so they last until next year) of caramel delights a.k.a. Samoas!!! as seen in the picture above...they are my favorite and another plus is Josh doesn't like coconut, so I don't have any prowlers!

Also, we just began a new book in Ladies Bible class entitled "Keeping Your Balance" by Nancy Eichman. I wanted to read it through before I passed it out for everyone and I have to say it is a very good book. The focus of the book is balancing you spiritual, physical and emotional life. The second chapter really stepped on my toes though. She talked about being a perfectionist and always wanting to have things put away and clean and organized. She also pointed out that people like me sometimes don't like to try new things because...if they can't do it right the first time...why try? This made me cry. I feel this way about college. I am wanting to go back this fall, but I struggled so much the first time (maybe because I was working 2 jobs, maybe because I wasn't totally focused, or maybe because the school was so tough that 1 out of every 2 people there don't make it out!) that I am scared to go back. If I didn't do it right the first time, why put myself through that again. I know that I am married, more mature, more dedicated and not working full time, but it still scares me to death to think about failing at anything!!! This is so hard for me to write. For 3 years now, every time I think about going back to college I feel sick to my stomach. I know I can do it...but my fear of failure overcomes me. This is definately something I need to pray about. I have the best supporter I could ever ask for in my husband. He is the kind that will try until he gets something right...if I can't get it right the first time I quit and move on to something else. I know he will be my biggest help as I go through this process.

On to something else. It seems like everyone is having babies! I know like 10 people that are pregnant or just had a baby. My best friend from high school just had his first son last night and he is so beautiful...well handsome! Congratulations Dustin and Laura on your new Baby Houston Gentry! I get the baby fever sometimes...then I think..."school then baby" or "sell the house then baby". So, either way it will be a while. I think that is perfectly fine though. I would wait until I was 30 if Josh would agree....but he won't.

Well, I am off to get some things accomplished on this rainy west texas day!

Love you all!