Thee Best Date, EVER!

I love this man and am totally coming off a high right now! And no not a high like drug related! lol - But a high from last nights events!
You see, last night Loren and I went on a date... but not just any date, seriously the best date, ever!
What was so awesome, phenomenal, and different about this date you ask?

Well, last year... our church Eagle Brook did a 6 week message series on marriage called

Truly, Madly, Deeply, Stuck! And it was amazing!
You can actually watch all 6 of these 30 minute messages online, here. And I TOTALLY recommend doing that! Seriously, this message serious really did change our marriage and help us get some things in place. So when you have a second... watch one or all those messages... you might even come back to thank me later!

Anyways, along with that message series in one of the weeks church bulletins they had a list of references. You know, like... books to read, support groups if you needed it, and this link...

The Great Date Experiment!

The Great Date Experiment is a 6 Date Experiment that revolves around what this church calls, The Big 6 Essentials:
Nurture Romance, Cultivate Communication, Hurry Home, Celebrate Differences, Finish Together, and Trust God.

So every month you are to go on one of the six dates, starting with date one and ending on date six. On their website which I listed above, you can print off the schedule or itinerary for each date. Each date has specific steps that you are to follow. The print off pretty much tells you what to do for your date and it even gives you questions and discussions or fun things to talk about!
Really, all 6 dates are completely fool proof! As long as you put forth the effort to print off the dates and follow that dates theme or schedule... you are bound to have a really fantastic time!

So last night Loren and I decided to give this experiment a try! We went out on Date #1: How to Nurture Romance!
Just to give you a glimpse into what these dates are like I will spill the beans on what the schedule looked like for Date #1. - the list of events can be seen and printed off here.

Date #1 was kind of like a "progressive dinner" - meaning we picked one location for an appetizer, then moved on to a different restaurant for dinner, then ended the night at a completely different place for dessert!
Along the way there were fun and serious questions or things listed to talk about, along with silly nick names to use, gestures to do, and even a little pit stop to buy each other a gift!

From there you can put in as little or as much extra effort as you want!
Take my hubby for example... completely sweet and kind hearted by nature... he upped his game and opened EVERY door for me! I mean car, restaurant, store... he didn't miss a one! He even pulled, well what us married people would call a no-no and sat on the SAME SIDE of the booth as me!
Haha, I know right?! Married people DON'T do that!
Well... last night we did... and it was wonderful to be so close to my husband and feel his hand on my leg as we waited for our food.

I'm tellin' ya'... this date was phenomenal! One of thee best that I can ever remember going on! It was so fun and so different. I love that we were forced to talk about things besides our kids, our jobs, or our finances.
We got to talk about things that really matter! Things that are in our soul and at our very core! Things that are waaaaay more fun than our boring old jobs or broke budget!
Seriously... coming off a high is the best way to describe it!

I totally forgot to bring my camera on our date... but that's ok, I got to give %100 to the date and not have to pause time to take a picture. However here we are once we got home with our gifts we bought each other as part of the date.

(Clearly the faces of 2 really excited people who love their gifts! lol)

I had a real blast last night!

Now I am super pumped and CAN'T WAIT for Date #2!

I definitely would like to challenge all of you in taking this Great Date Experiment with us! I would love to talk about your guys' dates and hear what you did and how well you liked it!

So let this be an invitation to you and your honey! Go print off the dates and lets take this experiment together! Hopefully six months from now when all the dates are completed we will have made some great memories, have fun stories to tell, and most importantly... feel more connected to our spouse and realize that making God the center of our relationship is key!

Will you join Loren and I and share your stories with us???

I hope so!

Chat later,

Jen