Indy Getaway

Megan and I were able to get away for a couple days this week.  We took a little time to get away for Megan's birthday.  We started our day with a nice massage at Escape thanks to a couple gift cards.  Then it was off to Indy for the next two days.  The first thing we did was go downtown to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.  It was Megan's first time going to the Spaghetti Factory, and it was nice for us to start our little vacation with a relaxing dinner together.

After dinner it was time to go to Sybaris.  If you haven't been to Sybaris before, it's a pretty incredible place to stay for a night.  Depending on the room that you choose, in your own individual room you get a pool, whirlpool, steam room, & massage chair.  Then they have a stereo system that plays throughout all the area's of you room.  It was pretty incredible.  It was definitely a nice way to just relax for an evening.

The next day we decided to go to the Keystone Mall and walk around.  While we were there, we thought, "Well... we're here, we might as well go to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch."  So, we had another great meal and shared a piece of cheesecake that we couldn't finish!

Then it was time to head back home, but as we drive past Brownsburg, it almost seems like we always stop at Starbuck's for a couple hot drinks to enjoy our journey home.

It was a great vacation and I am so glad that we took some time to spend just the two of us.  It's something that can so easily be forgotten and yet something that is so vital!  Whenever I start to think that Megan and I haven't spent enough time devoting ourselves to each other, all I'll have to do is remember the importance of this time we spent together!

Christmas

Megan and I had a wonderful Christmas this year!  On Christmas Eve we got to spend time with Megan's family in Decatur, spend time with my Grandma Eva and my dad's family before going to the great Christmas Eve Service at CrossRoads Christian Church.  Then Megan and I went home and opened the gifts that we got for each other.

On Christmas day Megan and I slept in a little bit, then we got up and went over to Brock & Emily's to give them the gift we got them and Ryker the gift that we got him!  Ryker's first Christmas was quite something.  He has all kinds of stuff that he'll remember this one from.  Megan and I got to take some pictures of the Dieu family together, hang out and just talk for a little while, but then it was on to the next.

We went to Sue & Fred's to exchange gifts between Sue & Fred, Katie, and Chas (Katie's boyfriend).  We ate brunch with them, exchanged gifts and it was off again.  The next stop was my parents' house where we were having all of my mom's family over for lunch and exchanging more gifts.  Everyone had a really good time, but my Uncle Bob wasn't able to make it this year.  Megan and I are going to be going with my parents and my sister and her boyfriend to an NBA basketball game in March!

After spending time with my mom's side of the family, it was time to see Megan's mom's side of the family.  We drove out to Mark & Cindy's house where everybody was getting together.  Of course we ate some more food and exchanged gifts, but then it was time to play some games.  So there was a group of 9 that sat around the dining room table and played Apples to Apples for like 2 or 3 hours!  It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the night.  There were a lot of laughs!

The Season

Thanksgiving is in the rearview mirror and Christmas is coming fast.  Luckily Megan and I are taking some time during this busy season to spend relaxing.  We are going to go on a small trip to the other side of Ohio here pretty soon to see some of our good friends! (Ry & Heather).  We really miss seeing them and have talked about going to see them for awhile now.  So, it will be nice to get away a little bit during this crazy time of year and spend some relaxing time together and with some of the people we love.

If you get overwhelmed a lot during this time of year, maybe you should save some vacation time for just this season.  Take a couple days off and go for a short vacation, even if it's just to relax and do nothing.  It makes its so much more enjoyable to know that Megan and I are going to have a few days where we won't worry about anything except which way do we want to go to get to Ohio!

Celebration

I got to preach for our Wednesday night service last night.  I am going through a series right now that's focused around the History of Spiritual Formation.  After the first week, in which we redefined Spiritual Formation and showed that you can't be a judge of Spiritual Formation in others' lives, we moved on to ways of preparing our hearts for God to mold our hearts into what He wants this week.  

We looked back at Deuteronomy 16 and specifically talked about how God called the Israelites to Celebrate.  They were to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.  And they were to celebrate every year, in order to pass these celebrations on to the generations to come.  God didn't want his people to forget about what God had done for them or how God is involved in their lives both through the good and the bad.  He was with them as they were slaves in Egypt, and He continued to be with them after He got them out of Egypt and they were wondering through the desert.  

After all my study about these celebrations, it really made me think about the Acts 2 church and how they got together daily.  And one of their reasons for getting together was to celebrate together as they added daily to their numbers.  They celebrated every day.

Why is it that we really only seem to celebrate the big stuff?  Why is it that we focus so much on Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving and leave out so many other chances to celebrate what God is doing in our lives, in our families, and in our relationships with friends?  

Today, I write all this because I want to celebrate my marriage.  Sure we have times where we disagree and we'd probably rather not be in a bad mood, but even in those times, we know that we love each other.  We know that we are going to be there for each other no matter what happens.  We are committed to God and committed to each other.  As we grow closer to God, we are going to continue to grow closer to each other, and one of the ways that we are going to do that is through celebrating our marriage!