HOT CHOCOLATE NIGHTS

I received Dr. James Dobson's newsletter from Focus on the Family this week in the mail. Inside was an article called, "Once-a-year dreaming" by Steve and Candice Watters. I read it, and then re-read it to Evan last night because I thought they had some good points.

They discussed the importance of getting away as a couple in order to produce a better year together and have greater closeness with the two of you. Well, living as far from grandparents as we do and having 3 small children, going on an overnight retreat is a rare treat for us and was definitely out of the question at this season of our lives. So I called Evan yesterday and asked him to join me on a hot chocolate date last night. He asked where, and I told him, "Terri's Kitchen". He agreed and I could tell he thought I was being cute and wondered what I had up my sleeve. :)

Last night we read through this article and went through the checklist of things that they encouraged us to talk about. (Granted, we were both eating cereal instead of sipping hot chocolate, but it still accomplished the same goal!) The focus was to talk about your priorities for the year so that the year could be productive and time wouldn't be wasted. They used C.S. Lewis' challenged when it comes to prioritizing and said that there are basically 3 things to be done: 1) the ought to dos, 2) the have to dos and 3) the like to dos. Talking about them and having the same goals is so important!

I decided that "date nights" out are important, but "hot chocolate nights" should come at least once a week, preferably more!