Yesterday the thing I was really thankful for was the date night that Kip and I went on. It was a bit of a different date, and instead of doing something traditional, we spent the evening at a conference listening to a presentation. We had the opportunity to hear Jeff and Shaunti Feldhahn speak. For those of you who don't know who they are, they wrote the great little books For Women Only and For Men Only, among others.
A few years ago I discovered For Women Only, but didn't realize what a discovery it was. I thought it was just another women's book that would talk about how men are visual and wired differently. I figured I had learned enough of that in college communications classes and knew everything it would say. But boy was I wrong! I decided to read the book, mostly because my husband was deployed and I needed books to help fill my nights. I dived into the book, and I haven't been the same since! I learned a lot and I was amazed to discover that my husband backed up pretty much everything in the book. And he was amazed that I was learning from it because he thought I knew all about him and our gender differences, too. A couple of years later, For Men Only was written, and we quickly purchased it and it was great too.
Kip and I actually each read both of the books, putting our own notes in them for each other. So, as I read For Men Only, I would make notes about which parts I thought were true of me or not, and he did the same with For Women Only. We learned so much about each other through that experience, and we have kept those copies for ourselves and occasionally run to them for reference. We love the books so much, that we actually own separate copies of the books that do not have our personal notes in them that we purchased to loan out to other couples. That's how much we think these little books are worth reading.
Well, last night, the Feldhahn's were speaking at a conference in our vicinity, and we were happy to go hear them. About two minutes into their presentation Kip leaned over and said, "I think I really need to read the book again!" I had been thinking the exact same thing! It was a great refresher for our marriage, spurred on great conversation between us, and was a great night of joining together with other couples to worship and be reminded about God's design for marriage.
I am so thankful we got to go, and I'm so thankful my husband not only wanted to go, but enthusiastically engaged himself in the evening to better himself as a husband. As Shaunti said last night, "For those men who are here, thank you for coming, because I know that relationship conferences are not your natural habitat!" So true. But I am blessed to have a husband who wants to do everything he can to be a loving husband and to love me well. He doesn't consider relationship conferences a burden or a sacrifice, but rather, a tool to aid in him as he fights for our marriage and his wife every day. I love him, and I loved learning more about relationships with him last night.
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