Celebrating February 14....Every Day of the Year!

It's time for Marriage Monday!  I LOVE this monthly online "ministry" that is hosted by e-mom from Chrysalis.....you can find out how to link up by clicking on the Marriage Monday button located on my sidebar.

The topic for this month is "How to Celebrate February 14, Every Day of the Year"!  I love this and it's the one I voted for :)

I was a little overwhelmed at first when trying to write for this topic.  There are so many creative ways one could do this.  At first I wanted to do something like 365 ways to say "I Love You" or monthly themes for year round romance. 
 I finally decided to just write about how Dave and I "keep the flame burning"...which trust me...sometimes it is just a spark and other times it is a raging inferno! ☺  Lately, it seems like it is just a slow, steady campfire.....we are just so busy in ministry, work, and in raising our daughters, not to mention making some upgrades on our home and planning our trip to Paris.  But....here is what we do to keep the romance alive throughout the year:

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• We kiss.  Every. Single. Day.  No matter what.  and yes...we kiss in front of our daughters which drives our teenager nuts...but..we feel it is vital for them to see mom and dad being appropriately physical....I want my daughters to know that physical touch in marriage is a beautiful thing...not a shameful thing.  No, we don't fall all over each other in front of them.....but..we do kiss in front of them! even when they do roll their eyes and groan aloud! (& physical touch is my secondary love language, as well as Dave's!)
• We hold hands.  Alot.  In public!  We feel it is important to role model this.  One time, in our former church, many years ago, a couple told us it was refreshing to see us sitting close and holding hands...that not enough church couples did this.  And just recently, we were walking together in the neighborhood, and one of the neighbors saw us, came out to the street and said how awesome it was that we still hold hands! 
• We try to set aside one night a week, during the winter months, to just sit and talk.  To connect with each other.  To talk about work, ministries we are involved in, missions/charities we support, the girls, etc.  We really try to communicate any pent up frustrations too.....neither one of us like to let things "fester".....spending time together talking in the winter months is important for us since neither one of us really cares for winter nor winter sports.  It is our way to stay connected.  Otherwise, we just keep busy with all the "stuff" of what a school year brings.  We sit close and just communicate...altho, we are NOT perfect in this area! and we don't do it nearly enough....
• Texting each other!  Now that we have a teenager and an unlimited texting plan for the 3 cell phones, we text each other often during the week, just to say "I ♥U", or xoxoxo ☺ silly things like that.....
• We sometimes, especially in a crowd or out in a social setting, will find each other, and whisper "pockets".....I cannot tell you what this means but....let's just say it is a code word just for us! It began in our newlywed days !!
• We rent, or borrow from the library, old classic romance movies.  We both love Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart...you know...the real old movies.  They sure don't make 'em like they useta! We curl up together in the winter months or late autumn, make popcorn or a chocolate dessert, pour a glass of wine or have steaming mugs of tea and just watch the movie and cuddle.....again, because we are not winter people, this works for us! We  try to save this for just one Saturday or Friday a month.  It makes it special and something to look forward to.
• We are summer people so during the months of June-September,  we keep the romance going by participating in our favorite things.  Together.  Just the 2 of us at least once a week.  Things like kayaking with a picnic lunch; going for walks or biking along the wonderful bike trail our town offers around the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers; having miniature golf dates; hiking in the woods together....man...those mountains really put me in the mood, if ya know what I mean! ☺ Sometimes we take picnic lunches to a local park and just sit and talk which leads to hand holding......and then.....cuddling....sounds corny, maybe...but it works for us!
• I often make Dave a homemade lunch for him to bring to work. Once in a while, I will tuck a note in there saying I love you and then add some words of praise or encouragement since his primary love language is words of affirmation.  Dave does the same thing for me...he will often stop to buy me flowers...or pick wildflowers (he knows they are my favorite and I have a special kind that he started picking for me based on a song I used to teach my special needs prek students years ago, back when we were dating) or some other little gift because he knows my love language is gifts.  Sometimes he just writes me a special Scripture and leaves it where I will find it.  
• We give each other back rubs and foot massages......one thing leads to another, my friends!
• I bake special desserts that Dave is fond of.  He buys me my favorite coffees.....
• I sometimes make a dinner with all his favorite foods....or take him out to his fave restaurant on "his" days like his birthday, Father's Day.
• Every summer, I try to purchase something new and sexy for "bedtime wear".....Victoria's Secret has great sales twice a year, ladies.....I love to purchase something new that I know Dave will ♥
• We have our special Valentine's tradition of watching Casablanca, and having a special chocolate dessert I bake every year.  Sometimes we repeat this later in the year!
• We work out on the Wii Fit together, especially in the winter months or on a hot, humid day in summer.
• We always kiss each other good nite and never go to bed angry.
• We worship together...believe it or not, this helps keep our romance going.....I think it is because we know that we need that Third Person in our marriage.  Without Christ, we would just flail around.....our marriage is not perfect and we have had many ups and downs...but through it all, we have stayed committed to each other because we are committed to Christ.

It all comes back to Christ, Communication, and Commitment.

And that keeps the Romance going.....all year round!

 "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
       for your love is more delightful than wine."

 Song of Solomon 1:2