Do This Before The New Year...

Christmas got the best of us this year so we took a few days off from posting. We hope you enjoyed time with your family and friends! Doesn’t it feel like the time between Christmas and the New Year always feels a little weird?—a kind of limbo following the hustle and stress of Christmas and the anticipation of a successful new year.

Years ago when our marriage hit rock bottom, we attended a marriage retreat. Just us two alone together in the heart of Texas. We felt like strangers having to get to know one another again. During this retreat, we talked about how we desired our marriage to align with the word of God and what we felt like he was speaking to us at the time.

The little workbook we used to guide us through had been sitting in our toilet reading materials basket for years and had never been opened. It was called the Mountain Top Marriage Workbook. We took it on the retreat and delved into questions in the book about our relationship, parenting, finances, family dynamics, and friendships.

We started to dream for our marriage and set achievable goals. It was the first time our visions and dreams came together as a married couple.

Before this retreat we used to have our own words of the year or personal goals. They were good pursuits with good intentions, but we never really envisioned anything together to establish a standard for our marriage and family. It was always HIS DREAMS/HER DREAMS. So this new vision/goal casting for marriage and family was different and new to us.

It has been one of the most impactful things we have started doing to better our marriage every year.

This year, we can't manage a two-night getaway so instead, we've planned a date night to discuss and dialogue together about the following questions:

1. What did we learn this year? What were the significant lessons? What victories did we achieve? Where did we face setbacks, and how can we turn those areas into victories?

2. What do we want our marriage to look like in 2024? Examples could include better communication, setting boundaries, improving how we support each other during good and bad times, and areas where we could show up in new and better ways as spouses, etc.

3. What do we want our family life to look like? Examples could involve planning a family trip, setting clear parenting expectations, collaborating and encouraging our children positively.

4. What do we desire in our friendships? Examples could revolve around friends who respect and honor each other, friends who pray, and appreciate our family life and our marriage.

5. What are our financial aspirations? Examples might include initiating a savings plan with a weekly deposit, exploring new business ventures for increased income, investing more, regular budgeting meetings, joint financial management, and fostering open, honest communication about finances.(THIS IS A BIG ONE) :)

While discussing these aspects, remember to start with prayer. Be mindful about the things of God. Be open hearted to the holy spirit and allow him to breath life into these dreams and goals. Pray that the Lord will guide your conversation and help you surrender your plans, dreams, and desires to Him.

Happy Dreaming!

Can you think of any other questions that would be good to discuss with your spouse?

Feel free to respond to this email to give us your input! and as always share our newsletter with someone you know!

With Love,

Armando and Liz