A miracle

How I wish that I had time to do this justice but I believe that God gave us a miracle last night!  I still have 2 sessions to do yet today; plus make supper; wash the new bedding that we bought together yesterday; make our King size bed which IS a whopper job; while trying not to run out of steam. 

You see, we got to bed about 2:00 AM this morning but it was a night to remember always.  Robert and I left for Bismarck about 2:00 PM yesterday and his surprise was that he wanted us to pick out the prettiest sheets for our bed that we could find.  This was not easy with all of the thousands of sheet sets that we looked at all over town but finally we agreed on a pretty floral that looked as though it would match our comforter.  When I checked it this morning, I was so delighted to see that it is a very close match--if not perfect.  ;)

After we went back to Penny's to buy them, we decided to eat supper at Applebees.  We'd never been there before and the food was wonderful.  They even brought us 2 free hot fudge sundaes in honor of our anniversary.  In fact the manager came over to wish us a happy anniversary and to thank us for coming there to share our special event with them which was very lovely!

After that we had to decide if we were going to go home and watch one of the 3 DVDs that the children gave us for our anniversary OR spend even more money on ourselves and see a "REAL" movie at the movie theater.  Being we were so unsure, we drove around to the theatres and looked at what was showing.  There was nothing showing at the Grand theatre that looked remotely interesting but, when we went to the theatre in Gateway Mall, we were attracted to a movie called, HOPE SPRINGS.

After calling home to let the children know that we would be staying out late, we went into the theatre and waited.  There really are a lot of violent movies going to be showing in Bismarck in the near future.  Mostly I closed my eyes not wanting to put those images in my mind but I could hear the violence.  It made me nervous to see what we were getting into but that fear was totally unfounded.

I urge EVERY married person to go and see HOPE SPRINGS.  If you're having trouble in your marriage, then you REALLY need to see it.  The story is about a couple on their 31st anniversary who had fallen into the trap of non-communication.  In an attempt to save their marriage, they went to Maine to a town called, Hope Springs, to see a marriage counselor.

It was a very intense week of discussing their highlights and low lights in marriage.  Numerous times one or the other gave up and walked out of the counselor's office, but they came back the next day.  By the end of the week, the couple was communicating much better but things did not improve when they went back home.

When the wife packed her bags to leave in the morning, I cried so hard as I recalled packing my bags 24 years ago to leave Robert.  Fortunately, enough healing had taken place that the husband came to her senses the night before she was going to leave and the marriage was saved.

One year later, they went back to Hope Springs with their children.  On the beach of Maine, with the marriage counselor and his wife present, and their children watching on they made new vows to each other.

One of his went like this, "Faye, on this our 32nd wedding anniversary, I vow to you not to watch so much golf."

One of hers went like this, "Albert, on this our 32nd wedding anniversary, I vow to watch SOME golf with you."

Tears flowed down my face as Robert and I watched this precious scene on "This our 32nd wedding anniversary."  We had the entire place to ourselves and it was a very precious moment in our marriage. 

What a miracle it was.  We could have gone home early and watched one of the DVDs that the children gave us.  We could have gone home early and gone to bed early and been more rested.  We could have gone to any other movie that was showing in Bismarck last night but God took us to see the one movie where a couple was celebrating their marriage on their 32nd wedding anniversary.  Did I mention that, as we watched the movie, we were celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary?  How cool is that?  Only God could have arranged something so lovely as that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless-to-say, we're a little draggy today but it was worth it.  I repeat, I urge EVERY married person to go and watch the movie, "Hope Springs."  The marriage counseling presented IS the very best that I have heard so you can think of it as, "Free marriage counseling."  That plus Merle Streepe's acting made it an unforgettable event.  It was so refreshing to see middle aged people presented as real people with real feelings.

Well, I need to keep those new sheets moving through the cleaning process so I'd best close.  It's just so wonderful to be in love with my husband all over again.  SIGH!!!

Happily married,

Dawn

PS.  When I get my bed put back together, I'll take a picture and show it here for the marriage bed is undefiled.  Another sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!