Weekend to Remember

Jesse and I went to Mars this past weekend--Mars, PA that is. That's near Pittsburgh and less than an hour from both his parents and Katie & Ryan.

We stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton and enjoyed Family Life's Weekend to Remember. Our registration for the weekend was provided by my cousins who had attended the conference and found it to be very valuable. (Thanks Eric & Sunny!!) We also found the conference to have a lot of valuable advice.

As we'd gone through a good pre-marital counseling series less than a year earlier and had some read some excellent books recommended to us, we found much of the information was not new or profound. On the other hand, it was great to get a better grasp on some of the ideas through the stories and examples shared with the speakers. It also encouraged us to renew our intentions to seek God and build up each other.

Friday evening, the conference began by identifying five types of problems that cause barriers to the oneness that is desired in the marriage relationship. This was a great place to start. Things have gone very well for us and we are still very happily married, but it gave us a way to identify potential problems and more concrete situations that we could think about for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning, we actually made it up in time to have breakfast at Bob Evans before we went to the morning session beginning at 8:30.

Saturday morning, the conference talked about the purpose and plan for oneness, including defining oneness as when both the husband and the wife are pursuing God's will together. This is where they talked about some of the basic differences between the way men and women receive and process information. (Cordless antenna vs. USS Enterprise sensor array). The morning also included a presentation of the gospel message and a challenge to renew and maintain a relationship with Christ.

One of the morning breaks was an hour and Jesse was feeling a bit hungry, so we headed back over to Bob Evans to get a bite while we worked on our assigned project. When it was time for the lunch break of 1.5 hours, we were more tired than hungry. We talked about a 20 minute nap and then lunch. We ended up setting the alarm for a 35 minute nap. After a couple of hits at the snooze button, our nap ended up being an hour long and we skipped lunch.

Saturday afternoon, they began on a series of sessions on communication, starting with basic communication techniques, such as active listening. The afternoon ended with a session on sexual intimacy, suggesting that this area of a couple's relationship is entirely dependent on every other area of their relationship; not an area that can be improved independent of how the rest of the relationship is going.

Saturday evening was set aside as a date night. Jesse took me out to Shakespeare's for a very good dinner and a relaxing evening chatting and discussing what we were learning!

Sunday morning, we didn't get up quite as early, but still had time for the breakfast buffet at the Eat 'n' Park before the morning session. For the Sunday morning sessions, men and women were split. Each had a session focused on their role as husband/wife in working on oneness in the marriage relationship and on their role as a father/mother.

The conference allowed for a long lunch again on Sunday. We finished packing up and checking out. CiCi's Pizza was for lunch, with plenty of time again to discuss the assignments we were completing and what we were learning in the sessions or thinking about.

Sunday afternoon, the final sessions looked at setting rules for conflict so that it could be done in love and resolved; working to prevent conflicts by avoiding the tooth-for-a-tooth attitude and being blessing to your spouse; and finally the result of modeled oneness becoming a legacy to children and a witness to other families.

With the conference finished, we headed over to Katie & Ryan's. Jesse's parents and Margaret met us there for supper and visiting before we all had to head back to our own homes. Jesse and I drove for a couple of hours Sunday night, stopped to spend the night along the way, and then drove on back to Virginia on Monday morning.

It was truly a Weekend to Remember!

Yankee Peddler

Jesse's dad is a blacksmith who designs useful and decorative items for planters and yards, such as a garden hose holder, flower pot holders and stackers, and more. The family sells the items at craft shows. Jesse's favorite show (and probably the whole family's favorite show) is Yankee Peddler in Ohio. So, when we had the opportunity to go up and help out at the show this past weekend, I was excited to be able to experience what I'd heard so much about.

Heading up to Ohio on Friday night, Jesse had a head cold and I was pretty sure I was coming down with one. That made the 6.5 hour drive feel a bit longer, but we met up with his parents at the motel about 11:00.

Saturday was mostly overcast. Except for a short shower in the morning, the weather was perfect for shoppers. Unfortunately, it was actually raining in Akron (just north of the show)--a major supplier of shoppers--so there weren't a lot of people there. We had time to walk around the show a bit. I got to meet some of the crafters that return every year and with whom Jesse and his family have made friends. At the end of the day, we very much enjoyed sitting down and having a good meal at Bob Evans before heading make to the motel, showering, counting the take for the day, and sleeping.

Sunday was very rainy until about 2:00. We even had a "lake" (about 15'X20' area and up to ankle-deep) in front of the booth until Jesse and a couple of other guys used some shovels to drain it into the nearby creek. There were still some hearty shoppers out buying in the middle of the rain, but definitely not very many. We had thought about leaving by about 4:00, but then Katie and Ryan decided to bring Christina out, so we hung around long enough to greet them.

By the time we left, I was really feeling my head cold. After short stops for food, gas, etc, we headed home. About 8:30, I decided to try to sleep so that I might be able to forget about my congested head. Jesse got us home before midnight.

Some highlights from the weekend:
- Watching/listening to Ray and Jesse demonstrate blacksmithing. They tended to make leaves, when they had nothing better to make, but also made some stocking hangers and a rolling pin holder that were requested.
- Dressing up "colonial" style. (Thanks, Katie, for the loan of clothes!) Maybe I'll get a picture of us posted someday.
- Food: apple fritters, corn on the cob, and creamed chicken over biscuit.
- "Have you thought of something to say yet?" (OK, it was probably only me that thought that it was so funny and it was one of those things that probably doesn't tell well.)
- Discussion of information and changes in technology with their friends in the booth across the way selling sheep skin items.
- Music: Wandering minstrel, bagpipes, and the folk band (Irish drum, hammered dulcimer, etc) near the booth.
- And of course, spending time with family!!