A weekend to remember

"Forgiveness is the oil of relationships" Josh McDowell

My dearest friend Beth has mentioned how much she'd enjoyed attending this Family Life A weekend to remember marriage conference with her hubby. She prayed for doors to open for us to be able to sneak away for a few days and be refreshed. I've tried numerous times to schedule one but with hubby working out of the country and coming home for just a few weeks in between it seemed like an impossibility. Matthew 19:26 assures us that With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." So, her prayers were honored this past weekend.
Our friends helped us split the kids so we can sneak out without guilt and remorse. All the kids ended up enjoying the company of their own friends and didn't even miss us one little bit! Sniff, sniff...
It totally rocked to be with just my husband this weekend! I really didn't want to return home to the daily grind, but most of all to the reality that upon our return I'll have to help him pack to leave again. But, we were both refreshed and renewed in our commitment to our marriage. See, since July of last year he's been working out of the country, coming home for 1 to 2 weeks after 8 weeks of work. So, it's been very taxing on all of us. Please, pray for our family to be together. We really need it. Our kids are growing so quickly and being separated is not an option for our family. We will be separated for another 2 months or till my dh completes the project he is committed to in Jamaica. But we don't know what after that. We really would all like to be together.
I don't really have time to expound on all the things we've learned this weekend (house is a wreck and laundry is piled high) or the things we did together, but I will say we learned to brand the motto of the conference "Love like you mean it" on our hearts. I learned that I didn't really forgive or love as I should have. A lot more came out of the weekend and I'd like to encourage any one, regardless of the state of your marriage to make it a point and get away to attend this conference. Ok, I'll just mention that we ate at a very different restaurant this time for the Saturay sweetheart time of the conference and enjoyed it a ton! We really wanted to make it to the Sundial but they couldn't change our reservations to a later hour! Hubby agreed we'd have to make it a point to go there next time! So many choices, so little time, huh?
Last day of the conference we were eating b-fast in the hotel when Ben tried to make conversation with an older lady sharing our table. She happened to be Russian. We were tickled pink and ended up praying for her (she was in Atlanta for treatment of her sciatic nerve) and just let her talk about her life. We wished we had more time that morning. Needless to say, it was hard to break away from her and wee were a bit late for the session that morning, but it was well worth it. I didn't know I'll get to speak Russian twice that day!
I also was able to stop by a Russian store in Atlanta on the way back home. It was so crowded with elderly people from a nursing home eating borsht that I had to have mine to go and enjoy a huge serving of buckwheat! Oh, I was in heaven! I also didn't have to share it with anybody. Hubby doesn't have a huge appreciation for neither of those. He had a khachapuri instead with some Community coffee he was very surprised to find the Russian store serve.
My loot is pretty incredible (to me). I won't bore you with the detailed description but I'll just share with you some pics. I know you won't beg if you can come over and have me share some red caviar on a piece of buttered (you heard me, it has to be buttered) whole wheat bread or kvass or some of that cold smoked mackarel. So, I'll just suffer in silence and eat it all by MYSELF, well except the candy. The kids are conniving a plan on figuring out my stash. I only share with them one a day so that it can last for at least week. Those caramel truffles were a true find. They are so good!!! Oh, and I almost forgot that halva(h)! It's the thing in the container with the green plastic lid! It is a scruptious, very high fat, sweet desert. This particular one is sesame seed based. See the link to Wiki to see how different countries make different halva(h)s. The one we had in Bosnia was a bit different that the one I had in Moldova, Russia or Ukraine.
The only thing hubby got was a bottle of Borjomi, which is naturally carbonated mineral water from the country where we got married-Soviet Georgia! He was very patient waiting for me in that store filled with foods that brought back so many childhood memories. I tried to hurry and didn't even explore half of the store.
So, that was my weekend to remember. Company of dearest friend and husband, wisdom for a lifetime, food and all! Please, continue praying for our family. We covet all your prayers! We want and need to be together!