What I learned this weekend.

Chris and I attended a marriage conference today. One Marriage Conference, to be exact. It was a God-thing. I wanted to go. Felt that we really needed to go. Chris said he'd go if I wanted. Then some things happened and we weren't going to be able to go anymore. Then some more stuff happened and, to make a long story short, we made it there.

I'm so glad we did.

We learned a lot. Such as:

*We need to have more sex!

*We need to see marriage as a covenant (with ourselves and with God) instead of a contract.

*We need to prioritize our life together: with God as our number one, Each other as our number 2, and the Children as our number 3. This is easier said than done.

*I need to be sexy wife!

And lots, lots more!

At the end of the conference, we renewed our vows. This was hard for me- a lot harder than I thought it would be. Chris and I have been married 10 years. We've had some good times and some really, really bad times. We've both hurt each other with our words and actions. We still loved each other, but things had definitely changed between us. Life can do that to any marriage, I suppose.

These vows actually meant more to me than the ones we exchanged on our wedding day. Here's why. Everything was new back then. Fresh. Exciting. We were so young and never imagined that our lives would be marked with some of the trials we've been through. Its one thing to pledge your love and devotion to someone when you've only known the good times.

Its quite another thing to do that 10 years later. To still mean it after ten years of loving each other and being so mad you could spit! After busting your tail to make the other happy and slacking off to take care of yourself. After being on top of the world financially and not knowing how we were going to buy groceries for the week. After fighting and making up.

Chris has seen me at my very, very best and at my very, very worst. And I've seen him. At his very, very best and his very, very worst.

And we still want each other.

I can't put into words how it felt to look each other in the eyes after all we've been through and promise to love each and never stop. To apologize for our wrongs. I lost it, of course...cried my eyes out. Such a powerful moment.

We walked away different. In a good way. Vowing to never miss another conference again!