What’s Really “Amazing”

Scott perused over a document he’d just synced to his phone while I was driving us home from Lincoln. We’d enjoyed a fun appointment with a new friend and now, driving home, Scott had been making calls.

It was getting late, so the calls stopped and his never ending fascination with his phone resumed.

Keys clicked on the Blackjack phone. Tires crunched on the snow-packed roads.

“It’s amazing,” I said with a singsong-newlywed tone, “how we’re together almost 24/7 these days.” (Referring to our working-together jobs.)

“What’s amazing,” he said seconds later, “is that I can read a 33 megabyte file from my phone.”

Silence.

“Wow, I can’t believe you just said that,” I said shocked but not shocked. “You missed a potentially very romantic moment there, Honey.”

I couldn’t play mad; it was too funny.

“Scott, we have to write these down for future generations–things like this and the Halloween candy story.”

I have a feeling that many of our marriage communication foibles like this will involve conversations in moving vehicles.

What funny male v. female stories about communication do you have? We want to hear!

 

Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking? (November newsletter)

We’re in a series about different ministries in Campus Crusade. Scott and I have an opportunity to serve these ministries through our roles at the World Headquarters in Orlando, Fla. This month is about FamilyLife.

Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?

The only sound was the whir of our tires on 70th Street.

Scott and I had gone to see Fireproof for our date night on Halloween and now quiet blanketed us in the truck. The movie impressed us—even with a low budget and volunteer actors—with the real issues surrounding marriage. We’d discussed the movie for a bit, but now silence fell as we drove back to my parents’ home.

I’d love to talk more, I thought. We’ve only been married six months. In the movie they’ve been married seven years. I wonder what our marriage will look like at that stage?

I looked over at Scott. He looked deep in thought.

I wonder what’s he’s thinking about. Maybe about the 40-Day Love Dare? Or that scene where Caleb smashed the TV with his bat?

I wish he’d hold my hand, whatever he’s thinking.

“Do you think your dad has leftover Halloween candy?” he suddenly asked, with a staid expression.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Is that what you’ve been thinking about?!?”

Like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar he confessed. “Um. Yeah.”

We both rolled.

Let’s just say we’re still learning about this amazing thing called marriage—and differences between men and women. Six months of marriage has not made us experts, but rather made us very aware of our need for Jesus to be in the center of it all—bliss and conflict and everything in between.

FamilyLife is the marriage and family ministry of Campus Crusade. Recently, they teamed up with the makers of Fireproof to encourage couples to see the movie, then take the 40-day “Love Dare” challenge. (Listen to the FamilyLife radio program.)

Besides the radio ministry, FamilyLife is probably best known for their marriage conferences, called A Weekend to Remember. Scott and I are fans after attending a three-day conference while engaged and becoming friends with the speakers, Dave and Peggy Jones (left). Read these responses from an October conference in New York where the Joneses were on the speaker team.

· “My wife and I have been on the brink of divorce for more than nine years, and this weekend is kind of the life preserver thrown to us from the boat.”

· “It opened my eyes to the kind of marriage I truly desire and realize it is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. I just loved how the whole conference was centered on God and biblical principles! I pray that God will strengthen our marriage as we apply these principles.”

Growth Ideas for You or Friends

• Attend a Weekend to Remember Conference (Friday evening through Sunday noon)

  Omaha: March 15-18 :: Lincoln: March 27-29. Find a conference location near you.

• Start a Home Builder’s Bible Study Near You

  These 4-to-8-week marriage Bible studies tackle relevant topics in marriage like finances, conflict, parenting and remarriage.

• Angie’s Top Picks

  Ok, I’m new at this, but I have to highly recommend these: Love and Respect, For Women Only and The Power of a Praying Wife. Consider buying a copy then passing it on!

 

The bobsy twins

We changed clothes to go see friends last night…and, as we turned around, realized that we’d done it again.

We were dressed alike. (Scott’s face betrays his excitement.)

This isn’t the first time. Is there something in marriage water that causes you to start looking alike so quickly? I wasn’t prepared for that to happen until our 80s when we will be wearing matching polyester running outfits…and running nowhere.

 

Is that it? Mount Kilimanjaro?!!

Scott here.

I made the mistake of turning over last night, which awakened Angie.  “Scott?” she says while shaking my shoulder.  “Do you remember that weird situation we’re in?”  “No,” I said, while looking at the clock that says 2:30am.  She scoffs at me, as if I should know what she’s talking about.  “That guy….we need to get the clothes out of the car.”  I don’t respond.  I’m seriously trying to remember if there is a weird situation we’re in because -

A.  Angie’s mind is always whirling and she has a much better memory than me.

B.  It’s 2:30 in the morning and I’m not fully in my right mind either.

She asks me a couple more unusual questions and continues to scoff at me for not knowing the answer.  At this point I know she’s sleep talking/walking…again.  She gets out of bed and pulls out her insulin pump to use the green LCD light to look around the dark room.  “That’s so WEIRD!  It was just right..here.”  She moves to a couple more corners in the room, still saying, “That’s so WEIRD!”  Finally, sobriety enters the room and she asks, “Scott, was I dreaming this?”  I told her yes, it was a dream.  I was shocked she believed me.

The night before was my turn when Angie woke me up after I had fallen asleep for an hour.  I told her, “Why do we have to get pictures?  I don’t understand?”  Then she laughed at me.  I knew for CERTAIN she knew EXACTLY what I was talking about, but the laughing made me so mad I walked out of the room.  Sobriety entered the bathroom I was in and I realized it was probably a dream.  Still, there’s nothing that makes a man angry like his wife laughing her head off at him for what appears to be no reason whatsoever.  It’s more cruel than anything, until I woke up the next morning and thought it was funny too.

The night before that wasn’t as dramatic, but just as unusual.  About 5am Angie said, “Is that it?  Is that Mount Kilimanjaro?”  Well, that was a new one.  Not Mount McKinley, not the Rocky Mountains, not Jesus on the Mount of Olives, but Mount Kilimanjaro.  Even she doesn’t remember where that one came from.  What an active bedroom we have that comes from our nightly dream theater.

 

it’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s beltman

I just stopped crying from laughter.

This is Scott, in mid-sentence, as he was heading out the door to go get me a pop in case I have a low blood sugar in the night.

Now, understand that I am usually grateful that he’s my orange-juice-or-pop hero, making sure his diabetic wife has what she needs. (We realized at 11:37 p.m. that we had neither beverage option.)

But a key part of this story is that Scott majorly threw out his back tonight. After coming home after Jazzercise to find Scott like a moving-like-a-90-year-old man, I went back out to get him a back brace and a bag of ice at Walgreens.

What brought tears of laughter was seeing him walk toward the door, keys and wallet in hand. He was serious. The man who could barely move was going to maneuver and get in our truck and drive to 7-11.

And be my hero.

It was a sight I couldn’t take. I pleaded with him to stop, and even chased him out the door. (Ok, chasing implies a greater speed than was actually happening.) He was serious! I started begging him to stay and let me go.

Just seeing him in that back brace and barefoot sent me into an I-can’t-catch-my-breath laughter.

“It hurts, it hurts!” he bellowed. “Don’t make me laugh because it hurts when I do!”

Then, in a strange twist of events, we suddenly heard 3 gunshots (or so we think). We scurried (yes, this time) inside.

Scott got some water and realized God’s provision–we had a Dr. Pepper inside our fridge that we’d forgotten about. So, I’m provided for. How cool is that?

The superhero and his wife are calling it a night.