Our First Marriage Retreat

This past weekend Monica and I went on our first marriage retreat with some people who all had some connection to the campus ministry, Ichthus, at Kansas State University. The retreat was held at the Prairiewood Retreat center in Manhattan, Kansas. Although the retreat facility was only a few miles outside of town it felt like we were in some remote place with no connection to reality--and that felt great. The last time we felt like that was a few years ago when we joined some friends on a houseboat in Tennessee. The moral of the story is that no television and no cell phone use is good for a marriage. It was wonderful taking a few days to concentrate only on us and our relationship. Here are some of the highlights from this past weekend:

• Plenty of free time! Scheduled throughout the weekend was free time so that we could really get rest if we wanted or to use some other way. We took the opportunity to cruise the K-State campus which I had never seen before. I have to admit, it's a beautiful campus. Here's a picture of Hale Library.

• Retreat Center...Prairiewood was a beautiful place with huge bedrooms, beautiful scenery, and most importantly a nice hot tub and pool. If we stick around this area for a few years I would love to lead another group back to this place.
  

• Solid teaching...Doug Burford was our scheduled speaker and he did a great job leading us into discussion and providing us with some new tools to help us as we move back into our regular routine
• Time with Monica...we had such a good time being together. Although we missed Addie and often spoke using Addie-isms we loved that it felt like we were dating again. After a few long years of work and school this was the perfect way to wrap up that time and look forward to what is next. I'm thankful to be married to someone who loves me and is committed to our marriage.
• Laughter...we laughed a lot this weekend and that felt great. It's amazing how much laughter can do for a relationship.

What about you? Do you have any marriage retreat stories to share? Anything that's worked well for you and yours?