Philip started the tradition of leaving me little love notes when we were dating.  He’d leave Post-It notes, index cards, or scraps of paper in places where he knew I’d find them later.  I’d find sweet, funny, motivational messages in my planner, on my vanity, in my purse, etc.  He even left me a note on top of my alarm clock as part of his elaborate marriage proposal. 


He still leaves me these little notes on a regular basis.  I was still waking up this morning when I opened up the drawer with all of our bottle stuff and found this note:

“Thanks for being such a super mommy!  I appreciate everything that you do for our family.  Have a good day!  Love you”

I got butterflies and instantly felt like I was back in college, dating the sweet guy from the honors dorms.  I was thrilled to discover that I can still get the butterflies waking up and getting the kids rolling in the morning.    


I recently discovered a great site called For Your Marriage.  It’s an initiative by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to help strengthen the vocation of marriage.  There are all kinds of resources, including a Daily Marriage Tip that I subscribe to. 


I wrote a previous blog post about reclaiming date night.  Making it a point to have a romantic evening at least once a week during the week has really helped us to strengthen our relationship.  It’s been easy for us to get stuck in the rut of putting the kids to bed, watching a show or two on tv, and then going to bed ourselves.  Date night for us can be as simple as a game of Scrabble and some wine, but it’s a chance for us to connect and focus on us. 


Are you and your husband stuck in a dating rut?  Are you even dating anymore?  Consider these weekly dating ideas. 


Having a regular date night has made a big difference in our ability to: communicate effectively, take inventory of where we are, have more fun, resolve more conflict, take things less seriously, strengthen our prayer life, and be more motivated to reach our individual goals.      


If it’s been awhile since you’ve talked about the issues covered at Engaged Encounter, consider doing this “Grade Your Marriage” activity with your spouse.  It’s a good chance to check-in with each other on how you think things are going.  What better time to do it than as we begin a new calendar year?


Philip has always been so good about doing lots of little things to show me that he loves me.  One of my goals in the New Year is to show Philip in lots of little ways how much I love him. 




What kind of little things do you do for your spouse (and vice versa) to show one another how much you care?  I’d love to hear about them.


Now, I realize I’m writing this post on a Friday evening when I’m supposed to be having a hot date with my husband.  Before you all cry “hypocrite!”, rest assured that we have our version of an exciting night planned.  Philip’s taking a quick nap after a long day at work, and then we’re watching a movie together and getting Dairy Queen Blizzards to celebrate the end of a long week.  You know you’re jealous…  🙂  Now, go and get back to dating your spouse!