Married after how long of dating???

So last weekend we went to Hilton Head Island, SC for a marriage retreat. Since Rob is a chaplain, I get the "pleasure" of going on all of the retreats with him. Sometimes they are fun, sometimes stressful, but overall I learn something new about our marriage. Our first retreat, seems so long ago, January of 2008 at Epworth by the Sea in St. Simmons Island. It was fun, we were the newly wed couple, that had never had a fight, no kids, and none of the issues that most couples were there for, but we still learned a lot about communicating. Since then I think I have been to Epworth about 4 times, done the Hanan Ranch and Grassy Pond once as well, so I have had my share! But, I must say this retreat was pretty amazing, and not just because Rob organized it. He is usually the one that coordinates this retreat, or Marriage Resiliency Training as it is called in the AF, but this time he really did good and I was super proud of him. He wanted the weekend to not only be beneficial to married couples as far as the classes, but also a little break for them. There was childcare provided during the classes as well as Saturday evening to allow the couples some kid free time. Anyone that has young kids especially more than one or two, knows how hard it can be to have time with your spouse.
  I usually don't fully participate because Rob teaches a lot so it makes it difficult to really do some of the things and if he's not teaching he's running around making sure everything is perfect. This time I participated more and we even hung out more with other couples. The way that everything was set up for the trip we were all together a lot more than at any of the other places, which was kinda cool.
   We met a couple that had been married almost 2 years and got married after 3 weeks! Rob was jealous that they had us beat, we did it after 7.5 weeks,but when asked how could you marry someone so quickly they responded that it was easy because they knew that God was in it. Such a simple answer with such a strong message. You can date for years and years, but if you know that this is not someone you want to marry or spend your life with or have children with and see a future with, than WHY WASTE EACH OTHERS TIME? I know dating is fun, but why waste so much time on someone who is only gonna be in your life for a season. Let them go and move on to the person you are supposed to be with. I think a lot of people get married without really praying about it or they ignore signs that are telling them it's not right. Although Rob said he realized right away I was the one, it took me a little longer. I guess I will keep him around lol.
 But back to the weekend, I usually get so annoyed with all the work he has to do to prepare for these weekends especially how much that damn work Blackberry goes off, but after this last one I was really proud of him. It made me realize all the late nights and emails and phone calls were worth it. He was able to get all the funds to cover childcare, great location, great food, great service and overall a great weekend. He works so hard and gives so much to other people it can be frustrating, but after this weekend and learning our character traits (something new I learned) I now understand how he is, and he's not changing!

POOL TIME

He had a blast!

She just wanted to splash.

Pool time wore them out!