I Choose You: Exciting

We are wrapping up the word CHOOSE today in our I CHOOSE YOU marriage series! (If you've missed the other posts the last few days, you can catch them in the links at the bottom.)

This will be a fun one to talk about! In our acrostic, E stands for exciting!

On the very first day of this series, we talked about how we work hard to be intentional in our relationship, but we do want to make a point to say there's a difference between being intentional and being exciting.

From the very beginning of our marriage, we declared it a priority to have a weekly date night. Even though we don't have kids and are "always together," we wanted to be purposeful about those date nights! But after a while, we began to notice that they started to look remarkably the same.

Lowe's:

Coffee:

Grocery store:

Don't misunderstand: we appreciate and cherish the time we spend together, no matter what we're doing, but it's fun and exciting to do new things. So as some of you might remember, at the end of 2016, I sat down and made a list of date ideas - one for each letter of the alphabet - for us to try in 2017. That was such a fun experiment! (If you missed that and want to read about them, the whole list is here.)

Though we have done fun dates beyond this list, this particular exercise did bring some excitement into our dating life!

Like when Ryan surprised me with tickets to a Gaither Vocal Band concert:

Or when we tried an escape room!

Or when we toured the sunflower oil farm:

Or when we had the ritzy dinner at the rooftop restaurant:

Or when we took a Christmas tour of the Biltmore!

Fun dates! Some we'll probably never do again - not because we didn't like them, but because we don't have it in our regular budget. Others may be new favorites we'll do many times over! But the point was, each one added excitement to our life!

Our county tours add the same kind of excitement to our lives!

Like when we followed the whole Garfield trail:

Or hiked in Mounds State Park:

Or toured the South Bend Chocolate Company:

Or conquered the Three Dune Challenge:

So many fun dates we've planned with the intent of making life together fun.

We know that the things we find exciting might not thrill others. That's okay! But we do encourage you to find your own excitement and make it happen. Choose to show love by choosing to make room for something exciting. Be purposeful about being exciting!

And don't think that exciting has to mean pricey. Some of our adventures have required us to plan and save a little bit, but several have been free or pretty close to it! Make memories you can look back upon with fondness! :)

(If you're single, it's not too early to start planning! I had a whole list of ideas on reserve when I met Ryan!)


To read the rest of the posts in this series, you can catch them here:

I Choose You: Introduction
I Choose You: Intentional
I Choose You: Chronicles
I Choose You: Help
I Choose You: Optimism
I Choose You: Openness
I Choose You: Sacred
I Choose You: Exciting

I Choose You: Yoked

I Choose You: Only

I Choose You: Understanding
I Choose You - Works For You