Project 52

The one word that comes to mind when I think about ministering to my husband is intentionality! You have to be intentional about doing it.

It doesn't always come easy! Things don't always go as planned. Sometimes there are times where you wish you were the one being ministered to. It sometimes takes pure intention!

Last April, I stumbled upon an idea on a blog that I instantly fell in love with! It had a "Julie & Julia" twist of doing something for an entire year but instead of doing it every day, you do it once a week. So the title of "Project 52" was created. The project is something I thought would be great to do in our home because like this "Simply Modern Mom" (the creator of the project), it is something that easily gets neglected with the busyness of life!

Project 52 is all about creating date nights in your marriage! Nights to get to know your spouse better, create memories, learn and try new things, be creative and have some fun. We are at the 6 year marriage mark and although we are more in love today than the day we met, we definitely neglect consistent date nights. We use many excuses and don't even realize it--kids, we don’t want to pay for a babysitter every week, too busy, finances don't allow multiple or big date nights out, plan other things on the calendar, put others before ourselves, and the excuses go on.

I was determined to be intentional and change the way we had intimate time together as a couple. And so when I saw this, I had a "ah-ha" moment of this is something we should do that would be fun, different, and create special time each week for just the two of us. Each week I plan a date night usually around a theme.

On the first week (we are now on week 24), I sent Andy a gift basket to his work (You can read about that here) to introduce him to the idea with the following:

Project 52

The following criteria was created for our weekly date night--
1. Date nights will typically be home-based fun and will cost less than $5 or fall into categories already established in the general budget
2. We can't do the same thing twice in one month
3. Date nights can be planned by either person
4. No children allowed (if applicable)
5. Must create a date like atmosphere. No frumpy clothes or pajamas unless otherwise stated that they are acceptable for the particular evening activities. Make it a special event. Mind the details. But most of all, keep it simple.
6. Date nights cannot be cancelled unless an emergency inhibits the night from occurring. Nights can be switched if needed.

Simply Modern Mom and her husband signed on to the project together and split planning the date nights. I decided to make it something I would do to minister to my husband and I would plan the weekly dates. Andy does plan one every so often and loves showing me how much he loves this as well. Each week, I try (I have missed a few) to blog about it and link our date nights up to Simply Modern Mom! Other couples link their date nights too and it is a great way to get ideas for future date nights!

What has "Project 52" done for our marriage? WOW! I can't even begin to tell you how much we love this night and look forward to it every week! It has created a whole new level of intimacy, a new level on the way we communicate, a new level of enjoying one another's company.

You can read the majority of our date nights on our family blog, http://www.apkweber.blogspot.com/. The direct link for the "Project 52" date nights can be found here. Be sure to scroll back to the oldest post first to read them in order.

Here's a little view of "Weber Style Project 52 Date Nights":