I never posted yesterday, but I did have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. I enjoyed a lunch with my daughter at the Dixie Cafe across from her school. The entire 2nd grade was able to invite one of their parents to have a Valentine’s lunch with them, all arranged by their teachers. Mostly, the boys brought their moms and the girl’s brought their dads. I gave my daughter a rose and box of candy as I arrived at her school, which she absolutely loved. She told everyone in sight about it. We and around 40 or 50 other children and their invited parent had a great time.

Last night was a pleasant evening at home. We seem to rarely go out to eat actually on Valentine’s Day anymore, but are planning to go out this weekend instead. We enjoyed some good food and time as a family at home instead.

This morning when I arrived at work there was a mail in my inbox regarding the Weekend To Remember marriage conference. I am now in my second year here at my current job, and my company offers an opportunity to attend one of these conferences at no cost. The conference is provided by FamilyLife Ministries, a parachurch organization based here in Little Rock that, among other things, offers marriage and parenting conferences around the country throughout the year. It is the ministry of Dennis Rainey and his wife Barbara.

And you read that right - the company pays for you to go to a Christian marriage conference (including accommodations). That’s a pretty good deal. We didn’t go last year because it was my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary weekend and we had family plans for that. We are planning to go this year. We’ve never been to anything like this, but some co-workers have spoken pretty highly of it, so I’ll look forward to it. The conference here in Little Rock is scheduled in March.

There is one thing I don’t understand. For the second year in a row (and perhaps other years before that), FamilyLife has scheduled the Little Rock conference not just in March, but on the weekend of the NCAA basketball Final Four. That just seems like odd scheduling. I figure it’s hard enough for some wives to get their husbands to go to an event like this to begin with, but to try to get them there on a major weekend in the sports calendar seems like it’s just adding to the level of difficulty. Perhaps they can schedule a parenting conference on Super Bowl weekend next year.

I speak in jest, of course. Regardless of date and time, I’m excited about attending this year and having a great time with my wife. (And, if they solicit comments regarding the conference, perhaps I’ll bring up the scheduling issue.)