Well, for my very small and patient following who are waiting for my journal entry for Day 32 of The Love Dare... sorry.  There will be no entry for Day 32 because due to circumstances beyond our control, Kelli and I have had to postpone the dare for that day, and let's face it, it's pretty private anyway.  So, on to Day 33 I go.  Today's dare asks me to realize that my wife is an integral part of my future success, express my desire to include her in upcoming decisions, let her know how important her input and counsel is and admit my failures in this area in the past. Actually, Kelli and I did most of this late in the evening of Day 32, because we had some available and unused dare time that day.  We were having sort of a final discussion about my moving back into the house and reconciling fully.  Kelli was sharing with me some of her long-term concerns, and alot of them were about how we manage our money and some potential financial difficulties that lie ahead.  After a long discussion, some of which was a little tense, we found that we had never communicated or worked together very well on our household finances.  Kelli always paid most of the bills and bore most of the related stress for meeting our obligations.  I mostly took for granted that she would take care of that, and focused only on making, and spending, money.  Frankly, the prospect of that system continuing upon our reconciliation, wasn't attractive to Kelli, and I completely understand.  For most of our marriage, I had made large financial decisions and then left Kelli to meet them.  I never thought of it that way, but that's exactly what we were doing, and it didn't work.  So, at the end of the conversation Saturday night, we both resolved to work as a team on financial issues, from the making of decisions to the responsibility for meeting our family budget.  I think we've both known this is necessary for a long time, but never really dealt with it.  I'm actually excited for our family finances to be a very important part of a marriage we both do much better than we ever have. Another area where I value Kelli's input and advice is in the area of my children, specifically my 14-year-old, very troubled daughter.  As Kelli and I have made plans for our reconciliation, my daughter Lexi has been an important part of these plans.  In question are things like where she would live (with me or her mom), which high school she will attend, what her rules will be, and what counseling / church plans we will lay out for her.  Lexi's mom and I met last week to discuss some of these issues, along with Lexi's older half-sister, and Kelli.  Kelli loves Lexi, perhaps like only a concerned step-mom can.  Her input is valuable because her loving concern isn't colored by hurt feelings and the guilt of a divorced parent.  Both Lexi's mom and I listened to her advice where Lexi is concerned, and I think all of us are on board with a very aggressive plan to rescue this at-risk daughter we all love. As it happens, Day 33 was also Father's Day.  We had a wonderful family day.  In the morning, we went to church, with my three kids.  We have found a new church home after a pretty short search.  God has graciously led us to a Baptist church close to our home.  I have to admit this is fairly suprising to me.  I'm a lifelong uncosnscious, holiday-attending Presbyterian.  Kelli was raised in a small Brethren church.  Neither of us has regularly attended church in most of our adult lives.  We were really as far from Baptists as christians can be before we started the process of rebuilding our marriage around God.  Part of this process was starting from scratch where church is concerned, investigating and attending several until we found one that is home.  Well, we have, and apparently, we're Baptists!  In the afternoon, we had all four kids and spent time with Kelli's family.  In the evening, it was just the two of us and we had a perfect end to a great day.  We decided it was time for me to move back home.  Now, it might be very easy to perceive this decision as the destination of this journey Kelli and I have been on, but it is not.  Too many times before in our marriage we've reconciled and quickly returned to our old habits and ways of relating to each other, only to be back at odds with each other fairly soon.  This time is, and must be, different.  We've spent most of this year, in gut-wrenching fashion, facing and dealing with the problems in our marriage.  We've learned to communicate much better.  We've shared the deep dark stuff and started the process of forgiveness.  We've brought God into our marriage and begun to walk down His path for us.  Kelli's Father's Day card had a personal note telling me to read the words carefully, and to realize how proud she is of the man I've become.  I must keep that thought close in mind, and never waver from this path God has set me on.  My wife, my marriage and my family are much too important to go back.  Today was a very good day.  Praise be to God!