Everyday Lovin: What He Needed Today

I had a plan for my everyday lovin' challenge this week...and I was excited about it. I planned to get up early this morning and make homemade Morning Muffins (my husband and my kids are VERY happy people when they wake up to warm muffins)  And, to be honest, it is rare that I serve anything but instant oatmeal or cold cereal for breakfast.  And to be even more honest most of the time I often don't get the breakfast served at all before my husband leaves for work. So, I thought this would be a nice surprise to show that I was thinking of my hubby and wanted him to have a a good start to the day.

But, as luck would have it he must have eaten something bad yesterday and he spent several hours throwing up in the night (I know, not pleasant, but it's part of the story) I woke up early as planned and made the muffins.  The smell of apple cinnamony goodness filled the house...mmmmm. 

But when I walked into the living room I saw my guy laying on the couch looking completely worn out and miserable.  He said that he was still going to work and was starting to feel better but still didn't think he could stomach much food.  He took a few little nibbles of a muffin and then decided it wasn't going to work for him. 

So, I had to stop and think for a minute.  The point of this challenge that I gave myself was to learn to love my husband more and do more of the little things that matter.  But, today, muffins were not the little thing that he needed.  Today he needed something else....soda and saltine crackers.  But, we didn't have any.  Then it occured to me that really loving someone is not just about planning projects to do for them.  It's about being there to help them with whatever it is that they need today.  It's loving them in ways that you hadn't planned.  So, at six something in the morning I climbed into the car and drove to the nearest gas station to get some Sprite and saltine crackers.

I gave him one bottle of soda and then left some saltines and another bottle in his car with a note telling him that I love him and hope he feels better.  It was almost nothing, really, and yet I knew that I loved him like he needed to be loved this morning.  And that felt good.  I'm still learning.  But for today the challenge is to love your husband in whatever way he needs you to.  Love him by making a nice dinner at the end of a hard day.  Love him by telling him how great he is when he's discouraged or just choose to be patient when you could be irritated.  Love him by leaving him a surprise....OR, if he has food poisoning....leave him some saltines and soda :)

Don't worry, my children ate all the muffins in five minutes so they didn't go to waste.  But since those muffins really do make the morning, tomorrow's post.will be all about....MORNING MUFFINS :)

Now it's your turn.  Tell us what you did or plan to do to show a little extra love this week.

Everyday Lovin': Brag About Your Husband

Last week I began my Everyday Lovin' Challenge.  The challenge is pretty simple : do something a little extra every week to show your love for your husband.  I'm going for something a little unexpected and fun to make my husband smile and I'll post about it every Wednesday.


My inspiration for this week comes from a story that I heard my husband's grandma Rosalie relate about her marriage.  She says that they had been married for many years.  They had endured loss and happiness, health and illness.  They had lost a child.  Her husband has suffered a stroke but had pulled through.  Life had not always been easy but they had stuck together.  They were at a social event one evening when she overheard someone ask her husband how he and his wife were doing. His response was:

"Oh, Rosalie!  She's the best thing that ever happened to me!" 

 I don't know if he knew she was listening but it didn't matter.  The fact was that hearing him brag about her like that was something that touched her so much that she remembered that moment for years to come. Was Rosalie perfect? NO!  But her husband gave her the gift of focusing on her virtues.


I think one of the best things we can do to show our love is to show our total admiration for our spouse's strengths.  (those good things are, after all, why we married them in the first place right?!)

 So, today I will brag about my husband :) 

And, when I'm done I want you to brag about yours!

My husband...COOKS

This man makes bread. And he lets the kids help him.  He totally loves to try a new recipe or make a beautiful loaf of bread and take it to someone.  At one point he was making bread with the kids every Sunday and delivering it to people.  They would smile at the door and say "tell your wife thank you!"  And he would just nod and smile and never reveal that he is the baker and the one who loves to cook, not me.  He made me look quite domestic :)

My husband...FORGIVES

Whatever it is that we disagree about it he is over it an hour later and will never rehash it again. He doesn't hold grudges and he doesn't point out how many times I've made the same mistake.  Thank goodness.

My husband...TELLS ME HE LOVES ME

Every day.  For thousands of days in row.  Not a day goes by that that he doesn't say it.  And he tells
me I'm beautiful on a regular basis (but not so often that it doesn't seem genuine)

My husband...GIVES ME FREEDOM

He doesn't tell me what to do or how to do things.  He wants me to pursue my dreams and my friendships and my develop my talents.  He wants me to be happy and he tries to support me in whatever I'm working on...anything from training for a 10k to doing this blog. He's my cheerleader. (Except I don't know if he wants to be called a cheerleader....maybe a manly fan section)

My husband...

PLAYS WITH THE KIDS, AND THANKS ME FOR DINNER, AND PRAYS WITH ME EVERY NIGHT, AND HAS CUTE LITTLE WRINKLES AND DIMPLES WHEN HE SMILES .....I LOVE HIM.

Now it's your turn.  Go ahead, brag about your husband.  Tell us what's so great about him.  Leave me a comment.  Or, even better, do a whole post about him on your blog and then link it with the linky below so we can all read it!  Or you could write something nice on Facebook!  Whatever you can think of to let people know what you love about him.  Or, just do something else to show your husband you love him then let us in on it. A little extra love can go a long way. Remember the quote "In marriage the little things are the big things!"  I can't wait to hear from you!

Shower Graffiti Love Notes

I posted earlier that I am challenging myself to do something a little extra each week to show my husband that I love him.  Something fairly simple but meaningful.  I'm taking this as a fun little adventure.

When we were dating we used to write each other love notes.  It was not uncommon for me to come home and find a sweet note left for me on the table or the bed. And, I would do the same for him. But, as the years went by we got busier and nowadays we don't write many love notes.  So, to start off my Everyday Lovin' Challenge today I left him love notes in the form of graffiti on the shower walls. :) This truly made my day!

I found these bathtub crayons next to the kid's shampoo and soap at the grocery store.

Crayola Bathtub Crayons

They looked too fun to pass up and let me tell you, they were all that I hoped they would be.  I had a great time coloring all over the shower and leaving him little messages like this:

My daughter walked in while I was working on this and she, of course, wanted to add her own touch.

And when my shower grafitti/love note was complete I closed the shower curtain and got rid of all evidence that I had been there.

 Hopefully when he hops in the shower tomorrow morning this will bring a smile to his face. I think that any kid would love to be surprised with notes in the shower or tub too!  (Maybe I'll graffiti their shower later this week!) Week one of Everyday Lovin' complete:)  Now, what to do next week.....hmmmm.

Everyday Lovin' Challenge

My husband and I have been married for ten years now.  When I married this wonderful guy ten years ago I was a wide eyed nineteen year old who, as I look back, had really no concept of what lay ahead of me as we began this journey together. Look at us....blissfully unaware :) They didn't even have digital cameras back then...I had to scan this.

 I'm not sure I realized that life would present so many tasks and challenges and unexpected twists and turns.  I don't think I fully comprehended that there would come a point in our life when we couldn't do whatever we pleased together all the time.  We were free and easy and would take off for road trips with a few hours notice.  The rent for our tiny apartment was $300 per month. We went on walks together at 11pm just because we felt like it and our worries were relatively few.

Now we have three little kids.  It takes us fourteen hours to pack up for a road trip.  Our rent is significantly more and we are pretty tied down to work and school and kids and life in general.  Life gets more complicated as you go on it seems.  We will never again be without responsibility.  We will now always have kids to worry about and dull chores to do on a daily basis.  It sounds depressing but stick with me because that's not where I'm headed. :)

I've been thinking lately about how to make sure that our love stays just as beautiful and exciting and fresh as it was ten years ago even though life grows increasingly busy and challenging.  Then I read this quote from James E. Faust:

"In the enriching of marriage the big things are the little things"

It's all those little things that keep it alive.  It's little surprises and still holding hands.  It's a love note, a show of respect or admiration, a wink, a compliment, it's when my husband opens a door for me or brings me flowers.  All that little stuff that connects us....the "EVERYDAY LOVIN'" that makes a difference (hence the name).  So, I've issued myself a challenge to do more of the little things. Stuff that takes a little extra effort on my part, but collectively makes a BIG difference in the end.  Want to join me?

Each week I am challenging myself to do one little extra thing that I wouldn't have otherwise done to show my husband that I love him.  I will post what I did here on the blog. I'm going for creative and fun but not too complicated :) And I want to hear what you are doing too! Go out of your way to do something special for your husband this week and then leave a comment on the weekly Everyday Lovin' Challenge posts telling us what you did. 

HERE ARE THE RULES:

1.  Do something extra that you would not have normally done to show your husband that you love him.

2.  Don't expect him to do ANYTHING in return.  Just do it to show him that you care.

3.  Report back here.  You can even blog about what you did and leave us a link if you like.

There it is.  Simple.  And a little extra love is NEVER WASTED! Will you join me?