An amazing weekend...

Jeff and I went to a marriage enrichment conference this weekend. He did not think it was a good conference, I thought it was good. How's that for a united front? :) I do totally see his point and agree they could have challenged us more, but I really appreciated the time to reflect and learn some new ways to approach and support Jeff. I was actually able to confess something to Jeff that I was not sure how to do before this weekend. Scared out of my wits would be a better description. It gave a good opportunity to discus things that would not have come up without the structure. So I am thankful for the time with Jeff, thankful for his understanding and forgiveness, and thankful for the passionate and unconditional love he offers me. (Even though he drove me crazy with his constant dialogue about how the conference could be better, I came away from it with a better and renewed understanding of who he is.) Two of the things I took away were...

1. The perfect wife does not expect the perfect husband.
2. Strengths pushed to extremes can become a weakness.

There was a whole lot more, but I'll leave it for now.

Project #1

Project #1

30 Minutes is All it Takes

Create Some Free Time When He Gets Home

“There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”
~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

Your Project:

Focus on your husbands transitional 30 minutes today. Would he like to be left alone to rest and rejuvenate, or does he want some undivided attention from you? The point is to let your husband know you value what he does out in the world, and that he has a safe loving place to come home and get refreshed at the end of the day.

Getting Creative
There are plenty of reasons why it might not be easy for you to give your husband some transition time at the end of the day. You need to look at what can work for your relationship. Be creative, like the stories listed below. Brainstorm with your friends until you find a situation that will work for you and your guy.

• My friend, Joann, purposely scheduled her daughter’s dance classes twice a week at the same hour that her husband gets home from work. That way, her hubby comes home to an empty house. He gets some quiet, and she gets a more peaceful man.

• One husband has his workshop out in the garage. His wife encourages him to go and hang out there for a while before dinner. (Since starting this arrangement, her husband has started helping out with the after-dinner clean up. Nice side benefit.)

• Crockpots are The Husband Project’s best friend. Set your crockpot to be finished thirty minutes after your husband gets home from work. Let him know that you don’t need anything until dinner is ready. Don’t know a crockpot from a flower pot? Check out the recipes in The Ultimate Guide to Man Food at www.kathilipp.com

• Does your husband already have a great transition routine after getting home? Find some other little thing to bless that time. Maybe it’s making sure the TV is available, his favorite sweats are clean and ready to be changed into, or there’s a cold soda waiting for him in the fridge. It may be so small that he doesn’t even notice. That’s okay – you’ll know what you did.

• What if your husband works from home? Maybe the best way to help him relax is to ask what he would like the schedule to be. Does he want dinner before or after he gets some time to recharge? Ask him what would make his night better.

bragin on my hubby

OK I just have to brag on Jeff sometimes... he is so sweet and good to me. He is an awesome dad, husband, lover... you get the idea. He has been so good at helping out around the house lately and being an encouragement to me. I have been working real hard at loosing weight the last couple months. So he said to me this morning... 'I didn't think I would like you as much if you lost weight, but you are looking really good. ' (He is so good at loving me just the way I am. I have told him that is part of the reason I had no real motivation to work at losing weight! Ha!)