Ultimate Blog Party {It's a lunch date at my place}

Hello. I am so glad you stopped by to visit! Whether you come often or this is your first time (thanks to the Ultimate Blog Party), I am glad to have you here. Please come in, I can't wait to visit and get to know you better! (Side note- this is what I love about blogging. Not only can I stay in contact with family and friends across the world- I can meet new friends too!)

In case we have never met before I guess I had better do some introductions... My name is Abbi and I am happily married to my husband of 12+ years, Ken. I am very blessed to be the stay at home and homeschooling mom of 4 beautiful children, Mara, Jonathan, Aaron and Megan. If you have kids I hope that you brought them with you as my kids would love to play with them!

Mara-11, Aaron-7, Megan- almost 5 and Jonathan-9

They can be pretty goofy and silly but they have a lot of fun and I am blessed to be their mother. 

 So lets send the kids outside to play in the tree fort if it is warm or they can play inside if it is cool. Come to our living room and have a seat and lets get busy visiting!

  What would you like to visit about? It is my goal in my visiting (whether face to face or on this blog) to say things that encourage and build up others and glorify my heavenly Father. I know that unfortunately I don't always succeed but that is my goal.

   I have many, many interests (I think the woman in Proverbs 31 did too!) so I am pretty sure we have at least something in common. Maybe you would like to talk about....

• Homeschooling. I would love to hear how you do it and what books you love. I enjoy talking about the ways we learn creatively, making the world our classroom. We love reading around here and I would be glad to show you some of the ones we have really enjoyed and learned from. It is always fun to get together with another homeschooler and pick each other's brains.
• Gardening. I would love to give you a tour but it is still to early to plant here. In fact there is still quite a bit of snow on the garden. I did just get my seeds in the mail though and I will be starting stuff inside right away. I like to garden very frugally and naturally. I love to be able to get a lot of produce from it with which I can feed my family. We do also enjoy having quite a few flowers around our place and we keep adding more fruit trees and bushes about every year in hopes of someday having a lot of our own fruits. I am also studying up on and dreaming of keeping bees which will provide both honey, wax and pollination for our garden.
• Living frugally. I very much enjoy getting to visit with other mothers and sharing tips on ways to live better on less. To me living frugally is not a chore but rather a really fun challenge! I love learning ways to spend less on food though the prices go up- and this while we eat healthier. I also love to challenge myself to make most of our gifts, save on electricity, go as long as possible without buying clothes or just go without shopping in general. So many ideas! I love to hear yours and I try to share mine so that we can all be better stewards of what God has given us.
• Making things. In fact, if you want, I could pull out my stamps and stuff and we could have fun making cards together.  I love to keep my hands busy and I also really enjoy looking around our home and seeing things that we have made ourselves. To me it makes a home so much more personal to have much of the furnishings handmade.I have many interests in making things- sewing, knitting, crocheting, floral work, basket making, quilting, painting and more... 
• Baking and cooking. If you ask me if I love to cook, "Yes" wouldn't be my first response. I have however learned to enjoy it by making it fun for me. I do a lot of cooking as we eat at home most of the time and I like to have homemade meals. What makes it fun for me is in the process of creating meals that are healthy for my family and help us to keep our food costs low. I also make things interesting in the kitchen by making up my own recipes, figuring out ways to use what we have an abundance of and by using our meals to further our education. I enjoy combining what we are learning in school with our foods. (Such as having ethnic foods to go along with our geography.)
• Raising children, being a good wife,natural health, organizing, taking care of the earth God has given us and not being wasteful or maybe we could even have a Bible study. There is so much to talk about you might just have to come back again!

Can you stay for lunch? Lunches around here aren't very fancy, when it is just us we usually eat leftovers but today I think we will have soup. Would you like potato, tomato or split pea? The potatoes we gleaned from nearby fields and the tomatoes I grew in our garden.  I think we will have some homemade bread too, would you like to slice it? And we have some ginger cookies for dessert. I hope you like them!
 

So, what would you like to visit about? I would love to have you introduce yourself and tell what your favorite topic is in the comments! I look forward to meeting you all! Thanks so much for visiting!

Make Your Home a Haven

 Monica over at The Homespun Heart has been hosting "Make your Home a Haven" this week. This is something  that has been on my heart and so I thought it would be fun to join in. I had meant to post about it the last two days but with Internet issues and lack of time that hadn't happened yet. But I will start now with the posting about it.

 I think of Haven as a place that you can go to rest, to get away from the struggles you might be facing elsewhere. A place where love is. A place of peace and joy. That is what I want our home to be. We live in such a busy society- there are so many demands made upon our time, I want our home to be different.

   Our home hasn't always been different, I wouldn't be able to number the times that I have told my kids to "hurry up" we need to get this done or go here or do that. That is one thing that I am trying to work on in making our home a haven.  I have been really working on staying home more and honestly doing less. We had gotten our schedule so busy that I was overwhelmed and I was often pushing my kids. It is my goal to be more fully focused on each moment as it comes rather than always trying to get ready for something else.

Here are some of the ways I am working on this:

• Prayer. God is the giver of all wisdom and strength. He knows what I can handle each day and I need to go to Him at all times for guidance.
• Stay home more. I have never been one to shop a lot or do a lot of running but this summer and the beginning of fall we ended up being on the go a bunch anyway. Somethings I have done to help change that are: Stopping our visits to the Chiropractor- this was done after much prayer and I think it is a good thing at least for now. Stretching out our visits to the grocery store as long as possible. Limit the amount of social visiting that we do right now. Asking Ken to run an errand for me every so often as he comes and goes from work.
• Not saying yes to new ideas for using my time without much prayer and thinking. This one has been interesting for me. I am the type of person that usually gets excited about new ideas- fun ways to decorate places and so forth. Both in our Republican group and at church I have usually been quick to say yes to helping with events or whatever. I have been challenging myself lately to really think: Is this truly necessary for getting our message out or is it simply taking up my time to plan it (or work on it) and then going to take up more of others time later without any real fruit. If the answer is "yes" to that, I am trying to avoid saying "yes" to doing it.
• Giving my family(God, my friends, whoever I am around) my full attention. I am a huge multi tasker and my mind is also going very fast much of the time. I have had a tendency to "listen" to my kids while thinking about something else and working on something else. I will probably continue to work and listen because that really can work together but I am working to stop thinking about something else while I "listen".

My plan for today in making my home a haven is this:

1. Get up early. This morning Ken had to leave early so I decided to get up with him at 5:30. It is neat to have all of this morning quiet time to pray and work and get things ready for the day.
2. Pray and Read the Bible and Meditate on God's word.I have been working on praying for God's help in being patient, gentle and kind and really in tune with my family's needs.  Here are some verses that I am finding helpful:  "So that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Titus 2: 4 & 5 This one also was a good reminder to me that we do need to be busy in doing good things but to meet pressing needs not just wasting time: "Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful." Titus 3:14 I think it looks like the woman in Proverbs 31 was good at making her home a haven too: "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying; "Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all." Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the product of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates." Proverbs 31:25-31
3. Eat fruit and Oatmeal for breakfast (one of my kids' favorites!)
4. Do some general cleanup to make our house look orderly and inviting.
5. I have been working this week on fixing up our main living area (kitchen, dining and living room) to look more inviting and fixed up for fall. I had already done some painting (adding new color- I will share pictures later!) but today I hope to touch up the walls that are going to remain cream (or "lantern light" which is what the color's name is!). I am looking forward to the lovely walls!
6. School work will also be done this morning. It is my prayer to really show patience to my children and that they would be diligent and enjoy learning.
7. Lunch- Watermelon (from our garden!) and leftover soup from last night. (I love having leftovers for lunch as it makes our days much simpler- I having trouble making enough sometimes of late in order to feed my growing family and have leftovers however!)
8. Next comes reading together (We love this time!) and rest time for all of us. I love the down time we can have and getting a few minutes to shut my eyes too. In my private reading I am really enjoying some herb books that I got from the library.
9. This afternoon I want to enjoy the beautiful weather that we have been having with my kids. Explore a little, admire the beautiful leaves. This warm time will be gone fast and I want us to enjoy it while we can.
10. If I have extra time, some of the projects I want to work on this week are: New pillows- in bright fall colors- for our couch, Doing a clutter purge through out our home, going through all of our clothes and getting rid of everything that we don't really use or care for.( I was very inspired by Money Saving Mom's Vlog showing her very limited wardrobe. I don't think I would ever go that slim but I made me realize that we sure could get by with a lot less!), Finding some stuff in our home to give to others who need it, Arranging wall hangings in our living room, Decorating for fall all over the house.
11. Supper- My goal is to have it done when Ken walks in the door. I have been running late quite often anymore. The menu: Fruit Salad with nuts and real whipped cream, Zucchini and Carrot Patties and Steak chunks.,
12. Tonight we have church and I am teaching a kids class again this month. I have everything ready to go already so I am happy about that. I just need to carry my bag out to the van -besides putting together a quick snack.

 My main goals are: To have a joyful and loving attitude. To simplify our lives in the amount of things we do and the amount of stuff we have. To really be focused on those that are around me.  To look to God for Strength and wisdom in everything. I am so thankful to God because with Him even the worst and ugliest house can be turned into a haven.

 Are you working on making your home a haven? What things are you working on?

Being a blessing

"To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted,

and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult,

but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose

 that you might inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:8 & 9

This past week at ladies bible study we were discussing the idea of being a blessing. This is something that has seemed a little obscure to me. I am quite familiar with God blessing me. I see it happen over and over and over again! He gives to me abundantly in so many ways: love, salvation, family and friends, beauty around me, health, all that I need physically (plus way more!) and so much more.

 The idea of me being a blessing to others is not one that I have thought about as much however. I thought it might help if I looked up the word in the dictionary. Here is some of what is said under "blessing":  Approval, encouragement. A thing conducive to happiness or welfare. So I am getting the idea of bringing happiness, encouragement and help to others.

   The next step is to think about how I can practically do that. And who I really need to work at blessing. So on to the practical steps:

I can be a blessing by:

• My attitude. A good, sweet and loving attitude is certainly going to be a blessing to others especially compared to being grumpy, uptight or angry.
• My actions. I can bless others by helping them in however they need to be helped. I want to be on the lookout for little or big ways that I can serve others. This can be done for my husband, for my kids or even just opening a door for somebody at a store that has their hands full.
• My words. Our words have a lot of strength in them. With them we can easily tear down or buildup. Encourage or discourage. I want to have words that bring others a blessing.

Who do I need to bless?

• My husband. Ken has high priority in one that I need to bless.
• My children.
• My church family.
• Friends and family.
• Strangers.

Sometimes it can be just a smile or a kind word. Other times it can be a bit more involved and sometimes it is a life long project. But one thing I know it is a "project" that I want to work on. I truly do want to be a blessing in others lives. How about you?

Traveling to a TEA party and other things that keep me busy

It is Wednesday night and it has been days since I last blogged. I have some pretty good reasons including a very cuddly and kissable little niece that has been to visit along with her Mom and Dad and big brother, home improvement projects going on (Thanks to my brother being here- but I have helped a little) and a trip out to Washington DC to go to a big TEA party there.

  Ken and I drove down to the cities and stayed at my sister's on Friday evening so we could head to the airport at 4 am on Saturday. We got to DC before lunch and had fun doing a bit of sight seeing the rest of that day.

 The last time we were in DC we didn't visit the Smithsonian Castle so I wanted go there this time. We enjoyed looking around a bit but didn't spend much time there.

We ended up spending most of our afternoon at the Postal museum. There was a lot of fun history there and we truly enjoyed it.

Then we went to a hotel where they were holding a sign making party for the TEA party the next day. We had fun making our signs and visiting with some others there. After that we headed to the Natural History Museum to see a documentary on Mt Everest (and one of its' first climbers, George Mallory) in the IMAX theater. When we got there we were carrying our signs as we hadn't been back to our hotel yet. The guards wouldn't let us in with them and told Ken to just throw them away. Ken thought maybe we would just leave but we decided to stick them in the bushes outside and they were still fine after the movie (which was pretty cool by the way.)

  On the 12th we woke up to a rather grey and rainy morning. We headed over to the Washington Monument where they had a church service of sorts. There was a lot of neat scripture reading and many prayers for our nation. We also sang "God bless America".

   We had fun meeting some people there and looking at everybody's signs and outfits. We weren't able to take a flag pole on the plane so Ken decided to wear his "Don't tread on me" flag as a cape. We soon discovered that he wasn't the only one with that plan. I got a picture of him with this man but later saw quite a few more people doing the same thing.

At noon we started marching down the roads from the monument to the Capitol. We certainly caused some traffic jams as they had to wait an hour or so for us to all get by. I felt kind of bad for the long lines waiting but I hope we were able to share our message in a friendly way.

The crowd was quite a bit smaller than last year when Ken and his dad went (in 2009 there were anywhere from several hundred thousand to a million people there) but there were still thousands and thousands of people. It was fun to see so many others who also feel passionately about our country going back to our founding principles where we honor God and have a limited government.

This was a group from Indiana. Indiana had a very good showing there.

I thought this sign was pretty creative. It was actually a bunch of signs put together and they were trying their best to stay straight.

There were a lot of people dressing in clothes of the time period of the Boston Tea Party. I enjoyed seeing all the costumes.

This lady had her own special Sam I am sign. She had found the poem online and then her husband drew the picture. I think this is what she had: ( I found it here)

I do not like it Uncle Sam, I do not like it Sam I am.



I do not like these dirty crooks, Neither how they cook the books.


I do not like when Congress steals, I do not like their secret deals.


I do not like this Speaker Nan, I do not like this "YES WE CAN!".


I do not like this kind of hope, I do not like it, nope, Nope, NOPE!






So you do not like this Uncle Sam?


Would you, could you for free health care?


Would you, could you here or there?


He’ll sweeten the deal and buy you a boat. Anything it takes to steal your vote.


Just pay your taxes higher, higher, higher while our Constitution is set on fire.


Now Uncle Sam knows what’s best for you, knows more than you think you do.


So just hush up and pay and everything will be okay.

Ken and I.

This was probably the most creative sign we saw. Ken thought I should post it on here.

There was a rally on the Capitol lawn. It was fun to listen to people (most just ordinary citizens from across the country) speak on the importance of sticking with our values and holding our elected officials to following the constitution and if they don't, we will not elect them again!
 

  I think a couple of the most moving speeches of the day were from a couple of immigrants (citizens now) that told why they had left the socialist countries that they were born in and why they want to see America stay away from Socialism.

As we were leaving the rally we saw these quotes on a nearby monument. They totally went along with the theme of the day and so I thought I would share them here with you.

We came home on Monday night to face another busy week of homeschooling, home fixing, website working, church and more politics (its a busy time for that right now!). I will try not to have to much in the way of politics on here very often, but this rally was a pretty big event in our lives this year and I wanted to share. I guess we were even shown on Fox News on Sunday but unfortunately we didn't think to record the news, so we didn't see it.
 
  I am curious, are any of you politically involved? Have you ever attended a TEA party?

Pleasing him

Well the month of February is about to an end. I didn't manage to get a post written every day on little ways to show love to your husband but there were quite a few. It was a fun project for me and I think a neat one for our marriage.

I was trying to decide what was appropriate to have on this last day (though actually I do want to keep writing on this regularly) I decided that this verse is a good and needed one:

 "Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control." 1 Cor. 7:3-5

I think this verse is pretty self explanatory and I don't want to go into it on this blog but I thought I would mention this thought I had, past the obvious meaning of this it seems to me that if the wife's body is for her husband, I think we should present ourselves in a way that pleases him (and of course that pleases God as well!), meaning do you wear things and do your hair in a way that your husband likes? That is something that we often put a lot of thought into before marriage but sometimes can not be thought about so much later on. When I am picking clothes (especially getting new ones) I like to think about what kind of things Ken likes to see me in. Also if I am thinking about a new hairstyle I like to consult him first and get his opinion. I want him to like the way I look and to please him in that way.

Have fun loving your husband!

Ease his workload

Here is another idea from Alysia:

"Try to look for stuff you can do to ease his workload-even if he doesn't ask. My hubby used to do groceries all the time for me, and still does not mind doing it. But I thought, I am able to do this with the children, and then he won't have to use that time on week-ends to do it anymore-so now we all go Friday afternoons, and it's great!=)"

This is something I have done some (scooping snow, mowing the lawn and various things like that) but not as often as I would like. I want to do this more. I think it is a great way to show my love.

Say "I love you"

There is this story I have heard about a couple that had been married 25 years or so and one day the wife asks her husband "Why don't you ever say you love me?" The husband replies "I told you I loved you when we got married and if that ever changes I will let you know."

That is funny to laugh over but it wouldn't be very funny if that was how it was in our marriages. We can't make our Husbands say "I love you" (and I have no need to) but we can certianly tell him that we love him.

Ken and I like to say those words pretty often. We don't always say "I love you" when he leaves for work but we often do. We don't always say "I love you" when we talk on the phone but we often do. We don't always say it just before we fall to sleep at night but we often do. I don't want it to be something we just say automatically without thinking about it but I do want to say it often! Throughout the day in many ways it is fun to remind our husband verbally that we love them.

Another thing that I think is fun to do is send a little e-mail to him at work just to let him know that I love him. Do you have any special ways of communicating that message to your husband? Lets not ever assume that they know that already, lets tell them!

Be thankful for your husband

Something that I have found to be good for our marriage is to come up with a list (either written or in my head) of things about Ken that I am thankful for. For example:

• I am thankful for Ken being such a hardworker.
•  I am thankful that Ken is careful with our money.
•  I am thankful that Ken really enjoys playing with and spending time with our children.

And on and on!

Being thankful is always good and I think it always puts you in a better frame of mind after you practise thankfulness. This little exercise is especially good to do at times when your husband may have done something that you don't feel so thankful for. After making the list you realize that even though you feel unhappy about one thing there are so many other things that you are happy about.

Have you done this before? What are your thoughts?

Serving

I thought I would share another idea for loving your husband that Alysia sent.

"Serve in the little things (that feel big at the time) Like...he forgot to check to locks and we are already in bed, I can hop out and do it if he's tired.....or be the one to make the tea and bring it to him...or put his stuff away instead of waiting for him to do it...etc. etc. these little opportunities to serve really add up!"

I think this is a wonderful tip. I can really relate to the locks one. I know that has happened with us to and I do remember offering to go check them but I don't think I actually jumped up to do it and he went ahead and did it. One of the ways that has worked for us is bringing him his "bedtime snack" or a glass of water especially when he is hot and sweaty and working outside. I know Ken appreciates being served especially when I do it with a special smile just for him.

Laugh together

One thing we have had fun with in our marriage is naturally enjoying our children. The only thing is I have way more time with them (as a stay at home mom) than Ken does, and they do and say a lot of cute things while he is away at work.

 So what to do? I try to remember them and share them with him (if needed in private so they don't get embarrassed) when he gets home. Parenting is a great joy and sharing it together is wonderful! It is great for our marriage and laughing together is always fun!

Do you have fun sharing cute kid stories with your husband?

Noticing the little things that bother him.

  I have a very tidy husband which is a huge blessing. In fact he tends to be neater than I am and clutter really bothers him. There are a few spots in our house (Flat surfaces as he likes to say) like the kitchen counter, to top of our deep freeze and my nightstand to name a few that have a tendency to collect stuff. It just seems to happen. But it bugs Ken.

  So I am trying to get better at keeping them cleaned off. This is one little (though sometimes it feels pretty big!) way that I can show him I love him. I am not doing a perfect job yet, (the busier I am the harder time I have it seems) but I am trying.

Do your husbands have little things that bother them in your house? Is there anything you can do to fix them?

With Patience

Galatians 5:22 says that one of the fruit of the spirit is patience. This is important throughout life with everybody that we are in contact with and it is certianly important in our relationship with our husband.

  By nature I am not a patient person, I don't think very many people are. It is something I have to work on and I am very thankful to have the Holy Spirit working in my life so that patience can become a part of my personality. So with the Holy Spirit's help it is my goal to be more patient every day with everyone I am around.

  Here are some ways I think that patience is particularly important in marriage.

1.  Husbands (and wives!) don't always get things done as fast as we would like them too. That is just the way it is, everybody is busy, everybody has different priorities as to what is most important. A nagging wife (one who is impatient) doesn't ever endear herself to her husband, I think these verses in Proverbs say it very well: "It's better to stay outside on the roof of your house than to live inside with a nagging wife." "It's better out in the desert than at home with a nagging, complaining wife." Prov. 21:9 & 19. Showing a little patience rather than nagging is a very good choice! :-)
2. We are all a work in progress, our husbands included. They aren't perfect and so just like we appreciate them being patient with us, we need to be patient with them.

So my goal is to be PATIENT!

 "We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone." 1 Thessalonians 5:14

 

Love is patient, love is kind....

This is my inspiration for today:

 "Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoiced with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

A special meal at home

Here is another idea from Alysia. This is one I have heard of before but never tried. I think it sounds interesting.

"Plan a special dinner for two! Either have the children eat early and do a quiet activity while you eat, or do it after bedtime. This has been fun, and feels like a date, even when we haven't left the house=) I have moved a little table into the living room with candles and dim light, and it felt real 'restaurant' like=)"

Have you ever done this? If so how did it work for you. I am trying to imagine this with our kids. Doing it after they go to bed (Around 9:30) sounds a bit late but I think they might enjoy being the wait staff if they are still up..... It might work.

Child training affects a marriage.

I thought I would share another of the tips that Alysia (a blog reader) sent.

"Do a great job training and teaching the children while he is off at work so he can come home to happy children who have interesting things to tell Dad about and he can enjoy them=) but...don't do too much stuff that you don't have energy left for him! "

I think this is a great way to show love for our husbands!

Be your husbands biggest fan

   One of the things that I think is important for a good marriage is that you believe in each other. That doesn't mean that I think that Ken is the best at doing everything, he isn't. But there are a ton of things he is very good at. He truly excels! It is my job to let him know that I notice and that I think he is doing a good job.

    So something that I am going to work on more and encourage you to do as well, is complimenting my husband. Finding the things that he does very well and telling him so. Not only that but "bragging" on him a little too.

Lunch love notes.

Pretty much everyday (unless he has a lunch meeting) I pack Ken a lunch. Once in a while in that lunch bag I will pack a little love note.

 It is just to remind him that I am thinking of him, I appreciate his hard work for our family and that I love him.

So today I am going to say "I love you" with a little note.

An Excellent Wife

Here is my inspiration for the day:

"An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not evil all the days of her life."
Proverbs 31:10-12

Give him a massage

When I started this series a blog reader, Alysia (who I have had fun getting to know through e-mails) sent me a whole list of ideas for showing our love to our husbands. I thought I would share a couple of them today.

~Give him a back massage. Not just a quick one, but a nice long massage, and talk while you do it. This works if the children are awake or in bed, but if you do it while they are awake, he will get maybe a few baby karate chops or children standing on his back! And, quick shoulder rubs or whatever hubby likes is ALWAYS good and easy to do=)

~Give HIM a pedicure/and or foot massage! Bring out the foot spa, or simple square plastic tub and surprise him with a nice foot soak and massage along with a nice hot tea (if he likes that)...I have found this works best to do after the children are all in bed!

This is something I have been thinking about today (and I have done a short shoulder rub for him) as we are both rather sore as we ended up crashing at one point out on the ski slopes yesterday. I know massages are defenitely something that shows my love to Ken. Here are some simple tips for massages.

If anybody else would like to e-mail me tips to include in this series I would love to hear from you! I may end up keeping the series going longer than a month.

Spend time together

This is rather late getting up, but I have been rather busy! :-)

This morning I had wedding flowers to finish up and deliver and as soon as that was done Ken and I headed off to the ski slopes. After picking up the kids and coming home we then watched Sarah Palin's speech together. Today was a good day of togetherness.

I think spending time together is important. That is important in any relationship, with God, with our children, with friends and certianly with our husbands!

Life these days can be so very busy, so we need to make a concentrated effort to spend time together. I think that I as a wife need to be especially in tune to that need. Ken needs to go to work each day to provide for us so when he is home I want to be available to spend time together whenever he wants too. I can't 100% of the time but I can a lot if I work my schedule out to work that way.

 What is one of you and your husbands' favorite things to do together?