Your Knight in Shining Armor

Dear Ladies,
Today is my husband's birthday. He is closing in on 50 very quickly. Doesn't that sound really old(especially to those of you in your 20's)? We didn't do much, but allowed him to enjoy his home. This is what every man really wants-to enjoy coming home. Now the hard question. Did your husband feel like coming home tonight?

A few letters ago I asked you to send me ideas of topics to write about. One idea mentioned was restoring romance to marriage. Here's the number one way. Make your husband feel like your knight in shining armor.
Here are a few ways to do that:

Prepare yourself for his homecoming. For me as a young mom this sometimes meant I had to change my clothes and put on a little makeup. If you know he is going to need some late night cuddling try to rest in the afternoon(I know that can be hard,but a 10 minute rest maybe all you need). Remember all the time and effort that went into getting ready for a date, take a few minutes before he comes home and re-live some of that primping time.

Greet him at the door with a kiss. Ask him how his day was. If he needs a few minutes alone let him have it(that's what my husband likes and he told me to add "give him time to catch his breath").

Steal 5 minutes from dinner prep time to spend with him. Just focus on him.

Most importantly your knight wants your respect. He has had a hard day in the world and wants to come home to a place where he is safe from criticism and nagging(the biggest killer of romance is nagging), can put his feet up and relax.

I believe as you show your husband the love and respect he craves romance will return to your marriage. You will begin to see him in a new light and he will shine. Remember ladies you have the power to make your husband successful at work, with the family and in your love life. But you also have the power to destroy him.

For more ideas on showing love to your husband, re-visit the letter on loving your husband http://amomlikeyou.blogspot.com/2008/05/10-ways-to-love-your-husband.html

After a long day with little ones it takes a focused effort to love your husband, but give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Melissa

Bake the Bacon

Ladies,

I've tried several times to email to you a letter with some kind of encouragement, but it just isn't coming together very well. Often I try to write something and it isn't quite right. Most of the letters you have received seem to have just happened, I believe those times are when the Lord has taken over the fingers and done the typing.

Since I haven't had God inspired fingers lately I thought I would just sent you a cooking tip that has helped me out. Bake the bacon. I've never done very well getting perfectly cooked bacon in a frying pan. It takes forever to fry and you can't leave it alone very long(I don't like staning at the stove). But baking it is easy. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil(otherwise cleanup is terrible), lay the bacon on the sheet and bake. I bake mine at 350 degrees and after about 15 minutes check it. I think it as been taking about 1/2 hour to bake. We turn the bacon over half way through. We have overlapped the bacon to get it all on the sheet and then gently pulled it apart to put on a serving plate.

So maybe some night this week a breakfast dinner will be on the schedule. We did this last night and no one ever complains. But my family doesn't complain very often 1. because I don't handle it very well 2. because they do most of the dinner cooking now.

Have a wonderful day and if your looking for something to do don't forget to check the day trip letter on the blog http://amomlikeyou.blogspot.com/2008/05/summer-day-trip-ideas.html Also there are some easy cookie recipes if you are wanting to do some quick baking with your little ones. http://amomlikeyou.blogspot.com/2008/06/super-easy-cookie-recipes.html These recipes use a cake mix(you can use almost any cake mix) and a few other ingredient making them easy to accomplish with kids.

Blessings to all,
Melissa