Love Month Baby!

I love themes! I love them because they help me focus! I LOVE that this is love month!

No need to feel exhausted because love month sounds like too much! Just start cutting hearts!

Use them:

*to write notes

*extend an invitation for a date, talking time, treat time or any other "time" you want to share with your spouse.

*put them up around the house as decoration with things you love about your spouse written on them

*to leave in random places your spouse will find them with encouragement and love written on them. -put them under dinner plates, in lunches, the toilet lid, the bathroom wall.

What else could we use those hearts for? paper airplanes?

Happy first day of love month!

in the red?

Have you ever heard of the "love bank" philosophy/analogy?

Well, I have been thinking about this the today. Last night Zach and I were going to spend some time together after the kids were in bed-talking about our week and such and so forth. (He started taking a class to get some letters after his name and it is going to take a lot of time and be a little crazy.-like three nights a week for three hours, plus study and tests, plus young mens kind of crazy.) So this time was important to both of us.

We email my brothers who are both on missions on Sunday. Zach sends them a sports update and I just email whatever I want. :) Anyway, he finished and I was working on my post for today...and then I had to email and I doddled and he went to bed without us even having our nice Sunday evening time. All because my priorities were out of order.

Talk about a withdrawal! I came to bed feeling bad. I climbed into bed and what does he do? He wakes up enough to wrap his arms around me and hold me before falling back to sleep. While he slept I thought of how lucky I am to be married to such a patient and forgiving guy! And I also thought about how I could make it up to him. That is where the love bank thing comes in.

Some withdrawals are little and some are big. We are best off realizing them for what they are and making deposits to build our love accounts back up.

If you have been married for a while then you have probably experienced a time or two that you were both on each others nerves, easily irritated or even hot headed with each other. These are times when you both can realize that there is a huge need for a deposit, or two, or three. :)

The apple for the day? Figure out what those deposits are! What does your spouse need and love? What do you need and love? Start making deposits today!

Maybe your love bank levels are low or are maybe in the red. You might not even feel like you can talk to your spouse about this...now would be a good time to try and experiment. Make some serious deposits. See what they do.

Sometimes when things aren't going the way we might want, it is hard not to be selfish and say that "they" need to put forth some effort too. This is true- they do. Be the first though.

"win their heart"

I know it is date idea day. I will get to it, I promise!

The idea of "win their hearts" is found in the scriptures, HERE. I love it because, let us all recognize that sometimes marriage isn't easy. Sometimes we have to dig deep and think about where we are and how we individually can make things better.

I heard the concept of winning hearts at a Relief Society meeting. The speaker told a story about his teenage son that would not listen to him...good kid, just didn't really want to have much to do with his dad. This dad felt like he was doing good things, he tried to talk but to no avail. It was especially bad when he brought up the subject of a mission, boy did things get icy!

Well, this guy was reading and thinking about his son and when he read verse 29 the thought came to him...Boston Celtics!

So, he called up his friend, got some tickets to the game, invited his son to go...it was his favorite team after all. His son was surprised at the invitation but couldn't turn it down because it was HIS team! They went to dinner, the game and frozen custard afterward.(or maybe just the game and custard...I don't remember) No mention of a mission, they just talked, laughed and had a good time. After that his son started talking to HIM!..about a mission too! He was amazed at the difference doing something totally for his son made!

I can't tell you what your spouse loves, but hopefully you know. :) If you don't, that is okay...ask! Do something just for them! Plan it out, make an invite and DO IT! Show gratitude for them by doing something they love! Be unselfish. If you hate what they love, try to learn to love it. Ask them about it, let them teach you, let them talk. Enjoy being together and doing something for your spouse! Win their Heart!

There are quite a few who read this blog that I don't know or know of your marriage situation. I want to tell you something with all sincerity. If you are struggling and don't know how to reach your spouse; if you will pray and ask the Lord for guidance and then read Alma 17 in the Book of Mormon and think about what you can do for your spouse. You will get an answer. Believe that you will be guided and you will! The Lord loves you. He loves your spouse too. I pray that the Lord will bless your marriage. I do.