The Young Family Farm

Whatever I say yes too–in turn, I am also saying no to something else. When I got too busy with my photography business, in truth–I was saying no to my family and yes to clients. And when I realized that–I realized it was time to be 100% wife and mommy because honestly for me and with 3 kids (going on 4) once I serve my hubby and 4 kids 5 and under…there isn’t much time for other things…like a photography business any more. There may be a time for that down the road for me of course for that…but just not right now. I also continue to realize that I don’t have enough energy to be a Martha Stewart mommy…even without a business…I, personally, don’t feel like I could ever measure up to those blog mommies making home-made cookies and building forts with toothpicks (and praise God that I don’t have to measure up to that and instead I have freedom in Christ to be the mom He called me to be…I am only accountable to Him! Glory be to God for that;). When I put my focus where it should be too, those perfect picture blogs of moms doing this and that no longer stress me out and instead entertain me and do give me an idea that maybe I’ll one day do with my kids (yeah right!). The truth is…I’m often treading water—and when I realize I’m treading…it’s time to come back to the basics and priortize where things should be in my life.

God first.

I think some of us when we remember we need to put our hubbys first—we almost don’t know how to re-prioritze because truthfully it’s been TOO long since we had things in the right order. We get the thought that that’s a great idea–but life gets busy with kids and things quickly get jumbled from their right order. (Is jumbled even a word?!) One helpful place to start is simply to begin thinking of your husband and what matters to him and even just WHO he is and WHAT he likes. When you begin to think of these two things…it’s a little contagious and then you start thinking about serving him and surprising him with things that are imporant to him.

The next place, would be to read a book that helps you focus on your marriage. And I’ve got a great recommendation. We have been studying “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work” in our Sunday school. No, it’s not a Christian book–but the principles line up with what are, and our pastor recommends this book for marriage over any other. You can buy it here:  http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Principles-Making-Marriage-Work/dp/0609805797

One of the activities in this book is creating a Love Map with your spouse. Basically, this is asking your spouse questions and him asking you questions–and re-getting to know one another all over again…or really getting to know one another deeper. There’s a really fun quiz you can take on love mapping—and for the ones you don’t get right…you can spend the next few weeks getting to know the answers and really getting to know one another all over again. Spread out talking about the ones you don’t know so you can REALLY think about your answers and really share and also really get to know your spouse’s answers…and probe deeper into those questions as we all know some men share very little details…your hubby might need your help in probing to know more.