Thursdays: Tied with Love & Laughter

My friend, Jen, pulled a great surprise on her hubby today. (Jen, did it work?). She asks us this week to share a time when we surprised our hubby.

I have to admit, my hubby is far better at surprising me than I am at surprising him. In fact, I'm having a hard time figuring out a time when I truly surprised him. Well, maybe when I said yes to marrying him? Kidding! We had already talked about it.

The one time I remember pleasantly surprising him was soon after he successfully completed his PE exam (professional engineer). This is quite the exam and it allows him to put his "stamp" on drawings for work. It's a pretty big deal when you go to school for engineering!

I managed to sneak the certificate out of our apartment one day and I took it to an area craft store. I decided to have it professionally framed. Somehow he didn't miss the fact that his big certificate was gone until he opened his gift from me that Christmas.

And like I said, he typically surprises me far more than I could ever surprise him - at least from my point of view!

Thursdays: Tied with Love & Laughter

As you think about the last week or so with your spouse, what stands out the most in your mind?  Did you have a special date, did you make a big decision, did he make you feel extra special in some way, did you laugh together, did you remember a special past memory, did you overcome something together, did he make you smile? 

There is no one specific event that comes to mind. However, I am simply thankful for the work that my hubby does. His job is located an hour drive south of where we live. We live on the family farm and while it's great to be near family it sometimes makes it difficult to spend time with my hubby. He is gone at least 12 hours every day - at least. Most days he's home only for an hour or so before the boys go to bed. Typically he is gone before any of us are awake in the morning (except our early bird -N9 - who gets up at o'dark thirty it seems). And yet he rarely if ever complains. 


He does his best to move quietly about in the morning so he doesn't wake me - his night owl wife. Many nights he will stay up late to spend time with me and B14. In fact, tonight I had rented a movie just for the two of us. We had friends over for dinner and didn't start he moving until close to 9:30pm. That's usually when he's heading to bed. He gladly stayed up and watched it with me and didn't head to bed until after 11pm. He still plans to get up by 5:30am. 


He is dedicated to taking good care of us. While I miss having him home more, I am thankful for the sacrifices he makes to provide for his family. It allows me to stay home and teach the boys. 


Please don't think he doesn't spend time with us - weekends are just for family and we often play games at dinner. A favorite way to spend time together making memories.

Do you want to brag on your hubby? Post about it and link up over at Our Family Forest.

Thursdays: Tied with Love & Laughter

This week Jen is asking this question....

So whats your love language?  Which love language best fits the love of your life? How have these worked together in your relationship?  Any interesting stories around this?  

To take the Love Languages Personal Profile Assessment for both you and your spouse and to learn more about love languages check it out HERE!   

This is based on the book The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. While I have never read the book, I have some some research in to love languages. I pretty much know what my top two are and I'm also almost positive I know what my hubby's are although he's never taken the test. Maybe he will and let me know if I am right.

The hard part - which probably similar to most marriages - we are the complete opposite. No surprise, right?

For me it's Words of Affirmation...
Actions don’t always speak louder than words. If this is your love language, unsolicited compliments mean the world to you. Hearing the words, “I love you,” are important–hearing the reasons behind that love sends your spirits skyward. Insults can leave you shattered and are not easily forgotten.


And a close second is Quality Time. 


Neither is surprising to me. Neither is it surprising those that fell to the bottom of my list....Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, and Physical Touch. And if you had to guess, you'd be right in thinking my hubby's top love languages are "Physical Touch" and "Acts of Service."

One thing I do just about every night is make his lunch. When we were first married and especially when I was also working out of the house, I rarely did this. I figured he was quite capable of doing it himself. And he is. However, he knows that I love him every time I put together his meal for him. This is one way I know I can always assure him of my love.

It's really small things like this that go a long way in our marriage to let him know I love and appreciate him. Acts of Service is one of his high ranking love languages so I do my best to show my love that way.

Hubby's second love language (or perhaps first) is Physical Touch. My hubby loves back scratches. In fact, I typically give him at least one most nights.

I do find it ironic how two people so opposite of each other could have met and fell in love. However, here we are 17-1/2 years later not only still in love but more in love than we were 17 years ago. Only God could have engineered it. And I'm so thankful He did.

Be sure to head over to Our Family Forest to participate and link up!