Little Interruptions

September 18 Little Interruptions by Barbara Rainey Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Philippians 2:2 As moms, we get to deal with such exciting things as spit up, poopy pull-ups, and frogs and lizards escaping in the house. So how do you balance all of that with the desire to be an attractive, romantic, interesting wife? One key is to remember that your children are third on your list of priorities. They cannot be more important to you than their father and certainly not more important than your heavenly Father. A wise woman said to me years ago, “Honey, one child will take all your time, two children will take all your time and so will three. It doesn’t matter how many children you have; they will take all your time.” And she’s right . . . if you let them. It’s up to you whether or not you save at least some of your energy, time and attention for your husband. When you pay attention to your husband, children begin to see that their needs and desires don’t have to be met immediately. They learn patience when they have to wait for you to finish your tasks, your conversation . . . or your kiss! A healthy marriage creates security in their hearts and minds. Plus they can learn responsibility and greater independence when you and your husband leave them (well supervised, of course) to go on a date or a weekend away. They need an occasional break from you, just like you do from them! Yes, children are often little interruptions, but keeping your husband a higher priority is the first step in balancing the roles of wife and mother. Discuss Perhaps this sounds very freeing for you. Or perhaps it sounds selfish and unkind. Talk about how you feel about putting limits on the time you spend with your children so that you can spend time with each other. Discuss a regular time each week when you can have a date night together. Pray Ask God for the wisdom to set aside time for one another to invest in your marriage relationship. **THIS WAS AN EMAIL FROM 'MOMENTS WITH YOU' CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE FOR THESE MARRIAGE DEVOS**

Loving Actions

Thought I would share this email that I got today....my thoughts below....

	Loving Actions Thursday, February 16, 2012
	Honoring Your Wife... Let your wife teach you how you can best meet her needs during a crisis or   when she's discouraged and losing energy. - From "It Takes Two to Tango" by Gary and Norma Smalley All excerpts from "It Takes Two to Tango" are copyright 1997 Gary and Norma Smalley, and are used with permission. Find more relationship resources from Gary and Norma Smalley

I found this very interesting today.  To be real with you (whomever is reading;0) today I had a

difficult day.  And kinda for no reason.  Both Em and I slept through the night (between the two of us,

there are about 2 hours I'm up in the early squirrrely hours of the morning lately).  But praise the Lord, Wednesday night was not one of those.  I got up early and got ready for a fun day in Oakland visiting a friend and I was off for my day...

I had tried to reach Tyler a few times throughout the morning and was unsuccessful.  I stopped by the office on my way out of town and the office was like a ghost town...then about Manteca, Emma throws up and SECONDS later, I'm stuck in traffic (that I had to sit through until the next exit).  It took me a little over an hour to get home.  In the meanwhile I've texted Tyler (bad me, I know, but traffic was stop and go, and I did it during a stop;0)...and didn't hear back from him that whole hour.  

Got home, cleaned up Em, the car, the car seat, tried to put her back down for a nap (she usually sleeps about 2 hours, so there was potential for another hour) and I just started to feel lonely and desperate.  Like Tyler's my safety and he wasn't around to rescue me or something...and I found myself saying that I just wished he'd walk through the door, hug me and rescue me from my day.

My day.  That really wasn't bad at all, but for some reason, I just felt like I needed rescuing.  

Maybe I needed assurance from Tyler that Em was OK?  Who knows. 

What I do know is that whenever I'm feeling blah, I've heard Tyler say he just doesn't know what to do or say to make things better.  And up until last night (I started writing last night but then it was bedtime:0) I had never been able to give him a response.  For some reason, this email coming through and my experience was like, "Oh, I guess that is what I need/want when in crisis, discouraged, losing it (or energy;0)".

Anyway...that's a little bit about me and my crazies.  Have you ever thought about what you need during these times?  I would encourage you to figure it out and share with your spouse.  Being able to communicate that to him last night already made me feel better.  Now I will just pray he remembers the convo for when my next time of need comes about.

Focus on Marriage - Feb. 27

Most of you know both our hearts about marriage. We love to encourage marriages and soon-to-be marriages, pray for them, and love to share with others opportunities to enrich their marriages ;)

In Connie fashion (likes to organize things and be in charge ;) ), we are trying to get a group together to attend this event that seems like it's going to be just awesome!

They have great speakers lined up:

GARY THOMAS

KIRK & CHELSEA CAMERON

FRANCIS CHAN

STEPHEN KENDRICK

LES & LESLIE PARROTT

GARY CHAPMAN

Location is First Baptist Church in Stockton (for locals - or you can find a location at the following link for 'more details')

Doors open at 8 AM, event begins at 8:30. It is scheduled to end about 3:30 PM (in Cali)

Early Bird Registration $25.00 p/p (by 1/13)

Late Registration $35.00 p/p (after 1/13)

Register online!

Visit the website for more details: http://ccn.tv/focusonmarriage/

If you're up for going to the one in Stockton, let us know so we can meet up! If you'll attend locally to you, let us know that as well so we can share afterwards :)

FIREPROOF

OK, so you've gotten my emails, and you've heard Tyler and I talking about it since late June when we were able to catch the preview...and now it's time! Opening weekend is just a few days away, and you can now have the opportunity to check out what we've been talking about.

Here are some reasons to check out this movie:

1. Kirk Cameron - I was a HUGE Growing Pains fan; you know you were too!...seriously, 12th bday got to go see a taping with my mom and sister! Kirk is still as adorable as he was in the 80's... and he's even better now that he's acting for a purpose!
2. Great 'date-night' movie - the wife will love it, and the hubby will get brownie points for taking her to see it! (and I bet he'll like it too!)
   
3. Support a faith-based movie - not many faith-based movies make it to a national market. By seeing this movie, you can support the church that is producing it, as well as giving it an opportunity to stay in the theatres for a bit so that many people can be blessed and have their lives touched by watching this movie!

Who should see this movie?

• single
• dating
• engaged
• married - with struggles
• married - no struggles
  I believe it will really speak to you at any stage

Tyler and I were touched when we saw the movie; differently since our pasts are a bit different. Nonetheless it did make an impact on each of us. We both have a passion to encourage healthy marriages, and it weighs tremendously on my heart to reach out to people about marriage. It takes a daily conscious effort to make a marriage strong and healthy. Take too many 'breaks' and you never know where you will find yourself. The message of this movie is to not give up; stay strong...but ultimately know the One that can offer you true, unconditional love and share that love with your spouse.
So...I'll leave this as my last 'reminder'. We will be watching the 7:30 show at Brenden on Friday. We'd love nothing more than to run in to family and friends there! Or call/email us and we'll meet up just before going in. For those outside of the Modesto area, you can find a listing of theatres that will be showing the movie HERE!