It Works Both Ways - Men, You Can Thank Me Later

So, do you remember the post from Friday? If not go back and read it.

Now, from first glance it might look like I'm an awesome mom who just laughs in the face of messes, I mean, creativity and imagination;)

Well, I don't...not always anyway. I try to, and I may succeed for a short period of time, but after a while this OCD girl simply cannot take the mess any longer, no matter how important it is to their development!

This post has two morals.

1 - Don't compare your real life with the appearance of someone else's. We can all make our lives look joyous and perfect with a few keystrokes on the computer or the snapshot on a camera, but those brief glimpses, more often than not, are not the whole story. I'm just saying...we all struggle and the grass is NOT always greener on the other side. We all have weeds growing into our gardens and ants eating our strawberries. Sorry, I couldn't resist!

I'm not saying I don't love my life and that I'm miserable. I LOVE my life, my God, my husband, my kids, my family, my church, my friends, my house... I'm just saying, my life is far from perfect.

OK, enough about that. Let's move on to the real reason for this post, shall we?

2 - I took those pictures on Friday just a few hours before I got upset with Josh. Gasp! Yes, we are normal;)

Background - Josh got me an awesome deal on a massage for Mother's Day. I'm not sure which part made me happier, the massage, or the way he tapped into his sexy-frugality (oh come on, frugality can be sexy) and found the awesome deal! Anyway, the plan was set and I was off for a couple of hours to indulge in my wonderful hot stone massage (which was INCREDIBLE, by the way).

Fast forward a couple of hours. I walk into a house, after working so hard the past couple of weeks to clean lots of the details in the house. I was furious, uh, I mean, a little frustrated, when I walked in to see the house in disarray. Not to mention, 7 more boxes of CD's piled up in front of the stove that I had to cook dinner around.

Actually, it didn't really hit me until after we got home from band rehearsal at 9pm and the kitchen still had remnants of lunch all over the counters and toys strewn all over the rest of the house. I unloaded! Poor Josh didn't know what hit him. That's how I react, hold it in until I can't take it anymore and then I explode. Embarrassing, yes!

Anyway, we "worked it out" and we are totally fine. We don't ever stay mad at each other very long.

The next day Josh was off at work and during my quiet time I was really convicted about my attitude. It may or may not have been justified frustration, but I was convicted none-the-less.

You know what I realized? I am always wanting Josh to help me clean the kitchen or help with the kids...but have I ever stepped into his world to help him do what he does around the house? I don't even know how to turn the grill on ya'll!

The cool thing is, a couple of weeks ago I just randomly asked Josh to show me how to turn the lawnmower on. This was the first thought that came to my mind. Instead of being upset with my husband for not stopping his work to help me clean up the pillows/blankets/toys/CD boxes/etc., I decided to bless him. After all, after a conviction from the Lord we should always follow it with repentance and action, right?

So, I went outside and fired up the mower. Puzzled expressions covered Rainy and Zeke's faces. They were like, "What are you doing, mom?" I explained that I was going to be a helper to daddy and that I wanted to bless him and do something that would make him happy. I explained that marriage is about team work. After they saw that I actually could get the contraption started they began cheering me on:) It became a nice object lesson for the kids!

Here are a few things I learned during my experience:

• We have a HUGE yard!
• I could have cut down on my time by half, probably, if I wouldn't have backtracked to get every missed blade of grass. My OCDness completely took over...oh well:)
• When I said, "fired up the lawn mower" I'm not talking a riding mower!
• It's much easier to vacuum the house than it is to mow the yard around it!
• I love my husband very much. I kept thinking about him while I did this for him. I thought about reasons why I loved him so much and thanked God for putting us together.
• It's a good workout. Hey, I keep complaining about not being able to find time to work out, ha!
• You can maximize your workout by running and "tweezing your buttocks" (put a little Windsor Pilates in there for ya!) while you are pushing up hill! I learned that one from Josh;)
• I'm not going to tell you how long it took me to do just the backyard and the sides. Remember, I still have 3 kids that needed lunch and water in the pool and towels and...
• Josh has a separate gas can with a gas/oil mixture for the weed-eater. Yeah, I didn't know that...woops!
• I should have worn gloves. A few blisters were added to my calloused fingers.
• I had numb hands from the vibrations for about 30 minutes which made picking up Micaiah a bit awkward, ha!
• I actually enjoyed mowing. I enjoyed doing something for Josh even more!

You should try it. Not mowing, silly, but finding a way to bless your husband. Find something that they don't necessarily enjoy, though. Some guys enjoy mowing, although I'm not sure of many who do. If that's the case you don't want to take that joy away from them, they might get mad at me. Instead, find a way to "shout your love" in a way that blesses their socks off! It will make YOU love and appreciate them even more, I promise!