A True Story

Do you ever have one of those days when you wake up and your husband does nothing right? I feel bad for him now, after the fact, but when I am in the middle of getting everyone out of the house and lunches made and breakfast on the table, I was mad. This morning was one of those mornings. He turned off the alarm, so we started the day off late. Then he tried to help make lunches, but didn't know what to put in them. I snapped. Was he trying to make me crazy? It is not help if I have to tell him what to do.

In the midst of it all, I needed to stop and take a deep breath. I needed to remember that my husband is not my enemy. It is not me against him. He wants good things for me. He wants my best. It may not come out as the best at that moment, but it is true. We do have an enemy who is seeking to destroy our marriage. It is Satan. He wants nothing better than for our marriage to fail. He wants us to break. So he whispers to my heart, he speaks lies that my husband is trying to sabotage the peace in our family.

In the book Love and War by John and Stasi Eldridge, he writes, "You have an enemy. Your marriage has an enemy. Believe it or not, this is very good news. Because the epiphany that follows is this-your spouse is not the enemy. He is not the enemy. She is not the enemy. Really." "For years Stasi and I lived with this constant feeling of accusation in our marriage. She "felt" accused by me, and I "felt" accused by her. What a relief to discover that these feelings of accusation were not actually ours; they were coming from him who is called "the Accuser" (Revelation 12:10)."

The truth of our morning is that my husband was trying to give us a few extra minutes of sleep. He was trying to help do one of the things that I normally do in the morning. He was trying to make things easier for me. In order for me to see this truth, I have to stop listening to the lies and listen to the truth. The truth is this: My husband loves me. He wants good for me and our family. I need to let go all the frustration at him and see the truth in what he is trying to do for me. When I feel the anger rising, I need to repeat over in my head, "You are not the enemy" and begin praying that I would look at my husband with eyes of love and see the truth in the situation.

Mr. Pumpkin Head

As Halloween comes around, I wanted to share one of the things that we have done with our kids. In the past we have carved pumpkins, but there is not to much for the kids to do. (I am one of those crazy moms who won't let her kids use a knife.) So instead of carving the pumpkin, we got down our Mr. Potato Head parts and we put silly faces on the pumpkins. It was a lot of fun for the kids to choose the parts they wanted. It took a little work to get the parts all in. (We sometimes had to tap them in with a hammer.) They turned out great. Just like with carving, the pumpkins will turn bad quickly, so this has to be done close to Halloween. Also when you are done with the pumpkin, the parts easily wash and can go back in with the toys. They do sell parts at the pumpkin patch to do this too, if you don't have a potato head set or if you want your pumpkin to be a little scarier.

In the comment section, tell us your favorite fall tip or what you like to do with your kids during the fall.