If You Give Your Husband a Kiss…

If you give your husband a kiss, he’ll probably want a hug to go with it.

You’ll nestle your head under his chin, and just breathe him in.

The smell will remind you of when you first started dating and you didn’t want to be anywhere else but nestled under his chin.

You’ll think back on some of your favorite first dates – ice cream, pancakes, holding hands in front of your friends.

Before you can get too carried away, a toddler will probably squeeeeeeze his way in between your legs, breaking apart your hug.

You’ll open your eyes to see breakfast dishes that need cleaned up, kids who need noses or butts wiped, and the million other tiny and enormous things you do every day.

You’ll see the little babies running around and the messes and pile of bills and the work shirts.

You’ll see the rogue marker marks and mountain of laundry and the inch thick dust bunnies.

You might be so overwhelmed, you won’t know where to start.

You’ll see all the ways your life is different now than it was when it was late-night pancake dates and ice cream runs.

So you’ll take a deep breath, whisper a prayer, take a drink of coffee, and just start on something.

You’ll get so caught up in what’s going on around you, you’ll miss talking to your husband before he leaves for work.

You’ll start to say goodbye as he leaves, when you notice the baby has had a blow out.

After you change the diaper, you’ll wash your hands, and notice your wedding ring.

Your wedding ring will remind you of your wedding, and the man that you married.

You’ll think again of all the ways life is different now than it was when he slipped that ring on your finger.

And then you’ll think of all the ways it’s still the same, just like when you nestled your head under his chin.

You’ll hear the door to the garage shut and realize your husband’s leaving for work.

You’ll realize you don’t want to miss giving him one more hug before he leaves this morning.

So you’ll run out into the driveway looking like a hot mess.

He’ll smile because he thinks you’re beautiful, and you’ll still not understand how much he means it.

You’ll probably smile back, trying to pick one out of a million things you could say.

Instead, you’ll decide to give him a hug.

And chances are, if you give your husband a hug, YOU’LL want a kiss to go with it.

I believe that the time to invest if our marriages is right now, right in the middle of the mess and the noise and the baby blowouts and the full, full life. 

I believe waiting is not an option if we want our marriage to continue to grow.

So in the middle of the mess, my husband and I wrote about ways to be intentonal, thoughtful, and invest in our marriage right in the middle of the very full, little kid season of life.

And we want to share that with you!

This week only, you can get the ebook versions of our books Intentional Love: 31 Ways to Love Your Husband with Purpose and Intentional Love: 31 Ways to Love Your Wife with Purpose as a part of the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle. This digital library bundle is chock-full of great resources on parenting, self-care, organization, and yes, marriage!

As a special gift to my readers, if you decide to buy the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle through any of the links I’ve provided, I’ll send you the paperback copies of my book for FREE so you can get the full journal experience. Just forward your receipt to leahheffnerblog@gmail.com and we’ll get the ball rolling to get you these books. (Open to US residents only.)

So you get an awesome digital library, plus fun mail. What’s not to love?

The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle is available May 1-6, 2019. Learn more here.

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This post is written in the creative style of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff and is inspired by my real life.