My Hero

For our family, Monday night means Family Night. Many nights we end our Family Home Evening with the latest episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition (EMHE), on ABC.com.

Tonight I wearily sat down to watch the show. The minute the show started the spirit of giving and hope entered our home. By the end of the night I was re energized and filled with enough cheer and motivation to get up and do the dishes. This is really saying something if I'm doing dishes at 7:00 at night. But the great feeling didn't end with me. Jakob and Leif were inspired too:) They cleaned the living room together and then Leif topped it off by finishing the dishes with me!

The theme of the season for EMHE is Hero's. I started pondering about who my hero is... To me a hero brings hope, peace, strength, and love. There are also hero's who show physical bravery or courage. But right now, I want to talk about my hero.

My hero is my husband. When I was a teenager, for some reason I would never let myself daydream about the man that I would marry. Perhaps it was an innate fear that I would never find him. I think it may have been simply that I could never have imagined the man that I have been blessed with.

Now, Leif is not perfect. He would want me to make that clear.:) But he is perfect for me. Leif swept me off of my feet when he came over to spend time with me, but he ended up showing much needed attention to my brother whom I was caring for at the time. He took the time to play games with him and make us both laugh all night long.

Leif has been a pillar of strength for me through many hard times. He will do anything for me to make my life easier. I have to be careful not to take it for granted. Leif is kind and peaceful to all that he meets. He is an incredible father. Jakob counts on Leif to make up a whole new bedtime story every night before bed. He also insists that Leif play the rhyming game with him as well. Often times Leif and I will sit together and talk about the kid's and their development. We'll set up a game plan together that will meet one of the kid's needs or work on a current problem. These are some of the moments that I value most with Leif, working together to raise our children. I am so grateful that he doesn't just leave it all up to me!

Leif has had to make many sacrifices these last five years. He has started towards accomplishing dreams only to have them snuffed out by the hard realities of life. Sometimes those realities have been harder then others.... Leif has held our family together when I was not able to help in any way. The amazing part about this is that he has never complained. He has never resented the past and it's dealings. He just keeps looking forward.

How could I not be inspired by such a man? Leif is truly my hero...

Our Favorite Television Show

When Caleb was born I was converted to http://www.abc.com/. We don't have a television and I needed a show to watch that could entertain me during the late hours of baby time. So I started watching Dancing With The Stars. Jakob started watching it with me during the day and it gave us some special yet, down time. Of course it gave me teaching moments about modesty and valuing our body, as well as some intro to dance time for Jakob. It was fun while it lasted. But the season ended and life moved on without television.

And then we found Extreme Makeover Home Edition. This is now our Favorite television show. Leif and I Love this show because it is purely an act of an incredible service. Jakob Loves it because of the demolition of the house at the beginning and the fun bedrooms and houses that they build. But we can tell that the "goodwill" part of the show reaches him too. He is calm and kind when the show is on. There is just a good feeling while we watch the show together. That is a VERY rare opportunity now days while watching television. I sure hope that the series doesn't change and only continues they're great example of service.

If you ever feel like you just need to refill your cup a bit, maybe you could try a round of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Yes, it is hard not to feel a bit envious of the new home owners. But at the same time, it kind of gives us some motivation to reach out and strive to be worthy of the blessings that come when you serve others.