My Husband Likes Crunchy Peanut Butter

• The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
• She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

Today I went back to our small town Walmart to buy more groceries. We haven't been home in three months, so I'm out of everything here. Last time we were home, I threw out a lot of old things from the back of the cabinets, and took a lot of current items to Georgia with me. It takes a lot to restock a pantry and fridge from nothing, so I was buying an extraordinary amount of food.

As I walked up and down the aisles, looking at prices and brands, I tried to make it a point to buy some items that my husband is especially fond of.

For instance, my husband likes crunchy peanut butter. I prefer Jif smooth, he likes the crunchy. I bought both today.

He likes bean dip--I think it's only purpose is a supporting role in 7-layer Fiesta dip. But I bought bean dip.

I bought his favorite cereal, some coffee and coffee supplies (not a coffee drinker, myself) and some other snack items that I know he likes.

I know it may seem like kind of a stretch to connect the verses above with what you buy at the grocery store, but do you honor your husband's taste and preferences in food and other everyday necessities of life?

I'm not talking about making him a king and the rest of the family servants. No need to feed him steak while the rest of you eat beans. (Unless you like beans!)

I knew a gal once who split a can of soup with her two kids everyday for lunch so they could afford nicer food for her husband. She and her girls drank kool-aid so she could buy soda for him. She did without in every area, so he wouldn't be discontent with what he had. The clincher for me was the time he asked her to wash clothes in the bathtub so they could take their laundromat money and order pizza, because he didn't like what she had in the house to eat. Personally, I thought she was nuts.

If you de-value yourself over and over again, eventually everyone around you will assume that you aren't worth much.

That is NOT what I'm writing about.

Those of us who are married to good, solid, self-sacrificing men, need to make sure that we don't take that for granted. We may not be able to afford lavish spending, in grocery or any other area, but that doesn't mean that we can't take the time to honor our husband's likes and dislikes to the extent that we as a family can afford to do so.

My husband doesn't like chicken and dumplings, which is one of my personal frugal favorites. Does that mean that I never make chicken and dumplings? No. It just means that I make sure I have leftover potroast for him. Or something else that he likes. (He'd rather just eat oatmeal for supper than chicken and dumplings, and sometimes, he does!)

My husband is such a good person, and sometimes I don't think I appreciate him enough. But today, in my small way, I made sure he knew that I thought enough about him to get him some of his favorite small pleasures. Crunchy peanut butter. Bean dip. Summer sausage and cheese log. Coffee.

Such a small way to say, "I love you".

Until next time...