Welcome to the Romance Toolbox!

“Human nature if it is healthy demands excitement. And if it does not obtain its thrilling excitement in the right way it will seek it in the wrong. God never made bloodless stoics, He made passionate saints.”

~Oswald Chambers~
My Utmost for His Highest

• A Big, Fluffy, Fresh Blanket or Quilt
• Audio Tapes of your favorite LOVE music!
• Balloons
• Box of Chocolates
• Breath Mints
• Bubble Bath
• Candles
• Candy
• Cards
• CD’s with your favorite music
• Cheese and Crackers
• Chocolate!
• Cologne
• Feathery Pillows
• Flowers
• Games
• Hot Chocolate
• IOU’s
• Lingerie
• Lotions
• Massage Oil
• Movies
• Nighty
• Notecards
• Oils
• Paper
• Picnic Basket
• Perfume
• Planning Calendar—your own ROMANCE CALENDAR!
• Poems
• Ribbons
• Roses
• Silk Sheets
• Sparkling Grape Juice, Chilled!
• Stereo
• Stickers
• Sweet Trinket Gifts
• Valentine Cards
• VCR
• Yummy Foods!

Quick Dating No-No’s…

• TV!
• Cell phone calls!
• Email!
• Internet
• Bickering
• Complaining
• Criticizing
• Forgetting special dates
• Saying, “No chocolate for you dear!”
• Family weigh-in
• No Richard Gear or Sandra Bullock flicks—or Arnold Schwarzenneggar PLEASE!
• No bass fishing—or golfing!
• No scrapbooking!
• No passing gas!

Did You Know…

Did you know that Chocolate contains a large amount of Phenylethylamine,a chemical your body also produces when you feel love? GO AHEAD! DEVOUR THE CHOCOLATE!

And…you thought that Chocolate was “bad” for you??? OH! It is great for romance! Just think of how much your sweetheart will love indulging in the following:

• Hot Chocolate! Sip a big mug of Hot Chocolate together! Get big mugs for a special time together. Fill them full of yummy Hot Chocolate. Top with marshmallows, drizzles of chocolate syrup, or even whipped topping and a cherry! Go out on the deck or front porch to sip your Hot Chocolate and chat! Other options: take your Hot Chocolate in a thermos to a beautiful spot. Take a quilt, flowers, and candles. Pour your mugs full of your Hot Chocolate and add your favorite toppings. Enjoy the moment and just being together!

• Nestle Treasures! Fill a cute treasure box with Nestle’s Treasures! These are some of my newest weaknesses! These little candies are shaped into sweet treasure chests filled with different fillings. They are an adorable goody to add to anything with a theme of “treasures.” Fill a treasure box full of these and include a sweet note about what a treasure your sweetheart is.

• Chocolate Malts! Go out for a Chocolate Malt and share with two straws! J Sit and talk. Dream. Share goals. Take time to just enjoy each other…you can even have a second malt to share!

• Hershey Kisses! Share Hershey Kisses! Go to one of your favorite spots: waterfall, beach, airport to watch the planes land and take off, spillway, brook, etc. Take a bag of Hershey Kisses to share while you enjoy the view and your friendship!

• Chocolate Covered Cherries! Don’t forget Chocolate Covered Cherries! Yummy! Get a box and take them along as you watch the sunset! Enjoy the memory!

• Brownies! Make a big pan of Brownies and cuddle up for an old movie! Serve with Vanilla Ice-Cream, nuts, or extra Chocolate or Caramel Syrup. Make a picnic in the middle of your bed! Devour!

• Millionaires! HOOT! These are my sweetie’s favorites! Right up there with the rest of these listed! Ha! Whether bought or made at home, these are always sure to please! Get a whole box…go to your favorite spot with a view…and just chat while you indulge. Sure to make a memory over chocolate!

• Oreos! Yep! And…don’t forget the milk!

• Don’t forget about GODIVA! I don’t know about you, but some of my most favorite Chocolates are Godiva Chocolates! YUMMY! I instantly forget my diet…in fact, I don’t CARE about a diet around Godiva! Ha! Get a bit! You will LOVE it…and so will your sweetie!

“And so faith, hope, love abide [faith…conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope…joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love…true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three, but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13

Needing a few ideas for romancing your woman??? Well, these are sure to bless her! Give them a try!

• Open the door for her! Yep! Take that extra step to make her feel special!

• Make a CD collection of “YOUR” love songs.

• Treat her to a Bed and Breakfast for a weekend! Let her decide what she would like to do if she could anything she wanted for a whole weekend…do it!

• Grill out for her! Send her off for a long, hot bubble bath. Get the kids fed and ready for bed. Grill out your favorite meal. Serve her dinner by candlelight!

• Begin a LOVE Journal for her. Buy a pretty journal. Begin writing entries for her. For example, “Things I Love About You…” “I Want to Grow Old With You Because…” “Character Qualities I Most Admire In Her…” “You Bless Me When You….” This may sound mushy…but, just try it! She will LOVE it! It will become one of her most favorite treasures ever!

• Brush her hair for her! Just nurture her for a bit!

• Bring home pizza or Steak-Out and a movie. Snuggle up with the kids for one movie. Tuck them into bed early. Then, stay up for a movie and mommy/daddy time!

• Go for a long drive! Drive in the mountains…in the country…along the beach! Play your “love songs” in the background while you talk!

• Cook dinner for her. Give her a night off and treat her to a home-cooked meal by you! Yep! Romance can begin in the kitchen!

• Bring home flowers! Or Chocolate! Or just a little trinket!

• Give her a long massage!

• Try Breakfast together. Take time with each other regularly to have a morning devotion and breakfast before the kids get up! Set aside enough time for real communication of your hearts. Really listen!

• Bring home ice-cream or “fixins” for Banana Splits. Make her a big surprise!

• Sleep in! Snuggle up and enjoy holding each other.

“If your relationship were a painting, what would it look like?
~Gregory J.P. Godek~

Ok! Got your attention? Wondering if I have gone off the deep end? No…this one is JUST FOR FUN!

SPECIAL NOTE: No ideas shared in this article are intended to be used in any way! We guarantee results—so beware of implementing them unless you want to fail in marriage and totally ruin that man of your dreams!

• Make it your ambition to NOT notice him!

• Disregard what he says- Look the other way, bring something else up to talk about, DO NOT listen!

• Reject Him…his ideas, his love, his protection, his wisdom, his opinions, his leadership!

• Tell him ALL of his inadequacies AND how YOU can correct them!

• Feed any of his insecurities WITH TRUTH about his weaknesses!

• Each night when he comes home, go about your own business-it helps to be on the phone and keep right on talking! Don’t even get dressed, wear makeup, or brush your teeth!

• Belittle him in private and especially in public! Let him “have it” when you think different than him!

• Compare him to other men AND your daddy!

• Get on the phone and tell ALL about him! Don’t forget to complain and belittle!

• Dishonor him in public and private! Let the whole world know what a wimp he is!

• Disobey him—what do guys know anyway?

• Don’t put much value in him or in what he has to say—you know best!

• Correct him in front of others—especially the children!

• Find all his faults and tell him about them constantly!

• Push him to get your way!

• Never let him know he satisfies you (physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally…)—don’t ruin a good thing!

• Lead him on!

• Frustrate him ANY way you can!

• Nag! How ELSE do you get a man to do anything? How ELSE will they ever HEAR you?

• Complain! Make him suffer too!

• Whine! Isn’t he SUPPOSED to encourage you?

• Don’t waste your time understanding him!

• Respond to him! ESPECIALLY to his offensive behavior!

• Despise him for being such a weakling!

Don’t want this? Well, look on the NEXT article!! We want to help you as you seek to help your husband become ALL he can be!!!

NOW we are talking! OH! Beloved! If there is ONE person that has made ALL of the mistakes on the last page and can only thank God for His grace, it is ME! I praise God every day for the blessing that I have as the wife of my very best friend. It can only be described as AMAZING GRACE! I am so thankful that Harold KNOWS me inside-out and still chooses to love me. Just TOO awesome! Makes ME want to help him to become ALL he can become. Well, that is exactly what these tips are all about—helping our husbands become all they can become. Check it out and see if you find some ideas along the way!

• Become VERY BEST friends! Enjoy his companionship. Endeavor to become a good companion!

• Find things that you can enjoy TOGETHER. Breakfast each day…walks at sunset…hobbies…work…etc. Constantly tie strings!

• Look for his strengths…share them over and over! He can never hear them enough!

• Show gratefulness! Let him KNOW that you really appreciate what he does for you and your family.

• Get rid of any seeds of disrespect, jealousy, and comparison! You are in this thing together!

• Help him! God created woman to be a “help meet” for man—meaning that she is the one who “completes” him and is “fit” for him. Find ways that you meet your husband’s needs. Find ways that you help him to fulfill his life purpose from God.

• Pray for him! Circle him in prayer. Pray and fast when things are tough. Celebrate and praise when God breaks through. Seek God with him. Constantly build hedges of protection around him through prayer.

• Support him! Become his personal cheerleader! Believe in what is on his heart. Cheer him along when things are tough and not looking too good! Cheer him on when he makes the mark!

• Respect him! Respect comes through in little things: our tone of voice, our facial expressions, our words, our behavior. Respect your man! You will in turn build your man!

• Admire him! Let him know the things about him that you really love. Let him see how you admire him by the way you look at him! Enjoy him!

• Encourage him! Literally INFUSE courage into your sweetheart! You KNOW the things that really mean a lot to his heart. Be sure to do and say those things that will bring courage and strength into his heart and soul!

• Promote him! Become his very best marketing agent! Be the one who knows his worth, his gifts, his talents, his strengths and shares them with others! When the whole world “feels” as though it is crashing in, be the one who believes in him and continues to help him keep on keeping on!

• Inspire him! Be his sounding board of ideas. Listen and help him brainstorm when he is void of ideas.

• Ask God to help you see all that he IS and all that he is becoming!

• Catch his vision! See those things that are not existing now! Be the one person who can see what God has in store for him!

• Strengthen him! When he is tired and weary, be the one to underguird and support him. Pour all you have into giving him his second breath! Use all of your gifts, talents, and strengths to make him whole!

• Work with him! Be his “partner.” Find ways to help him work and build the family name and legacy.

• Constantly consider ways that you can help him make the most of the finances that you have. Follow the Proverbs 31 model by creatively finding ways to make the most of the resources that you have.

• Submit to him! Submission has great power! It unleashes your husband to take the lead and become the man God created him to be. It also unleashes God to use your family in a mighty way. Submission is not weakness. It will not create a monster in your husband. It will bring the peace and unity that will make your relationship everything that God had in mind when He designed marriage! Plus, submission will help your husband to become all that God designed for him to become!

• Defer to your husband! Always defer back to your husband. Have a decision to make? Unsure about what to do? Need help pruning your life and your schedule? Defer to your husband. Let him be your first place that you run to for counsel. Let him give you his wisdom and viewpoint. Not only will you become all you can be and find great contentment, but you will find that he will show himself as your knight-in-shining-armor!

• Reverence your husband! See him as precious! Fall passionately in love with him! Revere him and his position as your precious husband. Watch him blossom!

• Pour all of yourself into him! There is no accident that YOU are married to your husband! So often it is easy to focus on what they are not—probably because that is what WE ARE. Yet, as we pour ourselves into them, we find how incredible we are TOGETHER! Pour all of yourself into your husband–Your spirituality, strength, power, prayer power, support, lifting him up, gifts, personality, intelligence, insightfulness, communication skills! The true secret to building a godly spiritual leader is to pour all of yourself into him. To get under him, to support him, to build him! Pride will want to push ahead or push him aside. God’s Spirit motivates us to get behind our husbands and let him succeed as God’s mighty man!

So, what do you think? Ready to build your man? Oh! Become the student of your husband and watch him become ALL God created for him to become! You will DEFINITELY enjoy the journey!