Testing the Strength of Your Marriage

It has been a really, really busy few months for my family.  We had to make some repairs to our home which led to a month and a half long remodeling project.  My husband and I began home improvement projects from the first day my husband purchased our home.  The old saying is:  If you want to know how strong your marriage is, wall paper together.  Well there is a lot of truth to that.  Jason and I have put tile into our kitchen and dining room, remodeled our upstairs bathroom, made two bedrooms out of one, remodeled our bedroom, and painted our entire basement.  Painting the basement was one of our first projects.  I spent most of the time complaining and being confused, not understanding what my husband wanted me to do.  He spent most of the time being frustrated with me.  6 years later, we have learned how to talk to each other about what we need, how to offer encouragement, and give compliments.  We have also learned to stand up for ourselves and say when enough is enough.  We have learned that it is okay to walk away from the project and each other and start again the next day.  Our last remodeling project, the bathroom, was long and hard on the family waiting to have their bathroom back, but was smooth going for our relationship.  We have come a long way.  If you can remodel together, you can do anything.