In laws

Oh man, Marissa, this sounds tough to negotiate. I am remembering a time when G's "recovering" alcoholic uncle came to live with us (in our one bedroom apartment) for over a month... I was so sensitive and got really snippy with G at times over the simplest things in which he didn't mean to offend me at all! Something that helped was being able to have a serious conversation with G about how I was struggling with the transition... The problem wasn't really the uncle's behavior (for the most part), it was the sudden total lack of privacy.

Garrett is probably feeling like he's being constantly watched and judged, although your family honestly sounds fine and very gracious to me! So he's getting offended mainly due to his own insecurities and the pressure he feels... I probably would want to talk to the family again about the jokes, etc, in a way that's very respectful to Garrett. (Do you feel though that that would bother Garrett? Maybe you can frame it as you're trying to teach them to be more sensitive to your personalities?) And perhaps you can also find a special time to spend with Garrett and give him some positive affirmation to help ease the transition.. I know that will probably feel frustrating since he might be irritating you with the sensitive behavior, but I know during the time mentioned above I really appreciated when G acknowledged the sacrifice I was making by sharing our tiny space.

And of course, pray for all involved. I will pray too.

Here's a copy of the text I sent this morning. I'm trying to be as graceful as possible.
"I prayed and I just wanted to apologize. The Lord put on my heart that I may be making you feel like your feelings aren't valid and I don't want that. It's just hard for me because I love you and I love my family. And you've always had a good relationship with all of them. So this is different and hard. I want to go in and help/fix it. But right now you aren't asking me to do that and I need to respect that. I have to trust that God will work this out. I love you and pray you have a wonderful day. Don't let bad feelings or circumstances get in the way of God's joy."

Marissa I completely understand how important family is and it can be so hard being the middle man between your family and your husband, especially when you are living with them. Whenever I am trapped in a place between the two, I always default my favor to my husband though. It's hard. I might not agree with the decisions he is making, but part of what a wife is called to do is submit to her husband. If he has some will for your family and it doesn't go against Gods will, even if you don't love the plan, it is better to submit. 1 Peter 3 says "... you married women, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if any do not obey the Word, they may be won over not by discussion but by the lives of their wives, when they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence." When you show your respect by being submissive, he will start to realize your love and devotion is to him more then to your family and will care more about your opinion in regards to them then.