The Love Dare Day 2

“In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, Do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness..”

 

And here I thought  I was getting away from the having to watch the nothing negative! : )

Yesterday was a success though, I didn’t say anything negative when I wanted to, and honestly, I can’t even remember what things would’ve caused me to say negative things anyway. Maybe when we ”eat our words” we find what annoyed us really isn’t that important anyway… I mean if you can’t even remember it, is it really a big deal? At least that’s what I was realizing driving home from work yesterday… I was trying to remember the instances when I had to bite my tongue that day- couldn’t even do it!

 

I was speaking with a friend of mine today about her relationships and I was finally able to put into words what I have been doing or trying to do… My advice to her was what I am trying to reach as well. The best advice I can give is that loving is never about you, it should be selfless, all always about the other person… no matter how hard that is, or whether you feel your wronged or whatever.

I really liked the Power of the Praying Wife because while VERY HUMBLING, it teaches you that you can never expect to change someone, you can only change how you act towards them and pray to God to lead the other person in the right direction, which may not even be the direction you’re expecting. : )

The Love Dare is sort of an extension of that, but more about molding yourself, it preaches that the cornerstones of love are Kindness and patience and everything else is built off that.

Patience it the HARDEST thing for me, it’s so much easier for me to just throw a fit or whatever if I don’t think I am getting the help I need or be critical or whatever… these are the things I want to change. I want my husband to not just love me, but also be proud that I am his wife, I want my kids to be proud that I am their mom.  That’s why I am on this journey…. My goal is for my life to be about them… to me that is the best way I can serve God and lead them to God. I want them to want to know God because of my actions…. So I set this goal for myself and it’s what I am striving for…

 

She also asked me if my husband was doing The Love Dare for me. My response to that was this:

No he’s not, but he is being really supportive of it

I told him he should think about doing it for me after I was done

He didn’t laugh it off, so he just might

But it’s really not about him doing it for me…

I believe I can make our relationship even better by realizing things and changing things about myself

One of the hardest things for me, and a lot of people I am sure… is loving him to the best of my ability no matter what… no matter whether that is reciprocated or not and that’s what I feel like I need to work on for me…

Hence why I started Power of the Praying Wife and also The Love Dare.

 

 

So I thought I could...

Keep a blog up and build a house and move and throw a first birthday party - apparently I was wrong. (Karen @ Pediascribe - I don't know how you do it!) Anyway, so hear we go again.
Thanksgiving has come and gone and I made a rockin' dinner:
Country Bread and Sage Dressing and a Spicy Apple Turkey Glaze via Bobby Flay
Best Green Bean Casserole Ever via Alton Brown
Corny Corn (mom's recipe)
Mashed Potatoes and Rolls (Curt's mom made these)
Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie via Paula Deen

It was all fantabulous!!!!!
Now I just have to figure out Christmas dinner, whew!

On another note.... I've been hearing a lot about this book called The Love Dare on this radio station I listen to in the car - WAYFM. I'm almost finished with Power of the Praying Wife, which I must admit has helped my relationship with Curt greatly, so I thought I would move on to The Love Dare. After reading the first dare, I know I am in for a serious journey! It speaks of demonstrating patience and speaking nothing critical of your souse all day. Yikes, the authors of this book must know that patience is not one of my strong popints - should make for a fun day. : )
Seriously, I am very excited about this book though, I really think it will be a neat experience and if done correctly fulfilling and a lot of fun.

So, we're building a hizzouse!

and we got a real sweet deal, the builder is taking our old house off our hands, so we don't have to worry about putting that thing on the market with all the beings that take up space in our current hacienda. wewt.

So far we have a foundation poured, walls framed and rafters, oh yes, rafters! I picked out the bricks and the windows and the mortar.
I still have tons of other stuff I have to pick out. I really thought this part would be a lot more fun- I mean isn't that everyone's dream- to pick all the stuff that makes up their house?!?!?! But really the responsibility of it all is starting to set in on me... ever the worrier, I find myself wondering "What if I end up hating what I get after it's all put together?, and "What of my family hates what i put together?" My confidence in putting together a kickin' house is really starting to weigh down on me. I spose I care too much, but ya know this is our house and could be our house for a very, very long time. I don't wanna phuck it up, ya know?
I'm already rethinking the darn bricks, sigh....

Musical Youth Weapons?!?!??!

okay so was watching poker on comcast tonight, it went off and wasn't really paying attention to the tv as I was surfing around on the interweb, and checking out my facebook page, etc, etc. I paused for a second when I heard this awful primal screaming coming out of my television (well the speakers for my surround sound- but you get what I mean...), so I look up and I see this little blond boy with an awful hair-sprayed blond mullet spinning a stick and screaming terribly. SO this thing he is doing is apparently martial arts and this event is called musical weapons... but it seems to me that the real event here is how awful you can grunt and what sort of terrible face you can make.
It's totally freaking creepy

so "they" didn't think they could get it done with Rondo...

okay so earlier in the playoffs, someone or someones, I can't remember exactly who, but it was one of the groups who actually sits at the games (ya know like Chuck, Eddie and Kenny) said that Boston wouldn't be able to get it done with Rondo as a starting guard, that he was inexperienced, inconsistent, etc, etc. I was a little perplexed by this because while he had his share less than stellar performances, I always felt he played hard and genuinely like the guy. He plays hard and can pull off a big game. Yes he gets a little wild at times, and he is young, but darn it, he's good and I think he has heart. Well look who is having the last laughing now, little boy is helping lead his team to a championship tonight.
And speaking of heart, man, to me, Paul Pierce is a different player, different human being this year. I always felt like he had sort of a bad attitude/chip on his shoulder, but this season, these playoffs.... I've seen more heart, tenacity and unselfish play out of that guy than I ever thought possible. He has had to carry that team on his back some games and it's been amazing.
Which brings me to Garnett... I truly believe none of this would've been possible without him. I love Garnett, I have always thought him as one of the games great warriors, he has an incredible work ethic and one of the most gorgeous shots I have ever seen. Watching him play is bliss. I really think that the voters got the MVP thing wrong. How can you not vote for a guy totally changed a team around, changed their attitude, work ethic, heart and soul... to me that is far and away more important than any points or stats a player can bring to a team.
I think his reaction to winning says it all, I have never seen a player appreciate winning this thing as much as he is in this moment... makes you love him that much more.

It's all about God, yo!

Given the shortcomings in my own upbringing, I always vowed that when the time came for me to have my own children, I would do everything in my power to give them every thing and every opportunity that I did not have. I was pretty obsessed about it when baby number 1 came along. She had all the best of everything, best clothes, best furniture, best toys, etc. I was a mother on a mission to provide for my child. My husband humored me, as he knew how poor my family was when I was a kid and what a struggle it was for me. He "got" how important it was for me and did not object. When I wanted to send her to Montessori for preschool because it is the "best", he did not object even though it's the most expensive place for preschool in town. We just wanted to give our daughter the best possible tools to achieve whatever her dreams might be. We've tried to expose her, even at a young age to all sorts of activities: dance, gymnastics, swimming, etc. We have the same ideas for baby number 2 who came along last fall... although financially we've had to scale back a bit, now that we have 2.
Another thing we have agreed on was that we wanted our children to grow up in a church. I believe in a good Christian foundation, I wanted my girls to grow up with a sense of morality and have more guidance than I had. My husband grew up in the Methodist faith, going just about every Sunday until he got old enough to decide he didn't want to go any more. My background is a bit different, my parents never took me to church, but I went to a Baptist Church with one grandmother and a Catholic Church with another. When I got a little older, I started going to a non-denominational Christian Church with my neighbors. I also started attending church camp- where I eventually accepted Jesus as my Savior. I never had anyone to hold me accountable so I attended church irregularly at best and there were many periods in my life where I didn't go at all. I always thought that being a Christian was believing in God and trying to live the best/moral life you could live.
As we have finally made the commitment to get our daughters in church so they could be exposed to a Christian upbringing, I have been working on my own Christianity as well.
I've come to realize that being a Christian isn't just about how good (well behaved) we can be as human beings, I mean, sure that's part of it... but I've come to think, that more importantly it's how we treat others... and I'm not even talking about how nice we are to people... but more about how we make sacrifices of ourselves for God and for others in the name of God. It's about serving our fellow man, and bringing our fellow man to God. It's about turning it ALL over to God, and discovering new ways to serve each and everyday.
I don't just want my daughters to be "good Christian people" who follow the rules and are highly moral. Yes these things are important, but more importantly in that, I want to give my girls even more opportunity, opportunity to give themselves over in servitude to their Lord and fellow man. I want them to find joy in sacrifice, forgiveness, love and grace.
Yes I want them to achieve whatever they can to the best of their ability, but it's now more important to me that they grow up realizing that it's not all about how "good" we are, but how much we are living out our lives for God and doing God's Will.
What a giant responsibility I find this to be for me, since i am just now figuring this out for myself.

Do gerbils need night lights?

Cause we just got one, and I just don't want her to feel lonely in the dark. Will she be lonely in the dark? I mean they are social animals to begin with and I wanted to get two, but they only had one gerbil left (and it was our THIRD store), so I am already worried about her being depressed. And then we have to keep her in a room all by herself with the door shut at night so our Jack Russell doesn't go ape shit. She's not staying here for good...we bought her for my daughter's classroom. She's been dying for a small pet and since she couldn't have one here because of our dogs and cat... so we got one for her class instead. : ) But back to my original question- do you think this cute little rodent needs a night light? Do you think she is scared?
On another note.... GO CELTICS woo hoo! I can't wait until June 5th : )