Marriage Mondays- Perfection is My Enemy

I'm posting this each Monday. I feel it's a great way to reflect on the the joys, troubles, funny, very relatable things that make our marriage uniquely ours. Love for you to join in and stop by to Come Have a Peace for more encouragement!


You all know that song from Christian radio. "Gotta couple dents in my fender, gotta couple rips in my jeans..." Well, that's how I have felt all last week. I came down with a major case of allergy/sinus issues and was not up to much for 3 days. That's kinda just not acceptable when you are a wife and mom of 3. I pushed through with the help of my hubby. I have so many things that have to get done. They aren't even options, people.

Dinner still needs to get made, laundry washed, homework checked. I failed to get these done a couple times last week. I anxiously waited for 6pm to arrive so I could "tag" Tim. Instead of reminding me of what wasn't getting done, Tim got the kids in bed each night, no one complained that we ordered pizza one night and then had another easy, B- dinner the next. Didn't do much real cooking this weekend either. -yay for the grill!-Yes, laundry is over flowing in my bathroom and clean clothes have yet to be put away.

I never claim to be perfect, I'm just me. Full of faults, dents, rips- trying to keep the pieces together. I know that God works for the glory of His purpose and I was reminded of how blessed I am to have a "tag team partner" in this life.

Now, I do know that my 30 day Gentleness Challenge is being tested...that's a whole other blog post. Praying that with feeling mostly better, that I'll get all areas back on track :)

Marriage Mondays- I Say "Yes"

I'm posting this each Monday. I feel it's a great way to reflect on the the joys, troubles, funny, very relatable things that make our marriage uniquely ours. Love for you to join in and stop by to Come Have a Peace for more encouragement!

Yay! Our 10 year anniversary has been celebrated! Thank you God for the blessing of our marriage. Tim scheduled the day off from work just to spend the day with me. Still working on Dave Ramsey's 2nd baby step, so no huge plans, but just spending the time together was priceless. After our last child left for school, we headed out to run some errands and have lunch. While driving, Tim pulls out a card for me. It was a cute, funny one. I smiled. Then I turned it over and he had written a marriage proposal to me! I was taken back by his sweetness. My eyes began to tear up. Before I could say much, he pulls out a little box. A ring! A beautiful sparkly ring that made me cry. I'm kinda sappy!

We got the ring out of the box, slipped it on my finger, then he asked me something strange. He asked if I has ever seen this ring before. Something told me I had, but I couldn't place it. He flipped the box over and it said "Bella's engagement ring". GASP! He worked with a mutual friend of ours and got it ordered without me having any idea!

I have never even spoke of this ring to him. The fact that he pays attention to the silly things I can go on about with Twilight related things is pretty special. The time, effort, & trouble is amazing to me. He pays attention! He is committed to me and our marriage through thick & thin and I say "Yes" to US each day as well. I didn't need a card or present to tell me all this...

Here it is! *sigh* Tim had his perfect "Edward" moment. I, on the other hand, had a perfectly awkward, stunned, speechless "Bella" moment.

Gentleness Challenge

If you are a personal friend of mine, heck even a bloggy friend, you probably won't guess that I can have a temper and get frustrated by being a mom to three kids. I love them so much, but honestly they can be a challenge. Why don't they just do what I say?! Crazy thought isn't! They are 9 (this Tuesday), 7, & 5 years old...and they are each pushing their boundaries in different ways.

I try so hard to encourage them to respect others and at school each do awesome!!! Now at home, they are great for daddy. When it comes to me, that's a different story. I guess I get some frustration knowing that lots of people get the best from my kids, while I get the attitudes. I feel like that's part of me being a mom- them knowing that no matter what they do or say, mom's always going to be there, so they feel safe to vent. Ok, now that's to a point. When I ask one to clean their room and I am knocked back with "I don't wanna", that's not gonna fly anymore. I would lose my temper, fuss, take privileges away, bribe even.

After reading Courtney's post at Women Living Well from a year ago, I got inspired to change my way of thinking and handling the tense situations. I have to do this. This 30 day Gentleness Challenge could be life changing.

Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."

I have a lot to learn and lots of praying to do to see me through the next 30 days. Summer break is coming fast and I really need you help in keeping myself accountable to this challenge. I am weak, but with Him, I am strong.

If you struggle like I do, feel free to join up to the 30 Day Gentleness Challenge. Let me keep encouraging you too. Just grab the graphic and post on your blog once a week, or why not every couple days.

So, here's my 200th post! Thanks for sticking around and welcome to the new bloggy friends I've made this year!

Wondering???

Wondering why my posts have been a little few and far between lately? Well, stop on by my other blog: Life As A Twilight Mom for some fun events & happenings I have been up to.

Marriage Mondays- Blessed By Our Differences

I'm posting this each Monday. I feel it's a great way to reflect on the the joys, troubles, funny, very relatable things that make our marriage uniquely ours. Love for you to join in and stop by to Come Have a Peace for more encouragement!

Tim and I can debate anything till we have forgotten what the issue was. We are very different and it takes a real effort to make sure that we can see each others differences as strengths...and appreciate them as well. That is way easier said than done. For so long we tried to just get our own points across, to get our own voice heard, sadly- our own way. What did that get us? Nothing but hurt feelings and confusion.

Once our marriage took a shift in things, we could really see that God put us together like a puzzle. Not symmetrical or similar in every way (how much fun would that be?) but complimentary to one another to be able to draw strength and understanding from each other. What a blessing! We are different, but we serve our family with the best that each one of us has to offer. It would be like both of us liking to cook-ever heard that story of too many cooks in the kitchen? I think that's what God had in mind somehow. We are perfect....for each other. Not perfect individually, but together we are complete...insert Jerry MaGuire line here ;) lol.

We are on a super tight budget while working on our debt elimination with the Dave Ramsey program, so Tim's always on the look out for good deals. While browsing craigslist free stuff yesterday, he came across an ad for a free red grill. It was said to be in decent shape, but not working and located 45 minutes away from us. Now, I would have taken the approach of this "who knows if it's gross? it says it's not working? is it worth fixing? it's so far!". Tim on the other hand got us all in the truck and head out to get it. The lady left it in her driveway for us. We get there are it's in really good shape...only time would tell how much it would take to get it fixed,I thought.

We get home and I run to get him a lighter to see if it would at least light somehow. And it did :) Working grill that's 1 year old! Yay! The electronic igniter wouldn't work, but who cared at that point. After some Internet research, we found that the ingniter takes a AA battery...we wondered could it be THAT simple? And it was! A grill, sold brand new for over $500, new to us for a AA battery.

An Absence So Great Review & Giveaway

Book: An Absence So Great

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Author: Jane Kirkpatrick

Summary:
Inspired by the engaging stories told through her grandmother’s photographs taken at the turn of the century, award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick provides a portrait of the tension between darkness and light in the soul of a young woman pursuing her professional dreams.

Despite growing in confidence as a photographer, eighteen-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele’s personal life is still at a crossroads. Hoping she’s put an unfortunate romantic longing behind her as “water under the bridge,” she exiles herself to Milwaukee to operate photographic studios for those ill with mercury poisoning.

Jessie gains footing on her dream to one day own her own studio and soon finds herself in other Midwest towns, pursuing her profession. But even a job she loves can’t keep those painful memories from seeping into her heart, and the shadows of a forbidden love threaten to darken the portrait of her life.


Author Bio:

Jane Kirkpatrick is an award-winning author of sixteen historical novels, including A Flickering Light, the first part of Jessie Gaebale’s story, and three nonfiction titles. Known for her unique insights into the exploration of community, family and faith of actual historical women, the Wisconsin native and her husband have called their ranch in Oregon home for the past 25 years.

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I am really looking forward to finishing this book! (being a mom has had me busy from morning till night recently) It's like the author takes you to a totally different time with her decriptions of people and scenes. The book starts off a little slow, but hang in there...I know I am glad I did.

To get your very own copy from me, all ya have to do is leave a comment. I'll end the giveaway & announce the winner on Thursday 4/8 at noon.

To purchase this book and check out others click here.