Listening and Challenging

Melanie from "Only a Breath" designed this for me:

I found her blog on Twitter, from a link that linked to this post: One Word

What a gift, to be given something (from someone I do not know) that is so lovely that I could never, ever make on my own. This is so special to my heart.

Thank you so much, Melanie!!!!

Just as a quick check-in, I'm doing pretty well, physically and with my listening. It's hard when you're as active and as healthy as I've always been, to force yourself to rest. To relax, to take it easy, to conserve energy. Especially when the simple act of conversation takes a lot more concentrated effort than it used to!

I haven't really done a formal declaration of a Proverbs 31 challenge this year, because I have some other challenges going on (take a look at my January posts and you'll see what I mean). But since I was given the incredible gift of reading my friend Sara's manuscript for My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife (and subsequently reading the published book), I have to admit that it has always been in my mind and heart. It's like, in a weird way, sometimes I step outside myself and watch myself interact with my husband and daughters, and wonder if I could be better, if I could really stop doing what does not work, and start finding out what does work and doing that instead.

In this season of rest and recovery in which I find myself, I am grateful for the extra help I'm receiving around the house from my family. When I'm stronger, I'll do more, but in the meantime, working on my heart and my attitudes this first week of 2012 has been a very, very good thing.

Loving My Husband

You've probably noticed the button on the right, the super-cute one that says laughing is a given...well, that's from my friend Sara Horn's new book, My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife. It's an excellent book, one of my favorite one-year memoirs, made even more special to my heart because I remember talking to Sara about some of the things that made it into the book. Kind of like "It's Shake-n-Bake...and I hayelped!" but not. OK, not at all. But still!

Anyway, this week's challenge is to show love to our husbands. I have to say, I know how I try to show love to my husband, and I know how he receives love from me, and they are NOT the same thing. Our love languages are, shall we say, not always in sync. But that's okay. What will make this a bit easier this week is that his birthday is on Thursday. While our middle week days are quite crazy (Tuesdays and Thursdays are dance nights, and Wednesdays involve the chapel's religious education program and the night I teach each week), Mondays and Fridays are generally much slower.

The results of this week may not make it to the blog, but I wanted you all to know I'm participating in the challenge.