So here we are at the "end" of the challenge, and I'm needing to wrap up the past TWO weeks. I'm really sorry I've been so late in getting these up. If you read my previous post, you'll get an idea as to why I've been a bit absent. Now Emma is getting over the nasty bug Chloe had. Hopefully in a day or so, we'll be officially DONE with this illness for awhile! We also had company over the fourth weekend, which I'll post about soon.
So now into how I've been doing at honoring Travis in the past two weeks. I know you read this from time to time honey, so you'll have to let me know if what I'm writing is accurate.

1. Don't use sarcasm!
Well, I can think of a time when I used it last night, so obviously I still need work in this area. But I was pleased to see how quickly I recognized I was doing it, it was actually while I was saying something sarcastic! So thank you Lord for keeping me aware of this so that hopefully I can begin stopping myself before I even say a word of sarcasm. I've also been thinking about when I am most prone to use this dreadful form of communication and it is usually when I am feeling the most hurt, misunderstood, or vulnerable with Travis. In my mind, I am justifying it as the best way to get my point across when other attempts don't seem to be sinking in, and it's usually in a burst of passion and anger. But I think what I need to do in those situations is step away and really think about how I can explain myself and my feelings about something and then come to Travis in a calm, controlled way and, with honor, share my heart. And then, if he still doesn't get it, I need to resolve to pray for him, that he will get it somehow and/or that I will be able to let it go and let God meet my needs if Travis can't at that moment. Even though this is the end of the challenge technically, I really want to keep working on these goals, so I'm going to try to continue to report on them, don't hesitate to ask me how I'm doing.

2. Suggest a free time activity for Travis and create the guilt-free time for him to do it.
Hmm... I'm discovering that I have a long way to go in this department! Lately I feel that creating free time for Travis, without requesting his help and presence at home, is extremely difficult. I think what makes it so difficult is that I have a hard time not expecting the same in return from him. If this truly is a selfless act of putting his needs before my own, blessing him, loving him sacrificially, then I wouldn't be feeling resentful when I don't get the same guilt-free free time or other acts that speak love to me in return. But equality, though pop culture would beg to differ, is not the goal. We are to be an example of Christ's love for us to others, and first and foremost to our husbands. Did Jesus tell his disciples, "I'll die on the cross for your sins, but only if you treat me like royalty first!"? No, we are to "lay down our lives" for our brothers and sisters in Christ in obedience to the Lord and as living examples of the kind of love He as for us. Amazing, illogical, undeserved love! So where does that leave us when we give and don't always receive? It leaves us as poured out jars of clay, ready to be filled with the rich wine of our Master's love and provision. If we are full by other means, we leave no room for his filling. So again, I continue to need pruning!

3. Say good things about Travis, in front of him and when he's not around
It's amazing to me how much easier it seems to produce more good fruit in my life than it is to purge the sour grapes! As long as I am being conscious in my efforts, I see improvement. I have, ever since we moved into our new home, been impressed at how diligent Travis is at taking care of our landscaping and other items around the house that need attention. He keeps a beautiful green, trimmed lawn, vibrant shrubs and bushes, and has become so knowlegable and self-driven about our sprinkler system. I've been bragging on him, both in front of others and when he's not around. I can tell he derives pleasure from taking care of our house, and it makes me feel so loved and cared for. I've also affirmed him about how selfless he is in the night time hours when it comes to tending to sick babies. Since the girls have been sick the past two weeks, I've really seen his colors shining through. He's usually the first to spring out of bed at the first whimper, wetting rags for hot foreheads, preparing syringes of medicine, laying next to Emma in bed until she falls asleep, stroking her hair. I tell you, he reminds me every day of what a treasure he is as my life mate, and it's been my pleasure to verbalize my gratitude to him more often. I'm going to continue to make this a priority.
I guess that wraps up the challenge, but I consider this only the beginning. Christine, I think this should be an every-six-months marriage tune up or something! Thanks for letting me be vulnerable about this. It is my prayer that everything I learn might encourage or inspire someone else!

Mothering The Stomach Flu

I'm sure from this title you can tell what kind of weekend we've had. Friday evening, my precious baby Chloe came down with a fever. "Okay," I thought, "here we go with another cold or virus of some sort, no big deal." So in went the Tylenol and out went my worries. By 10:00pm, I knew we were in for a rough night. Up to 104 degrees and throwing up all over the hallway wall, my level of calm quickly faded. For the first time since by choice in grade school, I was up ALL night. No, not one hour of sleep, not thirty minutes of sleep, zero, zip, zulch! and my poor baby and Travis as well. Thankfully Emma was having an overnighter at Grammy and Papa's house that night. The misery was written all over Chloe's face, "save me Mama!" it said, and oh if I could have I would have. What I wouldn't give to be able to take the pain and suffering away from my babies when they are ill. We emerge from the night, only to find Grammy with Emma at the front door at 5:00am. Emma had just thrown up and was looking a bit green. So our Saturday begins. After a morning trip the ER (do worrisome illnesses ever come about during the week?!), and an unsuccessful catherization on Chloe (the poor nurse couldn't get the thing in...several grueling times at Chloes expense) at which point we opted out of a retry by a different nurse and headed for home. $100.00 later, no diagnosis, and still a very sick little baby. Emma's face was in the bucket most of the day, movies rolling, saltines and Canada Dry close at hand. She never got a fever, thank goodness though, so we were pretty certain it was a stomach bug. Chloe's fever never did come down much, 101 at the lowest yesterday with intermittent bouts of "reject!" She wanted nothing to do with her bed all day, only mommy would do. Yesterday brought about thoughts of what hell must certainly be like. No shower, 98 degree heat, no air conditioning and a wonderful combination of sleep deprivation peppered with regular contact with vomit and diarreha. Did I mention that Emma's afternoon nap ended with the later all over her sheets? Add to this the helpless feeling you have when your babies are suffering and you can't take it away and I think you've got the perfect recipe for what eternal suffering must be like, only I'm sure a billion times worse, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. Okay, okay, enough grossing you out, but have I painted my picture? Now to end a day as truely priceless as this, we could have nothing less than a trip to Urgent Care. After a day of battling Chloe's high fever, which got to 105 at the highest, we decided we needed to make sure it wasn't an infection of some sort that needed treatment. She was flat out moaning at this point, she acted as if she was trying to escape her body, but no which way she moved could she. This was one of those moments as a mother that truly breaks your heart. That look of desperation, knowing that they have full faith that you could take this away, but for some unknown reason you are not. I just wanted to cry! Then came the antibiotic injection, a fourth of which sprayed all over the place as the needle broke away from the syringe. And the grand finale of the night was a urine collection bag stuck to her to sit on for the ride home. Thankfully, either the injection or the contiuned Infant Motrin and Tylenol brought her fever down to a comfortable range for the night. We actually got to sleep a little last night, praise the Lord! Emma seems to be completely on the mend, but the verdict is still out for Chloe. After her fever jumped back up this morning to 103.4, we got a call from the Urgent Care office saying that her urine came back normal, no bladder infection, but that the doctor wanted to do a complete blood count, I'm guessing to check for a possible more serious infection. So at lunch time today, we went in to have Chloe's blood drawn, oh what fun! (See, I can be so sarcastic, I really need to work on that!). Baby's have their blood drawn the same as you and I do, with a tight rubberband around their upper arm and a needle in the crook of their elbow. I had to hold Chloe so tight while two nurses, thankfully quickly, got the job done. Chloe was spent! After all this trauma and screaming and crying, she now has a horse voice. She fell right to sleep in the car on the way home and is still taking a nap as we speak. Thanks for letting me unpack our weekend on you. You may not have wanted all the gory details, but it sure felt good to get them on "paper". Please pray that Chloe's test results will come back soon so we can get to the bottom of this. She hasn't had a fever at all since this morning, so I'm guessing she's on the mend. Ah yes, the trenches of motherhood, that's where I spent my weekend, how bout you? The week is looking bright, surely we can only go up from here, right?

Thirty Day Challenge- Week Two

So here we are at week two of the Honor Your Husband challenge and I'm two days late. Sorry about that. We just got back from our trip to Salt Lake City last night, so I'm behind on everything.
As for my goals from last week, to be honest I haven't been as conscious about my efforts/successes/failers this week as I would have liked to have been. I'll blame it on the chaos of planning and going on our trip, but that feels like a lame excuse. Actually, a road trip is just the formula to bring out some of the struggles I mentioned last week. But here's what I can remember:

Goal #1: Don't use sarcasm!
I feel like I did okay with this, meaning there is no specific episode of sarcasm I can remember, but I want to be more consious of it this week, so I'm keeping this goal.

Goal #2: Suggest a free time activity for him to do and provide the opportunity for him to do it.
I actually do recall a specific time I did this! This weekend, I was needing Travis to be on duty with the girls several times while I went to pre-wedding events, like the bachelorette party and girl's breakfast. Needless to say, he was feeling a bit jipped out of "vacation time". So on Monday, the day of my friend's wedding, I suggested that he go meet up with some of his paragliding or school friends for the afternoon until the wedding. He took me up on it and came back obviously refreshed. I think I'll keep this on my goals list this week too however, because I think it really feeds his spirit and makes him feel honored.

Goal #3: Say good things about him, both when others are around and in private
I remember a specific time this weekend when I told him what a good daddy he is when we were at the pool on Sunday. He had both girls in their floaty toys, swishing them through the water, fixing hats, calming fears, just being a wonderful dad. I commented alowd what a great dad he is and I could see him beeming. And you know what, I'm going to keep this goal as well, because I know it speaks love and honor to Travis and that I need to do it more, and genuinely of course.

I'll try to get my update up on Monday next week, sorry about the delay. This accountability is wonderful!
Sarah

Thirty Day Challenge

I just had to participate in this wonderful challenge, courtesy of Christine at Fruit in Season.

As easy as it is to know in my head how important it is to honor and respect Travis, it's much harder to put that knowledge into practice on a daily basis. And while I'd like to think Travis feels honored and respected most of the time, the truth is, I fall short in my efforts more often than I'd like.

What do our husbands need from us? What does honor look like? Christine gave some great answers to this question and I'll try to add a few more. The best reference I have is my own husband, so here are a few things I've learned make him feel honored and respected:

1. When I whole-heartedly support his goals for our family, specifically financially. That means, not only that I understand the value of good stewardship, but I act accordingly, staying within our budget, discussing purchases with him, telling him what I buy on a given day and entering the amount into our budget sheet right away.

2. When I talk to him without sarcasm. I mess this one up way too often! I find it so much easier to make a point using sarcasm, but it is so ugly and only creates defensiveness.

3. When I make an effort to give him down time or free time, without asking for help with the kids 24/7. Along with this, he appreciates it when I don't make him feel guilty for taking that free time.

4. When I cook a delicious meal for him, something I know he likes.

5. When I "brag" on him, both in front of him and when he's not around.

6. When I pursue quality time with him, and for him that means, doing something fun together that we both enjoy.

7. When I make the effort to have good relationships with his family, biting my tongue, thinking before I speak, and creating peace with an attitude of grace and humility.

8. When I show genuine interest in his work, hobbies, struggles, thoughts, desires, all of who he is.

I'm sure there are many more I could add to this list that are not coming to my mind at the moment, but the point is, I know what makes him feel honored and respected, now I need to go about prayerfully increasing those things in our relationship.

So, my goals for this week are:

1. Don't use sarcasm!

2. suggest a free time activity for Travis and create the opportunity for him to do it.

3. Say good things about him to others, in front of him and when he's not around.

I'll keep it at three this week for more focus. This will be great accountability when I report in next week!

Happy Anniversary My Love!

Happy Anniversary Travis!Four years ago today, our two lives became one.
The beginning of our adventure, the happiest day of my life!

Here's to decades of kisses from my best friend in the whole wide world!
Always, Your Bride

Can't wipe the grin off my face!!!

I can hardly believe it myself after four years without a car, but this mama now has some wheels of her own!!! My precious husband, for a killer anniversary gift (our anniversary is tomorrow), bought me a 2004 Honda Odyssey EX-L! It is simply beautiful. Low miles, a gorgeous pearlbrush sage color, leather interior, I'm just speechless. We had been looking for a couple weeks now and found this one yesterday for a great price. At a little after 1:30pm today, I was handed the keys to my new car, and I haven't been able to wipe the smile off my face since. Thank you, thank you, thank you Travis! Words just aren't enough my love! Happy anniversary! There's no way I can match your gift, but I'll do my best to make tomorrow special for you. And THANK YOU Lord for this amazing provision! I, in no way, deserve this tremendous blessing.

Chloe is Crawling!!!

That's right, my little "Baby Moses" (that's what we call her) is CRAWLING!!! She's been scooting and crawling backwards for several weeks now, but for the very first time this morning, she figured out how to put it in first gear and is crawling forward! Here are a couple samples, mama is so proud! I think our first order of buisness this evening when Travis gets home from work will be buying a baby gate for the top of the stairs.