My Meandering Mind

ay 2.
My poor guy is really feeling bad. He stayed home from work Tuesday, and rested on the couch. Which is a good thing, because I had some business to take care of thanks to The Love Dare.

Tuesday morning, I read the pages for day 1 (the book goes much deeper than the simple email challenge) with a humble heart. But that nagging comment from Monday night wouldn’t leave me alone. I set the book down, and said, “Okay, Lord, if I’m supposed to apologize to him, let him be awake when I go upstairs. But if I’m to simply learn from this and move on, let him be asleep. Because really, I don’t think he even heard the comment. And I’d much rather he be asleep.”

Jesus must have been laughing ’cause my guy was wide awake and checking emails on his cell or something. So I told him what I’d said (he hadn’t heard it), and apologized. Humble pie anyone?

I got back to my reading for day 2 and before I was halfway through, I had to go apologize to him AGAIN. Talk about God working things out in me through this dare. Phew. This time, I needed to apologize for ignoring his desire to cancel the bible study Monday night. You know, the bible study where I opened my big mouth and failed dare 1?

Had I really looked at him and not my own selfish desire to have friends over, I would have seen how sick he was and how much he really needed to rest. I giggled when I came up and said I had another apology for him. He laughed when I told him why, but I know he appreciated it. I usually like to go back for seconds when it comes to pie. Humble pie? Not so much.

Finally, I finished day 2 and pondered the dare. Since I started feeling yucky, I kept it simple. I rubbed some pain stuff on his shoulder (twice) taking the time to massage it a little. I also checked on him a couple of times and made sure that HE decided our plans for Tuesday night, NOT me.

I’m almost afraid to see what day 3 will bring. Nah - not really. This is like a fun adventure because my hubby has no idea I’m doing The Love Dare. I wonder if he will catch on before the 40 days are up.

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little while ago, I took my hubby to see the movie Fireproof. It was awesome. The acting was decent, but the message was incredible. It hit my heart like The Notebook and P.S. I Love You did, stirring up a longing to go even deeper with and draw still closer to my man.

About a week ago, a friend mentioned doing The Love Dare Challenge from Family Life. I signed up for the emails (they started on the 5th), but I knew it wasn’t enough. I wanted the whole Love Dare experience. Off I went to my local Walmart where I can usually find NOT MUCH on my list. Seriously, it’s become a joke whenever I go shopping - Walmart - the can’t find it store.

I prayed on my way to the book section, “Please, Lord, let them have it here. I really want to do this challenge. Now.”

I walked up to the inspirational section and…NADDA. No The Love Dare in sight. Undaunted, I scanned the Best Sellers section as I headed off to other shopping and there, a glimpse of brown behind an audio book rack, down on a low shelf (good thing I’m short, we shorties scan low hehe). I squealed as I snatched up the ONE LONE copy. YES! I thanked the Lord and headed off to finish shopping with my prize.

I’d read the email for day 1 (great stuff by the way) and had purposed to take up the dare for the day. No problem, I thought, I pretty much do this anyway. Would you like some pride to go with that challenge? Anyone happen to know what the Bible says about pride? Yup, I fell a short time later.

We had two other couples over for a bible study and were chit chatting about houses. My man mentioned the possibility of buying land and building. I made a sly comment about not surviving procrastination on a whole house. Our group tends to give each other a hard time and laugh together a lot, so this was par for the course.

Later that night, that comment came back to nag at me, and I realized I’d bombed the first dare. Ouch. My honey does procrastinate on projects (he’s actually a hard worker and his job keeps him hopping), and at times, this really bugs me. So there was some ‘truth’ in the comment. A comment best kept to myself.

I’m determined to do better at this whole dare thing.

By the way, Fireproof comes out this month on DVD. Check it out and if you can handle it, take on The Love Dare. I’d love to hear about your journey with it.

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oved over from Six Short of a Dozen…

The Dragon Knights by one point. It was such a close race.

The Dragon Knights chose to implement Family Bible Time and Game Night (Afternoon). They also get $5 05 $6 each or they can combine the money to buy some fall decorations of their choice.

First place runner up: Killer Gals. They each get to buy a fall decoration from the Dollar Store. Plus, they get to enjoy the family traditions we are implementing.

Everyone enjoyed it even though it was a tough competition and they are up for another go around, but on a little bit of a smaller scale. It was a LOT of hard work.

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oved over from Six Short of a Dozen…

This competition has been a lot of hard work. After working outside yesterday morning, I let them take the rest of the day to relax from the challenge. Today it picked back up and it’s a tie. They are on the last round of the competition and then I call the winners and the second place team.

Both teams have worked well together and have been considerate of the other team. A small bit of ‘tude popped up a couple of times, but overall, they kept an upbeat and positive attitude.

And the house looks so much better except for the demolition areas. There isn’t much to be done there except be patient until that HUGE job is done. King Dude (my devastatingly handsome husband) has been working hard and it shows. It’s looking beautiful where it’s finished.

But I digress. Back to the competition: It’s been neck and neck throughout the whole thing. It’s still anyone’s game at this point.

I’ll update when the winners are declared.

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oved over from Six Short of a Dozen…

We’ve been remodeling our kitchen due to a water leak which made the particle board swell under the linoleum and because the cabinets pretty much fell apart when we tried to remove the floor. That’s a long story, but not the point of this post.

With the remodel in progress, a recent yard sale we held, winter/summer clothing swap for a family of eight plus school, illness and life, needless to say the house is a tiny bit messy. Ok, it’s a lot messy.

My husband and I decided to hold a competition. We split the older four kids into two teams: Dragon Knights and Killer Girls (they chose the team names).

We assigned the rooms and off they went cleaning and organizing. The first round was a close one - I went back and forth between who I thought was winning. They went three rounds yesterday and are on their fourth round now. It’s a two point game at this point with the Dragon Knights leading. Really - it’s anyone’s game.

Basically, the first team to finish each round gets five points and the second team gets three points for completing the task all the way. Now, if they say they are done and they aren’t, they lose a point and quite possibly the first place spot.

Mom is keeping the youngest two (ages 4 and 19 months) occupied as well as offering help and advice as needed. I also might hint at something being overlooked, but honestly, the two teams have been very thorough (um - not a regular occurrence hence the possible negative points). They have impressed me by their hard work AND by their positive attitudes.

So what are these teams competing for? I’m glad you asked. The winning team gets to choose two family traditions to implement (or re-implement) such as Family Game Night (or afternoon), Pajama Day, Manner’s Day, Bowling Night, etc. Some things will reoccur nightly or weekly and others will occur at varying intervals, but will be a re-occurring event.

There is also a Bonus Prize, but they don’t know what that is yet. The winning team will each be able to pick out a fall decoration worth $5 or $6 while the second place team each gets to choose a fall decoration from the Dollar Store. They’ve been wanting to decorate for fall, so this way they can pick out the decorations themselves.

I love this competition because they are working as individual teams, but they’ve also made sure to let the other team know what they might get dinged on, which means they are working as a family team as well.

Plus, everyone gets to win because the house will be clean and organized, the yard will be cleared of weeds (part of the challenge is clearing weeds from what we hope will be a future backyard - that was where the money was supposed to go before the kitchen disaster), they will have worked well as a team and they get to enjoy family traditions and fall decorations.

I may have to keep this idea for future competitions.

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