I HAVE to give credit where credit is due…. and in this case, ALL credit for being a ROCKIN’ HUSBAND goes to my very own husband, Jason Stanley Marshall.
That’s right, he’s amazing. This week he went ABOVE AND BEYOND, making me feel even more loved and cherished than before.
Here are just a few highlights of how he rocks…
- Monday evening, I wasn’t feeling well… so he offered to cook dinner for me! While I napped, he cooked an AMAZING meal (Catalina chicken with potatoes & veggies!!), did ALL the dishes, and had the kitchen all clean by the time the meal was served. He EVEN refused to let me clean up the few dishes after dinner! He did it ALL!! What a sweetie!
- The other day, I had to do something I was not looking forward to doing. He CANCELED an important meeting just so he could be with me…. and then, as we were leaving work (we work at the same place), I found this waiting for me in the car: Read the rest of this entry »
Alright, so I suppose I’ll dedicate this week’s posts to the Christmas preparation season… Monday was dedicated to Christmas gift shopping, and today will be dedicated to Christmas CARD shopping!!
My friend Christine Arbogast of MakariosStudios.com is an amazing and talented artist, and has designed her very own Christmas cards that she is selling on her website. Let me just say, THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL!! Original paintings, printed on high quality card stock, and personalized with any message, verse, or even your name (makes sending cards THAT much easier).
Have you bought your Christmas cards yet? If not, head on over to MakariosStudios.com and purchase your unique cards today!
AS AN ADDED BONUS, just for being a part of TheStrivingWife.com, Christine is offering a special gift for those of you who purchase (and mention this blog)!
- A FREE GIFT!! That’s right, she will send you a FREE GIFT with every purchase made!
- A DRAWING FOR A FREE BOX OF CARDS!!! If you purchase anything off of Christine’s site, she will enter you into a drawing for a free box of cards!
Also, sign up for her newsletter to be entered into a monthly drawing for a $50 gift certificate to her site. Pretty great deal!
So, I need you to head on over to MakariosStudios.com, sign up for Christine’s newsletter, and check out her supply of Christmas cards and other artwork in the online store. Maybe you’ll see something you like! If you buy something, don’t forget to mention TheStrivingWife.com to get your free gifts!
Enjoy your day…. and check back tomorrow for this week’s version of why My Husband Rocks!!
Keep on Striving,
Heather
PS - Oh yeah, don’t forget to follow Christine on Twitter!
PPS - Leave a comment here and let me know what you think! (and ESPECIALLY tell me if you bought something!!)
Can you believe Christmas is right around the corner?!?! I’ve been getting my daily countdown from 100DaysToChristmas.com and I just can’t believe how quickly it’s coming upon us (38 days!!)! My husband is still trying to get away with wearing flip-flops, and I just recently (and very grudgingly) took out my winter clothes!
But…. it’s here. The season is upon us. I dislike the consumerism of the holidays, but I do enjoy giving gifts to those I love at the same time! Last year, I managed to buy almost ALL my Christmas gifts from ChristianBook.com, and I’m thinking of doing it again this year! They’re affordable, and there’s something for everyone there (more than just books)!
3 reasons to shop at ChristianBook.com this Christmas:
- “I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.”
It was quite funny… I wrote this article Sunday evening, and sure enough, Sunday night Jason and I were about to go to sleep when he said, “Gosh, you’re SO ANNOYING!” and I had to laugh, because of the quote I had just found. Why did he say such a thing? Well, I was only trying to warm my icy-cold feet on his warm, bare legs…..
Okay, okay, so I’m sure we don’t want to annoy our husbands for the rest of our lives…. but I’m sure we all have those endearing qualities that make our husbands smile and shake their heads. You know what I’m talking about, right?
For me, it’s DANCING. If I want to embarrass my husband, all I have to do is dance a little! He is a naturally gifted dancer. Me, on the other hand….. well, I’m the one that will purposely make people laugh at me while dancing so they don’t realize just how bad I really am.
The other night, though, Jason & I were in a bit of a crazy mood, and we started a dance-off. (My idea of course). It ended with me doing the “Q-tip” dance…. totally blew him away with that one! (j/k) But then we moved into Praise-ercise (exercising to Praise music!), do-se-do-ing, hip-hop, and all crazy dance moves. We were rockin’ it. And it was the most fun I’d had in quite some time. Sooo, it made me think that it was high time I wrote another Top 10 list!!! This one is called:
Top 10 Reasons Why I’m SO Glad I Married My Best Friend
“Men and women belong to different species and communications between them is still in its infancy.” ~ Bill Cosby
Ahh, communication…. have you noticed how hard it can be? Most fights (at least in my marriage) start due to a lack of communication. Or, to be more accurate, a lack of UNDERSTANDABLE communication.
What do I mean by that? Well, consider the art of “nonverbal communication.” Women are GREAT at it… our facial expressions can tell a LOT about what is going on inside, but as I’ve been discovering, our facial expressions are not always read properly by our husbands.
Case in point: Yesterday morning, Jason and I were getting ready for church. We thought it would be FUN to test each other on our non-verbal communication skills. Even though we were doing it as a joke, it was interesting to see the differences in our trains of thought.
Here’s one example: I was talking to Jason about something and - in the middle of my sentence - he begins to pretend to pick his nose. (I know, gross) So, my interpretation of his nose-picking communication: “Oh my gosh, is what I’m saying THAT boring/unimportant to you?!” His actual reason for pretending to pick his nose: Read the rest of this entry »
I had an epiphany today as I cooked dinner. I was thinking about my life, my blog, my husband (who was in the bathroom, cutting his hair & kept calling me to check it out), my purpose…. and as I was trying to figure out how to work out this blogging thing (because it takes me a LOOONG time to write a typical post), it dawned on me: It’s the SMALL VICTORIES in life that make me a Striving Wife!!
Basically, I’ve been struggling about what to blog about for some time now… I’ve been reading tons of books about marriage and being a wife, (which are great!) trying to write about the things in there that strike me as “WOW”…. HUGE areas that need to change …. but, while the books and the information are good and helpful, overall it’s been feeling dry. Boring. Lifeless. It makes me feel like I’m painting the picture that marriage is a struggle, the constant battle of my flesh versus my spirit, with my husband thrown in the middle.
Okay, maybe that’s the case for some marriages… but I’m guessing that that’s NOT the norm for most of us out there. I think most of us have GREAT marriages, of course with some room for improvement!
So, it got me thinking…. Read the rest of this entry »
A few weeks ago, I was at the Illuminate Conference in San Francisco and one of the speakers gave an illustration about how important it is to choose our words carefully. He said that our words are like toothpaste - once it’s out of the tube, it’s soo hard to get it back inside! Likewise our words, once they are out of our mouth, are very hard to take back. The impact is lasting, and can have serious spiral effects on our marriage, either up or down.
This past Sunday in church, my pastor started a sermon series entitled “Mind Your Mouth“, in which he discussed the power of our words. For instance… think about the truth of these statements:
- Words affect the economic climate of the world.
- Elections are won and lost based on Words.
- Marriages are rescued or destroyed by Words.
- Children’s futures can be impacted based on Words told them at an early age.
We’re given a CHOICE as to what words we use: “Death and life are in the power of Read the rest of this entry »
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.”
I’m sure we’ve all had those words pounded into our memory at an early age. Our parents, our teachers, and others would make sure that we trained ourselves to choose our words carefully. To think before we speak. Of course, we’ve also been trained to believe that our words really don’t matter, because children all seem to know this silly rhyme;
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.”
Really? I think I’d rather have the temporary pain of a broken arm than deal with the lifetime of hurt a few words can bring.
Words can be powerful. Words can also be very dangerous. Words seem small and insignificant, but Read the rest of this entry »
Did you realize that, as Americans, we are inundated with CHOICES?
Every day, we make hundreds, even thousands of choices. What to wear, what to eat, what to say, what to do, where to go, who to talk to, who to sit near, who to marry, who to vote for. Some choices are inconsequential; others have the potential to impact our bodies, our minds, or our marriages for the rest of our lives.
Let’s look at some past examples of choice that may have affected where you are today (I’ll use myself in these examples, but feel free to apply them to your own life choices): Read the rest of this entry »
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s been a little while since my last post. Main reason: I’ve been in California (internet-less) since Thursday!!
I was at an internet marketing event, the first ever Christian internet marketing seminar called Illuminate Conference. My husband was one of the speakers, and I was looking forward to learning and hearing new marketing strategies as well as networking with other believers.
Let me just say, I was NOT disappointed!! There was great lineup of speakers, and we got to hang with a bunch of awesome marketers, ranging from the newbie to the most successful… plus, it didn’t hurt that the hotel sat right on the San Francisco Bay, and we got to see a bit of the city while we were there.
One of my take-aways from the weekend comes from Monikah Ogando, who got us up out of our seats and led us through some uncomfortable exercises. I would like to take one of these exercises, and apply it to our marriage. Read the rest of this entry »
