Wednesday, February 29, 2012

February: How I Remembered Love

Time to check up on how I did with my February goals!  I loved that the focus of February was love and marriage; it coincided perfectly with all of that Valentine spirit in the air and also Caleb's birthday.  

Read The Excellent Wife:  I honestly haven't gotten very far, but I like what I've read.  One sentence at the beginning of the book caught my eye and I've been thinking about it since: "the husband should be the primary benefactor of his wife's time and energy, not the recipient of what may be left over at the end of the day".  After a really busy day, it's hard to make sure I'm still pouring energy into us!  I've been trying to consciously work on this.

Frame and hang our wedding vows: done!  I hung them on one of the walls in our bedroom, and I love having them there.  They are hanging across from our bed, so I love that I see them every night before I fall asleep and every morning when I wake up.  It's definitely helped me to be more conscious of the things that I've promised Caleb.  Caleb said he really likes that we have them hanging up now, too.  I highly recommend hanging your wedding vows where you can be reminded of them often!


A few other things I learned:

1. I was sick for almost three weeks February, which obviously sucked.  But it was so much harder to pour into my marriage and consider my spouse better than myself when I wasn't sleeping well and felt gross and couldn't breathe.  I already know that I am so selfish, but not feeling well reminded me that it really is a constant battle to fight that selfishness and put Caleb's wants and needs first. 

2. I need to write Caleb more notes.  We were long distance when we were dating and engaged, and I wrote Caleb letters all the time then, but since we've been married I haven't been doing it as much.  Caleb absolutely loves loves reading notes from me; his Valentine card and his birthday card are still out because he loves re-reading them.  I need to make the time to put in words how thankful I am for him!

15 comments:

  1. Love that quote from the excellent wife. It can be so hard to give my husband my best after a long day, but it is so important! I'm sorry you were so sick but I'm glad you are doing better!

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  2. socrates said "the unexamined life is not worth living". i always think of this when i read posts like these that you write - you are so diligent at examining how you are doing in terms of your marriage, being a wife, etc. and i am continually impressed. caleb is so lucky and blessed that he has someone like you who will always try to improve to be a better partner - i mean, it seriously impresses me (and makes me want to try harder!) and you know i love number 3 - so far i've been really good at writing notes once a month to brian. i totally think you should do it again, even if you aren't long distance anymore.

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  3. This is totally not what I wanted to hear today but definitely what I needed to hear. Thank you for this convicting reminder that our #1 job as wives is to love our husbands!

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  4. You are such a great wife! I love the vows and pic framed. They look great. I'm sorry you were sick for 3 weeks...that is noo fun boo!

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  5. Awww you are such a sweet wife. Sickness happens, I hope you are finally better! The photos on your wall look great!

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  6. This is a very sweet post Sherri! I think your vows turned out wonderful and I like that you placed a picture of you two in between. Also that quote is a great reminder....I'm going to write that down! Thank you for sharing it :-)

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  7. ok I just ordered this book too; thanks for the recommendation :-)

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  8. That is so sweet, love the idea of posting your vows! So sorry you were sick tho :(

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  9. I love this post and the idea of the vows! I will have to keep that in mind, I have been trying to decide what to put in our room! Have you read Love and Respect? It's a great book for marriage and teaches you so much about putting the other's needs first! You can also watch the author's lecture on the book on youtube! It's a bunch of videos but if you don't have time to read, that's always an option!

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  10. Are you better yet?! It's hard to put another before yourself, even when you're sick. I'm only in week two, but it's definitely an adjustment. Maybe I'll set myself a goal to write him a little note at least once a week. :)

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  11. So sorry you were sick, but glad you were able to still get to your goals. I LOVE what you did with your wedding vows. So romantic!

    - Sarah
    http://agirlintransit.blogspot.com

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  12. I love the idea of framing your vows! My husband and I worked hard to make sure our vows were completely "us" and I'd love to be able to look at them more often!

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  13. we have our vows hanging framed in our room too- it was a christmas present from our sister-in-law. it's a great idea and i never would have thought of it!

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  14. I think this is definitely one of my favorite posts. I love how you are so aware of taking care of your husband and your marriage. I am trying my best to remember to do so with my own husband because he means the world to me. Hope your March will be better health wise than your February was!

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  15. I love that you framed your vows. So beautiful.

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