Respect Challenge: Week 5

Quick Recap - I am on a 25 week journey to becoming a more respectful wife.  I want to be the best wife my husband could ever ask for!  I found my inspiration over at Loving Life at Home.  Please feel free to join me on this journey...it might even change your marriage...  ;)

Emphasize His Good Points. 

Jennifer notes, "Sure, he has his faults (as do you), but dwelling on them will only make you (both) miserable. Choose instead to focus on those qualities in your husband that you most admire."

Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

FINAL REPORT:

This was a tough one....two weeks in the works.  Which is a sad truth.  You see, Hubby took a new promotion recently and it has really added a lot of stress to both of our lives.  The end of the day has resulted in him being extremely tired and (he would admit) a little more cranky.  Unfortunately, instead of me being the supportive wife I should be I kept harping about all the things he wasn't doing or being.  At the end of last week I realized I hadn't once tried to emphasize his good points.  I never told him how proud I am that he was promoted to such a good position so soon and at such a young age.  I never thanked him for taking on the added stress so that he could be the bread-winner.  I never told him he was doing a great job with all of his added responsibilities.

Well, the beginning of this week didn't go so well either...it is so easy to keep being the "same old."  But I realized toward the end of the week that I really needed to turn things around.  So first I left him an "I'm Proud of You" note on the table one night - he got it the next morning at breakfast.  (It was part of a printable set of note-cards I got from The Dating Divas, you just have to sign up for their newsletter).  Then, over the next couple of days I sent him random text messages to tell him all the things I thought he was good at, like encouraging me, working hard, etc.  

It was so very worth it!  Our Sunday was so blissful!  We spent the morning snuggled in bed, went to church, celebrated the dedication of a friends dear baby girl, and then came home and snuggled some more.  We decided on a sushi night and headed out for dinner, laughing, talking, and smiling the whole way there.  We ended the night with ice cream.  Even though it was a pretty normal day, it was one of my very favorite days.  After a rough few weeks, Sunday was the first day we not only didn't fight, but we reveled in each other's company!  I haven't smiled like that in awhile.  I truly believe it is a memory I will treasure forever - the calm after a storm.  And all I had to do was change my attitude - stop focusing on the negative and refocus on the positive!