I wish I could come here to report that I was 100% successful in not complaining to or about my husband for the entire 30 day challenge. But instead, I'm just coming here to report.
I'm fairly good at not complaining ABOUT my husband unless it's TO my husband tho... does that count for anything? At least I didn't complain about him to OTHERS... right? That MUST count for something.
The first 15 days were a complete success. I was in awe of so many things... myself, our marriage, the way my husband was complimenting me and enjoying our marriage, but mostly the way God was at work. Then life seemed to happen overnight and I was right back to 'normal'.
So yeah... I'm a work in progress for sure.
Wanna hear something great tho? Jon asked me if I wanted to start over and we could BOTH do the challenge. How cool is that? That's totally nothing I would expect from him. I think we might try it.
I'm thankful for my husband and the marriage we have. We fight, argue, bicker, call names sometimes (me, not him), mock sometimes (him, not me) but we also love, support, encourage and make each other laugh. Really now... isn't that what life (and love) is all about?
Up, down, up down...
Josh's birth was probably the most tumultuous time in our marriage (not FOR our marriage but IN our marriage). It was that way because of the unknown. We didn't know if Josh would live to see his first birthday. We were busy, scared, overwhelmed and exhausted. We had NO idea how to raise a child with special and medical needs. Truth be told, we had (still have) no idea how to raise ANY child. And that's where God comes in...
That time grew us like none other. Isn't that just like God to take something scary and unsettling and just plain hard and turn it into something beautiful, memorable and even worthy of praises? I remember the first week in Boston... not being able to hold Josh because he had wires and tubes exiting every orifice and taped in odd places. He slept around the clock, never cried, wouldn't eat, his skin was an odd shade of yellow and blue mottled together and those dumb alarms kept us awake 24/7. We certainly had our breakdowns THAT week.
But, the great big wonderful God that we serve saw to it that we never EVER broke down together. Not once.
I would spend an hour curled up in the corner in that cold, hard, plastic chair, sobbing, over-thinking things and stressing out like it was nobody's business... while Jon would stand and sing to Josh, encourage me with a hug, eat, talk with nurses, tell Josh stories about his siblings... then we'd switch places. Jon would sink and become quiet, even sulk, while I smiled, chatted with Josh, ate, called relatives. We recognized it right away... we thanked God that when one was weak, the other was amazingly okay. It went on like that for days.
Up, down, up, down...
And it's still going on like that, it seems. Up, down, up, down... twisting, turning, running fast, slowing down, jumping over obstacles, tripping and falling... constant movement... happy, sad, frustrated, glorious and a whole lot of being right in the middle and feeling not much of anything at all...
There is no one better suited for me, no one I'd rather travel the ups and downs of life with, no one I'd rather laugh and love with... the one God introduced me to and allowed me to fall in love with... the ONLY one who could ever be as patient as needed with me... my best friend...
(is this sappy enough yet to make up for the 2nd half of the month when I didn't hold to my end of the no complaining bargain???)...
I love you, Jon (and I mean every word).
Repeat photo but one of his favorites...
I'll keep you all posted if we try the challenge together. I know you'll all be sitting on the edge of your seats in anticipation, hahahaha!
Love,
Susan
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