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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Challenge # 16: November 29 - December 5, 2010

Proverbs 31:17 “She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.”

Well, Happy Holiday’s ladies! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!! It’ so good to be back this week preparing things for Christmas, and getting everything back in order from Thanksgiving! I feel like life has been such chaos since the baby was born in August, but I’m hoping to be more consistent now with the challenges!

I’m so excited about Christmas this year! I think it’s because it’s the first year that both my oldest girls are old enough to really appreciate all the traditions and fun things leading up to the holidays! So that means more work and preparation for me, and finding new traditions for our family!

Okay so let’s get down to the challenge this week!

When my husband and I first got married, he had a back condition that I was aware of but didn’t know or realize how serious it was. After a year or so we were told he would eventually need surgery and was referred to a back doctor who was actually the same doctor who worked on Christopher Reeve after his accident. We were further referred to an Orthopedic/Neuro-Surgeon who has since said he will eventually have to have surgery but to wait as long as possible! The longer we wait the more technology we will have, and the better the surgery will go. He was also very surprised that he was not in more pain then he was.

The last 5 years I knew in the back of my mind that he would need surgery someday, but I felt like we couldn’t live our lives based on that fact. We had to still go forward and when the day came the day would come. I never treated my husband any different, still expected him to pick up the girls, put them in the car…I mean after all he is my husband, the strong man I married right?... hurt back or not.

A few weeks ago my 18 month old fell on a chair and her tooth went through her bottom lip. We decided to take her to the ER, and thankfully she did NOT need stitches. As we were leaving the hospital, my husband was carrying her through the parking garage, when he suddenly had to stop. He bent all the way to the ground (baby still in arms) and squatted stretching his back. He told me it was really hurting and he couldn’t carry her any further. I took her from him and carried her the rest of the way to the car.

Since that day a few weeks ago, his back has gotten worse, and worse! One day he was in the bed all day long, and most days end with him having sciatic nerve pain. He went from taking a pain pill occasionally to having to take three different pills, three times a day! And we’re scheduled for another trip to the doctor in January which I do fear will result in scheduling the surgery if there isn’t another form of pain relief.

As his wife it’s been scary for me to see this happening before my eyes. I’m sure it hasn’t been an easy thing for him either. He can no longer lift the kids, put them in the car, carry them, or help me with heavy things without having severe pain. It’s mostly up to me now. While my husband is still a strong man, I’m sure for any man this would be a hard thing feeling like they’ve lost their strength. But he can rest assured, he is still one of the strongest men I know – back condition or not!

See, the last 5 years I’ve been so having babies, being a mom, and being wife that I’ve not had the time to prepare for this task that I knew would be before me eventually! I’m so out of shape that after a week of lifting our 4 kids and doing the heavy lifting things that he normally did, I can hardly sleep at night because of my own muscle aches! It’s been taxing on me trying to get used to helping with these things!

So ladies my question for you is, are you in shape? Are your arms strong for the tasks that you might be given? Or are you like I was and thought that you can’t live your life based on the fact that something might happen later on? You might not have a husband with a back condition, but in 10 years are you going to be healthy and able? Are you going to be able to run with your children and play games outside? Are you going to be able to live worry free, knowing that you are in good health? I know I want to!!

So your challenge for this week is to get an exercise routine down if you haven’t already! At least 3-5 days a week! And if you have, add in something extra to that routine this week. Push yourself a little harder. With the holidays here, we are most likely going to be indulging in yummy cookies and lots of food, so no better time then now to burn some calories!!


Also, I'm so excited that we now have 84 followers on our facebook page! Once we hit 100 people, we will have another give away!! Please pass this blog along to your friends, you never know whose marriage you might save!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Challenge #15: November 8, 2010-November 15, 2010

Proverbs 31:17: She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.

With the winter months approaching, for me it's so hard to get motivated to do anything around the house! I just want to stay warm all day and hang out with a good book! This is probably the hardest time of year for me because I hate the winter! During the summer I can get up and do all my housework and just go, go, go all day long! But something about the winter slows me down!!

I've retreated to my crockpot the last two weeks for meals, put off my chores all weekend long and now it's Monday and I'm living in chaos and trying to climb my way out of it! I was really not working vigorously this last week. I'm even behind on all 4 of my blogs!!

So ladies your challenge this week is to "Work vigorously!" This is going to be a huge challenge for me this week since it's winter. A few months ago it would have been cake! So lets take a look at your week, how often do you lay around reading, watching TV, getting on the Internet while your work just sits there growing bigger and bigger? Lets try to have less of that this week and more work accomplished!!

Prayers this week as we become vigorous!