Love Dare & Weekend Update

I made the decision to only do the Love Dare on Monday - Friday and skip out on the weekends and see how it goes. It's not that I can't do it over the weekend or don't have time, but I really don't want Grant to know that I'm doing it, so every time I would go to get it out of my bag over the weekend, I felt like I was sneaking around, and he would come around the corner. So, I'm just going to leave the book at the office, and I'm going to do it during the week.

Anyways, Friday's dare went well, and I'm moving on to my second dare today! Today's dare says: In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness. I think that I'm going to iron his pants tonight...I hate ironing clothes, and I rarely do it, so he is very grateful when I do. He has some pants that need to be ironed, so I think that I'll iron those pants today as my gesture of kindness.

We had a busy, fun-filled weekend! We woke at 5:30 AM on Saturday, and we headed to a Vizsla Field Day. Banks was able to run around with other Vizsla's, get in the water and get on some birds. He did so great! We then headed to a friend's house to watch the UGA Game! Yay! We won, but barely squeaked by. On Sunday, Grant went hunting, then he painted our back deck, and we put the crib together! :) Can't wait to show photos of the room in progress...I'm going to take some photos tonight!

Here are two photos of Banks from Field Day...

Love is Patient

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
- Ephesians 4:2 NIV

Back in March-April of last year, our Sunday School class at church watched Fireproof and decided to take on the Love Dare. Our Sunday School class consists mostly of young, married couples, so it was a great exercise as a group. Though Grant and I weren't married, we had gone to the movie theater to see Fireproof, and we both really enjoyed it. Grant bought me the DVD as soon as it came out on video. We participated in the Sunday School class, but I have to admit that we failed at completing the 40-Day Love Dare. We started, and we got through the first 20-25 days; however, we weren't married, and at times it was directed towards married couples, and it didn't apply to our relationship. Also, simply put, we got busy...the wedding was a few weeks away, and we were busy with work, last minute wedding plans and finishing up the semester of school, so we just stopped.

After the wedding, and I had time to stop and think about it, I felt like we had failed. We have a great relationship, and we were / are getting along great, but we had committed to doing this, and we didn't finish, and I was disappointed in myself. So, I decided to start from the beginning and do it again. I'm not telling Grant that I'm doing it, but I started today. I read the assignment, and I'm ready for the challenge to actually complete the entire 40 days! I should be finished with this assignment on November 4th. Even though it's a daily exercise, I won't post about my progress daily, but I'll post about how things are going on a regular basis, so I have the accountability from you all. I think I might even go home and watch the movie this weekend for a little added motivation! :) Though we have a great relationship, I can only hope that this exercise will improve our relationship even more, and we will become stronger as a couple. I'll keep you all posted.

Here is today's dare:
The first part of this dare is fairly simple. Although love is communicated in a number of ways, our words often reflect the condition of our heart. For the next day, resolve to demonstrate patience and to say nothing negative to your spouse at all. If the temptation arises, choose not to say anything. It's better to hold your tongue than to say something you'll regret.

This one should be pretty easy...Wish me luck!! :)