A new direction

Ok so here we go, I started a blog a while ago but just didn’t keep it up so here I am again hints the name "LetMercyComePart2" now I am going to continue this one. Here are the "Catch Me Up" reasons. 1) as I stated in my about me, I am a new found Christian; To give you a brief explanation my wife Ashleigh and I have hit our rough spots in our 4 years of Marriage. This last Saturday however I reverted back to my old ways of being spiteful and just down right mean. Now Saturday was a continuation to Friday. So 2 days of just being mean and hateful saying stuff I didn’t mean but felt at the time, something clicked inside of me and said when I was upstairs crying again realizing all the things I had said and done "you need Christ" so I text my buddy and found out where they went to church at. I told Ashleigh I would be back in time for her to still go out with a friend. And I went to Church and accepted Christ in my life. Now some of you might be thinking "Is he Crazy?!?" No I am not, I went feeling like an 18 wheeler ran me over and backed up to do it again, I left feeling like a completely different person. This is where it gets better! When I got home even though my wife was down right pissed at me she still to me looked even more beautiful then before I left (and no it wasn’t just the makeup) and our children they had this "Glow" about them that words won’t express. And from that day I started feeling better, being leaner ant to Chase who can push the right buttons at times. And by doing that I am watching him grow closer to me. So in saying all of that I LOVE the feeling inside me now every day and it just gets stronger and stronger. That is why I am now righting this Blog. On Sunday after telling Ashleigh what I had done (because it took me a little bit to get the courage to tell her with out being laughed at) she had calmed down and went to the Navy Exchange (NEX) and came home with this book... Now mind you I knew about this book from talking to one of my new found friends and Pastor, called "The Love Dare" mind you I did not even tell Ashleigh about this book yet but was planning on it when she came home. But low and behold she walked in the house and said "I got us something" and tossed a bag to me. Inside was "The Love Dare" all I could do with chin dropped is say "How did you know about this book?" "Who told you" the response I got was "No one, it just popped out at me"! Now do you see why I am becoming more and more of a believer?!?! Now that I got the "Catch me up" out there the true reason I am doing this blog is to document and later reference a "hard copy" of my day to day "Challenges". The book is based off a movie called "Fireproof" I haven’t seen the movie yet but I will tomorrow (or today since it is 0119) and it give each of us a Challenge every day. Ashleigh had already started documenting her everyday challenges so now I need to catch up! So without further ado.


Monday 8 Feb 2010

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

Today’s Challenge is to express Patience.

This is really difficult for me, I am not Patient by any means and I have unfortunately passed that trait onto our children. But my way of not being patient is when Ashleigh is upset with me or not with me I push and push till I figure out what is wrong. But today really wasn’t about her and I, it was more about the kids. As I said earlier I have been more lenient with Chase and it is showing. He is growing closer and closer to me every day that I show him I will not be quick to anger as much. There are going to be times when enough is enough but I am now going to make those times few and far between. Grace is starting to realize that also, now she is on the kick of pushing and pushing "I need it now type of thing" so also with her I am taking a step back and breathing (gathering my mind before I continue down that short fused road). It’s hard I won’t sugar coat it for you, if you met my children on their "worst" days you would understand. Now it’s not just about the kids now that I am learning to step back a second to recoup its helping in my relationship with Ashleigh. And I will continue every day for the rest of my life. I’m not saying I'm not going to slip up every now and again, I am human after all but I am saying I will not give up.



Tuesday 9 Feb 2010

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."- Ephesians 4:32

Today’s Challenge is in addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse (showing patience) Do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.

I struggled with this one today Ashleigh had to help me out. Because for me to not do something is unexpected, but she clarified it for me that she doesn’t expect me to do the things I do around the house I just do them. So on top of showing patience again today I cleaned up around the house and vacuumed the upstairs along with some laundry. on the other hand though Ash surprised the heck out of me, she grabbed some lotion and this heat pad we have, when I told her to take off her socks and hand me the lotion so I could rub her feet (trying to get my unexpected thing out the way lol) she told me "NO, I got it so I can give you a back massage" WOW was I blown off my feet. And it felt so good! My back was all messed up from shoveling 7 inches of snow out of the drive way! Thank you baby!!



Wednesday 10 Feb 2010

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor."- Romans 12:10

Today’s "Dare" was about an act of kindness also, (Whatever you put your time, energy, and money into will become more important to you. It’s hard to care for something you are not investing in. Along with restraining from negative comments, buy your spouse something that says, "I was thinking of you today")

Today’s Ash beat me to the punch (only because I didn’t have a chance to get out and do it before she did lol) so I plan on doing today’s one of these days (I’m only saying it that way because I don’t want Ash to know when its coming) but today was defiantly challenging to say the least. My patience was wearing thin all day; it was just one of those days where nothing could make the kids happy. And to add to it we were watching a friends baby who was having a "don’t like Mr. Justin" day. On top of all that there is someone who will remain UN named that was pushing their limits of "Friendship/acquaintance" with Ash. Without telling people too much of what had happen, this person was sticking their nose where it didn’t belong and trying to break what Ashleigh and I have worked so hard to overcome and build up from. It took allot of self restraint not to say or do anything (and a nice little prayer prior to finding out from Ash). I’m not mad at anyone over it. Yes it shouldn’t have gone down the way it did but I know nothing would have came of it EVER. And having that faith in my family is what kept me calm about the situation.



There now I should be up to par along with Ashleigh! Stay tuned for more later on today.. Good Night/Morning all.