For the entire month of November, I found one thing that I was grateful for Shad for every day. Originally, I planned on giving him a quick note every day with something I was thankful for him. However, after day one I decided to make him a book from Paper Coterie and make a Christmas gift out of it.
I PLANNED on working on the book every day, and I PLANNED on giving him the book on Christmas, but I made a bad mistake. I didn't write down the thing that I was grateful for every day on a piece of paper, and by the time I had time to sit down and work on the book, I had forgotten it.
If it ended there, I would say it was a failure. I could beat myself up about it, but who needs more guilt. Fortunately, the story does not end there, and the Grateful Wife Challenge was far from a failure for me.
This year on my 30 Days of Thanks on facebook and the Grateful Wife Challenge, I decided that I was going to stay current. That just meant that I was going to try to be thankful for something that happened on that day. Staying current really made me search for my grateful items, and forced me to really hunt for my grateful items of the day. I believe staying current is what made the challenge so powerful in my life.
All throughout the month, I noticed things that Shad did.
Day 3 - He never complained as we ran around on Collin's birthday adventure even though it was really cold. He was up for the adventure.
Day 3ish - He washed all the windows in our entire house
Day 5ish - He worked out an extra quick job so that he could have money for us to go to Georgia to visit my family.
Day 10 - He woke up early on his day off and cleaned up our yard without me even asking him just because I was having a party that day.
Day 19ish - He sat back and let me enjoy being in Georgia. I could tell several times he went out of his way to make sure I had a good time.
Day 23 - He loved my Mamaw by speaking her love language, aggravating her.
Day 29ish - He took time to give me my Christmas spirit present.
As I went through the month, I was shocked to see just how much he did and how hard he worked. Staying current and in the day really helped me to see just how much he does. Surprisingly, once I started seeing how much he did, I tried to help him out more. I didn't even realize I was doing it until Shad stopped me the week before Thanksgiving, and said, "I can tell you've really been going out of your way to help me out." I didn't tell him why then, but I knew why.
Seeing all these little things I was missing has also helped renew my spirit towards him. For weeks, when I think of him, I get the warm and fuzzies, and that's a big deal after ten years.
On Christmas morning, Shad won't be getting a book, but on Friday he told me, "My heart is really soft towards yours. We've really been doing good." That's the moment I told him all about the Grateful Wife Challenge, what it did for me, and how grateful I am for what he does.
Gratitude always seems to work the same. Gratitude does not change your situation, it changes your outlook. During November, Shad did not suddenly become an amazing husband, I just saw what I had been overlooking before, and my attitude changed towards him.
The great thing about the Grateful Wife Challenge is that it can be done anytime. You don't have to wait until November. If your heart needs a little boost towards your husband, you should definitely try the grateful wife challenge. If you do try it, my advice would be to stay current and write it down on a piece of paper!
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