No man...and ESPECIALLY NOT Chad

Well....in keeping with the sermon topic of Extreme Makeover, Home Edition, today our sermon explored the idea of submission for the wife and treasuring, being considerate of your wife for the husband. Despite the urge to elbow Chad at some well-thought-out points I couldn't help but look away from Kendall as he preached when it was beginning to hit home....sitting on the front row has it's drawbacks. :) I DID, however, manage to refrain from giving him the "See?-I-HAVE-been-right-about-this" look and I DID refrain from the elbow nudge.

And it's a good thing, because when the tables turned....WHEW! Did I feel it!! I know those of you who know me can imagine my struggle with submission. It feels like I'm not getting to express my thoughts when I do submit...and I even was tested tonight with it. Isn't that just like God???? It's like He was looking down and saying, "Hey, Pete, let's see if she was listening to Kendall...let's see if our words sunk in or not."

I caught myself before it was too late tonight. We've been so busy that the house has been the last on the list for about a month - maybe more. There has been very little cleaning going on here, if you can imagine! :) And tonight when we got home from my dad's I had made the decision that we were all going to pitch in and get it straightened and cleaned. Well, apparently, Chad didn't get the memo because after being home for about 5 minutes he announced, "Welp! I'm goin' fishing." Now I wanted to say "You've been fishing almost every night this week and left me to do this junk by myself. Bathe kids, feed kids, clean up toys, laundry! I need help!" I stiffled it with a heavy sigh....making sure it was loud enough for him (and probably our neighbor, Pat, to hear as well.) Surprisingly, he DID notice the sigh and chose to ask about it. Again, this would have been a good opportunity to truly be submissive and wish him a fun time...but in my least-nagging voice, I mustered up an "I just would like some help." As he was hugging me, I realized I really needed to just stop with that. And for the most part I did.

He was only gone about an hour and fifteen minutes. So by that time, Luke had swept the whole house, I had dusted the living room and piano room, Evan had picked up some toys, Drew had avoided being seen on the couch and thus avoided chores....pretty typical really, Gabriel had picked up a few things at my prodding and coaching, Evan had helped with laundry transfer from washer to dryer, Luke had mopped the dining room, I had cleaned up the "pile" (everyone has one of those somewhere in the kitchen), I had scrubbed the toilet and the sink in the bathroom, and we had read devotions and they had scurried to bed. Now, granted, this wasn't the most thorough cleaning (especially since Luke had so much to do...for concession stand money, you see) but at least it's a start. I'll get more done this week hopefully, and HOPEFULLY, Chad will help in the pursuit of cleanliness.

After all, I heard Kendall say it today, "No man was ever nagged in to doing anything."