As we wrap up The Husband Project here on the blog, don’t let that stop you from continuing your projects as you are able. The Husband Project is a tool to get you started–it doesn’t need to be followed perfectly. It is meant to give you a jump start to refreshing your marriage and lighting that spark back up.

 The holiday weekend even threw me for a loop and I’ve had to let a couple days go and pick them up again. No big deal!

Remember the point of the project. It’s not a race. It’s a reboot for your marriage. Even if you only do one project per week, it still counts.

Want to share how a particular project went? Click here and find the Day, click on it and leave a comment! Or, you can share in the comments below.

Have you noticed a difference since beginning The Husband Project?

Winners of last week’s giveaway:

#31 – Tracie B. ~ The Marriage Project

#45 – JessW. ~ The Get Yourself Organized Project

#57 – Tabitha ~ The What’s for Dinner Solution

#18 – Stephanie ~ Praying God’s Word for Your Husband

What a week!!!

Now, I have to admit, with all the buzz surrounding this series, I am surprised to see such scarce comments on Facebook about how the projects are going.

Everyday on Facebook, I post a photo inviting you to share how your project went the day before.

You can click the photos below to take you to each post and share with us how it went. If you don’t have a Facebook, no problem!! Share in the comments.

Here is how some of your projects went last week:

” I let him opt-out of a birthday party we were going to. I made sure the kids and I were out of the house before he got home from work, and I made sure the house was nice and clean so he had a stress-free place to come home to. I think he spent most of the evening working on projects, but at least he could do them without two little boys slowing him down, and he commented on how nice the house looked when I got home ” -Lauren

“When he walked in the house, I was cooking up a storm in the kitchen. He had checked the mail (I put a card for him in the mailbox.) He swept me in his arms and gave me a passionate kiss without stopping to pet the dog who was going crazy at his feet. Usually the dog gets the first hello from everyone in the family because she’s the most excited This morning as I was driving to work, we were talking on the phone, and he asked me if I had any idea how good I make his life. It’s nice to hear confirmation like that from your husband!” -Hope

“My husband and the boys go once a month to a wrestling match that is put on. It is good clean family fun. I have never attend! Last my daughter and I gave up a quiet night at home to go with the guys. Everyone had a great time. And it was an excellent way for me to get out of my box!” -Crystal

“I handed my husband a bag of his favorite candy that morning, and made sure the children saw me do it, and I explained clearly to everyone that Daddy did not have to share it with anyone. (He did, of course.) ” -Sheryl

Tell me what you’re looking forward to most with the upcoming projects.

{If you’re just joining us, you can purchase the eBook here!}

How many of you are ready to tackle this week, with bells on?! Woot!! It’s going to be great and I’m so excited to have the opportunity to super-bless my husband starting these next few weeks.

I have to admit, many of the projects are things I already do on a regular basis -but-, I’m going to try and take it up a notch with each project so it goes over and above what I’m already doing.

I will be recording my week through Facebook, then next week, I will post the entirety of the week here, so they are compiled all in one place, and so those who aren’t on Facebook, can see too.

My Twitter account is linked with Facebook, so they will automatically be tweeted there. I’m going to try to use Instagram(christinwrites) a lot to record the fun (though, not always ) So, feel free to find me there and watch Facebook as I post.

Since I won’t be able to share everything via photographs, I will be checking in often (on Facebook and Twitter), seeing how you all are doing.

What are your biggest challenges you think you’ll face?

By the way, if you haven’t entered the giveaway yet, today’s the last day for a chance!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

For those of you who are just joining in, we haven’t begun the actual projects yet. We begin the projects a week from today. So no worries if you think you’re “behind” because you really aren’t.

Right now we are reading through the book {The Husband Project} in it’s entirety — it’s not too long and it’s a fun, easy read. I recommend, when you get to the projects section, to have a highlighter and a pencil ready to jot notes! It might even be a great idea to have a calendar template of some sort ready to go.

The important thing about doing the projects is to remember to take it one day at a time, and simply give it your best.

As I’m reading through these, I can see some will be more challenging {for me} than others.

Take Project 5: E-Flirt.com, for example – piece of cake. Really. We already do this with little effort. I might need to get a little more creative, but it’s not hard to please my husband with my words.

Project 2: Back in the Day, on the other hand, looks like it’s going to challenge me to train for a 5k (no joke).

So, here’s how I’m going to present the remainder of this series:

Next Wednesday, I will begin sharing how the projects went for my husband on my Facebook page.

So, if you haven’t “liked” my NEW Facebook page yet, you’ll want to do that here.

{Click just to make sure you’ve liked the right page, because I switched it over last week}.

I’ll try to avoid any gritty details that the whole world doesn’t need to know, but I’ll give an overall account. I will also have a link up on my blog for anyone else who wants to share their projects — whether it be just a few or all of them. There is no limit. But the link up will be only on Wednesdays – even though I will post my project everyday on Facebook.

So, if you want to come back and link up another project, you can. Just list the project name in the title section and use your permalink.

If you don’t have a blog, no problem! Feel free to share in the comments, either here on the blog or on Facebook, if you are compelled to do so. My goal is to make sharing as simple as possible.

So, who’s ready to do this?!

Week 1

I want you to take a moment to pause and think about why you want to invest in your marriage. What is your purpose? Is it merely to avoid divorce? Or do you desire something much greater?

Have you ever considered that marriage is not for your own happiness or comfort? I know, difficult to think of in such a way isn’t it? But let’s dig deeper and try to understand God’s purpose for a wife. We know we were created to be helpers for our husband’s, but what exactly does that mean? Are we simply to cook and clean for them? Give them intimacy when they need it?

Those may be the basics of marriage, but still, it goes deeper. Our marriage is a picture of our relationship with Christ. How we relate to our  husbands, how we honor them and submit to them, paints a picture of how we relate to Christ, honor Him and submit to Him.

Our marriage represents more than happiness on earth; it represents relationship with Christ. It’s a covenant that goes far beyond relational. It’s a picture of permanence. It’s not even about staying in love.

What?!

It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 27-28

Marriage is a covenant. A promise of commitment, not to your own happiness, but to your husband as his helper. The joy of marriage overflows from the investment and sacrifice. It’s not something that just happens or comes easily. It requires intentionality.

It’s important for us to come back to the reason marriage was created in the first place–this will help us define our purpose as a wife. When we know what our purpose is, we will better know how to fulfill our role in our marriage, thus creating a beautiful picture of covenant-keeping grace.

We don’t love our husbands because they deserve it or have earned it. Likewise, we shouldn’t withhold love from our husbands because we think they don’t deserve it or because they haven’t earned it from us.

If Christ worked like that in our lives, we’d all be in trouble.

So as we read and prepare for The Husband Project, take care not to hold back your best.

Be mindful of your motives and give without thought of getting in return. As hard as it is, we need to think outside ourselves and even our own needs. If we’re doing this only to have our needs met as a turn around, we might find ourselves disappointed and deem The Husband Project a failure.

That’s not what The Husband Project is for. It is meant for our husbands and them alone. Can we do it? Can we sacrifice 21 days (and beyond) of thinking only of our husbands and how we want to bless them?

I believe we can!! There are over 200 women signed up to take on The Husband Project – we are not alone!

So this week, your homework is to read the book. We’ll have two weeks to get through the entire book. Feel free to highlight, make notes in the margins, and do whatever you need to do to make the most of this challenge.

 What challenges do you anticipate you’ll face throughout this project?

Still need to buy the book? There’s still time!! Buy it here.

Photo Credit

I’m so excited to get started on The Husband Project! I decided to read it in community so you all could hold me accountable!! The book suggests that we read all the way through it before getting started. So we’re going to start there.

We’ll wait one more week to make sure there’s adequate time to order and receive books.

Before we begin this FUN project, I want to be clear about why we’re doing this, by starting off with why we aren’t doing it:

We aren’t doing it because:

• we believe it will win us favor or right standing with God
• we want some kind of pat-on-the-back
• we want to “show up” our husbands
• we want something in return

We are doing it because

• we want to bless our husband with no thought of return
• we want to invest in our marriage
• we want to have a little FUN and spice it up
• we hope we’ll grow in the process

Something else that is vital to understand is this: if you don’t make it through the project, you are not a failure. It does not make you a bad wife, or even a bad person. This isn’t required. It’s fun–and if we treat it as such, it’s less likely to become a burden.

I will tell you this, though: you will get out of it what you put into it. If you want to see some changes, you’ll need to make the effort. If you stumble, that’s OK. Pick it up again! If you decide you just don’t want to continue, that’s OK, too! This is not required. But, it’s not a bad idea to make a commitment either.

Schedule

Each of these dates will include a post with suggestions, tips, and encouragement.

August 1st. – Begin reading book in it’s entirety(take notes and map out projects suitable for you)

August 8th – Continue reading book (and taking notes and mapping out projects)

August 15th – Week 1 Projects (Let it begin!) I will have a link up these last 3 weeks for those who want to share their progress, ideas, or any other thing relative to this project. Sharing will also be on Facebook and Twitter

August 22nd – Week 2 Projects (press on!). Link up, testimonies, encouragement, etc. Sharing will also be on Facebook and Twitter

August 29th – Week 3 Projects (home stretch!) Final link up though we will continue to discuss via Facebook, Twitter, blog comments as to how the final week wraps up

If you are interested in signing up, you can go here.

If you already have the book, you can start reading if you desire. But if you can hold off starting the projects until August 8th, that would be awesome! I would love to do this in community and cheer you on!

Photo Credit

Thanks for dropping in!! We did the Husband Project back in July of 2012.  But feel free to take a look around. You can stay up do date by  subscribing to my feed and liking my Facebook page, where news is always streaming!

One of my goals for the month of July is to begin reading a book to encourage my marriage and I thought it would be fun to do The Husband Project together.

So yesterday on Facebook, just to get an idea of interest, I asked if anyone would be interested in doing it with me. The response was overwhelming!

So consider this the official sign up (linky below). If you don’t have a blog, no worries! Just leave a comment saying “Hey! I’m in!”

We will begin July 30th. I will post an introduction on that day letting you know how the project will work. Since I can’t post everyday on my blog, we will utilize Facebook and Twitter to communicate throughout the week with how the projects are going. Then I’ll post once per week to let you know how it’s going for me, and give you an opportunity to link up a post of your own, or share in the comments how it’s going for you.

I admit, I’ve allowed my husband to go on the back burner of life. It’s not that we don’t connect or that I feel distant from him. But I don’t make intentional steps to purposefully connect with him. Not lately. Not in the last 5 years…or some obnoxious amount of time. Having children consistently can really shift your focus, you know?

Accountability is crucial for me and turning it into a community endeavor makes it more likely that I will follow through. Plus, it’s always more fun to do things with friends! I’m sure we can bounce some awesome ideas off each other and spur one another on!!

One of the things that’s really motivating for me, is when the author writes things like

“We all have projects that we start enthusiastically and never manage to finish. Don’t let this happen to you with The Husband Project.”

Did you happen to read my post yesterday? This speaks right to the heart of that issue!

I want to make this a real commitment. I want to come alongside you as you come alongside me, and we hold one another up and encourage each other.

Let’s not make this just “another book club”. Let’s really dig in and make this count for our marriage. Let’s make it the beginning of a life long habit that we will continue long after the book is read.

Make it a priority. Reading the book will be the easy part. If you already have the book, I encourage you to begin reading it and jotting down your own ideas. If you have a blog, start drafting posts on your own thoughts so you can link up in the coming weeks.

Aren’t our husbands worth it? Isn’t our marriage worth fighting for?

With the divorce rate at about 50%, we need to step it up. Divorce is not a word in my marriage vocabulary. But for others, it is a very real possibility. I’ll save the “why’s” for another post.

For now, sign up to join The Husband Project and let’s make some new habits!

Next week I’ll have a timeline posted for the duration of this project and more details about what you can expect and what you should read when.

Who’s in?

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