Friday, January 23, 2009

"My Husband Rocks!" - Friday

This week I bumped across a running project on another friend's blog. She was part of a growing number of bloggers who are participating in "My Husband Rocks!" Fridays. Every Thursday, Katy Lin from http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/ posts a theme or two for us to write about on Friday. As a woman who has a husband who truly rocks, I thought this would be a great way to remind myself each week of exactly why I love him.

So, without further ado, here is this weeks MHR post:

The Theme:
Tell us about a time that your spouse went out of his way to serve you, and love you sacrificially.

Honestly, this has been a really hard post to write. The Major lives this everyday in so many ways it's hard to pin-point one. I could talk about the way he sacrifices his sleep to stay up late and watch a movie with me or let's me sleep while he tends to Boo if she wakes in the night. I could also mention how just this week when Boo was so sick, he ran out several times to the store to get medicine or special food items for her.

I think my favorite memory that stands out most in my mind happened when we were living and working Korea. We were actually in China on a missions trip to check on projects and encourage some of our fellow laborers there. We were near the end of a long trip and had gotten delayed flying into Beijing, our last stop. We were picked up by a local worker and taken to the office/apartment we were going to be staying in for our last few days there. I was so exhausted I could barely see and was looking forward to crawling into bed. There would be no sleep for the weary this night.

The whole room was filled with dust. The bed and pillows were moldy smelling and I ended up spending the next 2 hours coughing and needing to use my asthma inhaler while the Major was sleeping peacefully. After dissolving in tears, I woke the Major up and told him what was happening. His response was so precious. Without hesitation he got up, got dressed, and packed up our things to head out and try to find a hotel. The crazy thing was that it was now 3am...we have no way to contact the local workers, we don't know any hotels in the area...we didn't even really know where in the city we were, and we don't know the language. That doesn't stop my dear husband though. Out we went to wander the streets of Beijing.

There happened to be a few cabbies just outside the apartment complex and the Major bravely approached them with his Chinese/English dictionary and pointed to the word for hotel. Well, at least we thought it was the right word...there were two possibilities. We realized we had picked the wrong "hotel" word when the guys started looking me over and giggling. The Major quickly righted the situation and got the message across of where we wanted to go. In faith, we hopped in a taxi and started our trip down dark streets hoping we'd come out of this alive. We soon saw the most beautiful site...English letters spelling out HOLIDAY INN. I wanted to cry in joy. When we got in there, they were booked, but quickly found us a room in another nearby hotel. By 5am, we were finally crawling into a dust & mold free room.

The Major only got 2 hrs of sleep that night because he had to be at a meeting at 7am that morning. He came back to the hotel rejoicing that I had been able to sleep and took me out sightseeing later. It was truly a night to remember and one where my husband put my needs completely ahead of his own. He has continued to serve me this way throughout our marriage and I am so thankful to be his wife.

The Mission:
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, has two parts. First, look for ways that you can serve your husband. These can be big or small, sometimes the things that seem so insignificant to us can make a big difference in making our husbands feel loved and respected. And second, if your husband asks you to do something for him, even if it seems silly, or like he could easily do it for himself, do it cheerfully and without an attitude of annoyance.

OK...so, I'm going to have to think of some new ways to serve him this week. I have some ideas, but I won't share them yet since he reads this blog.

As far as the second mission goes...I'm pretty good at that, but I think I need to work on my heart attitudes more. I usually will cheerfully do something when he asks, but sometimes I find myself inwardly feeling put upon or aggravated that he asked. This week will be "heart-focused" on rejoicing in the ability to do things for the Major and the fact that he is around to ask me to do things.

2 comments:

  1. what a precious story! thank you for sharing, and welcome to MHR Fridays! thanks for being honest about your struggles, too! :)

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  2. Great story! What a rockin' husband!!

    I was sick one time in Beijing youth hostel. My husband took good care of me and our baby while I laid there.

    Do all missionaries in Asia have a story of being sick in Beijing?

    :-)

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