10 Reasons I CHOOSE to Submit to My Husband...........

Submitting to my husband is a CHOICE that I've made as his wife.  It's not something that he has forced me to do, or something that he expects me to do but something that I WANT to do!  Here is why....

1.  I am a very strong willed person.  I can be very opinionated and passionate about certain subjects and because of this I'm absolutely certain I had quite my share of temper tantrums when I was a kid!  Sometimes I need someone to make me humble.  I need someone to say, "Hey, you are wrong and you need to sit there and think about what you've done!"  (not that my husband actually says this) But I need that balance in my life of someone else who shares the same passions but isn't afraid to tell me when I need to "simma' down" a bit, or even at times, get more up in arms!  

2. I respect and honor my husband.  He is a very intelligent man who has inspired me immensely to go after my dreams.  I believe in him just as he believes in me.  I have learned so much from our conversations and debates and never stop learning from him.  He has taught me so many things about the bible and even just life in general.  

3. My husband respects me.  He holds me in high regard like his very own princess.  He really listens to the things I talk to him about and he never pushes me to the side because he is too busy.  I come first in his life after the Lord and his love for me is obvious.  

4.  He is my best friend.  We shop together, laugh together, have children together, eat meals together, do laundry together, clean the house together, pray together, and worship the same God together.  

5.  It creates unity in our home.  Submitting to my husband isn't what the world thinks it is.  It's not just me sitting back and keeping quiet and letting him make all the decisions.  It is being partners, having respect for each other so much that you don't WANT to make a decision without consulting the other person.  I am not required by my husband to ask him before I make a decision, I love him and value him so much that I WANT to include him in all my decisions.  For the most part we talk about everything together and we make decisions together!  If there is ever a situation where we do not agree (which never happens) then my husband will get the final say.  I don't have to like it, but that is the way it will be.  

6.  God says!

Ephesians 5:22-24: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

But God also says:

Ephesians 5:25; Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

YES!! My husband is commanded to have so much love for me that he would die for me just as Christ died for our sins.  

7.   Because my husband loves me this much he would NEVER be bossy, rude, conceited, or selfish with the fact that I have chosen to be a submissive wife to him, but he is thankful, gentle, thoughtful, and receptive to all my opinions, passions, and temper tantrums!! 

8.  It is healthy for us to learn how to serve others besides ourselves.  Being submissive not only  has brought us closer together as husband and wife but it has taught both of us how to think of the other before ourselves.  He is always putting my needs before his, and I him.  Sure there are times we let ourselves get a bit selfish but because we have a great relationship where we can say, " hey I think that was a little selfish" to one another...we usually get right back on track.

9.  It keeps the sparks alive.  Well, we have 6 kids...need I say more?  :)   We love each other more today than we did the day we got married.  Because I've CHOSEN to be submissive it causes my husband to value me and adore me.  When you have someone who thinks of you first in all things, it makes you want to do the same for them and that can be very attractive!

10.  We have a great marriage.  Neither of us feels insecure, nor do we ever bring up the "D" word in our arguments.  We have disagreements, and get angry at one another BUT we know that in the end we will always have someone to hug and make up with when it is all over.  

You see being submissive is a JOY!  It doesn't steal away my rights as a woman or an individual but it brings me JOY as a wife, friend, and Child of God.  Trust me it was a struggle in the beginning and even now some days it still is, but the rewards and blessings that come out of our marriage is more than worth it.  

Circles of sickness....

It seems like 2013 has been a lot longer than just a mere 14 days!  I seriously feel like I haven't see the sun in weeks, and if I do happen to get out into the sun I may just start to sparkle!! ;)  Life here in the Cooper house has been full of sickness since Thanksgiving.

This year has been the worse for us in the sense of sickness.  Prior to this year it was almost like clockwork.  When the weather changed from Summer to Spring we got sick; after a long early winter and once we hit mid January we ALL get sick, and then of course once we went from cold to warm in the spring...the girls got sick again.  This year has thrown me for a loop!  

We bought a membership to a local pool this summer.  We went swimming for an entire month and at the end of that month- we were sick the rest of the summer- ALL of us!  Everyone has been sick off and on.  One will get sick then all will be well for a week and then someone else will get sick.  We've seemed to hit our peak right now and haven't been able to get a break.  

Right before Thanksgiving I was sick, as well as a few of the girls with colds.  Then a week before Christmas we got the stomach flu!!  My poor husband was a saint!  We were all sick at the same time except for him.  He had the girls laying in a circle in the living room with blankets and pillows and a puke bucket beside their heads.  I was in my bed also with a puke bucket!  One bucket would get full, he would go wash it out and another would get full.  It was continuous for over 14 hours!!  He did nothing but wash out puke buckets!!  He slept for two  days after that !!  lol

We were all well a few days before Christmas (I have no idea how long it lingers though) and seems like we ended up spreading it around a bit on Christmas Eve to family:/.  We also had a visit after the New Year from my Brother in law and his family- again they also go the virus two weeks after we had all been well!!  Of course they could have picked it up anywhere but you never know.  

Then we were hit with strep, and cold viruses that we were told we can't do anything about but wait it out and let the whole family contract and get over.  And then Nathan's back started acting up.  In the last two weeks I've never seen him in as much pain before.  He has been in such severe pain that his medication isn't working, he can't stand up, he is constantly having to alternate between hot and cold compresses and the pain has caused him to get sick to his stomach, and become dizzy.  At first we couldn't understand what was going on with him getting dizzy and sick-we thought maybe it was a virus, and then we finally put together that it was happening every time he was in severe pain.  So-  we are again contemplating surgery and will be calling his pain management doc this afternoon.  

Friday night Sweet-pea came down with a high fever of 103.5.  I gave her a bath- ibuprophen and tylenol every few hours, the normal "get the fever down" routine.  I decided to take her to Kidmed but when we got there they were closed!  I went to another urgent care facility but they didn't take our insurance so I ended up back at home with hopes that we would make it through the night.  She went to bed only to wake up again a few  house later at 103.5 again.  We went through the routine again and this time it went down to 102.5 and within an hour it was back to 103.5.  We called the doc and they seemed to think she was okay; however, after watching her continue to have rapid breathing and congestive cough I was convinced she had pneumonia!  We took her to the ER and that was her diagnosis!  She was a little better today.  Her fever was down, but still there and she was a cranky mess, but she was on the mend.  

Somewhere between Saturday and Sunday Hobble-Bobble, Little Bear, Goobies and Pumpkin have all come down with some type of respiratory problem that has needed a nebulizer.  When we tried using it, it wouldn't work!!  We pulled out our back up and it still wasn't working!!  So we called all over town trying to get new parts for it and NO ONE had parts that were accessible this weekend for them!  Thank God that they weren't horribly severe!!  Until tonight!!

Pumpkin got up at 3am gasping for air.  She had severe croup and her chest was tight and heavy and hurt.  We have dealt with her and croup since she was a baby and until the last two times she has had it, it hasn't been this bad.  Tonight was the worse.  I put her coat on her and stuck her head in the freezer like the doctors suggest.  She sat there for a while and was still wheezing desperately!!  Nathan and I started to make plans for who should take her to the ER sense our nebulizer wasn't working, and there was no way we could let it go.  After an hour of giving her water and sitting her in the freezer, I decided to pray over the nebulizer.  I plugged it in and it WORKED!!  Now after three treatments she is still not sounding very good.  I gave her some benadryl in hopes that it will help, but if not we may end up at the ER or Doctors office sometime again today anyways.      

In the midst of all of this, I started my classes on Saturday!  It has taken everything I have to not drop my classes this semester!  All I want to do after they go to bed, is going to bed!!  I just have to keep telling myself - it will be over before you know it!!!  Until then-  I'm going to continue pressing on because it will one day be worth all the sacrifice-  right?  

Oh and just to clairify-  this is not a post of me complaining, but me just sharing what life is like with you.  In the midst of our worse day-  all of us puking in circles- I would not trade my life for any other!  I have more love than I know what to do with at times!  I am a very blessed person!