We got our wedding rings cut off this week. Sounds weird, I know, but it feels even weirder! Both of our rings have gotten tighter since we first got married, making them harder to take off. After my husband was reading on how that can be dangerous to not be able to take off our rings, he decided he wanted to get a new ring and I totally understand. I wasn’t planning on it when we got to the jeweler, but we ended up cutting my ring off too and are getting it resized.

I’ve been recovering from Sinus Surgery #2 the past week, and going into it I didn’t think I would have a lot to feel joyous about because the first surgery’s recovery was horrible. However, the surgery itself went so well, and the recovery afterward was so well that I didn’t need to use painkillers hardly. That’s a huge win in my book. And even though I experienced a lot of pain a week later due to airplane air pressure, I’m still feeling joy that I was able to recover as well as I did!

The Joy I found in my marriage this week is simply little surprises that mean so much! This joy kind of spans over the past two weeks when my husband gifted me with a massage! I really needed it and they are just my weakness. My body needs it. My mind needs it. So this was a gift I was eager to use. The other “gift” was a computer monitor for my office.

The joy I found in my marriage this week: cute banter :) We love being silly with each other, just like any other couple! Because it’s fun to tease each other, right? I gotta share a memorable one from this week :) Whenever I give my husband a piece of gum, he ALWAYS gives me the wrapper, haha. Sometimes it happens when there’s an obvious trash can near by or he has a pocket he can stick it in himself.

This joy is going to AGAIN sound familiar… trying new things together, or just things that we grew up doing but haven’t done since we’ve been together. We went to a little Idaho getaway with family this weekend and had a blast doing a whole bunch of outdoorsy adventurous things we haven’t yet experienced together, like riding on four-wheelers,fishing and shooting. It’s weird that in our 5 years of being together, 4 years of that in marriage, we haven’t done these things yet, even though both of our families are outdoor sports adventurists.

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I’m happy to say that I’ve truly felt some joys this past week that have left me feeling content with life and my marriage! I have found joy in letting things go. I’m trying to not take disagreements so personally, and it allows us to roll them off our back more. I’m also trying to let go of things I can’t change – specifically the fact that I have to have a second sinus surgery in a few weeks.

I’m still shocked about Chris Pratt and Anna Farris splitting up 😩. Being a celebrity and being married is not easy. I’ve written about how celebrity marriages face different struggles than everyday marriages face. Even though their marriage ultimately ended, I’m still obsessed with this marriage advice he gave, “At least touch toes.” If you’ve read it, I hope you can see the sense he makes. I also see so much of the learning that took place to discover this tip himself.

The times when I think marriage can get the toughest is when spouses are not sharing the same viewpoint, or when one spouse is struggling physically or mentally. Both of these tough situations are prevalent in a marriage that has one or both spouses struggling with mental illness. As I’ve shared in a few articles on depression, it’s not easy for either spouse to handle, and it truly can affect your marriage in the short-term AND long-term of your relationship.

The Joy I found in my marriage this week is trying new things. And this one is going to be funny because it has to do with trying new foods, which I am not very good at. A few weeks ago my husband even said to me, “When I ask if you want to try some of my food and you say, ‘No, I want you to enjoy it” I get that means you don’t want to try it.

Back to School InterviewThis is inspired by an email newsletter I received titled, “Interviews aren’t just for adults,” where I saw a cute picture of a kid holding up one of those back to school/all about me interview papers that people tend to do with their kids every year. And I instantly had a contradicting thought: “Back to school interviews aren’t just for kids!” haha. Which then inspired a great thought…

Exactly a year and one week ago today we sat on this rock and made an important decision to start trying to have children. With it being a year of trying and discouragement, it’s technically now considered an infertility journey. It’s crazy how you can talk about infertility with other people and learn about it, but when it becomes more real for you personally, it becomes this really hard thing to say out loud, or even type.

The joy I found in my marriage this week: that feeling when you kiss and make-up. You all know the feeling I’m referring to because you’ve felt it yourselves many times, I’m sure of it! It sucks when you disappoint each other because you don’t agree on something. But it’s also a reality of marriage because you are two different people joining your lives together. It still doesn’t feel good to hit that low, but man is it good to go back and hit that high :)

It’s not easy to see your friends go through hard struggles, especially when it comes to such an important relationship like marriage. It’s also not easy to be the confidant, the person they choose to share their marital struggles with. Though I think you should try avoiding involving your friends in the personal details of your marriage, it’s a reality that friends will confide in you and you will confide in them.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, but primarily this week, how grateful I am to have the husband that I have. He’s very patient with me on weeks that I fall short, where I complain a lot, and don’t do the usual things that I do. And yet he gives me a break, realizing some of the emotional stresses I’m under, and also tries to help pick up my slack.

Recently, someone in church said something that completely resonated with me in so many ways, and I instantly started writing a bunch of thoughts on it that I had. I want to share those with you! She talked about how we sometimes look at people as obstacles, and how doing so gives us such a negative attitude and perspective on our situations with them. Hearing that really hit me and I think it’s because of the context it was in–relating obstacles to people, especially the people whom we have close relationships with.

This week has been mostly anxiety, over an array of things, people, and situations. It’s put me off my normal self, since last Sunday. For those of you who also deal with this, I’m sure you can understand how frustrating it can be. In week’s like this, it can be difficult to find something to be joyous about. But I did. I found joy in my husband continuously being patient with me through it.

One of the joys I found in my marriage this week has been on how I’ve consistently stuck with this project every week and how it has benefited my marriage! I’m not very good with journaling sometimes, but this particular project and having the blogging accountability to do it has helped me continue it. Not saying that this project has been hard, but I’m not as consistent in my other kind of journaling, haha.

I’ve written a lot about date nights: giving ideas, stressing how important it is, but that it doesn’t have to be epic. Well since “date night” isn’t as simple as you think, I’ve got more to say about it, of course! I’ve been watching cooking shows lately, and have heard the term “elevate” be used a lot. It’s described as like adding an extra element or level to your dish that gives it a kick to stand out from the typical version of that dish.

I don’t really like to say we are a mom or dad to our dog Oli, but we do take care of him and parent him in lots of ways. I didn’t think I would ever be a “dog parent” but I’ve been finding myself glad that it happened. And I don’t want to be one of those people that posts everything on their dog, haha, but I can’t deny the fact that he has brought me some joy this week that directly relates to my marriage, so I’m gonna write about it!