On the Road to Proverbs 31 - Round 2

Proverbs 31 (KJV)
13)  She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
14.  She is like the merchant ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
15.  She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
*+*+*+*+* To me, the above verses mean that a Proverbs 31 wife/mother procures or receives items that would provide for the temporal needs of her family and household.  That could be food, clothing, school supplies ... whatever. As an act of service, she goes out of her way to make sure the members of her household have these necessities.   Until a child can express preferences, a mother will buy or make clothing for their childr(ren).  She will prepare the meals, by herself as necessary, until the children are old enough to help.  Not a lot of us these days have in-home staff, but many people have a cleaning service or tech assistance with their computers.  Showing people that help you that you value their service is never in bad taste. The model Proverbs 31 woman, wife and/or mother knows that God recognizes her efforts; and really, what better recognition is there?  Most of that (myself included) are not there yet, and I think we could agree that it would be nice to hear a word of thanks every now and then. So, my challenge to you this week, is to express your thanks to someone who has helped you in some way. *+*+*+*+* Originally, I had planned to "move on" once each step indicated by the verses had been mastered.  But to me, that means perfect, and well, I'm just not going to get there anytime soon ... not soon enough for which it would be worth holding my breath while waiting....if you get what I mean. And I've tweaked my personal improvement project a bit, that I first mentioned in this post. AMETHYST - caring for myself
SAPPHIRE - caring for my children
PERIDOT - caring for my husband
AMBER - caring for our home
FIRE OPAL - caring for our finances
RUBY - my relationship with God
I found out that peridot (not aquamarine) is my husband's birthstone.  And I'm using colors associated with available Swarovski crystals, because if I'm going to make myself a bracelet or something to mark my self-perceived progress on this journey, it'll be more in our budget working with crystals instead of gemstones. So, for each of the above stones/colors/areas for improvement, I have decided on a goal or habit to develop in each of the next 12 months, starting with March 2013.  I'm not going to list them all here, because the lists will change over the course of the year.  It would also make this post unbearably long, and UGH.  Not going to do it. My plan for the moment is to "introduce" my month's goals the first week, then to review two of them each of the next 3 weeks.  If there is a 5th week, I'll probably post a picture, drawing or poem