uh, I'm still alive.....part 2 (Proud Wife)

SO.....again it has been an embarrassingly long time since writing. So I am catching up a few months. Since I talked about how proud I am of Eden accepting Christ, I will now tell you how proud I am to be called Chris' wife.

First off, in April, Chris & I ran our first marathon relay. Chris started the relay and ran 6 miles, our friends Andrew & Missy each ran 7 miles, and I ran the final leg of 6 miles. It totaled a full-marathon. It is the first time we had ran that distance. Chris ran the entire way. I was actually jealous of the progress he has made. It is a definate love/hate thing. I love that he is beginning to love running. I love that he is motivated to change his lifestyle. I love that he is committed and determined to see changes, even if they are slow changes. I hate that soon he will be beating my time. :) I hate that he wants to run a half-marathon, because of my competitive spirit, I think I have to follow. :) Chris due to his exercise and a few changes in our eating habits (there is still MAJOR room for improvement) has already lost a total of 44 pounds!!! I am so proud of him. Even though I am discouraged about my own lack of weight loss, I am so very proud of Chris and his hard work.

So speaking of his hard work, Chris & I celebrated being here in Washington, MO at FCC for 5 years on June 1st. It is the longest ministry we have been a part of. The house we have been in for 4 years is the longest stay at any house since Chris & I have been married (11 years). It seems like it has flown by. It doesn't seem like 5 years because we enjoy it so much. We appreciate our church's leadership and staff. We love the town of Washington. We love our friends & the ministries we are involved in. We love the school district. We love that we are near the city & the Cardinals. I am so proud of my husband's work ethic and integrity that allows security for our family. I am so proud that Chris does not give reasons for being terminated or "let go". That sounds harsh, but I am truly grateful because of his humble spirit, spiritual gifts & natural talent,listening ear and how hard he works. I know he is taking care of me & our beautiful children. I am proud to be called Chris Strickland's wife.

uh....I am still alive....part 1 (proud mama)

Well it is a little embarrassing to see how I've neglected my blog. I know it probably doesn't matter so much to the tons of readers out there (LOL). :) But there have been a few major things happen, that I would want my kids to know I noted on. By far the most exciting thing to happen is on April 18th our daughter Eden accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord & Savior and was baptized. Chris & I wrestled for a while about it, thinking is she too young and so forth. But she proved to us time and time again, she knew what she was doing. Having been her children's church teacher for the past year, I do know she has a little more maturity and knowledge than the average 7 year old. Plus her dad was baptized at age 9, I was baptized at age 11 and that is without having been to church since being 6 days old. Eden has been surrounded by church her whole life--many times 3x a week or more. One of the things that was suggested to me, was to write down some of her own words so that later I can tell Eden this is what she said to me. This was her decision, not that of her parents. So I did just that. In our mommy/daughter journal I asked her to remind me the reason she wanted to get baptized. She responded with "The Top 5 Reasons I want to be baptized..." and went on with her reasons which were all valid. I am so grateful that she made this decision. It makes me think Chris & I are doing something right. Now as long as we continue to help her/train her/guide her to stay on the wonderful path she is on---all will be good.

I will leave it to that and attempt to catch up on the lives of my boys (including Chris) a wee bit later. I hope not to neglect my blog again. If I do....someone slap me. :)