On Friday evening, Alex and I had been invited to go over to Fort Worth where his brother and sister-in-law live. The boys were going to be running a 10k in the morning, while Audra and I shopped around and wasted time waiting on them to finish.
It had been a great trip, and we were thrilled to finally get to see their new home and meet their doggies. It was cold that morning, so Audra and I went and looked around all the booths in the expo center while we waited for the guys to get close to the finish line. After about 30 minutes, we decided to go ahead and make our way to the finish line so we could get pictures of them as they crossed.
Before the race- can you tell they're brothers?
After the race- both a little sweaty :-)
Chris was so excited when they finished the race- he told Alex he had never run that far before without stopping. Alex was pumped because he loves to run, and he loves to encourage other people because he's been where they are before.
I doubt I've ever written about this, but my husband has actually lost about 100 pounds since we've been married. Now, I love him at any weight, but I see how happy he is with is self-image and he gets a lot of joy out of helping other with their weight loss and endurance goals. Some of the girls at his gym periodically tell me, "I hate your husband- he pushes me to places I don't want to go." I laugh and tell them welcome to my life.
Chris started his weight loss journey about a year and a half ago, and at the time of this race he has lost 105 pounds. He's doing such a phenomenal job, and we are so proud of him and Audra as they are working towards a healthier lifestyle!
That afternoon, Alex and I headed back to Dallas to meet up with another family member, Alice, who is Alex's first cousin. Her parents, Lucy and Paul, had lost twins when they were growing their family, and Lucy had reached out to me and had given me the book I Will Carry You by Angie Smith. I still haven't read the book, but it sits on my nightstand as a reminder of the love and effort that they showed to be there for us in our darkest hour.
Alice is one of the most genuine people you've ever met, and I thought she would enjoy going with me to pick up some of the books needed for the Hope Boxes that I felt like I needed to put together. I told her that I had given away 4 boxes already, but I felt like I should always have one ready just in case. She agreed, and off to Hobby Lobby and Mardel's we went.
Alice is very much like me, and she likes to bargain shop. While I was finding journals on sale and picking out two of the three books I needed, she was googling for a coupon code. I loved it! We were able to pick up 2 journals and one set of books, but I was kind of arguing with myself about picking up more books. They were available, but I didn't want to go overboard. The boxes each cost about $50, and if I had my way I would probably make as many as possible just to be able to love on some Moms in the way that others loved on me, but I still have to keep it reasonable.
We headed over to Hobby Lobby, talking about the Hope Boxes, and Alex, and how we were healing, and we picked out a few things to decorate the boxes with. Again, Alice was on it with her phone and got us another deal! It was a lot of fun.
As we were getting ready to leave, she pulled on my arm and said, "Come on, we're going to go back to Mardels and get that other book for you. My mom would want me to do that to help you with your ministry." How awesome is that! So we went back over to Mardels, and we were able to complete the books for the second box. I was so blessed to be able to share such a fun and meaningful experience with her, and I was humbled and honored that she called this my ministry.
I'm late to the party, but I'm still happy to be here.
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