OKC Memorial Marathon

The big day has come and gone and it was a huge success!

Congratulations to all of those who walked, ran, wheeled etc. You are all amazing!

Together the six members of our team ran 26.2 miles! What a huge feeling of accomplishment when you cross that finish line! It was totally amazing to finish knowing that we did this to accomplish something greater than ourselves and to remember the day that hundreds of innocent people died. It was really heartbreaking to see the runners with signs on their backs that represented friends and family members who had passed away. I saw a lady running with a sign representing a 15 month old baby and my heart melted. How lucky we are to live the life we do. When we walked through the memorial several people had put their medals on their loved ones chair along with their bib. It really made me thankful for my family.

Altogether, it was an amazing experience and I am ready to go back next year!

This is the starting line at 6:30am after the buzzer had sounded for the race to begin!

(sorry it's blurry)

If you can spot the green shirt that is Ryan running towards me to hand off for my portion of the relay.

Ryan is already setting a goal to run the half marathon next year and I may be running along with him! If not we are definitely putting our shirts away for next year's relay!

The photo belolw is our team! Here is our relay breakdown:

Ryan-6.2 miles

Amber-3.1 miles

Sarah-7.6 miles

Elizabeth & Bailey-3.1 miles

Sarah E-6.2 miles

Together-26.2 miles

Time-4:29:47

We totally defeated our goal of 4 1/2 hours!

GO TEAM RIDGE RUNNERS!

At the end of the race Elizabeth, Bailey and I walked over to catch SE coming to the finish line. Once we found her we ran the last few steps and got to cross the line! This picture below I took while running towards the finish-what a great feeling!

The OKC Memorial-it was really great to see so many people running in honor of those who lost their lives.

I love my sweet husband and I am so glad he joined our team and ran with us!

This is Abbey. She is in my class. Her dad also participated on a relay team along with Sarah's husband! I'm so glad she got to come see her dad run and her teacher too!

As you can tell it was a very windy day, but we were thankful the storms didn't come until later in the evening! What a successful marathon!
Can't wait til next year!

phil 2:3

I ran across this verse today and it was exactly what I needed...
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."
Ouch. This hit home for me today. This week has been jam packed with "stuff." Events.lunches.showers.tests.school.meetings.kids.etc that by the end of the day Friday I felt like crashing. Too much to do, worry about, say, think, etc. all with little focus on God. I was so worried about my own agenda, problems, and life that somehow this week I missed God. I've been so stressed with to-do lists, money, bills, plans, etc that I forgot to ask God what He wanted. I hate that I put myself first and didn't let God take care of it all. So tonight as I sit here listening to the rain praying for God to take all of the things life throws at me. I can't help but ponder this verse that hits so hard. May my life be about His will and not my own selfish ambition. This is my prayer.

The message says this so wonderfully (same verse, different translation):

" 1 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— 2 then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. 3 Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead." Phillipians 2:1-3

diaper cakes and crafts

Here is a post dedicated to some recent craft projects...

I thought I would share and maybe inspire some creativity in you!

Happy crafting!

This is a sign I made for Ryan's office.

I saw this on someone elses blog and thought it was so neat! I really needed an earring holder too. All you need is a picture frame, scrapbook paper, and 2 rubberbands!

Now for the diaper cakes! I have only made three in my life (shown below) but I am getting better each time! They are really fun to make and you can do a lot of different things with them!

If anyone needs a diaper cake let me know; I would be happy to make you one!

This was my first one for my sister-in-law's baby. It was pretty simple since it was my first. We weren't sure if she was having a boy or girl so I kept it neutral.

John is my nephew and I made this cake for a shower I threw for him and his mom, Mandy.

His room is a jungle theme with lots of fun animals!

Baby Emma will be here in 6 weeks so I made this for her shower!

I love the pink and green theme they have for her room so I made the cake to match!

Can't wait to meet that sweet little one!

HAPPY CREATING!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter weekend!

Here is a little bit to keep you updated about our fun day...
Ryan was asked to play at the 1st Presbyterian Church here in Stillwater and that was the first time I had ever attended a Presbyterian church so it was a new for me. Ryan did a great job! I'm always so proud of him! He works so hard and sometimes I don't think he gets enough credit. So here is a special "I'm proud of you!" Because he really is the most wonderful husband :)
The family (including Bob) came over and we cooked Easter dinner-steaks, mashed potatoes, apple salad, crescent rolls and ended it with delicious cupcakes. Doesn't that make you hungry? I kind of have a cupcake fetish these days, probably due to the fact that I bought the coolest ever cupcake book at our book fair. So I made a few that look like Easter eggs, but with the lack of time and patience I had at 10pm Saturday evening, I did the rest to spell out "Happy Easter."
We also took Bob around Stillwater to see all of the "sights" (OSU, where I work, Garth spots, etc.) and watched the Masters. My parents, husband, & Bob are golf fans and I know nothing about it.
Anyway I really enjoyed being with the fam for a day! They really are the most important people in the world to me!

If you notice the pink cupcake on the bottom row has a bite taken out of it thanks to my wonderful dog Marley. She put her nose right up on the counter and took a huge bite when no one was looking. Sneaky girl....

It's Easter

Easter is one of the best holidays! Not because of the easter bunny and the eggs and fun candy- but because of this day thousands of years ago we were given a hope and a reason to live! Today we celebrate one of the most important dates in history. Can you imagine what this day would be if we didn't celebrate it because of Jesus Christ? I am just beyond thankful that God sent his one and only son to die for me. What kind of life would we live if we didn't have the forgiveness of sins? I praise God for what this past week represents. God's son literally was bruised and beaten and carried his own cross all the way to Calvary and was then hung there with nails in his hands and feet just so we could live. But the most glorious part is that he didn't die but that He lives! That is the best news that anyone in the whole world could recieve!

Praise God for he knows what the world needed and he sacrificed his son for it.

What a wonderful maker

What a wonderful savior

How majestic your whispers

And how humble your love

With a strength like no other

And the heart of a father

How majestic your whispers

What a wonderful God

-Matt Redmond and Chris Tomlin

RUN

It's official! Ryan and I are officially registered for this!

We are running in the relay marathon with a few of my teacher friends! He will be the only male on the team, but he is representing our 5th grade male teacher who can't run because of his back! It's exciting because together the 5 of us will run 26.2 miles! Hopefully this will become a tradition every year!