The Team. (left to right) Brian, Stephanie,Ashley,Chris and Jared
The warrior (before the race)
I love my husband! I know that is a pretty ambiguous way to start a blog, but that is what came to my mind. I admire so many things about Jared but there are 2 things that come to my mind today, his courage to try new things and his ability to believe in himself and to make other people believe in themselves.
This week end is a perfect case in point. Jared participated in a Mud Run with 4 other people from church. What is a Mud Run you ask? Well, it is running 6.2 miles through mud pits and about 15 obstacles. Some of the obstacles included a rope swing, climbing up and over a 20 ft wall, climbing up and over 20 ft high cargo nets, running through 50 yards of chest deep muddy water, and a 50 yard military crawl through mud. What is amazing to me is that my husband received an email a couple of weeks ago from a Sunday morning bible class at church asking for 1 more participant. He didn't know these people very well but he said, "Sure I'll do it!" He hasn't been running a lot lately much less 6.2 miles with 15 obstacles in between but he said, "Sure I'll do it!" This is what I LOVE about him. I would have been thinking of 1 million reasons why I COULDN'T do it and he is thinking of reasons why he CAN do it. I would immediately fill myself with doubts, "What if I'm the worst on the team? what if I hold them back? what if I can't finish and I embarrass myself? what if the obstacles involve my much dreaded fear of heights?" Jared is thinking, "Man, this will be so much fun! I can't believe I get the chance to do something like this. I can definitely do this. I get to meet 4 new people I didn't know before." I hope so much that Kate will inherit this trait from her Daddy. He seldom lets fear of the unknown enter his life and I am in awe of this. Of course I am not just talking about sports and races. I am talking about other aspects of life. I want her to believe she can do anything she wants to try. I don't want her to be held back by what ifs and self doubt.
I love Jared because he makes me believe in myself. He was my sole inspiration for running 5 ks, running the half marathon, and doing the triathlon. I (being the self doubter and less than refined athlete) would continually ask him, "do you REALLY think I can do this?" He would look me in the eye and say with all confidence, "Of course you can!" When I got a promotion at work I immediately started telling him about another girl I thought would have been better suited for the promotion. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "YOU are the best person for the job." He challenges me to be the best person that I can be. He encourages my dreams. He encourages me to dream big things for myself that I would have never dared to dream. If you are blessed with someone like this in your life, STOP right now and Thank God so much for blessing you with this person. Kate and I are blessed! Thank you God!
