Salvation Stories

Last week we told you about what we had planned for our date night. We had a wonderful time together. Its been a long time since we felt like we had an AWESOME date night. The game was lots of fun, brought many laughs and great conversations. Here is a picture of how Iris decorated her table:

Today we thought we would share our salvation stories with our readers. Both of us got saved at a young age which is a real blessing. Hope you enjoy...


(Patrick)
"Growing up in a christian home I have heard the gospel many times. I wanted to be "saved" like many others as a young boy but did not really understand what needed to be done. I went to the alter many times but every time I'd prayed I thought I was forgetting one special word. When I was around 8 or 9 years old I finally understood that it was not what I was saying or doing but what Jesus did for me on the Cross. That time when I went down to the alter I accepted Christ into my heart."

(Iris)
"My mother and I were staying at a friends house one night when my mother asked me after devotions if I was sure that I was going to heaven. I answered that I did not know and she showed me a few verses in the Bible. I knew that I had been bad and that my sin would not let me go to heaven. I understood that the alternative would be hell and I did not want to go there. So on this brown/green couch in 1994 I prayed to Jesus to come into my heart because I wanted to go to heaven and not to hell. Since then I have been a child of God and it has been an amazing road to follow his guidance."

We would love to hear when you received Christ as your Savior!!! It is the best thing that can happen to anyone because only after we receive that gift, Jesus Christ, can we go to heaven. What a blessing it is to have a relationship with the God of the Universe and know that you are going to heaven when you die

_______________________

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Love,

Valentines Date Night 2012

Dear Friends,

Today we are celebrating our second Valentines day together. Tuesday with me working and the time difference it was hard for Iris and I to plan something together. So today we are having our Valentine's Date. We are planning on having a little Bible study, playing a Valentine game that Iris found and later on tonight we'll be watching a movie we both have not seen.
(Iris)
I decorated my table with red candles, a heart cup and Patrick's flowers he gave me. I am looking forward to playing the Valentines game I found online. It should be a lot of fun with laughs and opening conversations. ♥ I love date nights and I really was looking forward to this one! ♥♥♥

Valentines Flowers 2012

My Valentines Flowers from Patrick- my seventh bouquet ♥

Now I am just waiting for Patrick's other Valentines gift to get here. Patrick still hasn't gotten it in the mail and then needs to send it to me. Can't wait to see it. He keeps telling me I will love it!! ☺♥

Our first Valentines Day together

(Iris)

It all started when we were visiting friends in TN over New Years. Before Patrick went home and I went back to my college I made Patrick promise to come visit me soon. I was missing him already and hoped I could be with him soon again. Patrick told me he would come and visit but would not tell me when. He wanted it to be a surprise and I LOVE surprises!!! ♥

(Patrick) 

Since Iris made me promise to come visit her soon I wanted to surprise her. At the time I had no clue on what I was going to do but I had plenty of time to figure it out. So over time I made several phone calls to the school and talked to the Dean of Women. Slowly a plan started to form. I was going to order flowers and have them sent to the school addressed to the Dean of Women so Iris would not find out. I was able to talk my brother Joshua into coming with me. He had been working a lot and needed a vacation and thought this would be a good weekend for him. We were planning on leaving Thursday February 10th and get there early Friday morning. We had a plan on what we were going to do and if I didn't get there in time we had a backup plan.

Iris was sick since New Years and was on bed-rest for about two weeks before I came. During this time Iris kept nagging me when I was coming but I did not tell her. I threw her off by asking continually for the number of her school even though plans were already made. ☺

(Iris) 

I was sick for such a long time and being in bed a lot made me bored. I was really missing family during this time and wanted Patrick to be there. When he kept asking for the phone number I was getting upset because he seemed so careless about visiting me. Sometimes I would get so upset and tell Patrick that he should finally plan something or did he not want to see me. 

During those two weeks when I had bed-rest Patrick wanted to make me feel better and sometimes slipped about saying he would come to cheer me up but as soon as I started hinting about him coming he would say something and throw me off again. The week before he came he kept telling me to get better or "if" he would come I could not spend time with him because I would be in bed. This had me all excited. This continually hinting and Valentines Day coming up made it pretty clear to me (and many of my college friends) that he would probably be coming the weekend of Valentines Day. ☺ I tried hard to get well and get back into school in order to prove I was ready to hang out with Patrick whenever he came. 

The night before he came I could not think about anything else except that he might be coming. My roommate and I were studying for a test but I could not concentrate. I kept talking to her about the possibility of him coming. Little did I know that she knew he was coming!! The next morning I dressed up getting ready for Patrick's possible visit. After the 2nd hour of school I called him and asked what he was up to. He totally threw me off when he talked about TN weather. I didn't hear the car so I was convinced he was not on his way. I was so disappointed and could not think of anything else during chapel. I drug my feet to the next class and texted Patrick upset that he wasn't coming but he never responded.

(Patrick) 

The original plan was to get there in time for chapel but I missed my exit and I got there to late and had to settle with the backup plan. Once Joshua and I finally got there I called the Dean of Women and let her know that I was there. She met me outside with the flowers and then hurried to get to Iris's next class. She hid me in the video room behind the class and I sat down on my knees so no one could see me but I could still see people walking into the room. Then I saw her, the love of my life walking into the classroom in all her beauty. ☺ I was waiting for the teacher to give me the signal. At first he called out the video guy as he was making a comment to Iris that she would not be needing her cellphone anymore. After that he called out the "other video-guy" which was me. I stood behind Iris and set down the flowers in front of her. She spun around and I told her "I love you".

(Iris) 

As I was waiting for Patrick to finally text me back  my teacher asked if I had my cellphone with me (a in-side joke). I did not notice anything else around me because I was so sad Patrick was not coming. After my teacher called out the other "video-guy" everyone started saying "Awwwwww", "Yay", "How sweet", or even started clapping. When I looked up I noticed everyone was looking at ME; one girl even pointed behind me but in that second a box of flowers was set on my desk. I turned around and PATRICK WAS THERE!!!! My teacher let me out of class for a couple of minutes so we could talk. I was sooooooo overjoyed Patrick DID come. ♥♥♥

We spent the entire weekend together as much as we could. On Saturday we went out to eat at Red Lobster and had a good time together. Sadly Patrick had to leave Monday, on Valentines Day but he gave me a WONDERFUL weekend.

♥We want to wish our faithful readers a Happy Valentines Day.♥

Look at all our Valentine-weekend-pictures on our blog-page named "Pics 2011"

At Red Lobster

♥Day 5 from the Valentine Envelopes♥

The people from the picture

The background from this picture

The First "I Love You"

Hi Friends,

(Iris) In a long distant relationship you have to plan ahead when an important event is coming up. This next special event is...Valentine's day. As we mentioned in the previous blog I made some Valentine's surprises for Patrick. I wanted to make it special and exciting and started looking for ideas. I saw so many so I came up with the "envelopes". Since Valentine's day is on the 14th it is exactly 2 weeks. I have Patrick open an envelope every day till Valentines. On the 14th he will get to open his gifts. So now he has already opened four!

(Patrick) When the box finally arrived I did not want to wait till February. February finally came and I was able to open the envelopes. The first envelope was a piece of Paper with 50 reasons why Iris loves me and I loved it. The second one was link to our tree which you saw on our last blog. Day three was a crossword puzzle with words from our relationship, that was fun to do. The fourth one was a new desktop background which you see right here bellow. I can't wait to open all the envelopes and a part of me wants to open them all right now! ☺

Now to the story of our first "I love you":

It all began on a Monday night (August 16, 2010), the week she was leaving for College. I had just come home from her house when we decided to chat a little more. This is the conversation (shortened) that led up to our first "I love you".

Iris: It is hitting me that I'm leaving

 patrick: yep

 patrick: I bet it is

Iris: right now I'm fighting with tears :)

 patrick: why

 patrick: what made it hit you

Iris: I don't know....

 Iris: since this was our last evening together for a looong time

 patrick: yes

Iris: and I REALLY enjoy spending time with you

Iris: and it won't be the same over the phone or skype

patrick: I can see it in your eyes :)

patrick: like the way you were looking at me tonight

 Iris: was it different than usual

 patrick: yes

 Iris: I was thinking about this the whole night

patrick: I see

 patrick: me to

patrick: I think your look had turned to more than " I really like him"

 Iris: :)

 Iris: I guess you're right

patrick: I am sorry that I'm making it  hard for you to leave

Iris: :) don't be

 Iris: the harder you make it for me to leave the more willing I am going to come back

patrick: :)

patrick: so if I told you that I love you, would that help

 Iris: help make it harder or make it easier to leave?

 Iris: :)

 patrick: harder

 Iris: yes, it makes it harder and it makes me happy

 patrick: ok

....

 patrick: I Love You

Iris: I love you, too

The first time we said it live to each other was on the trip to the airport. Shortly before we got there Patrick, who was sitting next to me, leaned down and whispered in my ear "I love you" and I responded with "I love you, too". After this we wrote it at the end of emails, chat-conversations, or before we hung up on the phone and today we say it all the time and never grow tired of hearing it. ☺♥♥

Leave us a comment and tell us of your first "I love you" from your Spouses or bf/gf.

♥vDay 2 from Patrick's Valetine- Envelops ♥

♥ Day 2 from Patrick's Valentine-envelops ♥

Our Tree in The Forest of Love Planted: 01-10-2012

PMB & IJW

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