The Andersons

Chris & Teri are very special friends of ours. Mike remembers his friendship with Chris beginning when Ben Little invited Chris to go with him and Mike to a tool sale in a neighboring town. Before long I was spending Saturday's visiting with Teri while Mike and Chris went hunting. There were several weekends over the years that we've watched all 4 kids so that Chris & Teri could get away by themselves for just a day or two. It has been so much fun watching their children grow. Collin and Erin were both cubbies the first year I worked with AWANA. It's amazing how much they've grown! We're going to miss watching them play sports and perform in plays at school. Their youngest, Alan, used to make Mike smile at school. Mike would walk into Alan's class to help his teacher with a computer issue and Alan would say, "Hi Mikey!!!" Then he'd tell his friends, "I know him! He's my friend!" So sweet!!



Teri was the first person in Sterling that I told about being pregnant with Brody. It was fun to see how excited she was for us! It was much harder to tell her about us moving. They were the first people we told about us moving...and we were all crying by the end of that conversation. We may not have gotten to spend as much time with each other as we'd have liked, but we'll always have a special friendship.


Chris farms the ground around our house. Not many weekends have gone by that he and Mike aren't working on a project together (whether it's at our house or his house). They've cut trees down for firewood, hunted, built a garage at Chris's house, and built our house (among other things). Chris likes to tease Mike about "chasing around a little white ball" aka playing golf and Mike teases Chris about "playing in the dirt" aka farming. Chris has a bit of lively sarcasm and is a "tell it like it is" kinda guy. He wasn't very happy with Mike when we told him we were moving...and he didn't hide it. I think he even told Mike he was going to take him off his speed dial (of course he then had to admit that wasn't true because he didn't know how to use speed dial so he didn't have anyone on speed dial! lol). I don't know how many times Mike and I have asked each other if we're doing the right thing by moving. The Andersons are one of the reasons it's so hard to leave!

After the going away party Chris came by our house to pick up Remington (to take to Bill & Paula's). Brody kept running to him and asking for just one more hug...over and over again. I thanked him for being such a good friend to my husband as I hugged him one last time. The tears were rolling down Mike's face as he told his friend goodbye. I know that we will always remain friends...but I also know that it will be different. We may not see each other every week, but we will think of each other, email, and call one another often. Chris said that he'll look forward to telling friends that his "buddy from Texas" is coming up to hunt.

Thank you Chris and Teri for loving our family so much and for being such wonderful friends! Here's to many more years of friendship and an eternity together in Heaven!!