Fire! Fire! Fire!

i am very proud of chris and his accomplishments over the past year. early 2010 chris decided that he wanted to change career....i never thought that he would come out and say he wanted to be a firefighter! i was so excited and of course stood behind him all the way. some family members questioned him on why he wanted to do this and informing him of the danger, but he never had a second thought.

he went to take the arlington's civil service exam along with 1900 other candidates. after countless hours of waiting, interviews and physical exams he was accepted along with 13 other guys. then started 16 weeks of emt/fire school and endless nights of studying chris ended up being number 1 in his class!! GO CHRIS!  on june 9th the academy allowed their familys to come out to watch them demonstrate what they have been learning since november. we are grateful for everyone that was able to come out and see him. thank you for the support.

chris and brad putting out a car fire

also that night all the guys were surprised with what station they will be at for the next 6 months while on probation. chris is at station 7 - swift water/dive rescue team. he was very excited to get this station as is was his 1st choice. they didn't get to choose what station but all the guys had the ability to write a letter with where they would like to go if they had the ability to choose. with the swift water/dive rescue team he will get his diving cert and be doing more water training; which he is really excited about.

chris excited about his station you really can't see his face

as chris has made a new family at the fire department, i have also met several of the guys wives. these women are amazing and we all have atleast one thing in common..... our husbands (or soon to be husbands) are now firefighters at the arlington fire department. i know that we will be a great support group for each other over the next 30 years.  the hardest thing for me to comprehend is the fact that chris will start missing things that he normally would not and there are no more "hey i want to take off today/ i will call in or work for home". i know i will get past this as im sure there will be other challenges that will come along. oh and i hate that he is missing our friends weddings - and right now he is scheduled to work on our WEDDING! (but trust me he will get off)

i want to thank our friends and family for the support during this time!  we love you all!

chris showing brendon the engine

me chris and brendon