Catching Up

Yes, it's been a couple months since I've posted. I've been busy going here and there ...

John Michael played wheelchair basketball in tournament after tournament. We traveled to Chicago, Nashville and Grand Rapids. As much as I enjoyed those tournaments, the highlight of the season was going to the Nationals tournament in March. Clint, John Michael and I went to Colorado Springs to watch John Michael and his teammates place 4th out of 16 teams in the nation. This year they played in the JV level. 

  We spent some time at the USA Olympic Complex taking some fun pictures of the team.

The NWBA (National Wheelchair Basketball Association) ended the weekend with a banquet honoring the leadership of the association and the teams. They spent some time handing out awards in specific areas. John Michael was honored to receive the Sportsmanship Award for the NIT (JV) Division. 

 

We didn't have a lot of free time for sightseeing but were able to go to Garden of the Gods for a couple hours. It was amazing to see the creativity of the hand of God.

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A few years ago after John died the kids and I took time to go to Ryans Place, A Center for Grieving Children and Families, for a couple years. They have recently started going into schools with a 10 week program of reaching out to children that are not able to go to their facility with their families. Since the children are not able to go to them, they are going to the children. I was asked to help with this program for 10 weeks in the past few months. What a great group of kids we had! Kids are hurting with grief and need a safe place to express themselves. I have seen and helped my own children walk through their grief so it was an honor to be one who is a safe place for other children who need someone.

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Ben has been enjoying playing the hand chimes for Covenant Christian School. They have had several performances at a local church this year. He quickly picked it up and has been doing great.

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 Michael and Anna spent hour after hour, night after night at practice for the Jimtown spring musical in March. This year's musical was Thoroughly Modern Millie. Michael was the lead male and Anna had a second lead part. They both did a great job.

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Anna has been deep into softball conditioning for months and now into the season with practice or a game 6 days a week. Boy oh boy, high school softball is different than summer travel league. I enjoy softball so it'll be good to have her playing high school ball this year. She's doing well on the JV team.

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Spring break was this past week. Michael went to Tennessee with his mom and Anna went to Florida with her best friends family for the week. The rest of us stayed home and spent a day in Chicago. It really was nice to have a week home with the kids. 

 

Rebekah had been saving her money for a long time for this American Girl doll. It's a "looks like me" doll. She's had this one picked out for what seems like forever. She was so excited to finally get it!

So there you have it... gotcha all caught up ... for now. :)