The boys hosted their regional meet on Thursday, May 28th. One of Noel's hurdlers finished fourth in his race so I thought that he had missed his chance at advancing to state but then we found out that not only did he hit the state standard and will advance, but he also broke the school record!!
Great job Xander!!
+++
We have attended many many open houses for the class of 2026, with many many more to go. Noel was happy to attend Sam's open house this past Saturday and to celebrate his accomplishments with him. Sam has been one of Noel's hurdlers these past four years and we are excited that he will be running at Grace College with Melayna for the next four years, Lord willing.
+++
We also attended the open house of Melayna's best friend Victoria. They have been good friends since the 1st grade and last year, Victoria went on spring break with our family. We definitely wanted to wish her well as she heads off to Las Vegas to attend a dance academy this fall. (And someday when this very talented young woman is a Rockette in New York, we will be cheering loudly for her)
+++
Since Noel and I were at a lot of open houses over the weekend, Nolan thought that it should be his responsibility to take care of Morgan while we were gone. (It doesn't really matter that she has cared for herself for the past three years at college). As she was trying to do her classwork online on Saturday, he brought up every. single. stuffed animal that he owns so that they could "look out for her" while he did a couple of things outside. I have no idea how she got anything done... LOL
And then he also made them both grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.
+++
I started weeding my flower beds again. I still have a lot of work to do in the current beds and I also need to buy some potted plants for the front porch. Unfortunately, between the cold rainy weather that stuck around this spring and our busy end of the year schedule, I'm a little behind.
+++
On Sunday morning, Noel went across the state lines into Michigan with one of his buddies and they spent the day riding over 100 miles on the dirt track trails. Noel is planning to ride across the state of Michigan at the end of June with this same guy, so they were trying to get some miles logged in preparation for that race.
+++
Morgan left on Monday morning for Grundy, VA where she will spend the next six or seven weeks interning at the Mountain Mission School. We spent much of Sunday helping her pack and then we went out to dinner with her before walking the trail one last time. I know it's only going to be six weeks, but we have enjoyed having her home this past month so we're all going to miss her while she's gone.
Nolan acts like he's annoyed by his older sisters, but he is really going to miss Morgan. He has spent a lot of time with her these past four weeks and I think he's more sad about her leaving than he really wants to let on. He made sure to walk right beside her and to talk to her on our entire walk. LOL
She packed...
... and Marissa serenaded. LOL
On a side note, Marissa bought her own guitar this past year while she was at school and she said that she spent many Sunday afternoons practicing and learning new songs. She has really gotten so much better this past year and I enjoyed getting to listen to her play and sing.
We may have even paused Morgan's packing session for a mini praise service.
A sad sight to wake up to on Monday morning as her bags are packed and ready to go.
Nolan wanted to make her something to take with her, so he made this 3d printed heart that is also a fidget toy.
And there she goes. Off to her next adventure...
Morgan would drive just under eight hours all by herself, arriving to her new place around 4:45 or so that aftenoon. It was definitely a long trip for her to make by herself but the Lord provided for her and took great care of her. I know that it doesn't seem like a big deal for those of us who have been driving distances like this for years, but she was nervous about driving that far by herself and she did it! I told her that she can be proud of herself as this is a big achievement for her. (I am definitely proud of her)
And although I didn't track her progress the entire day, (because seriously, who has time for that?) I am thankful for apps on my phone that do allow me to see where she is on occasion and also when she arrived.
+++
Here are a couple of pictures of Mountain Mission School from their website.
Morgan's apartment didn't get painted in time for her arrival, so she stayed in one of the extra dorm rooms for the first two or three nights.
Then when she face timed with us on Thursday night, she said that a church group had come down to work on some projects and they had painted an apartment and they were ready to move her into it if she was ready. She moved her few items over on Thursday and slept there Thursday night. It's the first time in her life that she has had her very own bedroom or bathroom ...let alone an entire apartment, so she may get very spoiled this summer. She walked around and gave us a tour and it looks like a really cute place.
In the middle of the week, two brothers arrived on campus. They are actually from central Indiana so we aren't sure what has brought them all the way to the school, but they have decided that Morgan is their "friend" and they have taken up most of her hours since they have arrived. She said that it's a good thing that they are so cute because they are pretty rambunctious and they certainly wear her out!!
Despite the fact that there aren't many children there, Morgan had to take her turn at playground duty on Saturday so that made for a pretty lonely day, but she said that Sunday night was better as the two families on staff invited her and the boys to a festival / celebration downtown at the fairgrounds and they had a drone and firework show and plenty of snacks and treats to enjoy.
Marissa went back for her post-op appointment on Monday and thankfully she has healed enough that the doctor released her back to all of her regular activities so she she immediately started teaching swimming lessons on Monday and she also got back to the pool for her own swimming work-outs, even if they are pretty low yardage for now. She said that it was nice to get back in the water after some time off.
A friend sent me this picture last Friday. She had come across the post on her facebook feed and she immediately recognized Marissa as the teacher. Since the parent was saying such nice things about the teachers, she wanted to make sure that we saw the post. I actually had a text that same day from another parent who wanted me to know what a great job Marissa does with her students. Anyone out there need private swimming lessons?
+++
Speaking of swimming, these pictures popped up on my memories over the weekend. I took these pictures of Marissa when she was almost ten years old and was in her second summer of club swimming. She's come a long way in the last ten summers.
Marissa is also almost half way done with her summer internship at the facility for battered and abused women. (And men). She seems to be learning quite a lot during her time there and she has even been able to use some of her Spanish skills to translate for the rest of the staff. It has taken up a lot of her time, but I know that it's been very beneficial for her.
+++
After dinner the other evening, the temperature was cooling off so I asked the two younger kids if they wanted to go for a walk with me. We headed over to the greenway and at the trailhead, there is a church and a playground. We spent a minute or two there while the kids "played" and then we walked a couple of miles together.
Since Nolan was reliving his toddler days on the playground, he decided that we should play a game or two of "hide and seek". Remember when kids are young and as long as they can't see you, they think you cannot see them?!
These two.... can I even take them anywhere together?! LOL
When the "teacher voice" came out, Nolan straightened right up!!
We found this "little" guy while we were walking.
+++
We've had some really beautiful evenings this past week.
+++
We have always tried to keep the kids' passports current and up to date so that we could travel out of the country if we wanted to or had the opportunity. The older two girls both renewed their passports last year and then with Melayna turning 18 this year, it was time to get hers renewed as an adult for the next 10 years. Nolan's passport is only good for five years at a time since he is still a minor so we renewed his passport for one more time this week. (It's hard to believe that the next time we renew his passport, he will also be 18 and can do it himself). I pulled out these gems and the girls and I got a good laugh out of them. Even though we were laughing, Nolan wasn't really amused. (He obviously wasn't amused when he got his pictures taken and he's still not amused when he sees them.)
Nolan is three years old in the top square and then the bottom square is the newest one that will go in his updated passport. Age 13.
He is 8 years old in this photo. 'Not sure why he smiled like that, but it certainly makes us laugh every time we see the picture.
+++
In other news, the summer reading program started on Monday. Nolan signed up as soon as the library opened the doors on Monday and now he's been spending quite a bit of time reading books and working on the worksheets.
+++
Melayna worked as a volunteer this past week at the Cross Country Camp for Agaitas Ministries. She came home the first day and was quite surprised at how much she had to run. We all laughed and teased her quite a bit because isn't that the point of cross country camp? LOL
+++
Of course there is always plenty of time to ride on the go-kart.
+++
On Friday morning, we went over to the "state send-off" as the girls track team was escorted out of town on their way to the state meet that would take place later that afternoon. Although Melayna won't be running, she was allowed to go as an extra for the team.
And then on Saturday morning, the boys team (and Coach Howett) were also escorted out of town as the boys headed down for their meet which would start at 3:00 p.m. Xander ran in the 100 high hurdles.
+++
While Noel was down at state with his runners, Marissa, Nolan, and I decided to head down to Kokomo to the college field where my nephew was playing in the regional championship game with his baseball team. We had trouble finding a parking spot so we came in right as they were announcing the starting line-up.
My nephew's team was the guest team so they would come to the plate first. Thankfully they had a great inning and came out hitting right from the start. The other team would change their pitcher twice in just the first two innings and the Eastbrook team would go up early. Austin scored two runs and was walked two times in the game to help his team offensively...
...and then in the sixth inning, he was called from center field to the pitching mound where he closed out the game and Eastbrook won the regional championship with a score of 8-1.
He's buried somewhere in that pile after his team came in to celebrate with him. LOL
Congratulations to the Eastbrook Panthers and good luck at semi-state next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment