Husky Homecoming 2008

Last night we had basketball homecoming at Northfield (a little over the top I admit, but fun all the same). As fifth grade ball players, Jackson and all his buddies were recognized. They looked so cool.


Here are the boys and girls 5th grade ball players. It is so nice to see them all dressed up.






This is Cameron and his buddy Sarah Roberts who were 2nd grade class representatives. I know I am partial, but I think they looked so precious! (I would date him, if I wasn't his mother of course!)

We had a great time. I cannot believe that this will be Jackson's last year in elementary school. We will be reaching many milestones this year. It is bittersweet to see my boys growing up so quickly, but they are growing up to become such fine young men. I know that God has got great things in store for their futures. I cannot wait to see how he will use these precious gifts he has blessed us with.

I Am Really Losing my Touch.

Well, there will be no pictures for this post because I have really become a slacker. Gone are the days where I annoy my family greatly by taking 200 pictures of every event. To be perfectly honest, I have really wanted to soak up the moments with my kids and Kurt, and therefore have come out from behind the camera, to instead enjoy memories where the mental picture may sometimes be even better than the story the picture would have told anyway.

So, here goes. . .the Northfield Huskies defeated, the unbeaten for 7 years, Woodland Park Panthers!! Go Huskies!

I know it is no secret that we are a sports loving family (which by the way many of my childhood friends find hilarious because I was not competitive and would have never sacrificed physical harm to win anything), that is, until I had two boys. I love to watch them play any sport, but our current sport is Basketball. Our school league basketball can be very competitive and as crazy as it seems sometimes we love it. I cheered for the East Sparta Broncos as a little girl and when we are getting ready to go to Jackson's games, it sometimes feels like yesterday I was pulling my hair into pigtails and putting on my knee socks and saddle oxfords to get ready for the big game. I still love it!

This week we were playing the Woodland Park Panthers (a.k.a. the evil dynasty). This school is twice the size of Northfield and every other school in the county and has been undefeated for 7 years! Jackson and his group of friends have had one goal since they started playing; beat Woodland Park. This was their year. It was the kind of moment every little boy dreams of. . . we were down by 10 points at the half. Our boys came out of the locker room hungry and ready to play. We slowly began creeping back and by the middle of the 4th quarter we were down by 1. You could sense our boys starting to get excited as they realized the momentum had swung and they were about to take the lead for the first time in the game. We took the lead and the gym was literally shaking with noise.

With 3 seconds remaining, we had a 1 point lead and a player on the free throw line. Jackson was standing at half court with a teammate and they were literally jumping up and down with excitement at what was about to happen. The final seconds ticked off the clock and our boys went wild(and maybe I did too, just a tiny little bit). It was so much fun and I can still see their little faces and all the excitement they felt. It was like a moment out of the movies they have all watched and dreamed of their whole young lives.

After the game, the boys and girls teams and cheerleaders all went to McDonalds to celebrate. I pity the people who were in there hoping for a relaxing late night supper or cup of coffee, because we took the place by storm. Jackson and his buddies were cheering so loudly you could probably hear them from wherever you are reading this. I will not need a picture to remember the image of their little faces and the sound of their voices singing "Celebration" as they enjoyed victory.

Lesson learned: Dare to Dream. . . ."for all you know tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true."

Hope this finds you all dreaming!
Bev

Please stand by. . .

We are experiencing extreme busyness, and while I have much to say, regrettably I do not have time to say it! I am eager to post some really cute pictures soon and update on all the boys have been doing.

Stand by for updates in the very near future!

Fall "Break"

Imagine, if you will, the cartoon violin music you hear setting a peaceful nature scene when a Bugs Bunny cartoon opens. That is the music I hear when I think about the beginning of our Fall Break.

We went camping with some of our friends at Defeated Creek in Carthage, TN and let me just start by saying, this is one of the most beautiful places you will ever visit. Also, before some of you freak out at the thought of me camping, let me put your mind at ease by telling you that we were in Kurt’s brother’s beautiful camper, complete with a fully functioning bathroom and electricity.

We had a great time as a family. We have gotten so busy that it was wonderful to pull away from everything for a few days and just enjoy one another and God’s creation. We hiked for several miles. Jackson loved every second of it. Cameron was quite a trooper considering the steepness of our climb. Kurt practically had to drag him straight up for a ½ mile. Imagine our trip down. Can you believe I only fell once? And Jackson, by the way, gets really silly when those endorphins kick in and boy did they kick in. This is when he gets what I like to call . . . diarrhea of the mouth. (and he also gets really loud!) We were seriously disturbing the peace!!



Afterwards, we rode bikes for miles. They have the most wonderful bike trails at Defeated Creek. At one point on the trail, we traveled over a precious little bridge and around a sharp curve to see the most beautiful gold and orange Sugar Maple sitting on the edge of a very still, blue lake. I am not exaggerating when I tell you it brought tears to my eyes and my heart was so full of amazement at the beauty of God’s creation there are not adequate words to describe it.




The boys swam in the lake and played for about an hour.



At this point I was ready for a nap and this is the point where we put the BREAK in Fall BREAK. Jackson had begged all day to go to the outdoor basketball court and shoot. Meanwhile, the little guys were playing on the playground directly behind us, when Cameron’s friend Dylan came over and very calmly said, “Cameron is crying and he thinks he broke his arm.” I took off in a dead run for the slide and I didn’t even need .5 seconds to see that we had trouble. I, being the calm and rational first responder that I am, immediately screamed frantically for Kurt as I was beginning to feel sick. As Cameron laid helplessly in the dirt and sand, I was unable to help him because he couldn’t be moved. His elbow was dislocated and was already blue and swollen and I was terrified that even touching him would cause him incredible pain. Thankfully, I married a rational man who is calm in emergencies. To make a long story short, we spent the rest of the evening in the ER taking care of Cameron. I won’t even tell you how agonizing it was to hear him scream when they “replaced” the dislocation.

In any event, his is doing better and loving all the attention his is getting for his injury. During the ER visit, I promised him any number of things he has been wanting such as a new Webkinz and all the Mt. Dew he could drink and he is holding me to it.

So. . .that is the story of our Fall “BREAK”. I will never hear that phrase the same way again. And for the record, we truly did have a wonderful time up to that point.

Bev

Death in Them Thar Hills

I love a good mystery, and Kurt would probably tell you that I always get it right because at some point in the process I guess every person in the story. When we used to watch Law and Order I would have at least 15 theories on who did it and why. Kurt would usually say (with love in his heart, of course) “would you just shut up and watch the show.”

Well, this weekend, we got to put our sleuthing skills and our really bad acting skills to good use. Our Sunday School class had a murder mystery party. It was set in the Wild West and was titled “Death in them Thar Hills.” The picture is of all of our friends who played a role and were murder suspects. None of us knew who was guilty so we all got to investigate the murder as well. I should be honest. At one point, I was truly beginning to think I may have been the killer. And. . . I would love to tell you who was, but we are going to be doing this for another group at church and we have been sworn to secrecy.

So I will leave you with these questions. Who would have wanted to kill Dusty Jones and why? How did they kill him? Did I kill him? (now would be a good time to imagine some diabolical music in the background) What a great time! If you are looking for something fun to do with a group I highly recommend a visit to www.mysteries-on-the-net.com.

Hope this finds you doing well!
Bev

Pressing on

I am getting a new office roommate, so to speak. So, I prayed and asked God, as I always do, to send me an amazing, dynamic, encouraging, Christian friend to work with. He is sending me someone who is so totally not of the Christian faith it is not even funny. My first instinct was to quit my job, just take it to the house and never look back. I wanted to run away and sit down and cry because I am so not up for this persecution right now. I can’t even believe I just said that considering all the persecution Jesus endured for me, but there it is, brutal honesty.

Then, a still small voice spoke to me yet again, and said, I wouldn’t give you this if I didn’t think you were up for it. And then I really wanted to cry because I am amazed that he could ever think I could be a part of his plan. I am amazed that he could use me and wants to use me because I know the real me. But the thing is, he does the work. We just have to show up.

That’s when I saw this little pink jewelry box that says princess with little broken sequins on it. It sits in my office as a reminder of why I am here. There are days that I just want to go home and be a mommy to my own kids and not feel the hurts and sorrows of all the kids I work with, but then I see the pink box. It reminds me of Lydia. Lydia was in one of my groups. She is a precious, smart and resilient young lady. She is strong. Her sunshine was that we were having our group and her cloud was that she didn’t get to see her mommy any more. Before Christmas, Lydia came in with a present. . . for me. It wasn’t wrapped up perfectly with a beautiful bow, but it was wrapped by the hands of a child. She was so excited to give me her present and to see me open it. Inside was the pink jewelry box that said “princess” and had a crown on top. The sequins were loose and broken and I knew that she had given me something that was very special to her. I fought back tears with the realization that all I had to do was show up and love as Jesus loved me. They will know we are Christians by our Love! That isn’t so hard is it?

So, I am not going to retreat, but I am going to keep showing up and loving and watch God do His thing! In the words of one of my favorite Casting Crowns songs. . . “How refreshing to know you don’t need me, how amazing to find that you want me. . .

I am humbled.

Beverly

Playing with the Boys. . .

Boys. Boys. Boys. I love boys! And frankly I always have. Nothing against girls. I love them too, but I have always found boys very amusing. Maybe it is because I am a girly girl that they amuse me so.

This weekend my house was full of boys. Actually, it is pretty much full of boys every weekend. Jackson and Cameron always want friends over, and one friend is never enough. Now you know my house is small, but I say the more the merrier. Growing up, because my dad was an elementary school principal, the last thing he wanted was a house full of kids all weekend (and I so totally get that now!), so I vowed my door would always be open. I love that these boys love coming to our house and want to hang out right where we are. I love that they talk to us about the day to day drama at their schools and I hope they always do. Because (and Kurt would tell you I am not lying) I want to know that Tanya likes Tyler; and that Tyler doesn’t like Tanya. I like hearing them dream about where they will go to college and what professional sports they are going to play. I love watching them jump on the trampoline in the pouring rain and hearing their hysterical laughter break the quiet. I know I have said it before, but I LOVE THIS JOB! It is what I was born to do. There is NEVER a minutes doubt in my mind.

I don’t want to miss a single hilarious, stressful, joyful or drama filled moment!



Jackson after a pie in the face.


Cameron at flag football



Jackson and our friend Jack Jack with the down marker. He loves Jackson and follows him everywhere. I loved this sweet picture!

Stay tuned for more pics of the the cutest kids ever! :)

Bev