Championship Game! That’s where we found ourselves on Saturday as we watched the JV Boys Basketball Team compete in the Championship game for the second year in a row! This probably wouldn’t be so exciting for me, but Wyatt and Travis played on the JV Basketball Team this year, so it was very exciting! Wyatt has really had a great season, in my opinion, and he has become a much better basketball player in the three years we’ve been in N.C. Travis played on the Middle School team this year and the JV Boys Varsity Team. Travis got a lot more playing time on the Middle School team, but unfortunately they lost several games due to snow days and bad weather, but Travis did enjoy playing on the Middle School team. As Travis says, “I was a good water boy to Wyatt on the other team.” Haha! He didn’t get as much playing time, but he did seem to enjoy the season, and he enjoys watching the team play. On Saturday, 2/15, the Championship game was held in Newport, NC, which is a bit of a drive from our house. But we were excited to watch the boys play in the game. The team was actually playing the exact same team that they played last year for the championship game. Wyatt and Travis had to be there early for the game, so Emma and I went to visit a thrift store instead of sitting in the gym. My friend, Tamela, is always up for visiting thrift stores too, so she came along. It was a good way to spend a few minutes, and the thrift store was having a sale of certain tag items for .49- now that’s my kind of a sale! We came back to the gym to watch the girls championship game, which went into overtime, and then it was the boys game. The game wasn’t as close as I would’ve imagined it to be, but it was fun to watch the boys team play. It was a long day, but a day spent with family and spending time together.
Roger’s brother, Dale, came to visit for a few days. It was good to see him and to catch up with him for a few days. Roger was able to get off a little early on Friday, so he went golfing with the older two boys and his brother, Dale. The weather hasn’t been exactly warm, but at least it wasn’t raining! Chandler was able to golf with Ava, and while it was an interesting Valentine’s Day for Roger and I, we are at the place where we are happy to go get flowers on the day after Valentine’s Day when the flowers are 50% off! I know that’s not the way everyone would choose to do it, but it’s worked for us for many years now. I’m thankful for Roger as he expresses his love for me every day in many ways. He’s willing to help pack lunches, do dishes, help with chores, make coffee, bring me coffee when he can, work hard and he loves me. I am very, very thankful for him, and I am so very blessed. I was at the game watching the JV Boys in their playoff game, so we weren’t together for most of the day, but ya know, love is an action that we need to express to each other every day and not just on special occasions.
Last Saturday evening, Chandler and Garett went to a teen activity. It was a “Thrift Shop” dinner where you’re put in pairs. One partner goes to one thrift store and one to a different thrift store, and they buy outfits for each other. I wasn’t sure how the night would go, but both of the boys said that they had a really great time. The pictures from the event are absolutely hilarious, and it’s a memory for sure! Travis spent all of last weekend sleeping on Aunt Jen’s couch! He asked Roger to take him over to Aunt Jen’s right after his JV game last Friday night. He ran a fever all weekend, and thankfully Jen offered to keep him at her house for the weekend. His fever finally broke on Sunday, and he turned a corner to start to feel better. It’s very unsettling to see Travis so still, so I am glad that he is feeling better. I had suggested that he stay home from school on Monday since he was just starting to feel better, but he really wanted to go to the basketball game on evening. He went to the game, but he sure did look pale! Wyatt told me after the game, that he wasn’t feeling too great, and his throat really was hurting. Wyatt stayed home on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Travis stayed home again on Wednesday as he was running a low grade fever on Tuesday night. Thankfully, both boys seem to be feeling better, and no one else has gotten sick! We are praying that it will stay that way!
These last two weeks of school have felt really long to me. I think it’s because the weather has been kinda chilly and damp, the nights of basketball are long, there’s a lot of big upcoming events in both art and library, and it feels like a long time til spring break! But there’s always something to be thankful for in each and every day. Every day gets us a little closer to Garett’s senior trip, and we are all looking forward to that. Garett has been praying and thinking about what to do when he graduates, and we would appreciate your prayers for him.
Emma has been doing some academic testing to try to figure out how to best help her learn. Is she learning? Yes! Is it slow and painful at times? Yes! I am concerned about her progress and how we can best help her learn, develop and grow. I would’ve never have chosen for three of our five kids to struggle with school, but it definitely helps me have compassion on my students that I teach that don’t “get it” the first time around. Garett is a young man who doesn’t always “get it” the first time around, and I can say that for the most part, he is becoming a fine and capable young man. He really works well with younger kids, he has lots of patience with others (just not his brothers), and he has a general idea of what ideas he wants to pursue after college. Hard work and character will get him far in life, I’m sure. I used to think that I prayed a lot when my kids were toddlers, but these teenage years have proven to me how shallow my prayers were back then! So. Much. To. Pray. For!
This week, in my art classes, I spoke about God’s love as we approached Valentine’s Day. It’s so easy to quote John 3:16, and almost everyone knows that verse. But, it must be real and personal to each one of us. We have to acknowledge that “For God so loved Sarah, that he gave his only begotten son, that if Sarah believeth in him, she would not perish but have everlasting life.” I am so thankful that eternal life in Heaven is mine. I also shared my personal salvation testimony with my Middle School Art classes, as it’s good to talk about what God has done for me personally. I hope I never lose sight of God’s amazing grace, and His love for me. What an amazing God we serve!
Started on 2/5/25
Ya’ll be amazed because it’s only been a little over a week since the last post! I feel like so many things are happening in our lives so quickly these days that it’s hard sometimes to keep up on a daily basis much less a weekly basis!
Last week we had a short week at school due to the Marriage Retreat that our church plans every year. Roger and I had planned to leave early on Friday morning and make the most of the day, but that’s not what happened. Roger was called to a fire on the Western side of the state on Thursday, and then on Friday morning, he had to go into work. We had hoped that he would be able to get off early, but he didn’t get home until around 5:30pm. While it wasn’t the way that I would’ve picked for the day to go, we did get a lot done around our house. The boys went golfing, and a friend went with them. They spent a good chunk of the day outside as the weather was beautiful! (It’s hard to believe that we had two and 1/2 snow days the previous week, and this week the temps reached into the 70s!)
I wondered if we should still go to the marriage retreat since we had missed the whole day, but we decided to go anyways. It was already paid for and Myrtle Beach is only a little over two hours from our house. Now that Garett can drive, he was able to take his siblings over to Aunt Jen’s for supper after golfing. Emma, Travis and Wyatt stayed overnight at Aunt Jen’s, but Garett and Chandler came back home. Roger and I got on the road a little before six pm., and we made it in time to go out to ice cream with some of our friends after the session! :) It would’ve been nice to hear the session, but I”m not a fan of coming in late and then having to sit on the front row! We checked into our room, and then met up with some friends after the session was over. It was good to visit for a bit before heading back to the hotel.
Roger and I got up early on Saturday to take a walk on the beach before breakfast. I do enjoy the sound of the ocean waves! We ate breakfast with Tamela and Stephen, and then we had the last session of the marriage retreat. The speaker was good, and I did prefer his speaking over last year’s speaker, but I do wish that sometimes more practical ways of how to actually do things would be discussed. There were a lot of stages of marriage discussed in the session. But, I already know that we are in the trenches of marriage. I know that we are in some hard years of parenting kids and that kids take time. But how do families decided between the “good” and the “best”? I know what works for one couple may not work for another, but sometimes it’s good to hear success stories on how others made their marriages or families stronger. I also know that most people don’t have four kids in four years and then another one three years later! But, I also know that I don’t want “good kids”. I want Godly kids that will love and serve Jesus, and the outcome will be “good kids”. And it’s not enough for us to just influence our own kids, we’ve got to think about upcoming generations. There are two things that I’m really concerned about right now in our own kids lives. Those things would be “entitlement” and “apathy”. Whew! Those are some big and powerful words right there! I tell our kids often that you don’t have to have a lot of stuff to be entitled as it’s an attitude of the heart. I can tell them to do their devotions in the morning, and that they must read the Bible before anything else, but I can’t drive apathy out of them. Oh, how we need Jesus!
After the marriage retreat was over, Roger and I visited a few thrift stores and puttered around in the Myrtle Beach area before heading over to Conway. Roger’s aunt and uncle recently moved to Conway from California, and we’ve been wanting to stop by and visit with them. I hadn’t seen Uncle Bob and Aunt Carole since Chandler was a baby so that was almost 17 years ago! We visited with them for a bit, toured their beautiful home, and then we went to supper with them. It was good to sit and catch up (or try to) on each other’s lives. Of course, I forgot to take any pictures of them, but still, we did have a really good time!
Our friends, the Hardison’s, had also gone to the marriage retreat. Tamela knew that we weren’t planning on being home until later on Saturday evening. She invited the boys to come over to their house to watch the Duke basketball game. The boys were excited to go over to their house to watch the game as they also have three boys. The boys had a great time, and Roger and I were able to get in a visit with Uncle Bob and Aunt Carole. It was a good weekend, and it’s always to get away with just the two of us.
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