March ends and Spring begins!

Still very chilly here in Indiana.  The temps are below normal and we are all praying for nicer weather soon. We are all watching the NCAA March Madness and spring training for the Chicago Cubs has also begun.  Josh seems to enjoy watching the Cubs now that he is into baseball. 

Josh's basketball team ended their season as runner up in the league.  They had a great season and ended it by only losing twice to the same team.  Josh enjoyed his season and had a fun team.  His friend Ben was on the team and that always helps to have a buddy! Josh had a great fan club with Cate, Grandma Carol, and Uncle Jerry attending most games.

 

 

Grandpa Bob had a birthday last weekend so we had a birthday dinner celebration at Yen Ching's.  Josh & Cate love this Chinese restaurant.  They are buddy buddy with the cooks and always enjoy watching their cooking talents.

 

Josh was wanting a new bat.  The team was selling detergent as a fund raiser so we told Josh if he sold enough to pay for a new bat he could get one.  He reached his goal!  He is very proud of the new bat.  The new detergent arrived and then the delivering began.  Below you'll see some of Josh's faithful supporters that are always there for him.  Grandma Carol, Mrs. Newhouse (his 5th grade teacher), and Mrs. Sipe (his current ESL teacher).  Nice job Josh!

 

Of course I have to add a few pictures of Sweet Nolan.  He is now 2-1/2 and quite a smart little guy.  He talks in long sentences and is very clear.  If you want to know what he is thinking or doing just ask him!

Children are sure precious!  Our God is so good.  A favorite verse this week is ....

God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love!  Joel 2:13

I pray you know Jesus and feel his abounding love!  If you doubt Him just look at the faces of these children.

Choosing joy,
Chris & crew

What? Snow Again? Seriously?

It is mid March and you're not going to believe this but we had another round of snow this past week.  It even cancelled school for a day.  We were dumped with about 8-9 inches of heavy wet snow.  We spent hours shoveling.

Our school system got tired of tacking make up days onto the end of our school year in June so they implemented E-Learning where the students log on to their teachers' webpages and get online work for the day.  It puts a new twist on a snowday.  No longer just a play day.  We spent several hours doing online homework inbetween our shoveling.

Josh had Family Consumer Science (Home Ec) this past 6 weeks and sewing was part of the program.  He made a "J" pillow and really enjoyed the class.  He especially loved the cooking part.  Cate wanted to get into the act so she instantly created a "C" pillow.  These guys both do a great job when it's something they want to do.  I guess that's very true in most people.

Josh was due for a haircut.  He always seems very nervous when he is in the chair.  His hair and looks are very important to him and he is never quite happy with the cut!  It helps to make a stop at YoYo's ice cream right next door to Great Clips.

Cate is taking swim lessons and doing a great job.  She really glides through the water.  This may be her sport.  She isn't big on interacting physically in a team sport.  Swimming gives her the chance to just do her best and not have to pass the ball to someone else. 

 

Cate's 5th grade choir sang downtown at The Grand Wayne Center in a program called FAME.  It was a local arts festival with contributions from many elementary schools and community organizations.  Both kids enjoyed the fun activities.  Grandma is always their biggest fan and joins in when Josh & Cate have performances or games.

Josh's YMCA team is still playing.  They won their first round of tournament games this past weekend and will play again next Saturday.  It was a rough tough barn burner of a game.  Both teams really wanted to win but unfortunately there is only 1 winner.  We got a last second shot in and were winners this time.  Stay tuned for next week to see if we are still smiling!

 

At FAME, Josh saw a demonstration on "Chain Reactions" so he wanted to create his own.  The slinky knocks into the gatorade bottle which nudges a ball down a slide on the stairs into a basket which drops a marble onto a slope that slams into the dominoes stacked at the end.  It was fun for them to create and us to watch.  Nice work Josh & Dad!

Life is good and sure full of chain reactions.  But when you can smile and have a cool dad to help you the outcome is always good.  Thanks Daddy Jeffrey for building with us!  You're the best!

Choosing joy,
Chris & crew