Ruth's Confirmation

Today Ruth was confirmed in her faith and became a member of the church.

Ruth with Pastor Mike.
Ruth with her mentors that held the classes for her group.

The actual confirmation.

The group of kids in her group along with her mentors.



Waiting with her friends to begin. Ruth, in the striped top, looks a lot like her friend Niki next to her.....guess why hehehe

ANIMALS

Jessie the guard dog.....OH, I'M SCARED!

Right after this picture, Cooper went for a haircut. He was getting too hot. Now the dogs look a lot alike!

I hope Jeff was finished with her sandwich before Puff decided to jump up and clean the plate!

JR Nat'l Honor Society

Today was the ceremony inducting Sara to Jr. National Honor Society. There were so many kids, both 8th and 7th grade. I found I had to teach Sara how to shake hands. It was very funny~first she did not know what hand to use. Then, when she shook my hand, it looked more like a bird trying to fly, and I finally said to let go of my hand at some point......we laughed so much. In the end, the correct hand was used, she did not look like she was trying to fly, and it did not last 30 seconds. She was nervous, but it was beautiful.

DISTRICT TRACK

Sara had a 3 day district track meet. She was doing the 1 1/2 mile and the mile. Thursday on the 1 1/2, she came in 4th out of 30. This is a picture of her blowing past another team to the finish line. She ran great.

On the mile, their fastest runner found out that her torn hamstring was NOT healed and hobbled across the finish line to be taken to the field house for medical attention. Sara got her foot stomped by a runner as they took off. Most of the girls wear "spike" shoes and it really hurt, so she also hobbled across the finish line in 7th place....poor girl.

They had entirely too many girls squeezed at the starting line and on both runs, they had to restart because a girl went down. I also noticed that there was a lot of pushing during this meet....the pressure of being best in district.

The 8th graders boys and girls came in first. The 7th grade girls came in 5th~~~~and Sara was upset because and also felt the upset from her coaches.....pressure from everywhere.

National Honor Society

Today Sara got her letter of acceptance into the National Junior Honor Society. This is based upon grades, character, and community volunteering. She will have her induction ceremony on the 22nd-another chance to wear her new fancy dress. There were only 2 selected from her team to receive this honor.

EASTER

We had our annual easter egg hunt. Since all of the kids but ours are in or finished with college, there is more cash in the eggs than candy. Niece Angie got the most this year and Marc got the least....better luck next year! Note the ice chest on the chair....we have to create artificial places to hide the eggs. Since Marc is 6"++, we actually had one thrown up into a huge tree....of course he just jumped and got it!

We also had the croquet competition. The game I play, well, I was very very lonely at the back.....I need to practice more I guess.

My sister Lisa brought cup cakes and let the "kids" ice and decorate them. They had a blast and were very creative.

The spoils of their hunt....time to check it out.

Happy Adoption Day Ruth

We celebrated the 12th anniversary of Ruth becoming our daughter on 4/2/1998. I took her shopping and she picked out some cool clothes.

yuck

The flu is back and I was the first down...after a good 24 hours. I did manage to pull off a great b-day party for Ruth. Updates later. Looks like Ruth has something too.....STAY AWAY!!!

Ruth's birthday party

Ruth's birthday party was so much fun. To begin with she had a frog shaped cake-from Kroger's. They painted letters for their first names and they added jewels. I later attached a ribbon of their choosing to hang them to their walls.

We, I mean they, had a lot of trampoline time. They did some at night with all the lights out wearing their glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces. Good it was almost a full moon. It was so funny to see just their jewelry bouncing up and down. They had dodge ball on the trampoline. They painted sun catchers. They ate a LOT of junk food, but for breakfast it was donuts, with milk, juice and fruit.

I was surprised they were quiet by 12 and not up until 8. Most of these girls have been friends since K or first grade. They are such wonderful girls, as are their moms that I like to visit with.

15 years later

Aren't we cute!

Ode to being a mom

Yes! The flu caught up with me finally. NO time to be sick though~tomorrow is Ruth's birthday party so after almost 24 hours in bed doing what no one wants to do, I am going at a snail's pase wishing I was still in bed....no time to be sick when you are a mom. I get the impression it is good to have dad be the mom for a day....more appreciation.

Everyone else seems to be fully recovered finally. It took some extra yogart to get Jeff back on track, but he is 100% again.

Today Jeff went to Sara's track meet and she came in 4th.

Birthday party Fri pm~Sat am so pictures later.....wish me luck

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUTH

Today is Ruth's 12th birthday. We will have a family birthday party this evening and her party will be next weekend. Today she went went to a friend to see "Lightning Theif" ~a book they studied this year, and in 4th grade.

Hasn't our baby grown~~now taller than her mom!

First day of spring brought us ...

Sara and Jeff now have the stomach flu....oh to be a mom!



Oh yea~~it is also SNOWING! I know you all wonder now about global warming, but just maybe it is affecting weather patters all over. We have now beat the all time snow levels.....ever here.

Quiet spring day?

Almost spring, and I set up the hammock for my enjoyment, but the animals decided something else. Apparently I am such a soft pillow, even the animals want a chance to relax......oh well!

Ruth was playing with Cooper and his toy got stuck in our little tree and imagine our surprise when he jumped into the bird bath to get closer! He is totally obsessed with his squeaky toys!

BAPTISM

This morning Sara was baptised. Her track coach was leading the music for the service and told a special story about Sara~~making me cry it was so very sweet. Our pracher tends to speack quickly, so I asked him to speak slowly, or in Chinese, or Sara would surely say "huh?" and we did not want this. It was so exciting to watch Sara profess her belief in God and Jesus.....

Ruth did not attend because she is still sick. Thus my sister and her husband were not interested in coming over afterwards. Mom, dad, Sara and I went shopping in the afternoon and Jeff and Ruth stayed home.

WARNING~~FLU

Ruth came down with the stomach flu yesterday, just after my parents arrived. This is day 2 w/ all the symptoms, including fever!!!!!! Jeff is not feeling well and went to bed very early.....YUCK!

SOCCER BEGINS

Today was the first soccer game. They lost 1-0 based on a technicality....better luck next time. In the team photo, look bottom right-the one with all the hair.

Track & Band

Today was the first track meet. After a cool front came through and it stopped raining, it was a go. Of course I did not know that it was going to rain or get colder, so we were unprepared. Sara ran the 1 1/2 and came in third. This picture was BEFORE she ran~she did not look so great afterwards.

Next it was a quick run home to change for the band concert. They really sounded great!

Sara's baptism dress

Sara is getting baptised Sunday the 14th and we finally found something for her to wear----NOT JEANS! We found the dress in the Jr. dept and it was size 3, but she really needs a 0 or 1,so I will take it in some. My parents will be in town and will attend, along with my sister and her husband that live fairly close. Of course she is all about accessories, so we are now working on that.

COLD

Today Sara was being too silly. She said she was so cold and began to put on a lot of clothes-just like a China Baby. Notice all of it is pink!

Notice Ruth having fun with her sister hehehe

Chess winner

Today Sara went to an area wide Chess Tournament. Kids from 100's of miles came to this. Sara is now going for her chess rating and played mostly highschool kids, and KICKED THEIR BUTTS!!!

She took first place,,,,,again this year. Not bad for a kid who is mostly self taught and won her first school tournament one month after she learned to play.

Note her trophies-ribbon from 4th grade-the first. Then 3rd place, followed by 2 1st place.

Lazy Days

While Sara and Jeff are at the chess tournament, Ruth and I had a lazy day. We went shopping for things for her birthday. It was a beautiful sunny spring day so we soaked up the sun, as did Jessie in an empty swimming pool and Puff under the hammock. We had to keep Cooper inside because he is all about "throw the ball, throw the ball" and this is not help when we want to relax.

Bird Rescue

I went out this morning to put some outgoing mail into the box, and noticed something in the street in front of my neighbor's. At first, being trash day, I figured it was trash left behind, but then it moved. All those know me know that I will/have rescue anything, including dogs, birds, and a few turtles. Well, it was a small bird and it was holding it's wing out. Our neighbor also has two large tom cats that snack on birds, so I figure that Bumble Bee got the bird. I got it and put it into one of our small shoe boxes I keep for the numerous kid's school projects. I actually tried to feed it a worm, but he looked at me like what's up, this is not a cricket!

Having used them in the past, I looked up Animal Rescue locally. They told me there is a place not far away that does only bird rescues. With directions & bird in hand, I was off. The place is in the country on a few acres and they had everything there.

The lady volunteering that morning said it was a simple puncture wound and he would be OK. She said I could call later and see how he was. I wish I could remember what type of bird he is. She also said they need many volunteers at the end of March because all the eggs will be hatching and the chicks will need to be fed every 20 mins, so we may have found a service project.