Audrey's Volleyball Season

This year, Audrey decided to play on her school's volleyball team.  Since elementary school doesn't cut anyone, she was able to participate and play in every game even though it was her first year.  She is a quick learner though!  And it helped to buy a volleyball to have at home and practice drills with Dad in the evenings.  She really enjoyed herself and was proud to be chosen to participate on the "A" team when they qualified for a final tournament, held at Sunnyside High yesterday.  Randy and Violet went out to cheer on Audrey and Robinson!  The girls did great, having a great time representing their school as the season came to a close.  Great job Audrey!  We're so proud of you!

Audrey was a great server, usually earning a couple aces for her team each game! 

Point, Robinson!

Happy sister getting to cheer on Robinson all morning!

6 months with us!

Today we celebrate Isaiah being in our home for 6 months!  Hooray!  Thank you God!  At 19 months, Isaiah continues to keep us on our toes!  He is a busy little guy!  His favorite things to do are play with cars, puzzles, or Little People (especially the ones that make noise), chase, hug or feed the dog (Lucy is one of his distinguishable words these days), kick, roll, or throw a ball (we always need to take an extra soccer ball to Isaac's games so Isaiah has something to play with on the sidelines), and crawl up, over, and onto anyone who will play with him or whatever furniture is in the room (crawling into buckets or boxes is also a fun game)!  He brings such joy into our house!  He loves to be picked up by any of his siblings (most of the time) and loves it even more if you'll get down on the floor with him and wrestle and tickle him, his laugh is contagious!  He continues to do well being in the church nursery for two hours on Sunday mornings!  He has also adjusted well to being in a different church nursery for two hours on Thursday morning as I meet with some ladies for Bible study!  He eats everything we put in front of him, his favorites being tomatoes, grapes, cheese, and crackers (that is a word we hear from him often)!

We thank God constantly that Isaiah gets to be in our home!  It feels so natural having him here, I often forget he wasn't with us from his start!  There have been a few moments in the past two months when my heart has been saddened at a realization of something I didn't get to experience with Isaiah as an infant, but God is so good...he continues to remind me that I cannot change Isaiah's past, and I have so much to be thankful for in his present!  So that is where I continue to choose to be...in a place of thankfulness for all that I have right now in my life.

Psalm 103:2-5 reads, "Praise the Lord, I tell myself, and never forget the good things he does for me.  He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.  He ransoms me from death and surrounds me with love and tender mercies.  He fills my life with good things!"

We have been blessed and grown so much as a family in the past six months!  We continue to wait on God as we also wait on the court system and the legal proceedings that need to happen in the coming months before we can sign adoption papers.  To those of you that have supported us over the past six months by checking in, bringing us meals, offering me help with the kiddos in the daytime, and most of all, praying for us, thank you is just the beginning of what we would like to say to you!  You have blessed our family immensely!  THANK YOU!

Soccer season

Soccer season is in full swing (or full foot as Randy likes to joke) and Isaac is enjoying playing in the under 10s league with Eaton Elementary.  Although this isn't his "home" elementary school (it is about a mile and a half from our house), he was placed on this team three years ago when the Robinson team was too full and made some good friends, so he has chosen to play with them every year since.  This year the sign-ups were really slim at both Eaton and Robinson so the teams were combined anyway!  If you ask Isaac what is his favorite sport, he'd probably reply, "baseball".  But he also really enjoys soccer, Randy enjoys helping with the team, and Isaac is really coming "into his own" position in front of the goal!  A few years back when the coaches were trying to pick positions for their players, goalie was picked by placing boys in front of the goal and having other players kick balls at them!  Isaac wasn't deterred at all and dove and caught without fear.  So goalie it was!  

Isaac has kept his team undefeated!  Yesterday, after taking a horizontal dive to save a goal, arm outstretched, his elbow was feeling a bit sore from hitting the ground and he came out to give it a rest.  The opposing team took advantage of the backup goalie (who, honestly, had a bit of deer-in-headlights look to him, being asked to step in) and scored within minutes.  Although I felt bad for the kid, it was neat to see Isaac's teammates rally around him, telling him, your elbow's fine, you can ice it later, you're our best goalie, get back in there!  So he did!  But after keeping the goal safe for most of the game, the opposing team made a pretty spectacular shot in the last few minutes!  The game ended in a tie, 2-2.  So the Eaton Rebels are now 3-0-1, with 6 games left in the season.

I must admit, even though I grew up with a dad and a brother that played soccer, and I went to quite a few games growing up (I never got a chance to see Randy play since we started dating after his soccer years were over), I have never enjoyed watching soccer like I do when Isaac is on the field!  It is no secret that Isaac can be a tough kid to parent at times, and it seems like a wonderful reward to sit on the sidelines and watch my child excel at something and feel so proud of himself!  And I am proud of him for continuing to improve his soccer skills both on and off the field (his sportsmanship has seen a turn for the better this year as well).  I look forward to many more years of tromping over dew soaked fields to set up my lawn chair, orange slices and Capri Suns at the ready, and rooting on my son's teams!

First swim meet!

This weekend, Violet participated in her first swim meet, swimming for the Fresno Dolphins!  The past two summers, Audrey has participated on the swim team.  Last summer Isaac swam as well.  This summer, our 2-week road trip to Portland overlapped with the short 6 week season, so we opted to stick to backyard swimming pools this summer.  But Audrey really missed swimming on a team, and Violet was willing to give up going back to gymnastics to swim with sister, so we signed up for the Fall Recreational League through Fresno Dolphins.  Violet's friend Grace decided to join as well and they have had a great time improving their skills, learning freestyle, back and breast stoke this year!  Every other Saturday morning there is a meet, but they are long (like, all day 6 hours long) and at different pools all over the valley, some up to 70 miles away.  So we decided to pick the closest one (Selma) and make a day of it with Grace and her mom carpooling with us!  All three girls did a great job!  Violet and Grace dove off the blocks like a pro!  It was fun for the girls to experience a real meet!  I was so proud of all of them!

Violet and Grace, ready to swim!

Violet on her first swim, 50 Free.

Diving in for the 25 Breast

Audrey swam the 100 Free and 50 Breast