It's Been A While

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in 2 months!! You'd think nothing was going on. Not so.
I think the real reason is that I have discovered facebook and I can take a second or two to write a blurb without having much time or thought. With blogging you have to plan and think things out. Not much time for that lately but I feel something coming on......

Another Tragic Loss

This morning, around 7:45 am, a young man entered the weight room at Aplington Parkersburg High School, just about 20 miles from where I live, and shot the coach multiple times, at point blank range. He died later at a local hospital. This man was Coach Ed Thomas. I had never met Coach Thomas, just seen him on the news a few times, but my heart aches at his loss. The tributes that are pouring out describe him as an amazing man, a long time coach at this tiny high school, which produced, under his tutelage, numerous NFL players. One parent said he not only taught the kids how to play football but how to be men. It was every young man's wish to play football under his leadership, not so much for the love of the sport but for the love of him. He was definitely a community leader and a strong man of faith.
What makes this loss even for tragic for this tiny town of about 2000 people is that just over 1 year ago, an EF 5 tornado tore through Parkersburg, killing 5 people and completely obliterating a good section of the community. Then, just 1 week later, the floods hit, destroying another 300 homes. Even though Coach Thomas' home was destroyed by the tornado, he could be found the next morning at the high school, which had also been destroyed, leading the team in clean up efforts.
It has been fun to watch him on the news as they were ready just 3 months after these disasters to play their first home game. They had an undefeated season last fall, losing in the playoffs.
Like I said, I had never met Ed Thomas so I'm not really sure why this is hitting me so hard. Maybe its because it shows again how you just don't know what will happen minute to minute. I'm sure he had left his home thousands of times and headed to the weight room to meet his team. Today just had a different ending.

Exhale

Its done and I feel like I can breath again. We had a lovely turn out this afternoon with weather beyond what I could have hoped for. We had delicious Chinese food, yummy goodies, a 16 gallon keg of root beer and dear friends and family surrounding us. It was perfect. How blessed we are to have people in our lives who will take an afternoon/day to drive to our home to honor our son. I am humbled. I feel like I can get back to real life and can finally resume a sense of normality.
As I watched my son interact with our guests, I was so proud of him. He is a nice young man whose goal is to serve God with his very life and to translate the Bible into languages where there currently is none. I love him! I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to parent him and I feel like he turned out so well in spite of us. I can take no credit but thank God that I am a part of his life.
Now, off to bed with a lighter heart and enough Chinese food in the freezer to last until winter.
Good night!!

One more day

It will all be over tomorrow. I tell you what, if you've not had a child graduate yet, this whole thing is ALOT of work. I'm wondering why no one has told me that.
I would say all of my free time in the past 2 months has been filled with getting ready for this open house. Maybe I should have been doing a lot of this during the past 18 years, organizing pictures etc. I was NOT able to find a series of his school photos I had been looking for for the past few weeks. I have been praying all week that I would stumble across them. Late last night I asked my daughter if she thought these other things I was looking for were in her closet. She pulled out a box and lo and behold those photos were in there! God cares even about the little, insignificant things.
The addition is not coming along as planned but I have to make due with how it is.
Tonight is the ballet recital and tomorrow morning, the parade. I'm excited to visit with family and friends tomorrow but Saturday night I will sleep well I'm sure.

Countdown Day 5

Only 5 short days until my son's Graduation Open House. We started this remodel/addition with the understanding it would be nearly done in time for the open house. I didn't realize we would be cutting it so close. I've posted a picture I took yesterday. Looks pretty hopeless, I know. Today we have oodles of teenagers running around on our roof putting down shingles. They hope to finish today since rain is coming tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm losing my mind. This is not what I had expected but it is what I have feared. We have a great contractor, no real complaints there. I just can't take it when things are down to the wire and I have no control over them.
We had a lovely time at Lucas' commencement ceremony last week. We got front row seats and he was seated very close to us. We were told the event would take 3 hours, what with over 420 graduates. It only took 25 minutes to distribute the diplomas and the whole thing was over in 1 1/2 hours. Sweet! The bad news is that we believe we left our video camera there. Not sweet! My hubby feels horrible but I have this sense we will get it back. The facility hasn't been open since we realized it was missing so it may have been turned in and we just don't know it yet. We hope and pray it will be returned to us.
I can't wait until Sunday when this is all over. I have been planning this for months and have really been impressed with my organizational skills. I believe it will all come together by 2 pm on Saturday but did I mention my 7 year old has her dance recital on Friday evening and we have a parade Saturday morning that my 3 youngest kids are in? Sunday can't come soon enough.

Whew! He Made It!

This morning we attended an awards ceremony at the gymnasium of our son's high school.
We really had no idea what would take place but it was kind of interesting. At the ceremony there were about 15-20 scholarships that were announced. Many of them that were announced were a surprise to the recipient. Some had to be applied for but others were awarded based on votes by the faculty etc. I felt like I was at some type of game show. I sat on the edge of my seat waiting in anticipation, hoping my son's name would be called. Each time it wasn't, my hopes faded. Some kids must have walked away with several thousand dollars of scholarship $. Not my kid. Zero. Zilch. Boo! Bah Humbug! I kind of wanted to wring his neck because he has DRUG his feet on applying for most of scholarships. I dare say his essays were probably pretty pathetic and half-hearted so what does he get? NOTHING. Afterwards he came up to me and I looked him in the eye and said our state's lottery slogan, "You can't win if you don't play." He smirked and said, "I thought I would give you and Dad the honor of paying for my college education." I smirked back, thinking to myself, "You do, do you?"

I have to toot his horn though and say he was/is one of 9 valedictorians in his class of 421. This momma is SOOOO proud. There were a few times this past year where that 4.0 was in jeopardy but he came through and achieved something he really wanted. Way to go Lucas!!

I'm a little sad today

My son heard back from Moody today. He was accepted to the Moody program but not at the Chicago campus. Due to capacity constraints he has been accepted to attend classes either through their distance education program or he can attend at their campus in Spokane, WA. We are a little disappointed but recognize that at least he has his foot in the door. We have a ton of questions and will call an admissions counselor tomorrow and see if he can be put on a waiting list for the Chicago campus. At this point, I think he will do the online courses, continue working, and involve himself deeply with the local campus ministry that our church sponsors.
While this isn't exactly what we would have hoped for, we realize that " in all things God works for the good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28). What more do we need to know?