Springtime Outing!

 Snippet of the Japanese Gardens

I love spring!  I don't know what it is, but it is by far my most favoritist season!  I love the warm.  I love the color.  I love the fact that God is faithful each year to bring new life to what has appeared dead for months.  Love it all!  To go with the season, one of my favorite outings this time of the year is to the botanical gardens.  It does get a bit tricky to figure out when my favorites are in bloom, but I think we hit it pretty closely this year - tulips, azaleas, dogwoods and cherry trees were all loaded with bloom.  So glad we could enjoy this picture perfect afternoon! 

 Tulips are one of my very favorite flowers.

 Checking out the sun dial as to how it worked and for accuracy.  I think they eventually got it to within 10 minutes.

 It wasn't all serious....as you can tell, Daddy was the common denominator in the "keeping it fun" department!

 They all had to try this one out!

Then, there were the serious poses.

 Hannah (9 years old)

 Andrew (7 years old, but thinks he's 10 most days!)

 Luke (10 years old)

 

Chris and me courtesy of Andrew

Soccer Season!

 

Soccer season started a couple of weeks ago and we are the thick of the season now.   It's fun for the kids to run around at practice and take part in their games.  They do have competitive sides so we have more defeats than wins, which has been a bit hard to swallow for them.  However, for the most part, they are enjoying themselves and that's what Chris and I want them to do.  The last couple of weeks have included crazy winds and really cold, but today was picture perfect so I grabbed the camera to document some of today's action.

Chris had his inaugural run as a ref.  They were in desperate need so he filled in.  I think it went fine.  Unfortunately, I wasn't there because I was finishing up some things at home and I got distracted with a phone call.....  Hope I get to see him in action again.

 As I said, they've been in need of refs this year.  Luke has taken the request seriously and volunteered.  He loves being line judge even to the point of talking about not playing.  We told him he still needed to play.  He has a lot to learn, but the powers that be have been very willing to work with him and he's learning a lot!  Luke thrives when given a little bit of extra responsibility.

 Andrew playing above and playing goalie below (honestly, goalie is not his best position).

 Luke #18.  He is fun to watch when he gets to play the position he enjoys most - forward.

Hannah is also having a good year and is a strong player on her team - especially if she doesn't have to run a lot and it is a defensive position.  Today, her coach told her he needed her out there and I agree, he did.  She had several nice defensive plays.  I must say, though, watching girls play is a "whole different ballgame" than the boys.  I don't even know if they know what the word intensity means....  They have fun, though, and I guess that is important.

Deployment Reflections

Since Chris had the rare opportunity of arriving home a couple of days early, I was able to keep it a secret right up until we headed out the door and I told them.  I told them because I wanted a video of it and they would have figured it out on the way there.

Were we ever glad to see this plane taxing in as we arrived at the squadron to pick Chris up.  Each deployment has its own feel.  Each one God teaches me a lesson and I often grow closer in my relationship with God during these times.  On the surface, this deployment was no different than many others.  We had our share of things that break, but my fix-it man wasn't here for - the van battery dying (in retrospect, I'm pretty sure it was my fault - yes, quite humbling!!! thankful for dear friends to rescue me!), the headlight burning out on the van (I fixed that one - a small pride moment for me) and the curtain rod getting pulled loose on one end (I won't place blame there, but I'll say it wasn't me and I did fix it, but not as well as my dear husband could have).  None of that is a big deal, just life really.  For me it was much more personal.  I can't put my finger on it, but I missed Chris more and that made it harder.  The last week was particularly difficult.  I didn't feel super well, the country in which he was deployed to had a variety of attacks while he was away and we received heartbreaking news from dear, dear friends of ours.  I nearly felt like I limped to the finish line than finishing strong.

As is usually true, things could have been worse - much worse.  I often write posts with  glowing reports.  We are thankful for Daddy being home, but I wanted to just offer a tiny peak as to some other things that went on this time around.  Thankful for a faithful God that sees us through each day.

 We don't usually climb aboard the plane when crews arrive home, but it was crazy windy (think Oklahoma wind crazy) that day and they let us head on up.  All the kids had been on Chris's plane, but I guess it had been awhile because Andrew didn't really remember it.  Not only did Dad come home, but they got another glimpse of his "office". 
What a treat!

Thankful Chris is home, but also thankful that the
mustache didn't last long.....

A Basketball Fairy Tale by Andrew (age 7)

The 3-Point Curse

(typed just as he wrote it)

       Once upon a time there lived a basketball player.  He was a good shooter.  His name was Buddy Hield.  He had 3 nice friend there were lots of magical happenings.  The evil coach cast a spell on him for him not to make any 3-pointers.  That was what he was best at.  But, the coach was not very nice.  The evil coach wasn't nice to him in any way.  until one day something bad happened.  The coach cast a spell on him in the locker room.  First, they tried to sword fight with him but failed.  Next, they tried to push him out of a plane.  Last, he shot 3-pointers way of course and made it!  The spell was broken.  He never had any more trouble shooting.  They lived happily ever after.  The end!