1st semester a success for ATEMS, students
■ College-prep school will pick 150 youths via lottery for next fall
EMILY PETERS
peterse@reporternews.com / 325-676-6776
When John Martinez visited middle schools last year to persuade students and parents to apply for the district’s new math and science magnet high school, he could only present them with an idea.
“Recruiting last year was a challenge,” admits Martinez, the school’s director. “It was just me speaking about my vision.”
This year, after his school has been open one full semester in the Abilene Independent School District, Martinez has living, breathing evidence of his vision in action to help him recruit students for next fall.
That’s why he took freshmen Jeremiah Dismukes to Craig Middle School last week. Jeremiah told eighthgraders at his alma mater that he is proud to have been a part of something “epic” in the school’s inaugural year.
Jeremiah told them how he and his classmates are the first in the district to get their own laptop computers. They take upper-level classes like physics without textbooks and already explore engineering software like AutoCAD. They’ve worked in groups on reallife projects, started their own student organizations from scratch and gave the school a new name.
ATEMS — the Academy of Technology, Engineering, Math and Science — has become a thriving reality.
Applications for next fall are due March 1 and the school will pick 25 sophomores and 125 freshmen from a lottery. Students can’t have excessive discipline or attendance problems, and at least half will come from economically disadvantaged households.
"We're looking to provide opportunities for students who might not consider this academic road," Martinez said. "I'm not just looking for the A-plus students. I'm looking for any child who wants to be challenged and has a desire to work hard."
The tuition-free, college- prep school offers hot lunches and free transportation daily. But like many pilot projects, some things have not gone as planned for ATEMS' first year.
LOCATION UNDETERMINED
AISD started the school with a two-year state grant for $480,000 and planned to work with Abilene Christian University to provide a location. Those plans with ACU fell through and a new location is still unknown.
This first year, the school has operated comfortably in an open room on the first floor of the Texas Tech building on Pine and North 3rd streets. Students cross the street to eat lunch at the OneAISD center and check out books from the downtown library.
The building is probably too small as the school adds one grade for the next four years.
District officials hope to have next year's location nailed down by spring break. "It's not about the building or the location," Martinez said. "No matter where this school is, our kids are going to get the best education in Abilene."
NEAR FUTURE PLANS
While the location is unknown, AISD has committed with the New Tech Foundation to sustain the school at least through spring 2014, said Cathy Ashby, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction. She said the district fully expects the first ATEMS seniors to graduate in 2012.
Martinez has been building community partners, and he admits he is disappointed by a recent announcement that Texas Tech is dropping its Abilene-based graduate engineering school.
However, Texas Tech already helped ATEMS secure a $270,000 grant. That will send every student to visit Texas Tech and NASA this spring, where they will stay overnight and work in teams to design a simulated rocket and Mars rover.
The grant will also pay for a robotics summer camp in Abilene open to all area high school students.
"That's a great opportunity for recruitment," Martinez noted.
And he expects recruitment to go well.
ATHLETIC TRACK
Last summer, the district had about 100 applications for the school. This year, he expects more.
He admits athletics and fine arts will deter many students. A handful of ATEMS students are returning to Cooper or Abilene High for swimming and crosscountry practice outside of regular school hours, but programs like football and band are not possible.
One student already left ATEMS to play tennis, and Angel Moreno feels pretty certain he's not coming back to ATEMS for his sophomore year.
"Football is my dream," he said. "This school almost had enough to keep me here, but I want to play football."
However, Jeremiah said he's glad he chose to pursue a career track instead of athletics.
"It's tough, but you know I had to think about my future," he said. Next year, Martinez hopes to initiate an intramural program.
STUDENT LIFE
The absence of athletics doesn't mean student life is lacking. The young teens have taken advantage of their downtown scene after school, frequenting coffee shops and alleys perfect for skateboarding. Students used their school computer network called PeBL to post a poll so each could log a virtual vote for their preferred Friday night outing: movies, bowling or skating. Students say the first school dance was lively, with as many as 30 parent volunteers joining them on the dance floor.
Flex Fridays once a month throw the regular class schedule out the window. Instead, the school schedules events like a tour of Dyess Air Force Base, a scavenger hunt at Abilene Christian University, rocket- launching in the park or volunteer hours at the Abilene Zoo.
That's all meant to bring the students experience with college campuses, realworld careers and community service, Martinez said. That will be backed up when juniors and seniors take realworld internships.
Parents help with many of those outside activities. Parents are asked to volunteer 10 hours with the school each year, and Martinez estimates about 50 percent have already logged some hours.
FREEDOM RINGS
Teachers are designing group-based projects with a real-world twist, helping students get an idea of their futures.
In fact, some are so serious about their future in compute science they are discovering ways around firewalls and filters on their school-issued laptops.
"These kids are pretty sharp," Martinez said. "It's hard to keep them out of everything."
That's one big reason he stresses trust as the students take on personal responsibility.
"Freedom rings here," said Allegra Garcia. She explained students can listen to iPods during study time, but they lose the "trust cards" they wear around their necks if they listen to music while the teacher is talking.
But the freedom goes further than that.
"We are free to discuss things in class without raising our hands so we feel like adults having real conversations," Garcia said. "Some people talk down on the school and say it's hard. Yeah, it's hard if you don't try. Some say it's a nerd school, but we get more from this than we ever thought."
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
2009 Ends with a Bump
I am getting a late start on my New Years letter this year, because of the bump I mentioned in the title. We had a wonderful Christmas season this year. We got out of school on the 18th. The night before we celebrated Christmas as a family. On the 19th, we went to my brother's house to celebrate Christmas with his family.
Brad and his wife had a precious new baby on the 20th of November so I was looking forward to seeing my newest nephew again. We celebrated Christmas the day we arrived. The next day my oldest nephew had a Christmas program at his church. We all went to go see him perform in "Camel Lot". All the 100s of children did a great job. The next morning we headed back to Abilene for a couple of days. On the 23rd we drove to Lake Buchanan to celebrate Christmas with Nathan's family. The next day there was a blizzard in Abilene. We missed it all. My two younger sons really disliked the fact that they were missing all the white stuff. Three days later when we came home it was still on the ground though. Missing snow in Abilene was soon overlooked when on the 28th we started our next trip for Colorado. There was snow along the way this side of Lubbock, but Daniel was distraught when he heard on the 29th that it was snowing again in Abilene. His comment was, "There better be snow in Colorado". We assured him there would be plenty in the mountains.
We spent one night with our great friends the Abla's in Dalhart, Texas. They had not gotten any snow yet this season.
On the 29th, we continued our journey to Conifer, Colorado. We chose to take the scenic route, so there was plenty of snow. Wilkerson Pass looked like a winter wonderland. We finally made it to Nathan's brother's house in Conifer. He lives 30 miles southwest of Denver. We had a wonderful visit with Nathan's brother, his wife, and their two children. They have the only niece in the family. On the 30th, Nathan went to work with his brother. They were putting up some dry wall. When they got back we loaded up and went to the sledding mountainside. Our boys, niece, and nephew were having some great runs down the hillside. Nathan and I decided it was our turn. Nathan gave me a push and off I went. It was a great ride. Wind in my face, fast, and a bit scary. We were told that if you made it all the way to the creek it was a good run. I made it all the way to the creek. My brother in law was shouting at me "Belinda that was a great ride, you did great!" He came over to me and asked if I was o.k? Do you remember the title of this blog entry? Yes, I hit several bumps. The first one was o.k., but the 2nd one I think it was, gave me quite a jerk. I found out today (a week to the day later) that I actually fractured my T-12 vertebrae. I have had a good day today. No muscle spasms to speak of, but I still have some tightness and pain in my back.
This year has been a good one in the Nease household, but it has been an unusual year, especially the last six months. In March, Nathan mentioned to me that he wanted to look into applying to a new school that was coming to Abilene. I asked him if this was what people referred to as a mid-life crisis. He told me, no, of course. The new school is a T-STEM school. Which stands for Texas - Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math. With his Engineering degree he thought this would be a great fit for him. It is also incorporates the Project-Based Learning model. He use to always do projects with his students, but those had faded out of his curriculum to make sure he covered everything he needed to. His students were taking classes that were preparing them for an AP test and he wanted them to do well on the test. This new school will be different from what students are currently experiencing in Abilene. Nathan taught at Cooper High School for 23 years. He would have been happy to remain at CHS or have a chance to try this new way of teaching. He was hired and is having a great time. It has been a whole lot of work starting a new school, writing his own curriculum, and working with the public to ensure their support of this new school. If you want to learn more about the school look at this website. http://www.newtechfoundation.org Daniel is also attending this school and loving it. Nathan was also awarded the first Elite Educator this year. You may still be able to see him on the bigcountryhomepage.com
Nathan's new position meant he would have to go to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a week of training. We decided to make this trip into a family vacation. You can read about this trip in an older post. One thing I did not mention in the older post is that when we went to Graceland our guys comment about it was, "Elvis was not home". On our way home we spent a day and night in Chicago. Some of David's great photography can be viewed in the movie he made at the end of this post.
When we got back from our trip, I went to an annual doctor's appointment and again it was suggested I have a hysterectomy. It is something the doctor and I have been talking about for several years. We decided that it would be better to get it done now rather than waiting for an emergency. On July 29th, I had this procedure done. I was almost ready to start school when it started. The first day I only went for half a day. The next day I made it the whole day. I have a new boss at Abilene High School so we sat on some comfy new couches and got to know each other. This surgery though was almost like a domino effect on my life. I had several more test over the next few months. Two days before Thanksgiving I was told I needed to have my gall bladder removed. The surgeon we saw though said if he was me he would not have it removed. I had not been having any pain in that area so he did not see it as a necessary procedure. I have been rejoicing ever since, but asking the LORD to make it plain to us before the end of the year if I should have it removed since I had met my deductible. Well that does not matter anymore, because in the next few days or so I will meet my deductible again this year. Nathan and I have decided that I should have a MRI to make sure we are just dealing with a fracture in the T-12 and not anything else.
David is doing great. Economics about ate his lunch this past semester. He was so happy when December 18th, hit and he knew he would never have to step foot in that classroom again. He has been accepted at the University of North Texas in Denton. He would like to major in Photography and minor in Jazz Bass. He is still the bass player for Revolution. Check the group out on www.youtube.com Old Joe Clark and New Country
Derek has rented his own place just about 3 blocks from us. We still do not see him very often. He was able to be with us over the holidays. One of the main reasons we went to Colorado is because one of Derek's good friends was getting married on New Year's Eve. Derek was one of his groomsmen and he also sang during the ceremony.
We grieved the loss of a sweet friend this year. Linda Dent went home to be with her savior. Another friend lost her son this year.
Nathan and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary in Dallas, TX this year. We ate at a nice restaurant in the Las Colinas area. We went to Tyler for a quick weekend trip. It was a lot of fun to get away October 31st weekend. On another trip we went on this summer Nathan and I met Brent Musburger in our hotel elevator. His comment to Nathan was, "I don't have to guess who you are rooting for this weekend." Of course he had his burnt orange shirt on. As a family we went to Shallowater to go through a Corn Maze. It was a lot of fun.
Our family rejoiced as two of our friends accepted Jesus as their personal savior this year. Daniel and Lyndsay made the most important decision they will make in their lives. Where they will spend eternity?
Several of our friends married this year: Marissa and Andrew, Jasa & Adam, Wes and Suz, Tim M, Johnathan B. We also have had friends have babies: Sarah and Chris welcomed their third baby into their lives; Aylin and Luke also welcomed Number 3 as well as Anissa and Mark. All of these ladies had still births last year so we are very thankful that God has blessed them with a precious new life to hold and cherish. Also Lucy has a new baby brother.
We are proud of the Abilene High eagles for winning state in Football this year. I even dressed up to show my spirit at two of the pep rally's this year.
We are praying for our new President, Tiger Woods, men and women fighting for our freedom, and for many friends and family.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
2009 so far
2009 has already been an incredible year. I write this as I still recover from surgery this past month. Recovery has been difficult for me. I am not a “do nothing” kind of lady. On August 8th, I wrote on my facebook status that I was ready to turn my "doing dials up a notch". Too much T.V., huh? I guess I did not know how hard this would be going into this, because it has not been fun. I thought I would try to watch one movie every day, but that did not appeal to me much at all. I read a couple of books and enjoyed that thoroughly. Otherwise, I have sat using Nathan’s laptop staying updated on the world and my friends. I enjoyed that quite a bit, but that also contributed to the thought of not being able to do anything but pray for my friends that needed something. I made some phone calls. A couple friends came over, but there was still more hours in the day to feel useless in.
I have gone back to work and I have been able to do some things. That has helped, but I come home and sit so I make sure I feel like going back the next day. Friends that have had this done tell me that in a few more weeks I will be so glad I did this and that it is behind me. I pray that is true. I am ready for it to be in the past now. I thought I would have awesome times in the Word of God and I have, but I only felt like doing that for some of the time during my days. Don’t get me wrong, the LORD and I had some quality time some days. He has been right here with me the whole time, but maybe you understand I wanted so much more from this time. I am sure I can blame some of it on the lack of energy, but I did not feel like sleeping and I still had to get up quite a bit with all the water the doctor had me drinking.
Those have been my feelings and as I read back over them it sounds so depressing. Maybe that is what is referred to as “after surgery blahs”. But I am so ready to get past that and I am going to start now.
Nathan has been back at work for 2 weeks already. Maybe that contributed to my “blahs” as well. I am definitely not ready for our summer to be over. There was so much more I wanted to do. WHOOPS, Sorry! I am over that right. Nathan enjoys his new position. He can hardly wait for Monday to get here. The students are excited. I think they have caught that from their incredible teachers and staff at New Tech High School. It will soon have a new name, so be listening for that soon.
We had an awesome trip to Michigan in June. We left here on Derek’s Birthday after waking him up to breakfast in bed and planning a surprise at choir practice that evening. Jonathan Krake and fellow choir members pulled that off for us. David disliked us leaving on Wednesday but he got over it. He does not like to miss church ever. We were given free tickets to the Ranger Game, the one that got rained out on June 10th. We are glad David is a forgiving young man. Since David did not really want to go anyway. He and I went to Poncho’s right around the corner from our cheap hotel. It started raining before we got finished eating our not so good Mexican food. It was a good thing we parked right by the door, but we still got more wet than Daniel and Nathan did at the rained out game. I felt like a drenched wet dog when we got in the Tahoe. David took a shower to warm up and feel better when we got back to the hotel. I put dry clothes on. Wrapped up to get warm and waited for Nathan to call and say to come get them. Daniel and Nathan had fun exploring the Texas Ranger stadium. They had seen it all before, but not in a leisurely way. They were not allowed to go to their seats because the storm was pretty severe. It wreaked havoc over the surrounding area as it moved through the DFW area. Anyway, they hung out until the game was called off for the night.
The next morning we took out pretty early heading for Memphis, Tennessee. We visited my maid of honors parents in Eads, Cheryl and Mike Avent. They had a beautiful home in the country outside of Memphis. There are tons of pictures on my profile page on Facebook. If you are not my friend on Facebook then I would encourage you to join whether you want to be my friend or not. You are probably already my friend if you are taking the time to read this already long blog entry though. We stayed with the Avents two nights. I was so blessed by Daniel and David coming to me and saying, “These people are just like our grandparents; they are treating us just like we are their own grandkids.” In other words they loved my best friend’s parents and enjoyed being in their home. It was a joy to see Karen, my best friends little sister, as well.
Cheryl let Nathan and I sleep in her very comfortable bed. She did not have to do that. She insisted. Cheryl went sightseeing with us all day, our third day out of Abilene. We went and checked out Elvis Presley’s Mansion. There was so much to see and it was hot after we actually saw his little house. The boys thought the house was very tacky and cruised through it very quickly. They are old enough that they will remember it though. With Michael Jackson’s death just days after we got home, June 25, 2009. They probably have a greater understanding of what significance will be done to make Michael Jackson’s memory last for years to come.
The following day we drove to Louisville, Kentucky. We did spend some time in Nashville. Drove around downtown and wound up right in the middle of the CMA festival. There were tons of people lining the river listening to someone sing. I asked one of the parking attendants at the stadium who was singing, but none of us recognized the name they told us. The boys thought the artist sounded like Reba. My comment to them was that everyone sounds like Reba from this distance. And Nathan added that Reba McIntire would most definitely not be out there in the heat of the day on a barge singing. She very well may be the musical artist singing at prime time this evening but not right now. We drove past the Grand Old Opry. When we got to Louisville, we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum and baseball bat factory. They were even making bats that afternoon. I guess we went at a “high demand” time because they don’t always do that on Saturdays. We even made it in time for a tour. Our time with our friends there was very enjoyable even though it was fast. We kept them up way too late. Thanks for staying up with us Edward and Jennifer Heinze. Braden and Kara Beth stayed up way past the bedtimes as well that night.
The following day we drove to Grand Rapids and dropped Nathan off for his week of training for his new position. After we dropped him off, we drove to Three Rivers, MI and spent the week with our dear friends, Rick, Cheryl, and Brooke Salas. The boys and I relaxed for a couple of days then we went back to Indiana and checked out Notre Dame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and a chocolate factory. Notre Dame was fun for David and me. Daniel was not that impressed. We did get to see “Touchdown Jesus”. Both the boys enjoyed the College Football Hall of Fame. It would be a little bit of a stretch to say I enjoyed it. I did enjoy seeing my boys enjoy themselves though. I did beat them at a game of football we played. It was a game of highlights from a game. The film clip would role and then stop just before the play ended and you had to predict what would happen. I just chose the same button the whole time. On the last one I chose my play and which direction the ball would go. I predicted correctly and beat both boys. I asked them to take a picture because my camera had broken before this trip, but they would not do it.
Our last stop was the South Bend Chocolate Factory. We were not impressed at all. The sample we got was an orange flavored dipped pretzel. It wasn’t even chocolate.
The next day we went to Shipshewana, an Amish community. I was so glad my friend Cheryl went with us. The boys would have given out long before I would have been ready to leave. It was like Fredericksburg, TX so many little shops to go in, so much to see. Cheryl and I went into an Amish grocery store and had so much fun. The boys sat outside and people watched. They did not complain once, but if it would have been just us. I don’t want to think about it.
The next morning the boys and I went back to Grand Rapids to pick up Nathan. We spent the morning at the zoo and ate at Subway. Then we all rode back to 3 Rivers so Nathan could spend some time with the Salas’s especially Rick. Rick was a gracious host all week. He grilled out for us. Cheryl had to work some. As we left Kentucky our “service engine soon” light came on. Nathan was not too concerned about it because we had had trouble with it turning off and on. I told him though that since the boys and I would be venturing out some without him I would like to get it checked. Rick took it to a place in 3 Rivers and found out all that we needed to do was take the gas cap off and put it back on. The light went off and we were good to go. Thanks Rick and Thank You Jesus for taking care of us.
The next morning we took off early for Chicago. We walked the pavement there from 10:00 a.m. till almost midnight. There is another video on my facebook profile with just Chicago pictures on it. Check it out. David is a wonderful photographer.
The next morning we drove to Rogers, AK. We spent the night with another exceptional family, Becky, Kent, Caitlynn, and Hannah Shaffer. We were excited to hear about an incredible ministry that this family is involved in. Check out www.savinggracenwa.org There is more information on the facebook group called Saving Grace out of Arkansas. Look for the icon with a lighthouse to find the group.
On Monday, June 22nd, we drove home via a stop at the national Oklahoma City bombing site, Earl's in Bricktown, and Nathan's two aunt's houses in Pumpkin Center, OK. We also made one more stop at my parents on the way into town to see how the Longhorns were doing in the College World series.
We had an incredible 9 state journey in 13 days. We put 3,465 miles on our vehicle.
Earlier in the year, Daniel and I had a wonderful time in Washington DC over spring break, David had a great time on a Youth Ski trip, and Derek spent the week in Mexico on a mission trip. All the boys went to camp this summer. David and Daniel went to New Mexico to Glorieta and Derek went to Taos, NM.
Now we are two days away from the beginning of David’s senior year and Daniel and Nathan’s first day at New Tech High School. We all plan on having a great end to our year.
We are looking forward to a couple of weddings and the birth of another nephew/cousin the day after Thanksgiving. Derek is in a wedding in Colorado on January 1st. Hopefully, we can spend part of our holiday in beautiful/cold Colorado.
I have gone back to work and I have been able to do some things. That has helped, but I come home and sit so I make sure I feel like going back the next day. Friends that have had this done tell me that in a few more weeks I will be so glad I did this and that it is behind me. I pray that is true. I am ready for it to be in the past now. I thought I would have awesome times in the Word of God and I have, but I only felt like doing that for some of the time during my days. Don’t get me wrong, the LORD and I had some quality time some days. He has been right here with me the whole time, but maybe you understand I wanted so much more from this time. I am sure I can blame some of it on the lack of energy, but I did not feel like sleeping and I still had to get up quite a bit with all the water the doctor had me drinking.
Those have been my feelings and as I read back over them it sounds so depressing. Maybe that is what is referred to as “after surgery blahs”. But I am so ready to get past that and I am going to start now.
Nathan has been back at work for 2 weeks already. Maybe that contributed to my “blahs” as well. I am definitely not ready for our summer to be over. There was so much more I wanted to do. WHOOPS, Sorry! I am over that right. Nathan enjoys his new position. He can hardly wait for Monday to get here. The students are excited. I think they have caught that from their incredible teachers and staff at New Tech High School. It will soon have a new name, so be listening for that soon.
We had an awesome trip to Michigan in June. We left here on Derek’s Birthday after waking him up to breakfast in bed and planning a surprise at choir practice that evening. Jonathan Krake and fellow choir members pulled that off for us. David disliked us leaving on Wednesday but he got over it. He does not like to miss church ever. We were given free tickets to the Ranger Game, the one that got rained out on June 10th. We are glad David is a forgiving young man. Since David did not really want to go anyway. He and I went to Poncho’s right around the corner from our cheap hotel. It started raining before we got finished eating our not so good Mexican food. It was a good thing we parked right by the door, but we still got more wet than Daniel and Nathan did at the rained out game. I felt like a drenched wet dog when we got in the Tahoe. David took a shower to warm up and feel better when we got back to the hotel. I put dry clothes on. Wrapped up to get warm and waited for Nathan to call and say to come get them. Daniel and Nathan had fun exploring the Texas Ranger stadium. They had seen it all before, but not in a leisurely way. They were not allowed to go to their seats because the storm was pretty severe. It wreaked havoc over the surrounding area as it moved through the DFW area. Anyway, they hung out until the game was called off for the night.
The next morning we took out pretty early heading for Memphis, Tennessee. We visited my maid of honors parents in Eads, Cheryl and Mike Avent. They had a beautiful home in the country outside of Memphis. There are tons of pictures on my profile page on Facebook. If you are not my friend on Facebook then I would encourage you to join whether you want to be my friend or not. You are probably already my friend if you are taking the time to read this already long blog entry though. We stayed with the Avents two nights. I was so blessed by Daniel and David coming to me and saying, “These people are just like our grandparents; they are treating us just like we are their own grandkids.” In other words they loved my best friend’s parents and enjoyed being in their home. It was a joy to see Karen, my best friends little sister, as well.
Cheryl let Nathan and I sleep in her very comfortable bed. She did not have to do that. She insisted. Cheryl went sightseeing with us all day, our third day out of Abilene. We went and checked out Elvis Presley’s Mansion. There was so much to see and it was hot after we actually saw his little house. The boys thought the house was very tacky and cruised through it very quickly. They are old enough that they will remember it though. With Michael Jackson’s death just days after we got home, June 25, 2009. They probably have a greater understanding of what significance will be done to make Michael Jackson’s memory last for years to come.
The following day we drove to Louisville, Kentucky. We did spend some time in Nashville. Drove around downtown and wound up right in the middle of the CMA festival. There were tons of people lining the river listening to someone sing. I asked one of the parking attendants at the stadium who was singing, but none of us recognized the name they told us. The boys thought the artist sounded like Reba. My comment to them was that everyone sounds like Reba from this distance. And Nathan added that Reba McIntire would most definitely not be out there in the heat of the day on a barge singing. She very well may be the musical artist singing at prime time this evening but not right now. We drove past the Grand Old Opry. When we got to Louisville, we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum and baseball bat factory. They were even making bats that afternoon. I guess we went at a “high demand” time because they don’t always do that on Saturdays. We even made it in time for a tour. Our time with our friends there was very enjoyable even though it was fast. We kept them up way too late. Thanks for staying up with us Edward and Jennifer Heinze. Braden and Kara Beth stayed up way past the bedtimes as well that night.
The following day we drove to Grand Rapids and dropped Nathan off for his week of training for his new position. After we dropped him off, we drove to Three Rivers, MI and spent the week with our dear friends, Rick, Cheryl, and Brooke Salas. The boys and I relaxed for a couple of days then we went back to Indiana and checked out Notre Dame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and a chocolate factory. Notre Dame was fun for David and me. Daniel was not that impressed. We did get to see “Touchdown Jesus”. Both the boys enjoyed the College Football Hall of Fame. It would be a little bit of a stretch to say I enjoyed it. I did enjoy seeing my boys enjoy themselves though. I did beat them at a game of football we played. It was a game of highlights from a game. The film clip would role and then stop just before the play ended and you had to predict what would happen. I just chose the same button the whole time. On the last one I chose my play and which direction the ball would go. I predicted correctly and beat both boys. I asked them to take a picture because my camera had broken before this trip, but they would not do it.
Our last stop was the South Bend Chocolate Factory. We were not impressed at all. The sample we got was an orange flavored dipped pretzel. It wasn’t even chocolate.
The next day we went to Shipshewana, an Amish community. I was so glad my friend Cheryl went with us. The boys would have given out long before I would have been ready to leave. It was like Fredericksburg, TX so many little shops to go in, so much to see. Cheryl and I went into an Amish grocery store and had so much fun. The boys sat outside and people watched. They did not complain once, but if it would have been just us. I don’t want to think about it.
The next morning the boys and I went back to Grand Rapids to pick up Nathan. We spent the morning at the zoo and ate at Subway. Then we all rode back to 3 Rivers so Nathan could spend some time with the Salas’s especially Rick. Rick was a gracious host all week. He grilled out for us. Cheryl had to work some. As we left Kentucky our “service engine soon” light came on. Nathan was not too concerned about it because we had had trouble with it turning off and on. I told him though that since the boys and I would be venturing out some without him I would like to get it checked. Rick took it to a place in 3 Rivers and found out all that we needed to do was take the gas cap off and put it back on. The light went off and we were good to go. Thanks Rick and Thank You Jesus for taking care of us.
The next morning we took off early for Chicago. We walked the pavement there from 10:00 a.m. till almost midnight. There is another video on my facebook profile with just Chicago pictures on it. Check it out. David is a wonderful photographer.
The next morning we drove to Rogers, AK. We spent the night with another exceptional family, Becky, Kent, Caitlynn, and Hannah Shaffer. We were excited to hear about an incredible ministry that this family is involved in. Check out www.savinggracenwa.org There is more information on the facebook group called Saving Grace out of Arkansas. Look for the icon with a lighthouse to find the group.
On Monday, June 22nd, we drove home via a stop at the national Oklahoma City bombing site, Earl's in Bricktown, and Nathan's two aunt's houses in Pumpkin Center, OK. We also made one more stop at my parents on the way into town to see how the Longhorns were doing in the College World series.
We had an incredible 9 state journey in 13 days. We put 3,465 miles on our vehicle.
Earlier in the year, Daniel and I had a wonderful time in Washington DC over spring break, David had a great time on a Youth Ski trip, and Derek spent the week in Mexico on a mission trip. All the boys went to camp this summer. David and Daniel went to New Mexico to Glorieta and Derek went to Taos, NM.
Now we are two days away from the beginning of David’s senior year and Daniel and Nathan’s first day at New Tech High School. We all plan on having a great end to our year.
We are looking forward to a couple of weddings and the birth of another nephew/cousin the day after Thanksgiving. Derek is in a wedding in Colorado on January 1st. Hopefully, we can spend part of our holiday in beautiful/cold Colorado.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
My nephew turned 6.
Daniel and I went this past weekend to celebrate my nephews Birthday. We had a very nice time. Daniel received a special Leadership award this past month. He was the boy of the month at school. Our family went and celebrated with him at a special Breakfast at the Country club. His picture was also in the paper this week. We have the day off from school tomorrow. I hope that we can get all caught up on things around our home. Nathan and I had a very nice Valentine's Day yesterday. It was cold so we spent the afternoon at our home alone and watched a movie after eating lunch out.
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