Well it has been a while since I have been on here and MUCH has transpired since then. Artie and I have joined the "empty nesters" so to speak, or should I say we are in the orientation phase. We have our FIRST high school graduate, as of last Saturday, June 8, and he has already "flown the coup" and begun his life journey out from under our protective wings. Just 2 days after graduation, Trey left to go to Florida for the summer to work his first REAL job. (The good thing about this is, although he is out of our nest, he will be safely nestled @ mamaw and papaw's nest and under the protective watch of Artie's brother and sister). He is a horse wrangler @ Camp Keystone, a salvation army camp in Starke, FL, where he is part of the barn staff this summer and will be taking care of the camp's horses ALL summer long. His first day was yesterday and he even got to watch the vet perform eye surgery on a horse to remove his blind eye, in attempts to save the horse's life and prevent him from being put down. He will be working 8-5 every day and some weekends. Not so bad for a FIRST job, since he will be majoring in lifestock and poultry management @ the Agriculture Institute, which is a division of the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences @ NC State University in Raleigh. THis is a 2 year degree program, and the first step in his journey to becoming a VET. Once the 2 year program is complete, he plans to transfer to the 4 year pre-vet program @ NC State OR University of Florida in Gainvesville. He is also planning to try out for the marching band @ State this summer when he goes for orientation.
Casey just completed her sophomore year @ Crest High School, and is a fully licensed driver. She is still somewhat restricted, because she cannot drive past 9:00 am for the first 6 months, but she will be a big help in shuttling our family around, especially with Trey gone. She was chosen to be a part of the chamber choir, an auditioned singing ensemble, for next school year and plans to run cross country this summer and fall with Leeann. She is also planning to be a part of the color guard in the marching band for the 2013 marching season, even though she does not play an instrument. Our new band director is opening up the opportunity for ANYONE to participate, whether they play an instrument or not. I am VERY excited about this for her, since I, too, was member of the color guard in my high school and captain my senior year. Academically, she is at the top of her class, and is currently "tied" for salutatorian with about 11 other students who have an unweighted GPA of 4.0. She is getting ALL kinds of college information and I am sure she will be able to get tons of academic scholarships and even EARLY acceptance to the college of her choice. Like her older brother, she is involved with FFA and earned her "Chapter Degree" this year. She is also searching for a job right now. I know the market it is really tight and living in small community, jobs are not so readily available, but she has the drive and gumption to keep at it until she finds something.
Leeann just completed her freshman year @ Crest High School. This year has been really good for her, especially since she didn't get into the Early College High School, like she had planned. She began her high school career with the summer running club for cross country and was recognized as a member of the 100-mile club, for her participation in summer training last summer. She ran cross country in the fall, winter "indoor" track and spring track.. Not sure where she got the passion to run, but she has the potential to do really well with it if she will set her mind to it and stick with it!!! She also got her permit last month and has joined the fleet of drivers at Hubbard's Haven, although she must still have a licensed driver with her. She was also involved in FFA with her brother and sister and earned her "green hand" degree @ then end of the year. Not sure if she will stick with FFA like her older siblings, because she really doesn't like taking care of our animals at home, but it has been a good experience for her. She is planning to participate in ROTC next year, so that will give her another outlet, if FFA doesn't work out for her.
Jonathan is now officially a teenager, as of a week and a half ago. We weren't too sure if he would make it to see his 13th birthday, because he is soooo Laxidazical and has to be told 50 bajillion times to get up and MOVE!! He still marches to the beat of his own drummer and takes his sweet precious time in doing things. He ALMOST didn't pass the 7th grade (or at least the 2nd or 3rd nine weeks of school) because of his nonchalant attitude about things, his talent for goofing off and making jokes, and NOT turning in or doing his projects and assignments. But after conferencing with his teachers and giving them permission to "Gibbs slap" him in the back of his head any time they felt he needed it, we re-lit the fire in his pants and he got busy the last nine weeks, bringing up his nearly failing grades in some classes to A/B honor roll. SOOOOO he will be in 8th grade next year, thank goodness. He too will be part of the high school marching band as part of the 8th grade pit crew. He is currently 1st chair French horn in the middle school band and will be a part of the 8th grad jazz band, an auditioned music ensemble, at Crest Middle School next year. He was also on the cross country team and wrestling team this year, and hopefully will continue to pursue his athleticism in these and other areas next year.
Faith has completed 3rd grad and survived her first year of EOG testing. I was a little worried about her and this testing year, because she has struggled somewhat with her reading, just like her older sister, Leeann had at that age. But with the help of small group instruction and intervention, she has come a LONG way in the past year. She made A/B honor roll all year and participated in the Girls on the Run program at her school. THe program is a YMCA sponsored program teaching young girls the value of good morals, ethics and uses running as an outlet to be healthy individuals. She and I actually ran a 5K together just a couple of weeks ago (well we walked - ran together). For someone who is a swimmer and not a runner, this was somewhat of a challenge for Old Mother Hubbard, but we did it, and we finished, although my 9 year old took off and "SMOKED" me at the end. We ran in about 35 minutes, not bad for a 9 year old and an old woman. But she has inspired to try to get out and do more running/walking this summer to stay healthy and to keep up and spend time with her and her siblings who are involved in running. Faith also had a dizzy spell or two with some blurry vision, and other than the fact that she had grown 2 inches in 9 months & had some fluid in her ears (which could cause dizziness and double vision), the dr. said she was absolutely fine, normal and HEALTHY!!! She is also taking piano lessons and LOVES it!!! She is doing extremely well and will be joined by her 2 sisters this summer.
Timothy is our youngest graduate this year. He had a little bit of a bump in the road back in November. Our day care where he had been since he was 8 weeks old (and where Faith had been since before she was 2 and for Pre-K) had to close after 12 years of service to our community. We were devastated and not sure what we were going to do. Luckily another center in our area was opening up some new Pre-K classes and he was able to go there for the remainder of the school year. I was a little apprehensive and worried about sending him somewhere new, but friend and former TA/co-worker of mine had just gone back to work there full time and was one of his teachers!!!! He had a wonderful year, was able to spend time with some friends from his former day care and our church there, and made lots of new friends and GREAT memories. He officially graduated from the NC Pre-K program on May 31 and will be headed to kindergarten at Faith's school in the fall. AND BOY IS HE SOOOOO READY, not sure if I am ready, though.. It's been a little rough on the emotions having my youngest and oldest graduate in the same year and within just a week of each other. (Kind of like Artie and his baby brother Todd). WHERE DOES THE TIME GO!!! Timothy is even taller than some of our kindergarteners who are leaving us for first grade next year!!! WOW!! I know he will do fine, but I don't know if I am ready to have ALL my babies in school yet. Oh well, I guess knowing that Timothy will be around for the next 13 years will keep Artie and I going and Help to keep us young, if not physically then at least spiritually and emotionally.
As for Artie and myself, we have begun another busy summer with VBS this week, kids camp in 2 weeks and then youth camp the week after July 4th. We plan to go visit Trey and Artie's family in mid July and bring Trey home to attend his orientation @ NC State in Raleigh the last weekend of July. As of right now I am still employed as a Teacher Assistant/bus driver with our local school, but due to proposed budget cuts in education, we are unsure in NC who will and will not have a job next year. I just keep praying and hoping that if it is God's will for me to stay employed that he will provide the means for me to stay, and if it is NOT his will for me to keep my job, then maybe it is just time for me to come back home and be a MOM available for my kids and family whenever they need me. I am sure that between our animals, activities at church, kids school activities, etc, that I will stay PLENTY busy, we just need for God to provide the means for us to continue to pay our bills and living expenses, especially with Trey heading off to college in the fall.
Whatever HIS will is then that is what we will do, even if I have to take a part time job somewhere to help make ends meet. One exciting thing that Artie and I are looking forward to in the fall, is WYLD Life. As many of you know, Artie has been a volunteer Young Life leader with our local high school for the past couple of years. Well our Local young Life Director would like to expand the middle school program to other areas and schools in our county as well. They currently have an established program for schools in Shelby, but do not have programs in other schools. Artie and I will be heading up the program here in Boiling Springs with our local Middle School. Jonathan is VERY excited about this, because he sees all the fun things our high schoolers get to do and he can't wait to get involved. Our local parents, teachers a Middle School principal are very excited, too, because they are looking for any means for their kids to be involved and provide a Christian influence for our kids and their peers in our community and in our schools. So please be in prayer for us as we begin this exciting adventure with this pilate program in our local schools. Also please be in prayer for our church and church staff. There are a lot of things happening in the life of our church right now, new things happening, staff battling illnesses, uncertainty for the future, youth group busting at the seams, and the need to rebuild and regrow our children's program/ministry, since a large portion of our children have graduated to the youth group. We hope you will partner with us in prayer concerning these issues and we look forward to hearing from many of you!!!
Our address and phone number hasn't changed and if you need our contact information I will be more than happy to send it to you in a personal message, as well as Trey's new phone # and contact info for the summer and then again for the fall when he begins his classes at NC State. So much information, I hope I haven't bored you to death. I will try to be more vigilant in updating this summer.
Thank you all for your love prayers and support!!! And may God Bless You ALL.
