February 9 - JV Basket Ball Tournament

Going from never seeing a basketball game all the way though before leaving Texas to going to as many home games as possible here in Oregon. One of the main social functions in the winter are the local basketball games. And today many of the families that we associate with regularly have children playing the the year end tournament, so Gabe, Garrett, and I spent the afternoon watching kids either play ball or in the park. It was a wonderful sibling/fellowship time! It always astounds me how many people we've met in this little community and especially children!

There is a mixture of pictures below as I went in and out from the games and to the park. Our main team that we came to watch was Spray's where several of the kids from church and friends played in.

Esther and friend. 

Continuous basketball games throughout the day involving all ages, I love watching a game where every age group is allowed to be included! 

Tag game...Gabe is no longer "it"

Garrett helping his buddy Joel grab the rim.

Garrett playing with two little girls on see-saw.

Organizing another impromptu basketball game 

Team one: Parker, Gabe, Joel, and Hannah

Team two: two kids from Monument, Jocy, and Titus

The sandbox was a big hit with this age group. 

A sweet baby girl that I got to babysit for a while! 

Michael the Ref

Days like this are some of my fondest memories. 

February 4 - Loggers

The boys took some time off from the endless unpacking of boxes to chop some fire wood. Dad's chainsaw is hiding somewhere in the move, along with everything else we actually need. So the boy, using double bladed axes went logging. They had a blast! And with several hours work we got enough wood to last the next day. Needless to say, finding 

Gabe busy at work.  

Zach and Shea working like a well trained team.

Okay, that was one. 

Bringing in another load

Walking with the Lads

Right in the middle of all the ciaos of moving, we had a litter of pups (our timing is still right on track.) Which means I have spent a ton of time tending them, but this blog is about the family, not my pups, so I won't go into that. 

One day when the pups were about 3 weeks old, Garrett, Gabe, and I were left at home for the afternoon. We all needed some outside time so bad, and so decided to take a walk down our road to see where it led. What a great afternoon! We took 3 of the pups with us and the big dogs as well. 

Puppies = Coat warmers

Gabe finally got his bike working, which means he spent most of the walk out in front.

Conrad and Gabriel

Back in June we lost Garrett's dog, Xavier to an auto accident. In September we had another litter out of Xavier's parents, and kept a pup from it. Roland, Garrett's new shadow, and boy do they love each other!   

Well Gabe had his bike fixed, that is for most of the walk. I love watching these two work together to get things done!

Garrett and his Rolo man

Conrad found something very interesting attached to Gabe's belt, they both had fun with the tug-o-war game that ensued. 

Absolutely spectacular view!

Any guesses what he had in his coat? (hint: it's not blubber)

It was also the day that marked our official move into the house! Though everyone was exhausted, we had a small celebration to mark the date!

New Changes!

God once again is moving our family in a whole new direction!
Right before Thanksgiving, we got laid off from the orchard. Such a sad change! We have been in the process of moving into a new house since then. We are mostly moved in and settled down. An amazing couple from our church is renting us an apartment that they built in the attic of their barn, and it is nearly home! So much has happened since I posted last, and there really is no way to get back on track, so I am going to go forward from here. I am excited to get back to posting!

May 4 - Gabe's Basket Ball Tournament

With a sad, excited heart, we come to the last day of peewee basket ball for Gabe. He has improved so much over the last year, and did fantastic! Ever kid on the court played their hardest and did an amazing job, this was easily the best game any of them had played.

The climax of the day started in the 2nd half of the last game. Blue (Gabe's team) was nearly 20 points behind purple, the kids were so tied and there was lots of emotional stress on the court. Gabe asked his coach if it would be alright if they prayed over the game, his amazing coach went ahead and called a timeout so Gabe could pray over the rest of the game. His prayer wasn't for the Blues to win, but for everyone who was in the gym would go away knowing that this was the best game they had played and that this would be a memorial in the hearts of all the kids. He prayed that God would protect them and give them the drive to do better than they had done all day and for Him to do the same thing for the other team. 

Blue came out with a whole new energy to play and they very quickly made up those lost points, everyone watching was on their feet cheering for both teams! 3 more seconds to the end of the game, Blue had just made a 2 point shot, purple had to make a 3 pointer to win. This little boy who hadn't made a 3 point shot all season had the ball, he was headed back to his basket, but there was no way he could make it to the basket. Someone yelled, "SHOOT!" And he wound up and with one hand catapulted the ball from 3/4 of the court away.

He made it, nothing but net! Easily the best shot I had ever seen. Purple won! And just like Gabe prayed, it was a memorable game! What an amazing way to end peewee basketball!

April 21 - Missoula Children's Theater

If you have never watched or participated in the Missoula Children's theater, you are missing out. We watched it when it came to Spray, OR last October, and it was so much fun! Garrett especially was intrigued by it all, and when we found out it was coming to Monument, Garrett decided to join it. He tried out and was hoping for at least a medium part and got handed one of the biggest parts. The play was a very big spin off of Gulliver's Travels, only in space...and including the force...and stranded with only a computer to help...and teleporters to other planets. It was a lot of fun, Garrett got to play the role of the Computer JCN (pronounced Jason), he did an excellent job. JCN basically was a computer system that broke down at every important moment.

The whole cast did a great job and the play went off great, it was so enjoyable. The two people who put it on from Missoula, Melissa and Terri did an amazing job teaching the kids. They all had a wonderful time!!

JCN and Gulliver just crash landed.

When asked for directions, JCN is computing, computing, Com..pu.iwheerrr.

JCN trying to come up with an answer.

Garrett's Group, JCN, the amazing back stage director and Gulliver.

Thank you Terri and Melissa for all you did for Garrett, he absolutely loved it!!!