CHEMISTRY CONNECTION!!!!!

Zachary and Elyse took a class in chemistry at Trinity. It was taught by a lady from our church, who is the chemistry teacher at Trinity. There were several adult helpers as well. Elyse really enjoyed the class. Zachary thought it was o.k. Today was the last day and the parents were invited to see what the students accomplished. Each student received a certificate for finishing the class. On the back of the certificate was a note written by their teacher.

Elyse was the first to get called up to receive her certificate. I took the camera with me to take pictures of everything. After Elyse sat down, Tim said, "Didn't you want to get a picture of Elyse?" Dumb mother. Of course I wanted a picture, I just forgot to take the camera out. I did, however, get a picture of Zachary receiving his certificate (no preferential treatment, just a blond mother).

Zachary receiving his certificate:


One of their projects was decorating a t-shirt. Zachary did HRK on the front (home run kids - his basketball teams name):


The back says "Rumpster #34." He now has his baseball team calling him "Rumpster."


Elyse made a design. If you enlarge this, you will see she even decorated the neckline.


She said her shirt wasn't any good because the colors ran. But, the colors were supposed to run, so it was amazing! We think she did a GREAT job! So, does her teacher!

After the program was all over, they had cake and juice for us. We had company coming at 4:45 and it was 4:40 and we had a 15 minute drive home. The kids grabbed their cake and we took off. Our company was already at the house when we arrived, oops.

Zachary & Chatham are teaching Sunday School tomorrow for the Jr. High class. They are working on their lesson right now. I hope all the laughter is just for today and not for tomorrow. But, they ARE Junior Highers...

Elyse was sad that chemistry was over. She wants to do it again next year. We will see what next year brings.

SHE SHOOTS, SHE SCORES!!!!!

Today was Elyse's first tennis lesson. Her teacher is Zachary's basketball coach. Elyse didn't want to go. She was afraid she would be embarrassed.

When she got home, Dad asked her how was tennis. She said it was cold. He didn't ask for the weather report, but how she liked it. She said it was fun. Did we not tell her that would be the case?

First lesson:


She did a really good job!


Zachary played basketball with Daniel (Coach's son) while Elyse took her lesson. I went shopping at WalMart during the one-hour lesson. Killed three stones with one bird!

Zachary waiting for a rebound.


Yes, I am back to driving kids all over the place. Lucky me!

RESURRECTION SUNDAY!!!!!

Today was a blessed day! VCL's choir sang today - a group of about 35. With only a few practices, they were pretty good. VCL's practice is to have baptisms on Resurrection Sunday. Today we enjoyed watching SEVEN people getting baptized. After they introduce the person, the person gives their testimony. Then a person special in the candidates life prays for them. Zachary & Elyse's friends, Chatham and Emma, were baptized today. They chose their ex-SS teachers to pray for them (a married couple). Doug & Jamie live in New Jersey. They sent a picture for the power point and recorded their prayer for Chatham & Emma. Doug & Jamie have a special role in Zachary & Elyse's life too. They were amazing teachers. We sure miss them.

The last person to get baptized was a young adult. His father is a Trinity professor. Andrew turned away from God and got into drugs and drinking. He ran away to Costa Rica to find himself. When he got to the motel in Costa Rica, he was met with a counter full of Bibles and Christian literature. Drew asked the employee if he was a pastor. No, but I used to be. For some reason, Drew asked if he and his friends could attend his church. Drew did! Instead of finding himself, he found God. Pastor called him a prodigal son. Drew chose his Dad to be the one to pray for him (as his Dad had been doing for years). His Dad prayed for his son through his tears.

What a glorious day to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!

Zachary decided that he would please his mother and wear a suit (that we got off freecycle). He sure is sharp, don't you agree. Elyse didn't have "new" clothes, but she still looked great. They didn't intend to match, but they certainly did. They sure look grown up to me!

The "old" people are ready to go - no new clothes for us either.

Hope your Sunday was a blessing to you!

BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!!

Tonight the VCL ladies celebrated our pastor's wife's 60th birthday. Her actual birthday is Wednesday, April 20th. Susan loves gardens, children, spring, etc. All the decorations were either in spring colors, or flowers made out of something and lots of flower pots all around. There was a flower pot used to hold gifts of money, if you so desired. Some ladies brought individual gifts. You could tell the ladies knew a lot about her. One lady brought special decorated eggs from Slovakia. They are empty real eggs that are decorated to the max. I wish I got a picture of them, sorry. They were gorgeous.

Susan also likes to collect quotes. She has a quote for each and every day. Each lady was told to bring a quote for her (I didn't understand the meaning until I got to the party). I googled for quotes and came up with this one: "I'm sixty years old - that is 16 in Celsius." When I got to the party, they wanted us to write our quotes on 4x6 cards that had a hole punched in the corner. They were giving her all the quotes, tied with a ribbon, for her to keep. Oh boy! I hope she liked mine (tee-hee). Susan thanked everyone for the quotes saying that puts her way ahead for this years 365 quotes she needs to gather.

I took a picture of the "edible arrangement" made by one of the ladies. It tasted so good.


There were cupcakes with a homemade flower stuck in the middle. They even had "peeps."


Our new assistant pastor's wife, Londa, gave the devotional. She had several small gifts that went along with her message. She compared our physical life with our spiritual life. You can see the back of Susan's head - she is the one wearing the birthday hat. After a few minutes of wearing the hat, she took it off because she said it was sticking in her double chin.


The last thing was a poster filled with little flowers that people wrote virtues of Susan on each one. The board was called Susan's Special Superlatives.

It was one creative night. Happy birthday, Susan!

FUNERAL!!!!!

Saturday we dropped the kids off at Trinity for their Chemistry Connection class. Mr. Stamoolis picked them up at 4:30 and took them home. They would keep them at their house while we went to the funeral for Kevin Sunderman (Karen's brother).

Tim & I arrived in Jasper, Indiana (six hours away) around 6:00. We had packed a picnic dinner, so we ate in our room. The motel was o.k., nothing to brag about. They did, however, have a continental breakfast.

The visitation for the funeral was from 1-3, the memorial service was at 3:00. Kevin was cremated. They had a nice picture of him in his uniform. There were several nice flower arrangements and things to take home (wind chimes, figurines, etc.). The VFW played taps and shot off their guns. We knew the guns were coming, but we all jumped anyway. It was very loud. The man who played taps was amazing and he was at least 100 years old. I couldn't believe he could hold the notes out so loud and with such a beautiful tone.

Ron & Twyla Richardson were there. Mr. & Mrs. Twilla (from 1st Baptist of Portage) were also there. We didn't know the other people. We met Karen's three sisters and her mother.

We decided to take a different route home. Do you know where we are?


If not, maybe this will give you a better idea:


Just in case you can't guess, we took 41 north home. Which took us by Rose-Hulman and all the windmills.

Please pray for Karen and her family. They have a lot of work to do yet on Kevin's house and his personal belongings. Not an easy job!