She Floats Like a Butterfly

Today was Amber's first day of dance class for the new school year.  Amber has always had the natural grace of a ballerina.  She did ballet for a couple years in the past and then for a variety of reasons we took a two year break.  She did Irish Dance one year and then American Heritage Girls(AHG) last year.  When we found out AHG would most likely not happen this fall, we decided to let her tryout for ballet again.  I didn't want her in the class with the younger kids because I wanted her to be challenged physically and not distracted by immature behavior.  So again we threw out a Gideon Fleece and decided if she made the Ballet III class we would go forward with lessons.  The try-out was two weeks ago and they told us at the end they recommended her for Ballet III.  I didn't fully realize how much she wanted to do dance till that moment, she was so excited she was almost shy.  We went back to the car for a moment, then I told her we would go ahead and buy all her supplies for class at the "Dance Boutique".  She was so happy she started jumping around.  We got her the royal blue leotard, with the pull back tights (such a nice advance in ballet wear so you don't have to ruin the tights wearing them in your shoes) and really neat new type of ballet shoes that are much more slipper like but have criss-cross elastic straps to better keep them on.  

Needless to say we didn't have any trouble with her getting through her school work today, knowing it had to be done to attend class (if makes me wonder if she should take lessons more days each week LOL).  They take ballet much more seriously at this level.  After her class today she was beaming and told us she needs to bring a notebook to write-down the series she is suppose to be practicing at home, I like that.  Looking forward to a year of fun and growth.

Break Between Seasons

When we took the leap of faith and decided to let Lance play for the National travel ball team "The Canes" this summer we hoped it would further his skills and get him the recognition he needs to further his career as a baseball player.  We had no idea how the world would change and how critical this choice would later prove to be.

Like his "Undefeated" Spring Highschool season.  Summer didn't go quite as planned but it did go well.  Though we dreaded all the travel with Lance being placed on the Capital 2022 team (based out of DC area) when we first heard about his Cane's placement, that too was a blessing as it was much easier to play baseball in Virginia this summer than in North Carolina (go figure).  The team he landed on was full of great kids that latched onto Lance right away and coaches of strong moral character.  Lance was quickly recognized as a player of notice and put in the 4 spot, his coach also quickly realized his skill was in catching not pitching (clerical error on his info sheet).  

Each tournament Lance's skills improved and by the fourth tournament at Liberty University he was on fire and his team and dad were not the only ones to notice.  As Chris was telling me about an incredible double Lance had just hit he quickly changed modes to tell me it had be recorded and tweeted by someone in Canes watching the game.  That tweet can be seen on his account @LanceTheTurtle and four more doubles that weekend.  He also threw a guy out so accurately at second that even the umpire yelled "and he threw that FROM HIS KNEES"!  It was huge step forward toward achieving his dream of becoming a Major League Baseball player.  As a bonus the team placed second in the tournament.

With the world so uncertain still, Spring baseball in question if it will even happen, we decided to have Lance play Fall baseball with the Canes as well.  We did not make this decision lightly as we were all looking forward to a break but we do feel it is wise especially if he ends up not having a a high school season again this year.

This Tuesday was the five hour tryout for the fall teams. Thankfully, they hosted them at a semi-professional stadium only 8 minutes from the house.  Chris and I snuck in to see the end of the tryouts and what warmed my mother's heart was to see how well he was respected and accepted by the other players and not just the ones from his team.  He had pitchers from teams he played against admit to walking him after seeing him hit, and others chose to catch with him during the tryout rather than players on their own teams. He told us afterward that having the Canes jersey on seem to make him part of a fraternity where you are instantly considered "okay" to talk to (the tryout was open to anyone wanting to play for Canes).

Gentle Nudge

 

Most of the students and teachers in Jared's new theater group attend the same church.  I became interested when I found out they hadn't stopped meeting when their regular location was no longer available because of COVID, they didn't roll over and play dead, they started meeting in and outside of the barn on the property they hope to someday build their church.  During Jared's two weeks of theater we hosted at our house a family from the church that lived over an hour away.  All our children get along marvelously and in my discussion with the mom I quizzed her about her unique church that was willing to take a stand.  Lance heard so much about the family he joked jealously calling them "the invisible friends"; as he and Chris had been away at baseball in Virginia the past three weeks.  This weekend they were in West Virginia the worst drive yet.  While they were up there Chris and I listened so some of the sermons online, which piqued my interest more.  They were not suppose to come back from WV till Sunday afternoon, then everything started to change.  

We pack all the food for Lance and Chris to eat on these trips for both health and financial reasons.  Somehow this trip (maybe there wasn't enough ice for a trip of twice the length) one of the meals went bad and Lance got food poisoning.  Big "Ugh" failure feeling for mom.  He played Thursday* but got sick toward the end of his game Friday.  As a result, they started to head home Saturday after trying to watch Titus' Tip Test** on Zoom and that failing too.  Though Lance was feeling well enough to drive home he wasn't feeling well enough to catch in the incredible heat.  The trip went fine till they hit the first toll booth in the mountains when the Beast just suddenly went dead.  The Beast went dead five more times on the 7 hour nerve wrecking journey home.  I had prayer warriors at work as I kept waiting for them to be within towing and recovery distance.  With great praise and thanks we welcomed them home.  Chris declared no one is to drive the Beast anymore (It's currently at our mechanic who will determine if it can be fixed or needed to be traded in, more UGH).

The kids and I wanted to go to the church on Sunday but figured after an arrival like that people would sleep through the services.  In fact, before bed we all agreed to throw a Gideon Fleece out that if we were all up we'd go but otherwise people needed to sleep and we'd try another day.  

At 8:07am Sunday morning, North Carolina recorded its second most powerful earthquake on record, needless to say the house was awake.  Poor Lance thought he was having a vertigo attack and was thrilled to find out it was just an earthquake. We acknowledged the nudge and agreed that God waking us in such a dramatic manner meant we better get dressed and head to church.  

The people and the sermon did not disappoint.   We had our "invisible friends" over after church for Chris, Lance and Holly to get to know them as well.  It was a wonderful time had by all, one we pray to repeat many times in the time to come.

*Back home, I walked into the school room to find Lance's 10 gallon tank leaking water like a waterfall from the corner.  We gave Lance a call what to do with the fish and Titus took charge siphoning the remaining water out the window, as Amber toweled up the floor and Jared and I transferred the plants.  It was a team effort but just more chaos for the weekend.

**Titus continues to excel at TaeKwonDo.  He is currently a Bodan Belt and has to obtain four "tips" to be allowed to test for his Black Belt.  Each tip involves proving mastery of previous skills, written tests and other requirements.  Parents could not watch inside (thanks COVID) so I sat in the car with a friend and tried to watch the live Zoom feed on my phone in the incredibly hot car.  We thought it would only be 20-30 min like other belt tests, we were wrong, the test lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes!  He looked so professional breaking a stack of boards with his fist at a kneel.  At the end of the day he passed and was awarded "Best Sparring", his Master is really excited about him joining the Sparing Team when it starts again.

 

Everybody Jump

So thankful we were able to help the Apex Skip-Its hold their August camp at Redline, it was a win-win-win for everyone.

Amber has enjoyed this camp for the past three years, it is such a wonderful group of teen and adult leaders.  Each year she gets a better and this year was no exception.  

In fact she was "Skipper of the Day" two out of the four days; which means she was the one that kept jumping the longest.  Coach Hager said, he thinks if she keeps practicing and improving, she will make the team next year.  I really hope she does, it's such a positive energy group.