Hannah does well at the One-Acts!

Tonight we went to watch "One Act Plays" at Gresham H.S. There were five of them and they were all pretty good (but we, in our unbiased way, thought the one she was in was maybe the best). We were impressed with the acting all around and the student directors.

At the end of the night, they gave out awards (they had six judges). The gave out about 8 or so awards for honorable mention actors and then five or six "Superior Actor" awards for the night and Hannah got one of these! We were so proud! There were lots of talented kids -- probably about 70 or so total actors -- and this was kind of a first real acting role for Hannah. They gave one overall top actor and one top actress award (which one of her friends got). Anyway, it was a fun night of performances and a special honor for Hannah!

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In other news, Lani and I were finally able to go to the "Membership Class" at Abundant Life Church and so now I guess we are real, full-fledged members. There were about 75 people at this class -- lots of new folks coming all the time.

Also, I coached Caleb's YMCA team in their first game today. Caleb had fun and got several rebounds and shots (but no points). We lost the game 10 to 12, but it wasn't too bad for our first outing. I got to see who the "gamers" are and what we need to work on in practice this week.

What a week!

We had a holiday Monday for Martin Luther King Day, then out of school on Tuesday and Wednesday for snow days, then a 2-hour late start on Thursday. . . finally yesterday we had to get up and go to work & school on time!

Today the cold weather has left and we're in the upper 40's. More snow would be nice, but they're forecasting highs in the mid and upper 40's for the next 10 days.

I'm coaching both Levi and Caleb's YMCA basketball teams and this morning had my first practices with both of them. Seemed like a lot of nice kids. I have no idea how skilled we are compared to other teams, but it should be fun for my kids and everyone. We get one more practice and then have our first game! I'll let you know how things go.

Snow play!

Here are some pictures of all our boys and Molly playing in the snow this morning at Hollydale Elementary School. There were 25-30 people there all the time we were playing, with some leaving and more coming all the time. Fun, fun, fun!






There are more pictures downloaded to my Flickr Photo page too!

Snow day!

Hey! It snowed this morning -- and is still snowing pretty hard as I type this! There wasn't a single flake at 6:00 when I first looked out and so most schools were going ahead with plans to open. Then within a half-hour it started snowing and has just kept going. My district finally called at about 7:40 to say that we were going to open 2 hours late (and many teachers and some students were already at school); then, within 15-20 minutes they decided to just close for the day (along with almost every district in the Portland metro area).

Here are a few pictures looking out our windows a few minutes ago:



Maybe I can post some more pics later after we go play outside!

Snow!

So, my phone rang at 6:10 this morning and it was part of our school "phone tree" calling to tell me that my district was on a 2-hour late start. Yea! I reset my alarm and went back to bed (after looking out the window and not seeing any snow, however). Then when I got up around 8:00, it was really snowing hard. Within a half-hour my district decided to just stay closed for the day! Woo-hoo!!! So I had a nice day, getting to read the whole paper, do the crossword, clean up some of my garage, do a couple of little home projects, and go for a nice run in the afternoon.

Levi is feeling better, but still on meds. We'll see if he goes back to school or not in the morning. Caleb, on the other hand, is still not well at all and was still throwing up and feverish tonight. I guess we'll take him to the doctor tomorrow.

Lani's mom, Gladys, got here tonight -- coming over from Montana. She said there were a few slick patches, but no major problems.

Hannah goes to All-State Choir tomorrow. We had eight of the girls at our home tonight and I rehearsed their music with them (they get tested in quartets when they arrive there tomorrow).

Well, I guess I'll probably have to go to work tomorrow, so I'd better head off to bed! :~)

Ups & Downs today

Up: It was supposed to snow today, so everyone was kind of excited!
Down: Mostly, it never happened.

Up: While eating dinner tonight, we looked out the back patio door to see HUGE white flakes coming down! It looked cool!
Down: It only lasted about 10 minutes, leaving just a trace amount on everything.

Up: I stayed home from work today.
Down: It was because Caleb & Levi are both sick. Both are running some fever (101-102). Levi has conjunctivitus (pink eye) and impatigo (like staph in his nose) and is on antibiotics and eye drops; Caleb threw up in our room last night, necessitating a 4-something a.m. cleaning of a dresser, carpets, and most of the bathroom floor and fixtures.

Up: Lani gets to stay home tomorrow.
Down: It's because the guys are still sick.

Up: It's finally getting a little wintery!
Down: It doesn't appear that there's enough snow or ice to close schools! (although maybe something could happen overnight)

Up: Lani's mom is coming tomorrow from Missoula.
Down: The roads may be bad, so pray for her safe trip.

Up: I'm going to sign off and hop in bed by 11:00 (a rare occurence indeed!)
Down: I'm exhausted and have an official "observation" tomorrow.

First Week of January thoughts

Lots of interesting things this week. . .

Sunday at Abundant Life Church we must have had about 50 baptisms! The first Sunday of every month is always a "Baptism Sunday" and there were probably a dozen or so of these planned ones, but then after both the 2nd & 3rd services there was just a spontaneous response to the lesson and invitation and people just kept coming and coming! It was exciting (and also threw the schedule way off!)!

I signed Caleb & Levi up for YMCA basketball and indicated that I'd be willing to be a head coach. So, last Friday in the mail I got a letter saying I needed to show up Saturday for a mandatory coaches meeting. Turns out that I'm head coach for both of their teams. Should be a busy and fun season coming up!

Tonight it was back to regular rehearsals for Portland Symphonic Choir. I've been carpooling with my friend Phill Hurley and tonight we added another former college friend to our carpool as Lois Maxwell auditioned and made the choir. Hey, I know some more of you singers out there that might enjoy doing this too! A select group of us (32 of the 120) are singing this Monday for a special MLK community event. This should be a good experience.

The hopefull buzz in the area among kids (& teachers!) is that we might get some snow here this week! Who knows, really, but we'll all be watching the weather and the skies starting tomorrow night and all day Wednesday!

OK, sports fans. Anyone see this coming? In football, Florida totally spanks Ohio State! Sorry to my Texas friends, Rick & Dawn, who are huge Buckeye fans and were at the game. Hmm. . . that means that Boise St. is the only undefeated Div. I team! And way to go Oregon Ducks in knocking off #1 UCLA on Saturday in college basketball; if they only hadn't lost to USC two days earlier. Then there were the Cowboys blowing the game against the Seahawks; those are my two favorite NFL teams, so I guess I'm happy with either one winning, but Tony Romo will probably have a long off-season thinking about what could have been.

Well, that's enough for now. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2007 Resolutions

Here are things I'd like to do this year:

Read the Word daily.
Invest time with my kids -- daily, if possible.
Sleep when I should! At least seven hours nightly on weekdays.
Exercise at least three times each week.
Be a servant and encourager to those I work with and live by.
Manage my finances better.

I could list more, but some of these are biggies for me.

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And now for a sports note: How about those NW college football teams?!!!
It was thrilling the other day to see Oregon St. win their game with the gutsy 2-pt. conversion, but then tonight's Boise St. win over Oklahoma was just incredible!

Happy New Year!

Just thought I'd make my first post of 2007 and wish you all a Happy New Year!

I'm thinking some of my goals/resolutions for 2007, but don't think I'll take time to list them right now -- except that one goal for certain is to get back into regular Bible reading. More later. . .

We enjoyed a nice evening out with friends and family members - eating, playing games (I even played Pinochle for the first time in a long time), visiting, and toasting the new year!