Tyler's First Wrestling Tournament!

It was such an exciting day! Tyler was very nervous when he first walked into the gym filled with boys he didn't know. He said he didn't want to wrestle. So we took it slow. We got him in his singlet and then Amos took him down to warm up. They found boys from the wrestling club, so that helped. One of the older boys came over immediately and worked on calming Tyler down a bit and saying that he could sit by him. It was so sweet! Tyler warmed up with the other kids and then he told us he was ready to go and wrestle. It was great! Below are the videos that I got. Then of course, pictures to follow! :)
Below are some pictures that I was able to take!

This was so cute!  Tyler is making friends :)

Here is one of his buddies too.  They are watching another boy from the club wrestle his match.

Tyler did such a great job!  He won his first match by points, pinned the little boy in his second match, and lost his third match.  He got a silver medal for SECOND PLACE and was so EXCITED!

Amos and Tyler...LOVE

God has blessed me with some incredible males in my family!  Let's start with the leader :)  Amos never ceases to amaze me. 

He got a smoker for Christmas and made the most incredible pulled pork a week ago!  It was so moist and delicious right out of the smoker and ranked right up there with the beef jerky he made!  Also, today at work, I got an email from him...

"Good morning BEAUTIFUL!!!

Tonight I want to do something special for you. I want to do something to help you out or to make you feel better. Anything at all…something you want done but don’t want to do or anything. It could be laundry..it could be a massage…it could be anything. Think about it and let me know what you want. I want the make it a great relaxing evening for you!

Love you tons!!!

Amos"

SO SWEET!!!  I am so very lucky to have a husband that loves me so much and went out of his way to show me today...and is currently doing laundry :) 

My sweet Tyler feels pretty tough right now since he is doing wrestling :)

He is so excited about everything that deals with wrestling.  He is doing his best and we are proud of him.  I told him to smile for the camera and immediately corrected myself...wrestlers apparently don't smile for pictures :)  He is a pretty special little boy!

I am super BLESSED!



The power of popsicles...

Throughout my life, I have learned that there are many ways to serve each other.  There are many ways to show love to each other.  There are many ways to show Christ's love to each other.  But, can popsicles become a ministry? 

We started out as people who lived next door to each other.  We would say the occasional "Hi" when we saw each other.  When we were outside during the summer, Dave and Nancy would always offer the kids a popsicle.  This started the friendship!  Conversations would get longer between us and our lives would become intertwined.  We were even comfortable enough to talk about our faith and churches with each other.  More often than not, our kids wanted to visit Dave and Nancy.  They would be over there for hours, playing with their pets and eating popsicles!  Our kids always wanted to be near them and around them and in their lives!  This is the point when they became part of our family.

Sadly, Dave passed away recently.  He was a believer and relieved from pain and struggles, for that I give praise!  But we miss him.  We stopped to visit Nancy last night.  We shared hugs and took her popsicles.  We shared!  Popsicles started it all!  It was a way that showed love previously and it worked out perfectly last night.  So my answer to the question is YES!  YES, popsicles can be a ministry! 

Life is so short.  Make everyday count!  Reach out to others!  We are so glad that Dave and Nancy did!  If you can't figure out how to get started...offer a popsicle...it really works!

Brought to you by the letter "D"

I had Dinner with my Dear friend Dina! 

We had planned a ladies night with me, Dina, and Ang.  But the weather had different plans and left Ang miles away.  We MISSED YOU ANG!  But since Dina and I live a minute away from each other, and already had plans for dinner, we decided to go out anyway.  Ignore the leg lamp and my lazy left eye apparently, and I think this is a super great picture!!! :)  We had a great time laughing and catching up.  Thank you Dina for a wonderful night and an even better friendship!  Love you!

Oh those little boys...

Jerry and Stacy (Abby and Wilson "Will") invited us over for dinner!  We missed Jeremy, Nicole, and Olivia, but we still had a wonderful time!  Dinner was great as usual and Wilson is such a good baby.  The kids watched movies while the girls stomped on the boys in bid euchre!  Jenn, you will be surprised to know that Gracie fell asleep during the last movie!  (In case you forgot, she stayed awake at your house until after midnight at her first sleep over because you let her watch a movie in bed :))  I love that story since as soon as you turned it off, she fell right asleep :)

 Of course the other little boy is Tyler loving his wrestling practice!  Dodge ball...not so much...but loves wrestling :) 

 Here are a couple of his take downs...or tackles as he seems to call them :)

Our Annual Hana Yoris Outing...

We go out to Hana Yoris annually to celebrate birthdays!  It started out because several of us had December birthdays, but since we go in January now...it is a birthday celebration for all of us for the upcoming year! :)  We missed you Jenn!!!  Afterwards we go to Matt and Alicia's and play games.  This year it got a little out of hand :)  Jessica was referred to as "slow", Jessica called Amos "Aim"...apparently a special nickname she came up with.  John said everything backwards (which come to think of it is pretty normal for him :)).  Alicia and Matt kept everyone's drinks filled!  I am sure I did things...but this is my blog and I do not need to call my own self out :)  Either way, we love this group and had a special evening as usual! :)

We have a wrestler...

Ok, so it was just his first practice.  But we were still excited!!!  He has been so excited all week.  You should have seen him the day before!  He was pretty shy when he first walked in, but then he finally warmed up.  He can't wait to go back!  It was fun to watch and I know Amos loved seeing him out there :)

 "I can't see!"  He didn't really say that...I just thought the height difference was funny in this picture :)

 It was neat to see the older kids come and help him with form and technique.

 Hey Jenn...does this man look familiar????  He is their coach!!

This would have been the ultimate picture of Tyler's double leg take down!  It probably could have made it into Sports Illustrated or something...BUT...this little boy ran right in front of my camera as I pushed the button down :)  Ok, so it wouldn't have been that great of a shot, but you could have at least seen Tyler better :)  Great pictures or not, we had a BLAST seeing him out there and I think he is excited to have his own sport to focus on :)  We are blessed!