Work and Play

Thursday was a cold and blustery day, in which one of my girls was running around outside and another was in a warm and toasty kitchen. Erin had a track meet after school and Bekah was at JR's Pizza for her first day at work!

Erin's second track meet was as cold as her first, but not as successful. Her long jump followed immediately after she ran the 4 x 100 relay, and she did not jump as far as she had in the first meet or in practices.

In the relay, Erin is the second leg, so she watches for the first runner to hit a certain mark before taking off in front of her, holding out her hand to receive the baton. Go Erin!



Now the long jump. Before the meet began, the girls were practicing their run-ups, marking where they would each begin running. They have to hit the "ramp" with their jumping leg, so they carefully measure, with one another's help, how many paces they take and where to start based on that. Then they fly!

Nice landing!

I did get a video of her jumping! Though the goosebumps on her extremely underclad body don't show, you can tell by the sound of the wind and the way her coach is bundled up- right down to gloves- how very cold it was! Yikes!

While Erin was running and jumping in the freezing cold, Bekah was learning the ropes at the pizza place. JR's is where we have been ordering our pizzas on "pizza nights" at our home, and is rather close, considering we are so remote. Just a small place with no eat-in room, they are strictly delivery and pick-up, so it's all kitchen work and no serving involved. Bekah enjoyed her first day immensely. She has been hoping and begging for a job since she turned 15, and we're glad that she has found such a nice situation. Unlike Kate's first job in a pizza place, her boss and coworkers seem rather nice!



Kate and I each had one job with the serving this week, just to recover from last week's insanity. Daytime opportunities are starting now, so hopefully there won't be many late nights. Since we choose where and when to go it's rather nice, so this next week Kate will have one daytime shift and I've signed up for three.

And one last shot here of our sweet Milo, may we all rest this cozily!

Into the Recent Past

Now that the dust from the last busy weeks seems to be settling, I'll post some photos of some of our doings. The biggest event I missed was Easter. Not that I missed it, but it was quiet and surrounded by our chaos.

Last year we had a "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" gathering, with my Dad driving up from Texas, Mom coming by train and Nathaniel flying in from Iraq. What an event! The meals! The activities! The photo opportunities! This year was quite at the other end of the spectrum with our little selves hunkering down, relieved that Jim hadn't been admitted to the hospital on Good Friday, (Haitian bug relapse). As for the meal, no planning whatsoever into our little ham and potatoes, since Jim was still on broth anyway.

Yet, the sun shone, brunch at church, Jim was able to eat- some- and the glorious truth of our Risen Savior brought us a reprieve from the madness. Surrounded by our church family singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving for Christ's victory over the grave was so wonderful. He is Risen!


Then, after a quiet afternoon meal at home, our neighbors, the Bleachers, invited us down for the kids to hunt eggs in the yard and to visit. These folks have been such a blessing to have "next door". The back of their property abuts the bottom of ours, and our Erins have become fast friends. A path was excavated between our places last year- more work on that to come- and Keith and Jim have worked on a number of outdoor projects together. Just to sit and visit with them was so nice.




Fast-forward to last Saturday, Erin's first track meet. The opening meet of the season is a huge event involving 12 schools. Erin ran the hurdle relay, the 4 by 100 relay and did the long jump. Please forgive me if I'm not phrasing this properly for the jocks, (okay, athletes) who may be reading this, but it's new territory for me. It was a blisteringly cold day- sun shining, but very windy and in the 30's. Our little Erin came in First Place for the girl's flyweight long jump, 10' 1/2", her 4 by 100 relay team came in second and for the hurdles they were fifth! She is beside herself and we are jaw-droppingly proud. Wow.

That's all for now. I have to finish the March PRC book, The Godly Man's Picture, since it is, in fact, April. My reading time has been severely curtailed by this whole "employment thing"- golly.