july 4th weekend

Hi everyone! This is Sarah doing my first blog. We had a terrific weekend surrounded by family. I hope everyone else had as much fun as we did. Tom and the boys put on a terrific fireworks show. Who needs the big ones high in the sky. We sure did have a lot of yummy food. It was so nice having most of our out of towners there(we missed you , Michael). Tom is very thankful to Richard and Ryan for bringing his camera to him at the airport, since he left it at Tuttles. Too much excitement , he just forgot it!!!
I hope Chelsea did ok on her first day back. Lucky that Rease had a grandma to take care of her. I was thinking of you, Chelsea.
I hope Micah found her car!

Well, that is about it for now. Hope you all enjoyed my blogging. I don't quite have the knack for writing that Tom does. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee.......

Family Vacation

We are having a fine time here in Myrtle Beach, all 30 of us in a large house. Sarah is surviving, out of her element, but she is such a big girl.. LOL!! All is good and we are having a good time. Love to all.

Peri's Powder Puff Play

Say that 5 times fast. Peri and her East Middle School 7th grade team dominated the West Middle School 7th grade team winning 52-32. Or something like that. They played 2, 20 minute running halves and Peri played defensive back mostly. One of the highlights of her play was a run around her end. She dodged the runner as best she could (Peri, the object is to go after the runner), but Peri was able to grab the runners shorts and be pulled down the field about 10 yards. She eventually let go and then proceeded to catch and pull the runners flag. Way to go Peri!!! Anyway, all the girls seemed to have fun and the West 8th graders ended up defeating the East 8th graders by a similar if not larger margin in the 2nd game. The girls get out of school Thursday and Sarah on Friday. Ella has been rather stressed with finals this week, but I am sure she will do her best and that is all we can ask. It is all good.

Libby update: Libby went into the hospital this weekend with a fever, and they had to replace her line with some surgery. She is fine now and was able to leave the hospital today. Continue to keep them in your prayers.

Love and Happiness!

Weekend over

Wow, what a busy weekend. Saturday Ella had to be in Columbus at 6:45, so we departed our house before 6. Ella swam in 4 events on Friday and 5 events on Sunday.
3:08.72 200 IM
1:13.58 100 free
3:08.68 200 back
1:40.73 100 breast
32.73 50 free
1:23.55 100 back DQ
2:58.00 200 free
1:42.48 100 butter
3:36.40 200 breast
These events are in meters, which are different from high school. Good job Ella, although we know you dreaded having to swim so early!
Peri had her dance competition on Saturday and received a gold for their performance and she attended the swimming with us on Sunday, which also merited a gold.
We also attended numerous Senior graduation open houses over the course of the weekend. It was busy, but we survived. I hope everyone else is doing the same.
Have a great one.

Track is done, but the fun is not done

Peri competed in her last track meet of the season last night. It was the conference and she was only long jumping. She jumped 12' 4 3/4" and finished in 9th place, missing 8th by 1/4". She had a very fine season and we are very proud of her accomplishments. Ella found out this week that her summer job working at the pool is not happening. The pool is having some issues and is not going to be opening this summer. She is working on lining some other things up. Ella is also continuing her swimming in club as is Peri continuing her dance and gymnastics and cheerleading. This weekend Ella has a swim competition and Peri has a dance competition. So, still busy here.

Libby update: Libby started her 4th round of chemotherapy yesterday. Please continue to pray for her and her family.

Peace and Love to all.

Ella's Confirmation

I forgot to mention we went to Lucas Oil Stadium last weekend for Ella's confirmation. It was a really nice service and there were like 3000 kids that were getting confirmed. I believe there were about 25000 people in attendance. Joanne was Ella's sponsor. The entire ceremony lasted about 2.5 hours. We went out to eat at Buca's in Greenwood after the ceremony. Our niece, Nicole, Mark's daughter, was chosen as one of the first communion children for their parish and she was also there.

Latest updates

I hope everyone is doing fine. Peri is recovering nicely from her knee sprain, or whatever it was. She jumped in the county meet Wednesday and placed 5th, jumping
11' 9 3/4". She did not run in any events, but they only took the top 2 in those events. Peri has the conference meet coming up on Monday that she is only long jumping in. School is out today and Sarah took an overnight adventure to Madison with our friend, Cindi. Peri went home with a friend after school and spent the night. Ella went out with some friends for dinner last night. I dropped her off and then went over to Tim's to check out his new flat screen and surround sound that he had just gotten a few days before, thinking I could hang out there while she had dinner. Ella had informed me beforehand that she would just be an hour or so. Well, apparently, more than just her 3 friends that she was having dinner with "showed up", and needless to say, over 2 hours later, her friend brought her by Tim's house. I did get to see Bolt, the new movie cartoon. It was good. Today, Ella just hung out at home. I went to work.

Libby Update:
Libby had some stem cells harvested yesterday and can continue her chemotherapy next Thursday. They had some tests a few weeks ago and said that the tumors had shrunk by approx 2/3. It appears the treatments and the prayers are working. Please continue to pray for Libby and the family.

Love to All...