It's hard to believe, but Matt has graduated from Highscool!!

Zack's youngest brother graduated from high school about 2 weeks ago and Zack and I were able to be there to support him and congratulate him as he walked across the floor and left his high school years definitively behind him.

Matt looking Bored...

sigh, still bored...

Matt with his "diploma"
He didn't actually get his diploma till after the ceremony.

Matt FINALLY figured out where we were and we witness our first smile!

Smiling for Zack and he stands at the railing and obnoxiously takes a picture! :)

Flipping the tassel and officially becoming ALUMNI!!

It is hard to believe that Matt was only 10 years old when Zack and I started dating. It has been such a blessing to be able to watch Matt grow and mature over the years. He has grown into an awesome young man and Zack and I are so proud of him and all that he has accomplished and the godly man that he is becoming.

We are looking forward to seeing what God has in store for him in the years to come. He will be starting college next year. And as much as we would have loved him to have gone to college near us, we know that he is where he is supposed to be ...right where God wants him...and we know that God has both tough and wonderful days ahead of him. While we won't be able to be there physically on a daily basis to encourage and support him through those times, we will be encouraging, praying for, and cheering him on from here as he starts this new chapter of his life...and if he needs us, we are only a short 2.5 to 3 hour drive away.

Zack and I with Matt

He will be going to College near where Ben and Rachel live and so they will be able to be there to help him out whenever he needs a physical hand to pick him up...or maybe just a brother to wrestle. :) ...and then...just in case he misses Sadie too much, I am sure that Ben and Rach would be MORE than willing to let Matt dog-sit Jones for them whenever he wants!

One very proud older, and still taller, big brother! :)

PS
Matt, you are still going to have to come up for visits...
SOMEONE has to do "guy stuff" with your brother!
I can only handle so much! :)

We love you and we are so proud of you!!

Ultimate Frisbee: Monkey Bowl

A couple of weekend ago, Zack and I headed to Nashville with Zack's club Ultimate Frisbee Team so that they could participate in the Monkey Bowl Tournament. Zack's Ultimate team, while good, is new on the scene and so not too many people know who they are. So, our guys were placed in the open division with the possibility of advancing themselves to the elite brackets for Sunday.

The wives and Girlfriends that had come to support our men! :)

Our guys did great! They ended Saturday with a 3 wins and 1 loss. Unfortunately there were 2 other teams in there division that were also 3-1 and they only took the top 2 to the elite brackets for Sunday. We aren't exactly sure how they decided which 2 of those 3 teams moved to the elite, but we wonder if the fact that we are not as well known as the other 2 teams might have played a part.







The guys were pretty bummed, but they rallied and ended up winning the open division...and getting their team name out there at a big tournament. So, even though it was kinda a bummer, it was a small victory for the team.





Due to all of the flooding that had happened in Nashville a week or so before, they were not able to play on the fields that they normally would have. So, the elite and open tournaments took place in 2 different places on Saturday. We were a little apprehensive about the location of the fields as we drove by a prison with razor wire surrounding it on our way to the fields. The fields themselves ended up being pretty nice.



It was REALLY hot all weekend. So, Gretchen and I made a couple of Walmart runs for Gatorade, ice, and Popsicles. Thankfully, we had taken a couple of tents along to offer the guys some shade between and during games while they were on the sidelines.



One of the guys on the team is originally from Nashville and the majority of the team was staying with his family. So, after the tournament on Saturday, we all headed over to his parent's house for a team dinner. The meal was excellent, and it was so amazing of them to not only open their home to a bunch of college and post college guys but to feed us all as well. His family was very sweet and their house was beautiful.

We rode to the Tournament with our friends Zach, Gretchen, and Jeff and we ended up staying a short distance from the rest of the team at a mutual friend's sisters house. She and her husband were out of town and they let us borrow their house for the weekend. They had never even met any of us...how amazing and awesome is that! Needless to say we did our best to leave their house just like we found it! I made a half apron for Eric's Sister, but I didn't get a picture of it. I was literally finishing it as I was running out the door to ride to Nashville.

Sunday, the open and elite teams played at the same fields. We drove up to Percy Warner Park and as we neared the fields we were struck by the sight on HUGE mountains of trash (debris from the flooding).



It made it feel a little like we were playing in a third world country. It was so sad to look at those mountains of debris...debris that symbolized some peoples whole existence...their memories, their possessions...their lives...it was humbling and heart breaking.



Sunday while driving around to find a Walmart to stock up on gatorade, Gretchen and I stumbled across a Jim N Nick's BBQ. Zack and I had never eaten there before, but Gretchen and Zach had and apparently it was one of Zach's favorite places to eat. So, after the tournament and watching a few of the elite teams play, our team headed to Jim N Nick's for some much needed fuel.

Jim N nick's was everything that Zach and Gretchen had said it would be. The food was AMAZING, and the cheddar muffin/biscuits were awesome!! After finishing lunch, we headed back home. It was a fun and rewarding weekend, and Zack and I enjoyed getting the chance to strengthen friendships and watch/play some Frisbee.

True Things...

Today I stumbled across a song by JJ Heller. I had never heard of her, but LOVED her voice and really liked her lyrics...so, I decided to learn a little more about her. I found links to these 2 songs by her and thought that I would share them here with you.

The first song is called true things. This is the initial song that I stumbled across today and it really spoke to me. I can be so bad about criticizing myself for all of the things that I lack and I often belittle the things that I am...who am I to question what my God has created?! God made me the way I am...He made me purposefully...nothing about me is a mistake. He takes pride in me and he desires me to live up to the potential that He placed in me. There is no one else that is exactly like me and no one else who can fulfill my role in His will the same way. I SO often forget this. At that Beth Moore simulcast that I went to Beth compared insecurity to unbelief...Lord, help my unbelief. I need to remember not to focus on the things that I am not and to focus on what I am, His beloved child, wonderfully and intentionally made! This can be incredibly hard when constantly bombarded with ads and images of what the world thinks it means to be a sucess or to be important. I am not important because of what I do or what I have, but because of WHOSE I am!!! Now if I could just make myself remember that!!!




After I heard the song true things, I stumbled across this song....This song is called "Your Hands". I really love this song too. It is so true. When our world seems to be falling apart and nothing seems to be going right...Heaven stands. When we are faced with hard things and our hearts are broken....He holds us in His hands. He is in control and He is ever there with us.

It has been a while since I made a new recipe....in fact, it's been a little while since I made a home cooked meal. Poor Zack! We have been either eating out or living on frozen/convenience meals. So, tonight when I got home from work, I made homemade chicken fingers, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. The chicken fingers were pretty good, but the breading was not my favorite. Guess that I will have to try some other chicken finger recipes until I find one that I love! :)

Swagger Wagon

Our friend Forrest showed us this Toyota commercial last weekend and we got a good laugh out of it. I thought that some of you would get a kick out of this if you hadn't seen it yet. There are some other pretty cute commercials with the same family here.

Zumba

I decided to tackle my fear and take a class at the gym that I joined yesterday...The class that I ended up taking was Zumba, a cardio workout that is inspired by latin music and dance steps...ummm...what was I thinking? This white girl can't dance! I especially cannot move my hips like you see women doing when they salsa and samba. The class was an hour of constant movement...I was about to pass out by the end of it, and despite my exhaustion and lack of rhythm, I had a lot of fun. I have a feeling that I am going to be REALLY sore tomorrow.

In case you are wondering what Zumba looks like, here is a little video to show you...Those of you who know me, know that I cannot dance. My excuse for my lack of rhythm is that because I am tall it takes too long for the message to get from my brain to my limbs...yeah, I know...but it's the best I could come up with. Anyway, Beth, if you are reading this post, you would LURVE Zumba. Wish that you lived closer so we could go to classes together. I plan to go and humiliate myself again sometime in the near future! :)

hittin the gym

I did something that has been LONG over due. Today, I joined the gym. My employer offers a free gym membership, and up until today, I had not taken advantage of it. Before I went back to work, I was running or biking about 5 days a week. That all went out the window after about the first week of work. Life got hectic and the weather turned cold. I recently went from working 4 days a week to 3 and thus have a little more time to get things done outside of work. Yay!!

So, I filled out my health questionnaire and set up my appointment for my fitness assessment. Today was the fateful day. I have heard a couple of horror stories about sit ups and push ups from the girls at work. So, when I got there I was a little nervous. The trainer took me into a little side room equip with torture devices, such as a scale, a mat, and a bike. He started off by weighing me...not pretty, and measuring my height. Then he had to get my pulse, heart rate,...and, gasp, my percent body fat! Seriously, is it important for me to know that? ...really?!

After that humiliation, I had to do a flexibility test, as many crunches as I could in a minute, and as many push-ups as my feeble arms could manage. And, if that wasn't bad enough, then I had to ride on a bike with blood pressure cuff and pulse ox attached to my body for 9 minutes while the trainer gradually increased the resistance. I think that I am going to be sore tomorrow! Isn't that sad...that's all I did and I am going to be sore! At least I passed the fitness test. It confirmed what I already knew. I am out of shape!

The embarrassment was continued as they took a pitcure of my sweaty, red face to have on file....now that's attractive!

I am looking forward to getting back in shape...hopefully I can make myself be consistent. I think that it is going to be hard with my long hours at work and other demands on my time, but at least now the option is there.