Moving On

Well, swim season is officially over. The team potluck and awards ceremony was Thursday night. Rachel is planning on getting together with a group of the girls and swimming 2 mornings a week to keep their "sea legs" so to speak.

So we move on, the holidays are almost here and we are having Thanksgiving with a smaller group this year at another friends house as one of the friends is allergic to cats and ours definitely dominate our house. We will also have Stephen home from college and our niece Caitlin with us.

We will just be us for Christmas and are excited for Stephen to be home for about a month and for him to be done with his first semester of college.

But things are getting any less hectic. This last Monday the school district finally approved the band trip that the band had been invited to join and so now the fundraising starts. It will be a wild four months. The trip with Ely H.S. band to New York City takes place at the end of March so we have a lot of work ahead of us. At the same time the church youth group is fundraising for CHIC the triennial youth conference held at the Univ. of Tennessee. Rachel has an exciting year coming.

She is also learning to drive. Last Tuesday she passed her learner's permit written test and has been behind the wheel a couple of times with Jeff in parking lots. She is the only one of her friends who hasn't driven before (most kids get their permit and drive back to school) and so we are gradually spending time with her in parking lots getting her used to being behind the wheel before we introduce other cars and the road.

I think winter has arrived here. We haven't been above freezing since last Saturday and we're glad we got our stakes in the ground for putting up Christmas lights because I don't think we could get them in the ground now.

Take care everyone and have a great Thanksgiving week.
Diane

Whew!!

What a wild couple of days. On Thursday Rachel competed in four races at the section 7A girls swimming preliminaries. She (and three teammates) qualified in all three relays races for the finals. She swam personal bests in all four races she swam.

That meant Jeff and I made another trip to Hibbing today to watch her swim in three relays and Jeff had been asked to cover the meet for the paper. So he took photos and will write a story tomorrow. I sat with the parents and cheered all the girls on as the three relays and three individuals competed in four events (100 butterfly, 100 back stroke, diving and 100 breaststroke).

The weather was fine and we only saw a couple of deer coming home on Thursday and one deer heading down today we had no driving troubles which was nice because the forecast had been for snow/sleet/freezing rain/rain etc on Thursday and we only saw wet roads and a little snow coming home and dry pavement today.

Rachel feels good about her swim season but is glad it is over. We are working on establishing morning swims for any interested girls so they continue swimming over the winter and spring.

The other big news is she is planning on taking the written test for her driver's permit on Tuesday. We'll let you know when to clear the roads.

Love,
Diane

Last Weekend

All week I've been wanting to write a post and update everyone about our wild, yet spectacular weekend. This week has been slower but I think I must have been recovering from the fun.

Thursday the 30th, Jeff drove down to Morris, MN and spent the night. He and Stephen then drove home on Friday after Stephen got out of class about 1 pm. Meanwhile back in International Falls, I hosted the Little Giant spaghetti dinner and served 25 girls and their coaches dinner. I cooked 6 pounds of spaghetti and made about 3 gallons of sauce. And the weekend before had made 8 loaves of french bread (and used one for a church event).

Friday, Rachel had early morning practice and had to be in the water by 5:30 am. She was picked up by a fellow swimmer at 5:15 am. She then came home and went to church to help with the Fall Fest. I got home, raked leaves and then made an apple pie and dinner to celebrate Stephen's birthday. I handed out candy when the doorbell rang.

Jeff, Stephen and I ate dinner and were just beginning to open his presents when three high school students came by collecting for the food shelf. They asked to come in and warm up and settled in for about 30 minutes as one of them was Anna.

Saturday morning we got Rachel to the school at 6:30 and the rest of us left about 9. We dropped Stephen off at Anna's house in Ray and Jeff and I continued on to Aurora (Mesabi East High School) for Little Giant (junior high girls' swim sections). We had an 18 mile detour and missed Rachel's first race but were able to see her swim three other times for a first and 2 thirds. She swam personal bests all day and was pretty excited.

Sunday I went to early service as I had agreed to read names for All-Saints Sunday. I brought every one to church for Sunday School and following Sunday School we ran an errand, dropped Rachel off at home and Jeff, Stephen and I headed to Morris. Rachel spent the day in front of screens with cats on her lap while we made a round trip to Morris. It is a long day but doable. It was great to talk to Stephen and then Jeff on the way home. We got home about 11:15. The weather was great all weekend for all that driving.

It was wonderful to see Stephen and even more wonderful to feel that he has fit in and has a home at the University of Minnesota Morris. He will be back home for Thanksgiving as well as our niece Caitlyn at the University of Minnesota, Crookston.

Diane

Rachel Swim Pics

Hey All,

Thought we'd post a few pictures from Rachel's swim meet last weekend.  These are from her 500m race where she finished 3rd overall.  She also did well in the Medley, 200m and 400m relays, all three of which she'll be competing in at Sections in a couple of weeks.  Enjoy!

Hello from Morris

I have a few minutes so I thought I'd write a bit about what's going on today.  I'm sitting in the Common Cup coffee shop in downtown Morris, waiting for Stephen to get out of class today around 1:00.  It was so good seeing him yesterday.  No big surprises.  No beard or tattoos or anything like that.  He is complaining about his lack of exercise and the fact that his clothes don't fit so well anymore.  Ah, the Freshman 15.  It gets us all, doesn't it?  

I caught up with him yesterday at the UMM pool where every kid within 100 miles was enjoying 'Spook & Splash' a community Halloween party that required every lifeguard in town to be on duty.  After that, we popped back to the dorm room which he apologized for.  Of course, it looked pretty much like a boy's dorm room.  Junk everywhere, electronics in abundance, but more than a little evidence of studying going on.  After that we went downtown to check out Jose's Burritos for dinner.  Very well worth the trip.  It's been a long time since I had REAL Mexican food.  Our one Mexican place in the Falls serves Cheese Whiz on the Nachos, I kid you not.  

After dropping Stephen off, I retired to the Super-8 with its mega cable featuring more than a few Halloween programs.   There was a Hammar version of Dracula, and 60's British flick titled 'Torture Garden' and the Travel Channel took us to America's Most Haunted Places.  No, I did not watch all night.  Honesty, I was wipped by 10pm.

A pretty good night's sleep, followed by some actual work getting done; a whole scene in the next Scoop Sister's script.  Amazing how a change of scenery can knock things loose upstairs.  Now, I'm downtown enjoying a fairly interesting cup of bean, and writing this.  I think I'll take a walk around town, make use of the sandwich fixings I brought for lunch, then meet-up with Stephen at 12:50.  Perfect driving weather.  I think we'll get home with no trouble.  Blessings!  

-Jeff

Wow!

It is October 26th and I can't believe how fast the month has flown by. This weekend seems to be typically busy. Yesterday Jeff worked at the radio station in the morning and I worked at home. I did laundry, made 8 loaves of french bread, 3 loaves of oatmeal bread, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, artichoke dip and lemon granita. I also talked, played and enjoyed being with Jeff and Rachel.
Today after Sunday school we came home and got ready for the rest of the day. We went back to church at noon for a meeting about CHIC 2009. Chic is the Covenant church triannual camp for high school students. It is held at the University of Tennessee campus and Rachel is planning on going next summer. Then we swung by the house, picked up games and the lemon granita and headed to Rachel friend Aleena's house for a time of conversation, food and games with four girls and their moms. It was very nice and while we were there, Jeff ran our food contribution for the Pastor Marx and family open house to the Marx house, came home and did some recording before picking us up and we all went to the open house. Then we took Rachel to teen Sunday evening youth meeting and then home to fold dry laundry and get ready for the upcoming week.

Tomorrow is the second documentary film night and discussion at the library and is also the night of the second border concert. Tuesday Rachel has her last weeknight away swim meet of the season. Wednesday is teens and worship team practice and I get ready for Thursday. Thursday Jeff drives to Morris to pick up Stephen and I provide a spaghetti dinner for the 25 girls and coaches on the swim team, as well as rooms for them to try on suits for Little Giant (junior high sections) on Saturday at Mesabi high school. Friday Jeff and Stephen drive home and Rachel goes to church to help at the Children's fall fest and I wait the for guys. Saturday Rachel rides with the swim team to Little Giant and Jeff and I take Stephen to Anna's and we go on to Little Giant and back. Sunday after Sunday School Jeff, Stephen and I will head to Morris and Rachel will spend the day with Catherine (a friend here in town). Jeff and I will drop Stephen off and head on home, hoping to be home by about eleven.

After next week I think things will slow a bit as swim season is winding down and we don't have near as many things on the calendar. We'd love to hear from you as you go through your lives. Let us know what you're up to and what is impacting your lives.
Diane

And another post