Ending Sep with a bang

 Kendal: Kendal had a check up for her feet / orthotics on the 19th. She's grown enough that they decided to size up and order new orthotics. She's happy she'll have a second pair (till she fully grows out of her current pair) and won't have to switch her orthotics between shoes everyday. (I'm grateful insurance is paying this thousands of dollars item off, because it's a lot!) Kendal has had a couple of cross country meets since I last posted. They had their home meet at Kimberly on the 22nd. Kendal came in 32nd with a time of 13:47. She had a side ache and didn't finish as strong as she would have liked, but did well. Their run took them around the softball fields, practice football field, and around the two soccer field areas in front of the middle school. That  same day Kendal got to miss school for a Sources of Strength training with her fellow classmates. (I say got to miss school like it was a fun thing, Kendal actually hated missing school and lamented about it for days.), Kendal's other meet was this past Thursday (29th) at Declo. She had full Grandparent support out to cheer her on for her meet! They made the Declo run longer so she ran nearly two miles with a time of 15:14. She came in just ahead of her usual middle of the pack with a place of 43. She was also fifth for her team which added to their overall team score. 

Pete didn't have a sport this fall so I don't have a lot to put in for him. He's liking school. He's such a helpful kid with his teachers and classmates. I am very proud of his attitude and kindness he shows others. He helps in the library and with Alice. He happily plays with friends after school and that makes him very happy these days! After being delayed a couple of months Peter finally had his 10 yr old well check. Peter is 4 ft 7 in. and 80 pounds. He's healthy and thriving, but mad about having to get a shot at the Dr's. 

Alice started basketball on the 23rd. She's a part of a four week clinic with other kindergarten kids and some first graders. For the first three weeks the kids work on skills and then they'll have a little scrimmage on the last week. Her first week she loved playing around with the kids, and, as a bonus, cousin James is on her team! She is doing well at following instructions and working on her little skills. She can't quite make the basket yet, but she's 5, no big deal! Alice loves school. Her favorite parts are her specials (Art, music, computers are her favorite with PE and library coming in next). She's still our smart cookie and is doing great with her reading. She's taken to making notes and letters that she loves to give others, she even wrote a little book yesterday about a Pegasus and her friend. 

We went out to spend the afternoon with Casey parents last Sunday. Terry, Sarah, and their crew were there as well. It was a nice afternoon; the kids got to play, and hang out. We headed home just before 7:30 and about a mile from Casey's parents house a dog came out of the ditch and my quick attempts to swerve away didn't work. They dog was casually walking and we ended up plowing into it. It went right under our car and I was in shock! Casey grabbed the wheel to keep me steady and we stopped just after. We pulled over and turned off the car because it was smoking in the front. I was internally freaking out, and panicking, the kids were upset, and we had to regroup for a min. We called Casey's parents and then assessed the damage. The dog (big black thing) had ruined the bumper, radiator, and tore off a lot of the undercarriage of the front of the car. A family passed us and saw the distress. They stopped to help, but since Casey's parents had been called they ended up dealing with the dog and then heading away. We ended up having Casey's uncles Todd and Scott come, along with a few cousins, to help push the car onto a trailer and take it back to Todd's house. My emotions are still unsettled as I write this. I feel horrible for everything that happened and so very grateful for the help we received. Kenny has lent us his car while ours is being fixed. I spent the first part of the week dealing with insurance agents, tow people (Kenny had to help with that as well and even had to crawl through the car to get to the driver's seat to put it in neutral and helped unload it so the tow guy could take it away), and repair people to get our car where it needed to be and started on repairs. Total repairs are just above $5,200 (thankfully we only pay $500 of that with our insurance deductible). With luck our car is estimated to be done around the 12th of October. I've felt horrible about this all week - just stuck in a funk about how we seem to be one step forward two steps back kind of mode in life. 

Changing modes. 

My parents got to come up this week! As I said they made it to Kendal's meet on Thursday and then came the rest of the way to spend a couple of days with us! Thursday night we went and checked out our lot and tried to see what the size might be. Friday, while we were at school, Dad made the rounds with businesses that will be helping us as we build our house. My parents joined Alice and I to watch the Homecoming parade on Friday after lunch. I took my mom in and we did some shopping at Barnes and Noble that afternoon. Peter played with friends and Kendal went to a young women's party for memorizing the young women theme. We had an easy going evening while Casey was off helping at the Homecoming game. Before conference on Saturday, Pete and my Dad went and tagged our lot so our excavation guy knows where to dig in the next week or so. We watched morning conference together Saturday morning. My parents treated us to a picnic lunch at the park before they headed home. We watched some more conference and the kids played a bit in the evening to get some energy out. Today we get to glean some more from our church leaders; filling our cups with the gospel truths and our heaven sent messages. 

Picture below is Casey's Advisory class in their spirit day gear! 

Roads and final things have been going in the last week or so. We should be able to close on our lot this week!! It seems too good to be true. We've waited so long for this (and then some. Just to get to this point has taken such a long long time.) We've had so many road blocks and set backs over the years, where we just can't get ahead, and seem to come up short. Its been a heavy trial that we didn't know if we'd ever see an endpoint to. . . I've already had tremendous guilt with the load I am causing for my Dad and David. I feel extremely grateful for their willingness and support for all of this (My Dad had been working hard setting things up for us these past few months) It makes my heart swell with gratitude and burst with guilt for all that they're doing and will be doing for us. I pray for a mild fall and winter, I pray for my Dad and David (plus Mom, and Anica) to be extra blessed as they sacrifice and help us in all of this. I don't deserve this, but on the same note I'm so grateful they're making this long awaited dream come true with us. 

extras just for smiles