Demo Team

Tonight at Karate, Stephen was invited to be on the Lil' Dragon's Demo Team. Only 6 students are invited to join the Demo Team and Stephen's Instructors nominated him. With excitement, he accepted the invitation. He was thrilled to find out he would be using weapons. They have nunchucks for them to use and we bought him a Bo tonight. We let him pick it out. We are very excited for him and very proud of him. The main instructor explained to him that he was chosen because he showed so much improvement in the last several months. They were also impressed by his focus and determination especially in the last tournament. We will post a picture of Stephen in his new demo team uniform with his Bo soon.

Memory Maker

While I was pregnant with Stephen, people would tell me to enjoy every moment because it goes so fast. I did not believe them after the first few sleepless nights. Seven years later and it feels like time just flew. I know that time will continue to move very quickly, so I am trying to enjoy and make lasting memories. I once read a Church's sign around Mother's Day and it read MOM (Maker of Memories). Every moment is not perfect but it's the precious moments that I hope Stephen will remember for a lifetime. I am thrilled when Stephen wants me to tuck him in and pray with me. Tonight we competed on WebKinz together. Some day he will look back and know that I took the time to play with him. Children are a wonderful gift from God and I am so thankful to God for giving us Stephen. Another memory we are about to create is our mission trip to Gautemala. We took Stephen last year and he has talked about it all year. We leave in just over a week and we are looking forward to it. It is hard to put into words the emotions of serving as a family. I was thrilled a few weeks ago when Stephen said he wanted to learn Spanish so he could be a missionary and translater. Of course, he will probably change his mind a few thousands time but at least for now I will take it.

Karate Board Breaking Tournament

Stephen has been in Karate for over a year now. He competed in his 2nd tournament a few weeks ago. This one was a board breaking tournament. Because he is an advanced purple belt he was in the highest group to compete for Little Dragons. He entered 3 events: Upper Body/Hand, Lower Body/Foot, and Combination. He went out there each time and broke every board. At the end of the tournament, he left with 2 third place trophies. We are very proud of his accomplishments especially because he only started breaking boards a week before the tournament. He loves breaking boards and I'm sure this will be the first of many board breaking tournaments that he enters.

Boyd's Super Duper Bear Factory

We went to Gettysburg to visit with Monica's Uncle that she hasn't seen since she was a little girl. Before we left Gettysburg, we stopped at the Boyd's Bear store. Stephen had a great time creating a bear. Here are the steps to make a stuffed "friend"

First- you take a time card and punch in. You walk over and choose your stuffed friend.

Second- you fill a measuring cup with beads. Each color bead represents something you are filling your bear with like red for love, purple for laughter, blue for joy, and etc.

Third-the beads are put in your bear and you are given a golden bean

with a paw print on it to make a wish for your stuffed friend.

Fourth-you brush and fluff your bear.

Fifth- you pick out an outfit that you would like your bear to wear. Stephen chose jeans and a sweater that has Gettysburg written on it. Lastly, you take your bear home to be your forever stuff "friend".

Celebrating Christmas at Thanksgiving

We look forward to going to Michigan each year at Thanksgiving and visiting with family. It is now a tradition to celebrate Christmas at this time. Stephen counts the days before he can see Nanny, Pappoes, Grandma Nancy, Grandpa Larry, Great Grandma, and all his cousins and aunts and uncles. This year, Monica's neice Brittany got married the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was a nice wedding and we wish Brittany and Brian a lifetime of happiness.

Stephen modeling the scarf that Grandma Nancy gave me.

It has become a tradition to go to Bronner's at Thanksgiving and visit Santa. We do not have Bob's Big Boys in Pennsylvania and Stephen loves to eat at them when we are in Michigan. He could not wait to get his picture taken with the large Big Boy.