Finally..Another Win!

Mt Calvary won their softball game tonight-33-13! We are back in the "swing"! It was a close game at first, but their pitcher got tired and we started hitting the ball really well. Sarah had several hits, Matthew had hits, and Jeff got hit! He has quite a bruise on his right leg. He was pitching and got nailed by the ball. He has been icing it hoping to keep the bruising to a minimum. . Jeff had some good hits and ran great even with an injury. He switched hit his last up and got a triple. I hit the ball well, but hit it right to the short stop, a couple times. I did get on base once and crossed the plate. We have two more games to play this season. Our record is 5-3. Sarah, Matt and Jeff did some great fielding too.

I worked 9 hours today. It was very tiring. The family is moving locally and it is crazy. I work again on Wednesday and Saturday. No news on my job hunt. Sarah hasn't heard anything from her applications either.

Mary has been with her friends Greg and Kayla most of the day. They went to see the movie, Wall-E. Yesterday she had fun at her friend Brandon's birthday party. While she was at the party, we were learning about the mission trip. It is less than a month away now.

For those of you who remember our nighbors, their daughter had twin girls a week ago and everyone is doing fine. No C-Section needed and the girls weighed over 5 pounds each! Yea!

Well, I guess that is all....I am pretty tired.

Grace

Repression Can Be Good Thing

It is late on Sat or really, early Sunday morning. Thought I would do a little catch up before another busy day tomorrow.

Matthew's team won again Thursday, which sent them to another playoff game today. We drove about 1 hour and watched, waited and hoped that they would call the game. Matt pitched a good first inning and lost a little focus in the second. The coach pulled him the first time out to the mound, rather than give a pep talk. Anyway with the next pitcher, and some poor fielding, 12 runs were added to the other team. I think they used 4 pitchers in 4 innings. Final score was 25-0. The season is over, and we can be proud about how far our team went in the tournament. Jeff and I both got a little sunburn while sitting in the bleachers at high noon. Repression Can Be Good Thing.

Sarah received a phone call from Hope College about her schedule. After all of her required classed she needed 3 credit hours to equal 16. We searched for a 3 hour class and found none. Sarah's been in contact with the softball coach and she encouraged her to take her softball class(one hour). That brought her to 14 which is considered full time. She wanted to take Spanish, but that put her over 16 which would be difficult plus add to tuition. So the scheduling people signed her up for a 2 hour religion class. So now she will have the 16 credit hours that is reccommended.

Tonight was Thrivent night at the Michigan Whitecaps game. I have looked forward to this for a long time. I had such wonderful memories from last year's games. First there was a rain delay, which worked a little toward our favor since we were a little late. But it started after 8 pm. Our seats were near the top and it was quite a slow moving game. By 1045 pm, they just finished the 7th inning. Worst of all we sat just below were the balcony people sit, and someone must have spilled beer, because it was dripping on Mary and the lady next to her. The lady finally put up an umbrella it was so annoying and bad. After talking to several people, they cleaned the drips off the balcony and gave us paper towel to clean the seats. We left early disappointed and missed the fireworks afterward. Repression Can Be Good Thing. I did win a baseball cap with a matching number on a coupon and the team magazine. It is a nice hat.

On a good note, Jeff made it home safe and sound. He had a good visit in Arizona. Worked hard, took a test, and was able to meet up with friends from out Yokota days in Japan. We are glad to have him home. Mary is going to start voice lessons this Wednesday and throughout the summer. She is pretty excited about that. Sarah has one more Wednesday evening softball game with Hope and before you know it we will be on our way to Florida.

Tomorrow Matt is usher, Sarah is acolyte and Mary is helping me with children's church. We have a graduation party to attend, mission meeting, Camp fun day and Mary had a birthday party and sleepover. I work Monday Wednesday and maybe on Saturday. I am hoping that our church team can win Monday evening. It will be nice to have Jeff back playing on the team. Sarah is babysitting a bunny for a week. He is very cute. His name is commander bun-bun. Sammy doesn't know he is in Sarah's room, and we have the gate up on the stairs.

I guess that is all for now. Until next time,

Grace

FUN FUN FUN!

Yesterday was a really fun day. We looked at old yearbooks and had a few laughs. Then Mary went to buy her iPod touch. It is pretty fancy. Expensive too. I treated the kids to Applebee's for lunch and Sarah applied for a job there. Blockbuster won't interview for 2-3 more weeks.

Later on, Sarah went to umpire a softball game where she was behind the plate. She didn't throw anyone out of the game, and no one got irate with her either. Matthew got a ride to his tournament game with the coach, since I had a medical appointment. Then I took Mary to the Drum and Bugle Corp competition. We had a really nice time. We judged them and we like our results better. The last band actually brought out a mini stage and the show was like a little musical. I thought it was too "showy" and prefer the pure music of a band. Anyway thatshowy band won. We stopped at "Cory's", a favorite restuarant to split a dessert and came home with lots of smiles.

I called Matthew to see how his game went and wow! Matthew pitched a shut out! Pitched a whole game, 5 innings, before they mercied the other team. I guess Matt struck out 6, walked only 2 and was on base three times. I am so proud of him! I wish I could be 3 places at once!

I worked 8 hours today and had a good day. Matt called and told me there was another game tonight at 6pm. Sarah was supposed to be in S Grand Rapids at the same time to play fast pitch with Hope College. Now I was stuck. I decided that Matt couldn't pitch today, due to required rest time, so I got him a ride again and took Sarah to her game. His friend invited him to spend the night, so I don't know what happened. Sarah played well. Caught several fly balls to outfield and walked once, struck out swinging once, and hit and got to 1b once. Best of all she is meeting new people that will be part of her life this fall.

Tomorrow I have a day off, so I am going to try to get a few errands done, and have fun with the kids. Supposed to have hot weather ~88 degrees for a high. Our trip to FL is coming up fast, so maybe some planning for that and checking in our quilt.

That is all the news. Toodle do!

Grace

PS- Here is an amazing video of a pitched ball hitting a bird.

Kind of a Bummer of a Day

Today was pretty tiring. I worked night shift last night and slept till around 12:30 pm. Although there were no incidents, it is still pretty tough to stay up all night even if you slept ahead of time.

I saw the doctor this afternoon for annual blood test for my throid and a few aches and pains. I do have a recurring wartlike lesion on my hand that he will biopsy after our vacation. I also had a skin tag removed from below my left eye. Thank goodness.

Matt had a nice day at his friends house. He plays baseball tomorrow evening in the second of the district tournament. I can't go, so he will be going with his coach. Mary has been wanting to go to the Drum Corp showdown for several weeks, so I am going to that with her. Sarah is working at a softball game tomorrow night.

Speaking of softball, our church game was fun but discouraging too. We lost 39-9! They had good bats and gloves and we had some errors. Everyone got along and we even played through some rain. That was our best inning! I had a nice hit to L field. I told the team God was teaching us some lesson, maybe patience or losing with grace. Sarah was the pitcher and did an excellent job, Matt had a great snag at third base!

Mary is swimming tonight with her friend. Hope they don't stay out too late. Mary played her cello yesterday afternoon at the Flat River Historical Museum. It was very nice and she played well. There was someone who plans to call and hire a quartet. This was the first time Iwas at the museum. There are some very interesting things. I will need to take visitors to the museum and show them Greenville history.

We found out that this fall's musical is "Guys and Dolls". Mary is pretty excited and looks forward in getting a role in the play. We are thinking about voice lessons this summer to determine her voice range and also help in preparation for tryouts in September.

Well, it is time to get going. Need a shower after that game in the dusty infield.

Grace

One Week Down, One to Go!

Jeff made it to Arizona without any problems. He did take some pictures of the terrible flooding in Iowa from the airplane. Seems like the rain keeps falling in the same places. Speaking of weather, we have had nice mild weather all week. Last night we did have an isolated thunderstorm. I was at work and it must have hit close. Lost power briefly then it was all over.

I worked 31 hours this week, including a night shift last night. I'll work another tomorrow night as well. It really screws up my sleep and I am tired the whole next day. I will work around 30 hours next week too. As some of you know, I continue to look for a new job. I applied for 2 more jobs this week. So far I have had all rejections.

Mt Calvary had VBS all week at Camp Concordia. Matthew stayed at camp as a junior counselor and had a wonderful time. He helped at VBS too. Mary went to help the skit team on Thu and Friday. The weather was perfect and they had over 100 children participate. Matthew got a little too much sun on his ears and they have blistered. We saw the doctor and he prescribed a wide brimmed hat until it is healed then back to the baseball cap. Benadryl for the itching. HE loves to be at camp and looks forward to another week as Jr. Counselor in July.

Sarah had a new experience this week as well. She played softball with the Hope College girls team on their summer league. It is quite a bit more intense than HS ball. She was at first a little intimidated, but played well and made some new friends. I'm telling you the people at Hope College are just so welcoming. During the double header, Sarah played Left Field the majority of the the innings, and had several at bats. The highlights were a diving attempt to catch a fly ball that popped out of her glove. She went to the doctor too, her knee was swollen and bruised. All clear for any damage. Just bruised. She'll play next week. Back to the highlights, Sarah had a beautiful bunt at the end of the second game. There were runners at first and third, runner at third came in and the runner at first went to third, which pulled the fielder off second and allowed Sarah to reach second base on her bunt. WooHoo! She caught the last fly ball to LF to end the game. FYI, the sun was terrible for the outfielders that day.

Mary has been babysitting to earn money for a iPod. She is very close. There are a couple other families that have her name for future jobs. Mary also has job playing her cello, Liam, tomorrow at the Flat River Historical Museum at 2:30 pm. Mary has been viewing the sunset as much as possible each night and taking pictures. She and her buddy Gia have started riding bikes each night to their viewing spot and around town.

So we made it through one week without Jeffrey, who is at Davis Monthan AFB until next Friday. He is doing fine. He took his Air War College test on Thursday. We won't know if he passed for a week. So now he works on some papers and also at the weather office. That is all I know. So one week to go and we'll have him back just in time for the Baseball Game on Saturday at the Whitecaps Stadium. It is Star Wars night and Thrivent night too.

This week is of course work for me, Church softball on Monday, Little League on Tuesday, Fast Pitch softball for Sarah on Wednesday and Quilting on Thursday. Of course there is the day to day stuff and the need to shop for our upcoming vacation to FL in a few weeks.

The girls made pizza for lunch so I am signing off. Have a great week.

Until next time,

Grace

PS... Matt had a great day at his ball game. He had two RBI's and got on basae and stole his way home. He was responsible for all of the runs scored today. Way to go Matt!

Almost a Week Later....Happy Father's Day!

Time really flies by, doesn't it? It's been a week, and I can hardly remember what happened. It is good to stay busy, I guess, but rest is good too!

I worked Mon-Wed-Friday this week and had good days. Monday night we had our weekly church softball game and we won 18-11. We started off a little shakey, but had a big inning with 10 runs! Matt had a baseball game the same night and they lost. Tuesday all the teenagers had there yearly check ups and are healthy. Sarah received her meningitis immunization for college and had TB test too. The doctor had a lot of forms to sign for the college health office. Matt had baseball practice and Sarah refereed a game. Oh, our piano was tuned finally! Thurday I sewed in the morning, did some paperwork and took Sammy to the Vet. He is healthy too. Matt had his last baseball game that night and was the starting pitcher. He did a fine job. Pitched 3 innings. We were ahead, but lost by one at the end. However, the other team used a pitcher that was supposed to be on rest since he pitched less than 48 hours earlier, and there were a few bad calls by the umps, that could have changed the results of the game. The baseball banquet was last night and it was a very large crowd. It was a huge picnic for all the players, not just for our team. We survived and Matt received a nice trophy. Today Jeff and I played 18 holes of golf with our friends, Randy and Norma in the Camp Concordia Tournament. We did pretty well. It is a good thing it was a scramble, or we might still be looking for some of our balls. We went to a couple of High School open houses and then had small group bible study tonight. Whew! What a long day. We had a lot of fun.

This week promises to be busy as well. I signed up for 30 hours of work this week. Probably M-W-F again. Matthew is helping at Vacation Bible School held out at Camp Concordia all week from 10-2. Mary and Sarah are volunteering a few days and I will go out on Tuesday and Thursday. Sarah will be a chaueffeuer a lot for me this week since Jeff is going to Davis-Monthan AFB for 2 weeks starting Monday morning. Matt has ball Tuesday and Saturday. Sarah refs a softball game on T-TH and hopes to play community fast pitch ball on Wed with some of the girls from the Hope College team. Oh, Church ball on Monday night. We play one of the undefeated teams and they beat us for the championship last year. I hope that we can win! Right now we are 4-1. I need to find a replacement pitcher, Jeff won't be there! I should go quilt on Thursday at least in the morning. We have a few more open houses to attend this month.

Mary has found a new hobby.. She loves sewing. She has made 4 dresses this month! She is so creative and can really make her ideas work! The projects she does and does them well. Watch out Martha Stewart!

Well I had better get going..Church in the morning! Happy Father's Day!

Grace

PS: The glasses are for fashion!

Praise, Storms and Parties

We had a "fun" praise service today. I played the clavinova, and we had singers, a drum, guitar, violin and madolin. Everyone sang well and Jeff gave a good sermon. The Ice Cream social was well attended and delicious.

After we arrived home, we began setting up for Sarah's Open House. Everything looked really nice. Our friends helped, by setting up their tent (@ our house), and we some lend us a roaster, coolers and tables. Sarah set up a very nice display of her high school life. Then an hour before the party, the sky got dark, windy and then the downpour. We were glad that Sarah took pictures before it rained. I will post them as soon as she does. We had a nice turnout and didn't have too much leftover. Everyone enjoyed the taco bar, chips and salsa, cake and fudge. We have pop left, but that will keep. After the party was over, many of our friends stayed and helped clean, take down the tent, and move table and chairs back to church. We are blessed.

Sarah is exhausted. She opened her cards and gifts and fell asleep. The kitchen is clean enough for me to go to bed without thinking, I should really stay up and clean. I do have to work tomorrow (8-4), so the girls can clean the rest up while I work. Matt has a 1/2 day of school left and then has a baseball game. Church softball is tomorrow too. we will see if we play. Lots of storms. We are expecting another storm in the next few hours.

I guess that is all.

Happily,
Grace

It was a Happy Birthday

I had a very nice birthday. We went shopping at our favorite local stores and then had lunch together before I took mom to the airport in Lansing. We all had such a nice time together for Sarah's graduation. Jeff's parents left a few days earlier and stopped to see some friends in Indiana. Anyway, on the way home I drove into a severe thunderstorm. My weatherman called me several times to forewarn me. Sure enough just as predicted, I drove into a storm with strong winds and torrential rains. I pulled into a church parking lot and parked next to the building to be protected from the wind and then the hail started. I waited around 15 minutes till the storm passed and got home safely.

Jeff and the family took me for a barbeque dinner and then we spent a few hours cleaning up the basement. Fun! Actually it is nice to see it so clean. Tomorrow is the graduation open house and Sarah wanted to have extreme ping pong, thus cleaning the basement. Mary baked me a chocolate layer cake and it was moist and delicious.

The excitement began later when a bat appeared in the house! Jeff and Mary's friend Greg help apprehend the critter and released it into the night sky.

During the past week, it was nice to have Sarah home and we went for birthday lunch at Red Lobster with Ernie and Marlene, Gloria and Jeff met us there. Thursday was a busy day...quilt, clean, banking, piano lesson, baseball practice, Band Booster meeting, Softball banquet and a GHS Jazz Band concert in the park, which was really good. We actually went to all the events.

Today will be busy enough. Matthew has a baseball game, open houses, cleaning house buying groceries, decorating and preparing for Sarah's open house tomorrow. I play for church in the morning and am part of the fellowship team after church! I'll need a rest, but I work Monday from 8 am to 4 pm. My patient is moving to California, so I need to work as much as I can before that.

Better Run!

Grace

Graduation Day

It has been a long time since I wrote an update. I am going to make this one on the short side, since I am very tired after a long day.

Grandma and Grandpa Wilhelm arrived safely. We attended the following activities:

Baccalaureate: It was very very nice. Jeff gave the address and it was awesome. The whole auditorium was quiet and he received many compliments. What a wondeful message of God's Love for all and for the journey that continues.

Matthew's Award Day: He receieved awards for perfect attendance, musician and singer. Plus he is on the high honor roll. There was a fire drill that brought the ceremony to a quick end.

Graduation: It was a beautiful day today. The graduation was exciting, I think. The graduates processed and recessed to Star Wars music and the pomp and circumstance was during the presentation of diplomas. Mary was impressed to see her teachers with their graduatioin robes, some with the Master's stoles. After all the pictures were taken, we drove to Grand Rapids and ate at Olive Garden. We finished up the day's activities with an ice cream cake that was delicious.

Mary had an eventful first gig playing for a wedding in a string quartet. It was so windy at the park, that some of her sheet music blew away into the nearby river. I guess even the flower arch over the altar blew over. Several men held it up for the rest of the service. She recently received a trophy for best actress from the drama club.

Matthew had a few baseball games this week. They won one and lost one. He pitched the last inning of his last game and did really well. He battled at the plate and eventually got the walk. The game was called before the third out, because we won!

Sarah has been attending multiple open houses and enjoying a lot of fun times with her friends. I can't believe that soon she will be off to college and I won't see her everyday.

I worked 12.5 hours last Friday and work 8 tomorrow. The rest of the week will be pretty much free. Of course there is always something that needs to be done. Plus it will be nice to spend time with family before they go home later this week.

Getting really tired, better head off to bed.

Grace