Hip Hip Hooray for Dawson!

Hello Hello,

First some really cool news. Dawson's Lacrosse team took 1st place in the city league. The last game of the season he scored several goals and assist with several other goals. He has turned into a really good player. After the games were over last weekend, they had individual competitions. They clocked the speed of the kids throwing a ball from their Lacrosse sticks. Dawson won the award for the "Fastest shot competition " for 7th & 8th grade boys. He received a really nice trophy for it. Their team also received a trophy for taking 1st place. I've attached a few pictures above. I will attach a picture of his team trophy at a later time. The picture is on David's phone, so I need to get a copy of it. We are so happy for Dawson, it was his turn to shine.

I want you all to know something. I receive notes from many of you concerned about Dawson. Afraid maybe I talk about Keegan too much and get a lot more pictures of Keegan than Dawson. Well, getting him to pose for a picture is like pulling teeth! Finally today I begged him to get dressed back up in his uniform (almost a week later) so I could take his picture to show all of you. Last weekend I had to work during his game, so by the time I got home, he was showered and his trophy was sitting on the counter. Plus he doesn't like his picture taken very much. I try not to drive him too crazy with it. Keegan is always a little more willing to pose for me.

Today I struck gold! I got several pics of Dawson. I even snuck a few while he was getting his hair cut. I had to bribe him with food, but we finally did it. I told him just as soon as school was out was the big haircut day. I actually think he likes his new haircut. It has to feel good. Hopefully it won't be shaggy by the time we go to AZ.

I have attached some "before" and "after" pictures of his hair!

This blog is only about Dawson. David and I are very proud of him. He did a great job in school this year. He has a ton of new friends. I think he has become pretty popular in his new school. He has so many friends I can't keep them straight. I think he also has discovered he likes girls. Although Dawson hasn't ever been shy around the girls! He has always had them for friends. Oh, by the way, I had to edit my blog this morning. Dawson informed me yesterday he has a girlfriend now! Her name is Raven. He showed me her picture, she is a very pretty girl.

Soon we will be back in AZ to visit our family and friends. Please pray for us to have a safe trip.

God bless you.

Love,

Marjie

We have a star in the family

Hello,

I've got to brag. Sorry, don't read if you don't want to hear me carry on.

Keegan has had such an awesome year at her new school. Besides her classes being so tough and had so much homework with very little social life. She has shined in her Drama class. She became a Thespian this year. If you are like me, you are probably saying "a what?". That's when you put in a certain amount of hours working in Theatre. Whether it's on stage, lighting/tech, directing, going to other shows, helping in any way with Theatre. At the end of this school year the Thespian officers nominated students for certain awards. Such as Best Actor, Best Supporting, Best Debut, Best Dancer, Director, Singer, etc. All together there were 21 categories. Keegan was nominated for 5 categories. In each category there were 6 students nominated. We were so proud of her. She is only a sophomore. Most of the students she was going up against were juniors and seniors. They are all a VERY talented group. We have thoroughly enjoyed every performance they put on. Keegan was nominated for Best Actress in Leading Role, Best Actress in Supporting Role, Best Actress in a One Act, Best Debut, and finally Best Kiss!! Okay I will explain the Best Kiss for those who just dropped their mouth open. She was in a part "Midsummer Night's Dream", if you know the Shakespeare Play, she was "Helena". Two guys had a spell put on them, so they were both madly in love with her. In one scene they were both on there knees on each side of her, holding her hands and started kissing each hand! I know that sounds weird, but it was hilarious. The entire time they were kissing her hands, she was upset with them, yelling in Shakespearean how rude they were. The audience was roaring, it was so funny. I wouldn't be surprised if her friends end up putting the scene on UTube!!

She went to her banquet last night. She ended up winning Best Supporting Actress, Best Debut, and Best Kiss. She brought home 2 big trophies. They didn't give out a trophy for Best Kiss, but the three of them had to get up in front of everyone and re-enact the scene. She also received a "Letter" for Theatre. I've attached some pictures of her night of fame above. Also scroll down on the side to see a few more pictures. If you scroll down even a little further, you will see the pictures of her dressed as an older women in "Flowers for Algernon". That's the play that she won the Best Supporting award for.

David's and my heart sang last night when she told us how happy she was that we moved here. That was worth so much to us, since we broke her heart a year ago when we told her we were moving to Kansas. God is so good. Only He knew how happy she would be.

I'm sorry if I have bored you, but I had to tell all about our excitement.

The kids are counting done the days for school to be out. They both are excited for our trips this summer to AZ and WI. I hope AZ isn't too hot when we get there. I do NOT miss the heat at all.

I am going to plant flowers today. For Mother's Day David and the kids gave me money to buy flowers for our yard. It was so hard to choose what to buy, so I will start with a few and add on later. I have attached my flower pictures on the side, be sure to check them out.

It has rained off and on all week. Everything is so lush and green. Our backyard is beautiful again. Lots of bunnies & robins hopping around.

I have the day off, so I need to get busy planting.

May God be there for you through everything.

Cant' wait to see all of you this summer.

Love, Marjie

Our First Tornado Experience!!

Hi everyone,

I'm happy to say that experience is over with. We had our first tornado scare. We were ready for it to hit us, that's how close it was to us.

Dawson and I had stopped off at the grocery store after leaving his school yesterday. It was pretty windy when we went into the store, but nothing unusual. When we walked out of the store the sky was a weird color and the tornado sirens were blaring. We knew it was for a tornado, but we didn't know if it meant a watch or a warning. Dawson called home to let Keegan know we were on our way since she was alone. As soon as we got home we turned on the TV weather station. They instructed everyone in Wichita to start preparing to take cover. The funnel clouds were heading for the west side of Wichita. We live on the northeast edge of the city. Across the street from a small town called Bel Aire. We started grabbing pillows, blankets, water, food, and a few other important things we wanted to keep safe. I kept watching the sky from our basement window. It was still that weird greenish gray color. It was about 5:20 pm. The weatherman then reported the funnel cloud was in the area of Hwy 96 and 45th street, heading for Bel Aire. It was soon to be in our area. The sky became as dark as night. That's when the kids and I decided to take a moment to pray together. It was hard to believe, but it seemed like we were next to be hit by a possible tornado. As fast as the sky went dark, the weatherman then reported the tornado had dispersed and was no longer a threat! The sky became light again and started to rain pretty hard. We were so relieved. I went upstairs to make dinner. The rain quit, the sun came out. We went outside to look at the bright sky and there was the biggest, brightest rainbow you could possibly imagine. Spreading from one end of the sky to the other. The kids and I were so amazed how beautiful it was and how fast all this weather change took place. Welcome to Kansas, huh? Actually I'd like to believe our last minute prayer was very powerful. Our neighbor lady was so thoughtful. At the beginning of everything she came to our house to make sure the kids weren't alone. I am so happy she took the time to make sure they were OK.

The good thing out of that whole experience, is that the kids went through what needs to be done in case they are ever alone. Me too, It's been so long since I have been in that situation from living in Wisconsin. I have to say I don't remember a time being so close to the real thing. I do like that this city seems to be very experienced and knows how to prepare everyone for a tornado. Unfortunately it's because they've been hit in the past years so hard.

I was sorry to read this morning that Oklahoma did get hit hard yesterday. Reading about it made me feel sad and a little too close for comfort.

Once again I didn't mention David through all of this. The poor guy had to work. You know the Post Office saying..."Through rain, sleet or hail"... they had to keep working! (Whatever their saying is, I don't know what it is!!) Apparently their building is supposed to be tornado proof. There aren't any windows and the walls are made of some special thick heavy cement of some kind. I don't know, I just think they don't want to stop them from working no matter what. Kind of stupid if you ask me, but thankfully the funnel clouds were not in his area, so we didn't worry about him. Although I know he was real concerned about us. He was listening to the radio while everything took place.

After it was all over, Dawson got on his cell phone and had to tell his Arizona buddies the exciting news. Keegan had to go back and finish her homework!

I don't have any tornado pictures, thank goodness! Instead I have attached a few pictures of the kids and their cousin's Brian and Daniel from Illinois, when they were here visiting us during the New Year. The pictures are of "The Original Pizza Hut". It was opened in June of 1958 right here in Wichita, Kansas. Hey I was born in June of 1958, about 1 week after it was opened!! It is no longer open and it has been placed on the campus of Wichita State University. See we have something to brag about!!

I have the day off and I want to do a lot of things today. Thanks for following my blog. I understand if you don't have time to read it every time I write. Strangely I have found that I enjoy writing on it, maybe to express myself? I don't know... who cares why, right?

A few blogs ago I had asked if anyone could come up with a better word than "windy" for this city. Naturally a friend of mine from Wichita quickly said "GUSTY", that is a perfect word to describe our weather here on a daily basis.

Alright I need to go. Take care and keep in touch with us. We love and miss all of you.

God loves all of you.

Love,

Marjie

Happy Mother's Day

Hi everyone,

Hope all of you mother's are doing something special for yourself today. Even if you don't have children and you have your loving pets, you are still a mom to them. This wish is also for you special Aunt's out there that are like mothers to us.

I love Mother's Day, because I was so close to not having a family. To this day a feel so blessed to have such beautiful children. Only God knew I wanted and would love being a mom this much. It has probably been the most wonderful thing I have done in my life.

I also have a beautiful mom, Diane Gorder. She is so special to me. I woke up this morning thinking about her, wishing I could visit her today. It would have been so neat if I could have surprised her by dropping in today. Mom really had her hands full with 4 of us. I probably gave her the hardest time of all of us! Actually... I'm sure I did. Sorry Mom!! To this day, even though Mom has MS and her arms and legs don't work very well anymore. It is her soul and her character that I love so much. MS might affect her body, but it will never touch that most precious part of her.

See how mushy I am on Mother's Day? I am thankful to God and never want to take being a mom for granted. For me it has been the greatest gift in my life.

The picture above is my Mom. I love you Mom. :)

God bless all of you.

Love Marjie

Joined Facebook this week

Hello again from Wichita,

Since I have so much free time (lol), thought I would add another thing to my busy life! I always thought people who didn't have anything better to do joined Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Since we have moved in the middle of the country and don't know many people, I guess I want to keep in touch with everyone the best way possible. Now that I'm hearing from a lot of you, I have changed my mind and think it is a great means of communication. I love seeing all of the photos so many of you have posted.

This week is a very stressful week for Keegan. She has this permanent look on her face that is too hard to describe. She has her Drama production Fri & Sat evening. Plus she has an important test on Friday for the International Baccalaureate Program (you've heard me refer to it as the IB Program). The kids have been studying for weeks, maybe months. Even during lunchtime they meet in the classroom to study. The test will determine what type diploma they will be working towards. Keegan doesn't usually stress out over test. This one is kicking her butt. I know she will do fine. Even so I have been praying for her to have peace of mind. If you read this before Friday, I hope you too will pray for her to relax as much as possible.

Dawson's Lacrosse team had their tournament last Sat. They didn't do very well. The other teams were from all over, even Oklahoma. They were huge kids. Dawson looked small next to most of them! It was a great time for him and he gained lots of experience.

Both kids are counting down how many days are left of school. I was informed 16 days, counting today.

We are planning 2 trips this summer. In June we will be visiting Everyone in Arizona, then in July we will be in Wisconsin. Hope to see you.

The weather has been gorgeous this week. Not so much wind. I was waking up one morning and realized my wind chimes we not playing. I ran downstairs to check on them. I thought one of my neighbors had stolen them. Not because they wanted them, but to shut them up. They were still there. I take all my bad thoughts away! :)

I have to get ready for work. Have a great week. If you are on Facebook, say hi to me. Also David and Keegan are on it. Guess we all want to keep in touch with our friends and family.

God be with all of you.

Love,

Marjie