2007 Tournament Director of the Year you are.

John was voted by his peers to be the 2007 Star Wars CCG Tournament Director of the Year. John has been involved with the game since 1995. As tournament director he coordinates monthly events and organizes state and regional competitions where he also serves as a "rules judge" (like an umpire!). He is holding his award in the photo, a personalized binder. No red carpets here, but the admiration of nerds everywhere!! Proud of you we are!

Ballet Magnificat! The Hiding Place

I've been waiting over two years to see Ballet Magnificat! and the day finally came! The girls and I went to Jacksonville with our friends Linda and Stephanie to see Ballet Magnificat! perform their ballet The Hiding Place, based on Corrie ten Boom's book. Christy's literature class read The Hiding Place this year and I read it about 15 years ago. It is a true story of a family from Holland who hid Jews in their home during the war, very eye opening and inspirational. The ballet was an amazing account of the story. There is a promo video on the Ballet Magnificat! website if you'd like to give it a look, I've added the link to my favorites listed on the right. After the performance we were able to meet some of the ballerinas, they were so sweet as they gave their autographs and posed for photos. One ballerina even encouraged Christy to read two other books written by Corrie ten Boom.
We had a wonderful time with our dear friends and the ballet was excellent....well worth the wait!

Easter 2008

Our sweet children (and dogs) humored me as I once again attempted a perfect family photo for Easter. This was my favorite one this year, the dogs even cooperated! Though I miss Gracie's pretty smile. If you haven't seen Michael's braces or Joey's latest lack of teeth, you can click on this photo and get a great close-up view!

The day was a full one. John and Michael cooked pancakes and sausage for our church breakfast. Christy helped as the youth group hid eggs for the little ones. And Joey and Grace enjoyed the hunt!

After a great service at church we came home to check out the Easter baskets....


We had Pat and his bride-to-be, Nyna over for dinner, along with Grampie, Pat's brother, Greg and their mom, Angie. Johnny cooked a yummy scrummy ham.


After dinner we introduced Nyna, who is from Brazil, to the American tradition of coloring Easter eggs. She caught right on, before we knew it the kids were copying her designs! Nyna also painted the girls' fingernails. She decorated them with tiny little flowers, the girls loved it!








The evening ended on a funny note....after our company left and I had sent Joey and Grace to get ready for bed, Gracie came running out of her room in her pj's declaring that we had forgotten to do our Easter egg hunt! So, Christy and Michael quickly hid plastic eggs around the yard...it's getting dark so we are trying to hurry. When they were finished hiding the eggs Joey and Gracie quickly dashed outside to see who would return with the most eggs. Well, in their rush to be the one with the most eggs, they both ran out forgetting a most important tool we use for gathering Easter eggs! Can you guess what they forgot?!

Click on the photo to enlarge it if you need to! They were too cute! I don't even remember who the winner was (-;

Gracie on the Big Screen

Our newly renovated Marion Theatre in downtown Ocala reopened with a high definition DVD of Emmanuel, the ballet Gracie performed in this past December. It was a thrill to see Gracie and her ballet company, Light of Joy, on the BIG screen. We loaded up the van with a few of her buddies and enjoyed the show. The theatre showed the ballet at no charge as a gift to the community for Easter, as it covers the life of Christ from His birth to resurrection. It was very well attended and appreciated. I did not see the theatre before it was renovated, but it sure looks great now! (themariontheatre.org)

Little Track Star!

Christy's school competed against all the local private schools in an annual middle school track meet. Christy was chosen with her friend, Ann Charlotte, to run the mile and half mile races for the 7/8 grade team. She did a great job! Despite a very sore ankle, from basket ball, she placed 6th in both events. She is a trooper. She is pictured here with her buddies, Laura and Martha Lyn, who were quick to greet and encourage her after the race. We are so thankful Christy is able to attend Redeemer Christian School, it is a wonderful place for our girl! Note: Check out Christy's "Warrior Braids" She wears those when she means business!

Jessica Visits

Jessica, Johnny's little sister and the flower girl from our wedding, came to Florida with her Hubby, John, and their kiddos, Toby and Haley. They visited Grampie, Universal, Disney, Silver Springs and the Yaks. We all went out to eat at Sonny's then they came over to our house for coffee, ice cream and play time. Toby, Joey, Haley and Grace had fun playing together, it was like they see each other every day! We hope to play with them some more when we go to Maine this summer.
It's hard to believe our little flower girl is all grown up with a family of her own.

Sweet Sixteen!

Our Michael turned 16 on March 2! To celebrate (so far) we went out to eat at a Japanese Steakhouse, Kotobuki. It is one of those restaurants where they take your order and prepare it right in front of you. It was amazing, flames, chopping, eggs flying, shrimp tails landing on your plate and into the chef's hat....it was all we could do to keep Joey in his seat! The chef was getting such a kick out of watching Joey that it was 'messing up' his show! (-: Michael loved it. Food is already the way to our young man's heart! His big (and only) gift this year was a bigger and better paint ball gun. Thank you to all the relatives who sent money to help dig him out of the hole he shot into our VISA card with this new toy (-: We are feeling the sting of the old saying, "the bigger the boy the bigger the toys!" Michael is very pleased with the new gun and in a couple of weeks he is planning to have a sleep over then go paint balling with his buddies to complete his birthday celebration!
Check out Michael's website, Nain Rouge Paintball, listed on the right.

Track Star*

Michael is enjoying his first year on the Forest HS track team. He runs the 400m relay, also called the 4X4, the half mile and the mile. These photos were taken at the Forest Invitational, they hosted a bunch of schools. The 4X4 relay placed 3rd and the Forest Boys' Team won 2nd over-all. It was a long day for the athletes and the fans but it sure is a thrill to see Michael do something he loves!