"Boise Feis by the River"

"Sarah & Amy, ready to compete at the 2008 Boise Feis by the River"

This past weekend, our girls competed in a feis, also known as an Irish Dance Competition, and pronounced like "fesh". Feisanna are always an exciting, but exhausting time. Dancers come from all over to compete.

Amy has been recovering from a foot injury while trying to keep up her stamina by carefully bouncing on our trampoline for an aerobic period of time each day and also stretching to stay nice and limber. So, after several weeks of this, but not really dancing much at all, it came time for the feis. This is an all day event and we thought she'd have time in between each of her dances to elevate, massage and ice her foot. Well, it didn't really go as planned and after six dances in a row, she was in tears and wasn't sure she could even do a skip because of the pain. Her last dance was her trophy dance and it was a soft shoe dance. It's harder on her foot to dance in her soft shoes. (aka: gillies) I told her not to worry about it, if it hurt too much, just bow to the judge and move back in line. Well, she made it through the dance and received a fifth place trophy.

This award was in memory of Stephany Wood Perfect, an Irish Dancer that was killed in a car accident not too long ago. Quite special. Below is her receiving the award with the other competitors and who I believe is Stephany's mother. (long story, but I didn't hear the announcement. Got the picture, though!)

This was Sarah's first time competing in a feis, so she was a little nervous. Not as nervous as her mother, however. LOL I always tend to be nervous enough for both of them. Below is a picture of her, ready to begin her first dance. She looked up and saw me and smiled. Good girl!

Both of the girls danced beautifully, and more importantly had fun and did their best! We are so proud of them both. It is always nice to bring home medals, and they did, but it's more important to have a fun experience and know that there's only so much you can control. Our girls weren't wearing the flashy dresses that can cause dancers to get the judge's attention, and feel more like a "winner" or a "better dancer". We told them they need to be stronger mentally and to dance with even better technique to get the judges attention. They will have those dresses as they progress through the higher levels, but for this feis, they had their mental solo dresses on. I believe they grew a little more in character from this experience and that's always a great thing. Their friends were very encouraging and supportive and I hope we were as supportive to them. We had a great time and we're so very proud of our young ladies!

*Click on photos to see larger*

"A Year of Courting"

8/14/08

"A Year of Courting"

It was one year ago today, that Paul and I took Amy and David to Moxie Java to discuss them getting together as a courting couple. This year has gone by so fast. It has been a pleasure to get to know David and to see how he and Amy weather good and bad times together. They've encountered a wide variety of everyday life experiences in the past year and they have had time to see each other at their best and even at their worst. They have done a good job of encouraging each other and bearing one another's burdens. They have sought advice from us and others as they've faced concerns and problems.

Overall, we are impressed with David. He's had some adult decisions to make this year and has done so in spite of not being thrilled about some of them. He has done the right things for his future and in light of what God's been telling him even though it wasn't easy. He's dealt with life decisions like whether or not to go to college and a possible change in direction as far as career. We've seen him work hard and play hard. He's been very respectful of Amy, as well as the rest of our family. He's learning to joke as we do and as a result, we now must learn to recognize it so we don't think he's being disrespectful. He's always kind to our younger daughter, too, even in her bad moments, and that says a lot about his character.

We've seen how happy he makes Amy and that is a good feeling, as a parent. Amy has really come a long way in the past year and continues to mature. She's had quite a turn around in the past year and a half or two, from wanting to be a career woman as a movie director, to wanting to be a wife and homeschooling mother. We've watched as she has struggled to yield her will to match God's. She knew He was changing her mind set about several things, but didn't like it at first, but I've been impressed with the fact that she does have a heart for God and wants to please Him with her life.

We've had several opportunities to spend time with and get to know David's family as well, and that has been a lot of fun, too. Amy now goes to David's house once a week to spend more time getting to know his family. This is a very important part of a courting relationship; spending enough time with the other's family that you see them at their best and worst. A decision must be made by both the male and female as to whether or not the other's family is one to which they want to become a part.

We are all learning together and that's part of the fun. I've had several people inquire about courting and request the Courting Principles that we came up with. This is new territory for us as parents and there have been times that we haven't had an answer to a question regarding courting. We've had to assess opportunities or situations and make decisions on a case by case basis, since we've never done this before. I am sure, as humans, we have made some mistakes during this last year, but we have tried to make decisions based on what we believed was right after careful prayer and discussion.

I don't know what the future holds, but it seems that David and Amy are very well suited for each other. I do know they both have some more maturing to do before getting to the point where they are ready to be engaged or married, but they are doing it right and following God's will. For that reason, I know that it will all work out for the good.

"Trip to SoCal-Day 7"

Today was laundry day. We pretty much stayed home and did laundry and watched DVD's. The girls also planned what they'll be filming with a friend next week and also played cards and on the computer. I took a nap since I've been having trouble breathing and it's quite tiresome. I had to use my nebulizer twice today, but I'm doing better now. I also was stuffed up and had a headache so it was a great day to do nothing but laundry.

Another day I didn't take any photos. Tomorrow we will be going to Balboa Park, so I should have more photos to post.

Trip to SoCal-Day 6

Well, today I got up early again to see Sarah off. She's been walking with my sister, Laura, at 6:15 in the morning. Ugh! Not my cup of tea, being a night owl. We went to Frasier Farms after lunch and boy are the produce prices awesome here! We got cantelope for 88cents. The whole cantelope, not per pound! We also got grapes, white peaches, plums, and nectarines. We also got cashews really cheap. Some of the fruit will take a few days to ripen, but some of it is ready now. YUM!!!

After the store, we went to my sister's house to swim. The girls went right out to the pool and I ended up not ever going in. It was the first time my sister and I had some time to ourselves to just chat and catch up on everything. If you get the chance, you should go to her website and see the beautiful silk scarves she hand paints and sells. HERE'S THE LINK Her website is not very old, so be sure to check back and see what's new. She's always painting and adding new ones as she sells others.

We had a nice afternoon/evening with Laura and then headed home and watched a DVD and then went off to bed. I realized that I never took any photos today. Bummer.

"Trip to SoCal-Day 5"

Today we got to visit with my good friend from high school, her two children and also her mother. We had a great visit and then went to Taco Bell for lunch and came back and visited some more. I was sad when they left as she and her family are moving to Texas in two weeks. Who knows when I'll see them again. We took a few pictures before they left. I shall post one here...

"Trip to SoCal-Day 4"

We got up at 5:15am today to take Paul to the train station where the commuter train will take him to where he is attending school this week and next. We will pick him up again on Friday afternoon. It will be lonely here without him. Just us girls.

We came home and went back to bed and when we got up, it was too late for church. In the afternoon we went to the Christian Bookstore and then to the beach. We did a little "souvenier" shopping and then headed down to the beach. It was a beautiful afternoon/evening. The girls made a picture for their dad. I'll post it here...

It was really sad cause I was sitting there on the beach and some seagulls came and landed nearby. I noticed that this guy was limping. Then, I could see a fish hook was through his leg. Poor little guy. I wanted to go help him, but I knew he'd just fly away and I know nothing of helping birds like that.

We went to Taco Bell for dinner after the sunset. Hey, it's cheap and we like it...what can I say? Even though I grew up here, it is weird driving around because so much has changed that I find myself not recognizing familiar places. It's so strange.

"Trip to SoCal-Day 3"

We slept in today and then went to my sister's house to swim. We had the pool to ourselves. It felt good to swim. We then went to an old favorite ice cream place called, "Pepper Tree Frosty." (see photo above) They have yummy chocolate dipped cones. Problem is you have to eat them fast! Prices have gone up from what we remember.

We came back to my FIL's place and ate lunch and are now waiting for my sis to come over and take in a move with us. We are thinking of going to the beach this evening. I want to pick up a new small Bible with large print at a Christian Bookstore in Carlsbad.

We're enjoying our time here so far!