1500M State Finals

State Track and Field Championships 2009

Day 2 1500M

Newspaper picture of the Start.

The guy in the red and the one beside him in the white have two of the fastest times in the nation. The guy in purple is the one who beat him last week. Drew is in the middle in black.
100m in and they are out fast!

500 m in and this is the chase pack.

900 m in and in the middle of the chase pack.

300 m to go. Drew will catch the guy in front of him for 7th place.

There he is 7th place with a personal best of 4:00.88 That is one second off the school record and a six second record for himself!

Way to go on day two Drew. We are very proud of you!

Thanks Coach Peit for all your hard work and dedication to getting the team ready for today!

3000M State Finals

State Track and Field Championships Day 1

3000M Final

They are off!
Lap 1
Running at historic Hayward Field.
Home of the 2008 US Olympic Track and Field Trials

Around again for one of 7 and 1/2 laps to complete the 3000M run.

Sammy and Nathan take off. Drew and Patrick trying to respond to the pick up in pace.

Drew leading the chase pack. I like this picture with the height difference in the runners.

Drew and Patrick with 500M to go.

Drew is third back. He will catch the runner in front of him to finish 4th in the 6A race at State.

Final results.

1--Nathan 8:33.31a
2--Sammy 8:35.12a
3--Cesar 8:42.41a

Drew Jordan
8:43.37a

This is a 3 second PR for Drew and a new school record.

Way to go Son!

Off to State

We are off to watch Drew run the 3000M today and the 1500M tomorrow at the state track meet.

Praying for swift legs and a heart that glorifies the Lord!

Broken Rib!!

My wonderful husband, who works hard and plays hard, was just informed that his extremely painful rib is indeed broken!!!

He is playing on the city softball league with our church's team. He has been enjoying pitching this year. On Sunday evening there was a pop ball in front of third base and he leaped to get it. With his arms outstretched he landed on his rib cage unprotected! You know like you see the guys in the big leagues do!! He immediately knew it was bad, but shook it off to play the rest of the game.

Finally under the growing pain and encouragement from his wife and his employees he finally had it checked out.

The verdict is the 6th rib on the left side is fractured!!

Mostly this is just information, as they really do not do anything for broken ribs any more. He is just not supposed to do anything that is painful. Any of you who know David, know that is like almost impossible for him to do!!

We are now waiting for a call from the rheumatologist to see if there is anything extra we need to be doing because of David's AS.

Pray with us for complete healing. Also that his AS will not respond negatively to the added inflammation in this area, thereby increasing the bone fusion in his rib cage. Also that David will be able to take it easy to allow the healing.

Regan Ranch Clip

This segment was aired on Good Morning America this morning. It will give you an idea why Danielle loves her job!

Testing Done

Caleb and Drew finished their required state testing today!! Actually the testing is required for Drew to participate in public school sports, but for Caleb it was optional this year. We thought it best to give him an idea about what it was all about before he had an official one. When he got up this morning he said he was not hungry! If you know Caleb, you know this is a first. Well I made him eat, knowing he would need energy for 3 hours of testing. When I picked him up he said his stomach hurt, then threw up when he got home. Praying it is only the last of nerves about a test and not the flu. Drew's state track meet is tomorrow and I would hate to have a sick kid to deal with and I don't want to miss the race either!!

Being Deliberate

Thanks to a couple of blogs that I read, I was motivated to think about "how 'deliberate' is my parenting?"

It was a question I needed to ponder. It is a question I would have thought crazy to even think about with the older kids.

I was deliberate with the older set, especially when they were younger. I guess as they got older and more independent I just lost the intentional hands-on, because they need you to step away little-by-little as they test out their Independence.
Then Hannah and Caleb came into our lives and things got so crazy with the integration into the family. And the older kids were still moving fast into their independent lives, which is good, I want to raise adults!

Sometimes we were moving so fast as a family it is hard to stop and think about where you are going.

Well this is where I found myself when I came across the 'deliberate parenting' phrase on more than one blog. Maybe God was trying to catch my eye-you think?
What a blessing this time of reflection has been for me, to reset me on the path with my younger children. To tell the truth, parenting has been much more fun in recent months! Being deliberate and present in body, mind and spirit is not only engaging for the little ones, but rewarding and peaceful for me. The struggle of being a mom to adult children and young children is being put aside and peace is being found in all quarters.

As I was reading Psalm 3 this morning, I found verse 3 and 4 going round and round my head, in fact they have blessed me all day!

"But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain."

My cry to the Lord has been for a more peaceful and restful home. Amazing how life is still flying by at an amazingly fast and furious pace, but I am finding peace in the midst of the busyness. I am finding joy in parenting such a wide age range. And I KNOW that this is NOT in my strength! He is my Shield, my Glory, and the Lifter of my head!

Happy 20th Erinn!

Happy 20th Birthday Erinn!!

One year old sweetness!

Our 3 year old mischievous grin!

Five and cute as a button in pig tails!

Fifth grade, moving from little girl into all that lays beyond!

Eighth grade in a new town, new friends and a new puppy!

Varsity water polo team 9th-12th grades. Team captain last two years.

High school graduate 2007

And our 20 year old lovely young lady, ready to take on all that comes her way.

Erinn, we thank you for your wonderful, kind and giving spirit. For your active and diligent work ethic. For your love of the world's forgotten that have been stolen away into modern day slavery and those who live each day in an orphanage without hope. And most of all for your love of the Lord and His word. We pray the lord guide you in all your decisions and in all your paths that you may seek His will!

Different Day-Same Result

2009 SWC District Championships--Day 2The pre-race intensity!
On the line--seeded 3rd

GO!!! 1500M

Mid-race pack on this beautiful 90 degree day!

Drew took it out at about 550M, knowing he would have to try to push the pace early to tire out his two biggest competitors with faster times.

Sammy, here in the purple, again got him at about 50M.

Great race Drew!!

So he is off to state next week in both the 3000M and the 1500M.

Then he got the chance to suit up in a speed suit to race the 2nd leg of the 4 x 400 relay!

Running a .53 second leg for a 400M PR!

A Different View!

Caleb finished 2nd grade today!!

As his treat he was allowed to choose a new toy at the store.

We have limited the amount of war toys in our home and no military looking guns due to the early war and violence Caleb experienced.

But when your son comes up to you and asks for a gun "like Mike has" what can you say but "yes"! Remember, Mike is Erinn's boyfriend in the US Army! Caleb's point of reference has changed from fear to protection!!

So he has his gun and is busily shooting the tree, birds and bugs!

District Runner-Up

2009 SWC District Championships -- Day 1

You can see the intensity on the starting line of the 3000M. Drew with the fastest time and Sammy next to him, who what the state cross country runner up. Friends and competitors.

And they are off!

No one would take the lead, so Drew reluctantly took it.

This pack of 5 ran the first four laps together.
Lots of storm clouds in the sky, but the rain had passed and he was blessed with a dry 70 degrees.

This is a great picture by my nephew from the tower. These four guys ran just like this for most of the race.
The race really started at 500M to go. Sammy started moving and Drew responded! At the 400 they had separated from the other two and it was a 400M sprint to the finish. At the 50M mark Sammy passed Drew for the win with a 9:59.14 and Drew right behind in 9:59.88 All he needed was top 2 to make it to state and he is going. They ran a 59 second last lap!!

Wanted the win, but happy to be going to state!

Dad was in a meeting in San Francisco, eagerly awaiting news of the race! Thanks to Terry for timing so we could get splits that Dad usually does for us.

The legs that carried him through!

The hip number 16 reserved for the fastest seed in the race.

Drew and Coach Piet after a well run race and looking forward to State!

It Will Make You Think

It will make you think about the possibilities of all those thousands of children out there still waiting for homes

It will make you think about the numbers of unborn who may not have the chance to be born.

It will make you think about the many children whom have found new homes and their possibilities

It's good to think about!

An Excavator and A Doctor!

Thankfully the doctor and the excavator were on separate days and for separate reasons!!

Here are David, my nephew, and Caleb on the excavator at our friend's house yesterday.


David was given the opportunity to run the small excavator. He said it was not easy to get how to maneuver it, but he had fun trying.

As you can see he did get a load of dirt in it.


They were also given the opportunity to ride 4 wheelers and go-carts. All boy fun stuff. They had a great time.

Hannah was able to play with her friend all the girly stuff. Then at dinner without mom to stop her she stuffed herself on meat and rolls!! One of the things that can happen with a child with food issues. When she got home last night her stomach was very swollen and tight from overeating. Thankfully she is feeling better today.

As for the doctor, that was for my nephew this
afternoon. He spent the morning with Grandma Mae and was helping with lunch and sliced open his thumb pretty good. Two hours later, when we were still not able to get it to stop bleeding, we took him into the doctor. Thankfully Joy had left a medical release and the doctor was able to close it with glue instead of stitches. Good ending!!

Putting it in Action

My prayer time this morning focused on supplication to the Lord for wisdom and strength to walk this new path of teaching with the children.

And so we embarked on this new journey this morning to give Caleb and Hannah a 'voice'.

No lectures, no frustration, only words of encouragement, eye contact and empathy.

Sounds easy--Not with a child who has learned every button that you have and tries to push them all, while looking at you with the most innocent eyes. But the choice is mine to recognize the pain in those eyes and try to help him find a voice to talk of his feelings, rather than push away those who want to love you because you fear loosing them too.

So we walk through day 1
-being 'present' with them
-empathizing
-looking at the inside
-giving voice

Attatchment 101

We have our nephew, David, staying with us for the next 2 1/2 weeks. He has settled right into being part of the family, he even mowed the lawn for me yesterday!

Last night a friend from church invited both David and Caleb to come hang out with their kids for a few hours, at the last minute they decided to take Hannah along too. That left me home for a couple of hours all alone!! What to do?

I had been planning on doing my ironing while watching a movie with Hannah, but the change of plans allowed me to watch one of the online adoption videos I have been wanting to watch.

What an unexpected blessing the night ended up being!!

We had been seeing some attachment issues that needed to be dealt with, but were really at a loss as to how to proceed. Neither of the kids have any of the real big outward signs of attachment problems, but they both really hold things in and get the deer in the headlights look(fear) often. They are also extremely afraid of failing, so they will avoid doing things so they don't fail. Then they end up in trouble for not obeying or following through and I really feel it all stems from these attachment issues.

So last night I was able to watch the first video you will find at this site http://www.irvingbible.org/index.php?id=1581 I found the link to the site from the blog 'A bushel and a peck' that you can find on the sidebar. I love how as each of us share our thoughts and insights others can learn from our research. So I now pass on this wonderful site to others who may be struggling in this area.

I have 2 pages of notes I will work on digesting this morning and have already been praying for strength and consistency to follow through with these practices to help my newest treasures work through the fear and loss that they came to our family with. Hopefully I can post more later as we work through these new waters.

What to Study?

This picture is of Danielle in the gallery she has had the opportunity to help create. She is standing in front of the interactive timeline table with Governor George Allen and Attorney General Edwin Meese.

I post this mostly for those of you who are seeking to direct older children in their education.

Danielle has always loved history, she has read biographies, historical fiction and non-fiction histories since she could independently read!

When she first starting thinking about colleges and careers she tried to pigeon hole herself into and education that would provide a job and give an easy answer to all those asking what she was going to do.

In high school she wrote a paper on being a dietitian and did interviews, I can remember when she got done she was very sure she did not want to do that.

When she started college, she decided on teaching, so she could study history with a career in mind. After a few teaching classes and an in-class practicum she knew teaching high school and below was not for her!

I remember very distinctly the day she called and said what am I supposed to do? We talked and discussed the issues--her way of making decisions.
And I finally just said, "What do you want to study more than anything?"
Without a hesitation she said, "History!"
When you took out everything else, her love was history was the answer. Funny that it is what she always has loved!
So the question was, "Danielle, do you trust God enough to follow your heart and trust Him with the results (job)?"
The rest is history--pun intended!

We had many people question why Danielle was studying history, what would she do with that kind of degree. Danielle chose to walk in faith, study what she loved and trust God to lead in how she would use that education.

Danielle was one of only two in her college graduating class that had a job lined up on graduation day. God does go before us! She has been blessed with a job that allows her to live daily studying history!! She is involved in teaching all ages how this history impacts our lives even today. And she loves it!

Now we watch Erinn traverse the same road!! She has always loved studying history and different cultures. Anthropology? What do you do with that degree? At this point Erinn has no idea what the road holds two years from now upon graduation, but let me tell you we are excited to find out what God has in store as she walks this road of faith!!

Anyways I just wanted to encourage you to find what your kids love and help them develop that love and watch the Lord lead!

Delight in Him-
Donna

Fire Update

Thank you for all your prayers for our daughter, Danielle. A few have asked how she is doing, so I thought I would update you this way.

Danielle choose to leave the area for the weekend, just to get away from it all. She headed to San Diego with a friend and had a great weekend. When she returned on Sunday the evacuation order for her neighborhood had been changed to an evacuation warning and she was allowed back home. At this point I believe the fire is 50% contained. As for being sick, as soon as she got out of the area her stomach settled down and her headache went away. She thinks it was likely nerves from being in this situation again.

We would both like to thank you for your prayers, it is hard to be newly on your own away from home in this situation and hard to be a parent so far away from helping. It has been good for both of us to watch God move in so many 'Christian family members' all over to step in and physically help and also lift her up in prayer. Isn't that what the body should be!! We are thanking the Lord for his gracious provision!!

1 Corinthians 12:12 "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ."
and on to verse 26 "And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice in it."

Evauated Again

Danielle is being evacuated--again. She is getting the last things in her car now and heading out.
She is still determining where she will go as many people in Santa Barbara are in the same place and those who are not already have houses full of evacuees.
She would covet your prayers as she also woke up sick this morning.

Psalm 78:53a "He led them safely, so that they did not fear."