Cheer Competition #1...Southaven

Anna Lauren and her cheer squad had a GREAT start to their competition season, which began this past Sunday at the WSA competition in Southaven.  They walked away with first place, high point in level 2, grand champion (highest score of everyone that competed), and a paid bid to The One.  It was a great day to be from ACE of Jackson and to be a Desperado!  Now hopefully they can keep it up because we are about to be competing, competing, competing.  And for us parents, it is just so fun to see them be rewarded for the many hours upon hours that they practice.  It's going to be a great season, and we are excited!

Millsaps Basketball...

We FINALLY had a night that we could go to Millsaps and watch both the girls and boys play basketball.  Matt and the kids have been able to go to a couple games, and I have seen the girls play 1/2 of a game twice...but...last night we got to see it all and had the best time.  The girls had us a little nervous the first 1/2, but they picked it up the second half and ended up winning by 20 points. The boys ended up beating the number one team in the conference by 1 point...it was a game down to the last second for sure!

The kids stand outside the locker room after the game and have plenty of hugs and high fives to give everyone that walks out.  And I love every minute of watching these "big" kids be so kind and loving to my "little" kids.  Makes me so proud to work where I work.  Here Anna Lauren and Cooper are with Miah...

I mean look at these smiles...my kids love the attention from these big kids.  Here they are with Bev...

Anna Lauren loves her some Katie because she thinks she is "almost" as big as Katie...

Fun with Kala...who knows what he is laughing so hard about, but I love the smiles and giggles.

Kala also got some major brownie points last night because she took them on the court during half time of the boys game and let them shoot around.

Loving on Kim, who had the best game.  We were so proud of her!

Anna Lauren immediately goes to their phones (if they will let her) because they have snap chat.  She loves it...

Because this is just what you do...

Anna Lauren and Kim...

And this is the one and only Marc.  The "obsession" with Marc started with the love for his hair but now that he has gotten to know Marc I think he really likes him...not just because of the hair. However, the hair will always be super cool to Cooper.  The boys had an unbelievable game, and we couldn't leave without giving Marc a hug and some high fives.

And as if he wasn't cool enough, Marc got even cooler when Cooper realized they have the same shoes.  Got to love it...oh the fun and smiles makes me smile so big!

January Opportunities...

God has really been working in my life recently, and I have tried to stop and actually listen.  What I am hearing is that I work in a "mission field" every single day and there are so many opportunities right at my finger tips every day I walk onto campus and into my office.  

Sam and I have talked a lot about this, and she told me one thing that has stuck in my head more than anything.  She said there are students like her who need to see a "family" in something as simple as sitting down at the table for a meal.  And then there are those students that are just so homesick and are wanting so badly to sit down at the table with a family. 

I am going to continue to look for opportunities and ways to serve the students, but I am going to start by taking at least one student a month to lunch and have at least one student a month over for dinner.  

It just so happened that this past week I did lunch with a student and had two students over for dinner.  And honestly, I'm not sure who enjoyed it more...me, the students, or my family.  What a blessing it was with such little effort to make it happen.

I didn't take a picture when we went to lunch, but I had this fun picture...this is Katie, who I took to lunch this past Wednesday. She plays basketball and has come to me recently to just "talk" so of course, she was the first one that came to my mind.  Some students will be so easy to take to lunch...others will push me out of my comfort zone.  But...really doing missions is going out of your comfort zone so I do plan to do that as well...just maybe not the first time.

Not necessarily out of my comfort zone either, but we had Kim and Benton over for dinner Sunday night.  If you cannot tell, my kids were SUPER excited.  The other thing I love about this is that my kids can be a part of this "ministry" with me.  I want them to grow up seeing that we "cared" about people and opened our home up to others with hopes they will do the same when they have families and homes of their own.

It was a fun night with special students as well as athletes.  These two work their tails off in their sports and in the classroom.  Loved getting to invest a little time in their lives and hopefully even when times are hard they will know there are others that care besides their families. 

MS Blues 1/2 Marathon...

At 5 AM this past Saturday morning, I sent Melanie a text that said nothing about running 13.1 miles in the rain sounds fun to me.  She agreed and said she had no shame in not running the 1/2 marathon. We know ourselves though and knew if we didn't go and woke up later to no rain, we would regret not going.  So...off we went. Needless to say we sat in the car until 6:52 AM and arrived at the start line 4 minutes before the start.  Thankfully the rain had slacked up to just a sprinkle and by the end of mile 1 the rain was gone.  Yes, we were glad we made the decision to run and actually had a much better race than we anticipated.

Of  course my biggest fans were there to cheer us on...Anna Lauren is waiting for me around mile 6.  Got to love her outfit and the puddle of water she is standing in...at least she had rain boots!

Lots of high fives were given while waiting on Mommy and Ms. Melanie...

Something about seeing people cheering you on along the course and especially little kids just puts a smile on your face...

Love little Cooper man reaching for his Mommy...he was so excited to see us!

Nothing makes your feel better than a big hug like this...

Until you have to keep going and these arms are still reaching for you...

And this one...well, I am lucky to get a high five from her. However, Friday night she told Matt they had to go watch me because it would just be wrong if they didn't (he was concerned about the rain).  And...when I was tucking her in Friday night she said, good luck tomorrow...love you, Mommy. That is huge for her...

Pretty sure I am trying to make sure Cooper is "ok" before I take off.  Bless his heart...because he ran a mile with me one day, he truly thinks he can run a full 1/2 marathon with me.

And last but not least, speaking to Matt...he is the BEST cheerleader a girl could ask for.  There is no way I could do all the running I do without him.

More high fives before moving to their next spot...

They were giving more high fives while waiting for me around mile 10...

Then it got really serious when they ended up in the middle of the street...

Cooper found me...another big hug for Mommy!

Mile 10ish and still hanging on...I will say mile 10-12 through Belhaven was pretty rough...just so hilly!

We rounded the corner and the finish line was in sight, and we were happy to have these two kiddos finish with us!

Our official time was 2:34:16...considering the amount we had trained, we were pleased.  

Could not be more thankful for a sweet family that supports me every step of the way...from training to race day!

And this girl right here...couldn't ask for a better running partner.We have shared many hours, many miles, and many stories about life...wouldn't trade her or our time together running for anything.