Soccer ⚽* Driving * Thankful * Mail 📬and Rain 💦

Blog Post About Summer 2020 

We got back to Texas and enrolled the girls in ballet at the same studio they had attended four years earlier, and through a friend, we found a soccer club for Caleb to join.

He quickly had his very first game, and it was on a regulation-size field. 

There are very few regulation-size fields in our overseas country, so he had never played on one. Not only that, the heat this particular day was nearing 100 degrees. I was burning up just watching him, but when I went on the field after the game was over, the heat emanating up from the ground was mind-blowing! I have no idea how those guys don't pass out every time they are out there because the temperatures on the field seemed at least 10 degrees hotter!

August 16, 2020

A big day for Karis was August 17, 2020, when she got her provisional license (hard copy) in the mail.

I am so glad she had time to practice in America before coming back overseas because it's just hard to learn how to drive when so few people around you obey the rules.

August 17, 2020

August 18, 2020

*She's thankful for her brother and her mom

*She's thankful for Target and her mom

*She's thankful for Macaroni & cheese

*She's thankful for kangaroos

*She's thankful she gets to play "Littlest Pet Shop"

Keira rarely gets to bring things like this home, so I found great joy in seeing what did in Sunday school one day.

As we traveled around to visit friends, we often visited different fellowships, and if Covid rules of the church allowed, Keira got to visit a different Sunday school class each time. A couple of times we would get to a church and they would tell us you had to sign up the Wednesday before each Sunday to attend.  Since I rarely knew about this rule, I must say, there were a few really gracious places that let her go to class anyway!

On a side note of her being thankful for her brother (whom she adores), I love pictures like the one below from 2015 that show how early on she started modeling him :)

August 8, 2015

Keira had also never received a letter in the mail.

When my father learned this, he made the effort to send her a letter every week or so telling her about things going on at his house. 

She liked roller skating out to the mailbox to check to see what had come each day.

August 20, 2020

Keira has always loved to play in the rain. The pictures below are from when she was 2 1/2  years old.

May 2015

A warm Texas rain with no lightning present was a welcome invitation to play outside...every single time.

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August 26, 2020

 

Life is a Highway

Blog Post about Summer 2020

The house where we stayed while we were in America was a little removed from city life, and we loved it. I don't know if Keira missed all the busyness of the city or what, but a couple of times I saw her perched on the fence at the end of the driveway either reading a book or looking like she was waiting for visitors.

Back in July, when we arrived back in America, Kylie took a trip to Florida to see some ballet friends, and while she was gone, Doug did some car shopping.

On July 8th, we bought her a car, but she didn't see it until July 25th when we arrived back in Texas, and then she had to learn how to get in it with her leg brace.  She had four days to figure out how to get in comfortably because we had already scheduled her driving test before we knew about her surgery. 

In case you didn't know, it was difficult for many people trying to get driver's licenses or car tags during the early days of Covid. DMV offices were sometimes booked two months in advance!

On Monday, July 27th, Kylie started physical therapy back in Texas.

On Tuesday, July 28th, we drove to my hometown to see some of my side of the family, and then

On Wednesday, July 29th, Kylie took her driving test and Karis got her driving permit!

Another thing we try to squeeze in when we go to America is haircuts.

The first night we arrived (the 28th), we stayed outside and social distanced. We (my family and my brother's family) were also all staying at hotels or guest houses to make sure we were Covid-safe.

My sister and her family couldn't come in because the numbers in Texas were a little too scary at the time, but we surely missed having them there; however, we were finally reunited with Caleb after he had spent one month in Dallas with his cousins.

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One thing that happens when you live overseas is that sometimes you order things that you want but that can't be or you don't want shipped overseas. That was the case with Caleb.

He had saved his money and bought a specially designed light saber, but he didn't get to see it for over six months until we got to Texas. His cousin already had one and they had grand battles planned together.

While we were at my parents' house, these boys wrote, filmed, and edited a small movie about Siths and the Dark Side. We were all pretty impressed. These are some still-shots from the video.

We also sat around while my brother read us a funny story. It took him forever to get through it because he kept cracking himself up, and I think all of us ended up crying we were laughing so hard. 

We were missing three cousins, but for the seven present, these birth order heights seem to have changed a bit over the last couple of years.

July 30, 2020

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay with my family long, because Kylie had physical therapy on the 31st, so we had to get back.

Dancing our Way out of Mississippi

Blog Post from Summer 2020

We stayed in Mississippi two weeks, for the entire length of Karis' ballet camp.

A BIG thank you to the Snowden's for hosting us for TWO WEEKS!  You guys have such servant hearts!

We were able to see Karis perform at the end, which was really special.

The day before the performance, we went to visit some more dear friends who had us over for dinner.

We had a fun evening visiting the Crowe's, and once again, Keira found a friend in their youngest daughter.

They invited her to spend the night, but Keira wasn't quite ready; however, I told Keira I would bring her back early the next morning, so she could feed ducks in their backyard with her new friend Bella.

July 24, 2020

Keira was having so much fun doing so many things, so I left her there while Doug and I went to other appointments, and she had quite a day.

Bella took her paddle boarding for the first time.

She held a rabbit.

She held a bird.

And then, Bella and her mom brought Keira and met us at the ballet gala, which they were going to anyway.

Karis is in the center of both of these pictures.

I tear up every year watching these performances to such beautiful worship songs. 

Ballet is a beautiful way to offer worship to the Lord.

July 24, 2020

Two days after Kylie's surgery, she took her crutches out in the rain so she could watch her sister perform, and we were all blessed by the beautiful Ballet Magnificat performances by their summer intensive participants.

 

On a side note, I just finished a book by one of the ballet instructors at Ballet Magnificat.

He came to the company in 1993 at age 19 from a newly formed Czech Republic. His autobiography was a blessing to read. From our side of the world, we just imagined what was going on behind the Iron Curtain, but he gives a realistic account about how he lived from birth to age 18 and how he found out about a man named Jesus.

The book is "Velvet Meets the Iron Curtain," by Jiri Sebastian Voborsky.

Correction on the Bone

 I made an error reporting in Kylie's surgery results.

The part of the bone that came off at the time of her injury was her femur, not her patella.

Big difference!

A Surprise Surgery (that we were SO grateful for)

Blog Post About Summer 2020

In the last post I mentioned the Godwin's. Seeing them was a divine meeting.

C, the husband, asked Kylie how her knee was doing, and she told him it still wasn't well, and she didn't know what else she could do for it.

We had dinner with them on July 15th.

C made a phone call, and the next Monday, July 20th, he scheduled us to see an orthopedic doctor who not only saw Kylie, but scheduled her for an MRI and an X-ray that same day, and then after seeing the results, scheduled her for a surgery two days later!

As I prayed for Kylie before going into surgery, she teared up, and I asked if she was afraid, but she said, "No, I'm just so happy to be getting my knee fixed."

July 22, 2020

October 1, 2018, when Kylie's injury occurred in ballet, we were told that her patella had been knocked out of place, and an MRI confirmed it had gone back into place. 

We got some instructions on some physical therapy Kylie could do on her own, so we signed her up for a gym membership, and she started doing some small things to help; however, even though she gained a little strength, she still wasn't getting better.

It turns out that when her patella WAS knocked out of place, it knocked a part of her femur bone off!

The surgeon did say that the way it healed (interpretation: *the way God healed it) was much better than he could have done.

The doctor cleaned out all the floating bone fragments, including this large piece, and he took a tendon from a cadaver and gave her a stronger tendon to hold her patella in place since the other was "stretched out" (in layman's terms).

July 24, 2020

Our plans got a little skewed, and we had to cancel on the Manuel's and Reed's, but we were so glad to get answers and solutions for Kylie's knee. 

The Slay's and the Pettus' gave Kylie a place to rest during the day hours while we continued to make visits, and then two days after her surgery, on Friday, July 24, 2020, Kylie hobbled out in the rain to watch her sister dance at the gala.

Those two years between injury and surgery were long, and even though her knee bothered her nearly every day, she never complained, even though I know (and she knew) that if we had been in America, we could have gotten more help.

Across the Mississippi

Blog Post about Summer 2020

Karis was ready to go to ballet camp in Mississippi, so we (except Caleb) loaded up for the 7 hour trip.

A couple we have known for a long time allowed us to stay with them as we came and went every day.

Our first stop was the Godwin house, and their kids had a sweet welcome sign for us.

I will tell you some other amazing things that happened at their house in the next post.

July 15, 2020

L (Godwin)'s four younger kids took Keira under their wing, and they had a great time together.

Trampoline park....Mexican food...and a neighborhood friend group coming together to do a "Frozen" skit.

She had so much fun, so they invited her back again for an upcoming birthday party.

While Keira was having the time of her life, Doug and I went to see another dear friend.

I don't know why I have pictures with some and not with others, but that's just how it works sometimes.

We saw the Coggins', J Goff, Pettus', Manuel's, K Adcox, Gregory's, Neese's, Caldwell's, Stovall's, C Woods, Hardin's, Carraway's, N Morgan, W Morgan, Slay's, Moore's, Barber's, Ozier's, Harkins', G Randall, Pearce's, and Crowe's. 

We contacted three others that we visited with over the phone but we couldn't see because they were quarantining for various reasons. 

We had 26 visits, saw 64 people,  and visited for 86 hours during our two weeks in Mississippi.

We love our friends in Mississippi!

When Keira returned a few days later to the Godwin house, this water slide in the back yard had her scared for a good 45 minutes. It wasn't until the sun was setting that she finally decided to give it a try...and loved it!

We saw Doug's former office assistant and my friend J-A, who has added some arrows to her quiver since I last saw her!

July 19, 2020

Then we drove a couple of hours south to visit some friends who had moved since we last saw them. We stayed with them a couple of nights, and we had some great visits and enjoyed walking around their cute town.

They live in Laurel where "Home Town" on HGTV is shot. I have never seen the show, but I saw all the cute houses that have been redone since the show started.

Funny enough, Keira was most excited about seeing an RV. She had never been in one.

Our friend David told her he had one, and she was so anxious to see it, so I videoed her first impressions.

July 16, 2020

There is always something new to see in America.

Meanwhile, back home overseas, this was set up outside a grocery store where I like to shop.

Who knows what they spray on you that will "kill" the Corona virus, but it is actually still set up now, a year later in 2021, and everyone I see walks around it, so I guess it doesn't matter what they spray ;)