Star Quest VBS 2015

Our VBS this year was WAY OUT OF THIS WORLD!  This is in the auditorium up on the stage area.  The astronaut is hanging out of the baptistry!  Unfortunately we're having to purchase a new one due to this one leaking, but it made it easier to decorate because my brother-in-law (our preacher) and sister-in-law could put screws into all of it without worrying about the damage!

 I have to admit, that since I'm not a Star Wars or Star Trek fan, this theme didn't excite me. I was excited about teaching the children about the Creation of the stars...God's promise to Abram (Abraham) that his descendants would be like the numerous stars in the sky...and about the Wise Men following the star, but the theme decor didn't sound like "me".

However, I DO like black lights, so when I decided to use a lot of black light effects in my room, I got really excited! At the time, I didn't realize the whole auditorium would be used in blacklight, too!

 I soon realized that it would be one of the students very favorite and probably the most memorable of all.  One of my boys and my nephew found this "rocket" in a room behind the baptistry.  They brought it out and painted it.  It worked out perfectly!

Our class used robots and I told the kids we were playing like we were inside a spaceship, traveling back to the Bible days when the stories actually happened.

My daughter made this great jet packs we saw on the internet!  She did great!  It's 2 two liter bottles, in case you can't tell.

I wanted to make some rockets, but one of my husband's coworkers is a genius in many ways! We only asked if there was some 3-inch PVC pipe and were going to use paper and styrofoam for the cone shape and bottom.  We got home and he had built these! He cut and melted the PVC to form the pointed shape. That's amazing!!  And real wood on the bottom part!  My daughter painted and decorated them, we added some glow in the dark paint, and the rockets stayed there all week!

I only had six students in my class, which was different.  While, of course, I wish there had been more in that age group, it was kind of nice getting to have a round, planet-shaped table and lots of room!

When the black lights were on, the room was beautiful! Stars glowing all around!  You can't really see it....

Small details in the Bible are often overlooked by most of the "Christian" world.  At Christmas, we see and hear of the 3 Wise Men, yet the Bible doesn't say how many men went to the HOUSE, not manger.  There were three gifts, but we don't know how many....and they didn't arrive the night Jesus was born.  He was older.  It was a little scary that my almost 17 year old son heard me teach that lesson and came out saying he had never heard it before!  I am sure I've said it, but he probably didn't remember it.  That means, as a parent...as parents, we/I must REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT!  

Summertime!

It's summer vacation time! We just finished VBS last Thursday (I'll post about them this week.) and are looking forward to a still busy, but not crazy busy summer.  Well....actually, for the boys and I.  Joe will be still crazy busy, maybe even more so.  But now we can help him with those things!

What are you doing this summer? Are you getting some relaxation time? Are you refocusing on the important things?  Taking a break from some important things?

I remember years ago I didn't like summer time. It seemed that while so many were on vacation and enjoying the summer, that the church work kind of slowed down, too.  I didn't like it.  But now I do like it.  I see that it's okay to take a break and refocus - while still doing work for the Lord - but then gear back up on certain things when school starts back in August.  The problem is when we totally forget about God, Jesus, and the work of the church in the summer.  That's when there would be a problem.

Taking more time be together as a family is important in the summer, but this past Saturday, we went as a family to help out another family who had tornado damage a few weeks ago. During the school year - and even for many Saturdays in the summer, we wouldn't have had that time.  We were so thankful to be able to help them because they needed help.  We wanted to help.  And my boys will be able to help their dad with things at his work because they'll have more time to do so because it's summer.  So in a way, summer time makes us able to help others more.  That's a good thing!  No...that's a GREAT thing!

There is an illustration that I always think about when it comes to serving the Lord.  We can rank our priorities and try to put God/Jesus, the church, spouse, family, work, service,  in order of importance, but sometimes those rankings get out of whack.  What is BEST is if you put God/Jesus in the CENTER and build out from that.  God/Jesus is in the center of the church.  God/Jesus is in the center of your marriage, your job, your family, your service.  That's when everything will be lined up where God wants it to be.  If you rank things, He may be left out of something.  He wants to be a part of everything.  Make Him part of everything this summer.  And have a great one!

Zachary's Graduation and Party - May, 2015

It feels kind of strange for half of our children to be out of school, but as of Sunday afternoon, that has happened!  Our second oldest child, oldest son graduated as one of eight Valedictorians for his class of 19.

This class has been competitive from the beginning.  They loved trying to get the highest grade and do the very best in anything they did.  But they got along well, too.  They were and are a super-talented group in many areas - academics, sports, public speaking, art, and just in gifts and abilities.  

Zachary and the other Valedictorians gave a speech about one or two minutes long. They used the word SUCCESS, each taking one letter to come up with a word to be the theme of their speech.  The first person told about the word success.

Zachary was awarded his diploma by his dad because Joe had previously been on the School Board.  That was pretty neat!

Photo: The parents and the grad.

Photo: The graduate and his family.

Photo: The graduate with his mom's side of the family.

The graduates throwing their hats!  I really like this picture!

Photo: Zachary's Trinity Knotted Tie! He YouTube'd to figured it out!

Photo: The eight Valedictorians.

We had a graduation party the day before his graduation. About 40 people attended the party. It was a lot of fun!

We are so proud of this young man! He has truly been a joy to raise. We say he was born a little man. He really was.  And being almost 19, it's like we have been raising a young adult for several years. He certainly didn't need much parenting.  He sometimes "parents" me! Ha ha!

Photo: Grad with Grandma and Grandpa

I couldn't have made it in time for the graduation party, or any of the events during the few days before, without my mom!  My husband and family always help, but without her help, there would have been a lot of undone things and a lot of dirty things! Dad helped run errands, too! Thanks to both of them!

Photo: Grad with Grammy

We're proud of you, Zachary!  Congratulations on your graduation! We look forward to seeing where God leads you in the future!

Oklahoma 2A State Golf Tournament 2015

(THS Golf Team)

For the second year in a row, the THS Golf Team competed in the State Tournament.  After placing 9th out of 12 last year, the Tigers were looking forward to moving up in the tournament.  After "Day 1", where they were disappointed in their performance, they were ranked 8th.

(Our family, minus the oldest.)

"Day 2" was much, much better!  The boys played great! The weather was warmer, which made it even better!  The THS Tigers ended the day tied at 6th....shy of their goal of "Top 5", but still pleased.  

"Day 1" the boys played 36 holes.  They walked an estimated 10-13 miles!  They ate late, then went to bed, just to get up early the next morning and play another 18 holes.

My two boys had some great memories.  One of them I saw. The other I didn't.  My husband and I take turns watching the two boys, who are #1 and #4 bag, which means that there are two teammates between them. Unfortunately I can't watch both at the same time!

I was watching #4 and he had a chip shot where he couldn't even see the hole.  It went up over a small hill, rolled, then seemed to stop, then began rolling again and went in! I screamed! He yelled! Everyone - even the opponents, their parents, their grandparents - were so excited!  It's fun to see no matter who does it!  And then a little bit later, #1 did it...on the SAME hole, but from the other side!  The difference was that he actually could see the hole.  Those shots will be etched in our memory forever because they are rare!  

On "Day 1" as I drove the cart towards the last hole of the day, I began crying. It was sad thinking that it was #1, our Senior's last high school golf tournament.  I didn't want to think about it. My husband was sad, too.  But yesterday, as we went through it, we weren't sad.  We were just thankful to have been there and thankful to have watched him play for all of these years.  He helped the golf program at our school become what it is.  Without his interest, his younger brothers wouldn't be interested.  Without him wanting to have a team, we might not have had one.  So, yes...we're sad it's over.  But we are especially thankful that it happened.

HEADED TO STATE!

(So sorry for my lack of blogging lately. (No one may care, but I care! Ha! It's a time problem, but more importantly, a computer problem.  My computer is FULL.  I can't save any files, and I've had a hard time storing them on the external drive.  I think it's almost finished storing....after 9 days!  So, I still may not have the time to blog, but at least when I do, I can! It's been really frustrating!)

We're excited in Tipton!  In the past week, our sports programs have had great success, yet again!  My boys played in the Regional Tournament for golf on Monday...the last one they'll ever play together.  They were 4th out of 12 teams and that qualifies them to go to STATE!

This is the second year in a row that these boys have gotten the opportunity to play at the State Tournament.  Last year they were just excited to get there. This year they hope to be in the top five at the end of the tournament.  The top three would be great!  The champions?  Well...that's probably out of reach, but you never know!  They compete next Monday and Tuesday.  We're ready for it to be here now!

Although neither of my high school boys play baseball, we're extremely excited that the high school baseball team made it to State for the first time in history of our school.  (Actually there is evidence that a team MAY have gone in the 50's...It's being checked out.)  But, wow!  To go to State and win the Championship in football....go to State in basketball....now baseball and golf, not to mention in power lifting and track....it's been a great year for the Tipton Tigers!

This Senior class is extremely talented.  We've known since they were little bitty that this would be a great ride in their sports careers and it has been.  Although we're excited about the groups coming up, as well, there will most likely never be another group like this who has such a high level of natural athletic ability.  Two of the Seniors have been on all four of the ball sports State teams.  One of them got hurt in football, so had surgery and hasn't been able to play the others. The other one plays everything, and plays them well.  He's going on to play football in college.

The article above was written about this group of athletes.  It's a great write up about them.  Of course, as parents, it's been fun.  As fans it's been fun.  As a school and community it has been fun.

What a great year!  There's not much these Tipton boys can't do, for sure, when it comes to athletics!  We've been blessed.