March Madness

 We are in the midst of lacrosse season and March has been super full as we have attempted to see as many of the boys’ games as possible. Neither team has had the best season but I love to watch them play and see the boys when we can. This weekend we went up to Asheville to watch Gray’s team play. It was a beautiful, chilly couple of days. GrandGene came up too and took Julia back with him after dinner.  We celebrated his birthday along with Matt’s and Gray’s at Sierra Nevada Brewery.  Cheryl joined us there and was gracious to let us spend the night at her house. We got in some games of bowling near her house, which was Gray’s choice and Allie’s vehement objection, but in the end we all had fun with that. We also played some cards with Cheryl at her house, went to church Sunday and out to a delicious Italian restaurant, and went with Gray to open his gifts in his messy, smelly dorm room. 

Gray totaled his car last weekend and it had been a stressful time navigating that situation, particularly when his phone wouldn’t make calls the day of the accident. He had to do a lot of adulting this week and he seems to have handled it pretty well and be doing ok now. His team has only won one game this year and he’s only gotten to play a couple of times, which is hard (though his buzzer beater goal in one game helped a little!). He still likes his team a lot and still seems fairly unenthusiastic about school in general. Parenting sure doesn’t get easier- just changes a bit. I’m praying hard for God’s work in his life and guidance as he has so much freedom and room for mistakes, big and small. 

We have gotten to see Joshua quite a bit since Fayetteville is so much closer and also it’s a year where he plays in Greensboro a couple of times and Cary. He is playing a bit more than last year but still wanting to see more success on the field. Otherwise he seems very content with school, his team, his house, et.  He has learned to cook a lot more since moving off campus, which is a great adult step. Fayetteville ended up with quite a bit of snow this winter and he had a blast sledding with his buddies and making a snowman.  He has only 3 weeks left of school before exams, which is so quick!

Julia has been busy with sports of her own this season, as she has joined the track team. She has had some highs and lows in adjusting to running so much and being in meets, but she has persevered and is making strides (pun intended) in her 800 meter time. Overall she is thinking she will continue track in future years. This semester has been a little less challenging academically and she’s still enjoying all the social she can get in high school, making new friends often. She has become interested in nursing as a possible future career and is starting to think about potential colleges.  She’s working most Sunday afternoons babysitting the little boy she nannied for last summer, and also has worked her old job at the Sportsplex on school days off.  She is loving the independence of driving her own car and we hardly see her between school, track, young life, work, and trips to Starbucks!

Allie has been quite social these days too. She made friends over the snow days with our little neighbor Eleanor and the two of them play every day they can. She has also connected with a couple of girls through church and is always talking about her school friends. She continues to love her teacher and it’s hard to believe she’s almost done with elementary school and will soon enter the world of 6 classes a day, school sports, etc. She’s still taking tennis lessons and plans to do cross country, track, and/or cheer at Stanback next year. 

We have enjoyed our new house very much. There is more than enough space, it’s a great location, and the basement has been so nice for working out, playing pool, and Allie making a Lego village. But, as anticipated, we did find our next lot to build a smaller house that will enable us to save some money. We closed on that last month and Matt is hard at work planning the build. He hopes that he and the boys can do a lot of the work, so it’s going to be busy, busy. 

I’m still plugging along, counting down the days when I can get these braces off. I almost always have some sore places in my mouth/teeth and still feel pretty self-conscious about being a middle aged woman with braces. I spent a lot of the winter watching football and doing puzzles, especially enjoying watching both boys’ favorite teams in the Super Bowl. This winter I also took on learning how to make sourdough bread and I’ve enjoyed that and gotten better at it as I learn.  Not pictured, but I sure enjoyed my friend Crista’s annual “favorite things” party with a handful of close friends, a birthday dinner out with my closest friends, a really wonderful women’s retreat at church, and a little bit of time with each of my two former teachers  I’ve also been studying Jen Wilkin’s Genesis study and it’s been so good. I’m thankful for God working in me to help me be disciplined in studying the Bible and working out most days.  It’s been a pretty crazy quarter at work, with lots of high needs kids in our class, my teacher being a first year, and the other kindergarten teacher being on maternity leave and replaced by her TA. We have been super busy every day but I still love my job. After spring break, I’ll be going full time, which will be an adjustment I’m sure, but I think it will be a good step.

We celebrated Allie’s family day- 9 years!!- with Nanny and Pa, Jeannie and Maddox, with Chinese food and watching her sweet video.  What a blessing it has been to have her adoption as part of our family’s story.

We then celebrated Chinese New Year the next weekend, which is another thing that’s not quite the same anymore as we lose our college aged kids, but fun nonetheless  

We had an exciting family event this spring as we celebrated Lydia getting married. Stacy and I hosted a wedding shower for her (which got moved due to our crazy snow/ice this winter) and it was a nice, laid back afternoon.  It was mostly family and it was nice to sit around and talk, hearing Lydia's perspective and sharing old stories of meeting our husbands, etc.  Allie was asked to be Lydia's flower girl and she was showered with gifts and attention in her role.  She was a little nervous but mostly seemed to enjoy it.  She and I enjoyed going to the rehearsal dinner, where she won the contest for finding the most rings and had fun putting together Lego roses. The wedding was a beautiful and cold day. It was nearly impossible not to cry as sweet Lydia came down the aisle in tears with her groom weeping at the front and twin brother sobbing through the ceremony. It was a wonderful ceremony and fun reception with great food, speeches, and dancing (though we left on a sour note, as Julia was not ready to leave the dance floor but Matt was antsy to get home since he had to work the next 3 days. Oh- and Allie turned on her major stubborn streak when it was a Daddy-daughter dance...we were so surprised this was such a big deal to her, but she is definitely changing and getting more self-conscious about certain things.) We had been anticipating this event since the fall and it was so great to be there. 

And here we are at spring break somehow, looking at the last couple of months before summer. 2026 will continue to be an eventful one as the two houses on our street begin to be built and we start our own next house, we spend the summer with all 6 of us together again, Allie starts middle school, and I (hopefully) have my jaw surgery. Plus who knows what else may come!