TJ: Still a junior now, this fall TJ will start his senior year in high school. He is preparing for this and beyond. We have started visiting college, and the first one on the list was SAGU. He really liked it there, and likes the idea of playing football there for coach Greg Ellis. It is also very neat for Tim and I since the Athletic Director used to teach and coach at Trinity Bible College where Tim and I met and graduated from! He was Tim’s football coach a couple decades ago. Next we will visit NCU in Minneapolis, and a couple other schools. Please pray with TJ as he begins his senior year and prepares for beyond!
Ari: Ariyanna is a sophomore this spring and in January she got her drivers license! For many years she has been saving for this day, so she could buy her own car. However with the price of used cars these days, this was looking difficult if not impossible for a decent price. She prayed and waited patiently. One day, it seemed that this “too good to be true” deal was dropped in our lap. We test drove it and it was good, but needed a little work, so she negotiated for a lower price knowing she would need money to get it running well. It seemed like a long shot, but they accepted her offer, and then she got to learn from her grandpa how to flush a transmission, change the oil, and put on new brakes!
Gracie: Gracie loves to cook, and Asian food is her favorite! I took her to the library and she checked out a stack of cookbooks. She was so excited to try making pork dumplings, and we were excited for her to make them too! They turned out great!
Fine Arts: In March all three participated in Fine Arts. It was a fantastic day seeing their work displayed, and watching them sing, present with reader’s theater, human video, and preach. Here are some of the highlights...Gracie won her division for Junior Poetry and will go on to Nationals at General Council (I have included her poem below!) Ariyanna’s charcoal portrait of her grandpa Eckert was rated as superior and will go on to Nationals (shown below), as well as her group human video. TJ’s photography was rated as superior and will go on to Nationals. (shown below) TJ also received a superior for the third year in a row for another short sermon, and will be preaching it again at nationals. Gracie and Ari were in a dynamic readers theater that won their division and they will be presenting it at nationals. And all three kids were part of a choir that won their division and will go on to sing at nationals! It is really so exciting to see my kids develop and use their talents for the Lord.
Celebrating a Great Grandpa!
In 2021 Tim was re-united with his biological father for the first time! Since then it has been an adventure of meeting and getting to know a whole new part of our family and heritage. This spring we had the chance to celebrate the kid’s great grandpa’s 88th birthday! Praise the Lord for His unfailing love and this opportunity!