Wednesday, July 31, 2013

MHS Baseball Camp

Walker was pumped for Midway Baseball Camp
bright and early the third week of June!!! (:
And pumped that Big Jonah was going with him!
Growing up:(
I just drop him off these days...
My baseball boy!!!
Troy was out of town this week
and Hadlee and Hudson were both sick:(
It was a rough week and unfortunately
I didn't get to go and watch him at camp
as much as I would have liked.
I love me some baseball!!!
I heard from the coaches and some other parents
that Walker was looking good
and learning a lot!  :)
It was cute because everyday he would
tell me how both "teams" were begging to
have him on their team!  That was good
for his confidence!!!  Thankfully, I did
get to see him hit a homerun on the last
day during a "game"!  :)
Certificate time...no awards were given this year
which was a bummer for Walker.  He wanted
to win something like he did last year!  

He and Jonah had a great week!!!
With Coach Offill...the Varsity Head Baseball Coach :)
I love how he makes friends!!!  This guy will
actually be going to River Valley with him in the fall!
Walker thought he had really cool hair;)
Walker did earn lots of new baseball cards
from the coaches which he loves!
And he had to have his very own pizza
on the last day!  He ate it all, too!!!
He was so proud of his new hat that we
bought after camp.  They always sell Midway
hats, but Walker already had all of them that
 were for sell.  Then, he found this black one...
the only black one and he LOVES it!!!
Proud of Bubba!!!!!!!!
#wantstobejustlikebubba
BUT I am his #1 Fan!!! 
 I love you, Walker Pierce!!!

Church at Hawaiian Falls

Since our Pastor and one of our Associate Pastors
both passed away this year, our church
has really been undergoing some major changes.
Not only are we searching for a new Pastor,
but our staff is leading us to think outside
the norm.  To reach out.  To truly share the word
and love of God in our community/world. 
I think it is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!
I feel like it's a movement and one that
I am completely and totally on board with!
 
So, one Sunday night...church was at
Hawaiian Falls Waterpark!
Looking down and seeing my little man
listening to praise songs in his swim
trunks at the water park...VERY cool:)
One of our wonderful pastors even
baptised people, including one of Hadlee's
little school friends, in the wave pool! 
I didn't know what to think of this before
that night...but it was SO cool!!!!!
A happy night:)
Just cool seeing your church family...
young and old...out and about for
good fun fellowship!!!
We were glad that Kullen joined us, too!  :)
Church at the Water Park ~ VERY, very CooL!!!
"For where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Matthew 18:20

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Midway Basketball Camp

Basketball Camp at Midway Middle School!!!
With Peyton and Matthew on the first day...
Warming up...
Drills...
So tall and handsome (:
My three fave campers :)
Hudson just wants to play a sport, too!  ;)
Instead he runs up and down the bleachers.
Again and Again and Again!  (;
Walker with his new friend, Parker!  
Playing in the gym where I played many, many games...
(this building used to be the high school!) 
Walker did awesome this year!
You can really see how he is improving on his game:)
Certificate Time...
Little Sisters really paying attention!  ;)
Ella Kate & Hadlee
Walker Pierce!!!  I loved hearing all the cheers for him:)
This year the camp was in the afternoon
and Walker's grade was the youngest group there.
It went from 5th graders to 9th graders!!!!!!
I love that the coaches know him now:)
Another great week of basketball camp!
I wish so much that Walker could play on the
SWARM select team again...
unfortunately he will miss the cut off date
by a couple of days with his August b-day:(
Stud Man with his new Midway Basketball!!!
Again...just so proud of this boy!!!!!!!
 

Our Man of Steel

What a thrill to see the new Man of Steel
movie with THE real Man of Steel!!!!
Troy was out of town so it was
the five of us who went to see it about
a week after it came out. 
Trav went to the midnight showing 
with a friend the night before it premiered (:
But he obliged us and went again!  
 I have to brag on these three.
It takes some effort to take Travis anywhere.
He's amazing and does SO incredibly well
walking...but his injuries only allow so much.
His balance is so affected and walking is not
easy for him by any means.  My kids "get"
it and they are soooo good to him and me
as I help him.  It truly makes me SO proud. 
I hope they always have a deep and profound
understanding for others and what others
are going through.  I think they will. 
Trav is such a joy to be around. 
He's fun and funny...and although he can't
talk, he gets his point/message across to you
even when his iPhone or iPad aren't handy.  
I pray for his healing and for the speed of his healing.
I pray for the day when he meets someone special.
He deserves the world and more for all
he has been through.  
Walker, like Travis, is a movie BUFF!!!
Hadlee...not so much!
Hudson slept through the first hour and a half
and Hadlee through the last hour!  ha!
The movie was AWESOME!!!
I'm not a movie person at all...
but this one was really, really good!
The new Superman in the movie is pretty cute, too;)
With four of my favorite people in the world... 
Picked up this stud one afternoon
and he had on his new Ray Bans
and the shirt Robin gave him for
his birthday.  I had to text her this pic:)
Nike should actually use THIS guy
as their model for this slogan. 
I am in shock/awe at what he has
to go through during speech therapy :(
The kids usually don't come to therapy
with us.  It's just too hard to wait in the
waiting room with three kids.  DUH!
But this particular day, they had to come.
I texted Lynna how "good" they were all being...
Of course two of them had
headphones in their ears...
And one was sound asleep!  ;)

Trav's Hillcrest therapy is going amazingly
well.  The two therapists who are working
together with him are truly like angels.
They continue to work very closely with
the expert in Florida.  She guides them
as to every step and what needs to be
done next.  It is grueling.
Basically he is gagged 150 times with a
lemon swab.  It's awful...and I can
hardly stand to watch.  He even bleeds
from it :( Plus then they put heat and
cold on his cheeks with this thing to
stimulate his muscles.  Grueling, I tell ya:(
 
BUT, here's the thing...when they
first started doing this technique on
Travis (it's called DPNS) ~ he didn't
gag AT ALL.  That's horrible.  When
somebody sticks something deep into
your throat, there should be a reaction.
He doesn't gag on all 150 swabs,
but he is making tremendous progress.
 
It blows my mind that we found these
two speech therapists...not in one of
the many, top-notch brain injury
facilities Travis has been in, but in
Waco, Texas, our hometown!!!
God is Good (:
Sweet, Precious Holly!!!!!  
Kristin, too!  May God bless them BOTH greatly!!!!!!
There is a teenage boy in our community
who was also in a car accident with his mom
last year.  His name is Tanner and his struggles
with his TBI are immense, too. 
Trav has on his Tanner shirt in this pic...
I pray fervently for Travis and Tanner
every single day.  The healing process
is so slow and so unknown. 
Tanner has a wonderful family.
It's been a blessing to get to know them. 
I struggle a lot with the WHY's of all of this
and the unfairness in this world.
I cry quite often and really have a hard
time keeping check on these feelings.
As I've said before, it's like I lead a double
life.  One with my little family of five...
nurturing and loving and having fun
with them and living such a great life.
ANd then, on the other hand, trying
to help Travis and Lynna and bring
joy to their lives and help them in any
possible way I can.  Of course I know
at any second, my life can change
and tragedy could strike my little
family of five, but I still just feel so guilty.
There is so much pain and heartache
and struggle in this world and it kills
my soul.  I look around at others who
are less fortunate or those who have to
struggle to do even the most simple
things or those facing cancer or people
who have lost a child or those
just feeling so alone...and I just can't
seem to grasp WHY?  Why this person
and not that person?  I can assure you in
my years before Trav's accident I had
done far worse than he had in his
naive 21 years of life.  Why not me?
I of course know that's not
how God works...but still...I have
trouble keeping my mind from going there.
 
Thankfully all of these thoughts lead
me to one thing:  Prayer
Deep, earnest prayer for others...