Mid February in Indiana

Our weeks seem pretty routine these days with Upwards basketball practice on Tuesdays, choir practice at The Chapel on Wednesdays, Saturday at noon we have our weekly basketball games and at 6pm we have church at The Chapel.  On Sundays either Josh or Cate go with Mom to the church nursery while the other one tackles the weekly grocery shopping with Dad.  Then Sunday afternoons are for enjoying uninterrupted family time.  This week we were gearing up for Valentine's Day USA style.  You can see the actual preparations below but the real celebrations will be posted for next week.

At the game this week there was a halftime event where the player was blindfolded and then had to listen closely to coach instructions as they were guided around the gym.  Cate won for our team!  Go Cate!  Cate also scored 14 points in the game and was the leading scorer by 10 points.  Who knew this girl could rebound and shoot?  Cate has learned if she is under the basket when someone shoots she can get the rebound and put it back up.  This is how she scored all of her points. Josh does a great job too of bringing the ball down and being a team leader. He is a great shot also but has a great heart and is always passing.  Both kids seem to enjoy the Saturday games.  Jeff and I are their coaches and we enjoy them too.  What we really love is that the main goal of the program is to instill Christian principles and Christlike behavior in our kids.  We love love that!

My brother Kirk has been helping referee the Upwards games.  Uncle Kirk and cousin Matt took Josh & Cate for the afternoon to another game at a nearby high school.  Thanks Uncle Kirk and cousin Matt for the fun afternoon plus the hotdog at the game. It gave Mom and Dad a much needed afternoon of rest.  We all appreciate you.

Uncle Kirk pulled a "funny" and stood right in front of Josh & Cate for the picture.  We love Uncle Kirk!  We missed Aunt Jenni.  We love you all!

On Sunday we started our Valentine's preparations.  The kids signed valentines for all their classmates and helped me bake "heart" cakes. 

 Josh did the work of mixing up the cake and getting it into the oven.

Best part is licking those beaters and scraping that bowl!

Time to start frosting the heart cakes.  Josh chose chocolate frosting with sprinkles.

Cate of course went for the pink frosting!  That girl loves pink!

Josh always seems to enjoy watching sports or being on the laptop with Dad.  That's part of the fun on Sundays.

Cakes are done and ready to be presented.  Cate donated hers to our Sunday night bible study group so we all got to test it out.  Josh is waiting on his until our family Valentines' celebration.  These kids did a great job creating the cakes. 

One of the funnest silliest times we have is our "ticklefest".  Josh & Cate love to be tickled.  Often times they say get under a blanket and then want Daddy to tickle them.  It is great bonding and we love it.  Nothing better than hearing their giggles!  They are so much fun!

God is good and we are thrilled to share his love with Josh & Cate. 

I made a visit to see Sweet Nolan and he is truly the sweetest baby ever.  He is nearing his 5 month mark and already has 2 teeth.  What a charmer he is with his big smiles.  Love that boy!

 Life is good and we are thankful for His blessings.  There's nothing better than hearing Josh & Cate giggle or holding Sweet Nolan.  We love ...

Choosing joy,

Chris & crew

Super Bowl Time

This was a big football weekend in the USA.  Josh loves football and God has blessed him with a nice spiral throw.  He could possibly be a football player in the future.  He will sit and watch the game and always starts by asking "Which is our team Daddy?".  He wants to be sure he knows who to root for.  Well it was the NY Giants and the New England Patriots.  We told him we were for the Giants since their quarterback (Eli Manning) is a brother to our Colts QB (Peyton Manning).  So we all agreed to cheer for the white team as we wore our Colts jerseys with "Clark" on the back.  Thank you Dallas Clark #44 for having our name!  No he is not related to us but we hear he is a heck of a nice guy!  We had to have a little Super Bowl Party of our own with chocolate fondue, chex mix, nachos, and a few other goodies.  Josh & Cate seemed to enjoy the festivities and were allowed to stay up til half time to cheer on the Giants.  In case you are not a football follower the Giants did win by 4 points in a very close down to the final seconds game. 

My mom, Grandma Carol, had foot surgery so we stopped over to see her.  The kids had been asking if she was ok and all about the foot surgery.  It was outpatient and she is doing great.  They were very curious about her accessories such as the walker, the wheelchair, and her large boot!  Grandpa Bob helped distract them with some chocolate chip cookies.  It was a fun visit and Mom is doing great.

We enjoyed several meals out this week.  The kids are doing great at eating new foods and being good customers in restaurants.  We ate out on Saturday with Uncle Kirk and Aunt Jenni.  Uncle Kirk has been volunteering his Saturday mornings referreeing the Upwards basketball games that Josh & Cate play in so we get to see him each Saturday.  We all love seeing both he and Aunt Jenni on a regular basis.  We ate out with them at Cebollas, the local Mexican restaurant.

On Sunday we ate at Smokey Bones after church.  The kids really loved the barbeque pork plus the place was equipped with televisions everywhere you looked so that helped pass the time.

Our weather has been interesting here.  We had 50 degree temps for several days and then we woke up to snow again on Saturday.  Josh loves the snow because that means Dad gets out the "motor" (aka snowblower) and Josh loves to use the snowblower.    Then the next day it was nice outside and they were able to shoot hoops with the neighbor.  You just never know about this Indiana weather. 

Cate was invited over to a friend's for the first time and she knew it was her birthday last week so we had to get a little gift.  This was Cate's first playdate without Mom.  Everything went great and she enjoyed it.  Dad and Mom couldn't believe how much quieter the house was with one less child around.  Everyone enjoyed the afternoon.

Our good friend Miss Mary stopped by with dinner one night and what a huge blessing that was for all of us.  Thank you Miss Mary.  We appreciate you.

It is hard to believe we are into February and heading towards spring.  Time just flies by when you live life with Josh & Cate.  We are loving these guys more everyday.  We know God has his hand in our lives.  Our scripture first for the first few weeks of Upwards basketball was Joshua 1:9  Be strong & brave.  Do not be terrified.  Do not lose hope.  I am the Lord your God.  I will be with you everywhere you go.  This was our life verse for Ramon when we first met him. This is the verse that inspired us to name him Josh.  The virtue being taught is "courage".  We were impressed with his strong muscles and his courage to come to America.  The kids have to memorize these words.  It is no coincidence that has been our Upwards theme for 5 weeks now.  We love how God uses his word to speak truth into our lives.  Yay! Josh & Cate!  The next few weeks we have a new scripture from I Peter 2:17.  Show proper respect to everyone.  Now what parent doesn't love that verse?!  Thanks for reading the blog and remember to continue...
Choosing Joy,
Chris & crew