Crazy week ahead - heaven help!!!!

Okay - this is going to be a crazy CRAZY week.

Monday Marissa and I are hosting a bridal shower for Jessica.  It is at our house starting at 6:30.  Somehow I have to get balloons and food to the house before everyone shows up.  Jessica is so excited because it is with her best friends... Frannie, Lucy, Maddie, Paige, and Marissa and Meg.

Tuesday I am taking Marissa, Jessica and Marissa's friend, Isabel to the TAYLOR SWIFT concert.  We are meeting at the house at 5:30 for dinner and then driving down - we will be gone all night.

Wednesday I am hosting the NOHS Girls Track and Field Banquet at the John Black center.  This is usually a long night.  I will leave straight from work, get balloons, meet the caterer, decorate and have it all done by 6:30.  UGH!!!

Then I have to pack and be ready to leave the house by 5:00 am on Thursday to fly to Utah for JESSICA's WEDDING!!!!!

heaven help me - literally!!! - how am I going to get all this done

Senior breakfast at Galt House!

Today was such a beautiful day.  It started with meeting Marissa and the other students of NOHS at the Galt House Hotel downtown Louisville for the annual Senior Breakfast.  NOHS is the only school that I know that does this - and I love it.  It's a chance to celebrate the seniors' accomplishments in a general way (no one specific) and share in a special moment with just your senior and her parents.  

The breakfast started at 9:30 am.  We sat at a table of Marissa's friends that will be attending BYU:  Maddison Dodson, Tori Simpson, Avery Pryor and their parents.

I found myself tearing up at the idea of my little sweet Marissa growing up into adulthood.  She has come so far.  She has accomplished so much, but even more than that she is such a wonderful person - she cares so much for others and gives of herself freely!  I love to see her love and compassion.  She gives 100% in everything she does.  She is so well balanced and organized.  She is ready for the next step in her lift!  We are so proud of her!

Marissa had a wonderful time going around and getting pictures with her friends.  I was the "professional photographer"  once again.

Olivia, Makenzie, Caroline, Mallory and Marissa

Avery Pryor and me

Avery has become a member of our family and I love him like a son.  I'm so proud of him!  He's done so well in school.  I felt so bad for him because his step-mom didn't know to bring him a letter.

best friends:  Marissa and Avery with me

Isabel Watkins, Kelsey Wohlgemuth and Marissa

Best friends forever - Makenzie and Marissa

Amazing friends:  Isabel and Avery with Marissa

Marissa we love you so much!!!

Marissa and her parents!

BYU BOUND:  Marissa, Avery and Tori

Isabel, Marissa, Avery, Tori, Marissa Yanke, Maddison and Tyler

Marissa and Isabel with their favorite AP Stats teacher!

Friends since 2nd grade:  Marissa and Emma Brazeau

Mark gets a 93 on CPA exam

Such exciting and excellent new.

Mark called me at work today to tell me he not only passed the last section of the CPA exam, but that he scored a 93 on the exam.

a 93!!!!

That's got to be one of the best grades in the entire state!!!!

Award ceremony

Tonight Robert received two Top Student awards.  One in humanities and the other in Spanish.  We are so proud of him.

Really he could have received an award in all of his classes because he works so hard in all of them.  He has all As (even in AP Euro).  

Robert we are so proud of you!!!

Devon - Week 49 - Temple

Went to the Temple today.

Last week we challenged Bree to read the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then teach it to us. Bree taught us the gospel of Jesus Christ better than any child I know.  It felt weird for someone else to teach the lesson especially an investigator.  Usually her Dad listens to the discussion but he was not there so we had to emergency call members to see if one could join us because we can’t teach if there is not a third male. Luckily a member joined us and it worked out. Jen the Mom listened in to the discussion :) (She is not a member) and she seemed interested.  Unfortunately the Mom could not listen to the whole discussion because of the baby, but the lesson went really well. 

Chester is an older man that is a real hoot.  He is a Baptist that gives everyone a hard time and one of his favorite lines is the true religion is Baptist because John was a Baptist.  He also like to call me Red Kentucky.  He is pretty lonely so he is cheered up when he sees us. We have started to read the Book of Mormon with him.  We go over and read a chapter and then we assign a chapter for him to read.  To our surprise he keeps every commitment we give him except for going to church. Slowly but surely Chester is reading the Book of Mormon one chapter at a time.  i have also noticed that he gets more excited to read and that he retains more and more each time he reads. I Love the power of the Book of Mormon on people.    

I went to a Baptism and a Weeding this week!  I got to witness my first wedding on my mission. I am glad that I got to work with them for a short time; even though I was not the main contributor to the baptism and the Wedding I am still glad that I could keep them progressing towards their goal.

Elder X got sick so we had a sick day.  The day went very slow for me and I had cabin fever.  But i will not forget what happened that day.  I saw a general conference DVD set and randomly pick a CD and went to a random talk.  I listen intently to the next three talks. I can’t express the exact feelings and troughs i had.  I was amassed by how direct those talks were to me.  I needed those talks and they strengthened my testimony of Modern day Prophets in which I am Grateful.

State Champions - 2nd Year in a Row

May 22, 2015

This is the last State Track meet I'll be attending for the NOHS Girls Track team - it feels so strange to know that Marissa's track career is coming to an end.  This is the last meet she will ever run as a high school student.

She is excited about the day - we have a very good chance of being state champions again, but it will be a team effort.  We do exceptionally well in our events!  Nicole Moeller takes 1st in 2 events and in 2 relays.  It is a sweet - NOHS girls are rocking it!!!

State Competitors

Marissa's race is very competitive and she is not expected to place in the top - she didn't even think she would qualify to run at the state meet - but she did.  She is excited to represent her team one more time, even if she doesn't end up on the podium.

Grace Dieterle, Marissa and Nicole Moeller

Marissa's teammates are very supportive of her.  She is racing the 3200 again.  It is not a race that she likes, but her coaches put her in it every year.  Even though she doesn't like it, she does it for the team - there is only one or two other girls that could qualify to run this race at the state meet (Erin Edmundson and Avery Fryman), but Erin is running the open mile (1600) and she runs in two relays, and Avery Fryman had a bad race at Regionals and didn't qualify.  It was so sad.  Marissa would have loved to have given her the spot she earned, but you just can't do that.

take off!

a great start

last lap!!!

Marissa ran a great race - she came in 17th place which is one place higher than she was expected.  She is now thrilled that the race, the pressure, the season is over!!!

Kelsey Hall, Marissa and Kenzie Mullin (running friends since 6th grade)

After Marissa's race there is only one more race - the 4x400.  We take the lead and never let anyone get close to us!  We beat the school record and win with a margin of 7 seconds.  That confirms it without a doubt - 2X STATE CHAMPIONS!!!

State Champions!

State Competitors

Seniors

Coaches

Marissa with her coaches

Vogue!

We had a HUGE celebration on the track!!!!  What a great way to end the track season!!!

Week 48 - Bree

We Taught Bree the Plan of salvation.  It went very well.  She was confused about the three Kingdoms of Heaven so we went into further detail about it.  at the end of the Lesson I asked Bree if she would be Baptized and she excitedly said yes. Bree has a baptism date on June 27!!!

We are going to set up Family Home evening for the Castions. They have been struggling so much in family life and financial problems we know that a gospel center Family Home evening will bless there family in more ways than they can count. Plus the Members in our ward really want to help out as well.

We spent 5 hours moving a Mountain of dirt for a member. I was so exhausted at the end that I could barely hold on to the handle bars on my bike.  As we were heading to our next appointment they canceled so we headed home took a 20 min power nap woke up revived and worked the rest of the day.

Zone Conference focus on the Book of Mormon was inspired.  Most of the people that we are working with are struggling with reading or understanding the Book of Mormon. With this training we can help people find Christ within the Book of Mormon. 

Br. Hoyt is back from Alaska.  He has been gone for two weeks and because he has been gone we have struggled to teach Avery and the rest of the family.  The Hoyts are a Part member Family and Br Hoyt and one of his daughters are the only members in the Family. This last Friday we went over and had a great discussion.  Br. Hoyt told us that he saw a weeding while in Alaska.  He did not like it  when the pastor said "till Death due you part."  He wants to be with his family forever but he has little faith in the doctrine of sealing.  He asks us why would God give me this Family on Earth and take it away from me in the next life if his family did not get sealed. We understood where he was coming from and testified of the truth and told him to have Faith that it will all work out and that one day his Family could be sealed. We believe that some day that they will be sealed.  It looks like Br. Hoyt really wants the gospel in his family and has asked us to come over more. 

Devon - week 48

We Taught Bree the Plan of salvation.  It went very well.  She was confused about the three Kingdoms of Heaven so we went into further detail about it.  at the end of the Lesson I asked Bree if she would be Baptized and she excitedly said yes. Bree has a baptism date on June 27!!!

We are going to set up Family Home evening for the Castion’s. They have been struggling so much in family life and financial problems we know that a gospel center Family Home evening will bless their family in more ways than they can count. Plus the Members in our ward really want to help out as well.

We spent 5 hours moving a Mountain of dirt for a member. I was so exhausted at the end that I could barely hold on to the handle bars on my bike.  As we were heading to our next appointment they canceled so we headed home took a 20 min power nap woke up revived and worked the rest of the day.

Zone Conference focus on the Book of Mormon was inspired.  Most of the people that we are working with are struggling with reading or understanding the Book of Mormon. With this training we can help people find Christ within the Book of Mormon. 

Br. Hoyt is back from Alaska.  He has been gone for two weeks and because he has been gone we have struggled to teach Avery and the rest of the family.  The Hoyts are a Part member Family and Br Hoyt and one of his daughters are the only members in the Family. This last Friday we went over and had a great discussion.  Br. Hoyt told us that he saw a weeding while in Alaska.  He did not like it when the pastor said "till Death do you part."  He wants to be with his family forever but he has little faith in the doctrine of sealing.  He asks us why would God give me this Family on Earth and take it away from me in the next life if his family did not get sealed. We understood where he was coming from and testified of the truth and told him to have Faith that it will all work out and that one day his Family could be sealed. We believe that someday that they will be sealed.  It looks like Br. Hoyt really wants the gospel in his family and has asked us to come over more. 

Girls win REGIONAL: TRACK MEET

It's an exciting night for the NOHS girls and boys track team.  They both stand a chance of winning the regional championship.

It's a nice night but there is a bit of a breeze.  Hopefully it will reduce by the time Marissa runs the 3200 m run.

Coach Philips talked strategy with Marissa before her race.

We took 2nd in the 4x800, 1st in the 4x400, 1st in the 4x200 and 4th in the 4x100
Elizabeth Olive took 1st in the 100 hurdles and Anna Serey took 2nd.
Elizabeth Olive took 1st in the 300 hurdles and Tori Simpson took 3rd.
Nicole Moeller took 3rd and Heather Klusman took 6th in the 200 m dash
Nicole Moeller took 1st and Erin Olsson took 2nd in the 400 m dash
Erin Edmundson took 2nd in the 800, and Grace Dieterle took 4th.
Erin Edmundson took 2nd in the 1600 m
Marissa Lowe took 6th in the 3200 m run, Avery took 7th.
Maggie Mollak took 2nd and Fiona Wasson took 3rd in the discus

Coach Yanke

Coach Grimm

3200 beginning - Go Marissa!!!

this was crazy - Marissa was passing Avery.  She stayed with Avery too long.

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

Seniors!!!

Maggie Mollak  took 1st in the shot put
Paige Didier took 1st in the high jump, Kat Fiorito took 4th
Kelsey Moore took 2nd and Paige Didier took 3rd in the long jump
Kelsey Moore took 1st in the Triple Jump
Heather Klusman took 1st and Abigail Condit took 4th in the Pole Vault.

It was a great nice for NOHS!  We took 1st place at Regionals by a land slide - 189 points!

Marissa was doing great in her race running a 6 minute mile pace, staying with the pack of the other 6 runners at the same pace.  Then she ran with Avery who started to fall back, but Marissa didn't notice until she was behind by 10 meters.  She also had to run the whole race with her shoe untied.  It came untied in the first lap - ugh!

She did great finishing in 6th place with a time of 12:46 and qualifies to run in the state competition on Friday, May 22.

Devon - week 47

Some real positive things happened this week.  All the service we have been doing is paying of more than we imagined.  We painted the Nelson's house and as we were painting we were having a good conversation.  Then Matt Nelson the Farther of Bree started to tell us how thankful he was that we were teaching Bree.  Bree was having tough time in life because she was being bullied at school and that caused her to be depressed.  He told us that she has been so happy lately and he knows that it is from going to church, reading the Book of Mormon, and learning the Gospel from us.  I was so happy to hear that from him because not only did he recognize this but also his catholic wife recognized it too.  To see the Gospel of Jesus Christ Change, bless, or make people Happier is the Great Joy of missionary work that Joy that keeps us missionaries going and pressing forward in those rainy sad days when people reject you and the message of Christ this joy keeps us hoping for the chosen one to share The Gospel of Jesus Christ and to see the miracle of Christ in people Lives

We have done a boat load of service for Jasmine a less active member that is the only member in her family.  She has not been to church, read scriptures, and pray for a long time. We are working on and helping her to just pray.  The last time we did service she told us that she wants the Gospel more in her life.  :)

Mother's Day SKYPE with DEVON

It's Mother's Day - it's actually a holiday that I don't like - I don't like the attention or the disappointment.  BUT TODAY is different, I can't wait to hear from my son, Devon!!!  

I have missed him so much!  He has now been serving a mission for 11 months - almost a whole year!

I have been looking forward to this SKYPE for months.  This photo is what it is all about - look at that smile - that's what I live for!  To see his joy!!!

This is another photo that just captures the pure joy of the moment (hour) ... it shows the smile on my face and his!!!

All day long I waited to hear from DEVON for my Mother's Day Skype!!!

It was the best hour and 15 minutes with him.  We had such a great talk - all of us were gathered around the laptop to talk to him. 

Girls WIN at OC CHAMPIONSHIP MEET

After the senior recognition (5:15 pm) the Oldham County Championship  meet began!!!

It was senior night - so very special ...

at 5:30 field events started, and at 5:45 the track events started.  I usually comes in running attire so that it's comfortable for her to run around the field from place to place to be in the best position to get photos of the NORTH OLDHAM athletes in the various events, but today I was dressed up for Senior night.

Today Marissa was running in the 4x800 B team, but then Sykora got someone else to run that section.  She is running the 1600 meter run tonight.  She is very tired from running the mini-marathon.  It's nice that her coaches are sensitive to her tired legs from the Mini.

She rested most of the night before her event.  Her event started right around sunset.  She was in the lead pack - top 3 for the first two laps then she settled back.  She finished in 6th place with a time of 5:56.   It's fantastic that she is still under 6:00 after such a short time after the Mini.

Way to go Marissa!!!!

Overall it was a great night for the NOHS girls team - they won the County Championship - which is very hard to do.  There are only three teams!!!