Saturday, May 7, 2011

Giving it Your Best Shot

I love going to the Hershey Track Meets, it not only brings back great memories of my own children running, smiling and giving it their best shot, but it is delightful to watch all the children out there, doing their best, big grins as they come down the track.
Jacob and his buddies, waiting, bored and ready to get on with the fun part of this day - racing!
 Now, I have the great blessing of watching my grandchildren run and give it their all~ 
Jacob, racing in the 100 m dash

Jacob, going all out in the 200 m
 Damien drove 18 hours to watch his son race and to take Sydni to her Daddy-Daughter date . . . what a good man, what a GREAT Dad!
Sydni, Damien and Mason

I learned a good lesson from my daughter Tiffany, a track star in high school and college.  After one of her races, when she came in second place, I was afraid she would be terribly dissapointed, but I watched her go up and hug and congratulate the girl who won and she was sincerely happy for her.  Talking to her about it afterward, she told me she only competes against herself, and as long as she improves her performance each time and runs a little better, a little faster, then she is happy with her performance. She always liked running with girls who were fast and the top athletes, because it helped her improve her own time. Isn't that a great lesson for life?  To push ourselves to be a little better each day, to cheer on everyone else around us at the same time and to learn from the best!  I like this quote from Barbara Sher:

"You never feel really bad when you've given something your best shot . You may be disappointed, but you don't blame yourself. But if you haven't given it your best shot, you feel terrible. Because you never really know whether you could have done better... but you do know you could have done more. Win or lose, all-out efforts leave you feeling clean and good about yourself."~Barbara Sher

Friday, May 6, 2011

A Wee Bit of Heaven

"A wee bit of heaven drifted down from above, a handful of happiness, a heart full of love." ~ Helen Steiner Rice
Going out for a wee stroll . . . Megan made that neat wrap around carrier!
Grand Papa Ray and baby Josh

Grandma Sandy and Joshua ~ life couldn't be sweeter than holding a new baby!
Ethan, Megan and Joshua E~

Sunday, May 1, 2011

He Has Risen!

"He is risen! He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice
He has burst his three days' prison
Let the whole wide earth rejoice
Death is conquered; man is free.
Christ has won the victory."
~ Hymns, 199

I love Easter, with all its hope and promise of new life, new joy and eternal tomorrows.
Cori and Jesse and their sweet family, Grace, Grant and Eden were up for Sarah's graduation, Brittany and Cory, Ashton and Hunter came for the Easter week-end, and Arianne and Will, Danielle and the kids were all here for part of the week-end's celebration.
 Grant, Hunter, Ashton, Grace Cory  and Brittany working on some colorful creations at our Easter Egg dying activity Friday afternoon.
 Eden, 8 months old now, is such a sweet baby, she just sat and watched all the fun and quietly retrieved interesting things from the table . . .she is just beginning to crawl . . . and would scoot across the floor to whatever she needed.  So cute, I just wanted to keep squeezing her in a big hug. 
 Ashton and Grace ~ the kids were all so polite, "Could you please pass the pink?" And they waited patiently for their requested color if it was not available, or decided to use a different one.  There was not one spill, not even a broken egg ~ except the one Grammie Sandy dropped!
 Grant, Cory and Hunter ~ we were just laughing at the cute jokes and funny stories they were telling
 Papa Ray reading/singing one of his favorite stories, "This Old Man" to a rapt audience, Grace, Grant and Ashton
 We're ready!  The weather cancelled our Easter Egg Hunt outside in the yard, but inside works just as well.
Grant, James, Kourtni, Ashton, Hunter, Sydni, Grace, Jacob and Ashton with their baskets and ready to go.
 Hunter, James and Grant ~ searching
 Ashton~ finding lots of Eggs
 Let's see what you've got! Ashton, Grace and Charlie
Sarah came over with her  "Dance, Dance Revolution" and everyone got into the action!
We had some great dancers and we all had a great time and got a good work-out!
Grant, Sarah, Jacob, Jesse, Ally, Grace, Danielle, Sydni and Charlie