Balloon Launch

Brinley's teacher told us about something that they were planning to do on one of their last days of school. They were going to write messages on balloons meant for God and release them so that they could fly up to Heaven. I thought this was a neat idea for the kids and decided that I would try to make it in order to witness this myself.

The Green room came out and circled up and waited for Mrs. Carpenter and Mrs. Black to hand out their balloons.

I asked Mrs. Carpenter to let me see what Brinley wrote on her balloon. It said love you. Donkey was calm because Jesus made him. I have no idea what this meant, but it apparently meant something to Brinley.

Everyone holding on tight to their balloons.

The whole class gathered in close to say a prayer before releasing their balloons to God.

Letting them go!

Away they go!

All those precious notes to God from his little children.

My pretty girl. She forgot to wipe her snack off her face, but she didn't care at all!

Soaring ever higher and higher.

Some of the boys trying hard to see the balloons high in the sky.

Almost out of eyesight. I was cheating and using the zoom on my camera.

Nothing like breaking out the personal hand binoculars so that you can still see the balloons.

Now they are just little dots almost all the way to Heaven.

These guys all are pretty good friends. I always wee them playing superheros out on the playground after school

Heading back to class.

Brinley's classmates.

My big girl has grown up so much over the past year. She loved preschool and playing with all of her friends everyday.

Some of the boys.

The last of the class and their teacher Mrs. Black.

I showed you what Brinley's balloon said, but here is what the rest of the class wrote on their balloons.

To think that just a year ago we hadn't even considered putting Brinley in preschool. It wasn't until the summer when she went to Bible School that we started looking for a school for her to attend. Crossroads was so close to our house and proved to be one of the best decisions that we ever made. Brinley loved going everyday to learn and play with her friends. It just makes me so sad that after this week we won't get to continue seeing these kids on a regular basis. This is because most of them will be attending different elementary schools next fall. I am just so thankful for the love and care that Brinley and all of her classmates received from their teachers Mrs. Black and Mrs. Carpenter. They helped her grow so much as a young lady and taught her so much over the past year. I know that she is thoroughly prepared for Kindergarten next year because of these wonderful women. I would highly recommend Crossroads Preschool to anyone who wants a great learning environment for their children which is centered around God's love and teachings. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Watching the CATS with the kids

Each year the kids get to attend one of the UK basketball games with me. It is a way for me to spend some one on one time with each of them and to let them experience the greatest college basketball program in person. They don't know the rules of basketball or really anything about the sport, but I hope that changes over the years and they grow up to be a big fan of the Wildcats just like me.

This year Landon got to go first. I let him decide about everything and he wanted to get his face painted as well as a few snacks from the concession stand, which was popcorn and sprite. We also got to meet the cheerleaders before the game as well as take a few pictures down by the court before heading up to our seats.

Through out the game he lost part of his paint while he was eating his popcorn. The game was a blowout, so we made our way down to the lower arena for the last part of the game. Overall we had a great guys night and it is always nice to see a Wildcats win.

Next up was a date night with my little girl. She wanted to wear her cheerleader outfit. Brinley didn't want to paint her face, but she did want a couple of face stickers.

We had a great time. She got some popcorn and sprite too. We brought along a pom-pom from home and she had a good time cheering on the Wildcats to victory. The game was another blowout, so again we moved down to the lower arena to watch the last part of the game. We even spotted the wildcat and a cheerleader that we wanted to get our picture with.

On the way out we ran into Coach Joe B Hall and he was gracious enough to take a picture with us.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures that I captured. She was so happy to be with me and cheering on the wildcats with her pom-pom. I just hope that she always likes going and doing stuff with her daddy because I know that I will always love being with my little girl.

We had a friend that has women's basketball season tickets and they had a game that they were not going to be able to make. So, we packed up the kids and headed down to Memorial Collesium to watch the Lady Hoops team in action. The kids were able to make their own signs to cheer on the girls.

We let them draw whatever they wanted and Landon decided on a rainbow.

I am not sure exactly what the picture was, but she wrote Go Cats all by herself.

We had some awesome seats, which were right on the court. The kids enjoyed some snow cones and even got to meet the wildcat. Brinley even made it onto the big screen when she was holding up her sign. Towards the end of the game the kids were getting a little stir crazy and they started playing with a couple of little girls. After the game we discovered that they were the coach Matthew Mitchell's daughters.

I had another friend call me up one night and tell me that she had a couple of tickets that she wasn't using and that I could have them if I wanted them. So, even though it was a 9:00 start time and on a school night we packed up the kids and headed to Rupp Arena.

My little wildcats throwing up their 3 goggles!

My friend had seats that were closer to the court than me so we all decided to sit in those seats. The only problem was that it was right in front of the railing and Jennifer was terrified that the kids were going to fall through them at any moment.

What else could have happened on a late night game other than OVERTIME! Brinley looks tired because it is well past her bedtime, but we had to stay to see the wildcats pull out the win!

I was teaching Brinley how Kentucky cheerleaders hold one finger up while the players are shooting their free throws so she wanted to do it too.

Landon meanwhile was not feeling the game that much on this night and he decided that he would rather take pictures and mostly just selfies. Here were some of his good ones out of the almost 50 pictures that he took.

The Kentucky Wildcats are by far my favorite sports team and I can only hope that my children grow up to enjoy watching them play as much as I do. I have now been a season ticket holder for the last 3 years and it has been so much fungetting to go and watch them live. If you have never been to Rupp Arena then I urge you to go because it is a pretty awesome atmosphere! Thanks for reading and God bless!

Derby Half Marathon

Since Jennifer has gotten a big interest in running I have joined with her in running races. After the Disney marathon she decided to run one a little closer to home. We signed up for the Derby mini-marathon which is run the weekend before the Kentucky Derby. The course runs through downtown Louisville and up to Churchill Downs before heading back downtown.

We headed to Louisville the night before the race to pick up our race packets and bibs. 

We got up bright and early to run our 13.1 miles. When we woke up that morning we got an email saying that the race was postponed 30 minutes due to possible bad weather. So, we got to the start line ready to run with a new start time of 8:00.

However, there were still some storms in the area at 8:00, so they told everyone to take cover and wait for further instruction. We ended up having to wait another hour before they decided to try and start the race.  

At 9:00 they let the first group of runners go and then it started to rain. I was getting mentally prepared for an interesting and wet run. However, after about 5 minutes the rain stopped and I only felt an occasional raindrop. 

This is the motivation that I had for running this race. These are initials of some of the kids that I have taken care of with cancer. I have taken care of so many children with cancer and I struggled picking only 13. Some of these kids are still fighting today and others are unfortunately no longer with us. For whatever number mile I was on I thought about that kid and their family. I said prayers for them and reminiscenced about the memories that I had with them. They helped me through each of the 13.1 miles and helped me take my mind off the boring act of running.

Ready to start! Jennifer and I were placed in different corrals so we decided to run separately today unlike what we did at our full marathon. 

Right after the start of the race we headed right past this big golden statue. I decided that I would try to get a picture while on the move. 

We also passed by the Louisville Slugger Museum where they make so many of the professional baseball bats. Sometime we will have to go back so that we can actually take the tour. 

Around mile six I noticed a familiar building. It was West End Baptist Church. This is the church where my sister was married just a few years ago. I snapped this picture and sent it to her to see if she recognized this place.

Two miles later we reached Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby! 

We headed down the ramps to the infield on the run too. I had been down these ramps once before during my only trip to the Kentucky Derby. Funny that it rained both times that I went to the infield. 

Not a great picture, but there are the famous twin spires. 

I was just a week too early. By the time the Derby is ready to start on Saturday this place will be filled with thousands of people ready to watch the fastest horses in the world. Pretty cool that the fastest 2 minutes in sports happens in the great state of Kentucky! 

Jennifer ended up finishing just a little over a minute after me. I am so proud of her for all the hard work that she has been putting into running. She has now finished her first half marathon.

As you can clearly see from the above pictures that we ran past the statue and this huge baseball bat. Well, Jennifer had no idea that we ran past them. I tell her this all the time, but sometimes she is completely oblivious.

The kids were so excited to see us when we got home. Or maybe they were just excited to see our medals!

After we got home I took a look at my runner's app to see what my splits were. My goal had been to run close to 2 hours and I started off feeling great and was on pace. However, about half way into mile 2 my right leg started to cramp up a little. I pushed through, but it wasn't long before my left leg started to cramp up a bit. At that point I really was just wanting to survive and I threw my time out the window. Mile 4 I had to stop for a bathroom break. I have no idea what happened on mile 10, but it was not good. I recovered though and ran slightly faster the last couple of miles. 

I think this picture is priceless! Every time I saw the photographers along the course I was sure to put my L down. I had a few of the photographers give me a little head nod as I passed them.

I did set a race day PR of 2:32:01, but it was no where close to what I thought that I could do. I guess that gives me room for improvement in future races. I believe that it won't be too long before Jennifer signs us up for our next race. Thanks for reading and God bless!