Leman family update

I've been neglecting this blog for a couple of weeks so I thought I would take the time to give an update. It's going to read like a Christmas letter, but I'm trying to pass along what I think are points of interest to all my readers, including those out of the country (Hi, Suzi!). Some information might be old to some of my readers but I can't remember who knows what so you get it all.

Wednesday was awards night at AWANA. Drew passed his level three T&T book and remains on pace to earn the Timothy award after next year. During the award presentation his leader mistakenly awarded it to him. The leader knew there were three boys that earned it and he rattled off two names and couldn't remember the third so he made a guess and called out Drew's name. Drew's shocked expression let him know that he guessed wrong. The forgotten boy was actually Ryan Southwood, Dawn's good friend Tonya's son. Ryan earned the award in a kind of backdoor method. He only wanted to finish his book each year to earn the trip to Six Flags that they take for the ones who finish. Well, if you finish a book a year, by the time you get through sixth grade you have earned a Timothy award. Congratulations to Ryan!

A week earlier, the boys had their annual auction. That's where they get to spend points that they have earned throughout the year. They get points for things like bringing a Bible to AWANA, wearing the uniform, bringing visitors, completing sections in the handbook, and so on. Drew (one of the richer point-holders) came away with a couple of T-shirts (one of which is a Cubs shirt - go figure), a pair of water pistols, other assorted junk, and his triumph - a new tennis racket.

Rachel completed her first year book in the T&T girls club. That accomplishment earned her a place in the T&T girls outing that took place this past Saturday. More on that later. They also had an auction this year. Rachel's great acquisition in that event was a rolling suitcase. At the time of her purchase, she and Dawn (who was there to assist Rachel in her first auction) thought it was an actual American Girl case designed to carry your doll in the outside pocket. It turned out to be a pretty close knockoff version, and she used it for that purpose to attend Kristyn's (Ryan's sister) birthday sleepover last month.

Rebecca finished her third year Sparks book and also received the review patch for saying all the verses a second time. She finished a scant two sections shy of completing a secondary workbook, but she will no doubt polish that off next year. All three kids inexplicably had perfect attendance this year.

Again, much credit has to go to Dawn for assisting them all with learning their verses, arranging rides for visitors, and generally pushing everyone to the level of excellence they all reached. There was a lot of hard work put into AWANA in our household and I know who really was behind it.

Thursday evening was the Fairview spring musicale held at Kingsley Jr. High. What a relief that was. Instead of cramming 100+ people into the small grade school gymnasium, we went to the large junior high cafeteria and had room to spare. It was for the third, fourth and fifth graders. The theme was American Heroes. Rachel had a speaking part in it. She was among the group of third graders in the front of the stage who passed the microphone down the line with each one saying a line or two. She did a terrific job. The fourth and fifth graders formed the chorus on the stage behind them. The songs performed had to do with various 'heroes". They included Jesse Owens, Charles Lindbergh, Nelle Bly, Albert Einstein (who wasn't even American) and Booker T. Washington. Each was preceded by some narrative (Rachel's part) and a small skit. Drew had an acting part in the bit on Nellie Bly. He played the part of her boss. Just like when we saw Rachel zip around the circle at the AWANA games, we were pleasantly surprised by his performance on the stage. Drew is a notorious fast talker, but he reigned that in while performing. His lines were delivered slowly, clearly, and dramatically. I do believe the boy might have a future on the stage. After the show he expressed some interest in joining the drama club next year when he gets to junior high. Grandma and Grandpa Leman made the trip to see the show and they were impressed with both kid's performance.

Saturday brought Rachel's T&T outing. The dozen or so girls who earned the trip piled into the church vans to head over to Pekin to go horseback riding. Kristyn was one of the girls, so Rachel had a friend to spend the day with. Of course she would have made at least one friend anyway so that doesn't really matter. The girls got a lesson in grooming horses and then they learned how to ride. Rachel's mount was named Frank and he had a brother named Beans. The trail took about an hour to circumnavigate. At one point during the ride, Beans wandered off trail a little and Frank followed. Rachel stopped him and turned him back to the trail just like she was taught. She wore a helmet to ride and she had to mount the horse from a loading dock. According to Rachel the entire experience was, "AWESOME!" even though her seat was a little sore afterwards. She missed her soccer game in order to go, but I don't think she missed it very much.

Becca played her game on Saturday and she did a great job. As a shy girl, she doesn't much like to be the center of attention that athletic events provide. When she's on the field she is aware that everyone is watching her. We have instructed her over and over to be more aggressive during the games. This week she really stepped it up. When she was playing forward she ran with the mob and joined the fray. She actually had a shot on goal this time! Her entire team was playing very well together and they emerged victorious 5-2. One of the funniest moments was early in the second half. Our team had scored two very quick goals within the first two minutes of the half and we overheard one of our defenders tell the other defender, "Their goalie isn't very good". As parents, we realized that if that were our child we would be cringing in horror, but since it wasn't, we enjoyed it. Even Drew thought it was hilarious. And David finally made it out to watch his sisters play soccer.

I took Drew to his first baseball practice Sunday afternoon. His team is mostly a bunch of Fairview kids, including one of his best friends, Travis. Drew's highlight from last year's baseball season was that when we played this team, Drew pitched and he struck out Travis. The only thing we don't like about Travis is the fact that he is a Cardinal fan. The team looks pretty decent from what I saw. At the very least, Drew will have a good time playing with them.

In case you were wondering what David has been up to, let me tell you. Not much. He has aged out of AWANA, he has retired from soccer and his baseball team hasn't started practice yet. The Junior High program at church has already begun the summer hiatus. He no longer takes piano lessons, but he is still playing trumpet. We are looking forward to baseball season and his mission trip to St. Louis. This Thursday will be his spring band concert. I am looking forward to this one. We will finally get to hear the jazz band in a concert setting. David is supposed to play a solo in one of the jazz band songs, so I'm eager to hear that. Watch this space for a recap.

Dawn is a busy, busy lady. This week for example, she is substitute teaching 4 days. Then there's the final push of BSF, and helping with the PTO. The Family Fun Night (that's sure mis-named) carnival is coming up. She's the crazy lady in charge of that. Believe it or not, our house is still standing. We have food to eat and clean clothes to wear. Of course it's no surprise we have clean clothes. It's fun to do laundry now. Last month we got some new appliances. Our washer has been slowly dying for many months. The water came in at a trickle and it took about 4 hours to do a load of laundry. We were hoping to use some of our tax refund to replace it. We got our refund on a Friday. Tuesday, the dryer stopped heating. Thursday, we bought a new pair, a front load washer (boy, is she excited), and a basic dryer that is barely a step up from a fire and a bucket. We waited a whole week until delivery the next Thursday. The following Tuesday, the chest freezer in the garage broke. Compressor gave out, and it stopped cooling. That night we brought home a new freezer. It's not fun to have to do things like that, but it is certainly clear that there was Providence involved in having enough funds for it.

I just realized that this is my blog and I have mentioned nothing about myself. That's because I don't do anything. I work every day, spending Thursday in Peoria/Morton and having lunch with Mom & Dad. Church orchestra is on break, but I 'm still on stage at least one Sunday a month. Other than that, I try to find time to spend with the family between the kid's activities. It's hard to do, but we manage. I'll rest when they're gone. We certainly are a busy family, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.