In Loving Memory.......

In Loving Memory of...

A Wonderful Dad...

A Loving Grandpa...

Larry Houston

February 12, 1938 - March 14, 2014

Rugby Anyone?

 Years ago my husband gave our boys an option: play sports or be in Boy Scouts. At the time they chose Boy Scouts. This was much fun with a lot of life lessons learned. Our two oldest boys obtained Eagle, the highest rank you can achieve in the Boy Scouts of America. (I will post more on this in the very near future as we are in the midst of planning their court of honor). Unfortunately, this organization succumbed to the bullying of a minority and tore down the walls of morals by allowing openly gay boys into the Scouts where an oath is made to be "morally straight", thus we felt it an absolute must to disband our troop and therefore leave scouting behind.....

With the disappointment of losing out on the scouting opportunities, we decided to allow our boys to play sports. Craig heard of a local rugby team that needed some players. It turns out rugby is a great game that uses players of all shapes and sizes! Our team has players from 14 - 19. Nathanael was allowed to join as his 14th birthday is coming up soon. The boys are enjoying the game immensely! It is tough, not for the faint of heart. There is no room for sissies!!! There are bumper stickers that read, "give blood, play rugby!"

Samuel, Daniel, and Nathanael have learned much and I am so proud of my boys! The team is filled with beginners but they are really starting to get it. There have been two games already, the first was with last year's champs and our guys lost in points, but gained much needed knowledge on how to play as a team and listen to the coach. The next game they won...20-8!! Of course they plan on winning many more in the weeks to come!

 And what would sports games be without cheerleaders?! Well, it just so happens that our team, the Kitsap Renegades, have the absolute CUTEST cheerleaders EVER!!! Selah especially LOVES "rubby!" You can find her on the sidelines yelling, "Go Renegades!" These little ones have been real troopers as it has not only rained, but has poured both games! They still keep their spirits up and cheer away.

     Yay Renegades!

                       Go Team!

Clarification About Our Trip...

Just to clarify to all out there who may have thought the letter to Anna actually was from Queen Elisabeth.....it was not. It was just a clever way of telling Anna that her wish had been granted. It was a bit of fun, not reality. They actually had told us in the very beginning that royalty were not people that we could even be granted to meet. This is all fine with us as we are just humbled to be going to the great city of London! There are so many things to see, so much history! We are thrilled with the opportunity! 

By the way, today is day +300!!!!! 65 days until a whole year has passed since her bone marrow transplant!!!

Make-A-Wish...A Dream Comes True

 This past summer, we received a call telling us that Anna had been nominated for Make-A-Wish. This was a very exciting surprise! The Make-A-Wish foundation is an organization that makes wishes come true for young people with a life threatening illness. You don't choose to get to make a wish, a doctor has to nominate you.

These two wish granters came over to our house in Seattle, bringing special little gifts for all of our children and going over the rules for making a wish. The number one rule for parents: Let your child choose something they want....let them be "selfish" for just this once!! We enjoyed our time with these two ladies...you can tell they love what they do!

The wishes you can make include:
I want to have...(excluding money, reality, anything requiring a permit)
I want to meet...
I want to be.....
and, I want to go.....
Anna chose, "I want to go to London!" We knew this was a tall order as this wish was for her whole family to go! We were told that large families are NOT discriminated against but we felt for sure this would be too tall an order even for Make-A-Wish!

 Tonight we had the honor of having our wish granters come over to Bremerton, to our "real" home! The children were all excited to see them again as it has been about 6 months since last seeing them!!! Anna made a delicious dinner and we enjoyed pleasant chatter before being served dessert. After our meal, Steph brought out her magic blue bag to go over a matter of business before heading out. She handed Anna this lovely hand made card and said it had been mistakenly sent to her rather than to Anna! ;-) As Anna read the note out loud, we all started to cry! We are so humbled to learn that we will all be flying to London this summer!!!! Wow! I am still in shock! What an awesome opportunity!!!! We will have more details in time, but for now....let's pack our bags, we're going to London!

A very clever way to tell Anna her wish was coming true!

A little excited!

Checking out things to do in London!

Really?!!!

I sit down at the computer as I finally have a quiet moment.....REALLY?! Is it really 1:00 A.M.?!! Oh brother! I feel as though life is moving faster and faster all around me and I am going....nowhere, I am running on a treadmill of sorts. I keep running faster and faster but seem to keep doing the same things over and over and over again while never quite catching up. Even at this moment, the quiet of the night is being interrupted by the soft cry of a sweet little baby in the back room. Well, I tried. Off to brush my teeth and scoop that precious angel up to fill her little tummy once again. Then, I will get some much needed sleep. Good night all. And may the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you and give you peace!!