Sam and Luther are completing the 3rd grade in a couple of weeks. They have grown so much. They love playing together (and fighting together). They love playing with their guys, playing video games, and drawing/reading. They are so excited for school to be over. They are looking forward to staying up late, getting up late, and spending excessive amounts of time with friends.
Gabby is nearly done with her first year of middle school. The 7th grade is brutal...or so I have heard. She is officially a teenager (yes we have three of them in the house) and loves the chance to let us know at every turn that she is a teen. She spends as much time hanging out with friends as possible. Her bestest friend, Charlsie is a constant in her life. I swear that she spends as much time with her as she does with us (more with her on the weekends). She too is looking forward to an extended vacation and seeing family.
Matt is 16, has a driver's permit, and is a drumming machine. Matt and Zach both competed in the WGI Indoor Percussion World Championships. You can see their send off show here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDEo116pnbo Matt was on the smallest bass drum and Zach was playing all of the sound effects on a pad in the second row. Matt is looking forward to his junior year where he hopes to become part of the percussion pantheon. He also plays drums in a Christian rock band and hopes to begin making his own custom drums.
Zach is getting ready (fixin) to graduate from Petal High School in a couple of weeks. He was recently named the winner of the John Phillips Sousa Award for the Outstanding Band Member and also the Petal Entrepreneurship Student of the Year at Petal. He placed 2nd at the Mississippi Business Plan Competition. He received a $2,000 scholarship from the University of Southern Mississippi and will be attending USM in the fall. He has played with USM's Jazz Band for the past year as a senior in high school. He will be majoring in composition and jazz. He will also be playing in the marching band. It has been a busy year for him.
Rainier just finished his sophomore year at USM. He is double majoring in political science and French. He has a 4.0 and was named the outstanding sophomore student in his program at a recent recognition luncheon. He will be spending the summer studying in France. He recently finished his commitment to the United States Army and his family could not be more proud to have him serve and represent our family honorably. He has a great girlfriend and is looking forward to pushing through his degrees and to graduate school.
Candy finished both her personal training certificate and her nutrition certificate. She spends her time keeping our busy family functioning and trying to get us to live a more healthy existence. She enjoys running, working out, and fixing up our home. She has great friends that she has found solace in spending time with them, our family, and doing the things that she loves.
I am still serving as bishop (pastor) of the Petal Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have served in that capacity for the last 4.5 years. I love it. I am still a professor at USM and also serve as the chair of the Department of Economic and Workforce Development. It is a great existence. I am constantly challenged and invigorated with my work with youth entrepreneurship http://www.theSEP.org and as President of the Community Development Society http://www.comm-dev.org. Many doors have recently opened and our family is looking forward to seeking God's will for us.
We lost one of our family members this year. Our beloved dog Harley disappeared one day. It broke our hearts as he had been with us for 9 years. We treasure the memories and know that God will reunite us down the road.
Our lives are constantly in motion and we love spending time with each other. We are hoping to make a long family trip west this summer and expect to get on each others' nerves and laugh a lot too. We look forward to seeing family and friends and building those strong bonds once again.
