MK Corner
Gracie
Happy Birthday Gracie!
Just before Thanksgiving on November 18, Gracie turned 15! That’s right folks our baby is a freshman, and is eligible for her drivers permit. She is studied up, and anxious for us to take her to take the driving test. Why is it that it doesn’t surprise us when the oldest reaches these types of milestones, but when it’s our youngest, it’s as if we never saw it coming!
I guess it’s inevitable, Gracie is growing up, and honestly she is doing a pretty good job at it these days. She is a high school freshman with a rigorous academic schedule and still getting straight A’s. She crushed it in marching band, is working a part-time job, and is getting better at cooking all the time! Pray for us though, I’m not sure how Tim will take it when our baby turns 16 in less than a year…if she starts dating!
T.J.
May 19th, 2023
our little boy turned 18. This summer was full of football workouts, working at Dollar General and running his lawn mowing business. He serves on the worship team at church as well as the youth worship team as well. Unfortunately, He was not able to join us when we went to Indonesia this summer, but he was able to go National Fine Arts. He presented his short sermon, and competed with a photograph and sung with the church’s youth choir. He did a great job receiving an excellent for his sermon and a superior for the other two.
August
started the football season in Nixa, MO. T.J. has started every game through the first 6 weeks. He is the right offensive tackle on what is believed to be the heaviest O-line in Missouri. Nixa is currently 6-0 and is ranked 4th in the state. He has done a great job this year. Though what makes me so proud when people pull us aside to tell us of how he lets his godly character shine. We’ve had coaches, parents and even a 9th grader express how T.J. truly lives it out. He feels God calling him into ministry, and isn’t waiting to live it out. We are so proud of T.J.!
Ariyanna
Ariyanna
was able to join us in Indonesia. It was crazy, this little girl who eats like a bird most of the time, all of a sudden, started out eating me when we got her some Indonesian food. She also started using her Indonesian language like we’ve never seen. We had such a great time.
Coming back
from Indonesia, we had two days before we had to take off for General Council and National Fine Arts where Ariyanna competed in Readers Theater, human video, and she also had a drawing and sang in the choir. She scored an excellent for her human video and a superior for her other three.
The week
following National Fine Arts, the Nixa Cross Country team started their fall training and Ariyanna has done such a great job. Her goal going into the season was to run under 24 minutes in the 3.1 miles race. Her first race, she ran a 23:17, so she needed a new goal. She had a number of races going through the first and second mile, she was leading the pack, but that 3rd mile would bite her and she’d often fall off to 5th or 6th. She was running good times, but it was always frustrating that she just couldn’t finish it.
Sept 27, 2023, Ariyanna completed her 17th revolution around the sun. Her mom and I couldn’t be more proud of her heart and how great of a young lady she is. The following Saturday, she had another race. This has been her greatest race to date. She led the entire race. Yes the entire race, meaning she took first. In fact she beat her personal record by 30 seconds. She ran 22:43 and won the race by 30 seconds.
On top of all that, she’s a part of the National Honor Society and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She is a great witness to her friends and her school. She has incredible art skills and has excelled already in her Drawing 2 Class. We know God has great plans for her life.
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie has spent the summer doing Summer School (by choice) and doing marching band practice. She went with us to Indonesia too which is the country she was born in. It's fun seeing how much our kids connect to Indonesia. She was able to reconnect with many friends, both Indonesian and missionary kids. She too was selected to compete at National Fine Arts in the category of Poetry, Readers Theater, and Choir. She received a Superior in all three categories and was one of the top 6 with her poetry.
As was the case
with her siblings, things got fired up for her immediately following her return from National Fine Arts. Infact, her band was in camp the week she was at National Fine Arts, and so she started out behind. I have been blown away with how she was able to catch up and with both the music and the choreography. She is playing the flute and she can make that thing sing. It is amazing that she is able to be a part of such a band program. The Band has over 140 students and they are incredible. She had her first competition which started for her at 11:15 am and didn’t return home until after 11pm. Her band took 2nd.
She is a freshman this year, placing all of our kids in High School, making life really busy, but really fun. Gracie is taking a number of honors classes and was invited to be a part of the Journalism Class, which was quite an honor as a freshman. She is determined to graduate with a 4.0, and has started off on target for that. We are so proud of the young lady she’s becoming. She is an incredible Godly young lady.
To read Gracie’s poem, click the button below.
Missed out on some of the earlier updates? Catch up below!