VBS, Volleyball, Cowen and Broadway!

It's only been two weeks since my last post so many fun things have happened.

First of all, we held VBS at our church, The Great Global Advebture. It was Becca's last year of VBS which made me feel a bit nostalgic. Next year as a middle schooler, she wants to be a helper. Garrett helped this year by leading songs during the opening. My role was registation/whatever the director wants. There's just something about Vacation Bible School- bible stories mixed with popsicles and crafts makes my heart flutter!

Hannah wasn't able to help in VBS because she spent the week ay Cedarville University at volleyball camp. Picking her up on Friday, she and the other girls were tired and sore- but had a great time.

Just two days later, Garrett and Hannah and I went to the WV Baptist Camp at Cowen, WV for Senior High Camp for a week. Becca spent the week with Louie's parents and I left Louie home alone. It was strange having Becca in one city, Louie at home and the three of us at camp but we survived. The first day, they asked all the counselors to introduce themselves and I realized that it was 24 summers ago that I came to senior high camp for the first time- and I met Louie that week. Now here I am with our kids. Who would have thought?

Garrett, Hannah and I had a good week. There are a few things you can always count on at Cowen... it will rain at least once, because of the humidity your towel will never completly dry, you'll be sleep deprived by Thursday and you'll leave a changed person. Here are some pictures from our week:

"Get to know you" games

Four Square is a Cowen Classic. Garrett and I aren't players- not aggressive enough. But Hannah? Brutal! They've introduced a new game that's really fun called "Ga-Ga" which is a little like dodge ball.

One night, we played an epic game called "Bedlam Ball". Basically, it's a free-for-all with all sizes of balls that each have diffrent point values. Each of four teams has to get as many balls in the opponent's goals as possible. It's four quarters of chaos. Garrett got an elbow to the eye- nothing like starting camp with a black eye!

In the mornings, we had a great Praise and Worship time followed by Bible study and small group discussion. Our theme scripture was Hebrews 10:19-25. The scripture contained five "Let us..." statements and so the week contained a lot of games and things dealing with "Lettuce". In the evenings, we met outside in the Vesper area and heard a lesson about a person'e life from scripture.

We got home from camp on Saturday afternoon and Becca had another performance of Huntington Outdoor Theater that evening. Since I hadn't seen her in a week, I took her to the park. As soon as the show was about to begin, the heavens opened up and it started to pour the rain.

Apparently in the theater, the show always goes on, so after a short "rain delay", they swept the water and she took the stage. Every weekend, the show gets better! My parents came this evening to see her sing. All in all, it was a good show... even though I really wanted to go home and sleep. It may take me a week to catch up!

One more weekend of performances and then we'll turn our attention to school starting in just 4 weeks. Where has the summer gone? Speaking of school, we got Garrett's ACT scores last week- he got a 32 ! That's a really high score and we were pleasantly surprised.

Four more weeks of summer...

Our 19th Wedding Anniversary

July 6, 1991.

Now that I think about it, we were sooo young. I was 20 and Louie was 21 years old. Still in college. (Only 3 years older than Garrett- oh, my goodness!) But after two years of dating, we were certain that God intended for us to commit our lives to each other. Words can't express how thankful I am that he guided us and protected us even from our own ignorance at times as we set out into life as husband and wife.

They say your wedding day if often a blur and you're lucky to remember it. But its funny what I do remember. Here are some highlights for your sheer enjoyment!

*I'll never forget the look on Louie's face and how he was acting all through the ceremony. I couldn't stop smiling- I was sooo happy that the day had finally arrived. Louie, who normally was great in front of a crowd of people, was stone-faced, pale and sweating. It was priceless. I'm still not exactly sure what he was so scared of... that I would say NO at the last minute? He finally was able to relax a little and smile at me during the singing.

*Louie's former pastor, Ron Stoner, and our pastor (at the time) and college ministry leader, Roger Adams, performed the ceremony. Now, Roger was notorious for editorializing during weddings. I wrote every word and asked him not to. But... of course he did anyway. That's when I thought Louie just may pass out and hit the floor.

*When he finally pronounced us man and wife, Louie got his second wind and did something that was very "Louie-ish". When he went to kiss me, he grabbed me and dipped me at the waist dramatically. He had threatened to do it, but when he did it at the rehearsal, I thought it was out of his system. Apparently not! Everyone laughed and clapped.

*You always have a few 'glitches' that make the story of your wedding day fun. After all the wedding party exited the sanctuary, someone forgot to turn off Louie's father's microphone- he had sung The Lord's Prayer. So as the organ music played, you hear Ed talking saying something about his shoes hurting his feet. On the wedding video, you can see Carol Adams, our pastor's wife hop up from her seat and tear out of the room after him.

*We had a great reception at Guyan Country Club. We had a buffet, a band, and a lot of dancing. Some of my favorite moments on are wedding video are watching couples from our church who have been married for many, many years slow dancing together. We even got Betty Crouch out on the dance floor!

I told you a little about that day, but our 19 years of marriage is about so much more than a single day. If you compared marriage to running a marathon, that's simply the day we walked to the starting line together. Every day since then has been the real expression of our love for each other. Some days and some years, we've done very well. Other days and other years, we've failed each other. We've even renewed our vows to make sure we were still running in the right direction. But I'm happy to tell you that after exactly 19 years, we still love each other. Although it's not always been pure bliss, it's absolutely true what they say- we love each other more today than we did when we committed our lives to each other. And I hope that God gives us many, many more years!

A Series of "Firsts"

Wow! What a crazy, fun busy summer its shaping up to be! I would have written a post for this blog last week but I accidentaly deleted all my pictures from my camera and had to have help from a friend to retrieve them. (Thanks, Jake) Over the last few weeks, we've experienced a lot of "firsts" around here.

Garrett is in a band with some guys from church called Torn in Two. They've played at a few youth events and for the First time, they played for an outside group. They played for a small church that was having a revival. They played for an hour and Garrett, who sings lead, led a devotion. I think they're really talented and I hope they get to play a lot. They'll play again on July 23rd in Huntington at The Focus. They're the opening band that evening.

Then, I took Garrett to Jackson's Mill in Weston, WV for the First time. He was selected to attend Mountaineer Boy's State because of his good grades and leadership skills. The week long camp is run like a mock state government. Garrett ran for a seat on the Supreme Court and took the Boys State version of the Bar Exam. He was defeated in the election but ended up as a Circuit Judge. They had mock trials and he said it was cool being called "The Honorable Garrett Gaunch." He learned a lot about government and said he has a new sense of patriotism.

For the First time, Rebecca got a role in a Huntington Outdoor Theater production and Hannah and Garrett aren't in it. Her part is in the pre-show that is a 45 minute performance before the actual play. The pre-show this year is a celebration of Broadway and the play is Annie. One night, she was running across the stage and turning a cartwheel when she slipped and fell on her head and hand. Her head swelled but she was ok. The next day, her finger swelled and we had it x-rayed but it seemed fine...

The next day, we had another First. All three kids went to church camp. They're all been to camp many times, but never at the same time. Becca was a camper at junior camp for 9-11 year olds and Garrett and Hannah were junior counselors. Yep, Louie and I were going to be alone in the house for a week. Another First. We've been away on trips and left the kids at home but they've never all gone away and left US at home.

The week started out great. I had a long to-do list while Louie was at work. But... we got a call Monday that Becca's x-ray had been read. She had broken her right index finger. Well, at first I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. After all, what do you do for a broken finger besides tape them together? But when the pediatrician called with the full report, the right index finger was broken near a joint and in a growth plate... tape wasn't going to cut it. **Seventeen years of parenthood and this is our very First child with a broken bone! So our quiet week without kids was interrupted with a drive to camp, a trip to the orthopedist and back to camp again which totaled 11 hours of driving in less than 24 hours. The good news was, with 3 weeks in a firm splint, she should be good as new. And I even managed to end the week with one of my goals accomplished- another First- a clean and organized garage. It's something I've wanted to do since we moved into the house 6 summers ago!

That just about sums up what's going on around here. But I just had to mention that Becca came home from camp with a new favorite candy- Pretzel M&Ms. (I thought it was ironic that there is a picture of an x-ray on the package!) To make her happy (for no other reason of course) I tried them. While I admit that you can hardly go wrong when you mix salty with sweet, I can't say its my favorite. Hannah like the new coconut M&Ms, Garrett likes any M&Ms, Louie likes peanut butter M&Ms and I'd have to go with good old peanut M&Ms- although if they made a 'dark chocolate peanut M&Ms' it would be perfect!

Another day... another milestone

A picture actually IS worth a thousand words!

Today was Promotion Sunday at church. Our youngest child said good bye to the children's department and was promoted to the youth department. (sigh) To say she was excited and ready to move up would be an understatement. Now you need to understand that we have had at least one child in the children's department for 12 years in a row. 12 years. So it may take a little getting used to. The cool thing about this school year is... this will be the only year that all 3 kids will be in youth group together. They'll be in grades 6, 11 and 12. Let's hope it simplifies our schedule!

Which brings us to another Gaunch family milestone...we have another driver in the family! Garrett passed his driver's test and now is a legal WV driver. He's had his licence for about 10 days now. I'm happy for him- this is a big deal.

What next? Well, Hannah is interviewing for a summer job this week. 16 years old and possibly a member of the workforce. :)

Marvelous, Manic May- Part 2

The fun continued as we progressed through May. Every week was full of activity- mostly fun, always exhausting, and constantly pushing us toward the end of the school year. One event that marks the closing of the school year is the Spring Concert. Every class K-12 has a musical offering of some sort... the different levels or choirs sing and the different levels of bands play. In truth, it's a long evening but a night full of praise. This year, Louie went with the kids and I didn't go. I'm taking a six week class at our church in Church History. One week of the class already had to be cancelled and since we're trying to cover 2000 years in 6 weeks, I hated to miss another week. The kids understood and I've already heard them sing. (by the way- love the class. Church history is not at all boring and I 've had a lot of "ah, ha" moments)

Another thing that has ruled our life (in a good way) this month has been the school production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. It's a comedy/love story and both Garrett and Hannah had roles. Garrett was a love sick young man just back from war who was tricked into thinking his true love was unfaithful, then dead. Hannah actually had the role of a 'not so intelligent' young lady. I have to say- she was hilarious. Between homework, studying for finals and dress rehearsals, I thought I might loose it... but as always, everything came together in the end and the play was a huge success.

Not to be outdone, Becca had a staring role of her own in a play at church on Graduation Sunday. Like Hannah, her character was funny. (Where does that comedy come from?) She also sang and danced. I'm always amazed at how much kids can memorize!

That same day, Garrett and Hannah sang with the Youth Praise Team a song called "The Words I Would Say". Garrett sang the first verse alone. I thought he did a great job.

Meanwhile, back at the school.... I was working with some moms to put on a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon for our full time and part time teachers. At Covenant, our teachers actually make less money than public school teachers and they work so hard. We put out china and flowers on the tables, served them a beautiful lunch, and provided a simple but heartfelt program for them. We collected some donations for each teacher and administrator and gave out door prizes as a special treat. Louie even got in on the action, helping prepare the appetizers. As part of the program, I gave a 10 minute devotion to our teachers. I compared the teachers to Moses- each taking a group of people on a journey, and encountering some of the same types of things along the way. It was a very simple devotion, theologically, but no one seemed to mind.

Covenant is a very hands-on school and the kids are always doing experiments and taking field trips to better understand what they've learned. The 5th grade completed a unit this year on flight. (I thought we'd never live through studying for that test!) To top off all the fun, Becca had the assignment to build a glider- not from a kit- based on all she'd learned. Styrofoam was the material of choice. As a matter of fact, there are still little pieces of it all over the house that I just can't seem to be able to sweep up. They had a contest to see whose would fly furthest. Hers didn't win... later she flung it sideways and guess what? It went crazy far. She challenged the little guy who won to a rematch but he said no way.

They celebrated by having a class party out at a farm where they swam, played in a creek, and took a wagon ride. Becca got to bring one of her best buddies home for the rest of the day- she was in 5th grade heaven. Garrett had to put on his headphones to block out the giggling.

On the last day of school, Covenant has an awards ceremony. Awards are given for attendance, choir, band, math field day, Latin and even handwriting which is pretty cool considering that today, handwriting really is a lost art! Even amid swine flu, Hannah had perfect attendance this year. Also, Garrett and Hannah received awards for Math Field Day and the National Latin Exam.

The next day, we attended Covenant School graduation. It really is unlike any graduation I've ever attended. Yes, graduates wear robes and tassels, there is an address by the valedictorian, scholarships are announced, and diplomas are given. But it's such an intimate school, that each graduate is treated by faculty as if its their own child graduating. A special speaker delivers a short address but its really a sermon. Then, photos of each graduate are shown on the screen, prepared by each mom.

You need to know- Garrett's graduation is already on the school calendar, so Save The Date: May 28, 2011 at 4pm. Oh, my goodness. It's good that we have a whole year to prepare ourselves for next year's graduation. On Saturday, Louie cried through the entire graduation. I'm not kidding. He's going to need to be medicated next year. :) And I thought I was bad... But truly, I have been thinking since the weekend about the coming year. We have a choice to make. To moan and cry about the fact that this will be our last...fill in the blank... with Garrett before he goes to college, or we can celebrate everything and be excited about the next step. I'm going to try with every fiber of my being to spend the next year being excited for him. To not think about what I'm loosing-possibly his day to day presence- but instead to think about what God has planned for him. Louie may have to pry my fingers from him when the time finally comes and I know I'll shed a million tears this year, but they'll be nostalgic and happy ones.

Marvelous, Manic May is over. Bring on the summer.

Marvelous, Manic May

May is one of those turning point months. Summer is almost here (and so is bathing suit season- scary.) The kids just have a few weeks of school left. They're starting to say things like, "I'm almost a sixth grader". And it's a month that is full of activities! We have a color coded calendar (I know it's a little over the top, but it helps me keep track!) and the calendar page for May looks like a rainbow.

The first Saturday of May was typical. That day we were going in multiple directions. I actually ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K run. My friend, Greg, said he had a goal in mind for how fast he was going to finish the race and asked if I had a goal... yep, I said, crossing the finish line before all the people who were walking the 5K. (I wasn't kidding)

Actually, I didn't do too terrible considering I don't run nearly as much as I used to. We all ran and walked in honor of our precious friend Sarah Beth who passed away just weeks before the 5K of breast cancer. I'm so glad I got to be a part of it.

Later that day, while Hannah was at back in Huntington at a school play practice, we celebrated with our friend Tim as he got married. I have never seen him so happy. He cried through the ceremony. Then at the reception, my family danced like crazy people- I wonder where they get it from?! Garrett and Becca were all over the dance floor. They knew all the dances. Even Lou tried the Hillbilly something-or-another. He kicked his leg up in the air and all I could think was, "He's going to pay for that later!" But we had a great time. We have so many crazy, frustrating days... it's nice to have days like these every once and a while where you can just celebrate.

This weekend was Mother's Day, of course, and I was with Garrett in Charleston for our final weekend of Youth Leader Core, a 5 weekend youth leadership training program through our state Baptist convention. I led a class called "Worship Is" and at the end of the weekend as sort of a grand finale to the entire program, the youth led the early worship service at Emmanuel Baptist Church. Louie's mom and dad attend there and its where Louie grew up going to church. The service came together better than I thought and I loved it. One thing they did was write their testimony on a piece of cardboard. The premise is that sharing your testimony is as simple as "before" and "After". So on one piece of a piece of cardboard, they wrote a word or phrase that described their life before Christ... and on the back they wrote a word or phrase that described their life after they truly were changed by knowing Christ personally. One by one, the kids walked to the front, held up their piece or cardboard and then turned it over to reveal the other side. It was powerful.

I wasn't sure if the adult leaders were going to share their cardboard testimonies or not, so I created my own. As the planning continued, the kids just shared theirs and the adults really sat back to let them lead the entire service without interruption. So... my cardboard is in my backpack. I didn't share it Sunday, but I'm not embarrassed to share it with you now.

That brings us to Marvelous, Manic May 13. Today was a double-milestone day. First, Becca got her braces of!!! One and a half years ago.. that would be at the beginning of 4th grade, Becca got 'the works' as I like to call it. She had a narrow palate because of 7 years of sucking her thumb, so she got expanders on top and bottom with a crank. She's dealt with broken pieces, sores in her mouth, rubber bands and all kinds of discomfort like a trooper. Her dentist bestowed on her all the sticky candy she's not been allowed to eat... in moderation of course. To keep those beautiful teeth beautiful, she will wear retainers well, basically for the foreseeable future.

She wouldn't let me take a close up picture because she's not seen her teeth for a long time and thinks they look weird. But as she pointed out in the car on the way home... "Hey! I can whistle again!" Ah, the joys of having your braces off!

Another 'Marvelous' milestone today is that Garrett is off with Louie's dad on two college visits. Emory University in Atlanta and King College in Bristol, Tennessee. I can't believe I used the words 'Garrett' and 'college visit' in the same sentence. I've teared up about a dozen times today. It's this crazy mixture of exciting and scary. Happy tears, I promise.

A quick update... I mentioned that Becca auditioned for a part in the Huntington Outdoor Theater production of "Annie". She found out last night that she got a role in the awesome "Annie" Preshow that warms up the audience before the play begins. She's happy with that role and there will be 9 performances during July. More infor later!

I've got spirit, how 'bout you?

Last week was school spirit week for the junior and senior high students at Covenant School. Several days had a theme and the kids were allowed to dress according to that theme. We did this when Louie and I were in school, too. But Garrett and Hannah are required to wear a uniform every day. So when they get a chance to wear anything else, they jump at the chance. ((I have to add that Louie had entirely too much fun dressing them up!)

One day was "College Day" and of course, they wore their MU apparel.

There was also "Decade Day". They were allowed to dress according to their favorite decade. Hannah chose the 50's and Garrett chose the 20's.

Then it was "Character Day". They were allowed to dress like a character from a movie or book. Hannah was Esmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Garrett was Zorro.

The last day was "Super Hero Day" and they could be a 'real' or made up super hero. Hannah dressed up as Rouge from X-Men. She dresses in normal clothes and has a white streak in her hair. Unfortunately, the white streak quickly turned grey and I don't think Hannah was happy with it. Garrett was a made up hero named "Norseman", a Viking super hero.

The week culminated with the annual Spring Ball. The first half of the dance is pretty traditional and the kids actually were taught the waltz, the cha cha and swing dancing. They even have a dance card. Then the second half of the dance, it's more relaxed and they do a lot of group dances and are free to dance with whomever they please. Both kids said this year was the best dance yet.

Becca, on the other hand, was normal all week! One cool thing she did last week was that she auditioned for a role in the Huntington Outdoor Theater production of "Annie". They won't announce who made the show until 2nd week of May, so we're holding our breath. Here's a picture of her as we left for the tryout.

And she got to get fitted for her retainers this week because on May 13th, the BRACES ARE COMING OFF!