So this hasn't been our week for cars! While I type, Tyler is in the driveway waiting on pop-a-lock to come open his car with the (only)keys inside.

This picture is of the back window on the suburban. Lance and I were heading home from school today. We drove by a lawn crew and heard a very loud pop! A guy running a weed eater hit a rock that shattered my window. I keep telling myself that this is all small stuff. Small stuff. Wonder what will happen to the Honda?!

Yay for tax refunds!

We got a new TV and console this week, thanks to our tax refund check. Yippee! I’ve missed having a TV in the living room! Since we finished the floors, I’ve pretty much ignored this space. We just lined the walls with the furniture and stopped thinking about it. With the new TV, we had to figure out a way to arrange it all. This is what we ended up doing and so far, I like it!  It’s cozier—read more crowded!—but that makes for better conversations, right? We still have so much to do on the house, but lost steam once the major work was done.  In the spirit of a preacher I once heard, SOMEDAY we’ll finish it all. Ha!

UIL Contest

Imperial March by Karl King

Lance performed with the band on Friday in the UIL contest. They worked so hard to prepare for it—I was really proud of Lance’s hard work and desire to do well. They performed at Canyon High. David and I both attended and thought they sounded great! They scored all 1’s, which is the best you can get. Go Bonham Band!

I’ve attached a video from my phone. We keep forgetting to bring the video camera, so we made do with it. Hopefully, it will work for you! In the video, Lance is on the second row from the right, about 5 chairs from the end. By the way, if you listen carefully, you can hear me clicking away with the camera. Ha!

Oops.

Hadley had a little accident on Friday night. She and friends met up at SW park for sand volleyball. As they were leaving, she backed out of her parking spot just as this driver entered the lot. Her spare tire did this damage. Her damage wasn’t as visible—it dented in the area under the tire. We aren’t sure if hers will need repair or not. :( She was pretty upset, of course.

The boy driving the other car called the police but was told they didn’t need to respond as long as there were no injuries. She called us and we went just to be sure everything was ok. She had already exchanged info with the other driver and we’ll call the insurance on Monday morning. Bummer! Still, we were thankful it wasn’t worse than it was and that nobody was hurt. 

Hours

Three thousand, three hundred sixty five and four tenths hours. This is the hour counter on the bottom of the old vest. We’ve had this particular one for several years, not certain how long. (The old one broke and they sent this replacement) That’s a LOT of hours.

**Edited to add: After I posted this, I kept thinking about the hours that he's spent doing treatments--lifesaving treatments and I'm so thankful that we can provide what he needs when he needs it. So many people are not as fortunate.  At the same time, my heart aches when I think of the amount of time he has to spend doing it.  Childhood shouldn't be filled with pills and treatments and illness. Please continue to pray with me that the cure will be available to us quickly! There has been some very exciting news lately, but it's still not within reach for us. So close, and yet so far.

Out with the old

In with the new!

We got a new vest for Lance yesterday! A couple of years ago, we heard they had made some pretty significant upgrades to the therapy vest Lance uses every day, twice a day. (more when he’s sick) Unfortunately, our insurance would only cover $2000 of the $6000 it cost to make that upgrade. (Ridiculous, no? $6000 for an UPGRADE.) After the battle we fought and lost to get the original vest paid for by insurance, we just decided to make do with the one we had.

Fast forward to this year. We had a change in our plan—the durable goods annual cap was removed. We were so excited at the prospect of getting this newer, smaller version. We had several ups and downs along the way, but we received a call last Friday saying the new one was on its way. It arrived yesterday, along with an empty box to send the old one back to them. Woot!

The new one is programmable and offers several treatment options that our old one did not. And the size is a huge factor. I should have taken a picture of them side by side—the old one filled the vertical space in this cabinet completely. It is also a couple of inches wider than the new one. The new one is still heavy but SO much more portable. And, it came with its own rolling duffle bag! Lance was so excited that he almost cried. He told David, “We can go ANYWHERE with this one!” 

More good news! Hadley brought this certificate home yesterday. She made the All Academic Team for soccer for District. Go Hadley! I knew she was smart from the day she was born. :)

And the season is over…

The girls lost yesterday, 1-2. They just couldn’t seem to overcome a sluggish start and a faster team. We’re all pretty sad that it’s over, but glad they made it this far. Great job, Sandies!

Area Champs!

Yep—the girls did it again! They pulled out an exciting win over Fort Worth Paschal on Friday in Wichita Falls. Hadley started the game in defense, but was struggling a bit. The coach pulled her out, then sent her back in to a different position. When she returned, she played a lot better. So glad she was able to put it all together!

Paschal started out very strong and got 2 goals right off. For the first half, they looked like the better team. I was pretty worried! But, our girls rallied and scored 3 times before it was over. The second half was definitely our half.  That means we play again on Tuesday in Abilene against Arlington Martin. There are still a couple of games before the two played at state tournament April 15 and 16. Maybe we’ll go all the way!

Band Concert!

He spotted me…



 Warming up.

The adoring fans. Notice Hadley multi-tasking? At least Grandma and Dad are paying attention!



They sounded great! (Except for the trumpeter to Lance’s right who came in TWO WHOLE BEATS early on a song and irritated Lance to no end. Ha! David actually heard the mistake but I was blissfully unaware as I concentrated on getting pictures.) This concert was a practice run for the contest they have in a couple of weeks. It’s always so amazing to this non-musical mom that they can do what they do! Crockett’s band also played and I have to say we sounded a lot better than they did. :)

And finally, Mr. Ellis, the band director. Lance has really enjoyed learning from him. He’s been a very positive influence.