Summer 2012 Almost History...

Well summer break 2012 is in the history book for us and our kids, marked by all three kids being back in school as of today. We have two Junior’s at Conant High School in Hoffman Estate and a 6th grader at Hoover Math and Science. It has been a busy summer with lots of activities keeping the family busy. In some ways it has passed very quickly and in others things seemed to have slowed down but to the grace of God we are all here to appreciate it and look back on it with a thankful heart! The theme for this year is a Year of Reference as was communicated via our church and the Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG) that we are members of at the Schaumburg Community Church. There are many highlights so far this year in almost every area of our lives. Jean has been extremely busy this summer and this year with her position downtown Chicago, helping the church in areas like event planning (Annual Health Fair), supporting the kids in their sports (soccer and track and field), supporting me in getting a new business started (Avion Energy), supporting her family by working to keep periodic prayer sessions going and believe this is only a partial list. While Jean's work position continues to be a challenge and sometime an outright battle she continues to prevail and God's goodness stands out as the consistent help she needs along the way. The kids and there sports kept us busy with trips to Indiana, Texas and many parts of the state of Illinois. There are three major track and field competitions during the summer for each of the two primary track and field organizations in the US. The AAU(Athletic Amateur Union) and USATF (United States America Track and Field) each having a State, Regional and ultimately a National Competition. The kids participated in all of these with exception of the USATF National in Baltimore. We had to draw the line somewhere in the amount of time, travel and expenses that made sense for this season and decided to only participate in the AAU National in Humble Texas. As we head into the end of summer and the beginning of the new school year lots of changes for the kids and us with Juniors in high school, soccer season, pre-middle school six grader and everything that goes with two teenagers beginning to narrow their field of vision and focus for their future in academics and sports. As for me I have been actively involved in starting a new business since the beginning of the year working as an Energy Consultant for a MLM company called Avion Energy Group. I got off to a great start with assigning 10 plus contracts to assist commercial businesses and non-profits in reducing the cost of the electricity and natural gas required for their operations. My business has slowed due to me working with the church in whatever capacity possible to locate and purchase a new church home. This has been a major summer project for me searching out properties, working viewing schedules, recording and communicating progress, following up on possibilities and providing general assistant wherever needed to secure a property as soon as possible. While it has taken me off my new business momentum I have no regrets because it is God’s work and my wife has supported and encouraged me to do whatever I can to assist the Pastor and the church in this effort. So as we get ready to go into the next part of this Year of Reference there appears to be no rest for the weary as I always say with school, sports, work, business endeavors, church activities and general family needs, just to mention a few, I am thankful for God’s continued Grace and Mercy in our lives and prayerful that he will continue to look upon this family with favor and the things we are doing for each others, others and most of all for him in Jesus Name. Amen

End of the Season - 2012 AAU (Givan Results)

So bringing to a close another season of outdoor track and field for Eji, Daisy and Givan. The AAU Junior Olympic Games held near Houston Texas in Humble Texas this year signals the end of the outdoor season for 2012. As I mentioned in the earlier update Givan and I were there for the competition and while it was a bit hot during a few of the days overall it wasn't that bad. We made an adventure of the trip with Given competing in three events (100m dash, 400m dash and the 4x100 relay for the Aurora track club). He finished up 26th in the national for the 400 meter, 49 in the US for the 400 meter for his age group and the 4x100 relay is still under protest. During the 4x100 one of Givan's teammates had a fall right after handing off the baton (He is ok). However, there has been a protest posted by Coach Boatright of the Aurora Flyers because the 4x100 bantam team was Dis-qualified (DQ) due to a judge stating the hand off occurred outside of the area allotted for the transition to take place. What is an adventure with a little drama right! Well more to come on that and I will plan to post once it is decided. In any case Givan had a great week with his competition, teammates and Houston. We were able to get in a little fun with a trip to ITZ arcade and entertainment center located near the Willowbrook Mall on Tomball Parkway. A unique fun center with an all you can eat buffet, arcade games, rides and a rock climbing wall. It was a great getaway for one of the days and the food was pretty good as well. We also made a trip downtown to visit the Houston Children Museum and that was crazy. The place was never ending and packed with kids of all ages, with almost everything you could think of to keep kids amused and educate them at the same time. Givan had a great time with building a wind tunnel floating device with paper cups and sticks. There really wasn’t enough time to really take it all in but he made a good go of it. We added to the adventure by deciding to take a 2 mile walk to get to the museum that felt more like a five mile by the time we got back to our rental car after the visit to the museum. The GPS said it was only 2 miles so we thought hey it would be a good way to walk off our lunch and take in a little of the Houston downtown neighborhood. The going was great just enjoying the city and the time together.  The coming back was a bit different, after carrying Givan horseback style for about a 1/3 of the way back  it was clear the GPS may have mis-led us just a bit. The reason he needed to be carried was twofold with having flip flops for shoes, that are not the most comfortable hiking shoes and lastly and most important not wearing out his legs before the 4x100 relay the next morning. Hey praise God I still can carry him for that distance without them having to carry me (smile). All in all a great get away,  hopefully we can do it again as a family next year, I believe it is scheduled to be in Detroit Michigan.