Jalen is a senior this year and is intensely looking forward to interning at Disney World during his 2nd term of college next year. Currently, his favorite school subjects are history, art, and drama and he is excited about playing the part of the wizard in June in "Once Upon a Mattress" (a musical version of The Princess and the Pea) at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, University of Michigan.
In his free time, Jalen is into drawing (cartooning/manga), writing fiction, attending any and all Life Teen events at our parish, and helping as a teen leader of Fuel, our middle school prayer meetings. He is also guilty of sharing one of his favorite addictions with me, the TV show "Psych," and has sucked me in with him to near-obsession status!
The funniest item (to me!) of his year... Jalen is finally ready to cut his hair and now that he is, the director of OUAM told him NO- the wizard needs long hair! :) We have held off on senior photos, letting him decide whether he would cut it before having pictures taken. Looks like that epic moment will have to wait until June!
Luke, age 15:
Also in the Explorers Drama production, Luke will be Sir Luce and the understudy for the prince. Musically, Luke picked up the bass guitar over the summer and hopes to start serving soon at Fuel in music ministry. He also plans to learn the ukulele in the coming year- I don't know why, but this is one of the things that makes him such a *fun* kid to me!
Luke is always amazing us with his photography and his unique eye in all things artistic. This is likely his last year of homeschooling as next year (10th grade) he hopes to attend WTMC, a charter school at Washtenaw Community College, where he plans to study photography.
Luke is also very active in Life Teen, going on several retreats and conferences in the last year, and John and I are so thankful that one of our greatest problems with having teens so far has been... the cost of gas.
Morgan, age 11:
Morgan is a singer (2 choirs), dancer (worship dance, drama), actress (in "Annie" July 2010, and in the singing/dancing chorus of "Once Upon a Mattress"), musician (violin and piano), and athlete (CTK Jaguars volleyball and basketball.) She recently began a conversational French class with several friends and is really enjoying it (it helps that her awesome teacher brings hot chocolate and crepes to class!).
Morgan attends Fuel, the middle school prayer meetings at CTK, and is a member of a Catholic girls' group called "Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus." She comes home with wonderful ideas for expanding our family's faith life together and I think her passion will help bring great changes to our home.
Parker, age 8:
Our little pirate princess follows in her sister's footsteps as a dancer, with two worship dance classes, basketball player (in the Upward league), and in violin, piano, and French.
Parker, in 3rd grade, is my most eager student. Among her favorite subjects are history and science. She has many goals and asked if she could be "more than one thing" when she grows up- the current goal is a world-traveling scientist/inventor/chef/dental hygienist. :)
She can make something out of ANYTHING and constantly raids the trash cans for discarded items that can be used in very unique ways. It's cute, but I do have to watch what I throw away!!
John:
John continues to feel like he lives a life way cooler than he deserves. He just finished his 23rd year working for Thorton's and still really enjoys it. He is coaching basketball in two leagues for the girls, and his alter-ego, "DJ Jedi," is still doing his podcast and occasionally does special shows for Emancipation Radio.
John's bucket list got a bit shorter this year as he got to see the original band "The Time" (you know... Morris Day, Purple Rain!). We have seen the traveling band and met them a few times also, but this year in Detroit we were able to meet and hang out with all seven of the originals.
His other favorite days were driving like a madman through the night to get me to Florida and into the Magic Kingdom before my 40th birthday ended (I got 4 glorious hours complete with fireworks!) and also he says "just the simple days with my redhead and our kids." Love that guy!
Kelli:
What have I been up to??? I pretty much have a full-time job coordinating all of the above!! In addition to playing taxi driver and master-scheduler, I am the yearbook instructor at Explorers, the team mom for the CTK Jaguars, and I'm in my 18th year as a dental hygienist, still working part time for CSW Dental Associates. (Oh, I left out my other full-time job... homeschooling! I am teaching grades 3, 6, 9, and 12 this year!)
My favorite memory of the year is, of course, our trip to Disney World for my 40th birthday. I look forward to our next trip in 2012 when Jalen spends a semester there. :)
Even with the challenges that the year has brought, God has lovingly opened a window for us for every door that was shut. I am very excited about the new year and the changes that are sure to come. I was just explaining this to one of my teens the other day... It is hard to not know the future but over the last 23+ years with John, we can look back and see how the mighty hand of God was guiding us. We have suffered losses that were difficult, only to see that the Lord actually had something better in mind for us. Sometimes it took years and sometimes only weeks or even days to see what blessings He wanted to give us. We are so thankful for His loving care!
Thanks for checking in with us this year. We pray for peace and joy for you in 2011!
