February 2020

The first weekend in February, Abby and I went to Greenville along with Carrie and Becca Zieber, Danielle and Kate Thompson, and Haddie Santos to celebrate Zuri's birthday!  It was a sweet little overnight trip.  The adults stayed up way too late being slap happy and laughing, and the kids got up early... but at least they slept!

Isaac and Karl practicing the drums. :)

Saturday at a jumpy place:

This crepe restaurant where we went for brunch is Abby's "all time favorite restaurant" now.  Probably because it was like eating dessert for a meal. 😂

Visiting the falls in downtown Greenville...

Sleepy girls on the way home...

The Challenge A Science Fair!  

Isaac sneaking into Micah's photo:

Some of Micah's buddies from his class..

Presenting to the judges: 

So here's the funny story about the science fair.  When we got there and I looked around, I thought, "Wow, Micah really has a good chance of winning something!"  I knew he was super prepared and that it was a good project that fit all the requirements. But when they announced the winners, Micah hadn't placed at all - and they had even had a tie for first place. 3 out of the 4 students were from our campus though!  He took it so well!  Even on the way home, when I asked him if he was disappointed, he said, "A little because I worked so hard.  But I'm so happy that our class did really well."  I was super proud of his attitude.

THEN...

When we got home, I got a call from Carole. She said, "I just feel sick.  When I got to my car, I looked over the judges' forms again because I couldn't believe Micah hadn't placed at all.  The people ordering the scores misread what was written on Micah's paper.  He got 1st place and he scored a full four points above the other two who were announced as the winners!"  So we did a little celebration dance at home and went out for ice cream that night. :)  Carole presented Micah with his certificate at the next CC community day (and they ordered him a first place medal.)  They decided not to take any placements away from the other students, so Micah was kind of considered the"Grand Champion."

Painting with textured paint like Morisot...

House church.  We had 5 Chinese students come visit on the day the scripture we were talking about was the crucifixion and the curtain in the temple being torn.  It was so great to have them, but I know it was was not easy for them follow.  They said afterward there were so many characters (like Pilot), and they didn't even really understand what crucifixion was.  Let alone trying to describe what the temple was and why there was a curtain.  Our friend Luis had given us 5 Chinese Bible to give them, so they were able to follow along and then keep the Bibles from themselves.

Micah has been obsessed with learning Spanish for fun in his spare time.  Every time he is around Luis he compares notes and asks questions. He keeps charts of conjugation endings and declensions and LOTS of flashcards with vocab on them.

The Chinese students and Luis and Lisa stayed for lunch and games most of the afternoon:

Dutch Blitz was definitely their favorite!

Caleb decided to give Abby a "spa treatment" one night...

Caleb's workout one day.  Lifting the big branch in the yard. :)

On our break week from CC, Micah's Challenge A class got together for Nerf gun battles.  After I dropped him off, I took Caleb and Abby to see Frozen 2.  As Abby and I left to go to the bathroom before it started, I thought it was funny to see Caleb in the theater all by himself. Good thing we beat all the crowds. 😂

My friend Rachel texted me after she dropped her son off at the Nerf wars too, and they ended up coming to the theater too.  Abby was thrilled since Emma is one of her "BFF"s. :)

We used a Cracker Barrel gift card one night.  The best part of that place is wondering around the store area while waiting for a table. :)

Fun day having the Burns kids over on our break week...

And Helen for Micah. :)

There is a tendency to set up games at the most walked through spot in the whole house...

We had one tiny snow at the end of February!   Abby and Caleb scrapped and scrapped snow off of Ben's car and the ground to make this tiny little snowman that was half mud and leaves.  By the next morning, all the snow was gone, but this little guy remained.

At the eye doctor.

The Chinese students wanted to play Dutch Blitz again when we had the Friendship Dinner!

Other things from February (that I just don't have pictures of):

*Superbowl party at our house

*Ben and I went to a 24-hour Vineyard Pastor's Retreat in Greenville Feb7-8.  The kids spent the night at Wes and Joyce's house.  There was a dusting of snow that Saturday afternoon as we were driving home!

*Carroll Financial finally opened their Rock Hill office!  Ben has a little office with a window overlooking Fountain Park.  No more big commutes to Charlotte!  It's a really great office space.  

*The kids and Ben went to a Winthrop game and tailgated with a bunch of friends.