My Mentor & My Friend - By: Sherry Gates

This post was written in memory of my Mom, by a friend of mine, Sherry (Taylor) Gates!  Thanks for writing this Sherry, my Mom loved you and your family too!


Seems like just yesterday I was a young stay at home mom doing my best to make things work while Daniel worked 10-12 hour days so that I could stay home. Many times I would call on my friend, Marlyn Shattuck and she would help me get over whatever hurdle I seemed to be facing. I remember one time in particular, Daniel had just called and said he was headed out of town and most likely would not be home until late that night. I was so bummed I called Marlyn and she told me to get off the phone and get the kids together and come to her house. I did that and we had the best time visiting while the kids ran everywhere in that big yard. I always knew that the welcome mat was out for me and I have tried to be the same way. I was lamenting the fact that I have no special talents to a friend and she said, "Oh, you do. You have the gift of hospitatlity. I always feel welcome in your home even if I show up unannounced." I just whispered, "thank you. Marlyn." Some people touch our lives forever and we just have to remember them and smile! THANK YOU, MY DEAR FRIEND FOR THE MEMORIES! Because of you I learned that things don't have to be spotless and perfect to make a house a home! I love you and miss you!

Indy Weekend - Spring Break '10

Well went spent most of our weekend in Indy spending time with our kids!  This past week has been spring break for our boys, so we thought we should try and do something fun with them.  Jerry got on Priceline and was able to get us a family suite at Stay Bride Suites, in Fishers.  This suite was really nice;  it had a full kitchen, a living room with a full-size table, a bedroom for the boys (with 2 full beds), a bathroom for the kids, a pull-out bed for Kallee, a bedroom for us and a bathroom for us.  This normally would cost around $350/night, but thanks to our dear friends at priceline, it was only $50, YEA!!!  We couldn't believe all the dishes and the extra blankets/pillows and misc. items it had in it.  Kallee thought it was SO great that she got her own bed and her own t.v. so she could watch her own cartoons and not share with the boys, ha!  There was a little sign on the counter with a bottle of Coke on it and she wanted to know what it said.  I told her it said that if you need anything (food/drinks) and you are already in your bunny slippers, call the front desk and they will bring it to you.  She said, that is so cool!  Later on she asked, "can they bring us our food now and our bunny slippers too", LOL!  When we first arrived the kids wanted to head right to the pool, so off to the pool we went.  We were the only ones in there most of time we were there, so that was GREAT!  After our pool time, we headed to Ben & Ari's an arcade type place with putt-putt golf too.  We got there early enough that there was hardly anyone there, so the kids could go from game to game without having to wait.  After pizza and playing games there, we headed to one of our favoirte stores --GOODWILL!!!  I was able to find several shirts and skirts for going to Internationals in May and Jerry was in "book Heaven" finding several books he wanted, for .99cents!  Talon found some nice casual shoes and some running shoes with spikes (@ 50% off = $2.00), something he needs for Internationals!  Keegan didn't find anything and Kallee found a pair of sunglasses and a pair of tappy shoes (tap shoes : )  She was SO thrilled to find those tappy shoes!  This morning we enjoyed a full continental breakfast at the hotel, what a great spread they had;  eggs, sausage, french toast, waffles, cereal, yogurt, fruit, bagels, muffins, toast, etc.  After breakfast we headed to the IMAX to see "How to Train Your Dragon", it was a really cute show!  It was so much fun to see the kids grabbing for the things coming at them from the screen, ha!  After that we headed to Burlington to see if we could get the kids Easter clothes and I am happy to report, we got Kallee a beautiful dress for $20, yee haw!  I wanted to get a suit for Keegan but they didn't have his size and he wasn't thrilled about it anyways, so he decided "I just wanna wear something I already have in my closet at home", so...I guess that's what we'll do.  Our day ended with a lunch/supper at Steak-N-Shake and another trip to GOODWILL : )  Thanks so much for the fun weekend babe, we really enjoyed ourselves and it was something we have needed to do for a LONG time!

The kids at the hotel!

The boys room and Keegan making his claim to which one was his bed : )

The boys bathroom

The kitchen area

Pool time!

Kallee hit the jack-pot on this game, she earned 50 tickets!

Kallee wanted to play this game really bad, but since she couldn't reach the pedals or the handlebars...she allowed her brother to help her : )

Kallee and her beloved "Tappy Shoes" as she calls them!  She watched another little girl try them on and that little girls mom said, "NO WAY, they would drive us nuts"!  Kallee ran over and tried them on after that little girl left and asked if she could get them or if they would drive us nuts, LOL!

Michigan Trip

Well I have no pictures to post because I was simply too lazy to take any : )  We, my sister Mary and her family, and my kids and I, headed to MI last Friday.  Since it was spring break for my boys, I thought we'd go see Dad for a few days.  We didn't arrive until late Friday night, but we did manage to stop and get some of the WORLD'S BEST PIZZA FROM PIZZA SAM'S, before arriving at Dad's : )  We also made a stop at Little Ceasar's for some yummy breadsticks too!  We showed our kids where our old crusin' strip was and told them how much fun we use have -- "back in the day", HA! 

We had some of Dad's famous pancakes and sausage on Saturday morning and then we were pretty much lazy all day long.  We started supper and then got a call that the Newport kids and the Forsee kids were going ice skating, so off we ran to Mt. Pleasant for some ice skating.  The kids love going ice skating and I'm so glad they called us to include us in on the fun! 

Sunday morning we had a really good service, God so graciously met with us and we could feel His presence!  As we sang, "He Is All I Need", I couldn't keep from crying--all I could see and hear was "Dad Fritz" singing it with that big grin on his face : (  He loved that song and he believed it will ALL his heart!  I wonder how long it will take for me to be able to go to that church without crying???  I sure miss my Mama and The Fritzs!!!  I was holding it together pretty good this time and then we started singing that song, and...so glad God is ALL we need!!! 

Monday we were going to go and do a little Goodwill shopping but Mary had a flat tire, so that delayed us and then we didn't end up going.  The kids had fun back in the woods with Papa, they LOVE riding back there in his truck and running like wild dingos in the back 40, as we call it!  Dad said they all ran themselves half silly back there and had fun doing it : ) 

That brings us to today when we headed home.  We hate leaving, we wish we could bring Dad with us, but we know that isn't possible, so until next time...we love you Dad and thank you for allowing us to come and be a part of your life for another weekend!!!

ACE Convention 2010 - Part II

Small Ensemble -- Back Row (L to R):  Ray Garcia, Austin Albaugh, Kevin Gonzalez, Gio Suarez, Talon Cooper & Luis Martinez

Front Row (L to R):  Britnee Derscheid, Melissa Watson, Megan Brubeck & Jenny Gonzalez

They brought home a 2nd place medal for this event : )

Gio, Talon, Luis & Britt

Austin, Britt & Melissa

Kevin & Megan

Ray receiving his 2nd place ribbon for this event!

 Austin, Talon & Luis receiving their medals for this!

Ashley receiving her 4th place medal for her Poetry Recitation!  In my opinion, she should have placed higher than this, but...I guess the judges probably don't want my opinion : )

Jenny receiving her 3rd place medal for her Poetry Recitation!

Dalton after receiving his 1st place medal in Table Tennis, WAY TO GO DALTON!!!

Jordan & Janae Waggoner receiving his 6th place ribbon for Table Tennis!

Austin Albaugh receiving his 1st place medal for his Color Photo-Still Life, YEA AUSTIN!!!

Megan receiving her 4th place ribbon for her Black & White Photo-Charcater Trait

Ashley Fulton receiving her 6th place medal for her and Jenny's duet!

Janae Waggoner receiving her 5th place for her Wood Working!

Jordan Waggoner receiving his 4th place for Wood Working!

Janae receiving her 4th place for her Clay work!

Talon performing his clown act!

Talon finishing his clown act!

Talon receiving his 2nd place medal for his clown act! : )

Britnee won 2nd place for the C.A.P. award this year, this is a VERY special award that only 6 people receive out of the 100's of students that participate!  You have to be a "well-rounded" individual to receive this award, and that she IS!  You must enter the following catergories in-order to be up for this award and earn medals in each of them as well:  Music, Art, Platform & Writing.  This is based on a point system and she earned 57 points out of a possible 60 (I think).  WAY TO GO BRITT, we are SO proud of you!!!!

Mr. Coleman, our principal, receiving an award for our school!  We earned a 2nd place for our Music participation and 3rd place for our Sports participation!  This is based on the places your total group earned in these areas!

The whole FCA gang--the students, sponsors and guests!

Yajaria & Talon being crazy! : )

Kevin, Britt, Missie & Gio showing off their medals : )

Me and "my girls" - Yajaria, Bobbie, me, Melissa & Britt

You all were a GREAT group to be "in-charge" of!  I'm so glad we got all the worlds problems solved, your kid's names figured out and that we only had on night of hearing "here comes the big one", LOL : )  I am SO proud of all of you and I know God has great things in store for you!  --Thanks for helping out Bobbie!

Jerry, Talon & myself

Talon--We are SO proud of you and are so happy that we were able to be a part of your first

ACE Convention!  It was AWESOME to watch you perform and to succeed in many of the categories that you entered!  You are a VERY talented, young man and we KNOW God has GREAT things in store for your life!  We can't wait to see how well you do with your first Internationals in May and at your future conventions you attend.

WE LOVE YOU!!!

ACE Convention 2010 - Part I

Well what a wild and crazy week it has been at the 2010 Heatland Student Convention!!!  We spent the week at Ball State University with our school, Frankfort Covenant Academy, participating in over 50 categories!  Our kids did GREAT and we are SO proud of all of them!!!  I must brag on Talon, after all, he is my very own, so...he entered 10 catergories and brought home medals in 7 of those catergories, YEA!!!  We, Jerry and I, are SO proud of you Talon!!!  He received the following: 1st place with the Radio Broadcast team, 2nd place with the Small Ensemble, 2nd place in the1600 Meter Run, 2nd with his Clown Act, 3rd with the Mixed Quartet, 4th with the Boy's Basketball Team & 6th with the Boy's 400 Meter Relay team!  Enjoy this first part of many, many pictures -- I will try to get the rest of what I plan on putting on here, by early next week.

This was our Mixed Quartet checking in and getting ready to sing!  L to R:  Jenny Gonzalez, Missie Watson, Gio Suarez and Talon

The judges praying with the group before they begin!

And their off, singing "Give Me a Vessel"

Gio and Talon receiving their 3rd place medals for this Mixed Qt. 

Here's my boy getting ready to start the 1600 meter (1mile) run! 

Talon giving it all he's got at the finish line!!!

Talon receiving his 2nd place medal for the 1600 meter!  He ran it is 6 mins. 26 seconds, the first place was only 4 seconds ahead of him, ugh!  We are SO proud of his accomplishments on this event!

Austin getting ready to start the Boy's 100 Meter Dash

Dalton finishing the Boy's 100 Meter Dash

Yajaria Baltierra running the 200 meter dash!  She took 2nd in this event, whoo hoo!

Britnee Derscheid getting ready to participate in the Girl's 400 Meter Relay!

Britt handing the baton off to Margaret, go girls!!!

Last leg of the Girl's 400 Meter Relay--Yajaria handing it off to Ashley!  The girls took 2nd in this.

Alex getting ready to start the 1st leg of the Boy's 400 Meter Relay!

Talon getting ready for the hand-off from Alex!

Last leg of the Boy's 400 Meter Relay (Kevin handing it off to Gio) we took 6th in this because one of our guys got his hand caught and dropped the baton : (  I'm sure they would have finished at least 2nd if this hadn't happend, but...such as life!

3 of our 4 guys - 400 Meter Relay guys (Talon, Kevin & Gio)

Our Boy's 400 Meter Relay Team - L to R:  Geo Suarez, Alex Fry, Talon Cooper & Kevin Gonzalez

Talon & Gio receiving their 6th place ribbons for the Boy's 400 Meter Relay

Miss Britt doing her "Second Chance", Dramtic Monolgue.  She took 2nd in this I believe, she had to write it and perform it, it was very good!!

Missie Watson & Britnee Derscheid performing their Female Duet, they did an EXCELLENT job on this, in my opinion! : ) 

Missie & Britt all smiles after realizing they took 2nd place with their Female Duet, WAY TO GO GILRS!!!

Britt & Kevin giving each other a high-5 after hearing that their Mixed Trio (Megan Brubeck, Kevin Gonzalez & Britnee Derscheid) had placed 2nd!

Talon participating in the Soccer Kick, he didn't place in this one.

Ray Garcia doing the Soccer Kick

Luis Martinez doing Soccer Kick, he took 5th place in this!

Britnee realizes she has just won the 1st place for her Website Design!

Britnee Derscheid receiving her 1st place medal for her Website Design!  Check it out at:  writing4him.us

Melissa Watson getting ready to receive her 5th place medal for her Short Story, way to go Missie!

Missie all smiles after receiving her 1st-ever ACE medal!!!

Our Radio Broadcast team getting ready to receive their 1st place medal, YEA!!!  This was written by Jordan Waggoner and the actors/actresses were:  Jordan Waggoner, Alex Fry, Talon Cooper, Janae Waggoner & Megan Brubeck.  This is the 2nd year our Radio Broadcast has taken 1st place,
whoo hoo!

Jenny Gonazlez doing her Poetry Recitation, she did a GREAT job!!!

Jenny receiving her 5th place medal for her Poetry Rec.

Kevin Gonzalez all smiles after taking 1st place for his Oratory, great job Kevin!!!

Alex Fry taking 6th place for Spelling!

Watch for Part II next week! 
I took over 200 pictures, so it is really hard to decide which ones to put on here, ugh!