DOUBLE DIGITS. Nate celebrated his 10th birthday Thursday which means everyone in our family is in double digits now. Quite a milestone!
This, for me, is the time of my kids' childhood I have looked forward to and enjoy the most. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy babyhood, toddlerhood, etc. -- I did -- but the kids are at an age I am more comfortable with now.
So anyway, Nate has turned 10 and he thoroughly enjoyed his big day. He really wanted to skip school, but we didn't go for that after he was sick the week before. We invited Mom over for a special birthday supper complete with strawberry cake at Nate's request. He also got to open the presents that had been so tantalizing all evening. I think his favorite was the little remote controlled helicopter.
At any rate, Nate has entered the double digits club and is well on the way to his teenage years. Kind of scary when I realize this is my youngest child.
WINTER CAMPOREE. Ben went with his scout troop to the Warioto District Winter Camporee this weekend. They camped out on a large farm in the Coopertown area. All the troops competed in building a Chippewa Kitchen and our troop won second place.
This being a winter campout the temperature got down pretty low. Ben said their thermometer read 18° when they got up Sunday morning. I asked him if he got cold. He said we had packed so much he was actually a little hot (except for his mouth at night).
I didn't go on the campout because we aren't equipped for both of us to sleep in cold weather (Ben puts his sleeping bag down inside mine). Both boys had ball games on Saturday which meant two trips to the campsite for me.
I found out in a texting conversation with Dianna that Jim and the boys were camping out with their troop in Florida this weekend as well. Dianna asked if Ben would get a patch for camping out in freezing weather. I had never heard of such a patch and have no idea what the requirements are. I guess what we take for granted due to our weather here is a novelty for others. Our boys camp in temps below freezing at least a couple of times each year.
THE CAMPOREE COMMITTEE. I want to say a little bit about our district's camporee committee. I don't know what other scouting districts do but ours has had a group of men organize it's camporees for the last three decades. They figure this last camporee was their 100th event and with that it was time for them to pass the torch and retire. They decided they should go out with a real bang so Ben came home telling us about all the neat things he had seen Saturday afternoon.
To begin with one of the nearby barns became a bank and several men rode in on horseback and "robbed" the bank. The robbery brought in our local SWAT team to try to capture the bank robbers. A "gunfight" ensued and in all of the excitement one of the bank robbers got away and rode into the woods, dropping a suitcase in the field as he fled. A Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter was brought in to flush the bandit out. It was assumed that the suitcase held the stolen cash but the SWAT team, not taking any chances, deployed their robot to shoot the suitcase at a safe distance in case the thieves had booby trapped it with a bomb. Once the scene was "secure" and all the criminals "apprehended" the boys got a chance to see the helicopter, robot, and other equipment close up. Ben said it was really interesting.
That evening all the troops honored the men on the committee for all their dedication and hard work. Whoever serves on the committee to replace these men will have a tough act to follow.
A WONDERFUL TRIBUTE. Jenna is very good about doing her homework. She asks for help when she needs it, but she is so self-motivated that we never have to tell he to do her assignments. This weekend she has been working on an essay she was assigned to write about her modern day hero. The hero she chose to write about is Aunt Mar. I will end with the concluding remarks from Jenna’s essay.
The most important lesson Aunt Mar taught was her deep faith in God. Every time she prayed, you could hear the deep sincerity with which she spoke to her Maker. Aunt Mar lived a long 97 years, and she would say God blessed every moment. I truly believe He did because she acted only as God would want her to. She has inspired me to live up to her high standard.Joe
Aunt Mar was a very dear and special person to all who knew her. Her passion, love, creativeness, and faith are only a few points of what made Aunt Mar who she was. I am very grateful to have had the blessing to know Aunt Mar for 14 years. I hope to become as much like her because of the legacy she leaves behind.
