Catching Up

Wow, I didn't realize over a month had passed since my last post.  I had every intention of posting this summer but circumstances got in the way.  I figure this is a good time to catch everyone up on what's been going on.

The biggest thing that kept me away from blogging was a family medical crisis.  My brother D spent three weeks in the hospital, battling a rare autoimmune disorder called TTP.  The official name of the disorder is   Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura.  You can read up on it here: TTP.  It's extremely serious and for the first week in the hospital, D was in critical condition, sedated and on a ventilator while the doctors treated him by doing daily blood cleansing.  I'm thankful to be able to report that he is now on the mend, though he will continue treatment as an outpatient for several more weeks.  Treatment consists of blood cleansing and chemotherapy.   It's unclear now whether this condition will turn out to be acute or chronic.  We're in a wait and see pattern for now, as he completes his treatment.  

Remember J's showcase back at the beginning of June?  He got his evaluation back a few weeks ago and it was really good.  Perfect Game gave him a grade of 6.5 on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being baseball is not your game and 10 being you're a freak of nature, welcome to the big leagues.  He scored between potential college prospect and college prospect with future draft potential.  He and Coach C were very pleased with his grade and overall evaluation.  J is inspired to continue working as hard as he can towards achieving his dream of playing college ball.  He took a bit of a break following the showcase and just got back on the field with Coach C yesterday.   The break apparently did him a world of good, if Coach' C's reaction to how he did is any indicator.   Coach C felt that he looks better than ever, which pleased J immensely.  Next up is narrowing down the list of schools he wants to apply to, contacting coaches to express his interest in playing, and having Coach C write him a letter of recommendation.  He's looking at schools in Florida, as well as out of state, since out of state is still his best option to play ball.  However, with his Perfect Game eval and grade, we're very, very cautiously optimistic that something might, very big might, work out in Florida.  Whatever happens, J is both excited and nervous as he begins his senior year.  

N and A have kept busy this summer as well.  N has continued his piano lessons and he recently attended scripture camp for a week.  It was a sleep away camp about an hour from home.  He had a fantastic time and has not stopped talking about everything he did at camp since we picked him up on Friday night.   He has already said he'd like to go again next year.  A has been swimming all summer and will compete in a swim meet in a few weeks.  She also had National baton competition which went extremely well.  She took third place out of nine girls in her age category for her presentation routine.  She was extremely proud of herself and fully expects that I will let her compete at Nationals next summer.  Since next year's competition is in California, as opposed to an hour away from home, I haven't broken it to her that we most likely will not be able to go.    

School starts in just over two weeks so the next couple weeks will be spent getting organized and ready for the busy pace of the school year.  When I have a few extra minutes I'll do a summer in pictures to post to further catch everyone up on what we've been up to.