BOILERS!! Barely.

Wednesday night, the Boilers were hosting the visiting Nittany Lions at Mackey Arena. When I learned that Jonathan was going, and meeting Andrew there, and Jennifer and Bryan were going... I decided to go myself. Jim was out of town, and I didn't really want to watch all alone in the basement. Thanks to Rich and Becky for sharing tickets, Adam and I both got to attend the game. And it was a good one!

Before the game, we met for a quick dinner at 9 Irish Brothers.

It's a cute little Irish pub down on the levee in West Lafayette.

Jennifer and Bryan.

2 foolish brothers at 9 Irish Brothers. They love each other.

Irish BLT and fries.

After dinner, we parked our car at the AGR house and headed over to Mackey.  Purdue Pete was on hand to fire up the crowd.

Even from waaaay across the arena, Jon and Adam "smile" for the camera.

The Boilers were off to a good start! Boiler Up!

The Paint Crew does an awesome job cheering for the home team. They always have a few choice words for the team from Bloomington - even if they're not in the building.

The Boilers huddle up after a time out. There's our Robbie in the lower right of the picture. Did you hear he hurt his knee?

The team takes the floor. Not sure what LewJack is doing with the ref, but hey, whatever it takes. :)

On Saturday, ESPN College Gameday will be there broadcasting all day before the game against Michigan State. Come early. Wear black. Go Boilers!

The cheerleaders brought out this big credit card during the PEFCU fan cam contest. Everyone with a PEFCU card holds it up and the fan cam selects a prize winner.

I do have one of these beauties, but I don't want to damage it by actually using it, so it was in the car and not with me. Next time I'll be ready. As you can see, it's a close game!

Paint Crew shows their spirit.

Team huddles up.

I liked the guy in the middle. He would fit right in at a Saints game.

JJ was a beast. It was his last second shot that put the Boilers up by one to win the game. Whew! That was close.

The final scoreboard. A happy sight for the Boiler faithful.

After the game, we went back to the AGR house. Andrew and Adam discussed the office of VNR Finance. Andrew held that office when he was there, and Adam holds the office currently. The stairway in the foyer is reserved only for alumni, so Andrew took a little walk up the stairs.

He was joined by Jonathan, who took the short cut to alumni status after his one year at Purdue. Since they don't have AGR at that school in Bloomington, he was not able to continue his fraternity experience.

The group posed in the parlor in front of the fireplace.

And Jonathan assumed his favorite position on the couch. A position he would continue in the car on the way home. Thankfully, I was driving. :)

Happy Birthday Haleigh!

Today, our sweet granddaughter Haleigh is ONE year old!

Her mommy, Darci, had a birthday on Saturday, so I thought I would post a baby picture of her, too. That's Darci on the left, and Haleigh on the right. I apologize to Darci's sisters for cropping them out of the photo! Matthew got cropped out too. :)

     Here is Haleigh just home from the hospital last January. She is such a sweet and happy baby.

 We love watching her grow and change.  

She crawls.

She eats. 

(With a whole mouth full of teeth! 

Not sure what the tooth count is today.)

She walks.

She is SOOO BIG!

And we are SOOO BLESSED!

Happy Birthday Haleigh!

I love you!

Remembering

Today is the anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. It was the eve of my 50th birthday. I attended a mission committee meeting where we were just beginning to learn details of the devastation. Jim was gone, and I went home and spent the night watching CNN in the basement. I never watch CNN. I was also texting with Nana Lois, which would continue throughout the week.

I prayed for my friends in Haiti. I prayed for my Haitian friends. It would be several days before we received word that our American group was safe. We cried when we learned that sweet baby Jude and one of the young Sisters had been killed.  Sometimes we just cried.

This is a picture of Jude, Jed, and Jennifer.  Bondye beni ou Jude.

Here are some before and after photos showing just a tiny bit of what happened that day.  I took this picture of the National Palace in Port au Prince in November '09.

This was the guest house in Fondwa.

My friend Jesula's house before.

And after.

And these last two are a couple of my favorite pictures taken by Jennifer in November.  They are slowly rebuilding in Fondwa.  The students are attending school in temporary structures, and enrollment is as high or even a bit higher than before the earthquake.

Especially in the faces of the children, I see hope.
 

And I pray for a bright future for these precious little ones.

 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

   where does my help come from?
 My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber;
 indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.

  The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
 the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.

  The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;
 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore. 

Psalm 121:1-8

Gummy Bug Lab

Jennifer gave Matthew a Gummy Bug Lab kit for Christmas, and last week on her day off, they were able to attempt the experiment.

First, they read the directions.

They measured the gummy powder.

They selected a flavor...

and mixed it with water...

with the stir stick.

Matthew learned how to use the pipette, which is like a big eyedropper.  Aunt Fer uses them at work sometimes.

He carefully squeezed the gummy potion into the mold.

Whose big hand is trying to get in on the project?  Big Jon!

Such concentration!

Aunt Fer finishes up.

They had a great time working together on a fun project.  Unfortunately, the gummy bugs didn't set up, and we didn't get to taste them or get a picture of the finished product.  They did have enough gummy mix to make another batch, so we will try it again someday.  Hopefully we will have better results next time.  And honestly, Matthew didn't care as much about the finished gummy bugs as he did about the time he spent with Aunt Jennifer.  : )