She's baaaaaaack!

We've officially begun the fall sports season, which for the DeVries family, is a very busy time. With 4 teens (well, Monk is big enough to be a teen - just took him and his size 11 shoes to the doctor and found out he's in the 95th percentile in height at 5 ft. 4 in. and in the 95th percentile in weight at 149 pounds) this is an extremely packed time of life. We've always been busy; we are just now busy with other things. Dennae and Jami are playing softball for their high school. Ivy is playing club soccer, and Michael is playing club tackle football (I'm an assistant coach working with QBs and receivers). The next few blogs will just provide some pictures of the different kids in their various sports. Hope you enjoy.

Ivy is a striker and thinks about nothing other than making the back of the net ripple with a shot from her foot. Her first game of the season was yesterday, and she picked up where she left off last year: several shots and one goal. The pictures below will show a progression in the goal she scored. It was a rebound off another shot by one of the other forwards on her team. This year, a new player on the team has a photographer for a Mom. So, we'll be getting some pretty good pictures. We're glad to share them with our friends and family.

Have a great day!

The Trip of a Lifetime

We just got back from 2 weeks of vacation! All six of us went to S.Korea to visit Noel's sister and family. Kent is a chaplain in the Army, stationed at Jongsan Garrison in Seoul, and Shawna teaches at an international Christian school. They will be there for another year, and then it's off to another assignment. While we make the difficult adjustment back to Colorado time, we will cherish the memories of our trip for a lifetime. The cousins all got along fabulously, and we got to see places in this world that we would otherwise probably never have a chance to see. We were able to experience a different culture up close and personal; it is a culture that has a lot of good things to teach the Western mind set. All in all, it was a great trip! We will always be indebted to Kent and Shawna and their children for going through the difficult process of hosting a family of six for 2 weeks in their apartment.

Some of the distinct memories from the trip include the following: 1 - preaching, singing and playing during a chapel service on post 2 - traveling to Sockcho and Busan and staying at the beach in some of the best hotels Korea has to offer 3 - morning trips to Starbucks where the four of us sat around and chatted about everything we could possibly think of 4 - watching Jami on stage at a Korean cooking/Taekwondo show 5 - pulling my hamstring at another show where they hauled me up on stage in front of everybody 6 - watching Andrew and Monk launch home runs in the baseball field behind the apartment 7- Jami and Katherine reading and writing books together 8 - Jessica and Dennae becoming buddies 9 - Ivy diligently shopping at the outdoor markets for all her friends back home 10 - eating out every meal (the cooks need a vacation too!) 11 - Korean food at the Korean restaurants 12 - ministering at the Shalom house for handicapped Koreans 13 - dinner with our Korean friends the Ahns and the Uhms 14 - Nathaniel and his computer games...and the list could go on and on. Take some time to look at the pictures below.

MJD,Sr.