Athens Fabulous Fourth-- July 4, 2012

 Chelsea Meagan and her good friend, Dana, Miss Old Settler's Reunion, before the Athens Fabulous Fourth parade.

 Chelsea and her court in their last photo together as a complete set-- Abbi, Wes, Chelsea Meagan, Catherine, and Brandi

Chelsea and the very first Athens Fabulous Fourth queen, Cydney Crew. Chelsea and Dana actually went to the pageant, and Chelsea texted Cydney and discovered that she had to work late and couldn't make it. Cydney turned out to be the only contestant. Thus, with the judges, Dana and Chelsea headed over to Wendy's and witnessed a very surprised Cydney get to be selected as the queen. Very cool story!!

Notre Dame Basketball Camp-- July 2, 2012

 Emmy in the Notre Dame practice facility with her camp team.

 Emmy with her "three on three" teammates (and her roommate from camp)

 Emmy with her counselor

 Emmy and Ellie-Kate with the legendary ND head coach, Muffet McGraw

Visiting Grandma B-- July 1, 2012

 We had a great time with Grandma B at the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend!! We used to have such a wonderful time at this zoo when Britti was at SMC, and I'm so glad that we arrived in SB so that we could visit it again. (Bummed that Emmy was still at camp, but it was nice for Ellie-Kate to have some time with all of the attention right on her!)

 We snuck over to visit Emmy at basketball camp, and we were in awe of the facilities at Notre Dame! Ellie-Kate grabbed a basketball and shot on the hoops in the main arena, much to Grandma B's dismay :)

 Ellie-Kate and Grandma B took a ride on the train in the University Park Mall in South Bend and then said good-bye to us at the Inn at Saint Mary's.

Overall, July 1 was a good day, but it had a sad ending... That evening, I got a call from my mom, letting me know that she got home okay but that she had learned that my Aunt Marilyn passed away in New York City. Aunt Marilyn acted in off-Broadway productions as well as "slumming it" in some more mainstream movies and tv shows when she wanted the extra money. She never missed a birthday or holiday, and she adored the niece that she never met, her "Katie." I'll miss you, Aunt Marilyn!!

Cloverbud Daycamp-- June 29, 2012

Ellie-Kate had a terrific time on her quick stop at Cloverbud Day Camp. She's not quite old enough to be a 4-H cloverbud yet, but we stopped by to visit Britti and to see how the day was progressing. Of course, Ellie-Kate LOVED seeing the "aminals," as she calls them, especially this hog! Chelsea was a counselor, and, as the new Athens County 4-H educator, Britti was in charge of the day. Blessedly, the weather held for day camp, but, wow, we had a massive storm that night. We lost power for five days, and we even had to drive to Coolville for gas the next morning. Given that we had to pick Emmy up from basketball camp anyway, we decided to head on to South Bend and leave Chelsea and Britti to care for the animals at home. Needless to say, they envied our hot water, air conditioning, and internet! I discovered that I am definitely NOT cut out for "roughing" it :)

What a blur...

Hi everyone--

Well, it's been a long time since I've had a chance to write... Over the past seven weeks, we've been traveling non-stop. On the positive side, we've been on the go for fair queen events, 4-H competitions, camps, and Chelsea's move to college. On the down side, we had to travel to Virginia to see Wade (Chelsea and Britti's dad) in the ICU of a hospital in Roanoke and, sadly, to attend his funeral two weeks later. After a summer like this one, I'm just ready for a break... and, of course, we're all headed back to school now. In one summer, we lost Wade, Grandma Groscost, and Aunt Marilyn. All of us are just emotionally and physically spent, but, still and always, God is good.

It was so amazing to be at Baylor during this past week, to be in a Christian community, to pray before and at the conclusion of events, to feel His love and spirit among believers. He sustains us in hard times and smiles with us during the good ones. Thank you, Father, for inspiring Chelsea to choose Baylor as her home for the next four years.

In the coming days, I will strive to catch up the blog with photos and journal entries. Thank you for caring, for praying, and for loving our family. We're re-grouping and gearing up for a much more quiet and peaceful fall.

Christie

Summer Fun-- 4-H and sports camps

 Emmy made a dish for her 4-H food project-- 6/26/12

 Emmy was so excited to get a spot at the Notre Dame basktabll camp. I dropped her off on June 27 :)

Sports Day for Ellie-Kate-- June 25, 2012

 Ellie-Kate's first day at her very first sports camp-- Columbus Crew Soccer Camp!

 Ellie-Kate had a great time at her t-ball game on June 25, 2012 :)