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Friday, April 22, 2022

Be Fearless in the Pursuit of What Sets Your Soul on Fire

At the beginning of last month Anthony decided to join track. 

It has changed his life. 

The past year has been more difficult for Anthony. The beginning of High School saw him suffering with anxiety and feelings of despondency. New situations are hard for him, and High School is the ultimate new situation. It wasn't anything we couldn't help him work through, but you can only do so much as a parent. At some point, you have to just let them find their own way with the tools and support you've given them.  

And he did. 

Anthony has come alive. He has become more responsible, more motivated. He is more patient, more understanding, more willing. He has grown in ways I can't explain. It's like a light bulb went off in his head and he finally saw that he has it within his own power to be happy and create the life and future he wants for himself, instead of just letting life happen to him and being anxious about the unknown. 

It has been a wonderful transformation, and I pray he continues on this path. Track has lit his soul on fire, and that fire continues to grow and spread into other parts of his life. 

Every now and again, Anthony gets the opportunity to stay after track for some one on one time with his track coach. He has taken a shine to pole-vaulting, and while he does do other events, pole-vaulting is where his heart is at. Every week he improves on is personal record. I believe the highest he's gone is 9'6" now. Earlier this week Sam was able to watch Anthony pole-vault during one of his one on one sessions with his coach and get a few videos!



I love watching his face light up when he talks about his practices and meets. How he's making more friends, how everyone is so kind and encourages each other, how he's excited and proud of himself when he reaches a new personal record. My heart just burst with pride. 

I'm excited to watch him grow in self and skill over the rest of his High School years. 

With love,
Mama Hauck

Monday, April 18, 2022

Easter

We had a really nice and mellow Easter this year. Since Anthony had a track meet on Friday and would be gone, we decided to dye eggs at home on Thursday so he could be there. I love that the kids still enjoy all the fun little things, like dying eggs and egg hunts and such. I try to keep it fun for them. 

It was so nice to sleep in Sunday morning! Now that the kids are older, they're not waking up super early and rushing out of their bedrooms, lol. Once they were all up, we sat down to their Easter baskets. They were good sports and put their bunny ears on for me, haha.



Sweet Timothy even took the time to make a little Easter Lego display for us! 


After baskets, we did breakfast, got ourselves ready for the day, and got the place picked up. We wanted to wait till the Grandparents arrived before doing our egg hunt. Grandma Cathy made it out, as well as Grandpa Whitten. Grandma Whitten couldn't make it because she headed to the Seattle area to spend Easter with family out that way. We missed her, but were happy to have the other Grandparents in attendance! 

As always, I stuffed the eggs with candy, money, and special coupons! The coupons said things like "Get double dessert" "30 extra minutes of game time" "No chores today" and "ride shotgun all week long." I think they like the coupons better than the candy! 

Sammy and I hid the eggs all around the house while the kids were outside playing, then called them in and let the chaos begin!


We kept our Easter meal simple this year. Mostly snack foods. Sammy made homemade meatballs with rice, as well as biscuits. I made banana chocolate chip muffins, noodle salad, chocolate covered strawberries, and a meat cheese and cracker tray. And Anthony made the deviled eggs! He's gotten quite good at it now. 


After we all stuffed ourselves silly, it was time to head outside and get the kiddo's yearly bunny ear photo. I do this every year. It's become a fun tradition for me, and I am so thankful they are good sports! 


Grandma and Grandpa headed home towards late afternoon. Anthony and Molly decided they wanted to send the night at Grandma Cathy's, so that left just Timothy to enjoy the rest of Easter with us. He wanted his own personal Easter egg hunt, so of course we obliged! We had a dozen hard boiled eggs left, so Sammy and I hid them outside, per his request. Watching him run around outside, trying to find the eggs, having fun, was the perfect ending to a wonderful Easter.


With love,
Mom Hauck