Beginning of 8th grade year!!

 Well, we are in your last year of middle school and it's hard to believe! You are doing great in your classes, making straight A's and taking 2 high school level/credit courses. You made JV tennis again and are having a decent year. It was a rough start with tryouts and ladders as you lost to several players that you could beat easily. Being 13 and getting into your head is so tough, but you have persevered and have had a great attitude. You have played a couple of tournaments outside of high school and done well and gained some confidence and aggression. Once it all clicks with your athleticism and technique it will be amazing! This past week at tennis, you forfeited your game and let a girl who rarely gets to play take your spot since her grandparents were visiting to watch her play. You are winning at life and love and being Christ like to others, and these are the things we are most proud of you for! 

We are kicking off Fall with 2 days off school this weekend and enjoying cooler weather, Fall crafts and pumpkin cookies together. This weekend of spending time all together and not running around has been a blessing and core memories were made that will be cherished forever! Here's to a great start to the 8th grade!!! 

2024-2025 Catch Up

 This is a very late update of this year because we’ve been busy living and having a great time!  You made the JV tennis team for Chapin HS as a 7th grader and had a great season! You continue to dominate at your clinics and lessons, and we are working on making you more aggressive in match play. Once that clicks, you will be unstoppable! We are so proud of how hard you’ve worked! You played in your first solo tournament recently and it was a tough but good experience. You lost some matches that you could have won and had to deal with the emotions of that. It’s tough, but was a great lesson and you walked away with a good attitude after some tears and are ready to play another tournament next month! 

You also had a great church basketball season. You had to play multiple positions as we were short on players this year, but you were consistent and strong and lead the team! 

You are having an amazing year at school making all A’s (even in the high school level Algebra 1 class you are taking!) You continue to amaze us with your work ethic, tenacity and drive. We just pray that you won’t be too hard on yourself and allow yourself grace as you are a bit of a perfectionist (except for when it comes to clearing things, Ha!) 

We enjoyed a good football season at Clemson, hanging with your best bud as often as we could. Thanksgiving and Christmas were pretty low key this year. We went to Uncle Mitch and Aunt Stacey’s for Thanksgiving and had a quick visit from Uncle Rob on Christmas Eve, but we mostly enjoyed quality time as a family of four. We all missed everyone else but enjoyed the memory making together as well! We are headed to DC for Spring Break in a few weeks so I will do a separate post with those memories.

Here are some pictures to sum up our year so far: