Well, I've realized that I haven't updated about how my super busy semester is going. I finished drivers ed at the end of February and passed the road test. Also, I finished spinning and plying and washing, and shipped, the yarn for Julie Weir. I've spun about half the yarn for my other important spinning project, and hope to be finished by the end of this week. My piano lessons are going well. Basketball is ending this weekend, which I am quite disappointed about. So, I guess I'll be returning to 'normal' life soon.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sooooooooooo excited! We won our basketball game last night by two points! I'm sure you already know that I'm super, crazily, ridiculously thrilled about winning, but I figured I'd tell you anyway. I grabbed nine rebounds and scored two points. I can't wait until tomorrow, when we have another game. Unfortunately, Stephen won't be at that game or the one on Saturday, but the opposing team will be missing three players tomorrow, so we will hopefully be able to win again.

Well, today we had another basketball game. I didn't write anything about Tuesday's game either, so I'll kill two birds with one stone. On Tuesday, we lost, but only by seven points! I could almost taste victory! I also grew hoarse from cheering so much. The other amazing thing about that game is that we didn't score any points in the first quarter. The Sixers were winning 15-0, but we still came back to make it close. I was also fouled in the act of shooting, so I shot two free throws, which I missed. Fortunately, one of my teammates grabbed the rebound and scored. However, today didn't go as well from a points perspective. We lost. However, in the fourth quarter we again rallied from a thirty point deficit to a fifteen point loss. As for my performance, I missed my first shot, made my other two shots, and was fouled on the second one I scored. My one free throw didn't go in. Both of the shots I made were essentially lay-ups. On the first one, one of my teammates took a shot that missed the whole basket, but I was in position to nab the ball and single-handedly swish it. The second one (when I was fouled) was made when I beat (ran around) the player, #20, who was guarding me. Number twenty is the tallest player, so I was pretty excited. In the past I became fairly nervous when I was guarded by him because he is so tall. Actually, though, I'm only about five inches shorter than him. In addition, to my shots, I nabbed a couple of rebounds, and intercepted a few passes. I also barely fingered the ball when the opposition passed it to another player and made it. But, all things considered, I'm very happy with how well I played.
This morning, we went to listen to a speaker at a local church. John Stonestreet spoke about worldview and culture. Mom asked Kristian what he remembered the orator talking about, and Kristian replied, "Bonhoeffer!" Mr. Stonestreet did actually talk about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. We were all floored!

Well we lost the basketball game again, by about 25 points. We started out a lot better, but then everything went downhill. Our next game is on Tuesday; we'll see what happens then!

Saturday we came home from Winterfest. We left for Winterfest yesterday. We arrived in Oakbrook(?) at about 6:00 and went directly to Panera Bread. I had the you pick two Sierra turkey sandwich with the creamy tomato soup in a bread bowl. Dad left to check us into the hotel while the rest of us finished eating (we took the car and the van). I was really glad that he checked in before the rest of us arrived, because what usually happens it Dad parks the van in the unloading lane, we all jump out and then stand in the lobby looking silly and definitely out of place with all the college students while Dad stands in line for fifteen minutes or so waiting for our room key. This time, however, we were able to all take our stuff and go right up to our rooms. After we brought enough stuff for (almost) a week up, we pretty much just watched t.v. until bedtime. Nobody got very much sleep because nobody conceded to sleeping on the floor. Julia slept in a pack n' play, but everybody else slept in four full (no pun originally intended!) beds. Needless to say, the little sleep I did get wasn't very deep. I also punched the headboard in the middle of the night and drew blood. It really wasn't very bad though. In the morning we went swimming. For lunch we had Little Caesar's pizza.

We (as in everyone except Dad, Katherine, Anna, Mary Ann, and Kristian) went right to the basketball game from Winterfest. Unfortunately, we lost again. By 29 points. However, we keep getting better. For some reason, I was wondering how that was possible, until Mom pointed out that the other team is getting better too. Duh..... I shot approximately four times during the game and made one easy lay-up. I think I got about four rebounds and I blocked at least one pass forcing a turnover. My guy tried to pass it to a teammate and I got a finger on it. Consequently, the desired recipient had to reach for the ball and essentially knocked it out of bounds. I'm still holding out hope that we can win the next 6 games and have a winning record....

Today we had co-op, and it's been one of the best co-ops so far. I didn't get brain-dead at all, unlike what usually happens. After we were done with school we went to Culver's to have $1.99 banana splits (today only!). Yesterday I finally went to choir practice. I haven't been able to go to any of the other practices because basketball practice has been on the same night as choir practice. But, we aren't going to have any more basketball practices on Monday nights because the school team where we play basketball at is having games on Mondays. I'm hoping that I will be able to learn the songs for Easter in time.

Today was the first basketball game that I was able to play in. I'm excited that we didn't lose... by as much. Last game we lost 57-22. Today, we lost 43-31. If we keep this up, we should be able to win next game! Also, we have one more player who hasn't been to any games yet who is pretty good.
I'm also excited that I only have a little bit more schoolwork to do before Tuesday.