Political Rally!

Today we went to a political rally in Dixon, IL. I drove the one-and-a-half hours there through pouring rain and dark skies during the first half of it, but the sun came out during the last forty-five minutes or so. Once we got into the town, I had difficulty navigating through narrow streets trying to find a place to park, so Dad took the wheel and parked the van after letting the rest of us (except Stephen, who went right to the rally) out at the library. When Dad came back, Anna went with him to get the diaper bag out of the van while the rest of us walked the few, short blocks to the riverside. Stephen met us about halfway there and exclaimed, "The Duggars are here!" Some of my siblings didn't believe him, but they were there all right! It was fun to look around and try to figure out who was a Duggar. Having watched the show, we were able to spot about half of them. I think some of the younger ones weren't there. The oldest Duggar, Josh, started the rally by recommending Santorum and saying that all his siblings were there. After that, a few other people spoke before Senator Rick Santorum was introduced.

He spoke for quite a while and frequently referenced Ronald Reagan, who apparently lived in Dixon when he was a child. He also said that we need families to restore the economy. Freedom was another common theme, along with the fact that if people follow moral laws we don't need to be restricted by additional laws. He said a lot of other stuff, but I don't remember much more.
      In my opinion the highlight of the trip was 'meeting' the Duggars. We pretty much just said, "Hi, we're the White's." However, I managed to shake a few of their hands, and we (well, Dad) took a picture of us together:

 Also, I'm wondering how many news stations/newspapers/websites we'll be on. We already saw the back of Julia's head when she was on Stephen's shoulders on CBS and one other station. Also, a photographer from the United Press International (similar to the Associated Press) took a picture of us in front of the Duggar's Van:

Here's the whole 'story'

Here's our picture of the above scene, taken by a friendly stranger:

I'm still surprised that Rebekah's camera took a nicer photo than the UPI guy. Well, that's all for now from the White House!

We lost today. However, I'm not terribly disappointed. I feel like I played a good game. I made two shots out of five. I also made at least one steal while #20 was dribbling. I'm not sure how many rebounds I got because I didn't look at the stats for that, but I think I got a few. I almost fouled out, though. I had four fouls going into the fourth quarter. In addition, today was the awards ceremony. Since our team had the worst record we went first. We didn't have any mvp awards or anything like that; everyone received a trophy. I'm hoping to be able to play basketball again next year.

Another Win!

I'm super excited because we won again! Yesterday we beat the Sixers 40-34. I was a little disappointed that we didn't beat them by more because they only had five of their players, but we didn't play as well as we could. However, I made two shots out of three, and had six rebounds and at least one steal. I'm really enjoying playing basketball. Tomorrow is our last game. The other team will have all their players there, and we haven't beaten them with all their players yet. Here's hoping that we win!

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!