J's Update

First off sorry so much time has gone by between posts, we have been a little bit busy.

Just wanted to write a quick update about J. J started Junior High last Wednesday, and so far so good. We were able to go with her to her Open House/meet the teacher night on Tuesday, it was great to meet all the teachers and see the school where she will be going. It was also helpful, I think, for J to walk from class to class so she wouldn't get lost on her first day. As of now J likes all her teachers, and it looks like she won't be getting too much homework, which is always a plus. J is really liking her Social Studies class, her teacher plays music, and is really nice. She also really likes her Home Economics class, she is looking forward to learning to sew and cook. J has some old friends in a few of her classes and has started to make friends in the others. A couple bummer things, one J has to ride the bus to and from school this year, and two she hasn't eaten lunch at school yet, her lunch hour is at like 11 o'clock and she hasn't gotten used to eating that early yet, I am sure that will change in a few weeks.

We also wanted to update you on J's cheer. If you remember back in May, J tried out for her second year of competitive cheerleading, and made the senior team. J has been busy and going to cheer practice all summer long. Well, little by little, J's team was falling apart. Between the two teams, Juniors & Seniors, they lost so many team members that they ended up having to combine the teams. You can probably see where we are going with this, but as you can imagine the frustration J was feeling. She worked so hard to get where she was at, but now because she has girls less talented on the team it was bringing down some of the others. The coaches were doing their best to pull the other girls up, which left no time/room for J to continue to progress. J was torn (as were her parents) does she stay with it and not really move forward or does she quit and try again next year? The same week she was contemplating, the coaches announced that they were leaving the team, the decision just got easier, J too decided to leave the team. Since leaving the team 1 week ago, she has signed up for the youth group activities on Wednesday nights at church, and will be taking a tumbling class to keep up on her skills. We are all bummed that she won't be cheering this year, but think it was the best decision.

We will keep you posted as J continues to progress in Junior High and tumbling.