The Church Finance Board

A little over a year ago Doug was asked to join the financial board at our church.  Since he had  experience and the commitment was less than he had given on other boards, he decided to become a member.  Doug has enjoyed getting to know our priest better and to put his financial knowledge to use.  Our church has shrank in size over the past few years which has obviously changed collections and donations over that time period.  There have also been updates to our church that he has been involved with.  Although I do not know the particulars of their monthly decisions I am glad that he has been able to help.  He is the perfect member to have on a board.  He looks at problems objectively, is a great decision maker and values others' opinions.  Doug's continual service to our community has also set a wonderful example to our children.  From his involvement the Heinisch children understand that helping others is important for their community to thrive no matter where they live.

The Silver Anniversary

Today Doug and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.  There was no big fanfare just a normal night at the Heinisch home helping Cam and Meg with various items, dropping the van off to get an oil change and packing lunches for school tomorrow.  We did have time to get dinner at Huntington St. and spent some quiet time on the porch sitting in our new patio chairs watching the birds enjoy their new feeders.  I gave Doug a homemade gift that highlighted the 25 reasons why I love him and he gave me a beautiful Pandora ring that he bought while shopping in Saugatuck last weekend.

I asked Doug if this was what he thought our life would be twenty-five years ago when we said, "I do."  We both laughed.  Neither one of us had any idea at the time of where life would take us, but in saying that we sure have enjoyed the ride.  Not everyday has been a smooth one, but I wouldn't trade the family that we have or the life we have built for anything.  Doug told me on Saturday that he's 25th anniversary wish would be for fifty more years together.  I couldn't agree more.

Happy 20th Birthday, Cal!

Today was a wonderful celebration of the life of Cal.  He surprised us by coming home for the weekend so we could be together for his birthday.  We spent the day catching up over a wonderful lunch that Doug prepared, opening gifts and playing a heated game of crochet in the backyard.  It was the perfect way for all of us to show Cal how much we appreciate having him in the Heinisch family. Cal has always been the liveliest of the four Heinisch children.  He is animated in speech and action. When he is present there is always a lively debate from who was there when Grandpa Heinisch stubbed his toe to who is the nerdiest of the Heinisch four.  Cal keeps all of us up to speed on current events with his continual trivia questions and we enjoy listening to his knowledge of how to save a dollar or two when shopping.  It has been wonderful to see his hard work pay off at IU these past two years and we are proud of the young man that he has become.  He talked non-stop this weekend about turning twenty-one in just twelve short months.  I am not going to wish time to speed up.  I  will instead enjoy Cal at twenty years old for now.

A Beautiful Day

Originally, it was supposed to rain most of today.  Although, it did cloud up several times, the weatherman's predictions were far from accurate.  Instead of rain, there was sun and by the end of the afternoon the temperature had reached eighty degrees.  Doug and I took advantage of the change in weather to get some yard work done.  He had bought mulch yesterday and today we shopped for flowers.  Although there will still be a lot left to do tomorrow, we got a good start on it today.

Cam took advantage of the sunshine to play a round of golf with my Dad.  After spending a good portion of the day studying, Meg went to Jackie's softball game and then out to dinner with her.  Cal was in and out most of the afternoon and evening.  He had brought a friend home from IU and they hung out with HM and several of Cal's other friends.  Doug and I headed to Fort Wayne in the late afternoon.  Monday will be our twenty-fifth anniversary and we wanted to celebrate at Chop's Wine Bar.  It was a fantastic dinner complete with bourbon, bacon, french toast alamode.  I, thoroughly, enjoyed listening to all of Doug's memories over the past 25+ years.  We have worked hard to build a wonderful life together and tonight was an awesome reminder of that.

A Night With Friends

Cam invited Joey to come home with him after school tonight.  They had a lot of fun playing basketball, walking through the woods, listening to Cam's Google Home and just hanging out together.  Meg went to Olympia after school with the junior class to celebrate the last regular week of school.  She came home around 5 and changed for her tennis get together at her coach Tara's house.  They planned to make homemade pizza and enjoy some team bounding activities.  Cal came home last night and today asked Doug if we could got to Buffalo Wild Wings with he and HM.  We enjoyed  listening about his first couple of weeks of summer school and had time to check in with Hannah-Marie about her long jump season ending hamstring injury.  She handled it very well and we quickly moved on to talking about her summer plans and thoughts on starting IU in the fall.  It was a wonderful night for all and a great way to kick off the weekend.

A Tough End to A Great Season

Tonight Meg's team faced Northwood in the sectional opener.  They hadn't played Northwood all year, but I knew from the articles I had read that they were a team that we could compete with.  Their doubles teams were weaker than their singles and Meg had been playing well at #2 singles.  Once we arrived, however, I realized that it would be a tall order.  One of the Bruins' varsity players returned to the injured list and Bethany had to replace her with a JV teammate.  Northwood also changed its singles line up, so Meg was no longer playing their number two.  Instead she faced an opponent that had spent the majority of the year at number one with a winning record.  Meg's team played their best, but in the end found themselves on the losing side of a 4-1 score.  Meg was disappointed, but realized that she had had a fantastic debut season at Bethany.  She had finished 14-1 in the regular season and had helped the girls to a 10-5 record overall.  Tonight's disappointment was the only one in which the girls lost more than three courts as all of the other losses were 2-3.  The girls had nothing to hang their heads about.  I was happy to hear that they were already planning their end of the year pizza party at their coach's house.

After Meg's match Doug, my parents and I headed to Bethany for Cam's end of the year band concert.  We were impressed with how well they sounded.  Everyone's favorite including Cam's was the "Snakes" song which included a great deal of improvisation.  As an added bonus this evening the band joined the orchestra for their closing sound.  It was the first time that we had heard them play with the strings and they sounded fantastic.  Cam already signed up to be in the band again next year and we couldn't be happier about that.  Their concerts just keep getting better and better with age.

Cannot Wait

As the end of the year inches closer I realize that I just can't wait for school to be done.  The days seem to drag on and on.  It reminds me of when I graduated from high school.  It is not that I hate it, but I am ready to move on.  I have so many projects in my head that I want to get started on, but have to wait until I have the time and energy to devote to them.  Doug said that he felt the same way as his last couple of days at Renegade neared.  I know I can make it two more weeks.  I just have to take it one day at a time.  Summer will be here before I know it.  I will definitely be ready for it!