Mom & Dad Hyde celebrate 45 years
Mom and Dad Hyde came into town last weekend to enjoy Justus’ gymnastics meet. After the meet, we stopped at Freebirds World Burrito for lunch. It was the first time at Freebirds for all of us – and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Beat your heart out, Chipotle Mexican Grill!
We came home, lounged on the back porch and enjoyed the sunshine. The air was full of cool breezes and bird songs. The mild weather and the blooming plants gave Mom spring fever – she was ready to start planting!
Later on, Mom and Dad Brandau brought some wine over and we had a toast on the back porch to celebrate Mom and Dad Hyde’s 45 years of marriage. The Brandau’s also surprised Mom and Dad with a beautiful cake and fresh flowers. Dad graciously cooked our ribeyes and t-bone steaks on our grill, and we enjoyed baked sweet potatoes, asparagus, and a tossed salad with fresh blue cheese.
Then, we dug into the cake – moist yellow cake with cream cheese frosting and pineapple filling. Oh man, was that incredible! So much so, the Bluebell ice cream we served was less sweet than the frosting.
Hmm. It sure seems like all we did was eat!
It was a great evening. Mom and Dad have set a great example of fidelity and faithfulness, and leave us a legacy of love. Thanks Mom and Dad.
– D
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Girlie Fun!
Last Saturday, Rebecca and I embarked on a day of birthday celebration. With a carload of girls, we headed to downtown Houston for a day of girlie fun.
1. First stop, Target. The goal? To find the cutest outfit possible. The girls paired off and went roaming through the store in search of clothing and accessories. They had 15 minutes to make their choice and meet in the dressing room. Meanwhile, I headed to the snack area to read until our dressing room rendezvous. Sweet. All went well until I arrived at the dressing room to find a very unhappy attendant. “Are YOU the adult responsible for all these girls?” Oh no… can I just crawl under a rock and hide?!! Actually, the girls had done nothing wrong and were behaving properly. I think the attendant just feared a big mess for her to clean. We made sure to take care of everything we’d carried in the dressing room plus cleaning up the mess left by previous shoppers.
2. Second stop, Starbucks. What’s a girlie outing without a serious dose of caffeine and sugar?!
3. Third stop, the Williams Water Wall. If you’re not familiar with Houston’s Water Wall, visualize a 60ft. semi-circle wall with cascading water flowing down. Rebecca adores visiting the water wall. It’s one of her most favorite places.
4. Fourth stop, the Galleria. For the next two hours, we wandered in and out of as many girlie shops as possible. Claire’s accessories for girls was probably the highlight for all.
5. Fifth stop, Sam’s Deli Diner. We ended our outing by stuffing ourselves with freshly grilled hamburgers, fries, onion rings, and homemade Blue Bell ice cream shakes. Yum!
6. Sixth stop, home. After hours of wandering around Houston, we arrived home for more fun. The girls designed & created inserts for their own “create a mug,” made fashions out of aluminum foil, and mummified each other in toilet paper. Meanwhile, they laughed and talked and yelled and screamed and talked and talked and talked… You get the picture.
7. Final destination, bed. After being on the go since 1:30pm, the girls could hardly keep their eyes open when the lights finally dimmed at nearly 1:00am. Rebecca declared her sleepover “lame” because they didn’t stay up all night talking. Hee! I call that SUCCESS!!
We had a wonderful day, and I thoroughly enjoyed the girls. What a fun way to celebrate Rebecca’s 14th birthday! Of course, if you ask Rebecca, she’s only turning 12. That’s a blog entry for a whole other day. 🙂
– L
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Friday night, Justus volunteered at the Houston National Invitational (HNI) leading Japan’s national team through an evening of gymnastics competition. He got to hang out with the team on the floor and host them as they competed. He seemed to really enjoy talking with them and interpreting their broken English. We all laughed at Justus’ stories as he retold his adventures. He said they were “crazy talented.” Several of the Japanese athletes had their picture taken with Justus. I expect it was because Justus was wearing a cowboy hat, blue jeans and a red bandanna. What a great experience.
Saturday morning came early. We drove down to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston for a continuation of HNI, only this time it was Justus’ turn (Levels 7 and 8). Competition was fierce – Justus scored a 15.2 on rings and placed 6th! First place was a 15.9 (one tenth from a perfect score – what?!). Great news: Justus conquered the pommel horse by staying on throughout both compulsory routines – the first time all season. And subsequently, he busted through with his season high in the all-around with 81.3.
As I look back at yesterday’s performance (video below), my heart takes with me the following things:
- Justus fought from falling off of Parallel Bars (His routine was flawless until his last handstand coming out of his pirouette). Although he didn’t fall, it cost him and he was upset. Once the rotation was complete, the P-Bar judge sought Justus out to tell him, “Hey Justus, that was a really great routine. It was just a small bobble at the very end. Don’t worry. Right now, you have high bar ahead of you.” The judge took time to both encourage Justus and remind him to leave the past behind, and look forward to what is ahead… That’s teaching a great life skill. Wow.
- Justus refocused and tied 10th on high bar.
- During the awards ceremony (at the end of the video), I thoroughly enjoyed Justus offering generous handshakes to the other boys and saying, “good job.”
Seeing that character in my boy makes me so proud to be his Dad.
– D
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MAC Portland, OR
I’m grateful to John Gualy for taking care of Justus. The three of them are flying, rooming, eating and playing together. Once the gymnastics meet is over, they will go to the mountains on Sunday for some snow sledding and hiking.
John is promising to text Justus scores as they come in. This is the first time I can fully appreciate SMS technology. Okay, so I’m a little slow, but I’m coming around.
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The next morning, after returning from a week-long trip to Disney World, Justus performed at a gymnastics meet. Considering he had no workouts for a week, he did great. He stuck many of his landings and improved his scores from WOGA on both Rings and Vault. Justus felt good about his outing despite his setback on Pommel. Below are a couple of pictures and video of Justus’ performance. Enjoy!
-D
Justus in a split on floor routine
Justus on parallel bars
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Merry Christmas – 2009
Amidst the clamor and chaos this season is Grace. She shines far brighter than any Christmas tree, lit rooftop or mechanical reindeer. She is more hopeful than any child gawking gifts or mother giving birth.
As captivating as her countenance appears, her message is scandalous. Her disclosure makes no apology, requires no alliance to advance, and serves no one. She is disappointing – disappointing to anyone who would try to dilute her potency, malign her authority, or dowse her resolve.
Hear her message:
Truth and I are personified through a babe who was born in a filthy barn. This boy grew up among the poor and underprivileged, stood defiant against traditional wisdom and established religion, and died after public ridicule and torture.
And yet His story was not by chance, but by grace-filled intention.
Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:6-11 (NLT)
For His birth announcement, flashes of lightning and thunderous voice were replaced by the light of a singular star and the voice of an angel. Deserved fanfare was dismissed for shepherds and vagabonds. And wondrously, the Creator of the universe was conceived and born.
Jesus embodied grace – the grace of love and unmerited favor towards us. The extent of which Jesus reached out to each of us so personally, so completely, so undeniably proves the size and scope of His love for you and me.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8 (NIV)
The message is simple. To the sage and noble, the message is foolishness. To the humbled, healed and forgiven, Grace lives and abounds.
May you and yours find a new sense of grace, wonder and joy through the birth of our Savior.
Merry Christmas,
-D
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Valeri Liukin, a former gymnast for the dissolved Soviet Union, competed in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and received a gold medals in team competition and high-bar, and silver medals in parallel bars and all-around. Today, he is an Olympic coach and co-owner of three gymnastic training centers in the Dallas area. You may recognize his last name as more recently, his daughter, Nastia Liukin, was also a gold medal Olympian gymnast competing in the 2008 games.
This year, Justus and his team were invited to compete in the Valeri Liukin Invitational (for a second year in a row). So, last Thursday afternoon, Lisa, Justus and I packed up the car and drove up to Frisco, just north of Dallas for a Friday morning competition. Rebecca stayed behind with friends.
The four-and-a-half hour drive was pleasant. We stayed at an aLoft Hotel, owned and managed by Sheraton. The accommodations where very contemporary and chic – not something we would normally go for, but it was cool. For Justus, the chic aLoft was a pretty special place.
Friday morning, we made our way first to Starbucks (for me) and then to IHoP (for him). (You see, I already knew, being the self-professed coffee snob I am, that I wasn’t going to be happy with IHoP coffee. They’ve disappointed me before. The extra stop before breakfast was not only nice but mandatory.) The morning was very relaxing: Justus’ stomach wasn’t in knots, he ate well, and we had a few laughs with the camera (see pictures below).
After breakfast, we drove to the gym where Justus checked in promptly at 9am. The facilities are the best we’ve been to in the four seasons we’ve experienced. This working gym is huge, open feeling and very clean. There are permanent bleachers set up on two sides of the gym for parents and other visitors.
Justus and his team did very well. Their performance and attitudes were much better than last year. Last year, Justus’ gut was in knots before the event, and he was crying when the event was over. Not good. This year felt completely different. The boys knew this was the first competition of the season, they knew that they were not entirely ready and that was okay. What a difference a year makes.
Justus’ best score of the day was on rings, 14.8, placing him 12th out of 52 boys. In all, he scored 14+ on four of the six events. A very strong start. (Level 7 is well-known as the “weed-out” level. So, it’s important that Justus, the coaches and the team pace themselves for the demanding season.)
After the meet, the Level 7 boys scarfed some old fashioned steakburgers and frozen custard at Freddie’s down the street. The boys had fun being boys and the parents enjoyed just hung out. A good time was had by all.
Pictures and video are below. Feel free to leave your “shout outs” and encouragements for Justus in the comments section.
-D
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Thanksgiving and snow!
Thanksgiving weekend was filled with loving family and fabulous food. Mom and Dad Hyde drove in on Thanksgiving Day with Nanaw. We spent the majority of the day at the Brandau’s snacking, watching football, eating a huge dinner and enjoying each other’s company. Warren offered a touching and heartfelt prayer of Thanksgiving and we all had a great time. (I’m reminded each time our two families get together how wonderful everyone gets along. In fact, my folks have taken trips to Europe with Lisa’s folks without us! But we’re not bitter.) Lisa, the kids and I made out like bandits with the leftovers. We didn’t go to the grocery store for a week! Thanks to the Brandau’s for their gracious generosity and huge hospitality.
On Friday of the next week, Houston and surrounding areas received a couple of inches snow! It was the earliest snowfall in Houston history (by five days), snowing from about 9am to 2pm. By the time the kids came home from coop, the snow had already melted a bit, but that didn’t stop them from dropping there wares at the back door to play in the front yard.
Below are some pictures of the Thanksgiving gathering and celebration in the snow.
– D
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Lessons learned from a yard sale
A couple of weekends ago we had our first big yard sale. By all accounts it was highly successful: we made over $500 in cash, visited with complete strangers, and sold almost everything.
Timeline:
5:45am – The alarm clock sounds; Justus and I make a pot of coffee and begin sweeping off the driveway and sidewalks.
6:15am – Rebecca, Justus and I begin putting out the goods. Lisa makes a pot of oatmeal. The sun is coming up.
6:30am – We notice die-hard bargain hunters circling the block. We are still putting out and displaying items.
6:45am – Our first two customers grow tired of waiting. They park at the curb and begin browsing. We are still pulling our wares in the yard – boxes and boxes of clothes, shoes, books, toys, videos, electronics, sports goods and exercise equipment.
8:05am – The first wave of shoppers is gone. Half of our inventory is already depleted. The ten signs Justus and I put out around the neighborhood the night before say, “Big Yard Sale.” I’m already feeling we’re now committing false advertising.
11:30am – The major traffic has come and gone, only the occasional straggler browses the leftovers. Justus and friends make signs stating everything must go, every item is half-price.
1:30pm – Lisa’s parents bring us lunch. We are so hungry!
2:30pm – We close shop and clean up. Whatever remains is put directly in the truck for a single trip to Katy Christian Ministries.
It was a great day.
In our preparation of the event, Lisa, the kids and I sorted and categorized. Our dining room looked like a self storage unit. We read blogs of experts on the strategies of yard sales. Time and time again we read not to expect great success in selling books and clothing items, especially shoes. Well, of course we had hundreds of books, clothes and oh yes, a sea of shoes. Lisa and I priced everything in hopes of blessing others, not to make a lot of money (Most children’s books, shoes and articles of clothing went for 25-50 cents). Nothing was sold tattered, broken or with missing pieces.
Our first blessing that morning came a little after 7am: an elderly Hispanic couple speaking very little English. They saw all the children’s clothing and shoes. They took an entire bin of shoes before Rebecca could finish sorting them. They filled seven yard bags of clothes to presumably take back to their extended family in Mexico. In hindsight, we had the perfect amount of clothes. The old man looked through my table of electronics and asked if I had an amplifier for sale. I didn’t have one on the table, but felt compelled to fetch the 200W Sony Dolby surround-sound amplifier collecting dust in the house. I sold it to him for a song.
Two days prior, I mentioned to a family friend that I was selling a 4×8 speaker cabinet with a Peavey 400W amplifier, a beginner electric guitar player’s dream. I was asking $50 for it. That evening, the friend’s son, who plays guitar in a youth rock band at our church, called to inquire about the cabinet. We had a great “nerdy” conversation. As he was about to hang up the phone and ask his dad if he could buy it, I felt Jesus prompting me. I told the teen that if I thought there would be any possibility that this equipment would contribute to the honing of his gifts and the sharpening of his faith, I wanted him to have it. He was blown away.
About midmorning of the yard sale, a special needs teacher dropped by and thumbed through the boxes of books. I helped her make trips to her car with all the books that would soon bless her classroom. In hindsight, we had the perfect amount of books.
Later that morning, a car pulled over and a lady climbed out to inquire about the golf clubs on display. She asked seemingly disappointed already, “These are right-handed aren’t they?” I said, “No, actually they are left-handed.” She lit up and called her teenage son from the car. Her son tried out the clubs. The clubs, golf bag, accessories and even the golf shoes were perfect for him. The teenager was so pleased he could start playing and the mom was simply delighted.
Sure, we were blessed to make some money and to regain storage space in our house. But I think in the end, we were more blessed to be a blessing to others, and that will stick in our minds long after the event is over.
-D
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New Windows
This weekend we took another step in remodeling the house – we replaced all 15 contractor-grade single-pane windows with energy efficient windows. The effort took about seven hours to complete. The house feels seriously upgraded (one of the few upgrades you can enjoy inside and outside), the view is clearer (the old windows were tinted brown), and the occasional barking dog and passing truck are greatly muted. Below is a video journal of the day’s events, from demolition to installation. Enjoy!
-D
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Rough Evening at Gym Practice
When I picked Justus up from practice this evening, everything seemed fine. He was walking and cutting up with his friends like normal as he came out to the truck. Once he got in the car he proceeded to tell me he fell backwards from a handstand on parallel bars. He said he didn’t know what to do, so he just closed his eyes and said to himself, “Oh snap…”
He fell on his backside from what we can tell, but not before hitting his inside ankle and right armpit on the bar on his way down. When I got him home, I inspected his armpit and found a large red welt. We iced him down before bed: one pack on the ankle under the Ace bandage, and one under the cellophane rap around his right shoulder.
All seems well. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.
-D
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2009 Harvey Family Reunion
This year, Mom hosted the Harvey family reunion (‘Harvey’ is Mom’s maiden name). Everyone seemed to enjoy the cooler weather and Mom’s family recipes. Nancy, Dennis and Sharron came in from Illinois, while Aunt Betty Lou, Lowell and Rhonda hailed from Arkansas. Johnny, Paula and the boys joined us for the weekend gatherings. Lisa and Rebecca came in from Katy, and Justus and I drove in from Oklahoma City following his Future Stars regional qualification meet.
Both Saturday and Sunday evening, we all enjoyed good food, shared lots of laughs and exchanged stories of our favorite memories. Many of the stories we’d heard before. To our surprise, there were also some new ones. Still, we were touching our past by keeping those memories alive – our own verbal history of sorts. For some of us, we never got to shake hands with our great uncle Edward, or hear the laugh of our Great Grandma Elizabeth, but by listening to the stories from those who knew them, we enjoyed reaching back and getting to know them a little better.
– D