Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Family Update...

I thought I would catch you up on what everyone is doing these days. So far I've done a lot of talking about me...so, here's an update on the Alabama Aberle Family.
Aaron...is now 10 and growing up in every way! His hobbies are playing Playstation 3, Game Cube, Gameboy and any other game he can get his hands on! He has been taking piano lessons since he was 4 and continues to improve every week. He seems to have a bit of natural talent and that excites us!

Aaron's best friends, Tristen and Jordan moved away to Texas last November and he still misses them and talks about them frequently. But we've been able to keep them in touch through phone conversations which sometimes get a little long, but they enjoy it.

This summer Aaron will attend camp as a camper for the first time and he is very excited about this. He has several friends from church who will be with him. He is also attending a "Claymation" class for a week this summer where he will learn how to make a movie with his own clay figurines, a camera, and computer software. He will get the chance to build his own story board and "tell" his own story through more software. He's excited and anxious about completing this process. Aaron is also very excited about getting to go to Springfield, Mo to spend time with his grandparents and to Tulsa, OK to spend some time with his Aunt, Uncle and cousins there.

Alex...has just turned 15 and is very excited about getting his driving permit! I can't believe how fast these kids grow up! He will begin 10th Grade this coming school year! Amazing!
Right now, he's in Springfield, MO completing his Geometry credit with his uncle Andrew...(aka...the best teacher in the world!) He spent the summer there last year and will spend 4 weeks or so finishing up what they started.

Alex still plays baseball for our homeschool covering...Covenant Christian Academy. This year he tried out for the Junior Varsity Team and made it so he spent the spring playing on that team. I think his middle school coaches missed him a little bit, but Alex had a great time and the JV coaches were all awesome men! He spent time playing Center field, Pitcher, and Catcher. I still love to watch him run the bases, you can really see his competitive spirit when he leads off!

Alex is still taking guitar lessons. Last fall he started playing on the youth praise team at church. It is a joy to join both him and Austin as we praise God together in worship! This summer he will be traveling with the youth group all the way to Lee College (about a 4 hour drive) in Cleveland, Tennessee to participate in CIY (Christ in Youth). He's never had the opportunity to go so he is all excited about that!

He is also excited about having part of the summer to swim this year. Since he was in Springfield the whole summer last year he didn't get the opportunity to spend much time at the pool. He'll have the opportunity to change that this year.

Alex is still obviously very active. He loves to excercise and "be busy"! I think one of his favorite things to do is to get on his bike and ride through the neighborhood. (If you've never been here you'll be interested to know that our new neighborhood if filled with steep hills!) One night Adam and I were out for a walk, it was dark probably around 8:30 pm. When all of a sudden there goes this "kid" whizzing past us on a bicycle! Scared me to death! As soon as I caught my breath, I was yelling for him to slow down! (Secretly, I'm a bit afraid of what he'll do with a car! he drives so fast already on a bicycle! Ha Ha) But he loves the thrill-Yieks! And if he can't ride a bicycle he'll just simply run-full boar.

Austin...is nearly 17 years old, I can't hardly believe it! Today, I came home to find him searching the web looking for the potential scholarships and trying to figure out which ones he's going to work for!

This summer Austin will be working! Currently he holds 3 jobs. He is babysitting for a friend of ours who has 3 children. 2 boys, and 1 girl. He spends Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays caring for them and taking them to all kinds of fun activities from Baseball camp, to free movies in town, to bowling and swimming. He enjoys working with them and often even carries Aaron along.

Austin is employed by the Vonn Braun Civic Center in downtown Huntsville. He works Concessions when they have events like concerts, the circus, and even Hockey games. His job is incredibly flexible and very enjoyable. Although some days it means a lot of hours and sore feet and legs when he gets home. (For some reason he's not so excited about eating things like hot dogs and hamburgers or pretzels and popcorn anymore! ha ha).
He is also interning at our church with our Youth Minister, John "Phatrok" Lancaster. Since Austin is interested in Youth ministry and plans to attend Ozark Christian College, our youth minister has offered to mentor him and let him in on some of the ins and outs of youth ministry. Austin is very excited and will spend Mondays and Friday helping out with whatever Phatrok is needing help with. He is hoping that this will continue on through the next school year.
Austin is still playing the drums for the youth praise team. He also sings believe it or not. I have no idea where he gets that from...(I mean being able to play drums and sing at the same time!) but he seems to be able to pull it off. And is very good and building dynamics through the Worship sets that we play.

I can already feel the need for independance coming from him. As he grows and matures we are blessed to see him striving to put God first in his life, even as he's learning to deal with differant kinds of personalities in people. It is very exciting to see who he's growing up to be. At the same time we know that times are changing, and he will soon be out on his own. Even though, some days we don't want to admit this!

Adam...Is still working as a civilian for the Department of the Army. We have been blessed with his ability to travel less this year. We have greatly enjoyed him at home. I have to say that he's been a good sport about all of the things on his "HONEY DO LIST"! I have certainly enjoyed and appreciated all his hard work in the improvements he has made to our house.
Adam will begin his first term as Elder at Huntsville Christian Church. I'm sure that this will fill his "free" time quite well. Ha Ha! He's looking forward to the challenge and has been dilligently praying for wisdom in his new role as he serves the people of HCC.
Adam also participates on the Adult Worship Team as a song leader, he runs the sound board and helps with projection --all on different rotations...just to keep him hopping! Essentially, almost every weekend he is busy in some roll helping with the Services that happen on Sunday mornings.

Theresa... is busy! I am currently in my 3rd year as a Lifeguard on Redstone Arsenal. I love working with the kids, teaching swimming lessons and meeting new people. I get to watch kids go from fearing the water to loving it and finding it fun.

I am going on 7 years of working with the Jr. and Sr. High students at church. I lead a discipleship group of girls and teach classes in addition to leading the Youth Praise Team. I enjoy playing bass along with the kids as they learn to use their talents to lead others to worship. Again, I love watching kids grow in their faith and trust in Christ. It's been a new and exciting time, getting used to a new youth minister but I am slowly adjusting to the changes. I have to say, it's been nice to have someone to work beside instead of feeling the full responsibility of the program as I did for about 9 months. My youth kids are all great and I love to spend time with them.

This summer, in addition to lifeguarding 40 hours a week, I will be attending 2 weeks of camp, Jr. High Camp and Junior Camp as lifeguard (& Camp nurse @ Jr. High Camp) and I will chaperone our Senior High CIY trip which will consist of another week long event in July.


I also participate on the Adult Worship Team at HCC. I run the projection for the words for songs, slides during the sermons and any video clips that need to be used to Worship. I also play bass on rotation with another bass player. This keeps my saturday mornings busy, too!
Just a note to all who are looking at these pictures...I've realized, that I have no pictures of myself...I guess it's because I'm always taking the pictures. For Example, these are 2 of the pictures that I've found. They are all pretty much the same....Goofy pictures likes the one above (I'm on the left by the way) and this picture...me with a bunch of youth. What a legecy and a blessing.
Here ends the update on the family. It's become longer than I first intended, but I hope you've enjoyed it. And I hope it's given you a small look into the life of the Aberle family. Thanks for taking the time to take a peak!
Love to All!