Upwards Awards Ceremony

Cobras Team Picture

Best Friends


Upward ROCKS!

Jason coming through the tunnel one last time

Rachel's last tunnel run

What a busy Monday we had! The day started off slowly with just school, but then after lunch, the day got busy. Rachel had an eye appt at the opthalmologist on base to get a second opinion about her glasses. Since putting the eye drops in her eyes, they haven't seemed to bother her.

He was really concerned as to why her 3 D vision and vision as a whole seemed to be almost perfect, but the itching of her eye and sensitivity to light was an issue. He dilated her eyes, and then did some more tests. He said he saw some white blood cells floating around her in eye, so she might have some inflammation, so he wanted to refer her to a specialist. After we left, I was trying not to think worst case scenario, but he was even mentioning juvenile arthritis? Crazy! Dr. Bloom's office called right away and scheduled an appt for Wed at 2:20. They are at Dayton Children's Medical Center.

After the appt, we had to head to drum lessons right away. Jason continues to get better each week. Mrs. P gave him a challenge this week of writing his own song. He is supposed to try to have 8 measures ready by next Monday.

After dinner, we headed to the Upwards Awards Ceremony. The kids were so excited. We have never been a part of an Upward program before, so we didn't know what the ceremony would involve. Boy, we were blown away! The kids all got to run through the tunnel one more time. The cheerleaders all did a cheer for us, and we saw a photo slide show of the season. After that, they passed out the awards - an Upwards Duffle Bag! The kids were disappointed at first they didn't get trophies, but then they realized how useful the bags would be. The ceremony ended with a cake and punch reception. We were thrilled to get to sit with the Bonifields and visit for a few minutes. Coach Shawn called all of the players out into the foyer because he had something for the players and the parents. He blew us away with what he gave the kids. He told them a story about this quote by Theodore Roosevelt that he kept framed with a picture of a basketball, so he gave each of them a framed picture with the quote and basketball. What an awesome gift. He gave each of the parents a thank you card. Jason loved the gift so much, the frame is sitting on our mantel at home. He will cherish that forever! We were blessed having him coach Jason!