Christmas Letter 2008

December 6, 2008

Greetings friends and family;

Another year is upon us and the Lord has blessed us abundantly. There is never a dull moment in our house...and with six growing kids our house is full of teenage hormones and funky smells. As I was once again taking a cold bath, I thought…I guess I won’t have hot water again for the next six years…funny because I can remember thinking to myself “will I ever be able to even bathe by myself?” I can say the first day of kindergarten brought on much excitement but it is hard to believe they are now in the sixth grade.

Joshua is a junior this year. As most of you know he made it to State in cross country. I think he has reached his height potential at 6’3” and although he only weighs 145 lbs he has stated he is concerned he has gained 5 lbs since cross country ended. On Thanksgiving he ran the 8-mile Turkey Trot in Dallas finishing 136 out of 7,258.

Kenedy continues to do well in school and has expressed her wishes to become a doctor. At the end of the first six weeks Jacob, Jonah, Zachary and Aleksi were all standing in the kitchen discussing how they had done. Kenedy walked in the house, slammed her report card down and stated “Straight A’s again” and walked off……if looks could KILL.

Jacob now has bragging rights as the tallest of the five. He is a very sweet and loving boy….very tender hearted. He remains very close to Kenedy and Aleksi. He hasn’t shown much of an interest in sports and for that I am thankful since he only has one kidney. His blood pressure remains stable

Jonah has red kinky hair and he is a ball of fire. He should be a comedian. He keeps everyone laughing and is sometimes just goofy. Joshua said “Mom he is not of this family”. What we are learning with Jonah is every family should be blessed with a child with ADD. He adds more excitement in the family and you have to learn patience with him.

Zachary has decided he is going to be a traveling nurse and travel all over the country. He has already asked about how he is going to bank his vacation time and travel first to New York, Alaska, and Hawaii. He has also informed us he is going to have three sons named Charlie, Elijah, and Patrick. We will see what his wife has to say about that.

Aleksi remains attached to her dad. She is the quietest but is loud enough to be heard. Much of her shyness has left. She and Kenedy are often found together giggling. Brent’s sister tells us this won’t stop until they leave home. Aleski also has some curl to her hair. I find it very difficult to manage. In the morning’s she looks like a lion.

Brent remains at his position as a Clinical Director at Christian Care Center Home Health. He enjoys his work as it gives him an opportunity to work in his initial degree in marketing and also as a nurse. He rides his bike and often will ride along with Joshua as he runs. I remain at UT Southwestern as the manager of Staffing Services. Our schedules have given us the opportunity to spend more time together. We celebrate our 21st anniversary this year…..of course with six kids you have to add about 10 more years.

The photo was taken on our summer vacation in Estes Park, CO. If ever you can feel the beauty of God’s work, it is in those mountains. I also had the opportunity this year to take a few trips on my own for either business or pleasure purposes to Galveston. I have found sneaking away “alone” and reflecting on God’s words “Be still and know I am” as I view the beauty of HIS work, has given me a peace unknown before.

We miss you all and think of you often. GOD has truly blessed our family and given us the joy of six children unlike what few other families are able to experience. (PS-I have to tell myself this oftenJ) We pray the New Year brings good health and many blessings to each of you. Come see us if you get the opportunity.

Love, Brent, Deshonna, Joshua, Jacob, Jonah, Zachary, Kenedy and Aleksi.

5th & 6th Grade Track Meet

Well you just thought we were through with track!!!

Our little ones had the Claybon Elem. 5th & 6th grade track meet this past Friday and it looks like we may have some future track stars as three of the five had top six finishes in their events.

Kenedy took third place in the obstacle course with a time of 34.6. The winning time was 32.5. For most of the events they combined the winning times between both grades so they were running against all the 5th and 6th graders. Kenedy also got 6th in the hurdles with a time of 15.09. It was not the type of hurdles you are probably thinking of, but once you see the pictures you will understand. Still she had to run 100 meters.

Jonah took fifth in the 100 meters with a time of 13.13. The winning time was 12.10. I did not know Jonah was as fast as he is. Joshua was saying that he explodes off the line and it is all he can do to catch him by the finish line. Jonah ran the anchor for his team in the 4 x 100 relay. His team finished in third place.

In the 400 meters, Zachary took the top spot with a time of 1:22. Zachary also ran the anchor for his team in the 4 x 400 relay and ran out of gas at the finish line after leading his lap for all but the last 10 meters.

Jacob competed in the obstacle course and the 100 and did good. Aleksi ran the hurdles and the 4 x 400 relay. Her and Kenedy were on the same relay team, in fact Aleksi handed off to Kenedy.

Overall, everyone had fun. It will be interesting to see who sticks with track as they get bigger. This is the same meet Joshua had when he was in the 6th grade that made us start looking at his track potential. Unlike Josh, they added the 5th grade to the meet so the kids will have one more year before moving on to middle school.

Top 10 finish at Regionals

Joshua ran on the biggest stage of his young track career Friday and Saturday at the UIL 4A Region II Track and Field meet held at Fouts Field on the campus of North Texas State in Denton and came away with a top ten finish.

Josh came in 9th place in the 3200m Friday evening with a time of 10:14.73. The winning time was an amazing 9:31.78. The 1600m Saturday afternoon was a little different story as he ran a 4:55.02 which was good for 19th. He started out strong and tried to stay with the leaders, but by the 1/2 mile mark, had started to run out of steam. The winning time was 4:21.57 which was ran by the same guy that took first in the 3200m.

To put the regional meet in perspective, there are 58 schools who run track in Region II and if each school ran the maximum three runners in the 3200m and 1600m, that would be 174 runners for each event. To finish 9th in one event and 19th in another is quite an accomplishment and that is for a sophomore. The next two years should really be exciting for Josh.

One a side note...Our "little kids" have a 5th grade track meet coming up in a couple of weeks at their school. Zachary has said that he wants to run the 400 and 800 and that he is going to start running to get in shape. After supper he told us he was going to go run. He asked Josh what he needed to do to get ready and Josh's reply was, "run some miles." Zach hit the street running and was back at the house in a couple of minutes out of breath. He looked at us and said, I don't know if I can do that or not.

Even though the high school track season is over for Josh, his running season is not. A few weeks ago, he was invited to run with a Junior Olympic team out of Rockwall. This organization is the ground floor for the big time Olympics. After taking this week off, he will start working out with the team next week. His coach only takes 15 runners and she focuses on long distance runners so it should be a good training situation for him. They will have four or five meets in May and early June before two qualifying meets for the National Junior Olympics which will be held in July in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Junior Olympics run the international races which are 1500m and 3000m, not the 1600m and 3200m he has been running so his times should be faster. Josh is already talking about going to Omaha so we will see what happens. This will be a great opportunity for Josh to work with a true track coach and give him a reason to keep running and improving his running strength and ability. This will also be a great bridge between the high school track season and the cross country season this fall.

We'll keep you updated.

Regional Qualifier Times 2

Hey All;

Can you say regional qualifier in TWO events???

Well, that is what we are learning to say around the Taylor household after Joshua pulled off the most amazing finish of his life. When all was said and done, Josh had secured third place in the 1600m with yet another personal record. This time a 4:35, eight seconds faster than his old PR. The winning time was 4:33.

With 200 meters left in the race, it was a five person race. By the time they hit the straight away for the final 100 meters, it had become a four person race with Josh in fourth place. With about 25 meters left, Josh was still in fourth but was closing in on third. As they crossed the finish line, we could literally not tell if Josh had gotten third and his second ticket to the regional meet. Deshonna and I looked at each other and we had no idea. We kept looking to where the timers were and at the same time watching Josh for any sign of emotion that would give us a definite answer. Josh started walking away from us and we still had no answers. It wasn't long until we saw Josh's coach give him a "high five" and then a big bear hug. By now we were starting to think that maybe he had nosed out the runner in front of him. We continued to watch Josh and some of the other coaches and his teammates kept giving him "high fives". It was probably another five or ten minutes before Josh made his way to the stands where we got the answer. To say the least, he was a little excited and had finally caught his breath enough to start showing some emotion.

The weather was another issue. In the girl's race right before the boy's, the rain was coming down pretty hard. By the time the gun sounded for the boys' race, it had stopped.

Josh got a little extra inspiration from some friends of ours who live in Corpus Christi, Larry & Phyllis Cash. Larry was our minister and fellow EMT when we lived in Littlefield. The Cashes sent us an e-mail Sunday night with a scripture for Josh to read. It was Isaish 40:28-31. The verse says, ISA 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. ISA 40:29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. ISA 40:30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; ISA 40:31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Josh told us on the way home that the verse has become his favorite and he even quoted vs. 30 from memory. "I have read it so much the last couple of days that I have memorized it." Deshonna asked him if he was thinking about the verse the last 100 meters? He replied, "No. I was just asking God to give me the the strength to keep on running."

OK Larry and Phyllis, what can you come up with for the Regional meet?

Josh will run the weekend of April 18 & 19 in a regional qualifiers' meet, but we do not know where that will be yet. The Regional meet will be April 25 & 26 in Denton. More on that later.

Quite a week...Deshonna turned ??, and Josh qualified in the 3200m and 1600m and it's only Wednesday.

Until next time...

Regional Qualifier

He's headed to regionals...

Joshua qualified to run in the 4A Region II Track Meet Tuesday night by finishing in third place, but more importantly for him, setting a personal record in the 3200m. Josh crossed the finish line with a time of 10:06... six seconds faster than his previous best. The guy he has been trying to meet since 8th grade won the race for Mesquite Poteet with a time of 9:55. Second place went to a runner from Richardson J.J. Pierce who no one was expecting to run the 3200m.

The 1600m will be Wednesday night sometime after 7:30 or 8. Josh will have to have another personal best to have a chance to move on in the 1600m. Don't be surprised if the finish in the 1600m is identical to the 3200m. The top two in the 3200m have the fastest times in the 1600m in our district. If Josh can hang with them, he has a good chance of representing Forney in two events at the Regional Meet which will be held in Denton on April 25 & 26.

Will let you know Wednesday night.

Another PR...District Meet Next

For the third week in a row, Joshua set another personal record at the Rockwall-Health Hawk Relays last Friday afternoon. This PR came in the 1600m with a time of 4:43.8. It looked like Josh was going to cross the finish line in first place, but out of no where, he got passed at the line. He literally lost by a half second as the winning time was a 4:43.5.

In the 3200m, Josh took second with a time of 10:28. The winning time was 10:13. The wind was blowing pretty hard when the gun sounded around 3:45 and a combination of that and Josh not really being mentally ready to run took a toll on his time. Josh had mentioned before the race that his coach was not sure why they scheduled a meet five days before the district meet and Josh didn't push himself like he has because he wanted to save himself for district. However, between the 3200 and the 1600 which started around 8:30, Josh had a change in attitude and decided he was not going to let the guy who beat him in the 3200 beat him in the mile...and he didn't. The guy took third.

Next up for Josh is the district meet which will be held at Hanby Stadium in Mesquite. They have spread the district meet out over two days, Tuesday and Wednesday. From what we have been able to figure out, Josh will run the 3200m at 7:00 Tuesday night. The 1600m will be sometime Wednesday night. They will run it with the running finals which begin at 6:30. I am guessing that Josh will run sometime after 7:30 or 8.

What are Joshua's chances at moving on to the regional meet you ask? Well, pretty good. From all the times I have been able to get my hands on so far from school in our district, Josh has the second fasted time in the 3200m at 10:12. The fastest time is around a 9:50 in the district. For Josh to be one of the top three finishers, he is going to have to leave it all on the track and run a very smart race. He can do it, but he is going to have to stay focused. The top three times advance.

In the 1600m, it's a little different story. There are two guys who have faster times...around 4:30. Then there is a pack of three or four runners who are right around the 4:40 to 4:45 time including Joshua. It should be a very competitive race for the third spot. At least with the 1600m being run on day two, Josh should have time for his legs to recuperate from the 3200m.

Deshonna has already said that Tuesday will be a very special day...the day Josh qualifies for the regional meet in the 3200m and also her ??st birthday.

If you are not doing anything Tuesday night and live in the area, come out and support Josh. If you need directions to Hanby Stadium, let me know and I will get you there.

Until next time...

PRs Continue

Joshua had his best meet of the year Saturday at the Little Elm Lobo Invitational by setting not one, but two personal records. In the 3200m, Josh had his best time ever with a 10:12. That is 11 seconds faster than his previous best time of 10:23. Despite his record time, it was only good enough for a fifth place finish. For a change, Josh had some very good competition. The winning time was a blistering 9:33 with second being a 10:00.

In the 1600m, Josh crossed the finish line with a 4:45, eight seconds faster than what was his personal best of 4:53. Once again, despite the great personal showing, his time was only good enough for sixth place. First place ran a 4:30 while the second place time was 4:36.

In both races the top two times were from Frisco Centennial which is a 4A school like Forney, so if Josh can make it to the regional meet, he will see them again. Going into the Little Elm meet, Josh was wanting to run a 10:00 3200m and a 4:40 1600m. He will have one more shot at the times before the district meet. This coming Friday, the Jackrabbits will run at Rockwall-Heath. The district meet is set for April 8th & 9th in Mesquite.

Josh sets PR in 1600m

Joshua set a personal record last Friday at the Cotton Ford Relays held at Greenville High School. Josh took third place in the 1600 but also ran his fastest time ever by breaking the five minute mark to finish with a 4:53. He also took second place in the 3200 with a time of 10:38. The winning time in the 1600 was 4:47 while a 10:28 took the top spot in the 3200.

Joshua enjoyed some friendly harassing from my boss before the 1600. From all accounts, Leo Sanders, my boss, was not bad as a long distance runner in his younger days at Carthage High School. He made it to Greenville in time to watch the 3200 and then stuck around to see the 1600. Between races, Leo started giving Josh a hard time about how slow he ran and kept calling him a "sissy" every time Josh asked for something to eat. "All you need is some water and a power bar you sissy."

As the time between races got longer and longer, Leo finally told Josh, "You run a 4:50 mile and your dad will buy you a big steak." Josh looked at me and I agreed. "So if I run a 4:50 you are going to take me to Salt Grass and buy me a big steak," Josh asked. Once again I said yes. Remember, up until last Friday, his fastest mile was 5:00. As it turned out, it must have motivated Josh. Even though he didn't hit the 4:50 mark, he got very close. When he crossed the line and got his time from the timekeeper, Josh made some comment about being upset about his time. The timekeeper told him that he had a very good time at which Josh replied, "Yea but I just missed getting a steak." A lot of his teammates also came running up to him to see what his time was because they all had heard about the steak bet.

The next meet is one that was just added to the schedule this coming Saturday at Lancaster. We are already committed to be at the Leadership Training for Christ (LTC) convention in downtown Dallas so Josh will not get to run in the 3200. There is a chance we will be able to get him to the meet in time to run the 1600, that is if the race is later in the afternoon like it is with most meets. Otherwise, the next meet will be March 29th at Little Elm.

Maybe by then, Josh will have to run a 4:40 to get a steak.

Josh wins 3200m

If I was ever this late getting a story to press back in my newspaper days, I would have been fired on the spot. But since I am the publisher/sports editor of this "electronic rag," I can be late. I really thought I would wait until after last week's meet in Heath, but after Thursday's meet was cancelled before it ever got started due the rain, sleet and snow that hit the area I had to go to plan "b".

Anyway, Joshua's last meet was March 1st at the Clay Jones Relays here in Forney. Josh had a very good meet taking first place in the 3200m and fourth in the 1600m. Despite finishing first, he was not pleased with his performance as he ran his slowest time of the year at 10:38. "I didn't have any competition," Josh said after the run. My come back to him was, "That is when you have to really push yourself."

I thought his 1600m time was really good when you take into account that by the time the 1600m was run around 5 p.m., the wind was blowing very strong out of the south. Josh's time was 5:02. The winning time was 4:48.

Forney entered two varsity teams in the 4 x 400m and Josh was selected to run the anchor on the second team. He was not looking forward to it before the race for a couple of reasons. First, the 4 x 400m was the race right after the 1600m. The second reason, Josh is not a sprinter and in today's track world, the 400m is a sprint. Nevertheless, Josh shocked himself by running the fastest quarter he has ever ran at 0:59. I told him all he had to do was run that time eight times in a row and he would take the state title in the 3200m. He was not impressed.

This week they have two meets on the schedule. Friday they are scheduled to run at Greenville. The 3200m will start the running events at 3:00 and as with most meets, the 1600m is the next to last event of the meet which means he will probably be running around 6:00. Saturday, the team is scheduled to run at the Jesuit-Sheaner Relays in Dallas, but according to Josh today, he does not know if they are going or not. Apparently this meet is one of the premiere meets in the state with teams coming from all over the U.S. I saw a list of teams that have signed up and there really are two high schools from New York and two from Oklahoma.

Josh was told last week that Forney was not going to have anybody run the mile because they could not compete, but they would enter the 3200m. The winning time at last year's Jesuit meet in the 1600m was 4:21. Josh's fastest time in the 1600m this year is 5:00 which would have got him 19th place. The 3200m time is more in line with what Josh has the potential of getting. Last year's winning time was 9:35 which by the way was a kid from Forney who is on track scholarship this year at Sam Houston State. Josh's fastest 3200m this year of 10:23 would have got him 11th place last year.

It looks like the weather is going be nice this weekend so we are looking for some fast times.

Until next time...

Hardware & Sunburn for Josh

The second track meet of the Spring saw Joshua come way with some hardware and a sunburn.

Josh took third place in the 3200m last Saturday at Wylie. His time of 10:23 was three seconds behind the first place finisher. The first and second place runners were from Plano. The weather was much better than the first week. The temperature was in the low 40s when he ran around 10 a.m., but he said he did not get near as cold as the previous week. By five o'clock when he ran the mile, the temp was up to the low 60s with bright sunshine. As a result, Josh's face got sunburned and he complained to his Mom and I that his face was really hurting before he ran the mile. Sitting on the artificial turf of the football field all day did wonders for the team staying warm, but it definitely took its toll on Josh's energy. Nevertheless he did manage to run a 5:00 1600m which was good for 8th place. The winning time was 4:38.

This week, the Jackrabbits will host their own meet Saturday here in Forney. Joshua will again run the 3200m and 1600m and he also found out this afternoon that his coach has stuck him on the the 4 x 400m relay, otherwise known as the mile relay. That should be interesting since the 4 x 400m is right after the 1600m...back to back races.

Oh by the way, Josh is running on the varsity this year. Not bad for a sophomore.

Until next time...

First Track Meet

The things parents will do to support their kids...

Joshua had his first track meet of the year Friday afternoon in less than ideal conditions. The temperature was in the low 40s with the wind blowing out of the north and a light mist at times. In fact it looked like it could start snowing at any time. I told some of the other Forney parents that Deshonna and I spent a few days back in December in Estes Park, CO and the temperature there was in the teens the whole time and I was warmer there walking around then here in Richardson.

Joshua was entered in the 3200m and 1600m races. For you old folks like me, that's the equivalent to the two mile and mile. In the 3200m, Joshua finished in 8th place with a time of 10:33. First place was 10:03. Of the three runners from Forney, Joshua had the best time. Joshua led the first three laps before being overtaken by the pack. (3200m is eight laps) Josh told me after the race that he did not really know what to expect because he had not ran a true 3200m in practice. As it turns out, he found out that he started off way too fast and didn't have anything left at the end. He also said that he would rather run a cross country meet instead of running around a track. After being used to running cross country, he said he could not believe how fast the finish comes in the 3200m.

The meet was cancelled due to the cold before the 1600m so he obviously didn't get to run it. He was really disappointed about it because his one mile split in the 3200 was 5:04. "If I can run the first mile that fast in the 3200m, then I know I can break the five minute mark in the 1600m." His goal for the 1600m is 4:40.

It was really amazing that any of the track team made it to Richardson following a very eventful day at Forney High School. Earlier in the day, the high school was evacuated following a bomb threat. All 1,700 students were bused from the high school to the newly remodeled middle school that will reopen this coming fall. It took about 45 minutes to move all the kids. Josh sent me a text message and asked me to come to the middle school to pick him up, that they were releasing kids to their parents.

By the time I got back to Forney and close to the middle school, I could tell that it was not going to be an easy task to get to where Josh was. The traffic was almost at a standstill as it looked like all the high school parents were trying to get to the middle school to pick up their kids. When I did get to the middle school about 12:15, the police officers made an announcement that the high school had been cleared and that parents could take their kids back to the school to get their personal belongings and cars.

My main concern was whether or not the track team was going to Richardson are not and how was I going to get lunch to Josh before the team left. About 12:45, Joshua finally got a signal on his cell phone and called me. He said the coaches had managed to get some pizzas to the middle school and that they were on the way to the cafeteria to eat. After that that would catch a bus back to the high school to get their track stuff and then head to Richardson.

The 3200 was scheduled to start at 2:30 and the team did not arrive in Richardson until 2:15. I had a patient in Kaufman that I really needed to see so I told Josh that there was no way I could be in Richardson by 2:30 and that I would be there for the mile. It was about 1:15 when I finally left Forney and headed to Kaufman. I saw my patient and then headed to Richardson about 2:45. Half way between Forney and Mesquite, I got another call from Josh and he said they had changed the start time of the meet and that the 3200m would not start until 3:30 and that they would run the boys and girls JV and girls' varsity 3200m before he ran. That gave me time to stop and get a hot dog and gas and then not be so rushed to get to Richardson to watch him run.

Thanks to my laptop computer, wireless air card and cell phone, I was able to set up my "mobile office" with a HEATER in the Suburban and got some work done after the 3200 and before what I thought would be the 1600.

Hopefully next week will not be as eventful before the meet and it will be warmer. Josh and his team will run at Wylie on Saturday.

Until next time...

Forney High School 2008 Track Schedule

Feb. 15 Fri. Richardson @ Eagle-Mustang Stadium -- Richardson
Feb. 23 Sat. Pirate Relays @ Wylie
March 1 Sat. Clay Jones @ City Bank Stadium -- Forney
March 6 Thurs. Hawk Relays @ Rockwall Heath
March 14 Fri. Cotton Ford Relays @ Cotton Ford Stadium -- Greenville
March 15 Sat. Jesuit-Sheaner Relays @ Dallas
March 29 Sat. Little Elm Lobo Invitational @ Little Elm Athletic Complex
April 4 Fri. Hawk Relays @ Rockwall Heath
April 8 & 9 Tues/Wed Varsity District @ Hanby -- Mesquite
April 18 & 19 Fri/Sat Regional Qualifiers Meets
April 25 & 26 Fri/Sat Regional Meet @ Denton
May 9 & 10 Fri/Sat State Meet @ Austin