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And Another Year Begins

So, in two days we head back to work and have a week of preparation before the students arrive. We are kind of excited this year because the summer has been hectic and even a little stressful. The routine of school will be a welcome change. The end of the previous year was exciting for Don because he got to see some of the students he had in his first year of teaching cross the stage to receive their diploma. It was also exciting because we got to see our first foreign exchange student, Claudia, receive an American diploma. She still has to finish school back in Italy, but it was a great experience to have her with us for most of the year. Since we had such a good experience, we decided to take on another foreign exchange student this year. Alba, from Spain, will be arriving this evening and we are looking forward to it, but are a tad bit nervous. We have talked with both Alba and her mom several times using Skype and have begun the process of getting to know each other.

This summer, while hectic, has been spent pretty much in Florida. We started out the summer just hanging around town and catching up with some decluttering in the house. We also visited Busch Gardens and Aquatica a couple of times to just enjoy some of the perks of living in Florida. We began talks with the Brobstons, good friends of ours, about coming for a visit when we flew up to IL for a wedding (Congratulations Jerrod & Alyssa Leonard) and I was beginning to wonder if things would work out because of some issues at his workplace. Things worked out last minute and we found out Thursday morning that they would be arriving late Friday night so preparations began to make room for them in the house. We were able to make room and the visit was awesome. Jesse even installed ceiling fans in our large living room (it took two since it is so large) to help keep the air moving and provide some much needed light to the space.

Tara spent three weeks in Sarasota to visit with her nieces and nephew while keeping them occupied so that their mom and dad could continue to work. This is where some of the stress came in however and some family issues were encountered and yet remain unresolved. If you are part of a family, you know how these things go. Please pray for healing in these relationships and that they will be restored to better than before. There are some family members that need salvation, so that is a top priority in our book. While Tara was in Sarasota, Don was able to visit his family in northern WI for about 10 days. He was able to relax in the cool weather and even got to visit a full-pads practice for the best team to ever play professional football, the Green Bay Packers. While some stars were not present, it was a wonderful experience. It is quite neat to see the players come out and choose bicycles to ride from the locker room to the practice field. Imagine the experience for these kids as they walk along side these bigger-than-life "heros" and get to talk with them as they head to the field. I wish my kids could experience that sometime in their lives.

Devon, the little brute that he is, had two trips this summer to the doctor to get stitches. Both times he hit his head on immovable object because he was running in the house and tripped. Not sure if he has learned his lesson yet, but his brothers haven't seemed to learn from his mistakes. We still have to tell them to stop running in the house and to stop the horseplay. What is the saying? "Boys will be boys!"

So, now we are back home, welcoming a new daughter into our house and preparing ourselves for the abrupt changes back to the schedule that work requires. The boys are not real excited. They understand that it means earlier bedtimes, homework and early mornings. Our children take after their mother in that mornings do not agree with them. Hopefully our "slug" from last year will get his act together and not make us force him to get ready in the mornings. Oh yeah, the boys did get a nice surprise in that we found a cute dog that was free (and small) for them to enjoy. They have been begging for at least two years to get a dog and daddy finally gave in when God provided a little, free bundle for them. Maybe that will make them more eager to get up for school. Well, we will sign off for now, but will update once we see how the start of school is going. We hope that you are in good health and spirits.

Let Summer Begin

Another school year has come and gone and now we wonder what to do. It is amazing how fast a school year goes once it gets started, unfortunately, the summer flies by even quicker. The summer gives us the opportunity to rest, spend extra time with the boys and to decompress from the stresses of every day work life. While we love our jobs, the stresses can sometimes get you down. The students can be dysfunctional, the district can be demanding and the co-workers can be annoying (sometimes), but when the day is done, we put it behind us and gear up for the next day. Luckily, summer is a break from that routine.

On Tuesday, June 7th, we had to see our foreign exchange student for the last time for a while. What a rewarding experience it was to have her here with us for the year even though it was hard to say "see you later!" Our boys loved her and so did we, but we know that we can still keep in communication with her and will see her again down the road. We got to see her walk for graduation and so did her mom who flew in on the Friday before the ceremony. It was a shock to us though as we were notified of a change of plans! We were expecting to have Claudia with us until June 11th, but since her mom had flown in for the graduation, it was more practical for them to fly back to Italy together. We will always cherish the time we had with her and hope that she will be able to say the same.

Our boys finished up their school years by scoring at the top of their respective classes on their standardized testing. It is great that they all have a desire to learn and seem to be doing very well in the classroom. We hope they continue to desire more knowledge, but more than that, we pray that they will desire to follow Christ in their lives. Parker continues to amaze us with his musical talent and the other two keep us on our toes with their orneryness and comedy. We love having three distinctly different personalities, but sometimes it makes for a lot of squabbles. Well, we are hoping for a fun and relaxing summer and hope that all our friends can have the same.

Keep it real!
The Wideners

It's been some time, but...

Well, it has been almost 3 years since my last post. While we have not changed much, many things have changed for us. Our boys getting huge and smart. They seem to get bigger by the day. When we moved to Florida almost 4 years ago (wow how time flies) our boys were 6, 4 and 3 and now they are all in school and about to finish up their school year. We have been blessed by so many things and so many people over these past 3 years that I can't list them all. Good health for all three of these little guys would be way at the top of the list. When God moved us here, we had no clue what kind of mission field we were embarking on, but we now know we serve a Risen Christ in a lost and dying area. God put us here, and our kids, for a reason.

Our children, now in 3rd, 1st and K, love to go to church and tell others about Christ when we have no clue. We found out at a meeting with Jackson's teacher that he was telling others about God or what Jesus would have them do and would even go up to his teacher to ask if he was correct. We believe his teacher to be a Christian because she just beamed as she told us about it. She said that she just loved to let him talk and listen on the conversation. What a report to hear from a teacher in a secular school. Oh, yeah, the boys are now in public schools and are enjoying it. Parker is taking and enjoying guitar lessons and what a wonderfully gifted little boy he is. He can do amazing on the guitar with little practice, but is slowly learning that the more practice he does, the better his gift sounds. God threw every musical talent that on Parker that he didn't bother to give me, because Parker is simply amazing. He can hear the pitches of instruments, he can play a tune on the piano after hearing/seeing it just once and he can sing like an angel! God has prepared him for the future in some kind of full-time service. We pray that he hears the call. Devon, well, the little bruiser just goes and goes and goes. Sometimes the only thing that can stop him is a wall (he found out the hard way).

We gained a daughter this past school year as we took on the responsibility of a teenage girl as a foreign exchange student. Claudia has been a great "first" when it comes to being a host family. We had talked about doing this in the past but had never gone through the process, but when they were in need of an emergency placement, God again worked everything out. He gave us an amazing Foreign Exchange representative to work with and we have totally loved this past 8 months. While we have had our growing pains and adjustments to the teenage mentality, we can gladly say that we will miss her when she returns home. We look forward to seeing her again in the future (maybe in Italy), but so thankful for the time we have had. We are already signed up for next year!

Through these last few years, God has taught us how to accept and adapt to the changes around us. While many states, Florida included, are trying to mess with the career choice that God has placed us in, we are confident that God has a plan and will be right next to us, no, in front of us on the journey. We just need to follow him through the doors. Tara has come back to RCHS and is now teaching in an area that she absolutely loves, Early Childhood Development. I continue to teach math and have made some discoveries that I never thought I would make -- teaching freshmen may be the place to be. It seems that I may get my chance to go back to the freshmen and I pray that God allows me to make an impact on the young lives that he brings through my door. God provided a wonderful house for us almost two years ago, and while it was yet another move, it was a wonderful experience to be in the house that God had set aside for us. If you haven't heard the whole story and would like to, just talk to Tara or me.

Well, I pray that it will be only a short time until my next post, but I must get into the habit. Please feel free to contact us any time that you need information on the Orlando area or if you want to chat or come for a visit. We are both on Facebook and can be contacted very easily through that medium.

Don & Tara Widener
& Boys