FCA Camp

Friday morning, Shane and I took Casen to Texas A&M for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Camp. Prior to attending, campers got to choose which sport they wanted to spend their time practicing while at the camp and Casen chose football.

Relaxing before meeting with is group

He got a taste of the college life, staying in the dorm with a roommate, eating in the cafe, and walking around campus. 

While he was there, we stalked FCA's Instagram page in hopes of catching a glimpse of our boy. We did see him in several posts.

He enjoyed his time at camp meeting other athletes from around the state and being able to practice in the indoor facility that the Texas A&M football players use. 

Casen's friend, Easton, also 
attended the camp.

Casen returned home on Monday, in time to finish up his high school prep baseball games. His team finished as the #3 seed and played their first playoff game yesterday. He had a great game, pitching well and hitting both a double and a triple to drive in several runs. 

Winning the game yesterday, sent them to the semi-final game today, which, unfortunately they ended up losing to the #1 seed, Klein Oak.

He had a fun season playing with all of his buddies. Even though his prep team is done, his baseball season is not over yet. In a few weeks we will head to Baton Rouge for the Marucci World Series.

Quality Time

The past few days I have spend quality time with the boys while serving the community. 

Yesterday, Casen and I volunteered at the Park Manor Nursing home, playing dodgeball with the residents and serving them donuts afterwards. 

Casen and his friends

Today, Camden and I volunteered with Sleep in Heavenly Peace, delivering beds to six kids around our community that, prior to today, did not have a bed to call their own We put the beds together in their homes and set up their new bedding. It was a great experience and we enjoyed serving with friends!

Camden and Trennan

Camp Eagle 2026

I dropped the boys off at church Friday morning for them to head to Camp Eagle in central Texas. This is the same camp they went to last year. 

Camden and his friends

Fortunately, our adult volunteers from church took pictures throughout their time there so we could see all the fun our kids were having.

 

Casen

Camden

Camden and Casen ended up in the same
activity group, so were together a lot of the time.

The whole group!

The boys came home tired, but had a great time!

Casen's 14th Birthday

Today was Casen's 14th birthday and we had a fun day celebrating!

He was able to sleep in before having to get up to start his day. After eating his breakfast, he asked to open his gifts before we headed out for the day.

His pose . . . LOL!!

 

After Casen opened his gifts, the boys and I headed downtown to the Astros game. Due to his knee, Shane did not go with us.

 

After the game, we headed to POST Houston to go to a car show that Camden wanted to go to. Unfortunately, a lot of the cars had already left, but we were able to see a few cool cars.

After the car show, we headed home, with a pit stop at Dutch Bros. for Casen to get a birthday drink.

We then ended our day with cake!

It was a fun day making memories with the boys!

An Unfortunate Accident

On Monday, while I was in San Antonio at the Texas School Nurse Administrators Association conference, I receive a text from Shane with the following picture:

Given the context clues of the baseball glove and the evident seams of the baseball engraved on Shane's knee cap, I am sure you have an idea of what happened. . . Shane had taken Casen for a pitching lesson and was warming him up prior to the lesson. Because of the lighting in the facility, Shane was not seeing the ball well, and Casen apparently unintentionally threw a cutter and Shane was expecting it, so took the ball off of his knee. He said he went straight down, was extremely nauseated and wasn't sure how he was going to drive home. After he got home, he iced it and at this point told me he didn't think he needed to go to the doctor.

On Tuesday, the first text I receive is asking if we have crutches. He did call to make an appointment with his orthopedic doctor, who wasn't able to see him until the following day. The following is how it looked:

Today, he was finally able to see the doctor. They x-rayed his knee and was told it was fractured. He was told it was not the knee cap (patella), but the bone behind it from the force of the knee cap hitting it (I assume the head of the tibia, based on where he was hit). He was told not to bend his knee and placed in a knee brace that keeps his leg straight. He was told he will most likely be in the brace for 6 weeks. He is to use crutches and follow up in 2 weeks to x-ray again and determine if they can adjust his brace.

Unfortunately, it looks like he will spend yet another summer hanging out on the couch with a bum knee!

Another Graduation Celebration

My parents came into town for the weekend to attend a graduation party as well as to catch some baseball. Yesterday, my parents, Camden and I all headed to The Backyard Grill to celebrate five graduates: Braden and Lakin graduating from Oklahoma State University with their Bachelors in Architecture, Grace graduating from East Texas A&M University with her Specialist degree in School Psychology, Ethan graduating  from Sam Houston with a business degree and Lauren graduating high school. It is always so exciting to celebrate graduates, all they have accomplished, and the exciting new chapter ahead! I am so proud of them. 

Dad, Camden, Braden and Lakin

Lakin, Braden, Lauren, Grace and Ethan

Shane and Casen were not able to attend the graduation party due to Casen's baseball team playing in a tournament. Fortunately, my parents were able to catch him play today.