agony of defeat

runners up. great girls!

We won-- and now on to the finals!

It was a hard fought battle. Lost the first two sets fast, won the third, they had match point on us and we rallied back to win all in the fifth (at nearly midnight). Whewwwwww. Give an OLD mamma a heart attack! We play the finals at noon today. Our games are usually streamed live on the Father Ryan.org website. Not sure about this one. Love to all!

Finally...

a word from the "hood". I'm sorry, I've been THE worst blogger of all. The whirl of playing nursemaid to my big patient (he's doing great-- i think-- i'm not sure he'd tell me if he wasn't : ), Rachel's busy life, helping with our church, etc. I've been an awful correspondent. So, finally, I send much love and a very brief summary from our long distance...

Road to the RING! (State Volleyball Champs ring, that is)

Here's a picture from yesterday when the moms and some dads met to decorate the bus, give them goodies and cheer them on as they left for the state tournament.

Big News: Father Ryan High School Volleyball advances in the semi-final round

(and as a proud mother, i might add that-- Rachel's the only sophomore on the team). This is a picture after a recent tournament victory. We play tonight at 6:00 pm, the semi final round, and if we win (double elimination), we'll play the final round tomorrow at noon, in Murfreesboro at Middle Tennessee State University. Anyone want to catch a flight?

New mother/daughter group formed

Other news: In Nashville there was no official organization to help youth serve the community. So, I asked a few of my friends to meet, find needs in the community and bring our daughters to serve. We had one meeting in August, and thinking we might get 10 girls to sign up-- the word went out we've had nearly 80 young women want to serve-- with their mothers. Here's a picture of our first event of service-- Amy Grant's Yard Sale. (Rachel is on the far right with her USC sweatshirt on! oh, yah and Amy is third from left-- and her husband, Vince Gill was there sippin' hot chocolate and selling his golf bags) All the monies benefited a local group called Project Redesign which helps people in the projects. Check out our website.

DeVitos possible move to Nashville

Big news about my parents is that they might move to Nashville. For some time they have been contemplating a move somewhere and each time they visit they love it here. For fun, the last few visits we've looked at houses. In September, Mike and Kristi and my parents were here for my mom's 75th birthday-- and they found a home we all loved. My dad decided he would resign from his Mayor post and list their home. So they are waiting to see if their home sells. If not, he'll ski more and just goof off, while they can. Stay tuned.

Here's the quote that went with this cartoon from the Ojai Valley News:
"Our long-time councilman/Mayor Joe Devito has announced his retirement and abdication as of the first of the year. He is an avid downhill skier, loves Mammoth, so he and his wife have put the house up for sale and are planning to move to... Nashville??? Yeah, the daughter and family are there. Isn't that what is most important? Well, I feel that way, anyway. Bon voyage, Joe and Mary!"