Proud

I thought it was about time I updated what has been going on with us for the last few weeks. Today is my birthday and Heath and the kids let me sleep a little late this morning and then brought me my present with their cards. Heath and Elizabeth had picked out a new purse for me which I really like. A friend took me to lunch and then Elizabeth and I wandered around Target where I found some new jeans and a new hat. It has been a good day and tonight we will enjoy dinner together as a family. It has been a little bitter sweet as a part of me still longs for what today could have been like had everything continued with my pregnancy, but there has been a great deal of healing and I am so thankful to the Lord for that. Life feels a little more normal but of course there are those difficult moments like when I have to sit in a restaurant next to a very loud woman talking about being big and pregnant this coming summer. It is moments like those that I have to pray and focus on the good things around me. But this post is not about feeling sorry for myself. It is about some very proud moments we have had in the last few weeks.

Most of you know that Caleb joined the level 5 boys team last summer. Well January began our competition season and our first competition was January 24 right here in Houston. I thought when we first started on team that Caleb would get very nervous about competing but he didn't sweat it at all. I think I was more nervous than he was. He did a great job as did all of his teammates and they won 2nd place as a team. He was a little disappointed at the end that he didn't walk away with any individual medals but we explained to him that this is his first year and he just needs to go out and do the best that he can. We have a strong team of boys and it was difficult for him to watch everyone else win something. He got over it quickly and headed into the next competition with determination.
These are the boys lined up for the presentation of teams and the national anthem.

This is a great shot of him on parallel bars!

Swinging up and over on high bars.

I love this shot because it really shows the strength he has!

Team Cypress receiving 2nd place!

This past weekend we had our second competition in San Antonio. We decided to make a weekend of it and travel up Saturday morning and take Caleb to the Alamo and the River Walk. A friend offered to keep Elizabeth and we took her up on it so that Caleb could have some one-on one time with us. It was a beautiful day, albeit a little cool, but great for being outside. The Alamo was pretty crowded but Caleb enjoyed seeing it and we even got to see a reenactment of Texas joining the Civil War.

A teammate and his family went as well and took a picture of us by one of the cannons.

A nice shot of Caleb in front of the Alamo just before the reenactment.

Sunday was the competition and it was quite a long day. We had to be there by 12:30 and we didn't get out until after 6:00. I was very thankful at that moment that Elizabeth was with a friend because she would have gone crazy hanging around all day. But the best part of the whole experience was watching how great Caleb did! He worked so hard and really improved on all the apparatus. His scores went up on everything and he truly looked like he was enjoying himself. When it came time for medals, I was sending prayers up to God that maybe, possibly he could walk away with something. The one score that was his highest and that we knew was a possibility was rings. He had scored a 13.7 and was higher than some of the boys on the team. When they started calling out the medals and they called the boy who scored just higher than Caleb, I started praying harder. They were getting near to the end of the spots for medals and just as they reached the last one, we heard, "And from Cypress, Caleb Lockhart!" We came off the bleachers screaming! I wish I could have caught the look on his face because he was so excited but it all happened so fast!

When it came to medals for All-Around, we were surprised again when they gave medals to all the boys. We did catch that on camera and on video because he lined up right in front of where we were standing. He was so excited to be coming home with two medals! And to top it all off, the team won third place! The coaches chose him to bring home the team trophy because he had worked so hard and brought home his first medals.

We were so proud of how hard he had worked and how determined he was to improve. Just in the couple weeks from the last competition he had mastered some difficult moves in practice and even conquered some in the meet. Just watching him receive his medals made me want to well up and cry because he had worked so hard and he was so happy! We had a long talk with him before the meet that all we wanted was for him to try 100% and do everything he knew how to do. We wanted him to know that it was ok to come home without medals. After he won the medals he came running over and asked if we thought he tried 150%! Yes we did!

We went to dinner with one of his teammates and his family and then headed back to Houston, exhausted but thrilled with a great weekend. This weekend we head to Austin to do it again!

The boys are lined up for the presentation of the teams and the national anthem.

Pommel horse he struggles with a lot (most boys do!) and he started off here. When he saw his score flash on the screen and it was several points higher than the last meet, he was thrilled! I think that was a great confidence booster!

The medal winning performance!

Look at how straight his legs are!

Here he is working towards being parallel with the floor, but he is still showing extraordinary strength!

One of the moves that was added for this meet was going to handstand on parallel bars and then dismounting. He has done surprisingly well at that!

He has swung up on the high bar and is about to start his routine.

I love this picture of Caleb because it is right before his floor routine and he is so casual about it while he listens to his coach. He looks like he's been doing this for years!

He has saluted the judges and he is about to begin his routine.

One of the things Caleb has struggled with this year is his press handstand. He just recently started getting it every once in a while. He nailed it in his floor routine and all his coaches cheered and Coach Tom said when he sat up in his pike position afterward, he had a big grin on his face!

This is a picture of his score after his floor routine. This is how we followed all the boys' scores throughout the meet.

This was Caleb after he got his All-Around medal. I wasn't able to catch his first medal because of where he stood and how fast it happened.

Team Cypress with their third place trophy!

And last but certainly not least, our happy little boy with his two medals and the team trophy!

I have really been enjoying watching all that he has learned and seeing his excitement over his accomplishments. I have also enjoyed the new friendships I have made with the other parents. You get to know each other well, spending time at the gym during the week and hours sitting and cheering on each other's kids on the weekends. We have 4 more competitions this season and I look forward to watching him grow through them all!