Hi all. Linda (Messinger) Gomez here (Gilbert, Marie) with news from our corner of the world. My daughter, Ashley, just officially joined the ranks of "teenager" on April 2nd. She turned 13. We are very proud of her success in school and with her Youth Group and Sunday School (she is learning the puppet ministry). Our son, Joshua, will be turning 9 on the 17th of April. He recently competed in Awana Bible Quizzing, where clubbers answer questions based on their Awana Handbooks and general Bible questions. He was on a team of three and they came in First Place. We had two other teams from our church competing, and one took First Place and one took Second Place. Joshua was the only boy that did the quizzing, so we were especially proud of how brave he was. We were very proud of all of the quizzers.Ashley and Joshua, along with several other members of our church, will be competing in the first ever Bible Bee this year. It's a brand new competition, based on the National Spelling Bee concept, but it's all about the Bible. The kids will be competing in Phoenix on September 12, 2009 and if they place in the top 100 for their age group nationwide, they will be invited to compete in the Nationals in Washington, D.C., November 5-6, 2009. I'm already checking out flights and hotels. Any tips for me? If anyone else would like to look into the competition, you can find info at Biblebee.org or by calling 1-888-3-BIBLE-B. Contestants can be registered up until April 30th. I'll post the church info for where we'll be as soon as I get it. It is being held in several Phoenix churches. It would be great to see some family there! Rene is still having trouble with his shoulder. He saw a pain specialist last month who couldn't believe all the stuff Rene has been through. The doctors are now saying that he may have to have another surgery to shave down the clavicle. We would appreciate prayer for direction. Thanks so much.
I'm gearing up for the end of my 6th year teaching at Chapel in the Hills. I've committed to teach again next year, and my son will finally be able to be in my class. We are looking forward to that. He's training himself to call me Mrs. Gomez instead of Mama. I had my daughter a few years back and it was great to be able to spend all those hours with her. I miss her now that she's in a totally different school from me. I would suggest to anyone that if at all possible, spend some time in your child's classroom. They are with their teachers for so much of the day, that as parents, we have no idea what is going on. And as a teacher, I know how easy it is to fall in love with these love-starved kids, and there are so many of them out there. If God has blessed you with extra time and love, get in there and help out and show God's love. The teachers will love you, the kids will love you, and whether they admit it or not, your own child will love having you in there!
We're all looking forward to the Reunion. I hope to see many of you there. Love you all!! Linda
