NATIONALS! BABY!

S came home today and they made it nationals! He is soooo excited! He came home w/ two medals -- gold for equations and a bronze for propaganda. Way to go! He had so much fun. Sounds like they would - 4 boys in a hotel room w/ no parents! They had strict rules they had to abide by. He called every night and it sounded like they were having fun. He's become quite independent in the last year. I'm pretty proud of him and his independence, I think he's a really good kid and I don't have to worry too much about him making stupid choices - at this point. We willl be re-visiting his independence and responsibilities again in a few years. I hope we can always have this open line of communication that we all have. He's a little more open w/ me than dad, and it kinda freaks me out. I guess, I am just afraid of saying something totally stupid that will make him feel as if he can't talk to me and then shuts down. I'm so afraid of any kind of shut down w/ any of the kids. I so remember that period in my life w/ mom - but it was a totally different circumstance back then and with that I am comforted that at least we aren't contending w/ all that I was carrying around.

Anyway, about this nationals, I just hope it doesn't cost us a small fortune. He was given a scholarship to attend this competition. I don't know if they will be able to afford any scholarships for nationals. We shall see.

Oh, but in our van search - it looks like we found something. A friend from church mentioned she was selling her van and i thought it was going to be way out of our price range, so I hesitated in contacting her. I finally did this week and she was going to the dealer to find out how much they would get in trade in. She emailed me that it would be in a price range that was a bit reasonable but still a little bit more than I would have wanted to pay. we didn't know anything about miles and maintenance. Clint said we should look into further because it was still reasonable for a town and country. This evening she emailed and said that the dealer was offering her a much lower amount due to a dent on the side and that is what she would sell it to us for. It was a heavenly price! low miles, no major problems (as of yet) one owner and a 2002. So, it looks like we will be the new owners. She wanted to make sure that we knew they were getting a new car because they didn't know what kind of problems were around the corner w/ an aging chrysler. I totally understand but it feels good to buy from someone you know and that you can trust. We will be meeting w/ her this weekend! It's a nice shiny thing too! S has ridden in it and said it's really nice. He's good friends w/ their son and they get together often.