2016 was certainly a banner year around the Robinson house for our family. We are so thankful that 2016 was a healthy year for all of us and we give God the glory for clean scans and great UVA checkups for Dave.
Here are some highlights from our year!
Youth events at church are always keeping us hopping. Here was Hope at our princess tea party which was a fundraiser for our Nashville Mission trip. Kyle and I had the opportunity during 2016 to serve at a nursing home and a refugee literacy center as part of our Week of Hope mission trip in Nashville. We are excited because 2017 will provide 4/5 of our clan the opportunity to head to Charleston SC this summer for another mission trip. Hope will not be old enough, but blessedly Mike and David will join us this year!
2016 was a year of basketball for our family! We certainly love our hoops around here! Lots of fun memories were made in 2016 in basketball gyms.
This past year Kyle has played on several AAU teams and he is now playing on his high school JV team.
Easter morning our three kiddos in blue:)
Springtime now means Challenger baseball for our family! It is a family affair as Kyle is our pitcher, Dave plays, Hope volunteers as a helper buddy and Mike and I keep it going. We adore these kids and we love our time at the field! Thankfully we enjoy baseball because in 2017 Mike has stepped up to be the Little League president to keep our league going strong and to keep Challenger available to the special needs kids in our area.
This past year in 2016 Hope became a swimmer girl graduating from the developmental swim team to the LASO swim team! She kept us busy in 2016 with her basketball, swim, and piano!
in 2016 we made lots of memories on Pops boat on Claytor Lake. We love our lake time and we hope 2017 will also include many summer days at the lake.
This past year we enjoyed a leisurely cruise to the Bahamas with Pops and GG. We love time together as a family to rest, relax and eat! Ha! Cousin Adam and Garnet joined us this past year and we had a geat time. We also hosted Oma and Bob for a week in September. If you ever go on a cruise they are serious about that rule about having a photo ID to return to your boat after a day on land. Some of us learned this lesson the hard way.
In 2016 we were blessed with the opportunity to host families for Special Spectators at Virginia Tech. We love volunteering for this amazing organization that we ourselves were blessed by when David was in treatment. We always meet the strongest and bravest families through our volunteering with Special Spectators. In 2016 we also had the opportunity to start a summer feeding and literacy program through church for children in poverty. It was an amazing 8 week program staffed by our youth group and it was a blessing to us all. We are excited for the program to expand in 2017 and provide us an opportunity to serve more children.
This past fall Kyle started high school which has been a great experience so far. Here he is dressed up for the homecoming dance!
In 2016 David was asked to be a model in the Cure by Design fashion show to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Dave rocked the stage in his fancy clothes with Pops, GG, Dad and Hope to cheer him on. I was home helping my boy get his tie straight for homecoming dance and plan a midnight buffet for his friends after the dance.
In 2016 Hope became a tennis player with the help of Ms. Bennie. This girl keeps us hopping!
The big news in the past year is that Dave was invited to play on an AAU basketball team and it has been such a blessing for him! What a precious sight to see him decked out in his uniform with his friends.
Kyle used 2016 to get better at his basketball game and it is showing this season. I am sure 2017 will include many more hours in a gym cheering on our kids playing basketball.
in 2016 the AAU basketball bug his this little love too and she has joined a cute little team. We even got to watch them win their first tournament a few weeks ago! I love that our kids learn the valuable life lessons that come from being on a team.
2016 gave us the opportunity for David to participate in Buzz's Bunch events at Virginia Tech. Words cannot express how thankful we are for the love that David has been shown at VT. Here he is with Coach Buzz in a post game press conference.
We ended 2016 shopping and planning a great Christmas for the 43 kids our youth adopted through Santa's Elves. This project is crazy and hectic, but it certainly provides a great blessing to end the year. We pray that 2017 will provide us many opportunities to teach our own children and the church youth the blessing that comes from serving and loving their neighbor.
The best and biggest news of 2016 came when Mike won the Regional Superintendent of the Year award. It was so amazing and emotional to watch him accept his award because frankly he was so deserving of it. We knew when he received his award that God had provided another job opportunity for Mike and that he felt that it was probably going to work out. Mike was a wonderful and tireless superintendent for ten years but it was time for a little less public and lower stress job which God provided. In August he began his tenure at the Linwood Holton Governor's School. He loves the challenge of his new job and we all love his lower stress level and more time with us. He has a more balanced life now which is a blessing to him.
We were blessed in 2016 and we cannot wait to see what 2017 has in store! We pray that as a family we grow closer to God, look for ways to serve Him in our community and enjoy quality time with friends and family. Welcome 2017!
