We wanted to take an opportunity to update you about the happenings at the Schumacher house.
Jack is 15.
He and some of his buddies started a business which takes care of homes
and pets for people who are out of town
The proceeds of this enterprise has resulted in each of them assembling
an arsenal of firearms for airsoft wars.
There is nothing more comforting than pulling up to your child’s friend
house to see an army of teenagers in full camo with real looking guns dodging
between the bushes and trees with rounds of plastic bullets filling the air –
we have hit the deck more than once and try to maintain a state of deniability
for when the authorities arrive sometime in the future. Jack is playing baseball and football and
keeps threatening to start playing golf.
He is hoping hooks (and hairstyles) are not hereditary on his father’s
side.
Johnny is 12.
Johnny played football and baseball this past season. On the football team, he plays a ferocious nose tackle.
Johnny loves being on the team, but he admittedly does not enjoy some of
the contact that comes with being a defensive lineman. As such, he has been prone to move right
before the ball moves. He does not jump
offside, but he has three go-to techniques – either moving sideways, backwards
or gets into his “speed bump” position (i.e., the fetal position) to clog up
the running lanes. It has been
interesting to see the reactions of a 5th grade offensive lineman to Johnny’s
pre-snap shifts. Suffice it to say, we
think he has screwed up a blocking scheme or two, and we plan to send Jason
Garrett some tape to get ready for the 2017 campaign. Johnny’s journey with autism continues with
great progress. He continues to be in a
mainstream school with appropriate modifications. We have been incredibly blessed to have
wonderful teachers and administrators at Spring Creek Elementary in the
Richardson Independent School District who have poured into Johnny. We thank all of you who honor our family with
your prayers for Johnny and ask that you to keep them up.
Annie is 10.
Annie has continued doing ballet and jazz, but she has tried volleyball, basketball and softball this year for the first time.
We have enjoyed watching 4th grade girls sports. The games have not often been “smooth” – but
watching her rejoice with her friends with a sports feat like a serve going
over the net has been heartwarming. What
they may lack in skill at this point they more than make-up for in team
hugs. We hate to be biased, but we would
say our team led the league in team hugs, which has to be step in the right
direction. She keeps our walls adorned
with art – some might call her works “abstract” but luckily having the artist
in house we can quickly get her interpretation (and identification) on her
creations.
Kimberly continues her role as a mom who
“stays-at-home” but the mileage on our car would seem to indicate that staying
at home is a bit of a misnomer. She has
been leading a woman’s group through Bible Study Fellowship that meets in
Richardson for the past two years. She
also has a great group of first graders she has been teaching at Sunday school at our
church congregation – The Branch in Farmers Branch, Texas. The coloring opportunities are often better
in one classroom than the other, but she does not play favorites.
Jason is still a partner at the law firm Locke Lord,
where he is in the corporate and oil, gas and energy groups. He coached Johnny’s team in football this
past season – the team had a massive amount of speed, strength, and size and a
losing record. So, his dreams of
becoming the next Nick Saban will need to be postponed for the time being and
probably needs to stick with his day job. He also coached 4th grade girls' softball. There was an early exit from the playoffs this season but the team suffered no broken bones - considering the flight paths of some of the "throws", we counted that a victory.
We still have two Shih Tzu’s – Angel and
Pepper. Pepper has maintained a
consistent verbal campaign against the Chihuahuas next door over the years that
involves her barking, jumping and taking small bites out of our fence with each
jump. We just could not be more
proud. We look forward to asking our
neighbors to pitch in to replace our fence in order to maintain the fragile
peace sometime soon.
We have included some photos from a somewhat recent photo shoot - Jack is about four inches taller already but otherwise the rest of us look the same.
Wishing you and your families a blessed and
prosperous rest of 2017! We hope our paths cross
soon to see you in person.
--Jason & Kimberly Schumacher
