It's Muller Time

“We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.”

This week has been one of highs and lows for Ashlea. Ashlea was awarded a position on student council never been given to a sixth grader before (what an honor), she made all “A” honor roll, and she was voted as Christian example of her class (as was Taylor). What a great start as she enters into middle school!! On a sad note though, she also said “farewell” to her best friend that has been at her side at ACS through good and bad times since kindergarten. It’s not that they will never see one another again…their paths to middle school have just changed. Ashlea will continue at Albuquerque Christian School and Taylor is going to start Madison Middle School. It was a sweet sight to see them hugging with crocodile tears running down their innocent faces, making promises for future tomorrows. Thank goodness for cell phones, e-mail, soccer, and sleep overs to make up for time that will be lost from being at different schools. You do not see genuine friendships like these two at such a young age every day. It reminds me of special friends from years past, that even time, hasn’t withered that bond. What a blessing!

Some might see the title of this post as strange or that somehow we are trying to make one of our children into some type of crazy extremist. We just want you to know that we are doing nothing of the sort. This is the name of Ashlea’s Soccer Team. As most of you know, she has been playing for 7 years now and has high aspirations for her soccer future. We are very proud of her diligence, perseverance and skills. She is always talking soccer and trying to absorb all that she can as a player. Her new coach is challenging her and the other girls in ways that they have never seen or expected. When they were first connected to the new coach, they were a little behind the other teams that they used to beat on a regular basis. They all had a lot of work to do to catch up. It was a tough year of practice and game play. But with all hard work the pay off was so very rewarding. They entered a tournament this last weekend with hopes of more development in game play. Some new girls joined us as “guest players” [Side note from Nancy: These are girls on other regular opposing teams that play as guest players for our team which adds a different dynamic to the game.] Despite the obstacles, the girls did AWESOME! As a matter of fact, they WON!

Radicals, the Muller’s are so very proud of you! Ashlea your on your way girl! Or should I say Mia…

There are a great many events that happened in the year 1999. Some of them good and some bad. 1999 brought us a world population of 6 billion, a U.S. woman’s soccer team that won the World Cup, Columbine, Michael Jordan retiring… Again. Personally though for us, all of these events paled in comparison to one MAJOR event that year. The birth of our girl Ashlea Rae! What a wonderful year! She was a BEAUTIFUL baby. Since then, she has been an enormous blessing to everyone who has crossed her path. She is an incredibly special girl! Her eyes light up any room, her smile is contagious and this year has blossomed into a beautiful young lady. BOYS beware! She is a soccer fanatic and is really good at it. She does great in school and we couldn’t  have asked for a better sister for Josh and Sarah. She is so amazing!

There is one problem that Tim does have with her though that MUST be brought up. It’s a promise that she made to him a long time ago and has since broken. He made her promise [and fully expected her to keep it] to NEVER grow up. We know she has tried her best, but this year she turned 11 and is well on her way to womanhood. It is such a bitter sweet thing to watch our kids grow. On one hand we want them to forever be those little babies that came to us with every care in the world, whether good or bad. In one instance we could make it better with a kiss or a hug. And on the other we create independence in them where they can do anything they put their minds to. With each passing day we thank God for the woman that she is becoming and along with that we long for that little baby girl that made every care in the world pass away. We love you Ash so very much!