Jonah.
He's in 11th grade at Edina High School. Over the summer he was working at Airmaxx Trampoline park but he didn't get enough work hours, so he also got a job at Punch Pizza. He golfed when he could and played in some tournaments. He really loves the game of golf and has a great game. He played in the Resorter's Tournament in Alexandria and held his own really well. He had quite a following with all the VanAmbers out there cheering him on. The best thing is that he enjoys the game. He also enjoys swimming on the high school team, but doesn't train outside of the season. Until September when he decided to join Aquajets Swim Club to get in shape for the boys season. It's fun to see him swimming, being part of a team, and improving. Now he swims Tues-Thur, works at Punch on Mondays and Saturdays. The rest of his free time should be studying - he does well in school - but doesn't put in the hours of homework you might expect from a junior. He loves to play video games - that could be his favorite thing of all, however as parents we don't want this to interfere with life =) We insist homework and chores be done first. Nothing wrong with gaming, and it's certainly fun just don't want it to interfere with things we need to do. He likes to read, watch sports, cook mac & cheese, and listen to music. He has a blue Ford Focus that we got for the kids to drive and being the first one he doesn't have to compete with anyone to use it! We did have a pea green Ford Focus that was quite nice but he accidentally rear-ended someone and unfortunately, although it didn't seem to have too much damage, the car was considered totalled. It's awesome to have him driving and it gives him a great amount of independence. He loves to go to Chipotle. His best friends are Josiah, Caleb and Evan. He enjoys participating in the Wooddale Senior High Ministries. This is the first year he doesn't have a music lesson or music choice in school - he was in choir last year. However this year he chose to do DECA and has an interest in International Business.
ALLY.
Ally is in 9th grade at Valley View Middle School. She babysits in our neighborhood and over the summer did babysitting for Grace & Anna often also. She enjoys making homemade body products like bath bombs, lip balms, and skin scrubs. She decorated her room almost entirely by herself. She spends a lot of time on social media like snap chat, instagram, texting, and you tube. She has a swimming account called caps.n.googles which has over 10k followers, and a you tube channel for her bath products and DIY. She also likes cooking sweets - brownies, cookies, cupcakes. Much of Ally's time is spent in the water - she swims a lot! Right now she's on the Edina HS girls swim team. The coach referred to her as "the one with the really long legs" the first time I met him; then when he met Dad he said "well that explains a lot". She has dropped a lot of time this swim season. She will return to swim with Aquajets after HS season is done. She has a amazing coach, Kate Lundsten. Most of all, she enjoys being on a team and swimming swimming swimming!!! Ally plays the flute in the school band. For her 15th birthday Ally paid 1/2 of a very very nice DLS camera and with it she has become quite the photographer!!!
JOSHUA
Josh is 11 years old and in 5th grade at Creek Valley Elementary School. He is a wonderful friend and always being social. He loves to ride his bike to school or around the neighborhood. Josh's favorite sport is soccer. He plays with the Edina Soccer Club. He also loves to watch the sport on TV any chance he gets - especially Premier League. Josh enjoys drawing cartoons, reading cartoon books, and looking at photo albums. He has a thing for music - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and recently now he started to play the saxophone. He loves classic rock and knows more musical groups than I do...especially the Beatles, Michael Jackson, GunsNRoses. Josh has recently become more and more interested in football. He also ran in the elementary cross country race and did great representing his school. He loves to run around the neighborhood with his pals and sometimes they come and have pillow fights in the basement with the couch cushions or play legos up in his room.
FINCHLEY
Finchley the dog is loved by all. She is almost one year old. She's mellowed a bit and isn't as mischievious as she used to be always looking to chew on something she shouldn't have. We love to take her on walks and she loves to be with us all the time. We can't imagine our life without this fluffy black pup!!
Dave & Ricki
Since returning from London summer 2014, Dave and Ricki have continually been presented with other options of going abroad again. Each time they find a reason it's not right or the other side doesn't quite come through. They haven't been searching for this, it seems to just keep coming back to them. Finally a position with TR that Dave really wanted to take was just too interesting to pass up, and low and behold it seems that they'll be back in London within the next year. Jonah was incredibly excited (as in, can we move tomorrow?), Ally was excited but then sad about leaving her swimming teams, Josh was upset and declared that he has just made all these wonderful new friends here....
Not sure if all of them can return to ASL - that's our big prayer right now. Lord please open space for all three of the children to return to ASL!
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