Mike

Ok, moving on to Mike...

Mike continues to work for the St. Maries School District as the lead mechanic in their Transportation Department. He enjoys the challenge of their large fleet of buses. And, as anyone who knows Mike knows...one job is never enough! :)

He also is a CDL skills tester for the State of Idaho. What this means is that if you want to obtain a driver's license that allows you to drive truck or bus, you go to the sheriff's office & take your written test. Once you pass that test you come to Mike who tests you on your pre-trip inspection & driving skills. The tests take about 2 hours each & cost $50. Mike is contracted through the state, which means the money he makes is his, however he has to follow state rules, take their training, etc. It is a hot & cold business, sometimes he has more people scheduled than he can handle & sometimes he goes two months without any tests. But it is good extra money. He has also recently began giving the skills tests that are required to get the motorcycle endorsement on your driver's license.

When Ike was 5 years old a friend from St. Maries suggested that we let him try wrestling because of his build. Mike took him that first year & became simply fascinated with the sport. The next year he attended every practice of the club team with Ike & helped with "crowd control". By year three the head coach asked him to be an assistant coach. Under the tutelage of our club coach, Mike as learned a ton about the sport & come to love it more & more each year. Four years ago he applied for & got the paid position of assistant coach at the high school level. Wrestling has become huge in our family. Mike really enjoys coaching & his interaction with the kids. He helps coach club wrestling (4 years old through 8th grade) from October through December. Then high school wrestling begins in November & lasts through the end of February. As soon as high school wrestling is over he coaches Ike in freestyle wrestling. This can last through June, although this year we stopped early in April. Isaac was having a frustrating year & we didn't want to burn him out so we just moved on to baseball. Mike has also helped out the middle school team by substituting for the coach when he cannot be there.

He is looking at possibly not accepting the paid position of assistant high school coach this coming year. His boss at the school is looking to retire soon & Mike is picking up extra responsibilities there that will make it difficult if not impossible to hold up his end of the contract if he continues to coach. However, I believe that he will continue to help out the team as much as possible & continue to coach club wrestling.

Mike also volunteers in the nursery at our church. He recently purchased a new 4-wheeler of which he is very proud. He became one of the resident snow-plowers for our neighborhood this winter.

He has been busy recently on a flooring project we have going in our home. We are replacing all of the flooring upstairs, painting, etc. A couple years ago we attempted to build a deck on our house which didn't go very well. After most of the flooring went down without a hitch, he announced that he was more than happy to do any work we needed inside, but from now on we were hiring out the outside jobs! :)

The proper picture to accompany this post would be Mike on his 4-wheeler, but alas, I do not have one on my computer...will try to post one soon.