More Photos From Mids 2009

Below are photos of the kids with Tiffany, Tiffany and Dalilah, Logan and Katie with Rebekah and Joel on the podium, and also the kids enjoying their ice dance success.

Montage of November Competition

I've put together a montage that shows Rebekah and Joel's successful competition!

Photos From Mids

Here are photos of Rebekah and Joel from the ice dance and pairs events at Mids. There were 3 portions of the ice dance competition: The Willow Waltz, Ten Fox, and then the Free Dance. The blue outfits are from the Willow, the black and pink are from the Free Dance, and the redand white polka-dot, white, and black are from the Ten Fox. The bright red and black outfit is from pairs.

Free Dance Competition Video 11-14-08

This is Rebekah and Joel's free dance performance. They pulled up from 3rd to 2nd!

Pair Competition Video 11-12-08

This shows Rebekah's and Joel's bronze medal performance. It is the best pair program they've ever skated!

Rebekah and Joel Win Silver and Bronze at Mids!

Rebekah and Joel had a great experience at the 2009 Midwestern Figure Skating Championships! They finished 2nd in Juvenile Dance (there were 18 teams total) and 3rd in Juvenile Pairs (11 teams total). They not only medaled, but qualified for Junior Nationals in two events!

Baruch Goldstein Memory Video

Baruch Goldstein passed away on October 26, 2008. This wonderful video was put together by his nephew, Daniel. I am so glad that Zhava Glaser has made this video available to embed here.

Even if you don't know Baruch, you may be moved by this video. It shows the life of a very wonderful and loving man.


Baruch Goldstein from z hava on Vimeo.

More About Baruch Goldstein:

• BaruchGoldstein.com

Rebekah Passed Her Intermediate Freestyle Test 11-9-08!

Rebekah passed her Intermediate freestyle test today! She passed by all three judges and got very high marks.



I can't help but remember that it took all my energy to leave the house in early November 2005 (three years ago) when Dan had just come home from the hospital. Rebekah took her Rhythm Blues Test on that test day three years ago. She has come a long way since then!

11-7-08 Fire and Ice Free Dance

This is the best performance the kids have ever done!

Electoral Map in Rockefeller Center

Isn't this the coolest photo? I saw it the morning after the Presidential election. An election map on the ice surface at Rockefeller Center!

More Halloween Photos

Here are more photos from our fun Halloween!

Halloween 2008

We had one of our best Halloweens ever. The weather was warm! George W. Bush went ice skating!

Photos From Pikes Peak Classic and Colorado Springs Invitational

Here are some great photos from the Pikes Peak Classic and the Colorado Springs Invitational. The kids came away with a lot of medals.

Rebekah and Joel's Free Dance Fire And Ice 10-24-08

They did a pretty good job. We are getting close to Mids! Tiffany gave them a level 4 on the straight line lift, twizzles, and rotational lift. They got a level 3 on the spin and a level one on the circular step sequence.

Rebekah Schneider-Farris Juvenile Competition 10-13-08

Rebekah was beautiful!

Annabelle 10-13-08 Pre-Juvenile Competition

Here are videos of Annabelle's great experience. She came in 7th out of 12 skaters. It was pretty good for her first time at a big regional event in the Pre-Juvenile division!

Rosh Hashanah in the Mountains! - 9-30-08

We spent Rosh Hashanah in the mountains! It was so beautiful and so much fun! It was a very different day than our Rosh Hashanah in 2005, when Dan was still in the hospital after his horrible accident. What a joy that Dan is fine and whole and able to be with us! Things seemed so "normal" this year.

2008 Pikes Peak Classic Bests

This is a montage of Rebekah's and Joel's performances at the 2008 Pikes Peak Classic for Pairs and Dance that took place on September 27 and 28, 2008. They won the Compulsory Dance event, and placed 2nd in both the free dance and pairs events. It was a very good experience for the children.

Ten Fox - Rebekah and Joel Schneider-Farris - Pikes Peak Classic 9-27-08

Rebekah and Joel won the Ten-Fox and won the compulsory Juvenile Dance event!

Rebekah and Joel's Pikes Peak Classic Photos

Rebekah and Joel were delighted to win the Juvenile Compulsory Dance event and take the silver in the Juvenile Free Dance event and the Juvenile Pair event! Here's some happy photos for us to remember this very busy competition!

Pikes Peak Classic 9-27-08

Here are some videos from the Pikes Peak Classic. Rebekah and Joel won one gold medal and two silver medals! (6 medals total!)

Wanted: a Novice Pair Skating Partner for Rebekah

The children's pair skating coach, Dalilah Sappenfield, told me today that Rebekah is a "phenomenal pair skater" and is ready to compete in novice pairs for the 2009-2010 figure skating competition season. She thinks Rebekah's little sister, Annabelle, should skate pairs with her brother Joel, so after the 2008-09 figure skating qualifying competition season, things will change for our family as far as who skates with who for pairs.

Now, looking for a novice level pair skating partner for Rebekah is on our "to do" list.

Below are some videos from 2-18-09 - Rebekah's pair skating improves every day!

Here's one of Rebekah's best days of learning to "do pairs" - Enjoy!

Here is a video of Rebekah doing an overhead lift with Dalilah's son Larry Ibarra:

Below is a video of Rebekah doing a death spiral with Larry Ibarra. The video was taken about a year ago - Rebekah has improved and matured quite a bit since then.

The second video shows Rebekah doing a death spiral with 2008 US National Pair Skating Champion, Rockne Brubaker!

If you know of an intermediate or novice level male pair skater who would like to try out with Rebekah, email us.

It's Been Three Years Since September 16, 2005

September 16, 2005 was a usual day for most people, but for my family, our lives were forever changed. I remembered the date today and thought how different things are now. Dan is doing so well. To look at him today, it is hard to believe that we wondered if he'd live, if he'd walk, or if he'd be whole.

We truly have gone from "Tragedy to Triumph" and need to thank God for giving so much to us. Today, I want to say "Thank you" to all the people who have been there for us.

Annabelle's is searching for a juvenile pair skating partner

I just put together a new site especially about Annabelle. She is ready to find a pair skating partner.

It would be "really neat" if she could compete in Juvenile pairs in 2009-2010!

Annabelle Does a Press Lift

Annabelle did the press lift today with Rockne!

Annabelle's Artistic Program - Silver Medal Winner 9-12-08

Here's Annabelle's silver medal winning artistic performance!

Annabelle and Rebekah Shine at the Colorado Springs Invitational

Both Annabelle and Rebekah competed at the Colorado Springs Invitational yesterday. Sadly, I didn't get very many photos of Rebekah, but Annabelle gave me lots of smiles!

Annabelle also won a silver medal!

Fire and Ice 9-5-08

Rebekah and Joel did BOTH their pair program and free dance at Fire and Ice on 9-5-08. They also did both programs in the SAME warm up group!

Annabelle's Wizard of Oz Costume

Annabelle looked so cute in her Wizard of Oz costume for Fire and Ice on 8-22-08!

Molly (the doll) also dressed the part...

Annabelle - Wizard of Oz Artistic - Fire and Ice 8-22-08

Annabelle is going to do an artistic figure skating routine at the Colorado Springs Invitational. Here, she performs her program at Broadmoor Skating Club's Fire and Ice Exhibition on 8-22-08.

Rebekah and Joel - Fire and Ice 8-22-08 - Ten Fox

Rebekah and Joel did the Ten-Fox at the Broadmoor Skating Club's Fire and Ice Exhibition on 8-22-08. The first pattern was especially great!

Joel's Birthday Videos

Here are some video memories from Joel's birthday and also of our day at Mr. Biggs...

Joel's Birthday 8-17-08

We celebrated Joel's birthday at Red Robin. Here are some happy photos from our wonderful time together as a family. We cherish these moments.

On the way home we reflected on the funny and memorable things Joel has done in his lifetime:

• Joel's once decided to weigh the twist ties (he was fascinated when he saw his mom weighing fruits and vegetables) in the grocery store. All the twist ties in the store ended up on the floor instead! The Albertsons' store clerk was not too happy since cleaning up hundreds of twist ties off the floor is quite a job!
  
• Then there was the time, at the mall, that Joel decided to kick off his shoe. The shoe promptly landed in a man's sandwich instead of on the floor!


• Another time, Joel jumped out of the car as Dan was pulling into the garage. Joel was so excited since we had just bought him a Star Wars Darth Vader voice changer and wanted to play with his new toy. The heel of Joel's foot ended up being run over by the car! Fortuntelly, Joel's foot did heel up and all was okay.


• When Joel was very young, he decided to run away in the middle of the night since his daddy wouldn't let him watch TV. Joel grabbed a kid's shovel (so the bad guys wouldn't get him) and at 2:00 AM, knocked on the door of his babysitter's house asking to watch her TV. The baby sitter lived one block from our house. Fortunatelly Joel was returned home safely to his dad. Jo Ann was pregnant at the time and was not told until a few years later about what happened.


• We wondered if the swimming lessons Joel had in Manitou Springs were doing him any good or not. Then, one day, he fell into the condo pool fully clothed, and we both froze as we saw our little boy fall into the pool. Joel swam across the pool (in the deep end) and pulled himself out. We knew he had learned to swim.
  
• Recently, Rebekah dropped Joel's backpack (that weighs a ton) on Joel's pinky finger. Joel ended up in a cast for about about a month.
  
• We also have to mention the time that Joel was fascinated with the fountain where people throw coins into at the mall. He was so fascinated in fact, that he fell in! Not only was Joel soaked, but the mall security guard was not too pleased.

Wow, what a remarkable kid Joel is! Happy Birthday, Joel!

Indy Juvenile Pairs Competition - Rebekah and Joel 8-8-08

This is the video Dan filmed at Indy. It shows the kids from another angle.

Rebekah and Joel Juvenile Pairs Indy Challenge 2008

They did so well for their first big pair competition of the season!