Skills USA

Mark left for the weekend. I really didn't think much more about it than making sure he had enough clean clothes to pack and be on the bus on time. But I realized when he texted on Saturday that he had won I should have remembered what was actually happening. He has been a strong contender since his freshmen year. Technically he skipped auto 1 moving into auto2 as a freshman, then auto 3 as a sophomore no auto as a junior- so he could take college level science classes and in turn spend time or grow his friendship with his best friend JEB, then auto 4 this year. He's pretty smart and has a lot of hands-on experience of course he was a contender. Not to mention the last several months he has also been teaching Livy mechanics and that final step of teaching another is where mastery comes in. 

First he won the diesel tech competition. 2nd place is last years winner fellow teammate Joe.

For Automotive technician he also won with friend George placing 4th. 

He sent me these pictures of his nice heavy gold medals. 

He won these tools he was very happy to have these complete and new tool sets. Mostly that all the pieces are there. 

He was literally slightly blown away by the black hawk helicopter taking off. He was impressed how powerful it was. 

His friend and way too much personal contact nemesis Megan also placed in the small tools division. She loves to invade his personal space just to make him squirm. She is also a good friend of Alia's or the high schooler that Lia most looks forward to seeing when we go to events. 

So Mark had another great weekend. Proving that work and smarts get the job done. Bruce told me he didn't have any medals yet, I told him and Livy you will be able to earn your own in a few years if you just keep learning, working hard, and paying attention to what you are doing. While Mark was gone Livy did a tune-up on a pick-up. Life is good and full of opportunities for the willing and ready. We are blessed.