Our Little "Angel"

One of Kyndall's favorite activities that she participated in while we lived in Tennessee was cheerleading.  She loved cheering for the city's flag football team and we loved watching her use her bubbly personality and non-stop energy for something meaningful.  When I heard that our new church was offering Upward sports, I immediately asked her if she wanted to sign up to cheer and of course she said yes.

Upward is a Christian based spots program for kids that not only teaches them the basics of their chosen sport, but also gives them a Biblical foundation to build upon.  It's a wonderful program and I was so glad we finally lived in a town that offered it, and even better yet it was within our own church!

Kyndall was assigned to the Angels cheer squad and her cheer coach was Mrs. Melissa.  Mrs. Melissa started having the girls practice back in December but their games didn't actually begin until January. 

First practice....

Each Thursday at practice Coach Melissa would have a devotion time with the girls where she gave them a scripture to memorize and taught them Biblical life lessons.  The girls LOVED this and I loved knowing Melissa was pouring into our daughter not only athletically, but spiritually as well.

The girls would earn stickers on their megaphones for memorizing the scripture each week and also for being at practice.

The Angels cheered for the boys' basketball teams on Saturday mornings and Kyndall was very excited for their first game.

 Cheering for the players as their name was called at the start of the game

Each week at halftime the girls would take the court where they would perform for the audience.  Before their performance, each cheerleader had her name called at which point she could do a jump, a kick or a trick of some kind.  It was always the highlight of the games!

 Coach Melissa taught them teamwork, and Kyndall loved collecting the pom poms at the end of the games

Aren't these the cutest Angels you've ever seen??

 Kyndall is second from the left on the front row

Even Pikachu had to come to the games to watch her cheer.  She used her sewing machine to make him a basketball jersey especially for the occasion...

Before every game there was a prayer and on one particular day they spontaneously asked Kyndall if she'd say the opening prayer.  She didn't hesitate a second and said the sweetest little prayer, thanking Jesus for the day.  I don't care how many back flips and toe touches she learns to do, nothing will ever make us more proud than this!  I adore her unashamed love for Jesus and her boldness to share Him everywhere she goes!

Each week after the game the girls were given a sticker to add to their megaphone.  The color of the sticker represents a particular character trait.  One of the most coveted stickers is the gold sticker that represents the team member who displayed the most SPIRIT during the game.  Kyndall was excited to receive this one.

Another week she earned the black sticker for being Christ-Like

She also earned the red sticker for Leadership

Following our very last game Coach Melissa gave out stickers one last time and then we presented her with flowers and a gift to show her how much we appreciated all of the time, energy and love that she poured into our girls.  Truly, there is no better role model for my daughter than this lady right here.  She has such a gift and her love for little ones and her love for Jesus just exudes in everything she says and does.  We feel SO thankful that Kyndall had her as a coach and we plan to request her again every year.

Kyndall adores Coach Melissa!

A week or so after the last game, Upward hosted its end of year presentation which included a fantastic show by the traveling Christian based group called the "Spintaculars".  They are a family with 12 children who travel around spreading the gospel while doing amazing basketball tricks and they were even a finalist on America's Got Talent a few years ago.  

During the show they asked for a few volunteers and to my shock, out of all those hundreds of kids they picked mine!  Kyndall had no idea what she was volunteering for but she was just happy to be chosen!

As it turns out, she would be eating a cup of applesauce while the trickster spun a basketball on the end of her spoon!  I'm just glad applesauce is one of the few things my picky eater actually likes!

I was pretty far away so this video is hard to see and hear but this is Kyndall eating her applesauce while a basketball is being spun in front of her face!

After the show Kyndall received her award for the season and we said goodbye to Coach Melissa

She was SO pumped about the basketball show that her Daddy got talked into buying her a $20 basketball from the Spintactulars' merchandise table

She wanted to learn to dribble and do tricks as soon as we got home and I can honestly say she's still bouncing this thing three months later.  She says she wants to learn to play basketball next season so maybe this was the beginning of something new!  We shall see.....

Official Angels team picture

Kyndall is in the middle

Big thanks to Coach Melissa and all of her hard work this season.  We are grateful for the invaluable lessons that Kyndall learned while at the same time doing something that she loves!