Archery is one of the things we’ve wanted to try for a while, that we finally decided to just do in an effort to try to get back into some semblance of a normal life after the over 2 years of chaos we have all been living in ever since our oldest son, Ian, was diagnosed with brain cancer.

When the season started, we knew they were enjoying the sport, but we had no idea how far they would go…

Our kids have only been shooting for a year, but it didn’t take long to see that a couple of them have a real knack for it!

Jaron, Liberty, Grace, Hope, and Mercy have all taken classes and signed on to shoot for one of the local public schools. Mercy, recently turned 7, was a bit overwhelmed and intimidated by the whole team-practice-including-up-through-high-schoolers thing, and decided to wait and try again next year, but the other 4 have enjoyed the chance to meet new people and hone their skills.

Their scores have steadily improved all season long. It has been so rewarding watching them work hard at practice, push through some slumps, and learn from their mistakes to improve their technique!

By the time the Minnesota state tournament had ended, Jaron had finished 11th out of over 300 middle school boys, and both Princeton archery teams represented by our children (middle school & elementary) had qualified for Nationals for the first time in Princeton Tigers Archery history!! Jaron and Liberty are shooting for the middle school team, and Grace and Hope are shooting for the elementary team, and they are all officially scheduled to compete in the national tournament in Louisville, KY, on May 9th & 10th.

Kentucky, here we come!

At least, we hope so.

This is a big thing. It’s HUGE for them, and for the entire team.

It’s also a bit unexpected, and therefore entirely unbudgeted.

What We Need & What You Get

We are a homeschooling family of 11 (yes, that means 9 children!) We love it and wouldn’t have it any other way. We get by, we always have, and we have faith that we always will.

But a trip like this is an unexpected, and therefore unbudgeted, big expense!

It’s big extras like this, that many (perhaps most) families wouldn’t be able to do without the help of a network of loving and supportive friends.

• We need two hotel homes, which we’ve reserved already (in faith) for 3 nights for just under $800.
• We estimate around $500 for gas (we drive a 12-passenger van)
• The archers’ registration fees are $120
• We also need to eat along the way

If we are able to raise some quick funds to make this trip happen (we are hoping to bring the whole family), you can follow along with our adventures on the Facebook page I’m setting up – https://www.facebook.com/sendthemtonationals

You can also follow along on my blog’s Facebook page at – https://www.facebook.com/AnOrdinaryMomBlog

We’re looking forward to sharing the adventure!!

(from our indiegogo.com page)

The more we talked about it and tried to plan out our trip, the more we realized that we really don’t have the money to make this happen.

We’re a big family, living and homeschooling on a single income, and we’re doing ok. I’m not complaining at all. I’m so thankful for my husband’s ability to provide, and for the way the Lord has blessed his business. Things are always tight, and we pretty much never have that mysterious thing known as extra money, but we always have enough. For ordinary living.

This trip is out of the ordinary, in fact, it’s quite extraordinary! I mean, NATIONALS!!

We put together an online fundraiser at indiegogo.com – https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-send-4-williams-kids-to-the-nasp-archery-nationals/x/7149805

Every $5 helps, thank you!!

The Impact

Our children have always been homeschooled, and have had chances to try several extra-curricular activities, like violin lessons, children’s theater experiences, tae kwon do classes, dance lessons, homeschool co-op fun, and now archery.

They have had a taste of many things, but qualifying for Nationals is HUGE for them! For all of us!

We don’t get the chance to travel much (at all). In fact, the only other time our children have been farther than Wisconsin was in the fall of 2011, when we moved the family to Bloomington, Indiana for 8 weeks while our oldest son, Ian, underwent proton radiation treatment for brain cancer.

A multi-state trip, for an exciting and good reason, will be such a great experience, for our whole family. We want to make it an adventure filled with good memories!

(more from indiegogo)

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