What a beautiful day God has given us. I know that many of us have some issues facing us. Whether those issues are related to our health, family issues, or even just day-to-day issues, we are all in the hands of a very mighty God. Those who believe in God, are truly blessed to be able to turn to him with their needs day or night. A truly wonderful blessing.

I woke up this morning, and as the early morning gave way to a beautiful sunrise, it also gave way to a pasture of green clover mix covered with frosty white ice. It was frosty white outside everywhere I looked. I know my grandsons hate scraping that ice off their pickup windows, early mornings. It was a beautiful sight to see the colors in God’s sunrise. As I looked out my window, I realized that with the exception of just a small amount of rain and these very frosty cold mornings, during the day it doesn’t really feel much like winter. Most days lately have been beautiful sunny days. It warms up so nicely sometimes it’s hard to believe we are still in January. All that frost is definitely wintertime, though.

Still, as I woke up and sat looking out my window, I realized in a few days the calendar will say February. We are not very far away from spring. I love the thought that springtime is just a couple of months away.

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I am excited to report that our Oakdale High School Academic Decathlon Team has once again reigned supreme. What an amazing group of young people … they worked so hard nights studying; they burned the midnight oil many nights to earn this wonderful honor. We offer our tremendous respect and huge congratulations to each member of this amazing team.

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More excitement in our high school and our communities. Our Oakdale High School wrestling team is doing great things. Our Valley Home community is extremely proud of our area wrestlers and especially our wrestlers from Valley Home: Matthew Cooley, Wes Burford, Tanner Galentine and Connor Galentine.

Our entire team of Oakdale high wrestlers, have accomplished very much this season. They have been busy traveling all over the state, and also traveled to Reno, Nevada. In Reno they completed with the top teams. They competed against wrestlers ranked not only in the state but also ranked nationally. This is all done to help prepare them for Section Duals and eventually the State Championships at the end of February.

This team has already accomplished so much. They recently battled all the schools in the VOL. This amazing team combined their skills and their talent and together they were undefeated, going on to win the VOL Championship.

This weekend the Mustangs move on to the Section Duals, to be held at Lincoln High School in Stockton, this Saturday at 9am.

Each of these hard-working wrestlers have given 100 percent to this sport they love so much. Matthew is the varsity heavyweight wrestler; Wes has amazing strength and skills, he is a born leader; Conner and Tanner are the best of buddies and also Valley Home brothers … their work ethic is amazing, they each push the other one to be the very best than can be.

We send congratulations and also wish the very best to our Oakdale wrestlers as they continue to battle.

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As always, you may contact me by email, winniemullins51@gmail.com or by text or telephone at 209-985-5233.

Until next time, “Happy Trails to All!”