Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Thanks for check'n out the Deguara's blog! We are frequently updating the latest happenings in our lives, mostly Josiah and Mariah's sport updates, so we hope you'll come back and check up on us again! 2008 was a year of memories for our family here's some of the cool things that are going on in with us...

Girls first....Mariah

Mariah is the sensitive one in our family! Whenever we go to a football game or a school function everyone wants a hug or a hello from her. She makes everyone smile and is a friend to everyone. She made the 9u Folsom Select Soccer team earlier this year and played with a great group of girls. Mariah's specialty is defense and made goals tough to come by when it came to playing the Crossfire. She just wrapped up the outdoor season and is now playing in an indoor league. Mariah's first love though is music. She is taking piano lessons and excited about singing at church during the holidays and an upcoming piano recital. I think she gets here musical talent from her dad! Check out Mariah's recital and singing debut at New Life below:

What's Josiah up to...

Josiah is a middle schooler now! Ready to turn 12 in February, Josiah is growing too fast! (Where did my baby boy go?). He is an outstanding athelete and gets good grades! He will be receiving an award for his academic and athletic achievments from Folsom's City Council early next year. He led the Folsom Jr. Bulldogs Pee Wee football team to an 8-1 season at quarterback and strong safety and was named team captain of Capital Christian's middle school 6th & 7th grade basketball team. A quick highlight for a dad who doesn't like to brag too much- Josiah was promoted to the 8th grade basketball team for a tournament as a 6th grader and wasn't expected to see the court much. When he finally got his chance his team was down by 12 points, which Josiah erased quickly with 4 consecutive 3 point shots! Though we came up short...it is a moment that will stick with him for a long time.

Amy...

The question is what doesn't Amy do? She is still working full-time at Capital Christian Preschool and is going to school part-time, running the kids to their practices, involved with Women's Ministry at our church and still manages to keep her sanity! She is an incredible wife, mom and friend and is the backbone to the Deguara machine. Amy's brother Adam is getting married on December 20th, and her dad is moving back home from Alabama after 6 years. So needless to say there is a lot of excitement in our home!

and Dean...

I recently was promoted to a senior associate position at New Life Community Church. I didn't like the title so I changed it to Pastor of Life Development. I basically oversee our staff, organizational culture and creativity of our church. I absolutely love it! The church has grown from 550 to over 800 in the last two years and we recently had over 1,500 hundred for our Christmas services. God is doing some exciting things and I'm just glad to be doing my part. Hey, if you want here me speak click on the sermon player...every now and then I get an opportunity to share at New Life and other churches in the area. The highlight of my year however was my 20 year high school reunion! It was great to reconnect with old friends and thanks to facebook we can all keep in touch (ha ha ha!).

We hope that your Christmas is meaningful and 2009 is full of wonderful memories!

Love and Peace,

Dean, Amy, Josiah and Mariah

Folsom Youth Football Peewees now 7-0

Special to the Folsom Telegraph

The Folsom Jr. Bulldogs Peewee football team defeated the American River Jr. Raiders 14-7 on Saturday.

The Jr. Bulldogs won the game in the trenches, where the offensive line blocked well throughout the game. Defensively, the team gave up its first touchdown of the season.
The scoring started in the second quarter behind the running of Cole Thompson and Josiah Deguara that drove the Bulldogs down the field and set up a 13-yard touchdown by Tyler Crandall with a great block from Tim Bonnington at the point of attack. Bryan Weldy’s extra point gave the Bulldogs an 8-0 lead after halftime.

The Raiders came out of half and scored quickly making it 8-7, but the Bulldogs kept their heads up and the defense of Mark Quinn, Matt Jimison, Wayde Luddy, Sam Whittingham, Nick Brown, Tristan Botts, Regan Allgier and EJ Turner responded and shut the Raiders down the rest of the game.

The offense controlled the ball and scored on a 19-yard pass from Deguara to Bonnington with great blocking on the line by Kyle Markus and Logan Oreno.
The Peewee’s finish the regular season on Saturday at Livermore Field at 2 p.m. against Woodcreek.

Josiah Hands It Off to Make Boys Dream Come True

Just a short time ago, Connor Ellison believed he would never play tackle football. On Saturday, Ellison scored his first touchdown.
Ellison, 10, has a liver condition known as congenital hepatic fibrosis, which means there’s scar tissue throughout his liver, causing, among other things, an enlarged liver and spleen. Any blunt force trauma to his abdomen and Ellison would likely be in serious condition.
Ellison didn’t pass his physical to play football, but doctors said he could participate so long as he’s not in any hitting and/or tackling drills.
Folsom Jr. Bulldogs President Monica Camous sent a letter out to the other 15 teams in the Sierra Youth Football and Cheer organization explaining Ellison’s condition and how the organization would like to get him a touchdown, some how, some way. Every organization said they’d be glad to be apart of it.
Folsom coach Curt Crandall spoke with the referees and with Antelope’s coach before the game, setting up the situation.
Crandall called a timeout early in the first quarter of Folsom’s game with Antelope, made eye contact with the referee and opposing coach, and sent Ellison out on the field. The play, technically called “37 reverse” is also known as the “Ellison Special.”
Ellison, who knows he’s not allowed to be tackled, didn’t hesitate when he was called onto the field. The team had worked on the play during practice throughout the week.
“I heard the play called and ran out onto the field,” Ellison said. “On the play I run toward the quarterback, take the handoff and follow my blocks up the left side of the field.”
While Ellison couldn’t have been bothered about getting the ball, quarterback Josiah Deguara was.
“Josiah got all excited and said ‘coach, he can’t get hit,’” Crandall said. “I just told him it was OK.”
On the play, Deguara handed Ellison the ball and Ellison did the rest, following his blocks down the near sideline and into the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown run.
“It went perfectly,” Crandall said. “Antelope was great too. They didn’t just fall over, they pursued him.”
“I really didn’t know what was happening,” Ellison said. “I didn’t stop and think about it. I just had fun and was really happy when I scored. My team was cheering me on.”
After the play, with tears in his eyes, Ellison told him mom, ‘I just ran as hard as I could.’
“It was one of those moments,” Tiffany said. “It was pretty special. He was so happy.
“It probably took more than 100 people to make this dream come true. Our family is extremely grateful for this community.”

Folsom Pee Wee Jr. Bulldogs 2-0

The Folsom peewee team improved to 2-0 with 24-0 win over Granite Bay.
For the second consecutive week the defense posted a shutout. After an opening 28-0 win over Natomas, the Peewee’s came out against the Jr. Grizzlies and had four interceptions, by Mark Quinn, EJ Turner, Josiah Deguara and Tyler Crandall. Crandall’s pick, on the last play of the game, went for a 49-yard touchdown.
Deguara scored the first touchdown behind the blocking of Logan Oreno, Jack Fondale and Bryan Weldy. While Turner scored on a 41-yard run, with key blocks by Sam Whittingham, Tim Bonnington and Jeffrey Smith. The third offensive touchdown was a 26-yard pass from Deguara to Matt Huddlestun.

Josiah & Mariah Get Ready for Football & Soccer

Josiah will lead the Folsom Jr. Bulldogs at Quarterback

and defend at Strong Safety defending a perfect 14-0 season in 2007.

Mariah was chosen to be on one of two Folsom Select U9 Teams: The Crossfire

These girls can play!

Josiah Delivers a Strikeout in the All Star Tourney

We had a rough All Star Tournament this year, but Josiah had a great year winning 1/3 of the teams victories on the mound...12 Appearances, 6-0, 27 innings pitched, 3.33 ERA and lead the team in strikeouts with 55! Here he is in the All Star Tourney striking out a batter

We Went to Disneyland!

And had lots of fun! We had a chance to visit our cousins who live in Hollywood!

We ate YUMMI SUSHI!

We were the first ones there...almost!

Time to shop!

Mariah gave mom some pointers on how to drive.

We went on the Mali-Boomer...

Mariah takes a snapshot of us at the Electric Parade!

I had to get creative! I couldn't turn around. We spent 3 days at Disneyland the only way to do it! A little each day, we hit all the big rides, lines were short, and we didn't run ourselves down. We had a great time!