The REAL Football!

Football?  No not the game with the funny shaped ball.  The real Futbal!  The one with the round ball that is kicked ONLY with the feet.  Now that is Football!  :)
How did I get into this soccer life?  Well, when Lindsay was 9 she wanted to play this sport that I had never really heard of.  So we signed her up.  I went to practice and thought, WHAT a stupid game. But she enjoyed it.  Why couldn't she like a sport I knew something about?  Guess I was stuck!  And stuck I have been for the past 11 years.  Stuck in something I have grown to love and am passionate about!  Something that consumes my dreams and my waking moments. :)  Lindsay played till she aged out at 19.  CJ started when he was 4, dropped out a couple of years ago but was back again this spring.  Lindsay played in high school, CJ had no desire to follow that route.
The first year of soccer, I watched and I learned.  That next spring, I was elected as Registrar.  HUH!  ME?  Yes me!  And I have been there ever since.  I enjoy it to the fullest!  I love the kids!  Yes all of them! :)  Even the ones that try everyones patience.  ;)  It keeps me busy and makes me smile.  When will I hang it up?  Ummm never!  ;)  I will go till I can't anymore.
This year I am coaching again.  Yes I do that too.  I have coached a team for the past 9 years.  Sometimes I coached 2 teams.  Yeah I am nuts!  But it is a good nuts.  
Eat, sleep, breathe, and live it!  :)  The REAL Football!

Public School? Home School?

It doesn't seem so long ago that I was just starting to home school Lindsay.  But that has been 14 years ago that we started that trip.  She went to kindergarten and had Cheryl Miller as a teacher. A wonderful teacher at that.  We just loved her. She was kind and caring and so good to the kids.  And the spring of that year, Columbine happened and our world was forever changed.  There were issues at the schools in the few weeks that followed. Threats, hit lists and on and on.  This just shook my soul to the bone!  So, we decided to home school that fall.  1st grade through 7th grade for Lindsay.  Preschool - 6th with CJ.  Then they both entered the public school system. No things weren't perfect, but are they ever?!  Things actually adjusted very well.
Lindsay went on through school graduated and is now in college.  CJ just finished up his freshmen year.  She was happy as happy as you can be in school. ;)  CJ has not been.  She is very social and never meets a stranger, CJ is more like me (well what I used to be) quiet and more to himself.  BUT there is NOT a thing wrong with that.  Look at me today.  LOL  I sure am not quiet and I HAVE to have others to survive.  Not all the time, but once in a while is good.  
After much discussion and mauling it over, we will be back to the home school adventure this fall with CJ.  Am I happy?  VERY!  Is he happy?  I would say VERY.  :)  Do I shirk this responsibility and let him do whatever and never do his work, never test, never this or never that.  Umm no!  We school!  I will not fail my children by not having them do their work.
Why home school?  It is a choice we have made, because we feel it will be better for him.
Can he graduate from high school?  Not from the public school but he can get a GED, we can have our own graduation, he can go into college with the GED (they gladly welcome home school students), and after researching he can still get the PROMISE Scholarship. :)
Home schooling doesn't give a child a good rounded education?  Not sure where that came from, although I have heard it many times.  Both of my kids have never suffered socially. We have kept them active in Soccer and 4-H.  Both have always tested high on their year end testing.  Both going into the public school system have done great.  Lindsay carried a 4.0+ through out her high school years.  She graduated 6th in her class and went into college and has made the Dean's List every semester with a 4.0.  CJ did the same is first two years having a 4.0, this last year as a freshmen he had a 3.75.  Well rounded?  I think so!  Smart?  Yes smarter than I ever hope to be!  ;)
All kids are different.  What is good for one, may not be for the other one.  I have two and they are as different as day and night.  I'm glad for that. What fun would it be to have 2 exactly alike.  Their interests are different.  As a parent, you get to enjoy so many different things with each child.  I call that blessings.
So this fall, we will be home schooling for the next 3 years, the last 3 years of CJ's high school years.  I know this is the right decision for him and know he will do well in all areas as he always has.
And me, yes I am excited!  And so blessed to be able to do what I feel called to do.  God is SO good!

Remind me...

It seems just yesterday I was longing to have a child.  Then they were here, small and in my arms.  ALL for me to have and take care of.  And here we are today, one will turn 20 this month and the other will turn 16 in a few months.  Where has time gone?  Why has it went so fast?  Why do I blink and another week is gone, another month, another season, and then another year.  I remember when I was a teen at home and I would wish for this day or that.  My mom always said, don't wish your life away.  I always thought that is crazy, till I got older and found out what she meant.  For she was in that stage where I am now.  Babies growing up, turning into teens, and then into young adults.  

Today I dropped this little fella off at church camp.  I remember when he was this little.  His moms temper, snapping brown eyes, red hair. Yes he is a spitting image of me.  Poor kid. ;)  But he is a sweet heart.  Caring and kind.  Ornery too.  16?  16?!  That just doesn't seem possible.  I remember when I was carrying him under my heart.  We would go to the dr and she would listen to his heart beat. She would also call him a she.  His sister would say no it is a HE!  LOL  She prayed for a little brother and we know God listens to those little ones.  

Today, this little girl finished a 12 hour shift at the hospital.  Blue eyes like her daddy, strawberry blonde hair like her daddy, and a mild temper like her daddy.  Here she is on her great grandma's lap.  Her name sake.  Naming her after my grandma brought so much joy to my grandma.  

I remember carrying her under my heart.  We never thought we would ever have a child (God blessed us with 2).  

Funny how children are SO different.  Of course I wouldn't want them the same.  God knew just when we needed them.  In his time, not ours.  

When both my children were born, we dedicated them back to the Lord. For you see, they aren't mine, they are just borrowed.  They are God's, not ours.  I am so very blessed, please, Lord remind me...

Moving Mountains...

Sometimes it takes moving a mountain to let God work his plan.  I believe God moves those mountains in ways we don't expect.  The last few weeks has been rough.  I have went through things that no one has even known about.  Someone who has been so close to me for a very long time, just up and turns a whole new direction with lies and shutting me out.  BUT God had a plan.  It got worse before it got better.  But I do know that God takes the things our of our lives that hinder us.  Those things that we do not need in our life to bring us down, or destroy us completely.  Living a Christian life can be rough at times the way it is, and we do not need people or things in our life that could destroy that if they got the chance.  I believe that God loves us and will do what he needs to to shake our inner beings at times.  He has did that to me many times.  I also am a firm believer that you just don't play church or go to God like a spare tire, when you need him.  Going to church doesn't make you a christian or make you saved anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.  You must be born again, washed in the blood to go live with the Lord.  Good deeds get you no where.  My parents work in the Lord gets me no where.  It has to be ME.  So in all this rambling, I know that God was cleaning my house.  Making things better and yes even easier for me too.
In the midst of all the turmoil and agony I was going through, there was a huge blessing in there too.  While we were at the beach, I got a text from someone I didn't even know.  The beach house we were renting belonged to her aunt.  They had been down that way the week before with her family.  She has a little girl and boy.  The little girl is autistic and while they were there, she wanted to see the live Mermaids at the Ripley Aquarium.  And while they were there, she got her picture taken with one.  But they never made it home with the picture. So the reason for the text, was for me to call her.  I did and she asked if I could go to the house and see if the people staying there could look and see if it had fell behind the dresser in her bedroom she had used.  So this put me on a mission.  :)  It kept my mind busy and my heart light, in the midst of a storm.  The next day I went to the house, knocked on the door a couple times and a young man came to the door.  I told him what I was there for, then an older man showed up asking what was needed.  I told him the story again and he said you wait right here, I will go look.  And he came right back with the picture in his hand.  I was SO excited I could have shouted right there.  :)  I let the mom know I had the picture and she was thrilled!  This made it even more worthwhile.  So I made arrangements to meet her when I got home.  When she pulled up, she was all smiles which gave my heart that happy beat.  We got out of our vehicles and she said someone wants a hug from you. :)  I walked around the side of her vehicle and she got her little girl out.  She thanked me and then hugged me.  Yes!  Just seeing that smile and hearing her tell me about it made everything so much better.  What a blessing it was for me to get that picture for this sweet child.  To see her eyes sparkle and the smile on her face.  I will carry that with me always.  And as good as that was, the best part was getting to talk to her mom.  Her mom encouraged me and talked with me like we had been friends forever!
So you see, that picture got left behind for a reason. God KNEW I was gonna need that talk, that childs hug and smile, the encouragement and uplifting words from the mom.  He always knows what we need before we need it.  How blessed I am.  How thankful I am!  God loves me, loves me so much!!!!!

More blessed today...

It's been a crazy few weeks for sure!  But I feel even more blessed today than I did yesterday or the day before that.  My sister is finally home from the hospital after 3 weeks of one thing or another.  We had my dad's surprise 70th birthday party and he actually didn't know a thing till he walked in the door and everyone started singing. :)  Bless his heart, I know no other like him.  Strong willed and bull headed, but so caring and gentle.  The one person I know is always praying for me, always there for me, and always loving me no matter what I do or don't do.  He has been a rock for us since my mom passed away. She was always the strong one, the one that pulled us through kicking and screaming. ;)  But when mom left us, my dad stepped right up to the plate.  He has been there for us all, through so many things.  I couldn't ask for a better father or grandfather!  So surprising him was wonderful. I did of course, have to tell a couple lies, and in church of all places!  First we had to get him there without him asking questions. So we told him it was a Mother's Day dinner.  Ok that worked, but then he needed to know what to fix and bring.  I told him the moms had it all under control and that he had enough going on with my sister.  ;)  That took care of that.  Then there was the time thing.  I knew he would be early, because that is how he always is.  He is always at the church an hour - hour and a half before time.  So with this being at 6 I told him 6:30.  He bought it.  And I asked forgiveness! :)  God is a merciful God, thank goodness!    So the evening went great.  There were around 75 people there.  Mostly family and a few friends.  Food was great, thanks to my sister's Bob Evans.  The cake was fatastic, thanks to my Aunt Bev who got it from Mr. Canterbury.  The music was great, thanks to the Humphreys.  The fellowship was wonderful too.
Mother's Day was yesterday.  The 4th spent without my momma.  I know she is in heaven rejoicing and singing with the angels, but it sure does get lonely here without her.  As I watched others with their moms, it made my heart happy for them, but sad for us.  It is those times that I just miss her so much it sucks the air from my lungs.  4 years, seems like an eternity!  But memories seem just like yesterday.  No momma I know, gave what she did.  Took care of what she did, prayed and witnessed like she did.  She was just an astounding person.  I feel very blessed to have had her as long as I did.  That my kids got to be with her as long as they did.  We all would have loved to have kept her with us, but that wasn't in God's plan.  But I know that I am a better person because of her.  I still talk to her.  I still cry for her.  I still need her, every single day!  And she is here.  In the air I breathe.  In the wind that blows, the rain that refreshes.  In my children's eyes, in their laughter, their smile, their knowledge and on and on.  Yes I am blessed.
My sweet babies got me the perfect gift for Mother's Day.  I got a candle, they know how I love them.  Then a folded frame, that my daughter wrote on.  It will hold pictures that was taken yesterday of me and them.  Precious and priceless.  And letters from each of them.  Telling me how they love me and appreciate me.  Yes I know that, but it always touches my heart for them to write things to me.  As my daughter said, there is no card that can say what I want it to.  So they say it all in their own words which means so much more than a card ever could.  
So today, I am more blessed than yesterday but not as blessed as tomorrow.  God is good, all the time.  And I know who holds tomorrow...

My baby sis...

We never know what another day will bring for us.  Saturday morning I was woke up to my phone ringing.  I am thinking soccer, but it was my dad.  So I knew something wasn't right.  When I answered he proceeded to tell me my sister was in the hospital and having trouble with blockage in her bowel.  They were sure it was cancerous and was doing surgery later that morning.  What should have taken an hour turned into three.  The tumor was attached to her old scar tissue and her bladder.  They also took some lymph nodes.  We here the results from pathology tomorrow. 
She was fine.  No problems, until three days before when she started having pain.  And it led to this.  No we don't know what a new day will bring for us.  What road we will travel.  
Thinking about my sister, brings back a flood of memories.  When she was younger, we picked on her horribly.  She was as touch as a pine knot. :)  She didn't hold back doing things because of fear, she just tried it.  And of course we always encouraged her to do things first.  ;)  I remember teaching her to ride a bike.  The only small one we had, didn't have a seat on it.  But that is what she learned to ride one on.  I can still see her going on it.  Then there was the time we decided to put the saddle on the horse that was not saddle broke.  She got on the saddle and the horse wasn't happy.  She fell off and it stepped on her right above her heart on the shoulder area.  She was the athlete in the family.  She started playing basketball at Gilmore in 6th grade.  She continued playing it right through high school.  Along with softball and volleyball.  IF she would have had time, she would have played other things.  It was a year round busyness for her.  We loved watching her play.  It gives your heart a thrill to see a loved one doing a sport.  And since I had nothing athletic about me, I was always in awe of her.  From high school she did some college and then came back home and worked here locally.  When my daughter was born, she lived with  us.  The bond between them was inseparable.  When she came home from work, my daughter met her at the door with arms in the air.  Then my son, yes she loved him just as much.  
Then came the day we lost our mom.  My sister was by her bedside when she passed away.  I guess it is selfish of me, but I have always been thankful it wasn't me that was there when she took her last breath. But I do remember her calling me that night.  It forever changed our lives.  And now, my sister is starting this battle with this nasty disease herself.  And like my mom, she is a fighter.  She is strong and doesn't give up.  It isn't in her blood to do that.  With us behind her, encouraging her and being there for her every step of the way, I know she will beat this disease.  I hate cancer!  It takes so many from us way before their time, as it did our sweet momma.  
I love you Michelle!  We all do!  We are here fighting with you and for you. Praying for God to take care of you and heal your body.  You just have to trust in him.  For we know not what tomorrow brings...

Fear...

Fear is something that will grip my heart at times and torture me into a panic attack!  It has been that way since I was a younger child.  I always worried (yes the same as fear) the my grandma would die.  She was never well and every time we would go to visit I hated to leave.  I just knew I would never see her again. But I did, over and over again.  Fear is something that will destroy you, if you let it.  It can be a daily battle unless you stay on top of it.  

When I had my daughter, I worried over every little thing.  Were my hands clean?  Was she hungry?  Was she hurting?  What had I done, bringing this precious life into this cruel nasty world!?  And on and on. Then came my son, and it was the same all over again.  They both have survived my worries and fears.  Then my mom found out she had cancer.  I remember praying and begging God not to take her so many times.  Every little thing she endured, I worried.  I feared what could be.  But the days turned into months and a few years.  We were blessed with almost another 10 years of her in our lives.  The one thing my mom always said was, worry and fear borrows from tomorrow.  And you don't know what tomorrow may bring. So why worry.  

So now here we are in this day and age, where we hear of all the horrible things going on in our country today.  Once again, it brings the fear into my heart.  Fear of what tomorrow will bring. Fear of what may happen to us.  Fear!  I hate fear!  And I have learned down through the years, that when fear raises its ugly head, I have to remind it who is in control and that IT will not control me.  And just that, brings peace to my heart.  Knowing, that God is in control.  Nothing will happen unless he lets it.  And I've read the last chapter so I know how this all works out.  I know where I am going!  I know where my future is.  

I want to share this from Joel Osteen.  I love Joel.  He always lifts me up with his teachings.  Not taking anything away from my pastors, but just an added touch into my life.  :)  

I am blessed beyond measure.  I have no reason to fear, for God is in control...

"Fear always presents itself much bigger than it really is. It’s always the worst-case scenario. It always tries to get you worried, anxious, uptight and panicked. Fear’s goal is to separate you from God by trying to get you to doubt His Word. But when the spirit of fear comes, recognize that it has no power unless you give it power. Don’t give it power by speaking what fear speaks. Don’t give it power by meditating on it. Instead, let the power of the Word of God rise up within you. Declare what God says; declare that God has given you all authority in heaven and earth. Declare that no weapon formed against you shall prosper.  Remember, no matter how big fear presents itself, it’s no match for the power of Almighty God. When you yield yourself to Him, you tap into His power. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. God is bigger than your problems and bigger than fear. Let faith rise up in your heart because faith is the victory that overcomes the world."