Are you ready for some football?

And I am not talking the Superbowl.....I am talking about the Grace Fusion Bowl. Man oh man, it's getting tense around here. Actually, for me it gets funnier by the day. My dear husband is so psyched about this tournament that I can't help but to giggle out loud. Yesterday it was the talk of practice that got me giggling. Today it was the "borrowed" cleats.

He's been working with Dan on this for about a month now and the banter is heating up. "You are going down on Saturday!" "My team is getting that first round bye" "My team is going to WIN this!" And it's funny, every guy I hear says "my team is going to win!" Gotta give that self confidence some kuddos! What would my kids call this banter? Oh yeah, SMACK TALK!

So tomorrow's the big day, I can't wait to see all the action. Of course, I will be there cheering my man on, but I will be praying too, praying he doesn't get his silly self hurt in any way.

And after the game, the chili cook off! And here's a bit of a bunny trail, but I need to mention that I haven't heard the women smack talking the chili contest. Is it that I just haven't heard it or are women just "more polite"? Me, I'd go with more polite, but I am not a smack talker. I am more of the encourager "Oh, I am sure your chili is going to win because you are such a great cook!" LOL

When all is said and done, Coach Joe Mcbride will be a guest speaker to wrap up the evening. He will be talking about God and Football...imagine that they can go together! This house holds Coach Mcbride in very high regards. It is rare that a Coach not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. So, if you are a parent reading this and your child is going to be or is currently under Coach Mcbride's direction next year, you ought to come and hear this man speak. It will give you comfort to know your child is being mentored to by this man.

And speaking of child....did I mention my son is on this team too? My lightweight son is playing on a team with some pretty big guys. His daddy better not let him get hurt or Mama WILL be doing some smack talk around this house!

When all is said and done and the smack talk is put aside (I am assuming one day it WILL be put aside), this is going to be a great day of Christian fellowship and I do believe it will be a day that brings glory to God. And I am proud of Jay, Dan and the rest of the team for pulling it all together. Good job guys!

Lessons Learned

I am NOT one of those parents who thinks that her children are perfect. Don't get me wrong, I, like every other parent in this world, think I have the most terrific, awesome, wonderful kids ever. But, I do not delude myself into thinking they are perfect.

Well, imagine my surprise when I find that my terrific wonderful son has made a very poor error in judgement and has forgotten every Christian value ever taught to him and done something just plain STUPID. First of all, where in the world did that fabulous brain of his go? Second of all, where in the world did his heart go?

Well, lucky for him when I found the error in judgement he was at school. That gave his daddy and I time to recover from the shock and calm down enough to pray (and I mean pray) over how to handle the situation. Of course I gathered counseling from those I consider wise in the art of raising teenagers and by the time my kiddo came home, there was hope that he would live to see another day.

Over the course of the day, God revealed to me a few instances over the past week where Jayson had made really good choices and that I had actually noticed the choices (even though they were small ones) and even had praised Jayson on his choices because I was so proud of him. I was also reminded that no matter what Jayson had done, he has an amazing heart and that we all (me included) make poor choices every now and again. I even really started chuckling over the act of stupidity as I still couldn't figure out what had happened to his BRAIN. (A friend of mine told me that when they hit 13 they take their brain out and set it on a shelf and return to get it somewhere in their 20's! LOL, I believe it!)

Today my son had to rectify his mistake in a big way. It was painful for Jay and I as parents to have to watch him do it. But you know what, I believe that because of the humility he had to face today, he will be a better man for it one day. And most importantly, I think Jayson gets that too. He wasn't simply throwing out an "I'm sorry". We all could see his brokeness and his humility as he was getting ready to face the consequences of his actions. And I have to stop and think about how grateful I am for this learning opportunity for my son. Because if he were a perfect kid, where would he learn life lessons that would make him into a more GODLY man?

God teaches us lessons so that we can grow closer to him. And I think that through this mistake, 3 people in this house have had to draw close to Jesus and really REALLY pray for HIS guidance. And you know what...the person who was wronged....well, he saw Jesus in my son today too. He saw a child confess to a sin that this person may not even have found out about and then he heard him apologize for it. And I can't help but to think that this would be another time that God would take a difficult situation and turn it to His glory.

Am I thankful that my son was a butt head???? Well, yeah, I guess I kinda am.

Daddy's gifts

Over the summer I blogged about my friends giving me a beautiful gift for my birthday.
I am finally showing a picture of it.

This gift meant the world to me and it is one of my favorite all time gifts. It has a spot in my family room where everyone can see it and where I can continually be reminded of the belief these women have in me. A lot of you know that I had a pretty traumatic childhood, and words of encouragement were pretty hard to come by, so this beautiful hand crafted piece of art is very valuable to me.

I was inspired by this work of art around Christmas time. My friend (Janene Gaynor) has since started a business making these pieces of art and I asked her if she could do 2 pieces for me. I set to work on my project. We had to be sneaky, but the kids and I wanted to let Jay how much we loved Grammy and Papaw and how much we missed them at Christmas. So, we came up with words that reminded us of them. We all put them together and Janene made them into works of art for us. The words may not make sense to a lot of people, but the heart behind those words is astounding. My kids had very clear emotions surrounding their memories and their words and Janene was very accomodating in putting the piece together.

Here is the piece that we came up with for Papaw:




And here is the piece for Grammy:




As you can imagine, it was an emotional moment in opening these gifts. But Jay loved them. We have finally found the perfect spot for them, right in on our entryway/family room wall.



And, if you have memories you would like Scripted in Art...contact Janene Gaynor. She does a fabulous job!

God just works like that

I am doing this Bible study now (some of you may be doing it too) and last night I was asked to get up and give God my FIRST fruits of the day (starting today). Sounds reasonable, right? Well, let me tell you that for me, it is soooooo hard to do. I have tried. And I have failed. A LOT! I have used every excuse in the book with the number one reason being that "I am just NOT a morning person".

So, last night I just simply said "God, if you want me to get up 30 minutes before the kids, YOU are just going to have to make it happen. I want to, I really do, but I just don't ever seem to make it up".

Well, imagine my surprise when at 6:20 (EXACTLY 30 minutes before my kids get up) my phone rings. After my initial "oh my gosh, what's wrong?", I answered it. It was a teacher friend of mine calling for me to sub. And here's the kicker, she wasn't calling for today, she was calling for 2 days at the END OF FEBRUARY! Holy Cow!

She apologized for waking me and after I explained to her that I had actually prayed for God to get me up this morning to do my quiet time she said she had just finished hers and was honored God would use her to speak to me!

Now, that is just way toooooo cool!

Happy Birthday Jay!

Today is Jay's birthday....and I think I said the same thing last year, but I will say it again. It's his birthday, but WE get the gift!

What a gift Jay is to our family. His attributes as a father and husband are so many that I could never list them all. But, I will say that he is one of the most involved fathers I know. I could never do this job without his help. He does more than his share and I believe my kids are all the better for it. He is hands on and present in just about everything my children do. He watches it all: Football, Theater, Dance, Guitar Lessons, more theater, more dance and still manages to help run the carpool and take the kids out for special times. He rides bikes, plays barbies, Madden on the XBOX, American girl and paintball (no matter how painful it can be). And as my partner in life, he does his fair share of the dishes, the housecleaning and the grocery shopping. And he does it all while holding down a J-O-B to support all these things that our family enjoys doing.

What more could a woman ask for? He works so hard to provide for us, yet still is a hands on dad. I enjoy nothing more than seeing my children bask in the love that Jay gives them. I know that my son will always have a mentor before him that shows him how to be a Godly man, a good husband and wonderful dad. AND, I know that he is setting the bar really high for the man my girls will choose one day to be THEIR husbands.

I can't fail to mention that Jay's morals and beliefs are rock solid and that he is MY rock. I know that he will always think of the needs of this family before himself and that each decision he makes is prayed over and weighed heavily on his heart before coming to a conclusion. He is such a hard worker and hardly ever complains, even when he is entitled to do so.

We are very blessed, my children and I! We know it and we are thankful for it.

Christmas

Here are some pictures of our Christmas events. The pictures start with us putting up the tree. And goes all the way through our last night with family here.

We had a great Christmas and I hope that everyone of you all did too!

I knew it....

Yesterday when I left to go shopping, I just knew when I got home the "taking down of Christmas decorations" in this house would have begun. You see, I am a "why don't we keep it up until the New Year" kind of gal. Jay is "it's the day after Christmas, why do we need this clutter" kind of guy. So, after almost 18 years of marriage why do I continually hope that one year I will actually head out and go shopping and return home to find our outside decorations still intact? Not sure, because they NEVER are. And this year, my hubby did not veer far from his predictable path.

So, after moping around, I get started on the other stuff. Look on the bright side, some people have to do it all, at least I get some help. Early help, but help none the less.

Tonight I was starting to gather things up and place them all in the kitchen and as I was doing so my sweet little Katie started saying "it isn't fair we have to say goodbye to Christmas". Awwwwww! I know! She is so right. It's not fair! We have to wait a long time til next Christmas.

I know Christmas is a stressful time of the year, but I do love it. First of all there is the obvious reason of it being the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour. Second, I LOVE the clutter, uh, I mean decorations, that fill this house. I love the lights, the pretty snow village and yes, even the Griswald front yard. I love the giving of gifts and having family here for the holiday.

But, because I am the mom, I am trying to be the big girl here and explain to her why we say bye to Christmas and help her look forward to other days between now and next Christmas. I started by asking her what she loved about Christmas. She said "you get to open presents (she's only six, what did I expect?) and that it was Jesus' birthday (whew, we ARE at least doing a decent job teaching that!). I explained to her that even though Christmas is about the day Jesus was born and I love celebrating it, I also love celebrating HER birthday. Because after Jesus' birth, the most important birthdays I celeberate are hers, Jayson's and Hunter's.
We will have presents and family on those days too. And if we don't say goodbye to Christmas, then we can't move on to celebrate the OTHER important birthdays. And, let's not forget, next week is DADDY'S birthday.

So, I pat myself on the back for doing a good job explaining it all to her and she comes in a few minutes later and says "Mom, can we put up Valentine's day decorations tomorrow?"

Hmmmmm, did I miss something?