Dress Down Day

Today is Dress Down Day for the big kids... basically you pay .50 per kid so they don't have to dress in uniform... We made a deal with the kids, they could dress down, but it had to be in Shark football gear. :-).  Walking billboards anyone?

Here's my thoughts on dress down day...

1.  Why are we encouraging kids this young that it's fun to dress like a bum?  Yes, my kids were still in normal clothes, that fit, had belts on, and proper shoes... But some of the tshirts I saw when I got to the school this morning... just wow.  And the number of girls between the ages of 5 and 11 in leggings with their shirts not covering their toushies... it was ridiculous.

2.  Why can't children just be encouraged to always look their best?  It's taking me a long time to grasp the concept of "look better, feel better"... but now I swear by it.  There's days that I will stop my day in the middle of a bad day and shower, do my hair and put on makeup... it's like a restart to the day.

3.  Just why.  That's it. I just didn't want tot fight about sleeves and jackets and tucking in shirts.

Deuteronomy... today!

My weekly Bible Study right now is a Bible Study on the book of Deuteronomy.... written and video lectured by Beth Moore...

What a study.  It's amazing to me to see the relativity of an OLD book in the Bible and has much it has to say to us today.  It's crazy, each week (and I've only been to two lessons!) it's like God looked at my life, figured out exactly what I needed to hear and had Beth say it.  A few highlights that have spoken directly to me and therefore I want to share with you...

1.  Yes... I took a picture of the page in my Bible... and sent it to Nathan at work.  The verses are Deuteronomy 6:4-9.  What is says, in loose translation with my own thoughts added in is this...  "Listen to me! You are my people and I'm talking to you as the only God you have.  LISTEN!  Love me.  That's all I really ask of you to do is to love ME first!  and then teach me to your children.  DILIGENTLY, not lazily, not haphazardly, but DILIGENTLY." Wow, what a reminder.  I know I as a parent get sucked into thinking that my most important job is to care for my children, but God said it right there, my most important job is to teach my children about Him.  And another thought, thanks to Mrs. Moore that I think I should share with you... when you love something/someone, it's easy to tell the whole world, so why is it so flipping hard to tell others about Christ?  Are we (AM I?) putting Him first always, in my thoughts, in my actions... etc... Yeah, I don't like the 2x4 either.

2.  This weeks lesson was about wealth and abundance, not the physical riches kind... but it reminded me of Esther.  God put her in a position of great importance in Persia, "for such a time as this".  Her important time was to save the Jewish community from mass death at the hands of the Persian government, and she stood up to those in authority and stopped the massacre.  I'm really feeling like my time is now, on our football field.  Yup, I'm crazy thinking that God might care about our little football field, but I really don't think I am.  If God knows each hair on my head, what color it's supposed to be, each bird that is in the sky, the number of grains of sand on the beach... yup, I think he cares about the football field where his children are as well.  So, for such a time as this.  I said the other day that there's some big drama and changes happening on the field.  I think that's why we've been called there now.  For this time, when the needs and safety and lives of the children that have been entrusted to us have the opportunity to be changed for Good!  Like it says in Romans 8:28... "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."  All things. Even the drama on a football field.  If we are following Him and His calling, it will ALL work together for good.  All of it.  for Good.  What an encouragement and a flame to keep burning.  Strength to continue.

May you find yourself in the place God has called you to be,

so that you can participate WITH God in the display of His glory.

 

Busy busy busy

Wow.   Life has gotten CRAZY!!!

I decided that my life needed to settle a little bit, so the big kids started public school.  Not overly proud of the decision based on the educational opportunity, but for our family, for now, I really think that it's the right decision.  Now, I can be a mom without spending my mornings yelling and threatening and stressing and crying about schoolwork getting done and the lack of obedience, etc...
I don't think the big kids mind the new school... uniforms and all...

Somehow in the last few weeks, the big boy turned 9.  I cannot believe that he's that old... I guess it helps that he really hasn't changed sizes since he was about 5... I mean, he's gotten taller, but his waist hasn't changed :-)  His birthday cake... a Cowboys jersey with his current football number "9"... and HIS name, because he's cooler than Romo... his words...

Politics of Youth Football... deserves its own blog.  Yup I said blog. Not even just blog post, but it's own blog.  I just don't understand the politics... it's all about the kids right?  And 98% of us on the field would never have even met much less be friends... except for football.  So yeah, that's been a little stressful, but without fighting through the muck, it will never get better...

And finally, a bit of family fun... yesterday a fantastic family from our football field (see that!  never would've met them with football!) invited us over for St Patrick's Day.  What a blast!  Cannot wait to get us all together again! 

As you slide the bannister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction!

I've Been Quiet....

So I've been quiet after having grand plans of blogging ALOT... not because I haven't had anything to say... but I've had WAY more to say than I wanted to say typing on my phone...

Let's see where to start... Homeschooling this week has been a CHORE!  My kids are working on the end of 2nd and end of 3rd grades and well, the end of year is hitting them hard!  Apparently just because the end of the 2nd grade Math workbook arrived with its Fianl Test... that means school is over for summer time!! Sorry bout your luck kids, but school is out for summer when MOMMY says it's out for summer!!!  So this week has been full of disobedience, tears, threats of public schools, punishments... and a mommy at the end of her proverbial rope...

Thanks to the Hip Homeschool Mom for this PSA...

Church...
We've started attending a new church.  New to us at least, it's a church that I had family attending when I was little, and have other members of the family attending now... So we're still getting the family time of church that I find so important as well as the Biblically based message and learning.  Tomorrow I go pick up my book to start the Beth Moore authored study of Dueteronomy  (seriously... I cannot spell that word... but you understand )... I can't wait!!!  Even more exciting is that I emailed for information as they stated that childcare would be available... and while I was the only one who requested child care, they were more than happy to get someone to stay with all 4 of my kids so that I could attend Bible Study.  That stands out to me as a very important aspect of a church... making accommodations, even as simple as childcare, so that someone can attend a study without worry that her children are interrupting or disturbing other people as they try to learn together.

Football...
Football itself is fantastic!! I love football!!  What I don't love... are the parents who stand on the sidelines, not fulfilling their volunteer hours like they promised to do when they signed their child up to play, and then whining and complaining about the Board of Directors (who they haven't approached with their problem/concern) and griping that the Concession stand has a long line, the merchandise tent isn't set up....  Here's a thought, the Board of Directors are a volunteer board.  We all have kids (most of us more than one) on the field.  If you signed a contract stating that you would volunteer, do it!!  Ask how you can help to make things better rather than whining about things not getting done!  Ok, vent over, but really... With 110 kids on a field and every family supposed to volunteer 4 hours per child... that makes 440 hours minimum of volunteer time... There's 66 available hours to volunteer during Saturday game days... that makes 6.67 people volunteer each hour... with no only overlapping!!! Really doesn't seem like we should be SHORT on volunteers.... Just saying... Now I'm really off my soapbox.

Nathan's team... Bubba's down there in front... #9...

Kiki cheering... Yeah, she's down there somewhere... I was upstairs running the time clock and getting the best picture I could from the field house!!!

 

 Ah, we had a really amazing speaker come and speak to the boys... mostly about using football as a stepping stone to where you want to be in life, cause not everyone who dreams of playing in the NFL will get there... but you CAN use football to get the college scholarships to make yourself a better person.... Thank you Deondre Barnett, can't wait to see you play for the UCF Knights, and make it big in the NFL.  I'm sure that as hard as you work, if you keep your head in the right place, you will go far!!!

In all that, I know that I've been called to keep my head up and keep going.  God has placed some amazing and encouraging people in my life just as I needed them.  All the way down to someone I'm working on contracting for football stuff who I apologized to for I felt was being rude, and she totally warmed my heart when she emailed me back with a simple message not to worry, that she's also seen the end of her proverbial rope, and that she was sending extra prayers my way.  What a great organization!