Youth Football

Today was it.  The playoff game for Spring Youth Football, we're going to the SUPERBOWL!!!
It feels almost like the Superbowl next weekend is the end of a chapter in our lives.  Will we still be at the field? Yes, our boy will be playing.  Will we still be there to cheer on the other kids that we know and love? Of course!  But it will be weird, not having anything that needs to get done, no paperwork to complete, no checking in and making sure other people are getting their projects done and don't need help.  It's the end of a season in our lives, and the beginning of a new one.  A new season filled with bigger boys playing football, getting to be at our boy's game and just be parents, getting to do things together, not stay at the field all day to make sure that everything there gets done.  So as sad as I am to see it go, I'm looking forward to what's ahead for our family.

Tomorrow is Sunday, it's church day as our kids say... I love walking home from church with them... watching the big kids walk with their "other brother", typically talking about something that happened at church.  Doesn't always mean that it was something in the sermon... truthfully it could have been when that one guy sneezed really loudly... but hey, at least they were paying attention to something!!

Letting go... and Letting God...

When God opens a door, He opens it wide open, and sets everything in place and tells us not to worry about anything... This momma doesn't like not feeling prepared...  As we move forward in life, we have to learn to trust God to provide.  Not that we sit back and just wait for Him to throw things in our laps, but we have to trust that He will make a way.  I've really been concentrating on this recently.  With the hubby's new position coaching at the High School comes a supplement, maybe. But also with hubby's new coaching position, he has to quit his weekly auction.  Which means a decent chunk of our income no longer coming in... which means this momma has to reconfigure the budget, and see what we can do to make ends meet again, without us feeling completely deprived...  And then things happen like the bombings in Boston, and I remember, that God told us to be prepared for tomorrow, but to trust Him, but things happen and I remember that life can change in a instant.  He told us that there would be wars, and rumors of wars, but that the end was not yet.

What's that supposed to mean?! Not yet?!  This momma needs to plan, to put things on a calendar!!  I love how God forces us to trust Him.  To plan for the future, to set up retirement accounts and savings accounts, to plan like there will be a tomorrow, but we never know... only God knows when our end will come.  Who knows, it could be today... Are you ready?!

As I look for a way to make a certain amount of money each month, to make our lives easier in this transition in our lives from auctioneering into football coaching... I've also been studying to teach Vacation Bible School.  This years theme is "Facing Fears! Trusting God!" at the Colossal Coaster World.  I think He might be trying to teach me something... besides how to turn pool noodles and chairs into a roller coaster....

... maybe what I get to learn from Bible School this year is how to REALLY trust God... in everything... all the way down to paying the bills...

 

In other news... the big kids both got awards at school yesterday... for Caring... literally.  And no, I didn't laugh... but the award reads...

 

"Star Student Award for April  This certificate is awarded to... ... for investing whatever is necessary to help people in need."

I promptly asked them if they could please apply that principal to the house and their sisters as well...

I'm so proud that they know how to act in public, even if the house is a different matter.

 



When God closes a door...

... Somewhere HE opens another one.

You all know I've been studying the book of Deuteronomy.  It hasn't been an easy time.  Have you ever felt like you're being hit by continuous 2x4s of realization and guilt.  Yup, that's me these last few weeks. Never any worse than yesterday during our class.  Except of course for the last time God hit me with the proverbial 2x4.  But enough of that... Yesterday's class was on the concluding words of Moses.  The words he said to the people of Israel after God told him that THAT very day was going to be his LAST day on earth.  (Beth Moore has a much better way of explaining it all... and if you ever get a chance to attend one of her Bible studies... PLEASE DO IT!!!)  But there were a few things yesterday that really stood out to me...
1.  In Deut 33:26 (and various other places in the Bible)  it says that God is our HELP.  He's our HELP.  Not there to do it for us, though He could. Not there to do it without us. but there TO HELP US with whatever it is that he's called us to do!  Think about it... He could do it himself... but wouldn't you rather respond to his call and do it WITH Him and earn that blessing/promise/learning for yourself? (Yup, thanks for the 2x4)
2. If God told you that it was your last day.  That He would be taking you to be with Him on that very day... what would you spend it doing?!
Would you spend it apologizing to God and to the people around you?
Would you spend it doing good, hoping to get in one last blessing?
Would you spend it making sure that your children knew everything that you wanted them to... so that there was no doubt in your mind or theirs what you believe, where you'll be spending eternity, one last lesson on how to be a good citizen/neighbor?
(Again, great thanks for the 2x4.)
and 3. God protected Moses, hid him from harm.... from his birth, all the way to his burial...
no matter Moses' manly screw ups... no matter the fact that he hid when God called him, at least once... no matter that he was human and imperfect.  He hid him, he protected him. always.  and then carried him to his grave the way that a father carries his son.  (Yup, another 2x4)
Have you ever wondered how God still loves you?  are your actions not perfect? how HE still loves you even at your worst? How HE can still use imperfect ME is still a crazy concept.  According to facts/figures/statistics/situations...  I shouldn't have the great life that I do... I can only believe that I am still here and mostly intact with quite a few HARD life lessons learned is because God wants me, where He wants me, to do something for Him... Now, to seek  Him and His will for My life.

and in other news.... that really has to do with the doors and windows...
There's been some drama on our football field... and my husband was not asked to return as a football coach for the upcoming fall season.  It was a great upheaval in our life, since our ENTIRE family is involved there...
but cannot seem to find the peace in staying despite the way that we've been treated recently.  The next town over offered him a position coaching within their youth football league, but we had no peace about that decision either.  So, after much prayer and consideration and trying to figure out how to make things work to be where we thought God had called us too... Last night, my hubby got the call!  The magical call!  He was invited to come and coach at the local high school!!  That means we stay here, we're still involved with football, we're still around the kids that have come to love us, and respect us, and stop by our house randomly, and ask for rides to practice, and that are the reason that we started with youth football in the first place!  So, all in all, Nathan's job changed within his school district, putting him home earlier... the youth football league didn't vote him in as a coach... there was unrest in a decision to go elsewhere resulting in no commitment for the fall... and now, we see why!  God was just setting things up and waiting for His own time to tell us what we were to do.  and it was pretty awesome to hear the coach that called him last night say just that same thing!

So.... YAY!!!  Off to work on plans for Vacation Bible School!

We Survived!

We survived Spring Break!  Being in Florida, you would think that we breaked at the beach... well, you think wrong my friend!! It was COLD!! So, we did other things... like get family pictures taken!

Thanks to Brooke at {bs} Photography!  and then enjoyed family date night at StevieB's! and Redbox family movie night!

And celebrated our anniversary!

Yup, it's a cell phone picture in a fingerprinted hall mirror on our way to an amazing dinner at the Chart House.  Thanks for keeping the munchkinland MiMaw and PopPop!  Oh, and thanks to PopPop for making sure our favorite center was at football practice :-)

Wednesday we slowed it down a little and did not much... except for reclaiming munchkinland, and finding Nathan a new breakfast place in town!  and choir rehearsal... and prayer meeting...

Thursday brought not a lot of excitement, except for being back on the football field for practice...
A lot of people thought we would take Spring Break off of practice since there were no games Easter weekend...LOL!!! Yeah right! So, here it is... 3 teams making enough kids to have 1 practice!!

Friday was Friday... we bought some new cloth diapers :-) and had dinner at Chili's where I used to work, and while there were a few people that I saw and remembered how much fun we had and how much I missed them... I don't miss Chili's!  At ALL!!  And the Auction... Yup, my husband the auctioneer calls the Friday night auction every week at Harrah's Auction... www.harrahsauction.com

Saturday was... still not a lot... we took Layla to daddy's new favorite breakfast place... picked up Layla's birthday present... went to the park... picked up Kayley... got ice cream... ya know, we just hung out as a family.  It was a great day!

And Sunday was Resurrection Day... you might know it as Easter Sunday.  We went to church as a family to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.  and then... we ATE... and we ATE... and we ATE... Got to love family dinners in an ever growing family!  Night church was a time of singing... and the song that my mom and I have sung together for a long time... "Daystar" was sung by the entire Burch & Sistler clan... It was fantastic.  Here we all are...

So... as I take a deep breath, and look back on the week... It was phenomenal.  And I'm tired... but my heart and my refrigerator and freezer are full!  and the kids are happy... except for Hannah who is yelling at me, because I'm not feeding her fast enough...  I should go do that... talk to you soon...

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!