Saturday, September 28, 2013

Celebrating 7


Our Jaida Ruth turned 7 yesterday!
What a true joy and blessing it is to be her mother!
Beautiful
Smart
Funny
Kind
Fashionista
Loving
Observer-silent observer-every little detail observer
Fabulous Big Sister
Wonderful Little Sister
Creative
Imaginative
Loved Beyond Words
A Ture Treasure
So Blessed God placed her in our family!







Happy 7th Birthday Jaida Ruth!!!!!!!
I love you with my whole entire heart!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Hummingbird Lesson

Hummingbird's are fascinating creatures. I always love to spot them fluttering around brightly colored  flowers. Yesterday one got stuck in our garage. Sam came in to tell me about 10:00 am that there was a hummingbird in our garage. Sure enough there was. I felt certain our little friend would explore momentarily and then realize there were no brightly colored flowers amongst the bicycles, skateboards, scooters, balls, bats, Barbie jeeps, smelly cleats, dog crates and a plethora of other belongings. I was painting our mudroom right off the garage so I was in and out quite a bit to retrieve more painting supplies. Each time I entered the garage our little friend was still there flapping wildly and searching for what appeared to me a way out. He kept flying up instead of down a little and out the wide open double doors! I started to become concerned for him as did Sam and Lulu. We looked up hummingbirds on the internet and found they are attracted to red and like sugar water. So......we found a red cup, made "hummingbird food" according the the internet directions, poured said food into red cup, placed a ladder, with a red top, under the area he was flying and put the red cup with sugar water on top of the ladder. Our hope was that it would see the red, find the food, and fly downward just a foot or so and then out the open doors. No such luck! Lulu and I prayed for our friend as she was concerned he was lost and missed his family and Mommy and Daddy. (I could eat this child up) The bird kept flying harder and harder upward. We got a broom and the pool net hoping to direct it toward the open doors. Nope! We laughed so hard because we looked like the biggest idiots and we hurt our necks in the process :-) I even got the big fan and tilted it upward to blow the bird toward the opening. We tried everything we could think of but the dumb bird just wouldn't cooperate. We were trying to "help" it and I am sure it thought we were trying to kill it-what with all the wild broom and pool net waving. At the end of the day after the Littles were in bed, I went out to check on my friend. It was getting dark. I opened the door and did NOT see him! Yipeeee! I said to Will, either he died or he flew away. Moments later I saw Will looking down with an odd expression on his face. Oh no! "He is dead isn't he?" "Nope, he is sitting under my back tire looking at me. He is breathing but not moving." It was pitiful. There sat my much exhausted little friend with wings spread out on the concrete. I then went frantically searching for our ancient butterfly net. I swear that thing must be 10 years old. I found it and Will gently placed the net on top of the bird and slowly and gingerly drug him out to a bushy area. I quickly closed the doors and we tried to take the net off him. His beak was stuck in the net! Seriously??? Will shook it a few times and finally......with a great swoosh....my buddy took off into the dusk sky. He was free. He soared so high and fast! I ran in to tell the Littles and they all cheered!

Ok, you are probably thinking, "Lady, you really need to get a life!" I will admit, I was really"into" this little fella. I started to wonder if there was a lesson in this for me. Oh yes there was. How many times do we exhaust ourselves trying to go down our own path? Like the hummingbird trying to find his way out. How many times do we strive and work and exhaust or even harm ourselves because we think we know best? What if God was right there waving a broom or a pool net at us trying to redirect us but we were too headstrong to heed His "help" Some times the things God puts in our paths for help or guidance don't always "look" like help or a good thing. How many times are we the dumb bird that just won't cooperate? But what if we fully trusted? What if we stopped trying so very hard to find our own way and just let Him lead us? I know I have felt like that bird on the concrete, my wings collapsed with physical and emotional exhaustion. That silly bird could have had a grand day in the warm September sun eating nectar from beautiful flowers. It chose instead to almost kill itself and flap around all day in a HOT, smelly garage. Maybe sometimes we actually need to collapse on the concrete to be able to look up and say, "Ok, help. I can't do this on my own. What is your plan God?" And when we do.....how high might we soar? And I'll take sweet nectar over a smelly garage any day! How about you?

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Soccer

Ok, I am so behind...Sam played in a tournament in Charlotte 2-1/2 weeks ago and did fairly well for their first time playing together this season. It was nice because Will and I were able to go alone with Sam and he got to be an only child for the weekend! So nice to just have one on one time with your kids.

The next weekend Julia and Sam played in the Aiken Cup. This year both kids switched clubs and so this tournament was a bit of a rivalry as their previous club sponsors this tournament. This was Julia's first time to play with her new team. They played an age group up and still dominated. The competition is not extremely tough in this tournament for the older girls but still the team played well. Julia scored a total of 10 goals for the weekend, with 2 hat tricks (3 goals in a single game) in 2 different games!!! They won their age group! Sam's team did very well having to play 3 games on the last day and also won their age group!!!! Sam played his old team in the finals. He was quite nervous and psyched!! A tough game and at the end of regulation play it was tied 1-1. They went into 5 minute over time periods with the first team that scores winning. About a minute or so into the overtime Sam received a great pass and took the ball down and shot hard at the goal........AND SCORED!!!!! Winning the game for his new team!!!!! It was a bittersweet win! So proud of him!!!!




Go Gunners!

This past weekend, Labor Day Weekend, usually brings us to our favorite beach and my "Happy Place". Unfortunately, Julia's team played in the Atlanta Cup instead. Hmmmmm....beach or south Atlanta???? I joyously awoke at 4:45 am Saturday morning to attend the first game. Saturday they won both games and we stayed at the lake with my parents, about and hr drive instead of paying the lovely Atlanta hotel rates. It felt a little more like a holiday that way too! Unfortunately, or fortunately, which ever way one would choose to look at it, they lost their first game Sunday morning. This ended our tournament and left us with half of Sunday and all of Monday to enjoy. They did not play well. It was hot and I think they were tired, or at least that is they way they looked! We had a great time at the lake, got some much needed rest, ate way too much good food, watched movies, played, shopped, and then ate a little more!

The regular season starts....we have this weekend off and then the chaos begins with 2 kids going in 2 different directions across several states, with 3 Littles in tow. Sometimes I question WHY we do this? Our kids love it. Our kids are good at it. We try to make it a family "event" although we often look like the circus arriving at the fields! Ha! The joys of a large family! People tell me that I will miss it when they are grown and gone....hmmmm? I am sure I will, craziness and all. For now, it is our lifestyle and I am thankful for strong healthy bodies and the dedication and commitment my kids put into it and the relationships they build through it. Here's to a great season...Go Gunners!!!!