Nice Assist

Recently, my daughter decided she wanted to try something new this summer. In previous years, aside from hanging out with her father and I, she has spent many enchanted afternoons as a fairy princess with wild pigtails ruling a kingdom with the fair maiden cousin Zoie or in swim classes pretending to be a mermaid. Running a kingdom seemed to suit her well,but being a mermaid required a little more. She is still not used to the idea of water in her face.
Because of this, in addition to realizing that playing sports with little boys on the playground at school can be fun, she very graciously decided that she would play soccer this summer.
Having very little strength in refusing her of reasonable desires, we agreed. The only trouble was finding a soccer camp that actually fit our schedules. Most of the ones that I called had schedules that run from morning to midday and as a dual income family, this certainly didn't work. I tried calling around to a few others and was unsuccessful. I began preparing myself for the sad look on her little face when I would break the news to her. Disappointed, I decided to put in on the back burner for a little while.
Upon my arrival home yesterday, I walked to my front door and wedged between the frame and the door was a tiny card. Annoyed, because things are hung on our door frequently, I pulled it out to see who was peddling their lawn care service this time. For a moment,I stood in disbelief staring at an advertisement for Soccer Bible Camp, at a time and price my husband and I could afford. I smiled,took into the house and showed it to Carl and quickly followed the instructions for online registration.

Quietly, I thought about how on time God is and decided that in more situations than this one, it was His way of telling me to not give up.

As we embark upon a new week, we have had to say goodbye to a dear friend and church member over the weekend. I am always nervous about having to explain the facts of life to my daughter and this was definitely a first. So... how do you help a 5-year old understand death when they look at you with those innocent eyes, not knowing that this condition, at some point, will claim us all? Despite the intense stare into my eyes,she seemed to take the news well.
I asked her if she had any questions and she gently replied... "No, not right now mommy."
Now, I still consider myself a younger mother, one that has not quite been gifted with knowing all the right things to say, but I found myself calm and ready to conquer whatever popped into that little head.
Moments later, as I knew it would come, she walked over to me and very seriously asked, "Momma, how do you get to heaven?"
I took a deep breath and explained that being strong in your faith, and staying close to God by praying and asking him to keep you humble is how. She seemed to be satisfied with that answer and returned to her thoughts of color pages, crayons and the like. And I, feeling very proud that I had been given the words to help her understand, found myself thinking about how life has a way of reminding you of the things that are most important. We may not always know the right things to say, but I am sure that will come with more experience.

What I know for sure is this... He sent her to us to bring us back to Him.

First Pitch

The first blog... I couldn't decide if this endeavor should follow our family lifestyle and have sports-themed analogies or if that would be too corny. My decision: maybe it will and maybe it won't as unpredictability is part of our lifestyle as well so...stay tuned.