Basketball Part 1

Oh, I never thought I would see the day when I would allow this huge portion of our life to interject itself into my blog. I thought this little corner of my world would be basketball free....but since the BB word has been dropped a few times already..... and since Howard's team is doing so well....I guess I better pay tribute where it's due. Here goes....

It's game time Warriors.

"Pink Panther" "Brick House" "Eye of the Tiger" "Na,Na,Na,Na, Hey,Hey,Hey...Goodbye" "Mission Impossible" When basketball and pep band collide...these songs become ingrained in your head at the most inconvenient times, which is often these days. Howard's basketball team is gearing up for the District Tournament this weekend. Today a practice, tonight a team dinner, Friday a school pep rally, Friday night the first big game and Saturday night the second game.

Translation: a whole lot of laundry going on in our house this weekend!

Depending on where they place in the tournament..decides if we travel on Tuesday to the Salem area or host a regional home game. A regional home game would be a first ever for us. So would a trip to the state tournament, and these boys are close. With a little more hard work, they will see it happen.

(Interject History lesson here) Our gym has been the talk of the league for a couple of decades. Sometime in an era past, someone decided that burnt orange was a great color of carpet. FOR THE GYM FLOOR. For almost 2o years our sports teams have been playing on orange industrial carpet. Rug burn and bacteria euphoria! A few years ago teams began to refuse to play at our gym. The league forced us to find another gym to host all of our home games on, which meant that we played at local churches, the boys club, and elementary and middle schools. Two seasons ago our school raised enough money with a matching grant to install a real hardwood gym floor. We have been able to host games at our gym again for the past two seasons and the crowd just keeps growing!

So with this history lesson in mind, the local newspaper decided to do a featured article on our gym and the ever growing crowd and winning season of our boys basketball team. They did a great write up and blew our cover a bit. Howard likes to lay low for the most part. He likes the surprise attack idea. Not too much attention, no ranking. Just a little swoop in and sound win. That's how he likes to roll, at least on the outside. At home, he is a bundle of nervous energy...replaying video's of past games and taking notes for upcoming practices, reading playbooks, spending countless hours on the phone. (Not countless, they show up on the cell phone bill, so someone is counting). Months of hard work, in preparation for two final weeks of post season play. My friend Michelle and her family come to watch games quite frequently. Michelle gets her entertainment out of watching Howard jump around, and the rest of her family watches the actual game. Howard can get pretty animated without realizing it during an intense game.

The air is thick around our house. You can feel the intensity and the warm up music hasn't even started. So much prep work for 32 minutes of game time. I'll update when the weekend is over.

End of 1st quarter....

Mandy

Valentine's Day

**UPDATE**

For those wondering, you can read the comments attached to this post. Chocolate covered strawberries aren't so good 4 days later. But the construction paper and glitter card came out great. Equal to something I made in 3rd grade. It's been years since using glitter so I really did impress myself. On a side note, Howard saw this post as I was updating my blog and mocked me for a while after reading it. He said the picture looked like I was getting ready to "bite him in the neck and drag him in the weeds". But then I think he felt bad for mocking me because I found two new songs added to my zune the next morning. "I'm Still a Guy" and "Little Moments" by Brad Paisley.

Guess he loves me.

I tend to think Valentine's Day is over-rated. I don't know why, It's just not that exciting for me. Seems that it's so commercialized, but then I guess every holiday is for that matter. So I told (or asked) Howard in so many words not to get me anything. I don't really see the point in buying gifts for a holiday I think is over-rated. He said fine and we agreed that we didn't need to exchange gifts. I guess I should explain that it's possible I would feel differently about the holiday if it were not for basketball season. I can probably count on two fingers the number of Valentine's day's that we've actually spent together, alone. Most all other years, Howard is away for a basketball game or I am with him and an entire basketball team on the marked date. Today is no exception, I am home paying bills, Howard is 4 hours away in a tiny town called Powers, coaching the last game of the league season. Playoff's start next week, so the season is not over by any means.

But the real reason I started this post is to brag about my husband. Yesterday while preparing to leave for a basketball game, I walked into the bathroom to find one Dove dark chocolate bar, one wrapped red rose and two pieces of computer paper sitting on the counter. Typed out on the papers was a poem Howard wrote. Not some cheesy Valentine's poem you would find in a greeting card... but a serious, thought out, publish-in-a-book kind of poem. Seems that 3 terms of college writing classes paid off. Apparently while staying up late to finish "chemistry homework" he was actually writing. And no.... I'm not about to share it with you. For two reasons, 1) I don't have his permission and 2) It wouldn't make sense to anyone but me. His poem details only things that we would understand about our life since we met. Now I feel like a heal. I didn't even get him a card. I did try, but I waited too darn long and the only cards left were worse than not buying one at all. Valentine's cards about drinking beer are just not funny. Nor do they apply. Thank God for both.

So now it's really late. My husband is still an hour or more away from home and I am getting ready to dip strawberries in chocolate for when he gets home, if I can stay awake that much longer. I'm considering busting out the red and pink construction paper, the Elmer's glue and the glitter and making a card similar to what I made in elementary school. At least it would be original without any undertones of beer drinking. The kids are asleep and they wouldn't even know I was having construction paper fun without them. I'm off to the kitchen ....

Mandy

Love

"But God demontrates His own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8

Dog Gone

Last Monday, Jordan was sick and stayed with my mom for the day instead of going to school. When I got to grandma's house at the end of the day to pick him up he proudly announced that he had lost a tooth. The rest of the story came out later that my mom's dog got the tooth at some point during the day and had it in his mouth, but they fished it out and rescued the tooth from Titan's jaws.


In all the moving my mom ended up with my jewelry box which she gave back to me on Monday night. Inside was our "tooth star". I painted this little jar that we call our "tooth star" several years ago when Jordan was about 4 and Grant was just a baby. When our kids lose their teeth, they put their tooth in the jar and sit it next to their bed for the tooth fairy to find. It was so exciting to have our famous jar returned on the same day Jordan's tooth fell out.


When we got home Jordan put his tooth in the jar and left it on the kitchen counter. Tuesday morning arrived but there was no dollar bill to be found. The tooth fairy doesn't look on kitchen counters we found out. Bummer. Later that night I heard a scuffle in the kitchen. When I walked in Carter had been playing on the floor with the "tooth star"and the tooth was missing. When I asked him where the tooth was he pointed at our dog and said "Warren ate it". This poor tooth was destined for a dogs mouth! I swept the whole floor but never found it. I'm sure it's long gone in the intestines of the dog, and by now the backyard. That night Jordan put the star by his bed. Here is what the tooth fairy found.....

She might not look on kitchen counters but she does make exceptions! Cha-ching. Saved by the note! I love my kids. They crack me up sometimes.

Mandy

Friday

Our insurance company denied our claim for covering damages to the house. They are covering damages to our personal belongings but water damage to the structure is apparently excluded. Therefore, the rental agency is now trying to file a homeowners claim for the damages but things are still feeling sticky to me. I have a very unsettled feeling about the whole thing. I wish that the rental agency would have filed a homeowners claim long before now, but so far they have not. I spoke with them today and it sound's like they are going to but they are making some unusual requests from us for copies of documents related to our policy. I am still asking that you pray for this situation... that it will work out without any more tension than has already been created due to the delay in repairs being made, etc. Pray that Howard and I make wise choices with how to proceed.
Changing the subject all together, I attended the memorial service yesterday for Silas and Joshua. It was a full house with many people in attendance. It was a hard scene to watch as the siblings and close friends, including the Cunningham brothers, were pallbearers for the caskets. Who would think that at 16 years old you would have to carry your friends in a casket? What a sobering moment for these young boys and families.

Song

Two posts in one day...I know.
I was just visiting my friends blog and I'm going to give a little plug here for it. It's called "Stepping Heavenward" and you can access it on my sidebar or visit www.prayingforkristin.com and it will redirect you to her blog. She has a post there today from a song by Barlow Girl. Great song, hop on over and check it out. If I was smart enough to figure it out I would post the video here, but I know just enough about computers to be dangerous.
Changing the subject completely and for a very important reason......tomorrow morning is the memorial service for the Emery brothers. An open invitation has been extended to the community where the boys lived with their family. Please pray that this service will reach those who attend. I'm not one that agrees that a brow beating message at a funeral should guilt someone into beginning a relationship with Jesus, but I think it's entirely possible that someone can come to Jesus from a painful event such as this. Please continue to keep this family in your prayers. While they rejoice that their children are in Heaven, it is no doubt a bittersweet day ahead for them.

Blood and Water

Well, the day has finally arrived. We moved into our house last night, finally. We had a great time staying with friends. Somewhat of a vacation from the reality of life to be honest, but we are back into our own routine and trying to unpack the mayhem the occurred over the course of the last few weeks. We are not having a good experience with the insurance company though and I covet your prayers about this matter. The actual homeowner apparently doesn't want to file a homeowners claim but wanted his own employees to do the work. Our renters insurance says they may not cover damages due to how our policy was written. (whatever that means) Then there is a sticky mess with the original carpet cleaner who let our furniture sit for a week and get water damaged from exposure to water too long. I hate stuff like this. I want to plug my ears and say "la la la" but I cant. I am trying not to get anxious about the whole ordeal. It's in God's hands and out of my control at this point. I've been told by many to let the insurance companies fight it out and not to worry about it, but it still leaves unsettling thoughts.
We should have some answers this week, hopefully.
I've thought about these last few weeks and have pondered the reason why God allowed blood and water to "pour" with my nose problem and the washing machine ordeal. Maybe I read too much into things, but I can't help but keep returning to a mental picture of the Cross. The blood and water that flowed from Jesus side when he was crucified. Why this modern day, practical blood and water lesson now? All I come up with at the moment is that in all things no matter how practical or everyday they are, I need to look to Him. The One who gave everything for me. His life for me. The One who who loves us no matter our painful thoughts and frustration. The One who I need to run to when my burden is heavy. The One who provides all things. The One who knows my days. The One who has it all in palm of His hand. The One who knows the outcome and the reason before I do.

Mandy