Baseball Season Summary

I love baseball season for the boys! The older they get, the more exciting it gets. Cooper played for the A's. They started out the season at 0-9 I think, but finished it at 5-11-2. It was a pretty painful season for Coop because he wasn't used to losing. He grew a lot character wise I think. But he still made all stars, which became his goal mid-season. His all star team won the consolation bracket. He played 2nd base, catcher and pitcher. Pitching made this momma so nervous, but he was pretty good and loved doing it. He didn't start catching until mid-season and did a great job there too. I should have known he would be a good catcher because if I let him, he sits in a squat all the time, even at the dinner table. I was very proud of him for hanging in there this season and doing his best even when he could have given up!

Cade played for the Braves, and Jason was his manager. They finished the season at 13-2! They were undefeated until those last two games. The last two seasons, Jason's team had had the best record going into the championship tournament and lost before the got to the final game, so we were hoping to break that record. And we did! The Braves were the division champions for having the best record and were the PeeWee Champions for winning the city championship. Very exciting! Cade played 2nd and pitcher. And he made all stars and played pitcher the entire tournament. That's a huge compliment for him because you have to be able to catch anything there and use your brain. I always tell them both that their greatest weapon is their brain. I'm not sure they completely get that yet.

I think they are both going to join a select team, so apparently we will be playing baseball off and on all year. And I'm ok with that. Very proud of them!

I was trying to upload a slide show but it wasn't working, so here are a few of my favorite shots of the season.

Verse I wish I hadn't noticed...

I was finishing up Colossians today and almost skipped Paul's final greetings to people, but skimmed it real fast and noticed this verse. I had to reread it a few times and was totally convicted. Colossians 4:12 "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."

He was "wrestling in prayer" for the Colossians, most of whom, I assume, he didn't even know. How many people do I "wrestle in prayer" for? None, not even my husband or kids. Prayer has always been my weakness. I looked up "wrestle" in the dictionary: "to fight by grappling and attempting to throw or immobilize one's opponent; to struggle to master something." So I'm either suppose to be attempting to immobilize my opponent (Satan) as he is going after my family, or I'm struggling to master prayer. Either definition fits for me.

The Amplified version says "...[He is] always striving for you earnestly in his prayers, [pleading] that you may [as persons of ripe character and clear conviction] stand firm and mature [in spiritual growth], convinced and fully assured in [a]everything willed by God." The Message says he's been "tireless in his prayers for you." Holman says "he is always contending for you in his prayers." NASB says "always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers". I looked them all up hoping that verb wasn't that strong, but alas, it is.

I am not striving, tireless, always contending or laboring earnestly for my family in prayer, praying that my men will be persons of ripe character, clear conviction, standing firm and mature, being fully assured of God's will for them. OUCH! Just thought I would share my painful discovery with you all. That's one of those convictions that should be life changing for me if I let it.

A Dizzying Experience

UBC's 2011 VBS is in the books. We had almost 1000 people on campus last week, just missing our goal which would have insured our children's minister would have died her hair purple. I think she's ok with not quite making our goal. I was the volunteer preschool director. We had around 200 preschoolers from birth up to kindergarten. We've been working on VBS since February. But if you follow me on facebook and maybe on the VBS blog I was writing, the two weeks before VBS I was so tired and unmotivated and burned out. I felt kind of drugged. I attributed it to allergies or the allergy medicine I was taking, or stress or a mix of the before mentioned things. Regardless, I had not been feeling well. Not to mention both the boys were playing all star baseball (another blog to follow) so we had games every night the week before. Jason and I thought maybe I was dehydrated so for three days I drank all I could stand and still didn't feel better. I was getting worse by the day. I was beginning to have dizzy spells where I had to lay down. So I actually left VBS Monday morning to go the doctor, that's how bad I felt. And no, I'm not pregnant. It turns out I had fluid on my inner ears. Not infected yet, but just fluid sitting there causing all the issues. The PA wrote me a prescription for Dramamine and told me to rest. Right, I'll get right on that. So the rest of the week I would go to church, make sure everyone was situated and find a couch to lie down on. I would go home, feed the boys lunch, and take a long nap, and then go to bed early. My momma came this weekend and did some of her magic on me and I feel so much better! On the mend.

So I've been asking myself why this week, the one week of the year that I work the hardest, would God allow me to get sick and not be myself? I am so thankful for the team of ladies around me that took up my slack without complaint. And I can look back at the week and totally see that each moment where I could have been stressed, God providing something immediately to take the stress away. Every time a volunteer backed out, another one showed up. It was amazing. So I decided today that it was God reminding me of the truth, that He is all that I need. I had committed this week to Him a long time ago, and promised Him that I would leave it at His feet and not take it back. I wanted to depend on Him for everything and not be stressed and anxious as in past years. So maybe He allowed me to be sick because that was all I could do, and He knew I would only fulfill my promise if I was incapacitated. I must still be struggling with that issue in my heart even though in my brain I thought I had made a change. I was so exhausted and cloudy that when an issue came up, all I could do was shake it off, and go for help if I couldn't fix it without a lot of energy. I wasn't stressed at all because I didn't have the energy to be.

I'm also very frustrated with myself because I went to have my time with the Lord today and I realized from looking in my journal I had not spent any serious time with Him the last two weeks. The time I needed Him the most, I didn't take the time to sit at His feet. I did read a scripture really fast in the morning, and pray for strength as I was looking for a couch to lie down on. Maybe that's all I needed to be doing. But I missed spending time with Him. I was so excited to sit down today for more than 3 minutes. It finally rained today, a lot. We've had less than an inch the last four months. I realized just like that rain felt so good, clean and was a fresh start for the dry ground, sitting at His feet today felt the same for me. A fresh start from being busy, tired and dried up. Thank you Father for refreshing rain, in your Creation and in my heart!

badspiderbites@gmail.com

The guy (I assume it was a guy. That's sexist of me. Maybe its a girl interested in spiders) from badspiderbites@gmail.com never answered my email about my spider friend. See my blog from 5/25. I have been imagining why.
1. Its a junior high boy, and he has moved on to other interests
2. It was so obvious to him what the spider was, he thought I was too stupid to answer
3. It was a junior high boy, and his mom made him disconnect the email address or grounded him
4. He is traveling the world studying spiders and does not have time for me
5. He has moved on to studying snakes. I will not be looking at pictures of snakes to ask him about
6. He was bitten by a spider that killed him. (That's not really funny, but kind of)

Any other suggestions?

Just update on my life...

For those of you interested... Mom.

My life is revolving around two things right now, baseball and VBS. Both big boys made the All Star teams, which is exciting, but busy. Coop had his first game last night, and lost. Cade doesn't have his first game until Tuesday. They are guaranteed three games, so we could be done Thursday or go until the 16th if one of their teams were to go all the way. I'm very proud of them. But this is really exhausting for all of us. I pride myself on being a flexible person, but I have realized that in my old age I'm becoming much more schedule/planning oriented. And this not knowing until the day before where and when we are playing is really hard for me! I'll suck it up. I'll post of picture of them the next time I can catch them both in their uniforms. They are very handsome!

And then VBS. Its next week (13-17) and I am directing the preschool. We have a great leadership team and I could not get half of what I have to get done without Robin, Kim, Terri, Janet and Laura. I realized yesterday that I am at a different place this summer. Last summer the week before and week of I was having anxiety attacks I was so stressed and worried and overwhelmed. I think that's why in July I had my spiritual reawakening. I realized I had been doing it all on my own power and I didn't like the results. This summer I am not worried, not anxious, not too badly overwhelmed. But on the opposite end, I've been procrastinating. "It will all work out in the end. No worries." I'm setting myself up for a lot of work this week! But I'm excited to see all that God is going to do. We have a VBS blog that I have set up and I've been writing some devotionals for our volunteers. That's been a lot more fun then trying to organize lesson plans and schedules. But it all has to be done. I think the devotionals have been more for me than anyone else. Keeps me focused on what's important. (If you are interested, www.ubcvbs.blogspot.com)

Anyway, between those two things, the next two weeks are the busiest of our year, so if I ignore you, please don't take it personally! People asked me today how our third day of summer was going. Summer does not start for us until June 18th, so I'm hanging on for that. I can't wait to crash. But I will crash thanking God for all that He has done in our family and our church! He is good!

Saving Money on Your Grocery Budget, Part 3

4. Try to match sales with coupons. There are websites that will do that work for you. I know Grocery Game does that, but they charge.
· These are free. www.couponmom.com and www.groceryguide.com
· There are other local websites that help you match.
· www.thefrugalfamilylife.com (She’s based out of OK, I am a fan on facebook and have gotten lots of great deals only found on facebook, and she tells me about great deals at CVS or Walgreens.)
· www.couponcontessa.com (Houston)
· www.thekrazycouponlady.com

5. Buy in Bulk
· Be careful at Sam’s or Costco, it may not be cheaper per item, and you end up with tons of something and nowhere to store it.
· www.angelfoodministries.com, buying boxes of food really cheap! You preorder which box of food you want and pick it up at local participating churches.

6. Now go Shopping!
· Do not go when you are hungry
· Go without your kids (and husbands)
· Take your time!
· Make a date for yourself, get coffee, have a seat and get organized, listen to your ipod, have fun!


Hope this helps some of you. If you have other tips and ideas, please comment and let me know. God calls us to be good stewards of what He has given us and take care of our families. I think using coupons falls into that! Good Luck!