Win and we're in

Tonight we play Georgetown at their stadium. We are currently tied for 3rd place with 4 teams. If we beat Georgetown, we go to the playoffs. If we lose, we're out. It will be a really tough game, but I am so hoping that we can make it to the playoffs this year.

We're still loving our new house and neighborhood. The kids have a lot of friends to play with and it is such a nice area. The next big step is to get rid of our gas-guzzling van and buy a mini-van in February. That will really help our gas bill a lot.

Not much else going on right now. Caleb had his first band concert last week and did a great job. It was nice to go to a concert that only lasted a total of 45 minutes for 3 bands! We all went out to eat at Taco Cabana after the concert to celebrate.

The dogs are officially gone for good, so we are now dog-less for the first time in years. I miss them, but it will be nice to finally have the backyard back, without worrying about them tearing things up back there. Jonah really wants to get a new dog--specifically a yellow lab.

The election was on Tuesday and I'm neither excited nor disappointed by the results. I just hope that we can take notice in America that the 2-party system we have now just doesn't work anymore. I'd really like to see the growth of other parties to provide more selection of candidates. I am hopeful for some kind of change, however, as someone needs to step up and let the current government know that we cannot operate our country on credit anymore.

Rival Game

Tonight is our game against Westwood, our rivals. After a loss against Round Rock, we've had 2 big wins against Cedar Park and Vista Ridge. We lost last week to the district front-runner, Stony Point. So, this game, as well as the rest of our schedule, has playoff implications for us. I really want to go to the playoffs this year, as I've never been in my time as a coach. We have some work to do over the next few weeks.

The Freshman "B" team won a crazy one last night, with a Hail Mary pass with 8 seconds left and an ensuing 2-point conversion. Final score was 14-13, McNeil. The "A" team had a chance to win, but ended up losing in the end.

We are still experimenting with Caleb this 6-weeks. We are trying not to "prod" him about his homework, grades, band-practice, etc. Hopefully this will give him a safe place to "fail" early in the year. I hope he will begin to see and understand the need to take responsibility for his work and set a standard of good habits to come. I'd rather him fail early on and then learn to do well, then to hand-hold him all the way to high school and then wonder why he hasn't learned to do things on his own. I'm seeing a little bit of maturity arising in him, but he is at that weird age of 6th grade, where he still is holding on to childish behavior and things. Work in progress. :-)

Next Friday is Halloween, but for the first year, I won't be able to go with Dina and the kids. I have a football game against Leander that night. Caleb will be at his first sleepover party that night. So, Dina will be taking the other three on their own. I think they are just going to "trick-or-treat" in our new neighborhood. I'll miss it. :-(

Not a whole lot else going on. We just got paid and I'm going to go pay off my car next week. Yay! But, we accumulated more debt last month and it will take a few months to get back on track. :-(

Majestic For A Day

Well, today is a Monday. Pretty good weekend. Although we lost to Round Rock a week and a half ago, we beat Cedar Park this last Friday. We were really rusty after not playing for 20 days and had 9 turnovers against Round Rock. We actually picked it up and played better against Cedar Park. I still think we can play better. We have a Thursday game this week against Vista Ridge.

We got my nephew's old captain's bed for Jonah this weekend. It is still in the garage, as I haven't had time to put it together yet. We still have a lot of things we want to do to our new house, but we have to wait another month or two, until money is a little better. We're just happy to have a roof over our heads and money going back into our pocket each month, rather than rent going into someone else's pockets.

My Dad's surgery went well and he is having some more tests this week. But, it looks like the pacemaker was really good for him, as he has a lot more energy. Robert Reagan is out of the hospital after his surgery and he finds out this week if any of the cells in the tumor were malignant or not.

Not a whole lot else going on. Rachel was a "Majestic For A Day" at the game this last Friday. She got to hang out with a Majestic in the stands, learn a dance, and then go out on the field with them at halftime. She had a blast and can't wait to do it again next year.

Slay the Dragons

Game day. Today is a really full day for me, as I have no conference periods today and we have a varsity game tonight. Instead of coming back to school afterwards to do video scouting for hours, I'm gonna try to take the equipement home and do it there tonight. I can finish up tomorrow and then I shouldn't have to come up to school on Saturday. Yay!

We play the Round Rock Dragons tonight. Because of Hurricane Ike, our last game, against Bryan, was cancelled. Since we had an off week last week, we haven't played in almost 3 weeks! I'm hoping we don't come out too rusty. It feels like another "first game of the season" tonight. It is the first game of district play, so we can't make a bunch of mistakes, or Round Rock will eat us up.

Before I forget, I thought I'd relay something Andrew said. The"Tumblebus" came to his school a couple of days ago and he was really excited about it. It is a bus that has all kinds of gym equipment on it. When he came to tell me about it, I asked him what he liked best. He answered, "We did backflips! And there were these little monkey bars. And I cwimbed and cwimbed and cwimbed!" It was really funny.

Speaking of the kids, we unofficially adopted a new kitten yesterday. It was a stray in the neighborhood and some of the neighborhood kids had been taking care of it. But, when their parents said that it needed to go, they couldn't find anyone to take it. So, we took it in. I think it is a male and we don't have a name for him yet. But, he is brown with dark black stripes and his coat reminds me of a cat I had when I was a kid, named Fred. He is the most loving cat I've ever seen. Coming into a new house and place, I thought he'd be pretty skittish. But, he took to it like he had lived there forever. He always has to be rubbing someone and he purrs like crazy. He'll follow you around the house and rub up against your legs when you stop. He really likes the kids, too, and will go to them and rub his head on their faces.

This is good, because, we just lost our 2 dogs. Ever since we moved into our new house, they have been trying to escape. They've broken at least 4 different areas on the fence and gotten out. So far, we've found them each time. This last time, though, we have not been able to find them. It has now been 3 days, so I am pretty sure they are gone. We may get a new dog sometime, but it will have to wait until after I can afford to fix the fence right.

We're still loving our new house, however. We finally got the pool key activated (the community pool is right down the street from our house). But, we still haven't used it. And this weekend is the last weekend it will be open. So, maybe we can utilize it this weekend. The kids would love that.

Speaking of this weekend, Jonah is going to be baptized this Sunday at the Journey. We're really excited for him and I am proud to be the one baptizing him. I'm excited that he will be beginning a lifetime journey of walking in the love of the Father and learning to be loved and love others. I pray that he can begin to understand just how much God loves him.

Health updates. My dad saw the doctor today and his heartbeat was only 48 bpm. So, he is scheduled to see a cardiologist tomorrow. More to come. My friend, Robert Reagan, is having more tests done in Singapore right now and we are waiting to find out if the mass on his pancreas is cancerous or not.

Blues

I decided the other day that I want to start blogging more frequently. Now, I've done that before, but mostly out of guilt or feeling like I "had to". However, this time is different. I think...

I was sitting back the other day, at 39 years old, and thinking about the moments that I've experienced in this life, both good and bad. My memory is not the best and I was remembering some things I did in my life that I had completely forgotten about. I was also going through a bunch of old pictures and scanning them into the computer. I was remembering some of the silly little things Caleb and Jonah used to say and do, that I had totally forgotten about. I am smart enough to know that I will never be a writer. I will never write my "memoirs" one day, or remember enough to pass on to someone else to write for me. So, I decided that blogging would be a great way for me to have an archive of the little things that go on in my life. I doubt it will be important for anyone else, but it can help me archive some of the details.

On to today:
I am feeling a bit of "the blues" coming on today. We get paid tomorrow, but with an unexpected repair bill for our van ($750), the checks are already spent and we're already trying to figure out how to make the whole month work. One of my biggest frustrations is when I get a check deposited and it is basically gone by the time the first week has passed. One day, I want to get so "under control" of our finances that we can have just a little money left over at the end of the month. We're getting there, but not quite. So, money always determines my attitude and outlook. I'm really working on that with God right now. I want to trust Him completely and not let my daily outlook be determined by the financial worry that I carry.

I've been a little frustrated with Caleb and Jonah lately. They seem to thrive on being "sneaky" and I don't feel like I trust them at all. I want to trust my children and feel like they will, for the most part, do what is right when left alone. I'm worried that I'm not raising them well and they will turn out to be adults with no character/integrity. I just feel a little "at the end of my leash" with their behavior lately.

Caleb seems to be doing well socially, but is still struggling with giving all his effort at school and getting his work turned in. Jonah hates school and has a bad attitude about it every day. But, he seems to be having fun with the kids in the new neighborhood. Rachel loves school and is doing well. Andrew loves school and his teacher (:-P), but comes home tired every day and sleeps until dinner time or so.

My dad's health is a little questionable right now, as he has been getting dizzy and passing out recently. He's going to the doctor today, but I'm a little worried about him. I realize that he is getting older (he's 80) and he won't be around for a lot longer. I'm just facing the prospect of what life would be like without him and I'm not ready for that. Along those lines, I got word that one of my friends, Robert Reagan, was just diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and is facing some possible dire news about his near future. Although I understand that death is not a victor and is just our transition, I don't do well with dealing with grief of loss here. I've never really lost anyone very close to me (other than my grandmother) and I have kind of lived in a fantasy world that no one around me will ever die and I'll never have to experience that kind of grief.

Well, that's all right now. I'll post more later about my job and our new house.

The Shack

Where are the words? I'm not really sure what words to write, but I feel compelled to put ink to paper (or fingers to keyboard, in this case).

I just spent the last few hours blubbering like a child. And that is saying something, because for many years, tears have not come easy to me. I used to be so sensitive to people and the world around me that I could be easily moved to tears. As a child, I was even criticized for crying too much and told that I had to "grow out of it". I don't know what caused the wells to dry up, but somewhere in college, I guess I gave in to the world's idea of what a man should be and hardened my heart a bit. It feels odd even now to cry tonight, as it seems to hit in starts and fits and I can sense my body tightening up in an effort to quench the flow.

What caused the tears? Good question. Probably a lot of things. Stress. Fear. God.

A little backstory is in order. Yesterday, Dina had surgery. Everything went smoothly and I really wasn't afraid of anything bad happening, although I must admit my tension level was higher during the time she was in the actual procedure. I felt an easy sense of leaving her in our Father's hands during the surgery. That, and I trusted the skill of the surgeon...which also helped a bunch. So, while stress levels weren't super-high, they were elevated, just from the surrounding circumstances.

Now, to top it off, I chose to pick up a book to read during the "slow moments" of waiting during the surgery and recovery period. Mainly to stave off boredom and distract me from my own fear of being still and quiet with no one but God and myself. Anyway, the book I chose was The Shack by William P. Young. Little did I know what I was getting in to.

If you haven't read it yet, then I must admonish you to stop reading this silly post and go buy a copy immediately. Don't return until you have finished it.

OK. Anyway, the book itself was difficult for me to read in some ways as it hits way too close to home with the character of Missy being so close in age to Rachel. Every time the book talked about Missy, I always pictured Rachel in my head. For those who haven't read it, and haven't headed my advice in the previous paragraph, the book is generally about a man, Mack, who must deal with his relationship (or lack thereof) with God after his 6-year-old daughter, Missy, is abducted and murdered. OK. Sorry, gotta take a tear break....

Alright, I'm back. Mack comes face-to-face with God and the interactions he has with him at "the shack" change his paradigm of who he thought God was and how he relates to Him. Beyond the obvious tears for the relating of Missy to Rachel, I also found myself shedding tears about my lack of faith and the drab colors of the most important relationships in my life. I spend too much time focused on myself and the meeting of my own needs, that I miss the very purpose of Jesus' life in me...that of serving and living in love and wonder of the people that intersect with my life.

Whew. OK. I don't really know where this will go, but I pray that the message of this book will forever alter, most importantly, my relationship with my own Papa, God. Secondly, I pray that it will mightily affect the relationships that I have with my family and friends.

Again, I'm not sure why I'm writing. I'm not much of a writer, but it felt like the cathartic thing to do. Maybe it's just to place a marker in time to help me remember. Like a trail marker on my journey. Dina is asleep in the other room, recovering from surgery. I'm sitting here, recovering from reading The Shack.

Rainy Friday

Well, I came home on Wednesday afternoon from the Texas Business Educator professional development conference in Dallas. It was definitely good to be home. I've enjoyed a couple of lazy days with Dina and the kids. Last night, Dina made some individual pizza crusts and laid out bowls of toppings. Each of us made our own "personal pizza" and then we played games like Disney Scene It and Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.

Today, we were gonna go hit Zilker, but the rain is changing those plans. Right now, Dina is taking a nap and the kids are jumping on the trampoline in the rain. Not sure what the rest of the day will hold.

I got to see Jay Reynolds, while I was in Dallas. It was good to catch up with him. The work that they are doing to start a church sounds exciting. He is also trying to become a teacher, as well. So, I could relate to where he is at in the process of looking for a school to hire him! I'm hoping to get to see him and Denease again in a couple of weeks.

Speaking of travel, I leave on Monday to go to Centrikid camp with Caleb for a week in San Marcos. That will be fun. I love camp! Then, we come back on Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning, we leave with my extended family on a 2-day trip to Corpus and the beach. We get back in on Sunday evening and then on the following Monday morning, I'm getting up at 0-dark-thirty to drive to Fort Worth for Football Coaching School. This is when I hope to see Jay and Denease again. Then, Dina and the kids will come up on Wednesday for a couple of days of playing around Ft. Worth. When I get back, school and football practices will begin buzzing. Right now, I think I have to report back around the 9th of August.