Touchdown!!

My baby girl scored her first touchdown last Saturday.  I was talking to our guest speaker and glanced over to Bubba and Annie’s game.  I saw Annie running with all her might and I rudely started hooting and hollering like a banshee as I watched Annie make it into the end zone!  Her Daddy swept her up and spun her around and her big brother and cousin came running to congratulate her!  It was a special moment for my little athlete! 

Annie is her own person. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks and is very independent.  She has been since she was born.  She always took care of herself.  Before she could walk, she would climb up on the counter and get herself a drink out of the faucet.  She was so smart and aware so young.  I remember after I had Eddie and she was 2, she would run upstairs and get baby wipes or whatever I needed.  She was the most efficient child at fetching things!    She never talked much and I think it’s because she didn’t really need anything from us. She would cut open her snacks with scissors at a ridiculous young age. She came out very hungry and hasn’t slowed down yet.  She is a little sneaky and would steal cookies and hide them behind my china cabinet.  I would frequently find candy wrappers or chip bags in obscure places. 

 

She is nothing like her older sisters. She is not prissy or concerned about what she wears which makes her a very easy daughter!  She is obsessed with Miami just like Bubba.  At school she always picks orange and green colors for projects and even picked a football book to do a report on.  I used to worry that it’s because she shared a room with Bubba when she was born for her first 3 years.  I would hear him at night talking to her about football games and such.  I think kids come out already hardwired a certain way and we can guide them but they are, who they are, by God’s special design.  I wouldn’t change anything about my sport-loving baby girl!!  Go Annie Go!!

Near Death Bike Ride

I have never been so happy to be home in my life.  The night started out great!  Bon and Bubs were at their grandparent’s house so we decided to take the three little Wogs out to Pizza Hut.  The girls earned Book It coupons for a free pizza for reading a bunch of books!  We cashed in tonight and had a great time with our other “small” family!  The kids ran in and sat at a high-top table and were so excited. Eddie bragged and bragged about his excellent coloring skills and kept saying how much he loved the pizza hut!  It was really cute and so much fun! 

 

We finished early and decided to all go to run KC on the bike.  WHAT WAS I THINKING??  It was 6 PM and I never saw it get so dark so quick!  It was (in the words of Ed) spooky and scary and in my words, life threatening!  KC wants everyone in front of her and so it forces you to ride at break neck speeds.  Annie and Mags rode their little hearts out.  The worse part was on the way home when the oncoming lights were blinding me and I couldn’t see the sidewalk in front of me.  I would have been scared by myself but I felt a huge sense of responsibility with Ed basically in my lap, on the front of the bike.  Of course he is yelling at me, “Go faster, go faster!” or he would call KC and she would run faster!  I was seriously afraid and have never been so happy to safely reach my house!  Everyone thought I was over reacting but that will be my last almost dark bike ride ever :/  I might have seen James McDonald but it was too dark for me to be sure :)

Games, Games and More Games

I live for Fridays! Thursdays are stress bombs of test cramming with the four Wogs, Bible, Vocabulary, Spelling and more.  My heart is always happy when they are safely at school and my work is done for the week! 

Last Friday, Bubba was playing in a basketball tournament.  The team they were playing against beat them by like 30 points the last time.  I did not go to the game because I was sick and very tired and had a huge day organizing STARS football on Saturday.  Bubs asked me what we were going to do if they won and I confidently told him I didn’t think that would happen.  He gasped and scolded me saying, “Don’t you believe in miracles?”  Wow, I felt bad but was still betting on a loss.  If they won, they would play in town at 12 PM and it would conflict with our football league that had games at 11 AM. I didn't worry about it for a second....

I got the little kids to bed, put in my chick flick and was enjoying my night at home alone.  I got a text from a team parent saying it looked like we were going to win the game.  I thought wow that’s great and then it hit me like a freight train, what that really meant….FOOTBALL!!!!!  I tried to comfort myself to not panic yet. Things could change quickly in those games.  Then Bubba calls, “Hi Mom, guess what?  We won the game!”  After I commended him, I quickly asked him to put Dad on the phone and the panic commenced.  We figured out that 5 out of 6 football teams had members of this basketball team and would all be double booked.  Dan made the decision to scramble and contact 60 families to move the time of the football game to an hour earlier….there went my night of relaxation and downtime.  I went into action, calling coaches, emailing and texting like crazy.  

Dan got home, organized flags while I sorted jerseys and I finally collapsed in bed praying to the Lord that everyone would get the message and we wouldn’t have a disaster of disappointed kids and angry parents to deal with.  I had a fitful night of sleep waking up in sheer panic.  I got up and hoped for the best.  God totally showed up and all went miraculously smooth and everyone seemed to have a blast!  Dan left the field the second his football game ended and headed to the semifinal basketball game. Dan very confidently told me that they had no chance of winning that the team they were playing was awesome.  Dan was stunned when they almost won the game.  They had other coaches coming over saying how they couldn’t believe how much our team had grown and developed.  Dan said he has never had a team improve so much in one season in the 14 teams he has coached.  It was the perfect way to end a long season of basketball!  The only thing that could have made the day better, was if James McDonald was there sporting his Wog Blog Tshirt!! :) #wogblogboss

Wog Blog T-shirt Series - Part 1

I apologize for this post being so delayed!  My Wog Blog Boss AKA James is not happy with me right now because of my failure to be more efficient with my blogging!  I got a semi-tongue lashing yesterday and can’t leave the house until I finish.  I am in fear that I might have the wrath of James again if I run into him!  Once again, James has taken his role as official “Wog Blog Ambassador to the World” to a new level. The now famous, Wog Blog T-shirt, is on the move and showing up in the darndest places!  So far, it’s ventured as far north as Charleston!  It even made its BCS debut at a basketball game last Monday!  James is pretty lucky to have gotten out with his shirt still intact! I think he left early before a riot ensued over that awesome shirt ;)

I believe that James will go to the farthest extremes necessary to have the shirt make it all around the world! I will be researching this week how to make James a more sturdy Wog Blog shirt that might actually make it successfully through a wash cycle!  I had no idea the popularity would require such lengths!  Is it just me or does that shirt make James look even more handsome and talented?  Stay tuned for more Wog Blog Shirt Adventures!  I am on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what’s to come from my #wogblogboss #wogblogambassadortotheworld

Champion Neighbor

You never know what kind of neighbors you are going to get when you move into a new house.  You always hope they will be nice but sometimes that’s not the way it works out.  We moved almost 9 years ago into our current house and met our next-door neighbor Susan. She was nice enough but I worried because she was best friends with the lady who lived in the house we were buying and was very sad to see her go.  We only had two kids at the time and probably seemed relatively normal. Susan has put up with a ton of chaos.  We broke her in good with a bunch of crazy family parties with loud people, splashing in the pool with hooting and hollering galore. We are the first in the family to have a swimming pool so we made the most of it with parties all the time!   She was always so very tolerant.  

She ended up being Bonnie’s preschool teacher the next year and was awesome.  Poor Susan also had to teach Bubba in K4 and has never forgotten the torment that he inflicted on her being an obnoxious Miami Fan.  Susan loves her Seminoles and made the mistake of betting against the Canes with Bubba. She had to wear one of Dan’s Miami shirts all day, while she taught and Bubba loved every minute of it. (She did put a disclaimer on the door about her outfit! LOL)  Susan didn’t learn her lesson and did it again!  The next time, she had to fly a Miami flag on her house!! She took a little break after that one but finally got her car washed after a Seminole win!   She watched as we added a new kid every two years in amazement probably wondering how many kids we could cram into our house.  Susan is also the one who helped all my kids get over their fear of dogs that I have worked so hard to instill in them :)  She lobbied hard for Dan to go back to the mountains to get KC.  I kind of think, she would have gone back if we didn’t because she was going on a trip to North Carolina!  She has saved that dog more times than she should.  She jumps on her bike and never gives up until KC is safe and sound, back at home!   She has babysat the kids AND the dog, fed the cat and every other thing that we have ever needed!  She is the best neighbor you could have asked for! She regularly has KC over to romp and play with Elle her new dog which helps KC be a much better pups!  She even brought Eddie back the other day, when he decided to go visit her without telling any of us!

Susan also is a secret National (and probably World) champion for Racquetball.  She wins all kinds of championships but never talks about herself.  A few years ago, I found out about a big win, and sent it in to the paper and they published it!  She was mortified.  I creeped on Facebook yesterday and saw that once again she won a National title.  This one is especially outstanding because last year, we watched her work to recover from a total knee replacement!!  She can’t be stopped and we are so very proud of her!!  She is still a bit bitter about Bubba winning those bets years ago and came over today to show off her new shirt!  Bubba wasn’t very amused but I thought it was great fun!  I know one thing for sure, Susan will never be bored living next door to the Wogs!!  We are free entertainment 24/7.  We really lucked out with Susan as our neighbor! Please don't move!! 

Hand-Me-Downs

I know it’s weird but I get so sentimentally attached to some outfits of my kids.  They signify an event or a special occasion.  I have forced myself for over 12 years to continue to purge against my will.  When I got pregnant with Annie, I just knew it was going to be a boy.  I had been saving all of Bubba’s clothes that were in descent shape.  I had several labeled bags organized in the attic.  When we found out it was going to be a girl, I stopped saving Bubba’s clothes and started giving them away to people with younger boys.  When we had our surprise 5^th child, Eddie, I was happy that I never followed through and cleaned out the boy clothes from the attic.  It’s been so fun to see Eddie in Bubba’s clothes and always brings back a rush of memories of my first son. 

I just got out the last bag that I had saved and Eddie is so adorable in some of my favorite all-time outfits.  Today he is wearing Bub’s patriotic sweater and I am trying not to well up with tears at how fast my babies are growing up.  I will never forget asking a parent of one of my youth group kids how they can stand for their kids to grow up. She said she had made a choice to embrace each stage and to enjoy. She didn’t want to waste a moment in sadness at the passing of time.  I have adopted that mentality and have to remind myself to not get lost lamenting on the swiftness of time.

Loved this sweater on Bubs!

Last night, it got really cold downstairs while we were watching TV.  My 100-pound, baby boy came over and crawled in my lap.   Even though it was somewhat uncomfortable, I sucked it up and enjoyed every moment of warming him up with my big hugs! I know too well, that these moments will be far and few between in the days ahead.  Lord, please help me enjoy every stage of my baby’s lives and not waste one minute!

W's Night Out!

In life you have people who irritate the daylights out of you and make life difficult and then you have people who bring you such easy joy and fun!  Tonight was just what I needed to be with the awesome Wyatt family.  The first time I ever met John was many years ago when YouthQuake Live and the surf ministry he was involved with all got awarded donations from this church that was closing down and donating all their resources to local Christian organizations.  It was kind of an emotional night for the poor church people and made me sad for them.  I vividly remember John and how he just emits the love of God. Sean Yost told me who he was and he made me smile and I admired his joy in the Lord!  Shortly after, I met his whole family when their beautiful REDHEADED daughter was in my son’s class at BCS.  Of course I have been concocting ever since how to marry them off since that is clearly the only way I will get a redhead in my family after 5 failed attempts! :)  It’s been such a fun relationship to watch our babies grow up together and now we hold our breath as they jump the threshold out of elementary school.  Gosh, it sure went fast, sniff, sniff.

 

Carrie has been a true friend and blessing to me for years.  I tapped her years ago to be the STARS cheerleading coach and she has wowed me ever since.  I have no clue how she gets those squealing, wild girls organized and even into somewhat scary stunts of greatness!  It blows my mind!!  She loves Jesus, works overtime on everything she does and operates in a spirit of excellence like I have never seen.  I am in a constant state of awe of her! (not to mention her rocking beanies she knits for all!)

 

We had such a treat tonight!  As you can imagine, not many people are brave enough to dine with the Wogs.  I think the Wyatt’s lucked out because we were almost like a normal family with only 3 kids with us.  One kid was at a birthday party and another at a concert.  Eddie was even stunned that we could fit in Dan’s car and kept saying there is no room.  We all enjoyed a big fat Smashburger (well except Annie who got a hot dog and Hannah who took the healthy route of Caesar salad!)  Ed hassled us the whole time to go to ABC to get ice cream (TCBY to get yogurt, not the liquor store LOL)  We laughed, joked and had a great Jesus night out! Ed was enthralled with John and at one point I saw him giving John a big unsolicited hug!  Carrie helped Ed NOT put items back on the candy condiment bar.  (the reason I do not partake in the buffet type things….I’ve seen too much from people with 5 kids….) When Ed went over and gave a little boy a nice little shove we felt it was time to go before a Wog disaster struck. Well, I guess it would have been good material for the blog though!!  Thanks Wyatts for being such awesome Jesus examples of real, fun loving friends!  Congrats on surviving a night with the Wogs!!  The only way it could have been better is if James McDonald would have been there LOL #wogbloghog

Victory is Sweet!

Last night was amazing.  It’s been a rough basketball season for the 5/6^th grade basketball team.  They have suffered some devastating and somewhat demoralizing defeats throughout this season.  They have been matched with teams of greater height, age and skill, all season long and it has been exhausting to watch.  I have not attended the last several games due to Eddie having a terrible cough and bad cold.  I finally made it out to one of their last games and boy, was I glad I did!

The game was competitive from the very beginning.  Our team fought hard and was either leading or loosing by a few points the whole time!  It’s amazing how much better our team has become since the last time I saw them play. I was especially impressed with Hunter who really helped win the game for the team with all the foul shots that he made.  He has never played basketball before until this season and I have never seen someone take to a new sport like him.  He has incredible potential and the coaches have done their best to encourage and teach him the game. The other boys fought hard for rebounds and hustled the whole game giving a 100%.

In the final 15 seconds of the game, I started sending out text messages to my prayer warriors telling them to pray because we could possibly have our first win of the year!  I grabbed the people next to me and prayed during a time-out.  We were 4 points ahead and then the other team made their 2 free throw shots and all we had to do was hold onto the ball and we would win.  The other team gained possession of the ball and this small kid shot, as the buzzer was sounding and swished what looked like was a 3 point shot, which would have won the game for them.  I was stunned and disappointed for our boys and for the coaches who were so hopeful.  I saw the referee waving his hands and yelling something.  Finally, in jubilation, I heard that the boy was standing on the 3 point line, therefore it was only a 2 point basket and we had officially had our first win of the season.  I jumped up and down as I watched our boys hug and cheer!  I rushed over to capture this momentous occasion for these young boys who have worked so hard, for this moment!!  I was so grateful to the Lord for letting them win at least one game because they will never forget it!

Dan has coached about 14 teams that Bubba has played on from the time he turned 4 and has been a very successful, beloved coach.  This has been a very hard season. He fights downtown traffic and skips dinner to get to practice three nights a week. Poor Eddie and sometimes the girls are sleeping by the time he gets home. He is always exhausted and loosing all the time makes it worse.  This victory made all the sacrifice of never seeing his family worth it! It did my heart good to see him rejoicing with the team!  What has been a tremendous blessing for Dan, is coaching with Brad and Troy.  They have filled in when Dan is late or can’t make a game and have bonded as coaches and friends! It's truly been a team effort!   My prayer for this team is that they will grow in teamwork, skill and friendship but above all else that they will always give God the glory in all that they do!

 

PS-I failed to mention another highlight of the game!  Getting a tweet with a picture of James chilling out in his favorite all time shirt! LOL

Football, Basketball, Bike Riding and Smores

WOW, what a packed out day!  We kicked off the day with our Football evaluation for STARS.  We had some wonderful new families and much excitement for the coming flag football season.  I don’t think anyone is more excited than Annie!  She really wants to tackle people though!

After football, I rushed home, grabbed Eddie and Bonnie and drove her to a basketball game, by JU, for her to cheer. She is a great cheerleader and makes me so proud.  Eddie was thrilled to be there and so happy that his buddy Cuyler was there to play with. I was a little appalled when Ed took off his jacket.  I had him in a long sleeve shirt in the morning and apparently he changed into a sleeveless shirt.  Oh, the joys of having 5 kids!!!  The boys were so cute and were equally excited to be with each other!! They played hide and go seek and would lay their head down on the chair to hide!  Finally Crystal gave them a big thrill and actually hid from them and they searched and searched!  Finally, she popped out and they squealed with delight!  

After the game, Dan planned ANOTHER family bike ride.  I like exercising and all but good grief.  All this exercising is exhausting.  We had our typical difficulties getting going.  Dan’s chain was off his bike and all wacked out.  KC in great anticipation howled to the point of driving me mad.  I ended up throwing her back in the house while Dan attempted to fix his chain.  We finally were off and going and I realized halfway down the street that Eddie had no helmet.  There goes “safety first!”  I told Dan I would meet him and turned around to retrieve the helmet.  We cut through the park which is a short cut to the normal place I usually meet them.  Ed and I waited and waited and I realized they weren’t coming. I kind of worried about an accident or problem but Ed was insistent to go see “Uncle” Vick!  (His name for Aunt Vick!  He’s just a little confused!)  She had the nerve, not to be home when Ed came for a visit so we turned back towards home!!  We finally ran into the rest of the family and I was hoping we could all go home but the ride was just beginning.  They all hassle me about going slow (I am the only one with a 40 pound passenger) and the dog even strains her neck backwards, as if to say, “Where the heck are you?”  

We finally made it home and I was very happy! We enjoyed some family Chili even though everyone agreed I was way too generous with the Fritos and cheese in the bottom of the bowl.  I told them to think of it as Nachos!  We ended our family togetherness with scary smores time around the fire.  


Is there anything better than giving small children sticks with marshmallows to light on fire?  We only had 4 or 5 near burn incidents. The dog made sure to get every crumb dropped and unbeknownst to Dan, stole a few graham crackers from my lap while I was juggling the supplies :/  I have to admit I was so relieved when it was over and the little kids were clean and safely tucked in their bed….sure hope it rains tomorrow and I can nap! :)

Mr. Mac

Last weekend, when Dan was making me go on all those family bike rides to exercise the dog, we rode past one of my favorite teacher’s old house. (James McDonald lived across the street.  Yes he is making ANOTHER Wog Blog #wogbloghog)  Mr. Mac was our Principal and taught me history too.  I had a really difficult period my senior year at BCS.  I wanted to drop out of school it got so bad and I begged my parents to let me finish at the community college. One day, in the middle of class, the intercom, came on and the school secretary announced for me to go to the Mr Mac's office.  Of course, the whole class started with the “woooooooo” like I was in trouble or something.  I was a little worried although I couldn’t think of anything I would be in trouble for.  I went into to Mr. Mac’s office and he was so kind and compassionate to me.  He was so in tune to his students that he knew something was wrong in my life.  I shared with him some of the things I was dealing with and he encouraged me more than he knew!  He told me that God had a great plan for my life, to not be moved by the junk going on and to trust God.  He said God was going to use me and to forget about the people that had hurt me so bad.  It was so timely and it was word that I held onto and that helped me get through a difficult year. 

Mr. Mac was the most passionate teacher I have ever had.  He would go to whatever lengths for students to grasp a point.  He would frequently jump up on a desk and act out something from history and was the most charismatic teacher that there ever was!!  He was the epitome of making history come alive!!  I fell in love with history the first year he taught me and it is still my favorite subject!  He was so beloved by all his students and is frequently thought of with fondness and gratefulness for his impact in our lives. 

I located him on Facebook this week and reconnected with him.  We caught up on all that was going on in our lives and it truly blessed me!  He is retired now after 39 years and it kind of makes me sad.  I hate that another generation of students won’t be truly inspired by such an outstanding teacher but I am happy because he deserves to spread his impact in other areas in the world!  I just wonder what kind of reunion he is going to have in heaven with a host of former students who will thank him for truly changing their lives!  Thank you Mr. Mac for becoming a teacher and for taking time for me!

Women Alive 2012

I have been in an afterglow from last night’s Women Alive meeting at Beaches Chapel, all day long!  I just love the sweet presence of the Lord.  There is nothing like worshipping with a bunch of ladies!  Nothing against men at all but women just know how to worship with total abandonment!  It knew I was in trouble when I got there early. I walked in and heard, Kathleen, Robin and Valerie belting out my favorite worship song, Come Away With Me.  I started getting weepy and had to get a grip so I could keep some make-up on for the meeting to cry off later! LOL!  It was truly a dream come true for me.  I love nothing more than when the Body of Christ comes together for a common goal! 

I started in ministry when I was 19 when I became a Young Life leader.  It was a mind-blowing experience to see so many people from different denominations working together.  I had never experienced that before. When I got plugged into YouthQuake in my mid-20’s, it was the same experience.  It started with just two churches and when we joined forces it was three.  Now, we have over 50 churches in our cast of kids.  God has truly commanded such a blessing over YouthQuake Live!  I know it must please the heart of God when we all pull together with our individual gifts and talents to reach the lost. Teamwork is so productive and produces such beautiful ministry!  I think that must be what Jesus had in mind, not for us to close ourselves off from the church down the street but to work together and compliment each other!

 

I experienced that last night!  We had such sweet unity in our prayer time with a group of ladies from multiple churches!  It was a precious time praying for each other and for the meeting!  I so loved having Michel Oesterricher in our midst.  I have prayed with her for the last few years on a regular basis at weekly prayer but to see her flow with ladies from other churches was a true blessing!!  I am so grateful for all she has invested in my life as my Bible teacher and prayer warrior!  It was so great to be with Lissa, Liz and Tina and to be ministering with them.  I loved having friends there like Pat, Carole, Mary, Bonnie and Paulette, who zoomed right in from the Gator game!  Of course my family was there in full force but there was quite a void not to have the president of my fan club -  AKA Lee Lee Smith there and her sweet baby girl Alexandra!  I knew they were with me in spirit for sure all the way from Nashville!!  Wait a minute...Women Alive in Nashville....I'm getting a new vision! :) 

My two favorite Arabs, Paulette and Tina!!

I loved every minute of the meeting and hated to see it come to an end.  It was a precious night of prayer and ministry!  So many ladies with broken hearts and lost dreams!  My prayer is that God healed the women and revived their dreams!  I am praying that God will help me overcome my worry, my fears and provide for my family this year.

After the meeting, about 30 ladies circled Sarah Szarmack and prayed for her upcoming trip to Uganda to complete her adoption of her new son, Kennedy.  I was so moved by the sight of all the ladies in agreement, that I ran over to take a picture with my phone to preserve this moment in their history.  I went over to grab my phone and couldn’t find that darn thing in my purse.  I did something on the fly, that I kind of second-guessed after I did it!  I grabbed a random iPhone, snapped the picture I wanted and texted it to myself and put the phone back (Hint – the reason to have a passcode on your phone for freaks that feel the need to take random pictures on demand.  Sorry whoever!)

I am grateful to Pastor Steve for allowing Beaches Chapel to host Women Alive.  I am thankful to Sharon for inviting me to share.  I am very blessed by Lucas, Dale and James who were so kind, accommodating and had such sweet servant’s hearts. (yes James even managed to make the Women Alive blog!)  I pray that it will be the beginning of more great things in the coming year!!

Ham Clam Jam 2012

It twas’ a great New Years Day!  A little strange but good nonetheless!  I slept to 9 a.m. which was glorious but then got jolted wide-awake by the carpet cleaner apparently hard at work!  Yesterday, Dan cleaned the carpets and wanted to give the traffic spots another whirl!  Poor Bonnie came stumbling in also having a rude awakening!  I was foggy but extremely happy about starting the new year off with fresh carpets!

Ed has been sick so I wanted to get him outside for some fresh air and sunshine on such a beautiful day!  Aunt Shar found his long lost walkie-talkie that went missing at her house on Christmas so it was an emergency to retrieve it! We took a swing by the Altenbachs so they could experience the full Wog and dog biking experience.  I am sure they weren’t disappointed as KC howled as only a hound dog can! 

We decided to have a picnic in the Butterfly Garden at Jarboe Park and Eddie climbed a tree all by himself for the first time and I reflected about the days I climbed those very same trees, when I played at Jarboe, as a kid.  KC wanted so badly to hunt some duck so we didn’t stay long! The ducks were thankful!   We made it to the Godard’s and Aunt Shar presented Ed with his beloved walkie-talkie!  We made it home just in time to watch the Jags win a game!  Now that is the way to start the year off!

Then Ham Clam Jam was on!  We made some stuffed clams but some preferred some of the 10-pound ham that Dan got from work.  Yes it’s a strange combo but everyone was extremely satisfied with our delicacy.  It may be a new Wog tradition!  


Then it was time for another Star Wars movie!  Tonight we broke out the big Tupperware of Star Wars toys and I sat back and enjoyed Eddie discovering how each one operated!  We all pitched in and helped him figure out each one!  Yoda was by far our favorite, the way you wind him up and how he flips completely over!  It was so much fun and I can’t think of a better way to kick off a new year!  Happy Ham Clam Jam 2012!!  May the Force be with You in the New Year!