Seeking Him

I love weekends.  Friday evening started out beautifully with me on the deck in my pj's watching a beautiful sunset while doing my Beth Moore Bible study homework.  I love quiet time like that.  In our crazy life, quiet time is a rare treat. 

It is a good thing I  had a lot of quiet time Friday night, because Saturday David and I headed to Virginia Tech with Pops, Clayton, Chad, and Hunter to cheer on our Hokies against Georgia Tech.  It was a beautiful sunny day-perfect for football.  Sadly the Hokies did not get the memo that they needed to play the entire 60 minutes and they lost on a field goal with two seconds to go.  Sigh. 

 

This picture of Pops holding David and Clayton's hands walking through the crowd gave me the biggest lump in my throat.  Pops is very protective of his boys in that crazy crowd and that was so sweet to see him being such a Poppa bear to the boys.  VT football to me is way more than just some college football players throwing a ball around-I grew up going to Hokie games, and now it is something that three generations of us enjoy.  It is really more about building special memories and having fun than a football game. 

David, Clayton, Hunter, and Pops getting ready to cheer on the Hokies!  The weather was so pretty but we had to slather the sunscreen on David. 

 

We were also blessed with a quick visit with David's favorite VT hoops player, Seth Allen.  We ran into several of the other players and it was amazing that they still remembered David.  We text often with Seth and David certainly loves him some Seth Allen! 

 

In the Fourth quarter VT scored a touchdown and Dave was so cute-he was shocked!  We are loyal VT fans even if they have lost two games in a row in the last minute.  Sigh.

 

Today has been full but awesome.  God is blessing me with some amazing women in my life through my circle at church and also through this bible study I am doing at another local church. We women need each other and for this season of my life I am surrounded by christian women who make me laugh, encourage me, and push me to serve God.  My circle at church met tonight at one of my friend's Kelly's home.  We planned a bible study via podcast and also a christmas service project. 

 

Today at church we had a moving service during our refuse to sink sermon series.  After the sermon time, we were welcome to come forward and receive an annointing of oil to remind us that we are whole in Christ.  It was very powerful and several amazing musicians sang this song while we were receiving our blessing and/or praying at the altar.  This song spoke to me so much today.

I want to sit at your feet
drink from the cup in your hands
lay back against you
and breathe
Feel your heartbeat.

Those lines give me goosebumps, because so often that is why I want to do to God.  I want to sit at his feet and just like my own children do to me, I want to lean back against God and feel Him.  Life is tough, life is stressful, and life is certainly complicated.  I am so thankful that because of God I am whole.  I certainly flawed, full of sinful tendencies and often spoiled brat, but I am fully seeking God because he is the only one who can make me whole.  Amen.

Life Lessons on the Diamond and Oma

The weekend started out very hectically Friday morning when both David and Hope had picture day.  I posted on facebook Friday morning that fellow mothers of little girls had failed to warn me how DRAMATIC school picture day is with a girl!  It has always been a breeze with boys, but Friday, we went through several dresses before we could agree. 

The final product!  David wanted to rock the shirt and tie of course, and this was the dress that fit the dress code for school and that we could both agree on. 

 

This weekend we watched a lot of Riverdogs baseball.  Yall know that baseball is not my favorite sport, but I love our  Riverdog family.  Some amazing moments happened at the field this past weekend.

Early this fall ball season, our boys won a championship!  David had been in the dugout with the boys all weekend being apart of the team in the best way that he could.  When the team won the championship, the first trophy presented was to David by the head of the BPA association.  He is the guy in the white shirt in this picture.  He shared with a friend of mine this past weekend that he has put together a lot of tournaments this year and presenting this trophy to David was the most fun he has had at the park all summer.  This picture is actually his screen saver on his computer. 

Sometimes we get jaded by vocal and negative people, or distracted by extended family drama, or life sometimes just gets hard.  Then you hear that your child has touched someone and impacted them and you realize that there are some amazing folks in this world.   There are some amazing and big-hearted folks in our neck of the woods and I am so thankful that David often finds them:)

At the ballpark last night a guy from the opposing team got hit in the hand by a ball.  It had to have hurt this kid and we all felt sorry for him.  Because they had just the exact amount of players needed to play without forfeiting, this kid had to bat again later in the game when the game was tied.  Bless him, he was trying to bat one handed to avoid getting an out for his team.  Our coach watched him try to hit and he stopped the game.  He said that no child should have to come up to bat hurt and that they could skip him in the batting order without forfeiting an out.  The game was tied at this point and it impressed us all that our coach saw that winning was secondary to this kid.  I know our team saw this kid's relief when he got to go back to the dugout and it was a proud moment for us all.  Men of integrity are the kind of men I want coaching my son. 

 

I also had another proud moment at the field watching my son.  This morning we had to be at the field very early for a game.  Kyle woke up with an upset stomach.  I thought it would get better by game time, but sadly he got sicker and sicker throughout the morning.  He spent all of warmups in the bathroom and he chugged Malox and chewed on tums.  He was so sick it broke my heart.  But because he was in the batting order he had to bat.  He did not play in the field at all, but he had to bat.  This is how pitiful he looked coming up to bat.  My heart broke knowing he was sick and was worried to get on base and be unable to get to a bathroom, but amazingly he stuck it out and got on base.  I was proud that he gave it his all despite being very sick. 

 

I love that we all learn so many awesome life lessons at the ballpark.  I love that God used baseball to teach integrity, perserverance, compassion, and that winning is secondary to doing the right thing.  It was a great weekend at the field. 

 

After getting home from the ballpark and resting a little (or in my case taking a two hour nap) we went to Hungry Mother with Oma for a little playtime.  It was a beautiful fall day today and it was fun to watch Hope and David play and to show off to Oma our local state park. 

Mike, his Mom, and our kiddos.  She is here through Tuesday and I think our family schedule has probably worn her out!  Ha! I keep joking that she is going to need a vacation from her vacation in Virginia. 

Busy Week

This week has been full - Mike's Mom is here visiting with us from Texas, I have started a new bible study that has intensive homework, and afterschool started at church this week.  It has been busy but blessed.

 

I just started a new bible study with a group of ladies at a nearby church.  I think this is my 8th Beth Moore bible study that I have done in the last 13 years.  Hearing Beth's voice on these videos instantly brings me back to the sweet little fellowship hall at Beth Carr Baptist Church many years ago in Madison County.  I love being in this intense of a bible study even if it is a challenge to get the homework done each week.  It is hard, but oh so worth it. 

 

I know that God used those many Wednesday night bible studies all those years ago to prepare me for David's cancer.  I learned and grew so much in my years as a young wife and new Momma and the fellowship with those other ladies and the truths of God's word built me into a better christian, wife, and mother.  Those were precious years to me.

 

Fast forward thirteen years later and that same baby that I used to nurse during my first Beth Moore bible study is now in youth group at church!  Our afterschool program for kids and youth started this past Wednesday.  It was awesome to see those kids again and to start our new curriculum.  It teaches God's word based on candy.  Afternoons at FUMC are sacred to me.  I love this program and love serving in this ministry.  I also love that my three kids are in church every Wednesday afternoon. 

We are also spending quality time with Mike's Mom who is here visiting us from Texas.  She has not been here in two years and we have toted here around to all the kids activities so she can see them in action.  She also had a birthday her first day here, so we had a little birthday celebration for her.

She makes these chocolate chip brownie pillow cookies that my kids adore!  They started making them tonight and they will finish them tomorrow afternoon.  Cathy is a great cook and we always have fun chatting over recipes and experimenting in the kitchen while she is here.

 

This weekend we have Cathy's schedule full of soccer, baseball, church, and more baseball!  She will need a vacation from her vacation when she leaves here!