Our Week in Review

All winter long son C has been playing both indoor soccer (shorter field, ball can be played off the walls) and winter soccer (large field, outdoor rules, under a dome), which means many watching of games for Little Man.  Little Man recently got glasses, so when we said he could watch half the game and read the other half, he didn't mind coming along so much.  Right now, any excuse to wear his glasses is a good excuse! :)

Little Man is working through Algebra 1 and doing well.  He is currently learning how to multiply equations that contain exponents.  The Math U See blocks that we have used so well for so many years, can even be used to build these types of equations, so they are still being used!

In history right now we are learning about the civil war.  We are watching selections from the Ken Burns "Civil War" documentary series, and they are SO excellent!  I snapped this photo of all of the boys doing history in their pajamas.  Reason #87 we love homeschooling!

Brothers collaborating over science.

Little Man is working through the Apologia General Science book, and recently made this terrarium as part of module 9.  He has been taking care of this as if it were a baby - watching carefully to make sure it doesn't create *too* much water on the inside, and if it does, taking the lid off to let some of the water evaporate.  It has been such a good learning experience!

I am so thankful for the joys of homeschooling, and that I get to spend my days with my children!

Wordless Wednesday

Super Bowl 2016 - GOOOOO Broncos!!

Sporting orange and blue in support of the Broncos!

 Watching the half time show.  With the exception of Beyonce, I thought this year's show was pretty appropriate.  And we refused to let the rainbow colors stand for gay pride in OUR watching of the show....what a beautiful reminder of God's promise to us to never again destroy the earth with a flood!







The aftermath of a party!

We have been Peyton Manning fans for years, so we were very excited that the Broncos won!

Super Bowl Party!

Blue and green!  Guess which team we were rooting for???!!

Since I am originally from Washington State and the Seahawks were my first professional football team loyalty, we were super geeked when the Seahawks made it to the Super Bowl for the second year in a row!  And since we barely need any excuse to have a party, we partied. ;)

Daughter G decorated our dessert cake with the hawk logo.  Didn't she do a fantastic job?!

 I made all new food for the party.  Tried four different recipes for the first time.  They were all hits!  Yay.  New food to add to our meal rotation.  This one is a crescent roll spicy Italian ring.

Cheesy meatball "sandwich."  (you eat them with the Italian bread on the sides)

 Our delicious buffet!

Daughter H even painted her nails blue and green.

So we were very disappointed when the Seahawks lost.....especially the way they lost, in the final seconds of the game.  But, it has given the christian believers on the team an incredible platform from which to speak of God's bigger plan, and it is just a football game!

But wow....what a GREAT game it was!

Discipline

I have a secret.

About 8 weeks ago I started training to run a 5K.  I have been reluctant to say it out loud because that makes it real, and I am afraid of failure.  Of not training enough to make it happen, or not finishing the race.  But I have been running at a gym in the early mornings before the children are awake, thanks to a friend and accountability partner who drives me to and from!   I am still in the early stages of training my lungs and my legs to RUN, but.... I am doing it.

It is both getting easier and not getting easier.

Last night my friend did not text to confirm a workout for this morning so I wasn't sure we were going.  I set my alarm for 6:15 anyway.  When my alarm went off, I lay in bed and prepared to text her to ask if she was planning on going to the gym.  My fingers were seriously about to type "sorry, but I'm cancelling this morning" when instead they typed "are we going to planet fitness this morning?" Every ounce of my body wanted to stay in bed.  But I didn't!  I am actively striving to "discipline my body and bring it under strict control."

During these past weeks of exercise I have been pondering these verses in I Corinthians 9:24-27:

"Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.  Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. However, they do it to receive a crown that will fade away, but we a crown that will never fade away.  Therefore I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air.   Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified."

I have read these verses many times over the years, but they take on new meaning when I am in the midst of physical training.  Getting out of bed, going out in the cold, taking that first step on the treadmill....it is not fun.  Not even a tiny little bit.  But in doing it I know that I am "not running aimlessly," but rather for a goal, a prize.  For the sake of the prize, I discipline my body.  Make it do what it does not want to do.

In light of that, what does it mean to discipline my spirit?  My mind?  My will?  Make them do things they don't naturally want to do? And what is the prize?  It is a "crown that will never fade away," which means eternal life with Christ!  For the sake of that prize, what discipline am I willing to endure?

I don't want to just run.  I want to run in such a way as to win the prize.

Teach me, Lord.  And help me to run both the 5K and the race of life in such a way as to win!

To say or not to say, that is the question...

About a year ago I read a blog article written by an adoptive mom where she told about the challenges of knowing how much explanation to give to teachers, coaches, and other authority figures about her adoptive son's behavior and how she wanted them to interact with him.  If she spoke up she might allow others to define her son according to the information she shared with them, and treat him differently because of it.  If she said nothing she would have no understanding or support for how she wished to mitigate his manipulative behaviors.  I wish I could find that particular post again, but so far I have not been able to.  I could link it here and be done blogging! 

Adoption is a wonderful, beautiful thing.  It also represents a life-altering loss, comes after some length of time living in trauma, and is itself a traumatic process.  The level of emotional manipulation adoptive children are capable of would hardly be believed by the rational, well-adjusted adult.  Nearly two years after our not-adoption of daughter H, it is still something we deal with regularly.  This fall it has centered around soccer.

We needed one season of soccer to fulfill her high school physical education requirement.  Just one season.  Daughter H is prone to anxiety and is easily overwhelmed if the schedule is full or if there is a lot of emotional stuff to process.  The anxiety she felt over all the unknowns related to soccer season ~ will I get a good coach?  Will the other girls like me?  Will I be any good?  What if I let my family down?  What if I'm not as good as my brothers?  What if, what if, what if??? ~ threatened to overwhelm her.  We made it as smooth as possible: let her pick out her own cleats, arranged for a good friend to be on the same team so she would already know one other person, showed excitement and eagerness at getting to watch her games, prayed with her over the unknowns, talked at length about what to expect, etc.  The one thing we did not do was prepare the coach.

Shortly into the first practice she had to sit down because her ankles hurt.  I have no doubt her ankles really did hurt.  She was not in the best of shape prior to starting practice, and soccer practice is hard physical work!  But she was sure she had plantar fasciitis.  She probably needed orthotics.  Maybe she even needed a cortisone shot.  I was 100% sure she did not have plantar fasciitis, nor did she need any special medical attention paid to her feet.  The sore ankles, while truly sore, gave her a reason to not play and have to deal with the possibility of not being "good enough" or "letting us down."  The anxiety was so high she had to find an out.  And in finding an out, she was manipulating the sympathies of others.

What to do?  If I showed too much sympathy I would be enabling her manipulation.  If I didn't, I would appear callous and un-caring.

I aimed for the middle - validated the pain she was feeling, while down playing the seriousness of it. 

During the second practice she very dramatically collapsed after a warm-up run and said she couldn't breath.  She stayed down for several minutes to catch her breath and eventually rejoined her team.  Later that evening I got an email from her coach asking if she'd had a physical recently and did I know of any physical conditions that would limit her ability to play?  I pondered how to respond, and ultimately decided that since our relationship with this coach was going to be so short-lived I would simply answer that yes, she has seen a Dr recently, and no, she did not have any physical conditions.  She was just new to soccer and not in the best of shape.

Since then she has not been able to make it through a single game this season without leaving the field for a while due to some physical symptom.  Invariably a teammate or another parent has rushed to her side to make sure she was okay.  I so appreciate their sincerity and desire to help.  I do not appreciate their unwitting participation in the emotional manipulation.  When she is stressed or anxious, there will *always* be a symptom of some kind.  A reason not to continue.  She needs so much reassurance, so much validation, and so much "push back" from the manipulation.  She needs us to see the manipulation for what it is, and speak to her underlying anxiety.  She needs us to love her unconditionally and give her umpteen million messages that she doesn't need to "be great" in soccer in order to please us.  She just needs to try!  Honestly and genuinely.  She needs to know that it's okay to ask for what she really needs, and that if she doesn't know how to NOT manipulate, we will love her anyway.

I am not sure I made the right call in not talking to her coach.  But I think I did.  And after this weekend, her one soccer season will be over.

And you know what?   She did GREAT. :)

Love that my boys love soccer!

Soccer, soccer, and more soccer!

Fall soccer season is in full swing.  This fall all four of our boys are in soccer ~ and yes, you guessed it, each one of them is on a different team with a different schedule.  Yes, CRAZY!  This upcoming week alone we have 10 different soccer events, either games or practices.

BUT.... in spite of the craziness, I am really thankful for these soccer teams.  Our two oldest boys, 14 and 13, had aged out of the small christian soccer league we had participated in for many years, and needed a new place to land.  They are now playing recreational soccer on our city league, and are rubbing shoulders with lots of different boys from different backgrounds, learning to function well as a team, and having an opportunity to be lights for Jesus.  They are also learning how to be competitive but gracious in both winning and losing, which can be a tricky balance.  And I am of the strong opinion that growing teen boys need to do hard physical activity on a regular basis.  Here is son G, in the black, at his first game:

And son L at his first game yesterday.  The field was big and he was always playing on the far side of it, so I wasn't able to get a shot of him actually playing, but he played well!  Their team won a hard-fought victory against a team they have had a rivalry with for a long time (apparently), so it was extra sweet.

Our younger boys, 11 and 8, are still playing in the christian league, where my husband is a coach.  Here is my hubby cheering on one of his players as he was running onto the field before the first game! 

For the first time we have to "divide and conquer".  We can't all watch every game.  But the benefits of soccer outweigh the craziness of this schedule..... I think. :)

Go Navy, Beat Army!!!

These pics are two weeks old, but too good not to share!  As "required" by my die-hard Navy fan husband, our entire family watched the game ~ with faces painted, blue and gold clothing worn, and pushups done each time Navy scored.  They eked out yet another victory ~ I think that is ten years in a row.  It was an excruciating loss for Army, but we didn't feel too bad for them. :-)

 

Spring Soccer?

Opening day of spring soccer season.... there was a high temp of 45 and a cold wind blowing.  Here I am, before the rain started.  Ugh!  This feels more like fall soccer!

BUT... the boys played great, and had fun!  And that's what counts.  Little Man has moved up to the U9 team, which means a much bigger field and slightly different rules.  He used to be one of the oldest on his team, and now he's the youngest.  We thought he'd struggle a bit with the changes, but he was right in there, hustling and being right where he was supposed to be!

It is son L's last season to play in this league.  He and son C really enjoy playing and practicing together.  And daughter G is once again working as a referee, which is a fun job and pretty easy money.  Despite the cold, I'm thankful for soccer!

Super Bowl Par-tay!!!!!

Sixty five inches of flat screen, high definition, plasma wonderfulness is what we got to watch the Super Bowl on. I know, crazy, right??!! My brother in law invited us over to his old farmhouse out in the country for the big game, and showed off his newest splurge. I have to say, it was really really awesome to see the game on such a big TV!


We watched. We cheered. We ate!


My in-laws.


My brother in law with Little Man.




Son G and I gave each other a chest bump to celebrate the GIANTS VICTORY!!!!!! Whooo-hoo!!!!!!

Fall Recess

Random Pics

Here is one use for shin guards once soccer season is over. Who knew?!



I worked in the preschool department during Vacation Bible School at our church. SO MUCH FUN. SO MUCH WORK!


Pool fun with our friend Benjamin!






Sons G and L with their head soccer coach. It was a bittersweet ending to our soccer season, as G has now aged out of this league. We have loved playing in this league SO much! The gentleman pictured here has been G's coach for three straight years (and before that, daughter G's coach), is currently coaching L, and Lord willing, will be coaching son C for the next three years! He is such a quiet, generous, godly man. I have loved knowing a man such as this was influencing our boys.


At the mall I saw these mannequins that looked remarkably like my boys.....