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"You have given me an inheritance reserved for those who fear your name." Psalm 61:5.
Oh, what a blessed inheritance!
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If My People....
...who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14.
I am an educator in the state of Texas. I love teaching; it's a ministry I am blessed to be a part of. But, this heart of mine is a bit concerned about having a job next year. Have you seen the news? Some of the headlines recently have been, "Texas Legislature Proposes Draconian Education Cuts," "Public Education in Texas Faces Massive Cuts."
Talk to any teacher in the state of Texas and you will more than likely hear uncertainty in their voice. The rumors of cutting teachers and increasing class sizes make even seasoned teachers shutter. There is even talk of cutting pre-K programs and cutting funding for Colleges and Universities. A friend of mine who has been blessed to teach for the past 27 years explained that she has never seen proposed cuts like these.
I teach high school computer classes. My classes are not even required by the state of Texas anymore. Do they not realize technology is the wave of the future? Yes, our local district requires a technology course, but the state of Texas does not. Today, we all received an email stating that we are having a district wide meeting to discuss our local budget cuts this Thursday. We are all on edge. While I know that our administration will work tirelessly to help our faculty keep our positions, the news must be extremely disconcerting to them. I don't envy their positions in the least.
In reality, none of us know what the future holds, whether you are an educator in the state of Texas or not, but one thing is for certain: we know who holds our future. How does this world make it without God?! I'll never understand.
So, even though my instinct is to worry and fret about the news and the possible budget cuts, the Holy Spirit reminds me that my Heavenly Father owns the cattle on a thousand hillsides and nothing is too difficult for Him. I'm choosing to trust in the One who is so very trustworthy. He is the Faithful One!
Which reminds me of the verse that I typed at the beginning of my post. "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14. And the Texas Education system certainly needs healing. Will you join me in praying?
I am an educator in the state of Texas. I love teaching; it's a ministry I am blessed to be a part of. But, this heart of mine is a bit concerned about having a job next year. Have you seen the news? Some of the headlines recently have been, "Texas Legislature Proposes Draconian Education Cuts," "Public Education in Texas Faces Massive Cuts."
Talk to any teacher in the state of Texas and you will more than likely hear uncertainty in their voice. The rumors of cutting teachers and increasing class sizes make even seasoned teachers shutter. There is even talk of cutting pre-K programs and cutting funding for Colleges and Universities. A friend of mine who has been blessed to teach for the past 27 years explained that she has never seen proposed cuts like these.
I teach high school computer classes. My classes are not even required by the state of Texas anymore. Do they not realize technology is the wave of the future? Yes, our local district requires a technology course, but the state of Texas does not. Today, we all received an email stating that we are having a district wide meeting to discuss our local budget cuts this Thursday. We are all on edge. While I know that our administration will work tirelessly to help our faculty keep our positions, the news must be extremely disconcerting to them. I don't envy their positions in the least.
In reality, none of us know what the future holds, whether you are an educator in the state of Texas or not, but one thing is for certain: we know who holds our future. How does this world make it without God?! I'll never understand.
So, even though my instinct is to worry and fret about the news and the possible budget cuts, the Holy Spirit reminds me that my Heavenly Father owns the cattle on a thousand hillsides and nothing is too difficult for Him. I'm choosing to trust in the One who is so very trustworthy. He is the Faithful One!
Which reminds me of the verse that I typed at the beginning of my post. "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14. And the Texas Education system certainly needs healing. Will you join me in praying?
Somedays You Win Some...
...and some days you lose some! This past weekend Hannah's team played in another tournament. The girls won Thursday night. By Friday, three of the girls were sick and we were hopeful that they would make a quick recovery for Saturday's games.
Saturday morning arrived and all of the girls were ready to play. Three were still not feeling quite up to par but they still courageously played ball anyway. And, don't get me started on the refs. When this momma hollers at the top of her lungs, "Are you going to call a foul?" and her husband looks at her like she has lost her mind then the refs must be some kind of HORRIBLE!
Despite the refs, and having 3 sick players, our girls won 38-28. Hannah played the entire game, didn't sit out for even a minute, and ended the game with 21 points.
And then we had 6 hours to wait until the championship game. SIX hours! Oiy! We had fun hanging out at a nearby Dairy Queen and I even took a little nap in my rattlesnake-killing-suburban. Finally, it was time for the championship game. We matched up with the team that we beat 53-3 last year.
As we watched the girls from the other team warm up, we only recognized one of them. Were we playing their high school JV team? We started the game with only 6 of our 7 players and still had three that were not feeling their best. The whistle blew and it was game time. From the beginning, the other team's coach had Hannah's number. I don't remember how many times he hollered at his team to get #50!
Most of the game looked like this:
They double teamed and triple-teamed our Hannah. And it wasn't long before she had 4 fouls. They tried to shut our baby girl down but she still managed to score 5 of our team's 15 points. This next photo is not my finest, you can tell the game was starting to rattle me a bit. It's really hard to watch your daughter being maliciously fouled on the court and the refs not calling much. I really didn't want Hannah to get hurt! But, look at her courage in the photo below. Hannah in a sea of black jerseys:
Our team tried their best.
And Hannah kept trying to score some points for her team:
Saturday morning arrived and all of the girls were ready to play. Three were still not feeling quite up to par but they still courageously played ball anyway. And, don't get me started on the refs. When this momma hollers at the top of her lungs, "Are you going to call a foul?" and her husband looks at her like she has lost her mind then the refs must be some kind of HORRIBLE!
Despite the refs, and having 3 sick players, our girls won 38-28. Hannah played the entire game, didn't sit out for even a minute, and ended the game with 21 points.
As we watched the girls from the other team warm up, we only recognized one of them. Were we playing their high school JV team? We started the game with only 6 of our 7 players and still had three that were not feeling their best. The whistle blew and it was game time. From the beginning, the other team's coach had Hannah's number. I don't remember how many times he hollered at his team to get #50!
Most of the game looked like this:
But, in the end, our girls lost 24-15. To top it off, as our girls waited with broken hearts over losing to shake the other team's hands, the other coach continued celebrating with his team and kept our girls waiting. It felt like three minutes that our girls waited to shake their hands and it was difficult to watch. They beat our girls, the ones who have earned quite a reputation for winning, and it was hard to watch but as our coach says, "Tomorrow is another day."
Still, I'd like a chance to meet up with this team again, without hometown refs, with all of our team, and without sickness. Our girls play a different team tonight and I feel sorry for tonight's opponents because our girls are ready to play!
Super Excited!
Rachel was voted the Chamber of Commerce's Female Student of the Year! Wow!!!! What an incredible honor.
Our family already knew about the award thanks to the wonderful Chamber Secretary....but we somehow managed to keep it a secret from Rachel. She was so surprised and she cried. The school counselor was so gracious in her presentation to Rachel. The words that she chose, the things that she said....my heart was filled to overflowing with gratitude.
It was a night to remember...a senior memory to cherish!
Our family already knew about the award thanks to the wonderful Chamber Secretary....but we somehow managed to keep it a secret from Rachel. She was so surprised and she cried. The school counselor was so gracious in her presentation to Rachel. The words that she chose, the things that she said....my heart was filled to overflowing with gratitude.
It was a night to remember...a senior memory to cherish!
So I Was Ordering at Starbucks
last night. I needed to purchase a book for Rachel at Barnes and Noble and thought I would use one of my Christmas gift cards. I placed my order for a skinny-decaf-cinnamon-Dulce-latte (try to say that three times fast)...heavy on the skinny part because apparently the holidays are over and this girl doesn't want to resemble the Subway commercial. Do you know what I'm talking about? If you haven't seen it then watch this video:
Funny, right? Sure, if it happens to someone else. So, I went with the skinny latte. A young guy who is probably Rachel's age took my order. He looks at me and says, "May I help you "ma'am"?" He accented the ma'am where everyone heard him. I though to myself, how nice that he has manners...all good Texans should.
I placed my order in hopes that my skinny latte would not cause me to resemble the Subway commercial and as the young guy repeats my order back to me, he adds, "Is that correct "ma'am"?" Again, heavy on the "ma'am." I think my eye may have twitched just a little because he had referred to me as "ma'am" twice in less than a minute. Young guy has manners but now the little dude is starting to get on my nerves a little bit. How old does he think that I am?
I paid for my coffee and when the little punk hands me my receipt he exclaims, "Have a nice day, "ma'am!"" And I wanted to grab the little snot by his Hollister shirt and tell him that is enough is enough! I am only 41 years old and I look much older today than I normally do because I had been up all night with this irritating cough and I didn't feel very good and could he please stop with the ma'am because he was making me feel older than dirt!
And then the barista looked at the young guy and asks, "Did she want that decaf?" To which I, or ma'am~heavy on the accent, replies, "Yes, or I will be up all night!"
Oiy! Just call me Mam maw!
Funny, right? Sure, if it happens to someone else. So, I went with the skinny latte. A young guy who is probably Rachel's age took my order. He looks at me and says, "May I help you "ma'am"?" He accented the ma'am where everyone heard him. I though to myself, how nice that he has manners...all good Texans should.
I placed my order in hopes that my skinny latte would not cause me to resemble the Subway commercial and as the young guy repeats my order back to me, he adds, "Is that correct "ma'am"?" Again, heavy on the "ma'am." I think my eye may have twitched just a little because he had referred to me as "ma'am" twice in less than a minute. Young guy has manners but now the little dude is starting to get on my nerves a little bit. How old does he think that I am?
I paid for my coffee and when the little punk hands me my receipt he exclaims, "Have a nice day, "ma'am!"" And I wanted to grab the little snot by his Hollister shirt and tell him that is enough is enough! I am only 41 years old and I look much older today than I normally do because I had been up all night with this irritating cough and I didn't feel very good and could he please stop with the ma'am because he was making me feel older than dirt!
And then the barista looked at the young guy and asks, "Did she want that decaf?" To which I, or ma'am~heavy on the accent, replies, "Yes, or I will be up all night!"
Oiy! Just call me Mam maw!
A Recap from Last Night's Game
Thank you all for your prayers for Coach...his dad went on to glory yesterday morning. While our hearts are saddened for the family we are rejoicing with Coach that his dad is no longer suffering.
Naturally, the loss had a big impact on the girls. My Hannah nearly cried before the game telling me about seeing her coach crying in the teacher's lounge. Her precious, tender heart was broken over the news for her coach. Somehow, the girls managed to pull it together and play a little basketball, even though their hearts were with their coach who was making his way back to Austin.
We played the same girls that we creamed this past Saturday. And the other team came ready to play....or should I say "assault." It was ugly....check that...they were ugly. We were glad for the halftime buzzer so our girls could rest a bit. The score at half was 14-11. We were winning but just by a little bit.
They double teamed Hannah and tried to keep her from scoring, but she still managed to make 9 points, block 4 shots, and she even stole the ball and dribbled it down court and passed it to one of her friends. That was fun to see!
Our girls managed to win 32-22.
After the game she sobbed in the car. She was frustrated with how she played and she missed her coach. Her sister and I tried our best to encourage her but she wasn't having any of it. I stopped by Sonic to buy her a "Fancy Dr. Pepper," which is Hannah's favorite in hopes that she would cheer up a bit. It wasn't two seconds before our suburban was filled with Hannah's team mates and it wasn't long before Hannah's beautiful smile returned... and this momma's heart breathed a sigh of relief. I'm so thankful for Hannah's friends.
Naturally, the loss had a big impact on the girls. My Hannah nearly cried before the game telling me about seeing her coach crying in the teacher's lounge. Her precious, tender heart was broken over the news for her coach. Somehow, the girls managed to pull it together and play a little basketball, even though their hearts were with their coach who was making his way back to Austin.
We played the same girls that we creamed this past Saturday. And the other team came ready to play....or should I say "assault." It was ugly....check that...they were ugly. We were glad for the halftime buzzer so our girls could rest a bit. The score at half was 14-11. We were winning but just by a little bit.
Our girls managed to win 32-22.
After the game she sobbed in the car. She was frustrated with how she played and she missed her coach. Her sister and I tried our best to encourage her but she wasn't having any of it. I stopped by Sonic to buy her a "Fancy Dr. Pepper," which is Hannah's favorite in hopes that she would cheer up a bit. It wasn't two seconds before our suburban was filled with Hannah's team mates and it wasn't long before Hannah's beautiful smile returned... and this momma's heart breathed a sigh of relief. I'm so thankful for Hannah's friends.
Smiley Girls Photo Session....the Out Takes
Last evening's "What do You Get When You..." post looks like a sweet photo shoot. Doesn't it? Oh, my goodness gracious, you have no idea! Rachel didn't have a great day and Hannah and I were on a mission to lift her spirits. So, Hannah made some mustaches out of black construction paper and skewers, Rachel grabbed some boas and hats, we took Rachel's comforter off of her bed and placed it on the coach, the girls plugged in their IPhones, turned up the volume on a few favorite songs, and I grabbed my camera of course!
The smiles were few and far between at first....but it wasn't long before the giggles and smiles and belly laughs began.
I love the final picture...but there are so many more out takes. Wanna see a few? This one was pretty good and it was a toss up between this one and the one I posted last night. The natives are looking a little ornery, don't you think?
They finally let go and just went with it. It was a blast! I was laughing so hard, I shook the camera...yes it's blurry but I love it:
And then the natives took over and I lost all control. So,what's a mom to do? I quickly switched over to recording mode and captured this (please excuse my video ability):
The smiles were few and far between at first....but it wasn't long before the giggles and smiles and belly laughs began.
I love the final picture...but there are so many more out takes. Wanna see a few? This one was pretty good and it was a toss up between this one and the one I posted last night. The natives are looking a little ornery, don't you think?
They finally let go and just went with it. It was a blast! I was laughing so hard, I shook the camera...yes it's blurry but I love it:
And then the natives took over and I lost all control. So,what's a mom to do? I quickly switched over to recording mode and captured this (please excuse my video ability):
Lifting Rachel's spirits? Mission accomplished. Did you hear her giggling?!
My girls are outrageously fun! I laugh out loud every time when I watch the part where Hannah realizes that I am video recording. That's all she needed to hear to get the party started. Oh, my goodness these girls of mine...they are rays of Sonshine for sure!
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