Less than one month

Hi friends.  I just wanted you all to know that I am freaking out.  We have less than one month until school starts.  So...I moved the furniture upstairs. 

It looks nice.  It made me feel better.  It made Coach shake his head in disbelief and it confused the dog.  It seems as if the boys are used to it.  They don't even ask anymore why the couches are in different spots. 

I mailed in the enrollment forms, printed off school supply lists and cut out a coupon for football cleats.

It is coming fast and furious.  And I am freaking out a little.

Thank goodness we have a little vacation planned and we'll be able to "get our chillax on" before I have to start the never ending agenda signing, lunch packing, homework doing life that begins in less than one month.

This summer has been such a blessing.  Ending daycare was one of the hardest things I've done in a long time.  I knew it would be difficult.  I had many people telling me to be prepared for the emotions that would come with it.  No way was I ready.  I am still very emotional about not having my little ones with me every day.  But not having daycare has allowed me to spend some time with my kids that I didn't realize I was missing out on.  I was able to be their taxi...their pool girl...and their personal chef.  (Not a very good one I might add)  I have been able to get a few things organized and have truly enjoyed the lack of hustle and bustle that the upcoming school year will be full of.

God's perfect timing...no doubt.

On the outside, I am calm, cool and collected.  But on the inside...I am a wreck!

School clothes...
School supplies...
New preschool for Little...
New mmmmmm...Middle school for Big (This cannot be happening)
New job
New football season for Coach, Big and Middle
New school year for me

I think I need wheels on my couches.  And wood floors.  That would make things so much easier when I move the furniture on my lunch break this year.

Have a good one and enjoy the weekend and the less than one month before school starts!

Ack!

Referee of 3

Spot On

I was scrolling down through my blog roll just a bit ago and was drawn to the title on Lysa TerKeurst's blog this morning.

A cure for jealousy.

Jealousy is something I struggle with now more than I remember as a child.  I think because our struggles as an adult are exactly that.  Our struggles.  We have to face them...deal with them...and fix them.  Whether they be relationship issues, financial struggles, or how to raise our kids.  They are all ours.  And when we glance at others, we may not see their struggles behind their successes.  The truth of the matter is that everyone struggles.  That is something I fail to remember as I am wishing I had their car...their body...or their income.  The struggle that also comes with the success. 

As I read through Lysa's post this morning, I was reminded of this very thing. 

Whenever I get an overly idyllic view of someone else’s circumstances, I often remind myself out loud, “I am not equipped to handle what they have—both good and bad.”  (Lysa TerKeurst)

God gives us what we are equipped to handle.  No more...no less.  Sometimes as humans, we get confused on what we think we deserve and what He thinks we can handle. 

Please click here to read the rest of Lysa's post for today.  I hope it helps you as much as it helped me today. 

Have a blessed day all!
Referee of 3

Don't burp at the table

Tonight we received some much needed rain.

Isn't funny how we don't realize how much we appreciate something until we don't get it for a long time?

Like a long talk with a good friend.

Like good home cooked meals.

Like good one on one time with your spouse.

Like a good belly laugh with your kids.

Like a long nap.

Like a good cry.

Like a good, long walk with nothing but your thoughts.

Like a giant piece of chocolate cake.

Okay...the cake may be pushing it, but you know what I mean.  We can go so long without certain things and we don't even realize we are missing them.  And then you see little signs.  Dead grass.  Cracked ground.  Brown plants and flowers.  All needing the rain.

Relationships fall apart.  Friendships drift.  We get tired.  We get sick.  We get busy.  (We get hungry for chocolate cake)  We get overwhelmed.  We get so down that we don't even realize what we are missing.  And then all of a sudden...Little burps at the table.  Which is totally rude.  But Big laughs...and Middle laughs...and Coach laughs...and then I laugh.  And we are all just full out belly laughing at this lack of manners.  We laugh until our faces hurt.  There is nothing like the sound of full out belly laughter from your family.  (We'll work on the manners tomorrow)  For tonight...we'll just laugh.

The clouds opened up tonight and the rain fell.  It was beautiful.  The ground needed it.  The plants and flowers needed it.  Our souls needed it. 

Have a good one!
Referee of 3

Buh, Bye Baseball...Time for a new song

Oh man...what a weekend.  We left on Friday for Great Bend, KS.  And this was the crew that we followed there.  We followed Big's team to State Baseball and let me tell you...it was HOT!  We had a great weekend and I have to say how proud I am of all of these boys.  We didn't win.  Well, we won two and lost two.  But we didn't win state.  But they won over my heart for sure.  These boys were down in the second inning 10 to 0...and came back to within two in the 5th inning.  We ended up losing the game 14 to 17...but they didn't lose heart.  Something they tended to do in the past.  But this time...they didn't.  And I couldn't be more proud of them. 

As much as I wanted to sit out in another 110 degree game...we didn't get to.  We got our sweaty selves all loaded up in the van...kicked on the AC and cruised all the way back home.  The boys slept and Coach and I discussed how glad we were that another season had bitten the dust. 

Awwwww....

Now I must face the grim reality of our situation.  We have bags all over the house.  Dishes that didn't get done before we left.  Laundry piled up to the ceiling...and a looming school year that is just around the corner.

School supplies.
School clothes.
House cleaning supplies.
Football Uniform "stuff"
Lunch Money.
Football camp.
Bible School.
Organizing the house.
New job.

These would be the things that I laid in bed last night thinking about.  We closed the door on baseball season less than 24 hours ago and I am already worrying about the next phase in our lives. 

Ack!!!

I need a vacation from this craziness.  Good thing that is also on the agenda. 

My devotion today was quite funny. (Inspiration for Girlfriends, Ellen Miller)  Not funny in the ha ha sense, but in the I can completely relate sense.  It talked about how as Christians, we are constantly tempted with sinful things that we tend to enjoy.  So living life as a Christian is full of torment.  Much like that of a country two step dance.  Two steps forward...one step back.  That makes sense, right? We take two steps in the right direction and then take one step back...away from God...for whatever reason.  Mine always seems to be...(one night won't hurt, right?)  Yet, it always does. 

But God doesn't do that to hurt us...he does it to help us see the importance of WHY we take the two steps in the right direction in the first place.

The quote from my devotion today is

God brings men into deep waters not to drown them, but to cleanse them. (JAMES H. AUGHEY)

Isn't that the way?  The deeper we go, and the further we struggle, the easier it is to see why we need to be cleansed.  Hmmm.  Like I said...funny. 

The verse that goes with the devotion for today was from Psalm 139:10
Even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me

Even there.  Even in those moments.  Even in those backwards steps.  Your hand will guide and your strength will support.  How encouraging is that?

There are times in our lives when we take that one step back.  And we are sometimes tormented with that decision.  And then...we realize that by taking that step, we learned something about our faith. 

Always good food for thought. 

Have a blessed day!
Referee of 3

Balancing Act I

_____
          \
           \
            \
             \
              \
               \______

Does this diagram make sense to you?

Me neither.

I used to be an actress.  Come to think of it...I still am in a sense.  I act like things are good.  I act like I am in complete control.  I act like I know exactly what I am doing. 

 The truth it is...I am a bit unbalanced.

And I very rarely notice it on my own.  It usually takes my hurting someone's feelings before I realize just how unbalanced I am. 

As humans, we are selfish by nature.  It just happens.  We get all wrapped up in our own lives and forget about the lives of those around us. 

For me, this is never an "on purpose" action.  It just happens.  We get up...we get ready...we go somewhere...we come home...we shower the kids...we get ready for bed...and we go to sleep.  A day in the life of the Nelson's is quite crazy.  But not any crazier than anyone else's I suppose.  It is just a day to day thing for us.  And in between all the dot dot dots...are a lot of unspoken things that have to happen.  Grocery shopping...laundry...exercise (lol)...devotion...house cleaning...cooking...blah blah blah.  Sports practices...games...friend get togethers...family get togethers...buncos... blah blah blah.  Life just happens.  And as this so called "life" is swirling all around us...we forget the things that are important to others.

Hence the balance diagram above.

Now it isn't like I had a big epiphany all by myself.  As I said before, I usually have someone call me out before I will check my scales. 

And after I get over myself and my being "right"...I notice that the scales are a smidge tipped in the wrong direction. 

This is very normal people...and not hard to fix. 

When our lives are in check...the scale usually looks like this.
                          GOD
                         /        \
                       /            \
                     /                \
___________                ______________

Forgive my drawing abilities...or lack thereof.

It always gets me back in the right place when I go to God and ask him to be the center of our lives.  I don't lose sight of him completely, but you can always tell when the craziness of life creates the lack of balance and when God is in complete control.  Things just seem right where they should be.  People's feelings are spared and my conscience is clear.

We are on our way to the final baseball tournament of the season.  I am looking forward to hanging up the cleats and the bat bags as we get home and enjoying the next couple of weeks working on our balancing act.

Being a parent is not an easy thing to do.  Finding balance is very difficult and takes help from God.  It isn't something you can do on your own no matter how organized your life is. 

Include Him...and allow the scales to even up.  I am working on it right now.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Referee of 3

What I did yesterday...

I started organizing old pictures and came across this timeline of Big's baseball.  I am not going to lie.  I cried as I sat and stared at the first picture.  Big was...well, Little.  He was 6 years old when he played Tball.  That was a long season.  Tball is always a long season...but with Big...we had NO IDEA how fast it would go.  We wished that season to be over with.  Now look at him.  He's...well, Big.  And it makes me very nervous.  Big has turned into a pretty good kid.  He has that occasional preteen attitude that I dislike very much.  But he makes us laugh...he enjoys life...and he loves baseball.  Win or lose.  The kid likes to play.  What I see when I look at these pictures is time that has slipped away.  (along with the part of my brain that remembers things)  What happened here? 

Life happened.  Big was little and then came Middle.  Big got bigger because two little's was not an option.  When Big seemed as big as he could possibly get, Middle got bigger because along came Little...and Big got Bigger than I imagined he could.  Even though...looking back...when Little hit the scene, Big wasn't big at all.  He was like the age of picture number two.  Ack!!!

Why when you think your kids are big...do you look back and realize they were still little?  I am confused.  I think the heat and the sun are getting to me. 

What I think I am trying to say here is that the things that we think are important...are sometimes just things.  And we get so wrapped up in life that we turn around and years have gone by without us even noticing.  We love baseball.  We've made no bones about it.  But wins and losses...frustration over playing time...none of that matters when you look back through pictures and realize that in the midst of all of that...your Little's are getting Big.

What matters is what they are learning about life.  Not how well they played second base.  Or what order they were in the batting line up. (is that the right term for that?)  Who has Big become as a person from picture one to picture seven?  Is he a good sport?  Does he have a good attitude?  Can he learn from his mistakes?  Winning games is fun.  I get that sports is about competing and for some people...winning is what it is all about.  But for this Mom...it is about so much more.  Did they have fun?  Did they enjoy the company they were keeping?  Did they learn something?  Were they good kids? 

We have learned in Big and Middle's baseball that the scoreboard does not keep track of how much they enjoyed the game. 

Now I know Coach would like the scoreboard to reflect the effort they put in...and they have to make that happen.  Their teams have to make that happen.  But when Big and Middle come out of the dugout...what kind of person they are matters so much more to me than what kind of ballplayer they were in that game.

I think that is why we enjoy tball so much this time around.  Little is little.  We realize it.  We are enjoying it.  And we are not wishing it away for anything.  Because we know...that before we can turn around, Little will be big.  And this Mom can't handle anymore Big's right now. 

This must have been in the parenting manual they forgot to give me at the hospital. 

Have a blessed day!
Referee of 3

There's No Place Like Home

Baseball.

For two out of three...the season is over.

I wanted to share a few of the things we learned as we lived through Middle and Little's seasons this year.

1.  Getting out is not as bad as Little thought it would be.
2.  Having a broken arm is no fun.
3.  Sliding into home in white baseball pants is more fun than Little thought it would be.
4.  Winning isn't everything...the drink and snack after the game is.
5.  Having a patient coach who cares for your kids is more important than having one that likes to win.
6.  Baseball Mom friends are the best because they are as dirty and as exhausted as you are.
7.  No amount of bling on your shirt can make you "cute" when you are covered in dirt. 
8.  The smile on Middle's face makes me happy no matter what the scoreboard says.
9.  Being a good sport is important...the Wichita PD say so. 
10.  Sunflower seeds are awesome during a game.  They make a nervous Mom feel better and look like a squirrel eating them.  And according to Middle, they  make you play better.   
11.  I hate sunflower seed shells.  They are all over in every bag, every purse and every inch of my mommy mobile.  But the mouse in my garage loves them.  Ugh.
12.  Bat bags are heavy and prevent me from having anywhere to put my groceries during the season.
13.  It is okay to play against girls at this age because they are still gross and carry cooties.   
14.  The girls will win sometimes.
15.  Writing your child's name on their equipment makes life easier on the coaches.  Doing it on the last game doesn't help much.
16.  Referring to a previous post...no fruit snacks, no jean shorts and no lip gloss on hot windy days.
17.  Keep a copy of the snack schedule in the car and check it every day.  Missing the snack at a tball game is an epic failure.
18.  Thinking you are completely prepared is a joke.  As a parent of baseball players, you are NEVER fully prepared.
19.  Don't yell at other people's kids.  That is why they have parents. 
20.  If you don't know what you are talking about...yell anyway.  :D  But watch out for the WPD. 
21.  There is no place I would rather be than sitting in the bleachers watching the boys play ball. 

It's true...there is no place like Home (plate)
Referee of 3