A little football fun!

A proud year for my husband and I as we watched our son play football. His freshman year was his first try at this, and found it to be so much fun. We always told him he had to be older. Baseball was his first love, and we didn't want bones crushed and growth plates destroyed. This year as a sophomore, shooting up to 6'3", he fell in love with being a wide receiver. I tried to get some of the plays, but wanted to share a couple..

One fun night, Dan Hampton from the 85 Chicago Bears showed up! He came to watch a friend, and was standing along the fence. He actually saw our son catch a touchdown. My husband was talking to him a little bit, and I was shocked he wasn't going crazy because his son just caught the ball and was running for a touchdown. So I yell at him from the stands, "What, now you can't yell?" He was no doubt playing it cool for the man. :)  That will forever be a great memory for him from this year!

Bottom of the screen, # 9 in purple.. shook off a few guys. SO fun!!



and another, bottom of screen in purple... nice yardage! We were screaming!



 and who's to say he can't tackle? LOL loved this.. he stalked his prey, then went for it!

Happy Fall!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that..

Hey Everyone! 

I know I've been MIA for a while now. 

We have had a very interesting (for lack of a better word) last year or so. I haven't been feeling so bloggy. Our family has had some twists and turns. I struggled with whether or not to be open about them (as it may help others going through the same thing), or going silent. I obviously chose the latter. All is well, though. Sometimes the road just gets rocky.

Here are some thoughts.

          *Raising teens is hard, raising a teen daughter is like holding back the tide.

   *There are reasons parents don't want their kids to date until 18...

               ....we should have been one of those parents...
                    
That's all I really need to say, I think. I do believe that if the Bible says over "Do not fear" over 365 times, I pretty much have to believe each one of those can cover each day of the year. I also have tremendous faith. I know that He has great plans for our kids. I know that we need to give them to Him and let Him finish the work He has started. I am fully leaning on this verse, but now as a mother, for my children!

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. - Philipians 1:6

 

Our oldest is going to finish her senior year near where my parents live. Our decisions were based on numerous things. A few of them included - being in a better area, having better schools, family around, better friends, better influences in general, and a church that is solid. She seems to be doing amazing. All sorts of great things are headed her way, and I am giving God all the glory! The Holy Spirit is at work in her life, and I love seeing and hearing the results of His work when I talk to her on the phone and talk to my parents. I do know that God is in control, and things happen for a reason. They just do. The majority of time we don't get why things happen the way they do, but seeing the ending result...or that road leading to that, is so inspiring! God is Good...all the time... all the time...God is Good!

Here is a photo of her right before we took her to the airport. There wasn't a dry eye for miles..

She is beautiful, she is strong.. and that reminds me;

“You are Braver than you Believe, Smarter than you Seem, and Stronger than you Think.”

- Winnie the Pooh

I love, Pooh! And, I love this girl!

I've also been working on my photography business.  And, my second born is a freshman now and off to High School, and all the sports that come along with it.. Baseball ended, and football took over! His first game was last night, and here's a pic of him as WR

and of course I had to throw in another. Him as QB..

and, since I am his mom, I have to throw in the last play of the night. The touchdown!! 

Yes, he's number 9! You think I'm proud, be glad his dad doesn't have a blog! LOL


I also turned 40 last week. [boo hiss] But it was wonderful! We went to the lake and watched the Air and Water show from a boat. Beautiful! Then we cruised along the river, and it was absolutely the most wonderful birthday!

We also have a friend, Lissa Lauria, who started The I AM Movement. Our little one wanted to be one of the faces, so here she is! 

 

This foundation is to help everyone understand how important they are. How to think everyday about how wonderful God made you, and to remind yourself that you are worth more.. anyway, visit her site!

THE I AM MOVEMENT

There is also some exciting news on the home front, I will save that for my next entry. I'm off to work out (now that I'm "over the hill"), and spend some time with the family.

All in a Week's Work..

This past week seemed to just fly by. We were running around with family schedules like crazy. But looking back at my pictures, it looks like we had fun! Do you ever race through life then look at your photos later to relive them and enjoy the moment? I seem to do that a lot! Here are some highlights of the week. My husband worked a lot, got 3 fires, currently conditioning with a football team, and we are all tired!

 We went downtown and visited where our oldest spent a lot of time. At the new American Girl Place, Chicago where she played "Kirsten/Kit/Julie" in the American Girls Revue for 3 years. Sadly, they don't have the shows at any of the stores anymore. 10 years and now it's gone. Stores sometimes just don't know a good thing when they've got it. Now it's just another (beautiful) retail store.

   

Our middle one playing football after a downtown school session with some of the kids and his last year's teacher. Pretty cool for a teacher to get out there to hang out with the kids.

This little guy got chased up onto my kitchen windowsill by our dog. I was wondering why the cat was up on my counter when I came back downstairs! There he was.. I decided to reward him with peanuts and almonds.

  It's not fall until you have a picture of kids in trees. After the Feed My Starving Children packing party, the kids let loose some more energy before we went home. What a great opportunity to see kids help. Schedule a packing party with your church or kids group..etc. We loved it and are going back again very soon! The kids wound up packing enough boxes to feed 25 children for 1 year!