Going to Texas?

So, a couple of months ago, we told our oldest, James, that we were probably going to Texas this summer for a visit. This was before gas cost $4/gallon. We thought we might even make a road trip of it. Now, we're reconsidering this idea but his brain has run with it. He's been telling other people that we're going to visit Texas this summer as I've been telling Irene that we may have to rethink taking this trip. In fact, I really don't see how we would be able to afford this trip. Travel cost is ridiculous right now and we're not exactly rich. So, how do you tell a 9-year-old that has problems with fixation on certain things (TV shows, comic book characters, trips to TX) that we may not be able to take that trip? Ugh! I'm not looking forward to that conversation.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

I was reminded to day of a friend of ours when Irene and I were still in college. We were already married and we had some friends that were engaged and now have been married for about ten years. At the time, we would all four go out together to eat dinner or see a movie or just, whatever. As was typical of that time also, Irene and I would have small disagreements and, sometimes, not as small disagreements. This would happen with our friends sitting in the backseat. Our friend, Brian (a.k.a.-The Goat), thought these skirmishes were funny and would consistently interject, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" This usually resulted in an immediate difusion of the situation. I always appreciated that, especially because I win very few arguments. This usually left it at a "draw".

Putting the F-U-N in FUNDRAISING!

That title is not really true. In fact, it is the exact opposite of how I feel. I live in a state that we shall call Delaware(instead of where I truly think I am, at times). In this state, public schools scarcely fund their extracurricular programs. Especially in the district where I am, where they had a $13 million budget crisis a couple of years ago, they limit funding to "necessary" items only. This means that, if I want to run a girls basketball program and do it well, I am going to have to do a ton of fundraising. I will have to do this year-round! This sucks! When I was growing up, I was the kid that never won anything during fundraisers because I DID NOT DO the fundraiser. I was okay with that. Now, it has become a MUST. So, periodically over the last few weeks I've been going out and asking people to give money to a program that has only won 2 games over the last two years. It hasn't been easy but I've got to do what I've got to do, right. We expected our players this year to pay dues as part of being on the team. I think it's a travesty to come to that point in a public school program. When I was in school, I was supplied everything I ever needed to play in the program from Freshman year to Senior, from my jockstrap to our varsity warm-ups. I never paid one cent and never fundraised one either. That's how it should be!

Why?

I was reading Irene's blog today which has addressed the fact that we have not been very faithful about going to church on Sunday mornings. We do occassionally but have not gone much lately. This is a huge difference compared to when we lived in Texas. We were very faithful about going to church and those times were highlights of our week. We had even gotten to the point that we were attending regularly on Wednesday evenings for the first time in years. Since arriving in Delaware, we have not been as dedicated. It's very disheartening for us but there are reasons for this; even if they're not very good reasons. The best way to explain this is to describe our church experiences from TX and DE. So, let me elaborate.

TX: Large church, lots of options for adult Sunday School classes, all of the kids had Sunday School classes to attend (even John), large assemblies filled with lots of kids which means John's voice stims are less noticed, lots of friends who were encouraging about having us in church with John, wonderful Care Groups that changed each year allowing us to make friends with lots of people within the church, always a feeling of edification.

DE: Smaller church, not many options for Sunday School, James's Sunday School has kids 2-3 years older than him, there's no Sunday School for John, smaller assembly makes John's voice stims feel like every person is turning to look at us, fewer friends, Life Groups that don't ever seem to change (you're in one group for life), not feeling very edified.

These are no excuse for not being faithful to attending. I've realized, the older I've gotten, that there is a specific reason behind God calling us to meet together. It's not because we can't be saved unless we go to church every Sunday. It's because we need that constant encouragement from our brothers and sisters in Christ in order to be able to face the world around us. Also, as parents, it's our responsibility to put our children in a routine of meeting with other Christians. They don't pick that up on their own. If we're not going to church, we're less likely to give that encouragement to our kids. We notice that, when we're not in the routine, James is very aversive to going. Back in Texas, there were times that he didn't want to go but when we were going regularly, it became an expectation. That's a good habit! I pray that God will help us settle in and become a part of a church here. In the meantime, we dearly miss our friends and family at the A&M Church of Christ!

Madness Udate

So, out of the 60 games that have taken place in the NCAA Tournament, I picked 35 of them correctly. I also picked 3 out of 4 that are in the Final Four. The one I didn't pick was UCLA. I picked my Aggies to beat them for more reason than the fact that I graduated from Texas A&M. I picked them because they match up well with UCLA and they proved that. In fact, they really should have won that game. They had it right up until the last. Kevin Love is incredible!

There's been more madness in March in my household besides basketball. Last week, I got sick. I started throwing up; and not just food. Yes. That's right. I threw up blood! It wasn't just a few drops of blood, either. It was more than just streaks. I threw up a bunch of blood. It was a little scary. The scarier thing was that I went to the closest emergency room, sat there with Irene for 6 1/2 hours and never saw a doctor. It was 5:30, Thursday morning and my stomach had finally stopped hurting enough that I could rest. So, I told Irene we could just go home and I would call my doctor later. Well, I saw my doctor Thursday afternoon and the conclusion is that I have an ulcer. The nurse asked, "Do you have a lot of stress in your life?" I didn't really respond. The list is probably longer than she needed to hear. I'm really trying to hand a lot of it over to God. It's not easy! I get so worried about things and just kind of shut down. It's my defense mechanism. Well, the advantage to this is that the weight-loss incurred sent me down to the 180's. I am now about 188 lbs. I haven't seen this weight in probably 10+ years. I still have about 10-12 to reach my goal. Hopefully, once I can start working out, I'll drop the weight pretty easily.

March Madness

So, this is a huge time of year in our household. I can remember back a few years ago when Juan Dixon was playing for Maryland and they won the National Championship. Irene and I sat right next to each other watching all but maybe one or two of the televised games. We both really get into it. We both like to see close games and we both enjoy seeing the underdog win. One thing I've never done is actually fill out a bracket, beforehand. I just never cared whether I could predict the wins. I just like to see the teams play well. This year, I filled one out. Nobody will know but me whether I picked the wins or not. In the end, I'll probably say how many I called but I did pick a lot of upsets. Even so, I picked three #1 seeds to make the Final Four. I don't know how that happened and I'm not going to say which ones either. I just couldn't see the games going any other way. So, we'll see how it goes. I expect lots of close, hard-fought games. I'm anxious for tomorrow!

Anger

This is an interesting topic that I had a brief discussion about on another blog. It is related to my previous blog on losing faith. It seems that many people lose their faith because they are angry at God. The debate was/is, is it okay to be angry at God. The other blogger's thoughts and many of the comments were a resounding, "Yes!" My thoughts, not really. I think anger is a dangerous poison to mess around with. Now, I DO get angry. I DO have a bad temper, at times. The thing is, even though life really sucks sometimes, I'm very careful about blaming God and being angry at Him. One of the commenters on the other blog mentioned the end of Job when God spoke to Job through a storm. The commenter said that God justifies Job for being angry, if I remember correctly. I went back yesterday and read this story to see exactly what God said. Now, Job tends to be known as that guy in the bible that was tested to the extreme and never doubted God. Actually, at the end of Job, he starts reaching the end of his rope and begins to question God for all the bad things that had happened. He is worked up even more by some of his friends. Then, God appears in a storm and speaks. In a nutshell, God says, "Who do you think you are to question what I do? Were you around when the world was made? Did you put barriers on the oceans? Do you have the power to feed all the beings of the earth?" He pretty much tells Job that he has a purpose for everything he does and is not one to be questioned. So, I don't think it's okay to be angry at God. In fact, we know that God didn't make all the bad stuff happen to Job. He merely allowed it to happen. There's a difference. Job's response to God, "Sorry!"