My many HATS...

2011.   It is 2011, right?  I am a girl, woman, lady, chick, whatever you prefer.  And (gasp...loudly) I stand on the sideline at my husbands football games (can you imagine?).  I haven't written anything for a long time because I have been so busy.  Besides my three precious kiddos, and my Masters classes I am taking, I am invested in 110 football players lives.  I am not writing this to defend my actions (really) just to vent.  Behind the scenes what many do not know is that I volunteer my time (which is precious by the way) M-F from 8am-2pm in the football office.  Sometimes I am going through 1100+ recruiting emails, sometimes I am doing various office activities, and sometimes I am voicing my opinion (which I have).  There are other times where I am talking with a player who has no family and needs encouragement, or helping someone proof read a paper, sometimes I am doing laundry, or cleaning the EQ room, or folding jerseys and organizing numbers, sometimes I am talking to parents on the phone reassuring them their "babies" are doing good.  Probably the job I do they enjoy the most, is providing candy in all the meeting rooms (i even take requests).  After  hours I am a big heart for those boys-I listen, I cheer, I encourage, I hug, I cry, I LOVE them unconditionally.
I think for most people on the outside I am just a woman on the sideline.  And what place is a football field for a woman (I mean really).  But unlike most girls I know, I was raised on the football field.  Growing up I spent more hours at football practice than anyplace else (maybe I should of gone to the library? hmmmm).  My dad started picking me up from school in 2nd grade and taking me straight to practice everyday.  My first hat, Coaches Daughter.  He did not tell me to bring my barbies and play in the corner.  He gave me my very own clip board (it wasn't even pink, it was blue), he taught me the plays, he explained the drills, he gave me a whistle and (gasp again) he let me stand on the sideline.  When I wasn't part of practice, Trainer Bob took me under his wing and taught me all about athletic training.  I learned and even taped the players ankles, filled ice jugs, and eventually became the bona-fide water girl (hey I even landed an interview on the news because I was the only water girl in central Ohio-autographs available by request).
In college I worked at the Ohio State University Men's (drum roll) Football Office.  I answered phones and did office work but also helped with recruiting and getting play books ready.  One coach even allowed me to grade film with him.  Fast forward to today.
I am a Coaches wife.  My prince charming went from football player (frog) to coach (prince).  All my years of being on the football field have allowed me to be able to know amazing things that most women do not know; Trips Right (three receivers line up on the same side of the ball), 4-3 defense (four lineman and three linebackers), and lots of other useful knowledge.  I watch a football game unlike most, I am really breaking down each play.  The bonus to being on the inside you also see what goes into each and every play.  These boys do not just show up and play.  They practice, they train, they have breakfast club, they have study tables, and tutors, film, team meetings, and did I mention they also go to class.
The sideline is my home.  I love it.  The noise, the action, the smell (yes, even that), it all is what makes football so awesome to me.  I do not know how to sit in the stands (it can not be comfortable all that sitting and standing) and I do not have the strength in my jaw to bite my tongue when someone finds the need to downgrade a player or coach.  So the sideline is safe for me (or so i thought).   What I am learning, Christian campus or not, Satan will attack.  And he will bring his big guns.  Some people do not want me on the sideline, call it what you want (my sister has lots of great names for it so see her if you want some ideas), but I call it silly.  I love the coaches (I am related to 3 of them) and I love the players.
My journey as a coaches wife has just begun.  I hope my next hat is Coaches Mom.

"And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."  2 Cor 11:14

I'm BAAAAAAAACK!!!

Husband retiring, moving, selling house, husband getting new job, and unpacking makes little time for blog writing. However it does provide for much material for blogging :) What is hard for me to describe is that moving for our family is equivalent to a trip to Walmart for another family. We can seriously pack and load in one day. My dad said there are two things he knows Mike can do better than anyone else, Catch a football and load a U-Haul truck. The move itself this time was much more emotional for me than our other 8 moves. In 2007, we had decided that we wanted to have a forever house, a house we would grow old in, a house that our kids would always have, a house filled with LOVE and memories. So that is exactly what we did. We designed it, tweaked it, met with builders, painters, decorators, etc we had a hand in every decision that went into that house. When it was finished, I am pretty certain I have never seen anything more beautiful. Every corner of it was perfect, made exactly for our family. I had hired Mother Nursery to help me design the kids bedrooms and they were the most perfect bedrooms any child could wish for. Every details was amazing. So we moved into to our dream house and we LOVED it. Over time however we realized our dream house was just that, a DREAM.

Living in that house made us realize we did not need all of those bells and whistles (although I have come to realize the importance of a big closet). Going back in time, we would not have built our dream house. We would have hopefully realized our dream house is wherever we are as a family. Moving to Huntington, WV and moving into a house that was built in 1937 is the BEST thing that has happened to our family. Makayla's bedroom in our dream house was painted to look like you were in a field looking at a cottage surrounded by animals. It has to be the best little girls room in the world. She had a three dimensional house with her bed upstairs and her very own play house underneath. When we moved to Huntington I painted her bedroom walls yellow and got her a new pink comforter. After making her bed she goes, "Mom this is the best room ever. So much better than my other bedroom" I had to smile because I put so much effort into her other room, spent hours on the internet picking colors, paint, designs, and then spent hours putting it all together. Her new bedroom took all of 5 minutes to unfold the new bedding but what she cared about was that her new room is right next to mommy and daddy. To her the best thing in the world is that she can tap on the wall and I can tap right back. That is what Jesus wants from us, to tap him, whenever we need him, wherever we are, he will tap back :)

So February 25 we closed on our DREAM house. It is forever gone from my life and it makes me sad but it makes me incredibly happy to know that I do not need a house to fulfill a dream, I need only my Jesus and all my dreams will come true.

"For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God." Ecclesiastes 5:7