we were all a bit nervous.
i had a really good talk with joshua before the game. we read philippians 4:11-13 together. "be content in all circumstances" "i can do all things through Him who gives me strength"...we talked about how he could glorify God in the game...NO MATTER WHAT the outcome. doing his best. being kind. encouraging his teammates.
it ended up being a good talk.
and i felt like the game was a "win" before it even started.
it was obvious about halfway through the game that we probably weren't going to win. that was hard to realize. but then you started watching how the boys' were going to handle it. i was proud of joshua. very very proud.
after the game talk with the coach. he is SUCH a great coach. we are so thankful for him!
one last time...
just look at him looking at him...
:-)
i'm going to ease into it...macaroni and cheese tonight :-)
and pat and i are in "discussion" about our life and sports and schedules and how we are going to do this. how do we keep the important things the important things. we don't want to just not do ANYthing and sit on the couch together...all 8 of us every night. but we {ok, i} also don't want to eat bagel sandwiches at sports field for dinner every night and rush them home and throw them in bed way after their bedtime every night either. we need wisdom. anyone?!?
8 comments:
I too need wisdom on this!! So hard to balance older kid opportunities with younger kid needs. Looks like you did a good job with that!!! : )
Well. I am ahead of you in the children's ages&stages category but don't necessarily have that much more wisdom.
Here's how we do sports and have for the last few years - which includes time when Jonathan - the youngest was not playing anything.
Our kids are 14 (i KNOW!), 12, 10 and 7 the past 3 sports seasons (not counting winter) they have each played something. God has been good in that we have always been able to carpool to cover practices and games. Wayne has coached a lot but not every season - it is harder when he is coaching but he and the kids love it when he does so we make it work.
I plan out our menu on either Sun or Mon. Tues has been my grocery shopping day for 10+ years! :) I look at our weekly schedule while I do it and plan quick but healthy meals for those busier nights. And i've had to MAKE myself be ok with healthy fast food from home - reminding myself that half these teams may have cereal or McD's for dinner - which as a self-confessed health NUT makes me cringe.
Anyway, we do lots of eggs & fruit/vegs dinners - we do sandwiches but on my whole grain home made bread, it's not really a compromise. Taco salad packs well, we do dinners that keep/reheat well. And we still have at least 2-3 sit down as a whole family meals a week - which is still way better then the supposed national average of 1-2 per week.
As far as keeping the youngers engaged/occupied during games - we kept a bag of stuff JUST for use at games, usually sports stuff since they were often inspired by watching their sibs. Packed LOTS of snacks - still don't know why it is that being away from home makes them hungrier but oh well. :) I packed some treats and mostly healthy snacks & fruit and then let them have at it. No guilt for me and they were happy.
(BTW, i hate that all the teams hand out snacks -usually junk, so we made the rule very early on that siblings didn't get snacks from the other teams - only their own team. The snack parent always offers but they were taught "no thank you" very quickly. And I had snacks for the non-players).
As far as late bedtimes/bathes etc. We went with it for awhile b/c I hated missing the games, I like watching as much as they like playing but often we would take turns staying home if a little really needed a night off. I will tell you that baseball and softball seem to be the only sports that do weekday games. I know swim team does weeknight swim meets but we've never done swim team - too much of a time commitment for us.
Feel free to ask questions or email me for more tips if you have something specific you want to ask.
I think the main thing is for you and Pat to sit and talk about what compromises you are willing to make and what areas you are not willing to compromise on. I struggle with guilt more than Wayne does so he's a good sounding board for me.
Jennifer
ps - i should copy/paste this into my own blog post! :)
I'm not seeing why you can' t just keep the picnic thing going?
blanket, back porch, pack it earlier in the day, let them eat it at dinner time...done. ;-)
I love the picture of the coaches. It's a grown up version of the players. :) Too bad they lost, but what a great season!
Ryan and I read the book "Making Room for Life" years ago when we first got married as part of a small group study. Part of it was great, part of it was a waste of time...but I walked away with a lot from it and there are things in that book that I read 9 years ago that stick with me today about scheduling our lives.
On a separate note; those picture brought a tear to my eye too and it's not even my kid! Joshua is growing up into a strong man of God and I totally believe that baseball and sports in general can help to shape Godly character. What an amazing opportunity to go to the World Series with your team!
It's tough isn't it. This is where having a big.family is .logisyically tricky. We have not done baseball bc of the fact that around here, it is several.nights of the week between practices and games. It's sad bc we love baseball, kids would love to play, but it just is.not something that we can "work" with our family. We have stuck with upward sports because - not only is it a Christian program, it is so.much.more family friendly. 3 kids can play a season - they all three did soccer yhis spring - and all have practice during yhe same.hour on the same night of the week. It's a one hr a week.commitent. Games on Saturday mornings are done at noon. It helpskeep our family of 6.5 still "normal" with meal times, bedtimes, etc. Hard to have to say no to some things.....
wow, so did not mean to highjack your blog with my novel length comment. Sorry.
I hit post and was immediately pulled away to put out a "fire" and didn't see how long it was. oh well.
I don't have any wisdom to share, because I am the absolute worst at this stuff. My kids are such homebodies and commitments become excuciating because even though it's something THEY want to do, it becomes MY struggle to get them to go. I also see families whose lives become completely consumed by soccer and it's hard for me to want that life - for them and for us. So far, they are more interested in dance and ball, which I think is manageable. I know I have 1/2 of your number, but maybe it's something we can work together to figure out how to balance. On another note, even though ball is over, picnic dinners at the pool have just begun. Yay!
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