Madness March - Over!

whew! Our Madness March is over - what a busy hectic month for all of us, especially Brayden. Going between soccer and volleyball games and practices along with homework and Lego club and cub scouts, it has been crazy. The volleyball season is over and they did okay, well they were hitting the ball by the end of the season. It was fun, it really was. I enjoyed the spending time with Brayden but also getting to know his friends better - I can't wait for next year!

So now we are onto the next sport - select soccer. We will see how this goes!!! Logan also started outdoor soccer and he is so excited. He wants to so much be like his older brother and he does everything he can to be. It is super cute!

Tonight is our annual fish fry at mom's. When dad was still here we would all go down to the Knights of Columbus at least one Friday during lent for the fish fry since he did the cooking. But now that dad is gone it is too hard for us to go down there so we moved it to mom's house. The boys do the cooking and us girls, well we do the drinking LOL....

And tomorrow, well unless you have been living under a rock is the BIG GAME! I am super excited. I am a fan of both teams so I will be happy with the outcome. It is just superexciting that they are playing each other - and in the final four. Brayden says he is super excited to watch the game too, they have been talking alot about it at school.

I hope everyone is doing well! Now that my Madness of March is over I should be able to start writing more. I miss it, my rambling thoughts. It is such a great release for me.....

I hope everyone has a great weekend and are able to watch the games. Even if you are not a big basketball fan, you can't really miss watching UK play UL - what a game it will be -  hopefully :)

Miss and love you dad ~ so much.

Much love and happiness to all,

Ole Friends

this is the week for some reason of catching up with old friends. It started on Sunday when mom and I went down to Bellevue Vets to watch Josh play in a baseball tournament. Mom ran into an old friend she hadn't seen in years, many years. It was great to see her in that I remember as a child being around her and her family all of the time, her ex-husband and dad use to coach ball together and was just part of that group of families that we all grew up. As mom was talking to her it was all up playing "catch up" like you normally do with friends you hadn't seen in forever. I am sure mom was very happy to run into her.

I called an old friend this week that I hadn't worked with in about 2 years - just one of those people that I know I can call up and we talk like no time has gone between us. We do the normal of what is going on each other's lives, but he has always been a dear friend of mine and I am grateful that our friendship has stayed in tact! Besides I needed to call him, my AC wasn't working and he is my fix it man :)

I love and cherish those old friendships especially those ones where you can just pick up where you left off - you know. Sure time and family and work get in the way of life and everyone has their own paths, but it is nice when they cross again.

I hope everyone is enjoying this week of beautiful weather. I keep thinking the pools are going to open up next month, and yet I have to remember it is only March and we still have another two months before they do open up. LOL

Our Madness March Month is almost done - the month where we have literally had to do something every night, whether it was one of the boys activities, or myself, or Steve, it has always been something - it has been tiring, but exciting. I know poor Brayden is worn out!

Big games this weekend, big games. I love this time of year, I can watch college basketball all day long - it is so exciting, and it is exciting to see little teams come out with big wins. Like Lehigh!!! They were never on the map and now they will be forever the team that beat Duke in the NCAA tournament!

Happy Thursday everyone. Enjoy the games tonight and the weather. It looks like rain is in the horizon.

Miss and love you dad ~ so much.

Much love and happiness to all,

Words

they do hurt, even if you are an adult they do hurt. I have been having a lot of issues at work with one of our "lines" that are all women. And with that comes the "she said, she said" type of mentality. And yes words do hurt. We all in our lifetime have been talked about by someone whether good or bad. We can all think of one instance or another where something was said about us that wasn't even true. When you hear something about you that isn't true your first reaction is to defend yourself but what if you are unable to. What if it is something that you know someone said and you know it isn't true but you are unable to talk to that person face to face for various reasons. What do you do?

You be the bigger person. People are going to have opinions about you. Not everyone is going to like you and that is okay, but when you are in a workplace and you have to work with that person 8 hours a day it can create a hostile environment. And who wants to work in a place like that. Hopefully the consequence of what happened yesterday will get the girls thinking and hopefully there may come some "tolerance" out of this situation. You don't have to like each other but you do have to get a long especially when you are working together - you know.

I know there are things said about me and there probably is something negative said about me every day but I choose to be the bigger person - to not worry about it. I can't say that I don't care about it because we all care about what people think of us and we all want to be liked, but at the end of the day I know what the truth is and so does God - so let people say what they want to say you know - and will it really matter at the end of your life when you are getting ready to go home what was said about you 20 years ago or even a month ago. It is funny in going through this situation at work you learn how unforgiving women really are especially towards another woman. Men can have an argument and that night go out and get a beer and everything is fine, women no way. Once you do us wrong, or once you say something about us, or once you do anything towards us you have created an enemy for life, or lets just say we wouldn't be going out for a beer anytime soon. We can't forgive so easily because we can't forget.

funny how God made men and women so different - so different.

I read this the other day about words on a devotional site that I read all of the time. I almost gave it to the girls yesterday but I didn't. But it is a good reminder for all of us, because we all go through it at one time or another.

His truth Sets us free!

You do not have to let other’s hurtful words deine you anymore. Those who spoke them did not give their lives, as Jesus did, to prove your worth. Many of us have experienced spiritual identity theft. We’ve lost our confidence in who we are in Christ, and we feel worthless or wounded by someone’s words. Others of us hold in our heats a false identity. We belive a lie about ourselves and that lie defines us. I know hurtful words don’t go away effortlesslty but healing can happen and as hard as it is to fight those lies.

Speak the Truth

Whenever a lie is spoken to you or enters your mind speak this phrase to yourself out loud: that is a lie. The truth is… then say the truth out loud so your mind will hear your mouth. For example, if someone speaks a hurtful word to you, then speak to yourself out loud, that is a lie. The truth is my worth is not in what anyone else says about me. I will not allow someon’s hurtful words define me any longer. 

Read the truth:

Chosen by God (1 Peter 2:9)

A New creation (2 Cor, 5:17)

Trophy of his grace (Eph 2:8)

His beloved bride (Ps 45:11)

Do not let people define you, only you can define you. You may have made mistakes in your life we all have, no one is perfect. the ones that are saying things about you just don't have anything better to do and they are probably jealous. You Define you, not others!

~~

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend - it is March Madness, I love this time of the year and everything is beginning to bloom again - it is Renewal season!

Miss and love you dad ~ so much.

Much love and happiness to all!

Do you ever wonder...

how people are doing? You know those people that you have came across in your life and you may or may not still be in contact with. Your best friend from high school, previous co-workers, previous friends, just people that have come across your life. God brings people into your life for some reason you know and I often wonder how they are doing - whether it was a positive or negative relationship with people - I hope and pray that those people in my past are having a wonderful life - that they are living the life that they want to live and that they are happy. With our reunion last year it has just brought up a bunch of old memories especially from high school and I just wish nothing but the best for the people that I was such good friends with in school. But you know how life is, you get married, have kids and get a new set of "parent friends" :)

What a beautiful night it was last night. Brayden had soccer practice so Logan and I went to the park and took a walk - he is growing up too quickly and the things he says - Oh my! He is at such a great age. It makes me sad that they grow up so fast, just the other day he was my little baby :(....

I see this weekend is suppose to be beautiful - I am going to start to try running and if that doesn't work I am going to do a bootcamp. I wuld love to run but I am nervous because I have such bad knees - but it always looks so effortlessly for the ones that I do see run. My goal by the end of the year is to be in the best shape I have been in since high school. I already changed my diet and that is working, it also didn't hurt having that surgery this past summer - it took some weight off, and I have just made the choice to keep it off. If I could stop drinking then I would be a skinny minny, but who wants to do that when the beer always tastes so good especially in this weather - it is perfect deck weather LOL.

I hope everyone is able to enjoy the sunshine and this weekend - it may even be time to turn the AC on - yep!

Have a great Thursday everyone!!!

Miss and love you dad ~ so much.

Much love and happiness to all!

Best Date - Ever!

last night was our last indoor volleyball game with the girls - surprisingly enough we came in 2nd place. For us much laughing as we did I didn't think it was possible. Any who... Logan wanted to come to the game and since Brayden had soccer practice I said sure! He was so good last night. He was so proud of himself for watching himself while I played. He said in the car on the way to BW's that "Mom, I did it, I took care of myself! ".. Yes, yes you did buddy :(

We then went to BW's which is where we always go after our games and he was such the chatter box with all of the girls - he was so well behaved. He said in the car on the way home, Mommy this was the best mommy/Logan date ever! :)... It was so great to be able to spend one on one time with him, it doesn't happen very often where I get to do that with each of the boys but when I do, I cherish each moment of it!

This has been such a crazy week, haven't been home all week, actually had something to do if not one thing two things every night this week - it has been insane. I would like to say that I am going to get a chance to sit down and relax this weekend, but nope, not going to happen - oh well, right LOL

I hope everyone is enjoying this crazy weather we are having: Only in Kentucky will it be a tornado one day, snow the next, sunny and warm and then rain - no one can't say we don't have diversity.

Happy Thursday!

Miss and love you dad ~ so much.

Much love and happiness to all

Devastation

that is all I can say about this weekend. What a devastation Friday was, all of those people who have lost their homes, who have lost everything and some even their lives. But the outpouring of the community is so overwhelming - between all of the donations and the volunteering - even though we don't understand why it happened besides that it is Mother Nature but it helps knowing that the community will always be there to rally around a neighbor in need.

This morning I had someone in my office complaining about something minor and I looked at them and thought to myself, really this is your big worry for the day, you have a co-worker who lost her whole entire life and has no place to live and you are worried about something so small and trivial. But aren't we all that way - sometime or another. Whether it is caring about what someone says about you, whether someone likes you or not, whether UK is going to win the NCAA, whether we have the big house, whether we are fashionable enough, whether we are perfect enough, in the realm of reality who cares about any of it. It is all unrealistic, non-trivial BS items that in the end of your life that doesn't really matter - you know. It just doesn't really matter!

Please pray for all of the people who were affected by the tornadoes, that they may find an understanding of why it happened - these are the people who truly know and who truly understand that all of the non trivial matters really don't matter! They are the thankful ones for every single thing they have, they are the ones that will teach us a lesson! They know what reality really is. So as we sleep in our cozy beds tonight with our warm blankets, with a roof over our head, please keep them in your prayers. You never know one day it may be you.

Miss and love you dad ~ so much.

Much love and happiness to all,

Hugs

been one of those days, a day where I just want to get home and hug my kids and Steve. Where I am thankful for being alive, for having a house, food and clothing. Thankfu for the love of all my family and friends - it was one of those days even before the storms even hit.

Hug your loved ones - tell them you love them!

Miss and love you dad ~ so much.

Much love and happiness to all!