A testament for my father and the game he loves

Sometimes it's like a virus and sometimes it's like an electric fire. Either way, it spreads and consumes you.  It's this heart-pounding, gut-wrenching, love for something basic and elemental. A need...no, a drive to crawl your way towards a goal, sometimes with a battle cry, sometimes with tears, sometimes with blood, but always with courage. It's a legacy passed down in this country, and especially the south, from father to son. Football. The football field is one of the only remaining places where men can be men, and as a woman, I am glad for it. I grow weary of seeing and hearing from men who are afraid to stand up, push forward, gather themselves in defeat and soldier forth. As spectators, we watch helplessly, praying that "our boys" can make it. Whether you're a man or woman, this sport gets in your veins, it can inspire you, frustrate you, but we need it. For more reasons than one.

It is safe to say that the game of football has the been a backdrop to my life's story from the beginning. Some of my earliest memories revolve around the smell of a field house and running on the wet grass of the field after games. My father began his 29 year coaching career as a junior high coach in Gautier, Mississippi. I vividly remember, going to school with my father because I was sick and neither he nor my mother could stay home with me. He made me a make-shift palate under his desk in his "coaching office" right off of the school's gymnasium. There was a giant gator head painted on the floor. At the end of the day, I walked into the weight room, where those barely-teenage young men were training. They seemed huge to me. They smiled and patted my head. Many of those young men, who now have high schoolers of their own, chase my father down in the mall or in Pizza Hut, to hug him and catch up.Sometimes with tears in their eyes. Why? Because he was like a general for their little army of soldiers. He taught them the principles of football, expected them to act like men instead of little boys, and he showed them how. He loved the game, and more importantly, he loved them. This is my father's 29th season of coaching football. Except for an undefeated season with his young team in 1990, this year has been the most victorious for him. In our house, we have felt the sting of defeat often. My mother, sister, brother, and I have fallen asleep in the living room waiting for Dad to come home on those Friday nights when he reviewed film until the wee hours contemplating every detail that led to the loss. Thankfully, this season we have had just one night of disappointment and the others...well, they have more than made up for it. I am proud for him. I am proud of him. There is a legacy that he is leaving behind...comfortingly wrapped in the smell of a sweaty weight room and buzz of moths around the bright lights of a field. It is a legacy of grit, passion, and hard work. Interestingly, it is also a legacy of love exhibited in a sport defined by violence and hard hits. Football is in my blood, and I really did not discover that had received this inheritance until later in life (unlike my brother, who was christened from birth). I have enjoyed learning the game, acting like a crazy person from my seat in the stands, and learning to love what Dad loves. As it turns out, maybe I am my father's daughter after all.

Check out those coaching shorts!!! Hehe! 

A Newlywed Bucket List - Year One

I have decided that I should put in writing all of the things that I would like to do in the first year of my marriage. So I will have a reminder and my dear husband can see them :) He will probably be needed in most, if not all, of these ventures! So far we have done pretty well! We honeymooned in Maui which was absolutely out of this world! Also, I will be skiing for the first time in Breckinridge, Colorado in about four weeks. I am beyond excited! (I am also open to any and all suggestions regarding this new and uncharted challenge!) So, any of you out there who have been skiing before, hit me up with your knowledge! The following items are not in order of importance. I'm sure I'll revise this list as the year progresses :)

1. Go on at least one more vacation, after Colorado, to a place that neither of us has ever been.
2. Buy our first house.
3. By July 10, have read the Bible through cover to cover.
4. Go to the Passion conference in Atlanta.
5. Build (or renovate) a piece of furniture that is of heirloom quality to pass on to my children.
6. Sew his and her's Christmas Stockings.
7. Learn how to take decent pictures with a decent camera and doctor the pics with Photoshop (this requires Ed getting me one for the next major holiday, hint hint babe!)
8. Find a brand new hobby that we both like to do together (besides watching TV and cooking!)
9. Graduate from the speech pathology program with a 4.0 (this a personal rather than "couples-oriented" goal, but I'm sure it might affect him and our future children somehow)
10. Find a new ministry to serve in at our church. (We taught 3 and 4 year old Sunday School for two years, and recently joined a young couples class. Praying about where God wants us now).
11. Pray for my husband and future children every day.
12. Compile a folder of decorating ideas for my first house.
13. Make the trip to Kentucky so Ed can meet my father's family for the first time.
14. Learn to speak a little Spanish so I can talk with Ed's grandmother, aunt, and young cousins. The boys are too adorable for me not to be able to talk to!
15. Do a really good Bible study for couples (suggestions wanted).
16. Compile at least 10 new recipes that my husband really loves and will probably ask me to make over and over (right now I have 3 maybe 4, haha).
17. Take an impromptu weekend road trip! (Always wanted to do this and never, ever have)
18. Get a job after graduation!

That's all that I can think of for now. I'm sure there are really awesome things that I have thought of before and forgotten. The beauty of lists like these are that they are free to upgrade! I'll keep ya'll updated on when and if these get crossed off.

The great C.S. Lewis said, "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream". So whether you are a newlywed or seasoned marital expert. A teenager or have teenaged grandkids. A one of a kind poem for you from your's truly...

Dream your dreams, big or small. Write them down one and all. 
Plan them, do them, don't you stall. 
Dreams are for doing so get doing them all! 

The bread of idleness - doesn't come from Domino's!

porch of my "corner of the world"

Not long after the wedding, in the midst of moving!

Peace and beauty surrounds us every day!! 

So, today was another day in the life a speech pathology graduate student. I studied most of the night (all but three hours, mind you) for an exam in Voice Disorders. I got home around three thirty, and decided it was a pizza delivery kind of night. Like I said in my first post, I am new to married life. Ed and I have been married a little over three months. I am afraid that I have not mastered the art of the kitchen, especially working on barely any sleep! You busy moms and wives out there feel free to give me pointers about ways to make cooking when you're exhausted not such a daunting task! I know one of these days, I'll have to be stronger than my desire for my five-seven hours of rest, but for now Domino's can have my back :) When I started this blog I did not want it to turn into the place where I bare all of my aggravations and negativity. However, I realize that for many people this hobby is therapeutic. So I can choose to view my "venting" in that light. I had one of those discontented, nothing makes you happy (not even chocolate), kind of sad for no-real-reason kind of days. I laid on the couch for a while feeling rather sorry for myself (again for no real reason - please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way!) That's when I got up off of the couch and started cleaning up our tiny newlywed apartment. And surprisingly, I started to feel a little better. Kind of crazy. It made me contemplate why. The "ideal wife" presented in Proverb 31 has been on my mind often since I have embarked into the journey of marriage. This excerpt from that inspiring, but overwhelming, passage came to my mind: "She watches over the affairs of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness." So many women that I know, both young and "seasoned", are totally drained, completely exhausted, and are left at the end of the day...empty. After my long day of "academic mountain climbing" and "productivity" I felt not only tired, but weighed down with sadness. So, why the verse about that annoyingly perfect wife who watches cheerfully over her household duties, blah, blah, blah. Because...God designed women to feel at home making a home. I know this goes against every fiber of today's feminist's body, but I believe it to be true. I don't love cleaning, but I love making my little, and I do mean LITTLE, house feel like a home even if it just means that the clutter is picked up, dishes put away, and tonight I will have laundry-fresh sheets on my bed. I am not a certified Bible scholar, I am just an earnest seeker of Truth. I believe that the Truth of this passage for me is to take care of my little corner of the world and try to fill it with love and comfort for all those who enter. The part about "eating the bread of idleness" does NOT MEAN that women should not take time to rest. God calls us to take care of our homes and the people in it. Sometimes that means watching cop shows and eating a slice which is what the hubby and I intend to do this evening. I have struggled today; I have excelled today; I will lay down tonight knowing that, although I did not perform perfectly, I did not "eat the bread of idleness" even though I called out for delivery :)

Delicious crum-bles fresh from the oven

Hi! I'm new to the blogging community. Among other things, I am also new to married life.My hopes for this blog is that it will be a place for friends to connect, share, debate, encourage, and/or vent about the delicious (and messy) crumbles of life . There will probably be a hodge-podge of information, ideas, and musings to be read on this blog. I welcome input and commentary, keeping in mind that I reserve the right to remove comments that I feel are derogatory or generally "hateful" in nature. That being said, good-natured debating is welcomed (for all five of you that may read this!)That being said, if I know you...it'll be great talking with ya'. If I don't...can't wait to meet ya'