Priorities....Priceless

Chad, my 14 y/o ds, is a wonderful athlete, an excellent student and just an all round great kid. My dh, Kendall, and he take sports very seriously. Kendall spends at least 6-8 hours a week doing strength and conditioning training every week with Chad on top of all of the other practices for the sport of the season that Chad is involved in. Baseball season seems to be the most expensive, because every year he gets a new bat. I not just talking about a $50-$70 bat. No way!! I think the cheapest bat that we have bought has been $175. The older he gets, the more expensive the bat gets. This year's bat cost almost $400!! That's right, $400!!! Oh what I could do with $400. At least we have been able to sell the prior season's bat for about 1/4 to 1/3 of the original price (whoopee...). We used the big bucks we got for the "used" bat to help pay for the new bat. Also, we do get help from my dh's father aka PaPa to help pay for the bat or any other new equipment that he "has to have". Last year, he got a $270 bat and a $100 pair of new baseball cleats, while our front leaded glass door was being held together with duct tape and the varnish had come off and looked like a 25 y/o door. Funny thing is, our home was only 3 1/2 y/o then. Now that was a pretty sight, a beautiful leaded glass door with duct tape holding the pieces of broken glass together being supported by worn looking wood. This year we have gone all out. We have upgraded from duct tape to clear tape. But my dh did refinish the wood, and I have to say did an exceptional job. Now when you stand far enough away, it appears to be a very pretty dark wood leaded glass door, and if you don't look too hard, you might not see the tape on the glass. Baseball Bat $270, Baseball cleats $100, duct tape $3, priorities.......priceless.

Art

My 11 y/o son, Harris, is an awesome artist and pianist. He is currently going to the Glassel Junior School of Arts, which is a division of the Houston Fine Arts Museum. He got a scholarship last year by submitting a portfolio of some of his works. I turned in his portfolio on Friday and should hear back in the next couple of weeks if he received another scholarship. He is so talented. He is just to that age right now where he would rather be playing video games or on the computer than creating and so I am going to have to help him get more of a balance in his life. His talent is definately God given as he has been exceptionally talented since he was a toddler. We always had a cabinet full of crayons, scissors, construction paper, etc. Now we have it full of charcoal pencils, drawing books, sketch pads, acrylic paper pads, charcoal pads, oil pastels, chalk pastels, colored pencils, blending tools, etc. I guess part of being a mother is encouraging your children to continue to strive and practice in what you know are their talents, because they would just give up when it came to practice. Let's face it, who really wants to practice?? Well there may be a few insane folks at there, but generally speaking, no one wants to practice, they just want to play the game. Here are a couple of pictures that he has painted recently. As you can see, he is a wonderful artist and he did these when he was 10!!

Christmas Time

I love Christmas. I love the special celebrations of Christ as Baby Jesus, and remembering what a precious gift God gave us on the very first Christmas. I love the decorations, the special music on the radio, the thought of Santa on his way. But I can’t really say that I love Christmas time, because it is always so stressful and hectic. Shopping, Shopping, Shopping with no end in sight and add that to all the Christmas get-togethers, Christmas Eve and Christmas day dinners and you have yourself a recipe for high blood pressure, stroke, heart-attack, migraine headaches and a multitude of other stress related health issues. What ever happened to the old adage “Christmas is a happy time, a time of love, giving and sharing”, and “Giving is better than receiving”? I suppose it should be. But let’s get real people, I live in America, where expectations run wild, schedules are way out of control, traffic is horrible, lines are long, people are frustrated, and money is no object. Hold on just a minute, what was that about money being no object?? Let’s change that to my kids think that money is no object and most people shop like money is no object until there is nothing left. Then what you end up with is a house full of stuff that is forgotten the next day or is not as good or big or pretty or bright or fast (you get the picture) as Sally’s or Jimmy’s stuff. Then the kids demand that their stuff be returned, so they can get the same or better stuff, while Mom and Dad are worried about how they are going to pay their January house payment. Just thinking about it is enough to give me a headache. I tell myself every year that I am not going to do that again. I am going to be better and start decorating before Thanksgiving and have my presents all bought before December 1st, so I can really enjoy Christmas. I told myself that again this year. One year, I am really going to stick to this promise. Maybe (hopefully) it will be this year. My 11 year old son told me last night as he read my keychain that says “She who dies with the most supplies wins.”, that 78% of people that collect stuff are unhappy with their lives and are trying to fill that void”. Wow!!! What remarkable wisdom!! I am gently reminded that God speaks to me in many ways, when I am willing to listen, and how blessed I am to have him in my life.

Making new friends

I recently started working at a local scrapbook store every other Saturday just to support my obessive habit of scrapbooking. I have a real job "job" during the week and then I have a fun job on the weekends and don't have to work every Saturday, so I don't feel overloaded. It is a really great job and I get to share my love of scrapbookers with those that frequent the store. It is great to see people come in to the store that are as passionate as I am about scrapbooking. I really love the people I work with and have started developing some real friendships with my coworkers. I really feel like this job is a "God Thing" because I have an 11 y/o son, Harris, that has been diagnosed has Asperger's Syndrome and it has been hard for him to make friends. He doesn't seem to mind the fact that he doesn't have many friends, but I think done deep it really does make him feel sad and different from the rest of the kids in school. But what makes this so special to be working with these wonderful people at the scrapbooking store is that I have met another very wonderful and creative person who also has a son with Asperger's Syndrome who is the same age as my son. She was able to bring her son over to my home today to play with Harris and they seemed to really have a good time together. They are both are obsessed with Nintendo DS and other video games, so they have "a lot" in common as well. We are going to be getting together again soon and I am looking forward to it. Sometimes I think that God is watching me and that he really doesn't have time for me or care about me, but then He in his perfect grace sends along someone that understands my every struggles and issues. She can identify with my fears and frustrations because she has the same ones too. God works in subtle but very profound ways.