After 6 days on the road, I don't recall the last time I've been so "comforted" by being home. Maybe comforted is the wrong word I'm looking for since I feel quite the contrary about being in this house but there is certainly something to be said for sleeping in your own bed, wearing clean PJ's and cleaning the wilted lettuce out of the fridge that you thought would manage to be ok till you got back home again. Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I don't like leaving the house for an extended period of time without giving it a thorough clean job first. My hectic life and scattered brain did not afford me the luxury of cleaning the house before I left, much to my dismay! I really don't like coming home to a dirty house. After all, who wants to come home, unpack, do laundry, find something to eat (because no matter what I'm NOT eating out again!) and have to clean the bathroom or sweep the floor as well. I, for one, sleep better when the house is clean and in order. Nothing else in my life is in order right now so it's level of importance has been kicked up a notch...ironic, huh? I'm not laughing. Neither are my swollen feet...although it IS mildy theraputic for my aching heart. Quiet is nice but coming home to a smiling face is even nicer. Jennifer and I didn't receive any such greeting. Maybe one day I'll adjust to our new lives but for now I'm going to wallow in my sadness and thirst for what's not.
All things aside, we did have a good trip to CA. How can you go wrong with three ladies and three 13 yr. old girls in a mini van with vast amounts encouragment in various colors all over every window (except the windshield of course) cruising down I5 from Olympia to Danville, CA in anticipation of kicking some CA soccer butt, right? Of course with six opinions it was not all smooth sailing but we did create some good memories. Shelly "tortured" us by going outlet shopping (ok, I did find a cute ring or two) and we "tortured" her by going to a mini amusement park along the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. We quickly found out that she doesn't like roller coasters, heights, spinning rides (me either Shelly) or sand in her shoes. Don't tell anyone but she went on a roller coaster (and didn't puke or go deaf from Jennifer screaming), took a ride on the sky cars to get a view of the city AND not only got sand in her shoes but she was happy about it. God is good! Other fun outings included a trip or two to "In and Out", a tour of the Jelly Belly factory, a dip in the jacuzzi, team dinners, team meetings and no less than a half a dozen trips to Fred Meyer. We took lots of pictures, shared one bathroom to four females, ate lunch in an unfamilar park with some questionable folks hanging around (we even plowed down the last of our fruit before we crossed the CA border since taking fruit accross the boarder is a no no), washed waaaaaay stinky socks and uniforms by hand (and dryed them with a hair dryer), booked hotels and google searched all kinds of stuff on our phones, sang songs together, grumbled at getting up with the alarm at 4 or 5am almost every day, followed Ke's strict "no calorie left behind" policy and last but certainly not least played a few very competitive games of soccer. Our only 3 guaranteed games of play were all tied games, 0-0, 0-0 and 1-1 (all teams from CA). I'd say we were matched very well to the teams we played. Of course there is always room for improvement but I know that's much easier said than done sitting on the sidelines and honestly, it would be a lotta pressure being the best...or at least thinking you are. We all have our opinions on what the coaches should do to mix things up a bit and see how we can improve but somehow I don't think they would take our opinions seriously so we just tell our girls how fantastic they are and encourage them to let it all on the field and move forward. I am in awe of Jennifer's tenacity, eagerness to win the ball, apply what she learns and resilantcy to bounce back after sitting on the sidelines watching most of her teamates get more play time than she does. She does get frustrated at her coach's patronizing behavior but all in all she's just happy to play hard when she's on the pitch. I'm blessed to have a daugher who has integrity and humility. I love to watch her play, learn and accomplish new things. Her team made it into the quarter finals and played a team out of CA called "Ajax". It won't be too soon if we never, ever play this team again.Undeniably we have girls that don't mind being aggressive and physical but these girls added all that and drama, cursing and flopping to their resume'. The worst of it was having our girls being cursed at by other parents and being told to go the f* back to Washington. WOW! It's a good thing I didn't know that till after the game was over. It was definately an emotional game that had you sitting on the edge of your fold up chair or pacing the side of the field. I was already grumpy from lack of sleep and the cold (yes I said COLD weather) that nobody packed for. I mighta got myself in trouble. We lost in literally the last minute of the game when one of our girls got yellow carded for a foul (yes she deserved it) and they got a kick just outside of the keeper box. In it went. It's what some call back karma but it's what I call a learning opportunity for the girls. They let the other team get under their skin and they got mad. I don't blame them at all but it cost them the game. It's hard to walk away with your head up when you know that the other team didn't deserve to carry on further into the semi-finals with the potty mouths and pompus attitudes they so boldy displayed. Humble pie never tastes good. Afterwards we did go out on a team dinner to a place called Max's Diner. It doesn't sound great but let me tell you it was a nice turn around to the day and the food was excellent. Girls at one big long table, the adults and a few pitchers of beer at another. None for me though...it tastes gross and it makes me say things I shouldn't. Nuf said.
Now it's on to 3 hard days of yard saling...not going to them but having one. Jennifer and I will be taking a missions trip to China next May and we need to do some serious fund raising. We will be going to an orphanage to help out with anything they need us for...I haven't figured out yet how I am going to hold those babies and not bring them all home. I would seriously walk away from everything tangable in my life here (except my photos and Bible) if I could trade it all in to give them all a place to call home and peole to call family. I'll deal with the emotional end of that later...especially since my lifelong dreams of adopting seem to grow increasingly dim as time goes on. God has a plan and I'll just have to go along with it...now for the joyful attitude about it...I'm working on that. For now I must get some rest...I'm down to about 4 hrs before the alarm goes off.
For now I'm going to cut it off and drag my weary self to bed. Praise the Lord for my hair dresser too. I get to have her work her magic tomorrow and boy do I need it. Jennifer and I are spending the next 4 days working at a yard sale in hopes of raising some decent cash for missions trip to China next year. Pray for us. Next week we are off to PA to welcome our newest addition to our family - Grand-daugher and niece, Sarah Elizabeth...and of course to see my Mom and Grandmother, among others. For now, good-night!
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