Busy...

Wanting to post on this election crap, but I'm too freakin' busy...had Fearless Family Fun Nite last night, and because of construction in one area, my office became candy central, and it's a wreck...maybe later, but idk...

Wildcats earn final game

The Peewee Wildcats will be playing in the championship game this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Iowa Park high school stadium against the undefeated Electra Lions. It will be a true test ot how much we've come along, as we dropped 2 of our first 3 games and then rattled off 6 wins in a row by at least 2 TDs each including a playoff defeat of Bowie North who beat us one of those early games.

It looked like we were lining up against an older team as we lined up against the Wichita Falls Redskins this weekend, but our guys dug deep and never let the game be in doubt as we basically scored 2 TDs to their 1 each half.

We are taking a detour this spring from sports for Drew. The football season has run so deep and the basketball team is expected to be pretty good and might do the same, so he is not going to play baseball this spring. Instead, he is going to shoot trap. I have a 12-gauge that belonged to my grandpa that he is going to start on. This will be a nice change for him as he tends to take the sports stuff so serious that he is already losing some of the joy of it. He puts so much pressure on himself...like he is only mildly satisfied with the wins and devastated with each loss. This individual sport will be good for him.

Drew with a gun...watch out...

But for now, we want to go out and win this championship!!!

Prayer request

Just an update on my grandparents for those that have been asking:

My papa (dad's dad) has finished up his chemo and radiation. He was told that the mass in his lung has shrunk and the collapsed part of the lung is opening back up. They say that the treatments work for about 6 weeks after they are complete, so they will wait a while before checking him again to see how it is all doing. He has always been as a healthy as anyone I know other than now his fourth round of cancer (removed part of colon, removed kidney, and chemo for a third cancerous tumor all prior to this). My grandmother is just busy taking care of him...which it's more work to make him not do stuff than it would be for her to just do it...

My granny (mom's mom) is have bypass surgery in Dallas on Wednesday, and I'll be heading down early for that. She was found to have a 90%, 95%, and a 100% blockage. The tricky part is that they only found one usuable vein in her leg, so they are going to have to cut into arm and maybe even behind her chest to find more. She will be there for about 10 days and then to a rehab hospital in Wichita.

Thanks for your prayers.

Going to the Semis

The Pee Wee Wildcats are going to the Semifinals. They will face Wichita Falls NW Redskins this next Saturday at Iowa Park at 1 p.m. We went up 8-0 pretty quick on a long Richey run and Drew 2 pt conversion, but turned around and let Bowie score on a blown coverage by Drew and poor angles by the entire secondary...apparently, the kid was much quicker than our kids thought. We scored again as Corben got his first TD since our second game...and followed it by scoring the 2 pt conversion. We were up 16-6 at the half. Corben scored again to put us up 24-6 (2 pt. conversion by Jeremiah). Bowie said they were throwing in the flag and playing their backups, so we put in a backup offense (possibly next season's starting offense)...and they rattled off a long TD run by Justin to put us up 30-6...a perfect team to revenge score on after the rain game. Bowie followed by putting their starters back in and grabbing another score, but Garger stood them up on the line in the conversion attempt which left the game's final score at 30-12. Wichita Falls later beat City View 8-6, so that determined who we face. Good job guys!

ebay

I felt the need to post this exchange of emails with a store that tried to jip Isha out of some jeans I won for her on ebay...and I love the politeness I was able to 'draw' out of them. Basically, we won the item at a price that I think was lower than they wanted to sell them for, and they were trying to get out of it, but hopefully the jeans are on their way now:

seller: hi there, i couldn't get the messege to you before the auction ended but the jeans have been damaged and sent back to the manufacturer, i am so sorry for any inconvienience i wasn't aware of this till i got to my store this afternoon, thanx so much for your understanding. i will refund the balance if you have already paid.

me: Are you sure you just didn't get as much as you wanted for the item? There was no reason you couldn't have gotten this off in time, and just so happen to get on to do it just as the auction was over? I will report this to ebay because I do not believe you...

me: You must send the item, and it must arrive and be as described within 10 days or ebay will begin their investigation. I have contacted customer service, and they are very curious as to the timing of your communication being right after the auction won at a price lower than what you said they valued at, but they asked me to contact you first about sending the item in. They would then request proof of the damage and proof that it was returned to the manufacturer and what the manufacturer would do for the damaged item.
My suggestion is to just send the jeans and forget this ever happened...

seller: i will have some more by the first of the week, i will send a pair,,, they maybe alittle lighter or darker depending on what i get. just bear w/ me let me see what i get. sorry... i will make it right.

me: Just checking in to see if you've got those jeans to send yet. Waiting patiently...Thanks.

seller: hi, didn't get mail today, i will have several pair tomorrow, and will send em out 1st thing wed morning, i will resend the reciept tomorrow for you, thanx for your patience.

seller: hi, just got the jeans wrapped up and ready to send off to you,, i think you'll be happy w/ em. ill resend the paypal invoice and get these off in the morning.

LOL...why do we have to be so firm to get good service nowadays? Oh well...maybe the jeans will come, and we'll "forget this ever happened..."

Basketball

I'm still excited about the football season, but I attended a basketball meeting last night and can't wait for that either. I'm on the board at the Y, and I had to go over rules with the coaches that coach in the division that I usually ref in. I have my teams...Alisha's 5th grade girls team and Drew's 3rd grade boys teams. They are both beginning to move beyond the age that I like seeing the most. I reffed last season doing an all-day slate of 2nd/3rd grade girls games (because I had a boys team in that division). While the gym supervisor continues to point out all the moms he thinks is hot, and the parents yell and scream at me from time to time, it was just so much fun to be doing a lot of the same teams week after week. It was so cool to watch them progress throughout the year and to watch their personalities on the court. Even as a ref that is supposed to be a robot out there, I cannot help but coach and encourage a little. I love watching the 'animal' come out in some girls as the games get tight in the end...I just whisper things to them to encourage them to channel it through their play instead of anything that I would have to call. Now, I see a lot of those girls around Wichita all the time. I always notice their double-take of me because they recognize me...sometimes not even sure where from.

All that to say that it just makes you even more aware of the fact that we are to be a light to the world everywhere we go. I love my job and working with kids all the time. I love the positive impact we can have in their lives. I pray I always know what God has blessed me with, and that I can have that impact on them and my own two.

South Conference Champs!!!

The Archer City Pee Wee Wildcats have captured the South Conference Championship. They move into the playoffs as a number 1 seed and face Bowie North this next Saturday at 3 p.m. We lost to Bowie earlier in the season 0-12. However, things are different now, so we'll have to see how it goes, but I believe that we are much-improved and a different team. First of all, it was pouring down rain for most of the game. Second, one of our starting RBs was not there, and our backup fumbled 3 times playing the spot for the first time in a game with the rain. We really only gave up the one TD with our first-team defense on the field, and I'm not sure that Bowie got a first down outside of that. The second TD came with less than 2 minutes left, and we cleared our bench to give all the guys some playing time. Our top player has played "out of his head" the last 4 games. He's nearly knocked a kid out of every game on defense and scored 11 TDs in those 4 games. Then, there's the home field factor. Bowie scored one TD, and at that exact time, the varsity coach comes out and says he wants a running clock for the rest of the game to protect the field. Combine that with the 2-minute huddles that Bowie was having, and we didn't really have much time to turn things around. We will not have a running clock and we will have a crew that includes the head ref for the league that will not allow the stall tactic in the huddle that takes advantage of no play clock. We are coming off 4 straight wins, and Bowie is coming off a conference championship loss to Wichita Falls NW. Let's do this...

Hmmm???

Ok, what would it mean if someone was told by God that they were going to die in a car wreck in the next four weeks. Because they had always wanted to smoke, but didn't because of health reasons, they went ahead and took it up. Three weeks later, they crash into a guardrail and die because some cigarette ashes had fallen in their lap. Hmm?

Well, I think that's the way we are a lot of times. We live our life in a "binary system." For those that remember a binary system in computers has only two options: 1 or 0. We know that ultimately, we can only either go to heaven or hell. If we have that assurance that we are going to heaven, we tend to stop working on stuff because our decision is made. We forget that the Holy Spirit was sent to us, not only to call us to salvation, but to guide us in our everyday lives.

I believe that "God's control" is not as much control as we think. Think about it, if God was really in control, would there be so much sin in the world? Would the world be rapidly decaying as it is? I know he can have as much control as he wants, but I believe, for the most part, he sets things in motion (such as nature...and our birth), and after that he reliquishes that control until we truly come before him and ask for it. I believe that the power we have through the Holy Spirit has to be claimed.

I particularly believe that, we as baptists, shy away from that. I discussed in my Bible study last night, what if someone could fly? Would they do it? Of course they would. If I could fly, it would be next to impossible to keep me from it. There's so much I could do for good, for fun, and for myself. So then, if we have so much power through the Holy Spirit, why do we not use it? Well, to begin with, my analogy is a poor one for this reason: If I could fly, I would do so because I see the benefit and know it would be great, but I would be in control. Would I be so quick to fly if it meant someone else would be controling me? I don't think so. We do have power through the Holy Spirit...power to heal through prayer, power to win souls for Christ, power to be an important part of miracles performed, power to be a mouthpiece of the gospel...but that power is only found by giving up control to the Holy Spirit.

My prayer is that we, as a body of believers...both my church and beyond, relinquish more and more of that control as we truct God with our lives. We've already given him eternity, so why do we hang on to our lives in pathetic world?