Tough Day

Finally a team picture. Here is the team, minus one player and one coach. Actually, one of the players in the picture no longer plays for us, because of a skull fracture he got the day before our first game. The accident happened at school and had nothing to do with football, for all of you mom and dads with little boys. Just a mean old monkey bar!! Our winning streak came to a halt this week. (as you will remember we have only won 1 game so far, last week). We just barely lost against Dacula, 33-0! Their boys were big and fast. Oh well, at least no one got hurt, right??? The funny moment of the day was before the game even started. One of our kids lost a tooth while playing around with his teammates. His tooth came out and fell in the grass. He was so focused on finding that tooth which was impossible in the tall grass, where we were practicing. I was so glad when his dad finally came over to the practice area to talk to him and help get his head in the game. Of course, Cam was more concerned about finding the tooth so the "tooth fairy" could bring him his money that night. His dad, being the funny, quick on his feet, father that he is, took out his wallet and gave Cam a dollar and said that he was would spot the tooth fairy the money until she "came that night." That seemed to do the trick, because after that Cam was ready to play! Good times on the field! The season is flying by so fast. I couldn't wait for it to end and now I don't want it to end. There is still hope for the playoffs??? (that is what Brent keeps saying) And of course there is always next year!

Sunday

We had a very busy Sunday (as many of you do as well). We attended the funeral for the 14 year old in our community that passed last weekend. The time was special, a little bit of really crazy theology, and a lot of changed lives. Our NBC local news is channel 11. We love this news channel and have told many of you that before. Our pastor's ''brother in-law" (our pastor's first wife Debby died when she was 27 years old from brain cancer, and Chris Holcomb is her brother) is the meteorologist for channel 11. Additionally one of the main news anchors, Brenda Wood, is also a believer, and often you can tell by both of their attitudes and words they use on TV. So we love this news station. Yesterday, one of there reporters stood next to us during the funeral. Of course we did not realize that at the time. But she got us on tape three times! She has a close up Brent's rolled up program with Terrell's face only showing, my whole program and then the back of my super curly hair and Brent's shaved head! I realize that this is a sad situation because of the death of this young boy, but Dr. Cox shared a great message of hope. He also gave an invitation at the end. The staff of our church counted over 400 people that prayed to receive Christ. Dr. Cox admitted in service last night (after the funeral to our church only) that ideally we would have loved to pass out cards to follow up and begin reaching out to these people. But you can't always do that at a funeral service. There were several girls sitting behind Brent and I that we HEARD them praying to receive Christ. At times I know I have had a bad attitude about going to football practice and games three nights a week and each Saturday, but after yesterday, it is no longer just practice to Brent and I. We are going to the mission field!! A lot of the kids and people there yesterday play for the same football organization that we coach for right now. We are just praying that as the years progress with these same kids and families and as opportunities come up, we will continue to be faithful to share Christ with each of them! As it stands right now there are a few families going through some tough stuff in their lives, that I see God using us. Even possible a chance for Brent to do a funeral for one of our parent's father, if he does not beat the cancer he is fighting! You never know, but we are open and ready to used for HIS GLORY!!
I attached a copy of the news story that has a video with us and our church on it! http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=103568

Finally, Hearts and Skills Collide!

That's right folks, our little guys finally WON!!! We won 33-7!!! We knew we could do it, it just took our team a little time. We all caravaned over to the game. The kids and parents cracked up this morning at 8:30 am when Brent and I came driving in with our Saturn honking our horn and all decked out in Green and White window paint, green and white streamers, a football magnet and a football on our antenna! Brent teaches the boys a slogan each week. This week it was "Hey Hey... 93! Which means that 93% of our success in life depends on our attitudes! So one boy will yell out Hey Hey... (the rest of the team screams) 93! So Brent put on the back of our car the slogan. On one window he wrote "7 yr old Eagles will Soar in Game 4!" Sure enough we did. On the other window we wrote, "GO Eagles"!! We were so proud and excited for the boys. I wish I could put some of the littlest guys' cute plays on this site. One little kid, William Huzzie, has developed quite a bit over this season. This is his first year to play. Brent was pumped about his abilities - big and fast. Yet he cried quite a bit in the first few weeks and fumbled "the baby" as Brent tells them. Each week he gets better and more pumped! Today as he was running for a touchdown, he put his hand out with the ball almost taunting the other team. Although he almost cost us the touchdown because of "Excessive celebrating" it was SOOO SOOO FUNNY. He is also our kid that when he has big plays he will do a little dance. I think my favorite play of the day was by "Baby David". He is the smallest kid on our team. He is the youngest in his family. At the beginning of the season he would not hit anyone. Someone told him that he was hitting like a girl {from "Sandlot"}. So during practice one day another kid was trying to tackling David (and the kid was much much bigger than David) and David tells the kid he is hitting like a girl. The kid runs back and creams little David. David stands up, shakes his head and says, "I'll never say that you hit like a girl again." That's our David! All that to say he is our "Rudy." Today, he got one of the extra points. He tucked his head down and just ran right into the middle of those bigger boys and scored the points. He was so proud to hear his name on the loud speaker! His mom was still prouder! She was shocked that her son did that! It was a GREAT GAME! It was so sweet to see the little guys wearing the initials on their helmets for Terrell Wilson, the football player that died last week. It was a great week to win! Of course it is always a great time to win, but this week it was extra special! GO EAGLES!!!! I have some pictures of the other cars and our car below! Thanks for celebrating our win with us!! (Brent may not sleep tonight he is on CLOUD 99)!! Oh yeah, Brent promised the boys if they won today that he would wear this totally hilarious wig on his head all day Monday to work, bed, practice!! Pictures to come for sure!

Wrigley

I just had to add a second post today regarding our sweet puppy. Some of the things she does are so funny. I want to get her on video "talking" but as soon as I bring out the camera, she just watches the camera and stops talking. One day we will get that on tape. For now, I got her barking today. The funny thing is, since she is a hound, she really doesn't bark, but "Hoooooowls" instead. Check out that mohawk! The problem is she hurts her own ears when she does it, so after each bark she shakes her head. One of the other things she loves to do is get her own ice. I have posted two videos of her funny tricks! Hope you enjoy our daily entertainment as much as we do! WE LOVE US SOME WRIGLEY!!

Another Game Day

We are still having a busy yet exciting football season. Worth every second! Our record is not reflective of our hearts for sure! We are 0-3, but that has not stopped our little guys from trying hard. As the season goes on we are seeing more and more progress each game for sure. In fact our kids have often asked on Monday practices if they won or loss the game. So the score and record is not as important to our little guys I guess. We are going to Caravan tomorrow for our last away game. We are excited to dress up our cars and head to SNELLVILLE to take down our next team! I have a video of our little guys getting ready for the last game. To warm up and understand "hitting" they play "Sharks and Minnows." They have a ton of fun doing it as you can see.

It has been a tough week in our league though. We play with the Gwinnett County Football League. Some of these guys play through 8th grade and then move onto the high school team. Unfortunately, one of the 9th graders at our feeder high school, Collins Hill High School, died in his sleep last Friday night after the football game. His name was Terrell Wilson. He died of a torn Aorta. Our guys will be wearing stickers on their helmets this Saturday with a "TW" on the back of them, in honor of Terrell Wilsom. Our church, North Metro, has the opportunity to serve this family by having the funeral at our church on Sunday at 3 pm. Our pastor has been blessed with the opportunity to serve as the chaplain for the Collins Hill high school football teams. Therefore we have been asked to hold the service at our church. We were told that Terrell had quite an impact on folks around him. He was not known for being one of the best players but having the heart and attitude that is required to be the best! Terrell's legacy will be a great influence on our boys and others for years to come! When tragedy like these happen, it makes us (Brent and I) more determined to do whatever it takes to work with families and kids to know the love of Christ. Our pastor told us Sunday that Terrell was known by his friends as someone who lovedGod's Word and read his Bible a lot. He also pointed his friends to God when they were in trouble. This is why we do what we do! Not for the glory, but so that others may see the love of Christ! We are still praying for many of our families that God will use us to minister to them! Additionally, in our area, the local NBC news station has two Christians on the station. One gentleman, the weather man, goes to our church and the main achor lady is also a Christian. I attached a story she did on Terrell on the news last night! http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=103431

Almost Game Day!

As our busy lives continue on, the anticipation of our second football game of the season is upon us tomorrow. We have had several laughs with these little guys as well as the big guys (the coaches). The continuous inward struggle of pushing boys to be all they can on the field and off by teaching them skills, obedience, drive and love for the game of football. At the same time building relationships with coaches and parents and even other teams in our association. The thing that is the most funny to me when it comes down to it all, many of the kids are there to have fun!! One of our little guys asked after the last game, "So who won?" It goes to show you that 7 years old are still little guys and just want to play ball!

Besides football, which at this moment it doesn't feel like there is anything else, Brent and I are teaching a Special Needs older youth/adult Sunday School class at church every other Sunday until the end of 2007. Again another hilarious adventure for sure. The kids/adults are so so sweet and just make us laugh. Brent asked one of our guys who has Downs Syndrome to read our Bible Story for the morning. This little guy reads really well but really really quiet, almost a whisper. So you almost get to the point that you just follow along in your own Bible and hope you end the verse about the same time. The funny part was when he was in the middle of reading one of the boys in the class kept talking and talking. So Blake (our reader) without batting an eye or looking up said, "then God said let there be light and BE QUIET PLEASE, and there was light." I know it was a have to be there deal, but Brent and I could not contain our laughter! They are all so funny. Even the prayer request that they have for us are so sincere and personal and things that we totally forget we need to pray about! As you can see, again we are having a good time. Brent is teaching (because he loves it and does so well) and I am just helping when I can! I took some pictures from our first day in class with our crowns on our heads that we had made, but they are on Brent's phone, so I will post some other pictures from this years VBS which Brent also helped in this class!
These are two of youth that help with Agape (Special Needs
Ministry) dressed up for a skit in VBS.


Some of our "Friends" also in a play