Galatians 3:26-27

Chelsea Alice Lee was baptized into Christ by her Daddy tonight.  

More tomorrow … 

thanks to Jan for the pictures !

Don’t Miss

Whatever you do, do not miss my very next post. 

School Soccer

Chelsea is playing soccer on her school’s JV team this winter.  The school season runs during the “off season” of select soccer.  She needs to keep her head in the game and her feet on the ball during the off season, so she chose to play at school.   There are some cool things about playing for your school like a team sweatshirt, school pride  and spending time with people you would not normally spend time with because they are in a different grade.  Chelsea’s case is a little unique.  She is the only 6th grader on the team.  The girls on the team don’t mind, but I’m taking a little heat from parents in the stands because their girls had to wait until 7th grade.  Anyway, she cannot play in district varsity games, but was able to play in her first non-district varsity game last week.  Her comment was that she liked it but she was a little scared because some of the girls on both teams can drive !  That cracked me up.  I told her she was not scared of me and I can drive.     She did well and I was happy for her.  Last night’s game was painful.  She played JV only – thank goodness !  The other school’s teams shut out both our JV (5-0) and varsity teams ( 7 or 8 or 9 – 0, I lost count) and it was tough to watch.  Chelsea played well until the coach moved her from wing to defense.  We all know this is a mistake.  A 4′9″, 74lb girl is not a defender.  I cannot think of a sport that needs a defender that size.  She played well on the wing and is great about pressuring the ball, she has lightening speed, but moving her into a space where she has a kid 3x her size running full force at her is just not a good idea.  She moved out of the way at one point and allowed a goal.  She gave the coach an “I told you so”  look.  He gave her a shrug.  They both laughed about it when the game was over.  She did have fun and we went to eat pasta and break down the game when it is over.  This has become our routine over the last couple of years.  She has 2 goals in mind right now – #1 Play soccer for the LSU Lady Tigers and # 2 Coach kids and be a better coach than some of the ones she has had.

Go Tigers! GO CHELSEA!

Counting My Blessings

This is what is on my heart and rambling around in my brain today …

It is always easy for me to be thankful during this time of year.  I am mindful of the fact that many people did not have a house full of people on Thanksgiving with plenty of food and of the fact that Christmas will be here soon and we will have another large family dinner.  I may struggle with some things from time to time, but I live in a house with my family; not a car, a cardboard box or a FEMA trailer, but a house.   I did not lose anything during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita except electricity, a little food in the freezer, sleep and cable.  I could not drive anywhere in BR or shop in a Wal Mart unless I was ready to spend 4 hours doing so, but all things considered, I did not lose anything.  We have 2 adults in our family and we have 2 vehicles that run.  We send our child to private school and she plays soccer on a select team and at school.  During this time of year, it is easy to count my blessings because a local TV station has a coat drive for kids who don’t have a coat, Feed a Family has barrels in every store and I  drop something in and say a prayer of thanks that I am able to do so.  During this time of year  it is easy to count my blessings because I am constantly reminded (through media mostly) of people who do not have what I have.  What I need to work on is counting my blessings and saying the prayers of thanks during the other 10 months of the year.  I need to remember when Jan 1st rolls around that my blessings continue and so do other peoples needs. 

Count your blessings this holiday season.  Write them down and pull the list in January and count them again …

Thankful

I have so many things to be thankful for.  Really, I have so many people I am thankful for.  I am blessed to have a Christian husband, a daughter who is beautiful inside and out, parents who love me, and a sister who is one of my best friends.  Not to be missed is my brother-in-law and my very precious niece Allison and my “big guy” nephew, Nicholas.  I really couldn’t move on into the whole Christmas season without mentioning Nicholas.  Nicholas Scott  came into this world 7 weeks early (11/2/05) and after 3 weeks in the hospital, was able to come home on the day before Thanksgiving (11/05).  This year during our Thanksgiving celebration he was smiling and walking and entertaining.  Below are pictures of the big guy- birth day and 1st birthday – God is good and I am thankful.

Guess Who Came to Dinner

Disorderly Advantage

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”
- A.A. Milne
I read this quote on Sandy’s blog and I had to use it.  It reminded me of a matchbook that Scotty gave me while we were dating.  We dated such a long time ago that restaurants had matchbooks on the tables (I know, save the “old” jokes).  Anyway, Scotty wrote a message on the inside and somehow put it in my purse when I wasn’t looking.  It was a nice surprise to have a note from him later that evening.  I kept that matchbook.  I didn’t always know where to find it, but I knew I had it.

Fast forward …  I was doing some cleaning (really cleaning) and I ran across a box that I had not opened in years.  I have been watching those shows on cable where the people organize your home and other things like that.  I was about to follow their rule about throwing the box away if you haven’t opened it in a year, but I decided I love my old stuff too much to do that.  (That’s why I have so much stuff!).  OK, so, that matchbook was in the box!  Along with some other things that I did throw away.  Now the matchbook is in a safe place.

Why am I going on and on about a matchbook?  Well, #1 , I happen to be married to a very sweet man who knows how much I  like finding little notes. I do keep most of them, but this one was one of the first ones.  # 2 The matchbook was from a restaurant called Chelsea’s in Cortanta Mall.  It was on that date 21 years ago that we decided if we ever got married and had a girl, we would name her Chelsea. 

Fast forward … March of 1995 …  welcome Chelsea Alice Lee … what a treasure!

Check the recipe

“Check the recipe” Chelsea said before we headed out the door.  We were about to make our second trip to the store for an ingredient to make Scotty’s birthday cake.  The first trip to the store was for buttermilk and butter.  I knew I needed both, so I stopped on the way home.  I pulled out the recipe and Chelsea sifted flour.  Where is the baking soda?  It took a minute, but I found it.  I don’t bake much,  so baking soda is not one of the things I see on a regular basis.  Sugar, cinnamon, cocoa … everything is moving along and then I discover I have no powdered sugar.  I tell Chlesea we need to run back to the store and she says “Check the recipe”.  I gave it a glance, but knew I had everything we would need.  We ran in and the same cashier that greeted us an hour earlier was friendly and tried not to giggle.  Home again and on a roll only to discover I have no vanilla.  I have banana extract and almond extract, but no vanilla.  Did I mention I don’t bake a lot?  It is now 8:48 and the store around the corner closes at 9:00.  This time Chelsea says “It’s a good thing the store is only 1 minute from our house.  Did you check the recipe?”  We walk in to the store with about 3 minutes to spare and the guy bagging groceries welcomes me back.  How nice, the people at my neighborhood store welcome me .  We secured the vanilla and headed out the door and the smart mouthed little bag boy said “See you soon”.

I wouldn’t change a thing about it.  Chelsea and I made Scotty’s favorite cake for his birthday and we had fun doing it together.  I had a great time laughing with her.  When the cake was finshed, we signed cards, wrapped the presents and covered the cake. 

Now that I know baking with Chelsea is so much fun, I think I’ll do it more often.  But not without checking the recipe …

Passing It On

Well, Dusty’s Dad started it and Dusty dutifully follwed.  Even thought I don’t know Dusty’s Dad, I thought it was a good idea.  So here I go …  the three people I would like to encourage by throwing gasoline on their fire are :

# 1.  Christi Grady Marin ~  This girl is a constant source of encouragement to many, an awesome wife and Mother, someone who always takes the time and makes the effort to go the extra mile and is a person who is constantly searching the scriptures and living for God.  She is a blessing in my life and has been since the day I met her.  I know she has also been a blessing to many people she has come in contact with. 

#2.   Jan Talkington ~ People, you all want this woman to be your children’s minister.  She spends so much time and energy keeping the children’s ministry running.  I have a child who greatly benefitted from her work and the kids at South are truly blessed to have such a servant.  Bible bookmarks, TNT, LTC, Wednesday night class, special treats for teachers … and the list goes on.   Kudos to you, Jan.  Keep up the good work! 

#3.  Stacy Scott Gaskin – a woman with a heart for the Lord.  A woman who has taught me how to recognize and appreciate grace.  A woman of true beauty who goes above and beyond for many and many times it goes unnoticed.  She is one of my prayer warrior partners and I love her dearly.

Your turn people, pick 3 !

Blog Happy

I love to read other people’s blogs.  I begin by reading all of the blogs on my own blogroll and then read blogs my friends link to.  Yesterday I had a great time in blog land!  Roger seemed to be talking about some people in my family in his “Knotheads” post.  Dusty is putting together an all star cast for an upcoming “Tour of Preachers” that I would not want to miss.  And finally, Jan’s video did put a smile on my face.  I loved it and I would guess most of you reading this knows exactly how that kid felt.  God is good.  Have a great day!