Nice weather about killed me.

Yesterday was beautiful here in Northeastern Kansas. I started snapping branches from the mega kindling pile in the back garden. After a 3 foot high by four foot wall was snapped and stacked, I started on cutting the thicker branches with the circular saw.  This all began because Hubby mentioned a job opening in Kuwait. I needed the time to get my mind wrapped around the idea and become mentally prepared for anything in the near future.  Just like a Boy Scout - you must be prepared. Manual labor helps the process.
 Also, the fact that CASEY the schnauzer/terrier mix has decided that the dwindling woodpile was a great springboard over the fence to freedom. He must have cleared it 5 times yesterday before we finally caught him in the act and figured out where he was getting out. Next job was to move the firewood. THe stack has to be either so high that he can't get on top, or so low that it doesn't help him. Making sure the sides of the piles were steep without toe holds was another chore.

I was ready for bed at 7 last night.

The morton's neuroma seems to be getting better - I was able to work out in the yard, so I'd say it was better. I go in later this week for another shot in each foot of 4% alcohol.  The I'm tough, I can handle any shot you give me, disappeared the following day after the first round of shots into the balls of the feet. My right foot protested all weekend (during a trip to Oklahoma to recruit and athlete and attend a funeral) I was a hobbling mess. The left foot was fine except for the rash on top of the foot over the injection site - I'm wondering if the alcohol has a wheat gluten base.  I get another round of shots THursday and also next week. I'm hoping to be done with foot pain for at least 50 years. Yeah right. We'll see.

Track practice is going well. We will be done with 6:30 a.m. workouts this week. The kids are excited, I'm excited. Hawk has been going with me almost every morning and working out with the javelin throwers. We built him a javelin out of copper tubing with aluminum piping inside. It flys nicely.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week.

a few good quotes

"When you judge yourself, you break your own heart."



Anonymous


“I am convinced that attitude is the key to success or failure in almost any of life’s endeavors. Your attitude, your perspective, your outlook, how you feel about yourself, how you feel about other people determines your priorities, your actions, your values. Your attitude determines how you interact with other people and how you interact with yourself.”


Carolyn Warner


“If you hear a voice within you saying, You are not a painter, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.”


Vincent Van Gogh



“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.


Herm Albright



Creative Action: There is a difference between honest self evaluation – (I did that really well”, or “I could have done this better) and harsh judgements and labels (I’m stupid, fat, ugly, can’t do anything right….). One way to change the latter is use a simple phrase of “that’s not me” when you find yourself plagued by negative thoughts. This is a recognition that negative messages may often come from the past – a bully on the playground, parent or teacher. Secondly, it’s a recognition that we are all very complex human beings that cannot be reduced to a single attribute. Try repeating “that’s not me”, the next time you notice negative self-talk. Adapted from “Why negative self talk isn’t about you” by Bruce Corwin

Have a great weekend.

What they think we do....

We are the last picture, but put the books all over the floor, throw in two dogs, Gluten's bathrobe in the middle of the floor and that would be reality.

Traveling to recruit an athlete from my home town this weekend,and found that. -  This spur of the moment trip will  allow me to go to an aunt's funeral. Didn't want to plan it this way. Glad God is taking care of the planning. Aunt Naomi is with Him now. She fought cancer for a long time.

Conference Meet KCAC

Last Saturday we left campus at 5:45 A.M. on the dot. Yes, that means one of the athletes going as a helper was running across the parking lot to catch up with us. I like it when a tight schedule is kept concerning leaving time.  You wait for one straggler once, then you will be waiting for ten the next time.
The meet was in Wichita, a three hour drive. I was hoping to drive in the morning so I wouldn't have to drive after the long day. Coach pushed me out of the seat. Aw, man. 

The meet started with field events at 10. I had a women's high jumper and a men's decathalon jumper competing. Kay B.- has jumped 4'9", today she sailed over 5'1 1/2".  HOOT! HOOT!  5 foot is a real mental block for jumpers. It was the men's turn. The starting height was going to be 1/4 of an inch higher than Jer. J. has ever jumped. He seemed tight, no confidence showing in his stature. We had a little talk after his first 2 attempts. THe last talk consisted of "Relax and have fun". He soared. Just the happiness, surprise, and wonderment on his face was a rush.

Kay B. later broke her time in the 800m. and Jer. J. broke his personal best in the 400m. They had a great day.
Overall, we took 9 athletes to compete. 7 Personal Records were broke, and I can count 6 medals that were collected by our teammates (maybe one more in there). Great day for a program that just started.

We now have snow. THank you, Lord, for holding the snow until we were back from the meet.
Oh, I also saw John at church yesterday morning. It was amazing how good he looked, and was walking with no assistance. He still has a couple of surgeries ahead of him. But to look at him you wouldn't know he had kissed an I-beam with his face. Miracles and answered prayers. We truely have an awesome God.

Recruit trip to Home

Yeah, I had contact with an athlete from my home town of YUKON, OK.  I get to make a trip home for recruiting purposes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It will nice to see Mom, Dad and as much family and friends as possible in the short trip. Yukon also has a new track and stadium, it will be exciting to see how much the school has grown since 'my day' when we picked the large rocks out of the cinder track before track meets.

Praise, Praise, Praise

John is home from the hospital and sending out emails!  We are all amazed at his recover. God's handiwork is awesome.
He is joking around with visitors, fussing over his cellular phone and computer - this is so normal for him, it just yanks the corner of your lips into a smile to think about him. Thank you so much for your prayers. He knows he was being prayed for and felt the peace it brings.


Herogian received his drivers permit. I don't know yet if this is a praise or not. Just thought I'd warn you.

A prayer and an answer

Terri, John's wife, had mentioned in her emails that he kept calling her Theresa Ann instead of Terri. So I started praying this week that he would call her Terri again. Little things can mean so much to the heart. This morning as I finished reading her update on his improvements (which have been many) she signed off as Terri ( he is calling me that again).   It warmed my heart. I could hear the smile in her voice as she reported about the good 2 days they have had. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for John.
Nothing is too small or too large to pray for.

So now I ask for another prayer. Please pray that Tony's extension for 1 more year active duty will come through. Another soldier in the office found out on Feb. 1, that his wasn't going through and he has to be out of his office today. It will cut his pay in half if he has to go back to the old job, and I just cut mine in half with taking leave from Price Chopper to coach.

Busy as a bee around here

This feels weird to actually be sitting at home and not driving kids around town. The last few weeks have been hecktick with house remodeling, morning practices, and afternoon practices with the weather being nice enough to be outside, schooling, working at the store, recruiting trip etc.... I'm praying that the weather will hold until this next weekend is completed and then it can blow and snow.
This coming Saturday is our KCAC Indoor Conference meet in Witchita. We will be driving 3 hours in the morning, competing in a track meet, which usually last all day, then driving back home. The last time I drove those specific roads in winter, we were caught in a blizzard. I'm not feeling to comfortable about the trip, knowing just how quickly the weather can change here on the plains.

The rooms down stairs are done. Kevin Wendts Construction did a super job. He was out here early (before 8) and sometimes after 7 at night to get the job done. He also took on the job of making a steeple chase hurdle for our track team runner to use this spring and dropped it off at the house when he brought the new doors. He was also a big help in brainstorming how to make high jump standards out of PVC pipe.
We used them this morning at practice instead of pulling the indoor soccer goals up along side the high jump pit. Can you imagine - miss the pit and land in the goal net. Scary! Baseball pitching mounds became takeoff boards for practicing form over the bar, and carpet for ceremonies in the gym make a great takeoff surface. The kids are learning to do with what we have, instead of looking at what we don't have. Don't tell the baseball team we used their mound.

Another plus this week was finding a javelin for under 250$.  This morning the fog was heavy, but one of the throwers was itching to get outside to be the first to throw it. Behind the gym is the football field. It was a picture out of the movies watching him throw the javelin into the thick cloud and have it disappear. We didn't know how far he was throwing it until he ran down the field to retrieve it. He told me I was a totally "Cool Coach" for letting him throw it. Stroked my ego.

THe recruiting and fund raising parts of the job are getting stressful- ler. Coach is getting pressure already from the school about bringing in a certain number of athletes for CC/TRACK next year (26 i think). He asked me to find at least 2 girls and 2 guys for field events. That doesn't sound like much, but it time consuming and mentally wearing to try and find athletes that might want to come to a small Catholic university. Then there is showing up at track meets and walking up to people to give them your card and talk to them. UGH! I'd rather stay behind this screen.
TOnight, I had to laugh, because a request Coach made was so unreasonable it made me hang my head. We haven't had any hits on our track clinic we are offering Feb. 25th. That's another thing I have to work on. So I get this email in the middle of sending out recruiting emails telling me to start emailing Kansas City coaches about the clinic. And just where am I supposed to get those email addresses? Our head coach is ADHDHDHD and he admits it.  I'm just turning it over to God. He knows which athletes need a motherly mentor. I'll keep sending out emails.

 Please keep our family friend, John, in your prayers, he fell last week, hitting his head against an I-beam. He crushed his nose and broke the eye socket. He is finally out of ICU but has more surgeries coming his way. He and his family are wonderful servants for the Lord.

Have a great week. Thanks for stopping by.