WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE WE THINKING?!?

I just have to blog again.  I feel like we are trying to straddle two different planets!!  :)  LOL!  Tonight we jumped into a whole new world.  Football.  And not just any football.  Como football.  Randy's gift to Luke for Christmas was the agreement that he would coach Luke's team in whatever he wanted to play this fall.  He's wanted to play tackle football for a while, but did NOT want to attempt football in our hood until this week.  After praying and having LOTS of conversations over the past few days, we feel like we're supposed to do this.  Randy will be an assistant coach.  But let me paint a picture of what this will look like for the Browns.  They just don't play around in Como when it comes to football.  Practice every night of the week except Wednesdays from 6:30 - 8 p.m.  Tonight they were there from 6:15 - 8:45.  Hmmm...  Maybe just because it was the first night of practice?  Games every Saturday.  And this all goes on until mid-November (right around the time I'm due with our 7th child) because they usually make it to the "Superbowl."  We're talking Homecoming, cheerleaders, lots of fundraisers, the whole deal.  And these boys range in age from 4 (yeah, that's right) to 12.  Josiah is on the "B" team (9-10 year olds) with his buddy, Elliott Connally (our friends who just moved here).  And Luke is on the "C" team with his dad helping out with coaching.  The really nice thing is that they practice on the same field which is less than 5 minutes from our house every night.  And their games will always be at the same time on the weekends (11 a.m. and noon).  At least we won't be running all over the place getting people to different places.  This is a HUGE commitment.  Randy doesn't want to take it lightly for Luke's sake and because we're in a little different environment.  Let's just say that we stand out a bit.  Literally, most of these kids have been playing football since they were 4 years old.  They do play flag until they're six.  LOL!  And Elliott, Josiah, and Luke are the only caucasian boys out there.  They worked their fannies off tonight, but my boys were so excited when they got home and couldn't stop talking about it.  And they gladly took showers and went to bed with no arguing.  WORN out!  We'll see - I think I may have to get a little tougher skin to watch them get hit when the time comes!  Bottom line is that this is a mission/kingdom of God decision for us. Randy is really looking forward to time with his boys, and this will be A LOT of time with them.  .  Also, there's no doubt that we will know so many more people in our community by the time this is over.  And it's another way in which to cross some racial barriers which were obvious - though subtly -  even tonight.  This is our neighborhood, and we really look forward to getting to know our neighbors.  There will be grace from God for all that lies ahead for this season!!

In the meantime, Randy and I have just opened a box full of books for McKenna's Bible/history/literature course that she will be taking online during her year at home in the fall.  We are continuing classical education because she may be back at CCS next year.  Can I just say that I would've cried if I had seen this stuff in COLLEGE??!!  And I was an English major!  Here are a few of the titles (and these are all translations of the original, unabridged texts):  Plutarch's Lives, Volume I, The Odyssey, Aeschylus I, The Landmarks Herodotus... and there are more, but it makes me want to cry to think about it.  My husband just declared that he's going to try to read all of it so he can talk about it with her.  I just don't even think I have it in me to read even one!!  :)  Really.  These are college books.  I think I must be really dense.  Or maybe I really have lost lots of brain cells.  I love books, but I can't get even a little excited about these.  I'll let you know if anything changes over the next few months!  I'm going to have to fake it really well when my sweet daughter gets home - or at least give her lots of doughnuts and milk to go with these when she's reading them!  :)

Randy said a few minutes ago that if there is a continuum, we are experiencing two COMPLETELY opposite extremes:  football as a god on one end; education as a god on the other.  I just can't stop laughing.  I think I need some ice cream...