The Comeback Kids...

1st round playoffs, house basketball...last night! :) Oldest and his crew played hard, pretty much had the other team for the entire game. In fact, I'm pretty sure they had the point lead the entire game. Only one really great thing to point out, other than the fact that they won...and advance to round 2 of the playoffs next week...

Point: Oldest got a pretty comical foul. Standing still, guy with the ball runs into him. Literally. Ever seen a bone hit a brick wall? That's what it looked like. Oldest just standing as still as he wanted and this kid runs into him and literally flys backwards and hits the ground. Standing still, my boy was. What can I say, he's a "brickkk houseeee". Music cued. I found it pretty amusing from the sidelines. Strangely, opposing team dad seated next to me didn't share in my joy.

Real Forgiveness

One of my favorite things to do is to wake up before anyone in the house and spend just a few quiet moments reading my bible. Goal is to read it cover to cover before year's end. Version of choice: The Message Version. Love this version. Reads like a story, which, of course, the Bible really is. It's modern day language and easy to follow. Wraps you right up in there, which, of course, the Bible should do.

Today, just finished up Genesis. Shush, I know that's the first book in there...and it's the end of May! I don't always have those quiet mornings, okay? Lord help me if Youngest wakes up. "Talk time" commences. Well, today's conclusion involves the end of Joseph's life. Reading about his end really made me think about his beginnings. What a great example of forgiveness. I imagine that sitting in jail cells for years would make a dude pretty bitter. Last night at our small group we talked about how experiences in life can make us bitter if we don't deal with them appropriately. How much of something are we supposed to hang on to? How much do we let go? How do we forgive someone of the unthinkable, which tragically happens everyday to lots of someones.

I picture Joseph sitting in a jail cell making a conscious choice to forgive his brothers. All alone, imprisoned, he had more than just a solitary home and no one to share it with. He had to decide to be successful despite what he was facing. Whoa. For me, that's major. Just the decision is tough. Actually becoming that person is work too. But many of us don't get to the actual work because we don't want to move out of unforgiveness, bitterness and pain.

As I closed the chapter on Genesis and Joseph's life this morning, I thought "I sure hope I remember Joseph the next time I am done wrong". Personally, I want to be like Joseph...bitterness-free, unforgiveness-less! I think it does start with a conscious choice...a decision to be and do something different. Joseph is the ultimate success story of hard work, perserverance and determination...AFTER he decided to do something with what he was given. I hope I decide that. And I hope you do too.

well guys, i've bitten the bullet and have started watching the Lost series. Now before you either groan or cheer, know that I had no interest in moving towards this venture. I can say that in all it's tv history I've never watched even 5 minutes of the show. Nothing about a crashed airplane or surviving on an island interests. In fact, there might be some fears wrapped up in my huge "no" to that idea. And now the series has ended. I've seen posts of facebook, internet news articles, etc with everyone's take on how the series ended, and thought I should get a piece of this.

What was I thinking? I have finished episode 3 and discovered some necessities for watching. Number 1: the finger is steadily hovering over the mute button. Seriously. I can't watch the jungle scenes with any kind of background music. Kudos to the musicians for the show. They did a superb job in scaring me. It didn't take long before I found my way to that mute button and stayed there. Literally. Even the introduction music to the show is the sound that I think I would hear after my plane crashed and broken metal was left floating in the air. Super scary.

Yet, this super smart gal decides to keep watching. I like the beach scenes. I think that keeps me going. Can't they just stay on the beach? Goodness. If I was on that island I would never, ever...ever, ever leave that beach. In fact, I'm confident I would sit perched with my back to the ocean, facing the jungle so I could see whatever was coming for me.

If you've seen it, then NO comments below! Although I tried to read several finale recaps, it never happened. So, I'll keep watching, but only in the daylight, and only with my finger on the mute button, poised and ready. Ah, jeez. What have I gotten myself into. Did I need more friends in trouble and with such drama in their lives? Goodness...

Last night - family devotion! I must admit, time hijacks the opportunity for us to do this on a regular basis. And as guilty as I feel about our lack of consistency in having these, I don't actually feel the guilt until we remember to have this "family meeting" of sorts. So, in that mindset, the guilt never gets to me. That's not helping.

In case your unfamiliar, it's simple: pick a scripture, or a concept, or a situation and talk about it. Back it up with the Bible. In our house, we rotate leading the devotion. Last night was my turn. I realized I wanted to talk to the fam about answered and unanswered prayer. One of the first things I asked the folks was to name a prayer that had been answered. To which the youngest proudly shot his hand up in the air "I prayed for this shirt". Okay, buddy. You didn't pray for the shirt you have on. But I see where he was going. It was given to him and he loves it, and so surely he can recall praying that God would send this exact shirt to him. And tah-dah! Alvin and The Chipmunk shirt-owner he is! And who wouldn't pray for an Alvin and The Chipmunks shirt?

Soccer chick begrudingly stated she prayed she wouldn't have to play violin anymore. Good lesson in that comment right there. I didn't want to digress too much on why we don't quit once we've started something. And I do know that ALL of our ears want her to quit. Overall, they got the point, that sometimes God does and doesn't answer the prayers we ask of Him. Baseball chick for example, stated she prayed to be able to go to the local Rec center ever single Saturday. Okay...she did not. Just because her best bud took her once, now she's praying to go every day? So not true. Regardless, she made my point for me. If God gave us everything we asked for, there'd be nothing left to talk to Him about. We wouldn't need Him and we would be quite rotten, in fact.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us to be joyful always, thankful always and keep praying always. Those are the three pieces I gave the folks last night. Are you being thankful even when your prayers are unanswered? Did you consider maybe it wasn't answered because God knows there's something else, something different, something better for you, that perhaps you can't see yet? And do you pray always? Do you keep asking, keep seeking, keep petitioning God for that need on your heart? It's all about faith. Despite the eye rolling of my kids as I used them as examples, they get it. God wants us to have faith that He knows what He's doing. Let's not be grumpy when we don't get what we want.

Let's keep talking to Him and see how things work out. Don't be discouraged in what feels like setbacks. Don't be thank-less in your prosperity. Things may not work out the way WE want, but they will work out the way God intends. And just in case I walked away thinking my mini-sermon went in one ear and out of the other, on 5 separate people, as I'm putting Youngest to bed, he refers to a non-visible "boo-boo" on his leg. "Had it a long time, mom. Seriously. But you know what, I need to pray to Jesus to answer my prayer to take it away". To which he promptly covers his eyes and starts: "Lord Jesus...mom! You're supposed to repeat after me". Oh, okay. Got it. So I repeat his prayer: "Lord Jesus...please make my boo-boo go away and feel better. In Lord Jesus' name. Amen". At the conclusion of this 2.5 second prayer my heart is beaming. That's what it's all about, I'm thinking. He got it. I'm such a proud mother. My child is so full of God. He rocks! Before I can even finish thinking all that in my head, Youngest looks down at his boo-boo that I have yet to see. "Aw, man! Still there. You gotta be kidding me!" And plops in the bed. Yup, that about sums it up.

Weekend Sports Update

Is it bad that as the weekend is unfolding, and I am at each sports game, I'm thinking of how much fun it will be write this week's Weekend Sports Update. I just love sharing with the drama, the excitement, the astounding behavior and charming children that my children come in contact with. I really couldn't make this stuff up...

Saturday morning soccer game involved me on snack duty. Hubby was out of town so that meant I carry sitting chairs, a cooler, snacks and kids across a way-t0o-long field, doing it solo. On trip #1, I put half my stuff down including my covered coffee mug with my breakfast steaming inside. I returned from trip #2 to find my coffee cup wasn't stable enough on the grass and was on it's side. Contents fertilizing the soccer field. Not.Cool. I drilled the two sideline kids, "did you knock that over?!?" Knowing what was really good for them, they both responded they didn't come anywhere near it. Grrr...on to the start of the soccer game, to which I was now not in a too happy mood. The girls somehow played the same team they played last week. Also, coincidentally, the best team in the league. Well, they have our favorite opposing player, we'll call her "Skills". Remember her? We've chatted about her before. We love to play with her, but don't so much love playing against her. Her feet are like a street sweeper, I think. I was watching her on the field, just focusing on her feet, thinking how does she get them to go from side to side like that? Easy, she's good.

Anyhow, the girls had the rotten misfortune of playing this good team two weeks in a row. Last week's tie took everything they had. This week was no different. The girls busted their butts to come back from a 0-2 struggle to tie at 2 goals each. Only to have the other team pocket another one...To best wrap up my sideline expressions, here's a snipit of my cheer "Girls, this is NOT a game! Stop playing with them! No more fun time". To which a mom next to me began laughing hysterically, "yeah, that's right! this is serious" she says in a sarcastic tone. "hahaha", I laugh. Glad she knew I was joking. Glad she thought I was joking. I decided at that point they were going to lose the game and I needed to sit back and take a chill. So glad hubby wasn't there. He would have found my frustration quite amusing. So the girls lost, 2-3, only to have the coach come over and tell me that my soccer star was selected for All-Stars. Now for those of you who know better, just ignore this next thought. For those of you who don't know better, All Stars is a big, big deal. Ha. To a soccer mom, a title I am begrudgingly admitting to, this is a major deal. So my girl's on. All of a sudden, the loss didn't hurt me-er, her-quite so much. Although, the tension at an All-Star game may not even be something I can write about. It's not pretty.

On to baseball. My darling hitter smacked two singles right to first place. 1st and 2nd time at bat. To which she stomps over to the bench to announce to me that the pitcher sucks. "It's his pitching". Well, he uses a pitching machine, and she actually hit the ball, so I can't really side with her on that. She decides she's sitting out the next inning, to sulk a bit. Miraculously, the coach lets her. Yup, her dad was definitely out of town. Next inning, coach asks "are you in?" To which I reply "don't ask her, it's not a question". What is this? Game time? Didn't I pay money for this season? We're playing. period. She sucked it up and made it through the rest of the game. Thankfully with no more unfortunate outs to blow her mood. My favorite part of the day was overhearing our coach gripe about a little convo he had with the opposing coach about what official baseball rules were acceptable at this level. Funny, someone else out there thinks this is just a game too. What ARE these people thinking?

And my favorite game this weekend was the evening basketball game for the oldest. Down two players, all 5 of our boys are playing the whole game. And somehow there's no one to keep the books so our coach has to do it. Admittedly, I don't have any idea how to do that. And also admittedly, our cheer section is sparse. So the coach filled in. Well, he can't coach and keep the books, so our boys coached themselves. The opposing team was pretty good and had twice as many boys, so needless to say the game was ugly. That was the ugliest game of basketball I have ever seen. Just scrappy, people fighting for ugly buckets. And the ones made were just plain ugly. Man, they worked hard and fought it out and stayed neck and neck the entire game. But it was definitely ugly. They lost, but are seeded 3rd and headed to playoffs Thursday night.

Next fall all four will be old enough to play a sport. Adding the youngest one in to this just might send me over the edge of the "crazy-sports-mom" cliff. Soccer has really driven me there and in the fall with two soccer players, it just might get ugly. Ya'll pray for me...

I'll end my weekend update with a conversation from the little man last night:
"Dad, I have 4 things I need to say to you". To which he puts up all 5 fingers.
"First, I don't like to play air hockey with you because you always win."
"Second, I can sing better than you.
"Second, I can dance better than you.
"And fourth, I want a snack".

With the busy, busy life of me, I have few serious pleasures. Like things, that I put other things aside for, that I can blatantly say this is just for me, not for the kids, not for the hubby, not for the church...One of those fine things is Grey's Anatomy. I love this show. And because life just works out so perfectly sometimes, hubby wasn't home until the last 10 minutes of the show. I only had to endure one "Seriously rach? It's just a show..." I forgive him for not getting it...

You will have a hard time convincing me that these people are not part of my life. And surely, after last night's season finale, I am in a state of grieving over the loss and trauma experienced. We suffered something terrible last night. I am a pitiful crier. I cry at every single episode of Extreme Home Makeover...at the beginning! When they are in the bus introducing the receipient family to the designers, I'm done. Tears are flowing. The only one left in my home who doesn't ridicule me for my ever-present emotions is the youngest. I love him for it. But I also am giving him time, knowing he'll catch up.

Yet, last night, I was so engrossed in this season finale I couldn't even cry. That's major. Not one tear fell until Percy was dying. Wow... I floated from my tv to my computer to update my shock on my very important fb page and other than that, forgot to breathe, mostly. Literally forgot to breathe. My ever-so-loving 16 year old threw his disappointment and disgust at my behavior around like a wet rag. "It's just a tv show Rach, jeez". Says the boy who is engrossed in his facebook, with 68 people online at once and active chats going with 7 of them. Yup, I'll take my fantasy over your reality. And for the record, it is NOT just a tv show people. It's an hour, of friends who are kind enough to let me into their lives. Thanks, guys. I appreciate our time together.

Last night has got to take the top slot for all time best season finales. Bailey is amazing. "Where is the water coming from"..."You're crying". Priceless. And her breakdown at the elevators was truly, exactly the despair she was feeling. Trying to reconcile herself to reality and not being happy about it at all. Alex was extremely pissed at being shot. Love the rough edges on that guy. My new fav is Jackson Avery. People, the man is not only good-looking but smart. He saved the day. I knew it when he told Meredith to shut up. I could go on and on. This show ended the season with a bang, literally. Sorry, couldn't resist that...

There were so many good (correction-great) moments, I can't begin to list them here. If my tv had a camera and could play back me, it would be embarrassing. My night consisted of wide-eyes, covered eyes, gasps, covered mouth, "noooooooo. no. no. no. not him. Don't shoot him. Oh no! Not her. Oh no, no, no. Don't die, don't dieeeeee!", hand over heart, hand over gut-wrenched stomach, sitting on the floor, standing in front of the tv, sitting on the couch, sitting on the bed. I just can't convey to you what an awesome 2 hours this was last night. So glad for my little ridiculous, special pleasures.

Now...don't be fooled. Nothing takes the place of Friday Night Lights. Nothing. Don't get me started. Tonight is Friday. Oooo. I'll be flying out of Seattle today (only in spirit, guys) and I'll be in Texas tonight.

Last night at small group our discussion focused on the fear of not mattering. On the surface we all thought "I'm somebody"..."I matter". But as we explored this more, we discovered that we all feel we fall some kind of short. We go to great lengths to prove to ourselves and to others that we aren't invisible. We do our hair, we wear makeup, we iron our clothes (which are often name-brand, or at least the now-style)...all to assure ourselves that we exist, and exist beautifully. I shared with the group that one thing I am notoriously guilty of is not saying hello when I enter the elevator at work. Do you do that? It's quite silly actually. Just walk in and say "hello" with a smile. So NOT a big deal. A couple of times I tried it and the person didn't respond. Perhaps more of a social barrier than a language barrier? What? Do I have cooties or something? In any case it caused me to change my approach. It made me feel insignificant, invisible...and when we feel like that, we tend to not go there again, on purpose. Sometimes I wait too long. Perhaps you're guilty of that. Walk in, miss the moment of saying hello and it being polite, and then try to give the delayed reaction "hello" 10 seconds later. Awkward. DON'T try that on your own. Point is, we have ways of making other people feel insignificant and we don't even realize it. I challenged the group to spend time this week evaluating their interactions with people. Everyone from the stranger to your soul mate. Do you inadvertently do things that make him/her feel insignificant? Invisible? Dispensible? In God's eyes, we are none of these. God wants us to make sure we don't make others feel like they are ANY of these.

Getting Started...

5.19.10
So upon the advice of one very valuable sister, I decided to move a step further in the blogging world. I've been directed here. This should be fun. No better way to capture what goes on in the Copeland life, which includes a vast array of kids, sports (theirs, naturally...not mine), work, christianity, marriagehood, and more. There really is never a dull moment in our house. Last night while washing the dishes it was really quiet. Like really quiet. Now, moms we know that usually that means the kids were up to something. But in this case, they were all at the kitchen table. Just chillin'. Nobody was up to anything. They were just being quiet. It occurred to me then...this NEVER happens. Case in point: Sunday after church, dinner out...at one moment in the restaurant I look at Reggie, he looks at me...we look at the kids. There's upbeat music playing softly in the background. Each of the three youngest Copelands is dancing in their seat. Literally. Moving their hips, their hands, their heads. Wow...no one in this house is ever still