How Many Realtors Does It Take...

to throw an annual Christmas party? Well...judging by last night, it takes about a house full. The Hub and I were invited to a Christmas party for a fellow office in his company. His office and this office are sort of connected, being the only two for his company located in Arlington. So, generously, the manager invited him.

It was an adventure finding the place. Driving through winding streets in Arlington is no easy feat. I know Sandra Bullock is from these parts, but outside of that, I don't know how anyone finds anything...or anyone...in Arlington. We passed increasingly higher priced homes until we reached our destination. A contemporary house with very interesting architecture.

Friends, I didn't know what to expect. I can say I wasn't expecting to walk into the home and be elbow to elbow with an over 60 crowd. Like way over. Maybe not what I expected but definitely what this party was made of. Who knew? That office apparently is almost entirely senior citizens. How in the world was I going to mix myself in here?

The Hub and I pushed our way through frail elbows and stuffy suits to get to the sodas. Somehow we found ourselves out on the backporch looking an unbelievable backyard landscape. Think thousands of dollars worth of work. It was beautiful. We mingled a bit and I sat down on a couch next to a lovely lady. Deciding to stretch my self, I engaged her in conversation. Parties don't tend to be my thing. For a lot of people, it's not exactly easy to go to a dinner party where you know no one and mingle in easily. Please add to that task the fact that these people were all full of white hair and slow-paced walks. Sigh...

But my couch friend and I managed to chat about her dogs (seriously), a house she had listed a few months ago, and grocery stores. And yes, I felt like I was talking to my grandmother. The waitstaff (yes, waitstaff) announced dinner was ready so we headed to the dining room. The Hub and I grabbed a plate and headed to the back of the growing food line. The food was placed around a circle table, and seemed clear enough to me, that we were to wait for our turn in line, step up to the table and circle around. The Hub and I seemed to be standing still for 5 minutes.

Wondering why the line wasn't moving, we chuckled a bit, but kept waiting. As we inched closer to the brim of the table, a lovely lady told me were in the wrong place. Huh? She tells me she hasn't gotten around to the other side of the table yet to dip from those dishes. Okay, I tell her, the line formed here, and I gestured to her so she could see the loooonnng line. Yea, she said impatiently to me, but she hadn't gotten to that other food, she tells me with less than a friendly tone. Oh, excusseeee me. Ha to the ha. Wow. I implored her, pleassssseeee go ahead of me. Help. Your. Self. If the food was that big of a deal, she for sure could go right in front of me. That lady was so serious about getting to that food.

Eventually she and her posse cleared out and we were able to circle the table. I can't report to you that the food was wonderful. It was a potluck on the shoulders of some of the agents I guess. Salt was obviously not an option. Should I be surprised? We took our plates, found seats and began discussing how much we thought this house costs. Trying to ask realtors this question is like sudden death. The figures ranged in the one point million something. With the number after the point being hugely debatable.

The Hub and I chatted some more, had some of the most incredible bread pudding and ducked out the door. Definitely not my crowd and surely strange to try to interject myself into their world. I don't know real estate like they do. I am not in my 60s, 70s or 80s as they were. I don't live in Arlington like they do. Eye-scanning the crowd when we arrived, I knew this would be tough. Friends, it was tough. I survived it, thinking these are the things we do for our spouse. Suffering for the good of the cause. Besides the lady who nearly chopped my nose off about my place in the dinner line, it was uneventful.

pass it on

I blogged to you about the reading of the Deanna Favre (NFL player Brett Favre's wife) book about her fight against breast cancer. One of the reasons I love reading biographies and autobiographies is they are like a window. You get to peer into (or out of) your own situation and into the soul of another's. I always treat these like an amazing opportunity to understand someone better. Until I read this book, I had no idea that Mrs. Favre had breast cancer. Yet, there I was in the used book store in Manassas (saying a prayer of thanksgiving for McKay's Used Bookstore) and was glued to the biography section. I saw this one, Don't Bet Against Me, by Deanna and decided to learn her story.

I would say about 3 quarters of the way through the book, I find myself working away at my dayjob. My chosen profession involves social work, assisting families and occasionally covering walk-ins at a regional office. So, as I'm perched at the desk waiting for our next client to come in. I see a woman approach and speak with my co-worker in our other office. A few seconds later I can hear this woman is sobbing. Sobbing! :( Our office has this lovely Instant Messaging system so I checked on my co-worker to see if there was anything I could do to help. This is step #1 in making a difference: ASK. How often do we let things and situations go by and we are afraid to interject. We don't want to offend. We don't want to intrude. We just might be missing our own blessings by not asking how we might help.

The Instant Message came back that this woman was a long-time client of our program. Turns out she just had her third surgery and had both her breasts removed. She was devastated and struggling to cope. She is a single mom of 3 young children and is heartbroken at this moment in her life. Instantly my eyes fell to the book on my desk. Instantly God prompted me to give her my book. It's just a book, I rationalized to myself. Exactly, God confirmed. It's just a book. Pass it on. Step #2 in making a difference: DECIDE. I made a decision that I would see how I could appropriately offer this book to this woman in the hopes that it would encourage and bless her in her struggle. I didn't want to offend her and there were all sorts of inhibitions keeping me from leaping from my seat. But, I felt that God wanted me to give her this book. Just a small little ray of sunshine in what feels like a dark time.

I send another Instant Message and told my co-worker I had an idea. Could I please offer this book that I am reading to her? Did my co-worker think that would be okay? Perhaps it would have been a easier if the client had been meeting with me personally. I would have gracefully handed her the book. But now, I'm on the outside, and I don't want to be intrusive or make assumptions about this lady's problems. I said all that in my short little IM to my co-worker. A few minutes later she came in and I told her I wanted to give my book to this client. Still a little apprehensive, I explained myself again. "I think this will bless her. She needs some encouragement," I explained. Incredulously, she mused, "you want to actually GIVE it to her? Like to keep?" Yes. To keep.

So she took the book into the room and explained to the client that I wanted to give her this; that I overheard her situation and I thought this might help her a little. When they were finished the client came in and thanked me for the book. She looked wiped out and sad. With tears in her eyes, she thanked me and told me she would return it. "No," I said. "Read it and then keep it or pass it on to someone else who might need some encouragement too." She was surprised that I was giving her this completely. Step #3 in making a difference: DO IT. Once you ASK how you can help and DECIDE what you will do, then friends...DO IT. Making a difference in someone's life is that little small thing that you can easily talk yourself out of. Those things matter. If I gave that woman a reason to smile, if she walked away thinking that was a nice gesture, if it encouraged her knowing a complete stranger wanted her to feel better, then I have passed it on.

Bball Delight

I love that this morning I get to blog to you about my Bball Girl's tremendous win at her game on Saturday. I know you may be sitting there thinking this blog lady, she's so funny. She ALWAYS thinks her kids are sports-talented. Yes, friends! But seriously, though...

This season is especially fun because alongside the basketball games there's an added bonus in The Hub coaching the team. He just makes my blog life so easy! Saturday's game was so much fun. I am still trying to maneuver my way through videotaping and cheering. I don't want my footage to be of my embarrassing screams and cheers so it's a delicate balance that I'm still trying to master. The Hub suggested I bring the tripod next week. Have we reached that level of seriousness? Perhaps.

Bball Girl at point guard led her team. I mean, she LED her team! Showed real leadership skills, plays aggressively, scored 12 (pause for importance. T.W.E.L.V.E) of the team's 22 points. They won 22-18. Watching Bball Girl play is very exciting. She is an exciting player to watch. You can't help but get excited watching. Did I say that enough already? On my videotape footage, which you can surely check out on my facebook page or at www.youtube.com/4copelands, you can see that her coach, The Hub was all into the game too.

In the last quarter the opposing coach came over to ask if The Hub had played Bball Girl all 4 quarters of the game, against division rules. Nooo, The Hub assured her. Only three quarters. Surely she felt like that because Bball Girl was wiping the court with her team. I understand completely. Felt like you had seen that little fast, powerful player the whole time! The Hub was generous enough to share his clipboard with his lineup with that other team coach. I assure you he did that out of the kindness of his heart. No a competitive hiccup in that move at all.

This season, that top draft pick that The Hub was given and Bball Girl are turning out to make a ridiculously good pair. It's like yin and yang. One is huge-tall and the other is itty-bitty-small, but they play off each other, work together and brought The Hub mad smiles!

So far, season is 1-1. Stay tuned and check out those videos if you can.

Tim Tebow'in it...

Just for fun...
http://www.people.com/people/gallery/0,,20553140,00.html

Since my favorite football quarterback in the NFL is getting constant attention, sometimes for less than sold-out support reasons, I get to keep talking about him too. Who could not love this guy? Recently I read an article that said the thing about Tim is everyone almost wants him to mess up so he will seem "normal", and so that then the world can breathe a sigh of relief, as if to say this faith thing he boasts of isn't all he's cracking it up to be.

The thing us believers know is that it doesn't matter if he messes up. That would be sad, but that doesn't change his faith relationship or the great work he does in sharing his faith with the world. For the unbelievers when a believer makes a huge blunder it is like another check mark on the "reasons why God isn't real" type list.

But then there is Tim. Did you catch the game against the Chicago Bears? Amazing finish. I love the similarity to biblical stories. To see Tim have faith, watch him literally praying on the sidelines and see the team pull out a win in overtime when it was pretty much decided the team would lose. How awesome is it to watch his lips move and know that he isn't talking to anyone other than God? And how awesome is it that when the team wins, the first thing...FIRST THING Tim says to the interviewer after the game is "First and foremost I want to give honor to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." That, friends, is the best of the best. Being able to publicly and proudly proclaim not just your love of God, but your love of Jesus for all to hear? Great job Tim. Your mama raised you well.

I think he's single. Is he single? I have a few single Christian ladies well-deserving of such a faith-full man. And, he's saving himself for marriage. Wow. This guy is the real deal. I'm a real fan. Keep up the incredible work Tim. None of the many, many doubters and silly sportscasters that just can't seem to wrap their minds around what's happening, matter much. They will speculate and some of them criticize, but then, for all of us Christians, we face the same. Our level might be smaller and draw less public attention but the haters will always be there. It's the faith and prayers of those that support us that keep us moving forward with our eyes focused upwards.

Somebody needs to get this girl a Tim Tebow jersey for Christmas. Jeesh.

Lose Some, Win Some...

4th Grade winter basketball started off the season with a bang. Alright, not a bang. More like a small pi-chow. Bball Girl and her squad took a loss for the first game. My disclaimer here is that this is the first season for most of these girls, and they have had two practices to date. They are a bit rough around the edges, but then again, this will be a test of The Hub's coaching skills. If he can do something with this group, I might be impressed.

My little sweet 9 year old had herself way too much fun the night before at a super-duper house party. Girlfriend even won the prize for best dancer. I'm not convinced she was the best, but I know the girl has no reservations. She might have looked like she was about to break something but she was out there with it and that's what won her the prize. There is always one, at every party, that precious soul who is out there dancing their butt off...by themselves...to their own tune...and moving like they have a mission to complete. Or like they might hurt somebody. That would be Bball Girl. Strange, it brought back memories to one house party my sister had when she was in middle school and I must have been an elementary girl. I can clearly recall break dancing on the floor in front of all her friends. She was probably mortified but I established a name for myself amongst her friends. To chants of "go Rachel, go Rachel," I danced my little heart out. No shame. Goal achieved.

Nevertheless, Bball Girl's action-packed evening resulted in a pretty tired girl on the court Saturday afternoon. I believe she hit the floor more times than her feet left the ground. She took an elbow to the face, did some wrestling moves that I can't believe she thinks are part of basketball, and tried her coach's patience from the sidelines. You will be happy to know he kept his composure. Even with all that, she was the team leader. She scored 6 of the team's 11 points. Yes, 11 points. Most of the shots were wild, air balls. We've got some work to do as a team. Turnovers killed them. The Hub will be coaching these sweet girls about what to do under pressure and to stop throwing the ball any and everywhere when they are drowning. Bball Girl had some beautiful steals and took the fans by surprise. Did they not know? My girl can ball.

The biggest outcome of our first season game would have to be the discovery of the insider track. At that basketball assessment The Hub wondered why some of the coach's were going for 4th and 5th round draft picks. Saturday's game revealed why. Coaches purposely rated the girls they wanted low so they could easily get them in the draft. My goodness, the horror. What's wrong with people? What ever happened to good, old-fashioned, fair competition. From the looks of the opposing team on Saturday, we could see that this first coach, at least, stacked his team accordingly. I've decided (as if I'm somebody) the coaches don't need to be the people doing the assessments. If grown adults can't be expected to play fair, what in the world are we teaching our children. This one little small example shows why our world is so corrupt today.

I'm not going to hold these dads to the downfall of our world, but I am more than a little shocked at the deception people will go to, just to win. Amazing. My conscience would never let me be deceptive to get ahead. I'd feel so bad for those I left behind. So, our team was genuinely unprepared on Saturday. These girls haven't played together as a team prior to this game. They don't know each other's names yet. We have work to do, but what is better than a come-from-behind kind of story. Stay tuned, folks. I believe that The Hub has his work cut out for him, but that competitive edge that he eats, sleeps and breaths with won't go away quietly. This could get ugly.

The silver lining on the weekend, coming off that game, would be the sweet soul who got saved on Sunday. Brought by a teenage friend of ours, this precious girl said she has never attended church before. Wow. There are those out there that have yet to attend a church service, have yet to know the name of Jesus. Friends, there is still work to do. Sometimes, we feel like everyone knows, and they are each making a choice for themselves, to accept Him or not. But you know what, there are still those out there that don't know about Jesus. Sunday's service was proof-positive of that. This beautiful young teenage girl gave her heart to the Lord on Sunday. She accepted Christ in her heart for the first time. Amazing. Such a blessing to see the start of a wonderful change in her life. As her tears flowed, she opened her life to a new way, a new journey.

So, friends, you lose some and then you win some. That's the way of the world. That's why we keep pressing forward, knowing that in all things, God has a plan. Stay attentive, be aware, God is always working. Don't be discouraged in the "lose some" times, they are temporary and fleeting. The "win some" might be the very next day.

The "C" Word

Friends, I'm crossing a line. True football fans never outwardly support the "other" team. And you know, everyone who loves a sport, has an "other." You know, that team that you take pride in disliking. I swear sports are the only avenue for openly acceptable disdain. I never cease to be amazed at the passion of my fellow football-lovers. Faces painted, head gear on, ridiculous posters waving and usually freezing their butts off for the benefit of going shirtless to show team pride. That's love.

The opposite of that love is the power and intensity that one feels for the enemy. The "other." I've told you how I struggle with trying to choose a team. It's not been so great for me in the selection process. I can't seem to wrap my head around a whole team, but it does seem to be pretty easy to identify teams I'm not a fan of. Don't shoot me, neighbors, but the Redskins can go away now. I know I live here but seriously, I just don't understand this team, their struggles and their unwavering fan base. Some things I guess I just won't understand.

Despite my inner-oh-no's I decided to read a book written by Brett Favre's wife. Ugh. No offense to the man, but for sure he's on the "other" list. I'm not afraid to say I'm not a fan of any 'ole Vikings. And the fact that the poor man can't seem to figure out if he's tired or not just rubs me wrong. He's in, he's out, he's retired, he's not. Jeesh. Trying to keep up with his life is exhausting. And I can talk all this smack only because I consider myself a fan of the NFL. Isn't that what Monday Morning Quarterback is all about? Give your criticism and opinion of something that you yourself couldn't possibly attempt to do?

Well, Mrs. Favre has written a book, Don't Bet Against Me. Who knew the woman survived breast cancer, and her husband's troubled past? This would be the reason that I seek out biographies. I find people fascinating. Here again, a fascinating story. No one likes to talk, much less think, about cancer. That scary "c" word stays out of most of our mouthpieces, on purpose. Yet, for way too many of us, it becomes a scary surprise, forcing us to not only say the word but deal with the consequences of it.

My sister is a childhood cancer survive, God bless her. I have lots of memories of visiting hospitals, bloodwork being done, waiting, playing with other cancer-stricken children, and my sister's sickness and struggles. Thank the Lord, she survived and has remained cancer-free for many, many years. My good friend, evangelist Lois Bright is a breast cancer survivor. What a testimony to hear. The woman has chosen to be an encourager by her own faith relationship with God and this obstacle has become just one more way for her to boast of God's glory. Outside of these two fabulous women, the "c" word remains unspoken.

Reading this book I have a new understanding of this terrible disease. I appreciate Deanna's descriptive play-by-play of what was involved with her situation, from diagnosis, to doctor's visits to treatment. She keeps it way real and is very honest and truthful about what she experienced. She also is very clear about the need to be proactive, and for women to self-inspect to have early detection whenever possible.

My lady friends, get her book. Take the time to read it. Not only is it encouraging to read about how she has survived cancer, but awesome to see that she has determined to survive and succeed in a less-than-perfect marriage. Since there is no perfect marriage, someone's honesty and clarity about how they have stood firm in shaky times is a gift.