Small Successes-September 30th

Celebrating the little things in life that add up.

Is today really the last day of September?  I'm shocked at how fast time seems to be flying these days.  I've been preoccupied with the unnecessary drama that has filled my days over the past week and am not feeling overly successful.  Last Thursday night it became evident that not everyone appreciates the time I spend preparing and planning in order to teach their child's religious education class.  Hearing people loudly complain about me when I have poured so much of myself into this volunteer position is difficult.  As if that drama isn't enough, we're once again dealing with soccer drama surrounding Madeline's team.  The coach along with my husband and another team dad who assist with coaching this team (also volunteer) are feeling frustrated, but on the bright side, the parents of the kids on the team appreciate their efforts.  Clearly this past week has not been volunteer appreciation week!

1. Laundry is done.  Not only did I get everything washed, I also folded, ironed and put it all away with the exception of three items that came out of the wash after I put the iron and ironing board away.

2. I remembered to bake cupcakes for Ellie's back to school night yesterday, and I even remembered to bring the cupcakes to the school.

3. I wrote a post about Madeline's soccer experience that touched her coach. (I appreciated a volunteer!)  The link to the post along with an email praising his efforts and the difference he has made for several girls was sent to some of the board members of our soccer club.  I'm hoping that my words will help smooth ruffled feathers.

Book Review: Through The Year With Mary

I recently had the opportunity to review Karen Edmisten's Through the Year with Mary.  The book is composed of 365 reflections on the Blessed Mother.  The reflections, as you can probably infer from the book's title, are in dated order starting with January 1st.

For each day, there is a quote from another source, such as John Paul II, several saints and many notable Catholic authors.  The quotes, most of which are very inspiring or thought provoking, are followed by a brief reflection added by Karen Edmisten.  Her reflections will lead you towards a deeper insight of the wisdom contained in the quotes from which they proceed.  This beautiful collection of thoughts on Our Lady will serve to inspire and deepen your relationship with Mary and Jesus.

The reflections contained in this book are deep enough that you could easily ponder them over the course of a day.  Of course, if you haven't much time, you could just as easily take a few minutes a day to reflect on them and still grow stronger in your relationship with Mary.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves Mary and would like a book with daily reflections about her.  This book is surely bound to become a treasured favorite of mine.

I was provided with a review copy of this book by the publisher, Servant Books.

Randomly

From time to time my kids will use a word in conversation that makes me pause and marvel at how well they grasp the English language.  My mom mentioned to me years ago that she found it interesting that I didn't speak to my kids like they were babies when they were.  From the time they were newborns  I would talk to Madeline or Ellie like they could comprehend those 50 cent words college professors love to see when reading your latest term paper.  My reasoning was simply that they would learn the words and their proper context by hearing them used in everyday  conversation.

When my kids learned to talk I was always delighted to hear them use a word that was commonly used by me but not by others in contact with them.  I recall one time when Bryan pointed out that Madeline liked to use the word splendid (a word he thought I had made up) when describing things she liked at age two.  It made me feel rather splendid that she had learned such a lovely descriptive word from me.

Today as Ellie was eating her after school snack, a delightful little cupcake made by moi this morning, she was telling me about her day.  I was letting her ramble on about her day when she demonstrated that she knew how to use the word randomly in proper context.  She was telling me about how her friend had randomly sat next to her at school today.  This friend likes to sit next to different kids all the time from what she tells me, so I suppose her friend's presumably deliberate action appeared to be a random act in Ellie's mind.

I can't wait to see how their vocabularies expand as they continue to grow.  Who knows, there may come a day when Bryan doesn't understand half of the words they use!

Book Review: Jesus Calling

Sarah Young's Jesus Calling 356 Devotions for Kids is a devotional that is supposed to be geared to young kids and tweens.  Having paged through the book I suspect the publisher is a bit off in their target range.  I think this book is better suited for tweens to teens.  I simply don't see a child who is 7 or 8 using this devotional effectively.

The devotional has an appearance that looks fun and inviting while possessing a vintage look at the same time.  It's a cute book, and that alone may inspire some kids to pick and up and use it.

This particular devotional book is ordered by the calendar year.  Each day has a heading followed by scripture.  The reflections are written as if Jesus is talking to your child.  I liked how the reflections were written in a way that makes Jesus feel like a good friend talking to you.  It makes the devotional and a relationship with Jesus something that feels approachable for kids.  The reflections are followed up with a "Read on your own" section that has more Bible verses to be looked up.  If you have a child who isn't very good at looking up scripture a year with this book will certainly help your child become very familiar with finding verses in their Bible.

This book is suitable for gift giving and has a dedication page.  Since the devotional starts on January first, it would make a nice Christmas present.

I think this is a nice devotional but I'm wouldn't recommend it for Catholic children given that many verses that are taken from Protestant translations of the Bible.  Of course, this devotional is published by a Christian publisher and not a Catholic one, so that doesn't surprise me and I can't fault the book for not being Catholic.  If I were looking for a devotional for a Catholic youth, I'd want to see something that followed the liturgical year and highlighted major feast days.

I was provided with a free review copy of this book from BookSneeze in exchange for my honest review.

How I Came to Embrace Being a Soccer Mom

I didn't want to be a soccer mom, ever.  When my husband and I made that fateful decision to buy a minivan nearly five and a half years ago, the first thing I said was "I will NEVER be a soccer mom!"  I drew the line at driving a minivan.  There would be no transformation into the stereotypical suburbanite minivan driving soccer mom.  No way!

Then it happened. My child who had been content with dancing and showing off her amazing technique and deportment on the dance studio floor had had enough.  No longer did she want to learn to be a graceful ballerina or an energetic tap dancer.  She now longed to be on an open field of green grass in a pair of ugly black soccer socks and cleats.

I gave in and agreed to let her give soccer a try.  But, I was adamant, this didn't make me a soccer mom. I'd go to the games and freeze my butt off as I watched her stand around on the soccer field picking clovers and reassure myself that this soccer thing wasn't going to last.  The coach, didn't know what he was doing and he hardly ever showed up for practices or games.  His son, after all, was "on the travel team."  This recreation league for six and seven year old girls was clearly just for fun.  Give them a ball and let them chase after it.  Surely, this didn't make me a soccer mom.  I was in the clear.  Recreation league soccer does not make one a soccer mom.  Phew!

Since I wasn't a soccer mom, I didn't argue when my daughter asked to play Spring soccer.  I had heard that Spring soccer was even more laid back than Fall soccer at our club, so that meant that I'd be in for more of my daughter gazing at the sky while the other kids played, or some dandelion picking.  What I wasn't expecting was an actual coach for my daughter's team.  But that's what happened in the spring of 2009.

It started with an email that made me think we had a delusional person on our hands.  The coach sent out an email that outlined goals he wanted the girls on his team to strive towards and a few video attachments of skills the girls should work on daily to develop ball handling skills.  The team also had a name.  It was the Mighty Ducks.  "Are you kidding me?"  I asked my husband as I read the forwarded email.  Then he mentioned that there was even a team chant that the kids had to learn.  As we listened to the attached wav file with the team chant I began to wonder just what we had gotten ourselves into.  We hadn't even met the coach for our first practice yet and already it seemed like we were in for a totally different soccer experience.  I mused to my husband that maybe this is what soccer is like when your kid has a coach.

My focused little Mighty Duck

Once practices and games began that Spring it became evident that our Fall soccer experience had been a joke.  The Spring soccer coach was larger than life.  He had energy, he was eager to teach the young 6 and 7 year olds on his team everything he could about soccer and most importantly, he had passion.  At the end of the eight week long Spring soccer season my daughter had gone from being a kid who would stand on the field and do nothing or worse, the kind who would try to kick the ball and miss, to actually being a decent little soccer player.  She wasn't fast, and she didn't score goals, but she had learned how to pass the ball and defend her team's net.  By May of 2009, my daughter was no longer the kid on the field who stood around looking lost.  She had direction and was learning how to play soccer.  Best of all, she was loving every minute of it!  Not only were the girls on our team having a blast and developing soccer skills, they were also learning great sportsmanship.  If we played a team that didn't have enough girls to field a team, our coach would give some the players on our team to our short handed opponents so the game wouldn't have to be forfeited.  Playing the game and having fun was more fun than gaining a win.

Using skills learned in the Spring against the Fall 09 Ducks

When it came time to sign up for Fall soccer for 2009 there was no question.  She was playing.  Now that we knew what it was like to have a real coach for our child, we wanted to stick with him.  Unfortunately for us, some issues within our soccer club saw Madeline and two other girls removed from this phenomenal coach's team and placed on teams that didn't even have a coach.  My daughter was upset because she couldn't stay with her team.  She even considered quitting, but my husband convinced her to stick with it.  In the end, Bryan stepped up and coached Madeline's team.  We weren't the best team, but we did well.  We attribute our successes to the fact that we utilized the same types of training drills and stamina building exercises as the Mighty Ducks.  Unfortunately, we just didn't have that great team camaraderie with the new team that we did with the old coach.  We missed being part of the Mighty Ducks family.

At the end of the Fall season the awesome coach from the Spring approached us about playing indoor soccer.  Instantly we told him we were on board.  I didn't want to be bothered with indoor soccer but if it meant my daughter could be on his team and continue to grow as a player, then I was all for it.  She played two sessions of indoor soccer that spanned four months of Sundays.  I only went to a couple of the games, but my husband who was now an assistant coach would come home and tell me about how Madeline and the rest of the team were progressing.

About to score a goal!

When Spring soccer rolled around this year we were beyond delighted that Madeline was once again a Mighty Duck.  This Spring Madeline really blossomed as a player.  She developed good ball handling skills and not only became a good defensive player, but she even managed to score a goal here and there.  She didn't compare talent wise to some of the other girls on the team, but she was a solid supporting player.  I could tell that she had grown as a player, but I wasn't convinced that she was particularly good.  Her coach and other parents, however, would comment that she was playing really well.   When we played a tournament in June I began to realize that my daughter really was becoming a decent soccer player and it was then that I realized that I am, indeed, a soccer mom.

For those of you wondering just how someone knows they're a soccer mom here's how I realized it:  When you find yourself at a soccer tournament eyeing up things like six seater fold up team benches, folding chairs with umbrella attachments and little canopy tents and wishing you had them for yourself, your child's team and your fellow soccer parents, then you know you are a fully vetted soccer mom.

We had some doubts as to whether or not Madeline would be able to continue to play under her coach this fall.  Because of the excellent training and direction given to her team by her dedicated coach there had been many parents who were upset that our team was as skilled as it was.  Sadly, in this day and age where many people have lost sight of the fact that life isn't always fair nor is it supposed to be, several parents of children on teams that had lost to our team had complained to the powers that be in our soccer club.  These seemingly misdirected complaints threatened our team and caused many of our team members to be scattered to other teams this fall.  Thankfully, Madeline and a few of her teammates were kept together.  The four girls who were kept together for this fall were by no means shining stars during the Spring season.  They were just solid team players that do their best to execute the skills learned during practice on the playing field.

Protect the ball! 

We're three games into the Fall season this year and once again, the Mighty Ducks are a nice cohesive family unit.   The parents get along and so do the girls.  The girls are proving that they can put what they're learning at practice into play during game time.  I tend to sit with two of my fellow soccer moms and we marvel at how far our daughters have come under the tutelage of our phenomenal coach.  These are girls who were once just like Madeline was in the Fall of 2008: Kids who were clueless on the field and drifting somewhere in La La Land.  Now our girls are stepping up and proving themselves to formidable members of their team.  They're proud of what they've become and they owe it all to the incredibly dedicated coach who cheers them on every step of the way.

I know for Madeline this entire experience has been more than just learning to play soccer.  Her coach has taught her to persevere.  He has taught her to be confident, even when her opponent is bigger and more skilled.  Because he has instilled in the team that they are a family she has bonded with her teammates and that bond makes the team stronger and more confident.

Great coaches, like teachers, have the ability to touch and change lives.  It has been a blessing and a privilege to have Coach R. coach my daughter over the past 18 months.  It is my sincere hope that he will continue to be her coach for many years to come.  I believe she can go far in the game of soccer with this phenomenal coach.  Coach R. truly has a gift for taking any player that comes his way and moulding her into a soccer player.  And mothers who are firmly resolved to not be soccer moms?  Yeah, he can convert them into the biggest cheerleaders on the sidelines.

Texting Towards Humility

Sometimes my carelessness can result in a major dose of humility.  Tonight brought me one of those moments.

Since getting a cell phone with texting capabilities thirteen months ago I have had a few blunders when it comes to texting.  Given that I average less than 100 text messages a month I suppose you could say that I simply haven't gotten the hang of things.  You could say that, but I can't blame my meager texting for my being careless.

Nine times out of ten the person I'm texting is Bryan, so I naturally assume that he's receiving any text I want to send him on a whim.  On several occasions I have texted my best friend with things intended for Bryan.  She will usually text back and tell me she's not Bryan or something like that when I send a nagging text about him not taking out the trash or something the kids did that aggravated me.  Other times, I have texted Bryan and in reality have sent something to our sixteen year old babysitter.  For some reason, she always gets those text messages that I wish only Bryan had seen.  I'm not sending anything salacious to him, but just things pertaining to money matters or other things of that nature.

Tonight, I was feeling unwell from some food I had eaten and instead of grabbing my laptop as I dashed upstairs, I grabbed my cell phone.  A few minutes later I was texting Bryan lamenting about some food containing fire sauce that I had earlier in the day.  Then, I suddenly thought to look and see who I had just texted.  Yup, I sent it to our neighbor, the sixteen year old babysitter.  I immediately told her to disregard what I had sent her, but her initial confusion about the texts had faded and she totally got what I was getting at in my texts to Bryan.  She and I are so even.  Both of us have so much embarrassing dirt on the other that neither could successfully blackmail the other.

Isn't it great when technology is able to help me serve up a nice heaping dose of humility to myself?  Bryan and I had a good laugh about the whole situation and I learned that I really do need to check who I am texting before I hit send.

Book Review: Little Acts of Grace 2

Little Acts of Grace 2 is a sweet book that teaches small children ways they can show their love for Jesus in doing small things.  The book is 47 pages in length.  Unlike many story books geared to children this book is broken into several different sections.  You could read this book all at once, or you could take it a small section at a time.  All of the sections, but one, are four pages in length comprised of two pages of text and two pages of illustrations.   The text tells children very simply the ways they can grow in holiness and show love to Jesus and others by lovingly doing small kindnesses and acts. Each section concludes with a scripture reference.  The illustrations are filled with ways that show the acts of grace mentioned in the text along with other objects that can spark talking points, such as rosaries, prayer cards, divine mercy images and so on.

This book is essentially a continuation of the catechesis presented in it's predecessor, Little Acts of Grace.  We have the first title and I actually think the two books combined are a great way to teach young children how to behave at Mass as well as explain why we do some of the things that we do while we're there.

My daughter, who is five, really enjoyed this book and the other books from this line of books.  She likes to see what the tiny church mice who are seen on just about every page of the book are doing.  She also searches the illustrations to find Jesus and other items that she recognizes from church.  This book piqued her interest in the sanctuary light and the tabernacle and she tells me she's going to show me where they are at Mass tomorrow.  I doubt she would have wanted to go through this book and the others from this series looking for the tabernacle and sanctuary light in the pictures if she hadn't learned about it in this book.

My daughter likes the book and the illustrations.  Given that it's a book geared to children, I would say that her opinion of the book matters more than mine when it comes to the illustrations.  I'm torn on the illustrations.  Some of them are really nice to look at and others just look creepy.  I can be critical of illustrations at times so I asked my husband what he thought of them and he agrees that many of them are of the creepy variety.  I suppose what is most puzzling is that Jesus' appearance changes from illustration to illustration.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company.  Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Little Acts of Grace 2 and be sure to check out their great selection of baptism gifts while you are there.

I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.