Faith

So eight days ago, I put these dead looking things into the ground and started spraying the ground with water daily, thinking, believing, that something green would grow. And every day, I stare at that ugly bare patch of ground, and think, "when?" And I find my belief wavering. As each day passes and no new life emerges (or, rather, the only new life emerging is stuff I didn't put there and don't want there), I begin to think, maybe it won't grow. Maybe it was too much to believe that I could put this dead thing in the ground and have new life spring from it. Mind you, it's only been eight days; I'm a little ashamed that my faith would fade so fast.

On Friday, Bubby and I were in the garden enclosure. I wanted to pull out the grass plants that were the only green that I could see in there, and take a closer look to see if I was missing something. Bubby started digging in one of my pumpkin mounds. I was a little upset. I told him, how can anything grow in there if you're digging it up? So we left the rest of the weeds where they were, and I moved on to the hose portion of my day. As I was spraying, I noticed pumpkin seeds peeking out of the area in which Bubby had been digging. See, I told him, they're not going to grow if they're not underground. So I went back in to cover up the seeds (leaving Bubby on the outside, which he started protesting vigorously). And as I was covering up my little pumpkin seeds, I noticed little green sprouts growing out of them. And that, just that little bit of growth, was enough to remind me of my hopes and inspire me to believe again.

How many times in your life have you waited, and waited, and waited, wondering "when?" My answer to you is, just a little longer. How many times have you felt your faith waver? My answer is wait. And watch. And listen.

Wait for the LORD;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:14

Last week Logo and Code man had their first soccer games of the season. The U5/U6 (I'm still a little confused as to why my 6 year old is considered to be under 6, but I think it has to do with the fact that this the spring league) program has gone to a scramble format, so they don't have teams, each week they're divided up into groups of about 10 kids and sent to a field with a coach. All of the coaches are supposed to be doing the same drills and teaching the same skills each week and then after about half an hour of practice, the kids play 3 v 3.I heard that there were a lot of parents complaining about the new format before we even started. I was a little concerned about the coaches not getting to know the kids' names, and wondering how it was all going to work, but after one week I think it's terrific. All of the pressure to perform is off, for both the coaches and the kids. Since their team changes each week, they never get a chance to realize that one player is not as good as the others, and we parents don't have to worry that our coach isn't as good as the other coaches, because we'll have a new one next week. We're not supposed to keep score, but of course everyone does (those who can keep the numbers in their heads, that is), and we keep a running tally of wins and losses, even though we say it doesn't really matter. Now, it truely doesn't matter.

Code man is finally on a team on which he knows a couple of the kids...had to happen sooner or later, I guess.He really enjoys playing soccer, and I enjoy seeing him enjoying himself. It's a little hard to control my coaching from the sidelines, but one game at a time, eh? His team has 12 players and in his age group (U10--yes, the not yet 9 year old is under 10, but the 6 year old is under 6) they play 6 v 6, so the coach was subbing everybody out at one time, whether they needed it or not. I thought he was subbing a little too frequently, then I realized that he must be used to hockey, where they sub every 60 seconds or so. He's a likeable guy, so I won't hold that hockey thing against him :-) He said his goal was to not get yelled at by the ref.
And how could I not post this pic of my little man, Bubby?