Football Season

The first official HFL football game is this Saturday in Greensboro.  First we pray for the safety of all the boys and ask for God's protection as they engage in the wonderful sport of tackle football.  We are blessed to be part of a Christ-centered league.  It is absolutely amazing. This year, we welcome Sean, who came over from the dark side of playing fall baseball!  Below is Sean's first official picture as a Greensboro Panther.  He told me last night that he will be starting Left Tackle and will be back up defensive ends (both sides, but not at once!).  We're just excited to watch him play in his first game.   Matthew promises me that tomorrow he will allow me to get one picture of him with his brother in uniform.  THAT will make for a great scrapbook page.

We've had a great experience in the last 3 years with HFL.  We are the only Catholics out there and when people ask questions about our Catholic faith, I am glad that Matthew knows his faith, knows the Bible and can defend our faith.  These families are wonderful, Christ-centered families and I know they understand that our lives are centered on Jesus Christ, too, even though we have different faiths.  Matthew spoke at our church recently and he mentioned that he was the only Catholic on his football team.  He said going to the DYC made him realize he really isn't alone....... 

Every practice, the players and coaches pray before and after. They also have a devotion.  No where else would you find coaches and players dedicated to Jesus Christ like here in the HFL. It is a blessing in our lives and we are blessed to have these families as part of our lives.

Our Newest Panther Family Member

Baseball, Football - Spring Sports Have Begun!

Saturday was the first practice for flag football AND it was the first baseball game for the FHE Hawks.  The Hawks played a double header against the Triad Homeschool BlueJays high school team and won both games.  FHE doesn't even have a full high school team and pulled kids from the middle school team to help out.  It was chilly, but dry!  The rain held out until both games were done.  Sean was excited about both wins. 

We are in full swing with baseball practice several times a week.  More games coming up soon.  Luckily, we don't have a game this weekend because Sean has his district piano competition at UNCG and we plan on watching the reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse! 

God First, Even Before Football

Wasn't the Super Bowl great!? Most of us were glad that the Packers won. We only have one Steelers fan in the house. He handled the loss quite well. We made it home just before kickoff, and I mean just before kickoff. We drove in the driveway at 6:16 pm.

It ended up being a really crazy day. We'd arrived in Anderson, SC at 1 am. The boys and I were exhausted from the previous few days and the driving. When I tried to wake them at 8 in the morning, they didn't budge! Later, the Packers fan and the Steelers fan started complaining about having to go to the 4pm Mass in Salisbury! Oh MY! Joseph asked, "Can't we get an annulment from Mass?" He'd overheard his aunts talking about annulments a few days earlier and apparently was a bit confused! The Packers fan had an attitude all day long.

God has a sense of humor, though. The homily at the 4pm Mass was absolutely great. The Deacon told a story about a time when Vince Lombardi was on the way to a coach camp and made the car turn around when he found out the priest wasn't going to be at the players camp to offer daily Mass. Vince Lombardi, it was said, tried to go to daily Mass. The looks on my boys' faces was priceless. After Mass, I thanked the Deacon for the wonderful homily and explained about the grief my oldest son had given me the entire day. My youngest son had changed his attitude when I explained that maybe the winner was decided by the number of fans who go to Mass with a good attitude.

We can't make football into a god by putting football before going to Mass!

Still Friends, even after the Loss.....

After the Packers Won the game

Baseball Season is Over! Life is Semi-Normal Again!

I know I can't be the only mom who feels like a crazy woman when sports seasons are in full swing! S finished his baseball season with his team only having lost one game! They brought home championship trophies that are very cute! Each trophy has a spinning baseball on it. I'm a mom, so I think it is cute. I am sure that S thinks it is "cool".

Last week, he had this really awesome play. His coach called for a fake bunt and S did that, then quickly swung the bat back and hit the ball into outfield between 2nd and 3rd bases. He got a single. It was great. More stolen bases and a few runs.

J's football team didn't win any games this season, but he had a great time and learned a lot. The boys on the team are great. One night, his friend, N, came to eat with us and they were making faces. I said they looked like they could be brothers and N replied, "We are brothers in Christ!" Where else but a homeschool football league would you hear that!? Then, when we said the blessing before our meal, we made the sign of the cross and prayed. N replied, "I'm sorry I am not Catholic!' We laughed and told him he didn't need to be sorry! Too cute!

M's team won the playoff game Saturday and will be advancing to the State Championship game this next Saturday. He was sick all last week, started feeling better Friday. After the first quarter, he was feeling so bad that he sat out the rest of the game. He was upset about it, though.

We had several appointments last week... for sinus infections and migraines and teeth. School is going well. Week 8 and so far, we are still on track!

We are planning an election party on November 2nd. How many of you are planning parties? Red, white and blue will be the theme! Never have I ever been so concerned about the outcome of an election. I am hopeful that this election will turn us back in the right direction.

Football Season!

We love football!  Matthew and Joseph are playing for the Greensboro Panthers, a wonderful Christ-centered tackle football league for homeschoolers. I was able to get some great photos of the youth adn JV games, but the Varisty played under the stadium lights and my camera and lens just doesn;t work very well.  It was a great day!  The Varsity team won and continues to have a great season -- not allowing any other team to score points yet this season. 

Here are a few shots from the weekend games:

Jamestown, the Mayflower and Colonial life. Football and other ramblings, too.

The younger boys have been working on a few writing assignments in the past several weeks. They have written reports on Jamestown and the Mayflower already. They are now preparing a three paragraph report on colonial life in America which will also be given as an oral report. Joseph often throws fits because he has to prepare an outline before he begins his writing. Aye yi yi. He has decided to write on travel in colonial America, while Sean has decided to write on food in colonial America.

We use a simple formula: pick your subject, then pick three topics within that subject. Each of the three topics will be a paragraph. Paragraphs are written: Topic sentence, middle sentences that explain the topic sentence and a conclusion that reiterates the topic sentence and may add a personal note or an extra tidbit of information. Outlines are easy! Use your topics and add keywords for A and B (or C, D, etc)

Subject

I Topic
A
B

II Topic
A
B

So far, high school seems to be going well for Matthew. Several challenges, but going well. Football season is in full swing and I hope to go out and get some pictures of him with his new team this year. It is his first year on the homeschool football league. He is a Panther! They are asking him to move up from JV to varsity because when they scrimmage the varsity team, it takes two varsity players to block Matthew. He can also sack the QB.

Sean and Joseph will start playing for High Point Little League soon. We are supposed to get a call this week. They are looking forward to fall baseball.

Our garden is still going. The other day, we picked carrots, bell peppers and a few other things and made a delicious Emeril's creamy chicken recipe with our wonderful garden fare. We've also been making apple recipes with the apples we picked at our friend's orchard on the way back from Cincy last week.

The boys had their bone marrow biopsies and we are still waiting on the results. I got their CBC results before leaving. Sometimes I just want to crawl under a rock and pretend that Shwachman-Diamond isn't real. I dream of the day they will have completely normal counts! ~smile~