Team Covenant

This post really might be titled

Why I Love Warrior Football - Part II

{Part I is HERE}

Practice came to an end early this evening and parents were invited to participate

in the signing of the Team Core Covenant

Yes....another reason to LOVE Warrior Football!

Unity...Love...Compete...Commitment...Integrity

The senior players chose these core values to be the focus for the 2012/2013 season

and they presented the expectations for each core value in the following categories:

Game Time

*

Practice

*

In the classroom

*

In the community

Examples of specific core covenants:

We will respect those in authority
We will always encourage our teammates to do their best and hold them accountable to study
We will be the first to step up and help others
We will keep our loved ones safe from bad influences
We will practice like it is game day
We will guard our eyes and hearts 
We will own up to our mistakes and not take anger out on our teammates
We will be willing to do what is best for the team and not our own personal interest
We will do our best on every school assignment.
We will fight for the right thing and DO the right thing.

We will strive to have one heartbeat on the field as brothers bonded by Christ.

This is just a sampling...Peter has a copy of his own to refer to and remember!

The seniors signed first as a symbol of leadership

Coaches signed next.

And then each player was called by name.

To come forward and sign the covenant

pledging to uphold these core values as defined 

 The poster size Covenant will hang in the locker room.

Then we gathered at center field -

parents circling the players

and laying hands on them.

How powerful to hear fathers & coaches praying over our boys.

Why do I love Warrior football....

because when you take something like football and 

you put it under the Lordship of Jesus Christ

Well. . .

It's more than a game young men play!   So much more!

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed,

do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God the Father through him

- Colossians 3:17

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord, not for men,

since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.

It is the Lord Christ you are serving

- Colossians 3:23-24

Tomorrow is our first home game and tailgate party.

I'm so proud to be a Warrior Mom!

Me - The Mother Hen

Every fall I confess that I am the hen in the above you tube video.

After a slower paced, mostly at home, being together kind of a summer,

I do have the slightest tendency to feel like

okay...and act like....

a protective mother hen.

Schedules ramp up.

The calendar becomes a multi-colored mess.

Seven people in three vehicles come and go in a sometimes frenzied pace.

Kids have homework.

Parents get homework (which I do resent, by the way)

There is ballet and soccer and volleyball and football.

There is piano and youth group and home group and Sunday School.

There are field trips and birthday parties 

and team meetings and new committees.

There are teenagers with social lives

and younger ones with endless requests for play dates and sleepovers.

It is ALL GOOD (as they say)

And truly it is.

ALL GOOD.

Wouldn't change any of it.

Our family mission statement is clear

WE LIVE TOGETHER, ENCOURAGING ONE ANOTHER

TO BE AND TO DO WHAT GOD CALLS US TO.

I am so happy to facilitate the madness

for it brings great joy.

It's messy, but joyful.

{Ian and I are far outnumbered if you haven't noticed}

BUT, I do have to, it seems, for a short period of transition, be the mother hen

My instincts count the demands as danger.

I feel protective.
I innately want to gather in my chicks!

I feel that even the good things of life and of childhood and adolescence

and the commitments we all make to service and ministry and community

and friendships 

are perceived dangers.

The demands ascend at once in the fall....and it is, frankly, overwhelming.

They ruffle my feathers for a couple weeks until

we hit our groove and catch our breath and take that collective sigh

{usually around Labor Day}

And I'm okay.  Cuz everyone in my home is okay.

And then, when I'm done acting like a crazy Mother Hen

we get on about our lives.

Our full and happy and crazy adventurous lives.

To God be the glory....Great things He has done!!!

First Day of Pre-K

David was all smiles today for his first day of Pre-K!

He is not at all a morning boy,

but he rose early and ate a good breakfast with his siblings

{mini waffles and turkey sausage}

He was very excited about his new backpack

and his Spider Man lunch box

I know he felt so proud and so big and so ready

And he walked right into his classroom and got busy!

My sweet boy.

Not even home from China two years yet.

So happy and so ready to be a preschool learner.

He is going to have a great day.

I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon and hear all about it.

My new job does not start until next week, so I have this week to

get appointments out of the way and to get my life/house in order.

Ready set go!

Ready or Not

Last evening we had an Open House at David's preschool.

We got to go and visit his classroom

and meet his teachers

and see the playground

and even though I've done this five times before,

the drive home resulted in that all familiar feeling. . .

You know the feeling -

amazing love mixed with joyful anticipation mixed with sentimental anguish.

My last baby is going to school.

Of course, it is Pre Kindergarten,

but it is full time and well,

I'm gonna miss my days spent playing trains and super heros.

I'm going to miss our lazy mornings reading books and making up stories.

I'm going to miss him like CRAZY, truth be told!

He is going to LOVE school.

He is very excited and I am excited for him!

A beautiful article came out this week on the Gospel Coalition's Blog

entitled, The Truth About Pain in Childbirth

Oh how it spoke to my heart and captured everything this transition

is pressing upon me.

Here is an excerpt from that piece:

As the years unfold we begin to understand that we have been introduced to the great truth of pain in childbearing, a pain we naively believed would be confined to labor and delivery, but that visits us at every transition we nurture our children toward: the measured inhale, the steady exhale, the mighty push. And separation. Preschool. Kindergarten. Middle school. High school. College. Career. Marriage. With a familiar aching euphoria, we push them out---from safety and provision to separation and uncertainty. It feels like they would be safer just staying with us, as if safety were the greatest gift we could give them.

Somehow, this painful separation process is for our sanctification as mothers. For years I was not sure what the Bible meant that women would be saved through childbearing, but it grows clearer to me now. I once thought it referred only to giving birth, but its meaning encompasses the span of motherhood. Children are born in an instant, but they are borne across a lifetime. Childbearing saves me because it faithfully (albeit painfully) reminds me over and again that I am weak. It reminds me that I am not self-sufficient, that I do not have what it takes to preserve and protect my children, but that my heavenly Father does.

The full article can be read HERE

Inhale.  Exhale. Push.

Another one of my precious babes is off to school!

My tears are tears of sadness, but of joy, too.

And thankfulness.  God is good.  He is faithful.  He is all together sufficient.

Monday is his first day.

Will you pray for him?  And will you pray for me, too!?

Why I Love Warrior Football

I've mentioned before how I am not your typical football mom.

I really do not care for the game in the least.

Or at least, I used to not care too much about it.

But, Warrior Football is different.

I like it!

I like it a lot more each season!
{and this is only our second season!}

I have begun to see the philosophy of Coach Spenn's program take root.

Here is an excerpt from our football handbook:

Philosophy of Cypress Christian Football

Football at Cypress Christian is much more than a competitive game that young men play. It is an intentional curriculum that uses football to build men. The intent is to produce men that will live with reckless abandon for Christ in all things at all times; men that will be the same in public as they are in private; men that will be great husbands and fathers in the future; men that will learn to build deep meaningful relationships that will be used to sharpen each other and hold each other accountable for a life time. Our success will not be measured in wins and loses, but in how well we close the gap between our potential and our performance as players and as men, in fact it will probably take ten years to determine just how successful this season really will be.

Goal

For every player to know Christ and to make Him known.

The purpose of Cypress Christian Football is threefold:

1. Use football to teach principles and values that will result in the building of courageous men who will live sacrificial lives to the glory of God both on and off the field.
2. Purposefully build deep meaningful relationships that will last a lifetime.
3. Develop each player to be the best football player he can be.

This football program is unique.
They excel at football, but they also excel at making boys godly men.
What mom wouldn't sign up for that?
I am so grateful.  Peter will be under Coach Spenn for FOUR years!!!

Early season training included training in biblical principles of a godly man.
This past Tuesday evening, the team loaded up and went downtown to put on a football camp for underprivileged kids and served them dinner.

The seniors are trained to be servant leaders -
they lead the team through responsibility and service to underclassmen.
They have accountability meetings/dinners with the coaches.

It is not uncommon for coaches, parents and players to be affirming each boy
for their value to the team.  Its one way they love one another!

This Mama is getting excited for the new season.
I still don't know too much except yardage gained is a good thing.
I'm gonna keep my eye on the ball and try to learn more this year.
But I've also got my eye on the heart of my boy....
He's crazy about football.  And I pray he will grow in his love for Jesus, too!

Making Music

I am so grateful when Claire gets home from school

and plays the piano.

It is music to my ears...and my soul!

She has been taking from Ms. Ksenia for a year now

She works hard and she really does play with all her heart!

She is very close to finishing up the first Suzuki Book.

All the pieces must be played perfectly and by memory

to advance to the next level.

It is a very big accomplishment...she is getting very excited to receive her trophy!

She just put hands together on

Christmas Day Secrets

and it made her so happy to be able to play it.

It is beautiful!

Piano is one of the things that make for a busy week at our house

now that school has started.  I enjoy practicing with her

as is the Suzuki way, but she is very self motivated and sits to play

frequently when we are not "practicing", too!

I simply love having music in the house!  Thanks, Claire bear!

Blue & White Night

Somebody else wanted a Warrior haircut!

David is crazy about his brother.

And I am crazy about my boys!

Couldn't be more proud of both of them!

Peter is such a remarkable big brother....and David

is trying his hardest to follow right in his footsteps.

{Just the other day, he was sad he couldn't do something Pete was doing

and said, "It's NO fair.  While I was in China, you were growing up without ME!"}

Tonight was . . .

A great evening of Families, Food, Fun, and Fellowship!

It is the annual kick off for the new school year.

A time of prayer and praise, of thanksgiving and supplication.

And definitely a time of celebration!

It's all about school spirit

And seeing old friends

{like Mimi from the soccer team last year}

It's a time to welcome new families and

see friends from your class...like sweet Bella!

It's a time to celebrate being a Warrior

For Christ!

in the classroom

on the field

on the court

in our community!

It's a timet to revel in advancing to 

High School

It's a timet to introduce and celebrate our athletes and teams! 

And get super pumped for Warrior football!

Their Warrior chant was SO LOUD.... They are ready to RUMBLE!

The athletic theme for the year is

I feel so blessed, once again that the Lord made a way for our kids to be at

Cypress Christian School.

I am so blessed to know that they are challenged in every way

every way

to honor and glorify God in every endeavor.

SO to God be the glory for this new year.

We truly dedicate it to Him.

Warrior Scrimmage

Hey y'all.  It's the time all of Texas has been waiting for. . .

football season!

Our warriors had a scrimmage against Second Baptist today

Here's Coach Spenn getting the JV team ready to go in!

Peter is number 11 this year

and he is playing quarterback. . . a new position for him.

He is in there somewhere calling the play

This is Peter with his buddy James.

They met playing football together last year on the middle school team

This was last year. . .they've grown a bit, I'd say! 

We are ALL IN this season. 

Coach's Club

Season Tickets

Warrior Blanket

Achterkirch Jerseys to wear to the games

We got spirit YES WE DO!

Looking forward to a great season.  The boys have trained hard!

GO WARRIORS!!!!!

My Middle Schooler

Sweet Charlotte missed the First Day of School post

making lemon poppyseed muffins for all her siblings and then

trying to gather up her sports bag necessities at the last minute.....

so here she is on the second day of school

Always smiling

Always helping

Always busy doing something

Today she has the first of a two day tryout for

Middle School Volleyball

There are a lot of girls, 6th through 8th going out for two teams

The A Team and the B Team.

Lots of them will not make a team, but Charlotte is prepared

to go out there and give it all shes got!

Monday and Tuesday of this week were spent in clinics learning the skills

(especially for the 6th graders who have never played VB before!)

Teams will be posted Friday!

Oh, and the boys football team took on the Women's Varsity Volleyball team last night.

Yep...they got wooped.  Great entertainment and great fun!

Taquitos

I am always looking for new

healthy, quick, kid approved after school, after football, after Ballet, after Volley Ball

snacks...that the kids can kind of prepare and eat on their own.

When I saw this new recipe for creamy baked chicken taquitos, I had to try them.

{photo courtesy of Pink Parsley where I found the recipe.  You can see it HERE.}

The recipe says it makes 8 to 12

and I wanted extra for freezing and reheating

{with five kids, these sorts of snacks disappear all too quickly}

So I tripled the recipe and baked 25

and can safely say

I have enough filling for 50 more....

except I ran out of the homemade corn tortillas I get at the bakery.

{so that will be tomorrow's project - the filling will refrigerate beautifully}

David was my taste tester.

He loved them.

So did I!

The homemade tortilla sure was tasty

and the fresh chopped chicken, spices, lime and cream cheese, shredded cheddar....

Very yummy !

The kids got home from school and polished them off!  Every single last one!
And asked for more.

First Day of School

The kids are off for the first day of school!

PETER

(freshman)

CLAIRE

(Third grade)

MEREDITH

(Senior)

{and here I have to leave space for Charlotte's picture....she was running around in an unorganized fashion and not ready for photographs this morning.  Perhaps because she got up early and organized everyone's back to school breakfast....that's my Hunka Bunka!}

For the first time in fourteen years, somebody else is driving my kids to school.

Meredith!

Last night we picked up the "kids car" and she will be taking them to and from school

each day...mostly.

which kind of leaves me the rest of the day to figure out what my meaning in life is now.

Ahhhh....firsts.

Sometimes they are harder on moms!

David is still asleep so I'm going to go to the living room with my coffee & Bible

and enjoy some quiet time.  And pray for the first day of school!

To God be the glory!