A Rivalry settled - Brothers in Faith

Since the football season began, tonight's game has been on the minds of the parents.  Coming into the game, two undefeated teams faced off.  At stake was the district championship and home field advantage for the playoffs.  New this year, the rivalry added a trophy to the mix.  Calling this game the Brothers in Faith game, the winning team would house the trophy.  To add more pressure, we came into the game ranked below our opponent and knowing that while both teams are in the top four for our division in the state, only one will advance to the state playoffs.

Our opponent started strong, and the score went back and forth until we scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and went into half-time with a 20-14 lead.  In the second half of play, our lead increased to 27-16 where it remained until the last 35 seconds of the game when our opponent scored a TD.  We held on to our three point lead until the end.  What a sigh of relief!  An amazing night for football.

I could not give Zach the 18th birthday I had hoped to.  He received a couple of t-shirts and a hat, but I don't think it mattered.  He enjoyed a celebration with friends at a local sports restaurant, and his buddies covered his meal.  Then, he played a fabulous game that ended in a solid and much hoped-for victory.  He has been so happy over the last few days.

Zach's smallest fan came prepared to cheer the team to a win.  She loved clapping and ringing the CAL bell, but she was mesmerized by the band's halftime show.

Regan, Jonathan, and Zach.  You wouldn't guess it by looking at him now, but Jonathan was a kicker for his high school football team.

This is how Julia dresses for a football game.  Can we say fashionista?

Zach got his hands on that trophy in the locker room.  You can see that he just came out of a battle.


Our regular season district play ended tonight.  We have one more game against a team outside of our district before the playoffs start.  This season is flying. We will meet tonight's opponent again in the playoffs.  We are so hoping for a bid for the state championship.  It's a good year to be a Centurion!

This mom is happy, happy, happy!

Who is 18 today?

This guy...

Does it get any cuter than this?  I don't think so.

From Cheetah boy because he was fascinated by the fastest animal on land to Cereal Man (his bid for class clown in middle school) to Bonecrusher (wrestling nickname that stuck for football), we have loved watching him grow up.  

It went so fast!

Celebrating the Senior Football Players -Game Time

As we entered the game, we were greeted by these posters.  During the school day, they were in front of the school so that every person driving onto the campus could enjoy them.

Before the game the seniors who play golf, run cross country, march in the band, or play football have a recognition ceremony. The parents escort their seniors across the track in front of the stands while the announcer gives brief information about the senior. 

For Zach the information was a follows.

Parents names

years at CAL - K-12

Sports Played at CAL: Football, Track & Field

Favorite Bible Verse:  1 Corinthians 9:25

College Plans: School -undecided

Major -Criminal Justice

Zach sports the Rambo look for football.  We are greeting the head coach, athletic director and high school principal here.

Zach brought quite a crowd to the game.  My cousin Susie and her husband Eric and daughter Lesley drove an hour and a half for it. My dad came out for the first time in Zach's seven years of football to see him play.  Tiffany came and brought a friend.  Tara and Josh joined us. The always faithful John and Tessa were there.  I think everyone had fun.  It was a blowout game as was expected which meant that Zach did not see much action though he still managed five tackles.

 I wish I had gotten a group picture. grr.

We received posters with a great picture of the senior boys on them.  On the back they included a note from the coach about each of the seniors.  Zach's note read as follows:

It has been a privilege to work with "Bone Crusher" the past few years.  As his coach, I have found Zach to be a very hard worker, tough, and hard-nosed.  He has been a rock in the middle of our defense for three seasons and his contributions are unequaled.  Zach is a great young man to work with, his approach to the game is strong and steady, but he always has a way to sneak in his wry humor from time to time.  Zach has a great future in front of him to accomplish all his goals.  I am grateful for the opportunity to be a small part of his success.

This is what I love about these coaches.  They demand discipline.  They work this team hard, but they never ever stop encouraging them.  They love these boys and it shows.  

Zach and his fellows seniors have learned this lesson well.  They work to encourage the younger players and watching Zach do that on the sidelines last night was part of the joy of that game.

Zach's poster.  I will be buying the digital image of this picture.

Julia bent the flathead...ugh.

Julia's friend A was with us for the night.  Her parents had an obligation and needed someone to watch her.  We needed someone to get Julia to an after school birthday party that both girls were attending, so everything worked out great.  They enjoyed hanging out with Lesley at the game.

We did not realize that it was redneck night for the students. I wondered why Savannah wore a plaid shirt and braids.  One of the kids dressed like Si Robertson -very cute.

None of the moms seemed emotional.  I think the final game will be harder on us.  Hopefully, that will be the state championship game :)

Celebrating the Football Seniors

We celebrated senior night last night.  While we have planned and anticipated this for weeks, as all good things do, it flew.  We had so much fun!!

Our team has 13 seniors, and senior parents were invited to come and help decorate for the pre game meal. On senior night, the seniors get to enjoy steak, but the rest of the team gets chicken.  I almost felt sorry for the underclassmen as the seniors enjoyed the attention, but I reminded myself that this is not new and is not going away.  They will get their turn if God wills it.  Fortunately, the moms serving the meal were junior moms, so they took down ideas for next year as the senior moms have done in the past.

We love the fatheads! They were such fun!

Table decor.  Each of the boys had his place set with a picture from his early sports years, dog tags, and a blanket from the school. The dog tags included the team theme.  Zach loves dog tags, so he has been wearing those.  The blanket was embroidered with the student's number and last name.

One of the moms faithfully gets these for special functions.  So cute and so appreciated.  Thanks Dana!  Iced sugar cookies are Zach's favorite, but he was not about to touch that prior to the game.  He offered it to Andy, but we wrapped it up and brought it home for him.

Zach's blanket.  He took this to the locker room to enjoy it for a pre game nap.

This was my favorite part of the whole day ---seeing the reaction of the boys and the head coach to all those old pictures.  They all really got a kick out of that.

On a side note, I know I am biased, but I thought Zach looked particularly handsome when he arrived for the meal yesterday.  Ironically, Savannah commented later that when she saw Zach at school, she noticed that his eyes were especially sparkly.  She said, "you know, he has such pretty eyes, and they looked especially pretty today."  She's right!  His eyes are deeply set, so I don't think many people realize just how pretty they are, and like a lot of guys, his eyes are framed with nice, dark, thick lashes.  Yes, I am jealous.

The older boys had the cookies, but the rest of the team was not left out.  They got cupcakes before the game.

Our 13 seniors with their head coach.
Lots of future engineers in this bunch!



Blogger is really irritating me. So I am going to break this up in two posts in order to put the game pictures after the pre game stuff.  Grr.

Zach started life as a very curious boy.  We could see it in his wide eyes before he was mobile.  I got a big kick out of finding him in the dryer and the oven drawer.

My favorite toddler story about Zach occurred shortly after Savannah's birth.  I was nursing her and felt pretty stuck doing so.  I could hear dishes clanking in the kitchen and feared the mess I would find when Savannah finished.  When I was finally able to check on Zachary, he proudly showed me that he had emptied the dishwasher and put the dishes away for me.  I did not have the heart to tell him that the dishes were dirty, so I snuck them back into the dishwasher as soon as I could along with all the silverware that was made dirty by his super cute effort to help.

In less than a week, my cute helper will be eighteen.  I blinked, folks, I simply blinked.

Today would have been my mom's 63rd birthday.  Since she changed addresses almost three years ago, she gained a son-in-law and two grandchildren with another one on the way. I miss her wisdom, fun-loving nature, and amusement at the kids.  I hate that I don't get to hear her opinion on the outstanding football season Zach is having or on his senior year and future plans.  I worry that my kids won't remember her, but hopefully, they will spend eternity with her in Heaven.  I know that better is one day in His courts than thousands elsewhere (Psalm 84:10).  An ordinary day in Heaven is so much better than a fabulous day here.

Flashback Friday

2005- Three generations headed to China to meet Julia