Acorn Hunting

Sometimes I wish I could stop the clock from ticking.  I hate having an anxious feeling or feeling like I am so pressed for time.  In Nick's career I come across this feeling more often than I would like to and you would think that I would get used to it or that it would slowly just get easier.  It never does.  I dread packing up my house again or worse...unpacking it without my packing partner.

I am not going to get all sad or feeling sorry for myself because I am about to do something that just a couple of shorts months ago I did not know for sure if I would ever do again. That's endure (I mean enjoy) another baseball season.  After Nick got surgery on his shoulder we were not sure if he would play again and he pitched in his second game yesterday! In his very own words, "Only God could have brought me this far."  We will be hitting the road next week and saying goodbye to our home in Arizona which we have actually really grown to love.  Nick has always hated being in Arizona during the season because if you're here it means you're hurt. I think we can look at Arizona in a new light now because it is also where you get healed :)

Mason asks us all the time when he can go to his Arkansas home. I asked him a few nights ago why he wanted to go to Arkansas so bad and he said "I just dont like the shoo flies."  Shoo flies to Mason are just normal house flies but I thought it was funny that he thinks there wont be any in Arkansas.  

 This is the boys "acorn hunting" in our backyard.  There are actually a ton of them although I have not figured out where exactly they come from.  Not the most kid friendly backyard, but a great place for "abentures" as Mason calls them. 

Dads

I went out for my run last night and on the radio they were having people call in to tell stories about their dads. I started thinking about what I would say if I called and only had time to say one thing about my dad. If you know my dad, you know that 30 seconds would never be enough to do him justice.  I never did decide exactly what I would say about him but my mind started wandering and I made a huge realization about my dad. 

Those of you who know us well and have been around us in the last few months have probably noticed that something has changed around here.  Our families have noticed and Nick's co workers have noticed.  Nick and I have definitely seen it in each other and I can only hope that Mason and Drake are reaping the benefit of it as well.  So Im sure you're asking, what the heck happened? And what did I realize about my dad?

I know that ever since the moment my father found out he was having a little baby girl that he has prayed for me and my future spouse. That I might find someone who had a heart after God and sought God in every decision for my family.  If you would have asked either Nick or myself 5 years ago from right now if we thought we were right for each other we probably both would have answered no. And I was about 4 months pregnant with our son at that point.   Something HAD to change. 

When I sit here and think about where I was exactly 5 years ago from today and where I am now, I realize that it is nothing short of a miracle.  Did I ever think that my husband, Nick, would be leading prayer in a room full of people in a neighborhood Bible Study and on top of that, VOLUNTEERED HIMSELF?!?!  Never in a million years, but guess what? He does. So here's what I realized about my dad. He started praying for me and my spouse before Nick was ever even a thought in my mind. Before Nick was even born (I am 19 days older than him) ha! And then I got married, and he didn't stop praying! Thank you Jesus and thank you Dad!!

In church today they were talking about our earthly father as an example of our Heavenly Father.  How our earthly father should show grace, love, pride, and guidance.  My heart breaks for those who do not have that example of love in their fathers. I know I am blessed to have a father who has shown more grace than he should have had to.  Thank you dad, for showing me that grace, and for continuing to pray for me and my spouse, and my kids, that we might one day be the people that you have prayed for us to be.

I went and heard a local missionary talk the other night. He spent 15 years living in Brazil serving as a missionary.  He is now 80 years old and writing a book about his experiences there. After every story he would tell about the horrific circumstances he endured and how God delivered him from them he would end his story by saying "And I went on my way rejoicing." I thought to myself, what a neat way to end any story...or blog :) So, Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there, especially my hubs, Nick, and my sweet daddy!
                                                    The Schmidts......And I went on my way rejoicing!

Feeling Blah

I do not know what it is, the heat maybe? But for the last few days I have just felt BLAH! I have not had the motivation to do anything and I honestly have just had a bad attitude....just ask my husband, haha. So today I want to take a minute to write about things that make me smile.

Mason went to the CCV (our church out here) Stars football camp this week. They rotated around 6 different stations for an hour doing different drills and what not then at the end they played a "shark and minnow" version of flag football.  I love that no matter where I was around the complex I knew exactly where he was by his loud cackle! He is so sweet. He would die laughing (cackling) when his teammates would tackle the dummies or if they would fall doing the drills. At the end of each station the coaches would shoot them with water guns, and again, cackle!

Nick has been throwing bullpens for over 2 weeks now! He starts throwing in the Rookie League games out here in Peoria next week and will work his way up to 5 innings over the next few weeks. His hard work and great attitude in this whole situation DEFINITELY give me a reason to smile.

Another reason my husband makes me smile....or laugh? He is now officially couponing!!! He is so funny. Since there are grocery stores on every corner out here instead of wal-marts, we get a ton of store coupons in the mail. Being the faithful Wal-Mart shoppers that we are, we still go there, but now we price match! I shouldn't say "we" because I am not as into this as he is.  We have done it our last two grocery shopping trips and Nick calculated $48 in savings!

I don't have a specific funny story about Drake. He just makes me smile in general :) A not so funny story is that he got stung by a bee in the swimming pool a few days ago. His poor little hand swelled up pretty big but he is a trooper! I am just thankful that he was not allergic.

Gosh, I feel better just thinking about my boys! So good I could go out for a run.....Yea right, its my day off! Another reason to smile!

Choosing to See

I am not really sure what has happened to me over the last year, but I have become something that I thought I never would....a reader. It just seems like such an adult thing to do and I kind of try to stay away from those things, ha! Kind of like when I tried to stay away from being a parent and that did not work out very well either. So maybe on the surface I think I try to stay away from "adultish" things but deep down inside I really love them.

I just finished reading a book called "Choosing to See."  It was written by Mary Beth Chapman, wife of Christian recording artist, Steven Curtis Chapman.  The book is basically about her life, her marriage, her kids, and how she dealt with the tragic loss of her 5 yr old daughter in 2009.  The book is WONDERFUL. She is a very funny lady. Seems odd that there would be much humor in a book about the death of a child, but she does it very well.

The lady working the checkout when I purchased the book asked me if I listened to Steven Curtis Chapman before the accident that took his daughter.  I told her yes, that I had listened to him growing up....and smiling in my head knowing that he was my older brother's idol back when he was 12 and picturing that frame on his wall that had him and Steven Curtis Chapman (matching comb overs and all)  smiling for the camera, right next to an autographed cassette cover. Anyways, the lady said that she had listened to his music for a while and that she felt like she knew the family and was glad that the book had come out so she could walk through the journey with them.  It is sort of true....you feel like it happened to somebody you know because it is someone that you have watched for so many years.  It is interesting now to look back at the songs he has written over the last couple of years and to know now where he was when he was writing them. 

The point of this post is that  the book was very encouraging. I laughed and I cried.  Nick thought something was bad wrong with me one night as he walked in on me sobbing in bed. haha.  Great book for anyone looking for something to read. I'll even let you borrow mine :)



                                                             
                                                          


Other books I finished lately- "Radical" by David Platt (awesome).  "Unplanned" by Abby Johnson (equally awesome)