November at the Troops

It's been a month since I last wrote.  A month.  How is that even possible?  The holidays are soon upon us and that means my KIDS will be home!  I can't wait.  I know it will be crazy and busy and loud and my well laid plans will all have to be adjusted but I will LOVE IT. And Christmas shopping!  Yikes.  I should start.

I've got Pioneer Woman's Hamburger Soup simmering away and my school crowd is due any minute.  We'll quick get through homework and eat and head back for basketball.  Because somehow while things here were rolling along, we morphed quickly from football season (with a hard loss last week) into basketball season for four of our troops.  It's great fun.  And Little Man is already whining about the time sitting in the gym.  Ha!

We started basketball and finished up football season WORN OUT at the troops.  Each and every one.  As hard as it is, I am so grateful for the opportunity for my boys to play.  To forge relationships in the trenches of helmets and hard hits and injury.  Along with the glory of victory now and then.  There's nothing like it and it went SO QUICKLY this year I felt like I just blinked and we were done.  Thank the Lord we don't have a senior this year or I'd still be crying like a baby.

Truthfully, it's been so busy and there has been so much going on that I've been a little bit discouraged.  It's a lot to manage and we got so worn out that I think my ability to keep smiling and encouraging and just moving (ha!) lagged a bit.

Sometimes it takes a few weeks of the Psalms and Daily Audio Bible and singing worship music at the top of my lungs in the shower and going from moment to moment in prayer to pull myself out of a funk.  I don't know that I'm there yet, but I'm closer than I was last week.

Seasons keep passing.  Kids keep growing.  Games keep being won or lost.  Schoolwork and homework and papers and projects move in and out of our house like a wave most days, often leaving devastation in their wake.

But each morning the sun rises, again.  The Coach makes coffee, again.  The workouts and the runs and the laundry and the meals and the bills keep needing my attention.  And before I know it, time is passing and I'm tired, but smiling.

Smiling because I have a FAITHFUL God whose love amazes me every day.

Smiling because I have a husband who loves me even when I'm tired, overwhelmed, cranky and dieting (which means extra cranky!).  Ha!

Smiling because the TROOPS - how I love them.  They make me laugh until my sides hurt.  They keep me busy and make life FULL and fun.

Smiling because we have the most wonderful group of people who love us and encourage us every single day.  No matter what.  Our parents.  Our friends.  Our school family.  So blessed.

And sometimes?  It just has to be enough - in the midst of an uncertain world and uncertain futures - that God is sovereign over it all.  It IS enough.  No matter how I FEEL today, or tomorrow, or next week, or next year.  He is enough.  His love.  His grace.  His unending mercy.  Whether or not I can keep up, or keep the laundry going, or keep food fixed for this crowd.  Whether or not I'm missing my engineering student (sigh) or haven't seen the coach in days or have a run that feels like my legs are lead.

He is always there.  Always faithful.  Always enough.

Happy Thursday!


Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.