As if the soccer coordinators didn’t already rate as some of the coolest people we’ve ever met, they offered up their barn as a prom setting for the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams.
Tab’s friend Lauren also attended.
I’m frustrated I can’t find the rest of the photos.
It was a gorgeous night. The girls changed out of their dresses after a few hours and there was a big bonfire.
There may or may not have been a party here one night…
Maybe it was just these two gorgeous young ladies.
Maybe there was a score of ladies from a dozen families that don’t take kindly to being sanctioned.
The election. Coronavirus. 2020.
For months, my nightly bedtime prayer has been for God to just pour Himself out over our nation and create in people an absolute distaste for lies. That no one would have the stomach for deceit and that His light would just penetrate the darkness and reveal sin and lies. I know God hears me. I know I am not the only one praying for it.
And yet I feel like each day we are just swimming through the falsehoods. The abject UGLY that is being thrown at us.
Why are we going back under lockdown? We can’t have groups larger than 10 assemble, but riots are allowed?
Marie and Tabitha’s soccer banquet was scheduled for Sunday evening at a park pavilion. It was already pared down from the wonderful gatherings that had taken place in churches (our church the last two years) to an indoor/outdoor park experience. It had also been just for Varsity players, meaning the three teams of Modified players were going to be denied their night of celebration and fellowship.
And then Governor Clownshoe says after 10PM this evening no groups greater than 10 can assemble.
So – our wonderful coordinator quickly moved the party to HER barn for tonight from 6-9PM. I had to work, but John was able to take Tab and Marie over.
Marie led worship.
Thankfully, other parents sent me some photos.
And they got to spend a little more time with their friends. Only about 40% of them were able to attend on short notice.
The end of this season means the end of organized fellowship with the likeminded families.
We are planning gatherings though. But – I can’t record them in real time…
Marie was invited to play in an All Star Game for SK. This was a treat. They haven’t had one in years and years, I am told, but because they’d lost so many OTHER opportunities this year (Thank You Governor Clown Shoe) they decided to have one. Seven or eight players from each of the local homeschool teams who were in the top three for the league split up into two teams and played a game.
I had to watch from my car as I pulled my back on Wednesday and I’m gimping around.
Thankfully other parents took some photos.
End of an era?
We were driving home from soccer and dropped off a friend in Victor, and as we were driving home in the drizzle we went under a bridge, and past trees and
-BOOM-
into the clearing and saw THIS.
We were able to see 100% of this beauty.
We pulled over and Tab jumped out for photos.
Because being a Scarlet Knight is too cool not to remember as the years go by.
It’s hard to describe how grateful we are that our homeschool soccer league is able to play this year. With so many other activities stripped off our schedules this year, it was such a wonderful blessing to have this remain intact, particularly with schools in our region not being afforded the same privilege.
Marie is a defensive starter again this year. This is Tabitha’s first year on the varsity level, and with such a large team, she is a pool player. We were glad she was able to take the field this gorgeous September day.
One of the biggest pick-me-ups is that the other parents seem wholly like-minded in terms of protocols. It is delightful to just be ourselves and feel like we are totally doing something normal again!
A lot of games mushed into one post.
Marie plays on varsity again this year and Tab is enjoying her second modified year. Their teams play well and win some and lose some. They are a joy to watch.
Marie and I were discussing some of the finer points of what it means to play team sports.
Some people focus mostly on the number of goals and wins. That’s fine. It’s one way to evaluate it.
I probably wouldn’t enjoy playing for or rooting for a team that didn’t care anything about winning.
But that’s not the most important piece to me. Not by a long shot.
For John and I what matters to us is the following:
1.) Opportunity to use the gifts God gave you. Enjoying the functions of a healthy body and being willing to work on improving your performance to the glory of God is one of the easiest examples to offer.
2.) The opportunity to learn how to function as a part of a larger team is also very valuable. Just as we are all parts of the whole body of the church and need to practice how to compliment and support one another, team members need to learn to function as a part of the whole.
3.) And the opportunity to work with mentor-coaches. Marie and Tabitha have been exceedingly blessed to be coached by Mr. Ray Marshall and Ms. Meaghan Finn. As a parents we have been very thoughtful about whom we allow in positions of role models in our kids’ lives. The statistics on the effects of coaches on a young person are reported time and time again as being significant to their overall development. (Google it.) I can say without hesitation that my girls’ coaches have contributed meaningfully to their spiritual development. They are not only sturdy role models, but they have offered Marie and Tab more than soccer training.
Both girls play defense.
The next five shots were taken by D. L. Walter.
Yes – she did head this.
I’m not sure if they will go to the championship games.
But they have won handedly already.
Dayspring Disciples 