Oh, the week we’ve had!

Now that I've typed that title, I realize it sounds like that Dr. Seuss book…"Oh, the Places You'll Go." This is nothing like that, in case you were wondering. (which I'm sure you weren't!)

Because of the snow, there were three basketball games last week – one at home and two away. And my husband always works after the game, re-watching it and entering stats, which means three really late nights. On two other nights he had to go scout other games. On the remaining night, he had a required meeting. It's been a long week for him.

In my world, we had solo and ensemble contest this weekend. With the snow days that just kept coming, I was way
behind on getting those poor kids ready for that. I figured out this week that since the majority of my students were new to me second semester, that totaled up to 15 days of class before contest. And since there were quite a few days at the beginning of the semester spent on just the basics, those kids had only had one ensemble song for 7 days, the other for 5. No wonder I wasn't sleeping well! So I was having before-school practices for both solos and ensembles; having students come in during their lunch (which lines up with my lunch and planning period) to practice solos; and staying after school a few days for a few more solo rehearsals. Then it was up and at school bright and early Saturday morning (7am!) to take them to contest, where at least we were fortunate to have judges who were not only kind and encouraging, but who also seemed to understand what the snow had cost us.  So it was a long week for me also.

Although, for the record, let me re-state that I loved those snow days.

I also allowed my son to convince me that we really
needed to go to the game on Thursday night. I hadn't been planning to – it was a school night, and I knew Saturday was going to be rough (he had his own "contest" – Bible quizzing – on Saturday morning to be ready for). He was pretty convincing, though, and when I remembered who we were playing, I gave in.

It turned out to be worth it, too. We won, and it was a most rewarding win. Not so much because of the team we were playing, but because of the coach of that team. Some coaches encourage their team to play right, others seem to enjoy allowing (or encouraging) their team to be dirty and sneaky. Some coaches are gracious, whether they win or lose, and some get pretty ugly and mean and say interesting things. This particular coach is one of the latter. I found myself praying the whole game that we would just be able to get through the night without any injuries. One kid had to go get stitches in his head after the game, but no major injuries, so I'll take that! And the coach still had the nerve to complain about the officiating in the game. And make a couple of smart remarks to my husband during and after the game.  So winning that game was just really nice. I'm sure we'll see them again in playoffs, so I'll refrain from gloating any more than that, lest it come back to haunt me!

I was surprised to realize I hadn't blogged in almost a week, but now that I've written this out…well, not so surprised anymore. In fact, at the moment, I'm grateful we made it through, and even had fun doing it.

I'm thankful for the out-of-town friends who blessed us with a visit Saturday evening…and thankful that their visit gave me the motivation to clean house! (I love starting the week feeling organized. It never lasts, but at least Monday feels better!)

I'm thankful for the former student/player who today on Facebook posted one of the nicest things ever about my husband and made sure to tag me in the note so I would see it. Michael – you made our day!

I'm thankful for a peaceful, enjoyable Sunday, and a relaxing evening.

And finally, I'm thankful that there are only three weeks (THREE!!) left in the season, then SPRING BREAK!!



Hope your Sundays have been equally blessed, and that this week to come is full of things to be thankful for!