Advice From A Young Grandson

I want to share one more football-playing grandson with you before I move on to things Christmas. Thank you for indulging this grandma. Hudson is our youngest grandson and a real joy to our hearts. He recently turned nine years old, a fact that's hard to believe.This was his first year to play football and we were able to be there for some of his games. He attends Salem Academy, a private Christian school, where his older brothers play upper level football.

At the beginning of the season he was a bit uncertain but his confidence grew with each game. His two big brothers - Rylan and Gavin - spent time with him to discuss the games, the intricate rules of football and showed him ways to improve his skills on the field.

Hudson's games were usually played during the day but one game that was special was near the end of the season. His team had a chance to play a nighttime game under the lights - just like his big brother, Rylan, and the high school varsity team.

The last game of the season was special. He and his team had come so far! They had learned many  new skills and had gained more confidence along the way. As we sat in the stadium with his dad we learned that Hudson had insisted on wearing yellow socks - a good thing because we could always find him on and off the field! After the game ended each team lined up to receive metals for completing the season. It was special to be there and watch as his metal was placed around his neck.

We've been so blessed to be able to watch our youngest grandson grow and develop skills. More than that, it's been an added blessing that he is strong in his young faith and has a loving, kind heart.

 

Hudson is a smart young man. He cares deeply about things but he never fails to tell it like it is! He speaks the truth and, at times, his wisdom amazes us.  He sat beside me during the second half of Rylan's state championship game. He explained a lot of things - football rules, what was happening on the field and why things were being played out the way they were.  He did a good job being my personal commentator - perhaps he has a future on TV!  As the game went on there was a very bad call against our team and I had trouble understanding and dealing with it. Hudson leaned over to me and said something that hasn't left my heart since then. He said, 'Grandma, you need to let it go! And you need to learn to be patient!' That's our Hudson. Nothing unkind - just true.  His words have stayed with me through the past weeks and I've sensed he was right. This grandma took the advice of a young grandson. I've asked Hudson to sit next to me during his older brothers' basketball games - because I learned so much from him. Perhaps I'll understand more about basketball before the end of the season!

An Unsung Hero

In the middle of the excitement of our oldest grandson's football season there is another grandson who has been an unsung hero.  I've been amazed as I sat at games and watched him in action. Rylan's middle brother, Gavin, has been a ball boy for the high school varsity football team.  That means he's one of two boys who took the balls in and out of Rylan's games. He also took the kicking tee to the center of the field whenever the ball was punted. (He wore his brother's number - #3)

He worked closely with the referees. 

He had to pay attention to every play on the field and be ready at a moment's notice to get in and out with the balls.

I told him he should wear a pedometer so he would know how far he ran during each game. He was in and out of the game and he was in charge of keeping our team's footballs ready to go into a game quickly. Every time it rained during a game he carried a towel to dry the football each time it came off the field after play and he wrapped a 'new' ball in the towel to keep it dry and ready to go for the next time it was needed in the game. He had an important role with the team. 

Gavin is a sportsman like his big brother - and he's a good football player, too. He played on the seventh and eighth grade team for his school this year.  He's small in stature but big in spirit and motivation. He could get into places where the other team didn't expect him to be and he could run fast when he had the ball.  He was definitely an asset to his team.

 

 Gavin displayed the same good character as his big brother - he was a good sport, he was compassionate and caring for others no matter what team they were on.

Gavin won't be the varsity ball boy next year. His 'career' is finished and he will move on to more football adventures.  We find it hard to believe that we will be in stadium at the high school again next year but this time he will be part of the high school football team.  We will be there to cheer him on and share our pride as we watch him play.  We're so proud of Gavin and we've loved watching him grow and mature and get involved in his world.  He brings such joy to our hearts!

 

A Real Champion

I shared about our oldest grandson's football team and about his skills here.  I told you that his team was heading to the State Football Championship game but I never told you the outcome of the game.  We were pretty proud as we parked and walked to the stadium that day over a week ago.  It was a day that promised rain but this grandma's prayers were answered and we had a dry morning and some peeks of the sun here and there. It was exciting to see the big stadium and the sign that announced the event of the day.

We found our seats next to Rylan's other grandparents and near our son and his family. Excitement filled the air as we watched the team warm up on the field below us.

Before each game the captains from each team meet at center field.  I captured this photo of Rylan (#3) and the other three captains after the coin toss by the head referee that determines who would kick the ball off to start the game.

Rylan is a wide receiver. That means he's usually in the backfield ready to catch the ball when it's kicked off to start the game.

 The game began and within a few minutes Rylan caught a pass and made the first touchdown. We were elated!  On our feet, yelling and clapping. Our team took an early lead but by half-time the score was tied. The second half started and the lead changed a few times - back and forth - but when the final buzzer sounded our team lost by one touchdown.

We were disappointed but we were all proud of the way our boys had played. It was an intense game and we could hold our heads high. They had played their hearts out. After the game each of the teams went to different areas on the sidelines to celebrate and greet parents and friends - just time to be together and express our pride and love. Rylan's team always prays together at the end of the post-game time. They gather in a circle, join arms and one of the team members offers a prayer of thanks and gratitude. It was different this time! We were so proud of our boys when they walked past the barricades between our team and the winning team. We all stood behind the barricades and watched as they hugged and congratulated the other team. And then our team asked if the members of the other team would like to join our boys in prayer. It was pretty moving to see and there were many tears on our side of the barricades.

We had a bit of time with Rylan and our son's family. Emotions were tender, hugs abundant, words of pride and encouragement expressed. Time for photos to help keep the memories fresh through years to come. Rylan posed with his mom and dad and one of his two brothers.. .

And then with his little sister - our youngest granddaughter.

It was soon time to say goodbye and head home. More  hugs and words of love and we turned to go.  It was a hard goodbye - this was the last game Rylan would play with his teammates.  Last high school football game. The end of an era! Time has gone so fast and our hearts couldn't help but wonder how it all happened.  Wasn't it just yesterday we were on the sidelines watching 'little' Rylan playing flag football for the first time?  Soon we will be in the bleachers to watch him in action again. This time it will a basketball in his hands.

Proud Grandma

Today my sweetheart and I will be on the road again. We are heading to a town two hours south of our home together with other fans cheering for our oldest grandson's football game.  Rylan is a senior this year so his football career is coming to an end.  He's a star player for his high school team, The Crusaders, from Salem Academy in Salem, Oregon.  He has been a very important part of the team through all of his high school years and this year has been no exception.  Today he and his teammates will play in the Oregon State Football Championship Semi-Finals!  The winner of this game will go on to play in the final game.

When we attend the football games our eyes are always on #3!  We join his other grandparents and cheer and clap and hold our breath at times.  We are always proud of him - on and off the field - but at last week's quarter-finals game we thought we would burst with pride at his skill and attitude and faith.  The game was evenly played - the scores stayed very close.  There was less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter.  Our team was behind by a few points. Then we got the ball!  We knew it would take something very special to pull this one off and win.  Rylan is a wide receiver which means many of the passes are thrown to him.  He's in good shape and fast and has been dependable in some tough situations.  And that's what happened last week! 

With less than half a minute to go in the game, the quarterback threw a long pass to Rylan.  We held our breath because it seemed impossible - it was a risk.  But suddenly, the ball was in Rylan's hands on the two-yard line! He avoided the challenges of the other team and ran into the end zone - scoring the winning touchdown!

We were thrilled!  His other grandma and I were hugged and cried and laughed and clapped.  But what happened next brought more tears.  Rylan dropped to his knees and gave thanks to God.  His faith is strong and he knows the glory belongs to God.

And then his teammates were there to congratulate him and start celebrating.

It didn't take long for the team to share their joy about winning and moving on toward the championship game. (That's Rylan airborne on the left!)

So, you ask if I'm proud of my grandson? You bet I am.  He is a neat young man - very caring and kind. Motivated and disciplined. But most of all with a big, big heart!  He's a good sport on and off the field.

After the game - Rylan with his mom (our daughter-in-law), his dad (our son) and his little sister (our youngest grandchild). His two brothers were somewhere nearby.

(Photos courtesy of the press and our dear daughter-in-law)

The Miracle Of A Tiny Life

Recently I told you that I was going to be a grandmother again in October.  You can read a bit of that story here.  The last weeks have been like a roller coaster in some ways.  Our daughter has been in and out of the hospital.  The events that began early this month continued and each time seemed worse than the time before.  We prayed and we held firm to hope and we clung to the knowledge that God was in control and that we could trust Him no matter what.  Each time a crisis came, word from the doctors was pretty grim.  Not much hope for this baby to make it.  They believed labor would begin soon.  Bed rest was the plan for our daughter and she did everything she needed to do to make that happen.  Each time she went to the hospital the doctors couldn’t understand what was happening – our tiny grandson was alive and well and doing what they didn’t expect him to do.  The prognosis wasn’t good and then last Thursday morning the high-risk doctor said she believed our daughter had ‘beaten the odds’.  With a small degree of confidence she said it was possible that our grandson could ‘hang on’ for a few more weeks until they could help him survive if he should come early.

Not many hours later, on Thursday night, everything changed.  Things began to happen and labor began.  It was different this time – but our faith was still strong and we knew we could trust our daughter and her little son to the care of our Heavenly Father.  Many long hours passed before news came that we had so hoped we wouldn’t hear.  Our tiny grandson, Levi, was born early Saturday morning at twenty-one weeks.  Still, he defied the odds and clung to life for about an hour – something the doctors had said couldn't happen.  And, then, he slipped gently into the arms of Jesus.  His tiny life had made an incredible impact on our lives.  We saw miracles happen.  Things the doctors said were impossible became real.  We don’t understand it all but we know there is a reason we can’t see.  Tears have flowed much through the past days.  Heaven seems a bit closer.  And our trust in God is even stronger than before.  The miracle that a tiny life could touch our lives in ways we never dreamed possible is amazing to me.  I learned things from Levi’s brief life that I needed to learn.  God showed Himself real through the weeks and months – we can’t deny that.  And that’s a miracle - God’s love shown again through the miracle of a tiny life. 

Road Trip

Life has been very busy over the past weeks.  At times it seemed I needed to be several different places at the same time!  In the middle of it all my sweet heart and I had a chance to get away and have a special weekend with family. Last month we made a trip to the southern Oregon coast but this is as close as we got!
We were there for a very special event. Our oldest grandson is a star basketball player for his high school team.  Their hard work through the season paid off and they went on to play in the state championship playoff tournament.  We were able to be there to cheer them on.  We were so proud of the team - especially our grandson!


At times it almost seems as if he can fly!
Mr. R’s team wasn’t expected to go to the tournament at all and many people didn't expect them to continue to the end.  They were rated in last place among the tournament teams – but, they fought hard, put everything they had into their games and finished in third place in the state!
At the end of every game, after they have greeted the other teams and their coaches, Mr. R’s team always gathers at center court for prayer.  It always touches my heart to see these neat, young men and their coaches giving thanks to their Heavenly Father, no matter the outcome of the game.
It was fun to to be with our son, our dear daughter-in-law and their two oldest sons.  (Their youngest son and two-year-old daughter were at home with their other grandma.) And it was fun to share and celebrate a very special time in the life of our grandson.  We had such a good time together and we’re all making plans to return to the tournament next year!  The team will have to earn their way back, but there’s no doubt in our minds that they will be there again – and so will we!  My cousin and her hubby live in the area where the tournament is always held.  We stayed with them and we’ve reserved their guestroom for tournament time next year!

(some photos courtesy of the Coos Bay World website)

Happy Portraits

I don’t often advertise on my blog.  I’ve had offers to ‘go commercial’ and I’ve turned them down.  I’ve been cautious not to recommend products or services or suggest that you contact people whose skills I believe in.  That’s not been the purpose of my blog, but today I find that I must ‘advertise’ a young artist whose work I highly admire.  I’m not prejudiced at all – in spite of the fact that this young artist is my grandson!  You see, artistic ability runs in our family.  My grandmother was an extremely good artist, although she didn’t share her skills very often during my growing up years.  I remember when she told me that, as a young girl, she longed to draw so much that she didn’t let the fact they couldn’t afford artist’s supplies stop her.  She peeled bark off a nearby tree, took a piece of charcoal from the fireplace and drew to her heart’s content.  Her daughter, my mother’s sister, was a wonderful artist and her son, my cousin, attended art school after he graduated from high school.  His work was later featured in galleries and sold to discriminating buyers.  My father had some artistic ability, too.  My ‘art’ skills didn’t come through in drawing or painting – it came through music.  Music I studied and music that just came comes from my heart through my fingers on the keyboard.  Our son’s art abilities captured the attention of a middle school art teacher and she encouraged him to continue to learn and follow a career in art.  He chose not to do that, but his son – Mr. G. – has obviously inherited the same talent.  I would like to introduce you to him (my favorite young artist!).
Mr. G. loves to draw and it’s obvious he has a keen eye for the reality of his subjects.  At a recent family gathering Mr. G. proudly presented each person gathered there with a portrait he had carefully drawn of them.  It was obvious he had given careful thought to the personality of each one.  He has a book about drawing caricatures – he said it gave him some ideas.  So, without further adieu. . . here are the portraits he drew of my sweetheart and me.  My sweetheart . . .
And me. 
With each presentation he explained why he had chosen to draw each of us as he did.  I was almost afraid to hear his thinking about my portrait!  When he told me why he drew me as he did, I was a bit overwhelmed.  He said, ‘Grandma, I drew you this way because you are a happy person, and I wanted you to be happy in my drawing!’

If that’s how Mr. G. sees me, I have accomplished something I hoped my grandkids would see in me.  You can’t trick kids to believe you are something you are not.  I gained a bit of confidence as a grandmother that day and I am happy – happy that he sees me as a person who is happy!

More Special People

I just couldn’t share our son’s children without letting you meet our daughter’s four kids, too.  They live about a mile from our home and I love it when I hear a knock on the door and look up to see one – or all - of them smiling through the window!

Our oldest granddaughter – our first grandchild – is Miss A.  She is a Sophomore in high school this year.  She is a strong, young woman who is fun to be with.  She loves to read and I really enjoy it when we two discuss what we’re reading.  I often gain a new outlook on life when we’re together – at times she challenges me to ‘get with the current century’, especially with technology! Maybe that will help me stay young!

Mr. C. is growing up so fast.  He is in seventh grade this year.  He loves be active – skate-boarding, riding his bike, being active in Boy Scouts and all kinds of ‘guy things’.  He went hunting with my sweetheart this year and he came home with such great stories.  He really enjoyed spending time with the hunters in my sweetheart’s family and learning more about camping and life in the woods.
Miss E. is in fifth grade this year.  Over the last few months she has changed a lot.  She’s not a little girl anymore – she’s a delightful young lady.  It’s fun to be with her and enjoy her discoveries of the world around her.  And there’s Miss H., a busy three-year-old.  She is such fun to talk to.  She loves to ‘help’ whenever she’s here.  She likes to help in the kitchen or with yard work – it doesn’t matter, she wants to be involved. Her eyes light up whenever she sees us and when she gets to come to our house by herself, she’s absolutely delighted.  I’m so glad it’s a treat she looks forward to.When our daughter was a little girl we never guessed that she would grow up to be the mom of four kids who could possibly add so much to our lives – it was more than we could ever imagine.  It always amazes me how often she tells us that ‘now’ she understands how we must have felt or why we said and did certain things.  Becoming a mother has given her a whole new perspective – and a deeper appreciation for us!  I think maybe we’ve grown a bit smarter than we used to be!

Our lives are full – and blessed!  We’re blessed with grandkids who love us and whose lives have added so much to ours.  I’m so glad God planned it that way!

‘What a bargain grandchildren are!
I give them my loose change, and they give me
a million dollars' worth of pleasure.’Gene Perret

A Gift From Heaven

In the middle of the changes of the last few days God dropped a precious little bundle from Heaven right into our hearts.  Miss Brynlee Claire was born on August twenty-second.  She weighed seven pounds, fourteen ounces and she was twenty and one-fourth inches long.  Our son and sweet daughter-in-law were thrilled to have a little girl join their family and Miss B.’s three older brothers were excited beyond description.  Her oldest brother, Mr. R., will keep an eye on her as she grows.Mr. G., our family philosopher, will explain whatever she needs to know.Mr. H. asked his little sister, ‘Do you know that you were made from God?’ He will be sure she always remembers that she is special.Watching our son with his daughter brings joy to my heart. There’s something special about a dad and his little girl.Mother and daughter have already formed a close bond – it will only get stronger as our dear daughter-in-law teaches her how to be a lady who makes a difference in her world.What a precious gift from the Father above.  Our eighth grandchild.  Our fourth granddaughter.  What fun!  Miss Brynlee and I have already planned a tea party when she’s ready to come visit by herself.  She agrees with me – we will have all kinds of adventures ahead that we can’t begin to imagine.  She’s quite the stylish little lady – don’t you think?