Someone Special's Birthday!

October 7th is a special day for a very special lady in my life. It is my Mom's birthday! She has always been a wonderful mother but I marvel at the kind of friend she is to me. I vent to her, I cry on her shoulder, I laugh with her, and I travel (ALOT) with her to ballgames, etc. She amazes me at how unconditionally she loves me. (I know some of you may have a hard time believing this, but I am not the easiest person to put up with, much less love!) And yet, she does and I know she does! I am soooo thankful that God blessed me with such a wonderful person to share my life with and the lives of my children with. She is my biggest cheerleader and the best role-model that anyone could ever ask for.

Mom, I love you and I hope your day is as special to you as you are to me! Happy Birthday!

Is it finally clickin'?

Wow! Seems like it has been forever since I last blogged!! I have been busy watching Chelsea play volleyball. She has been playing at least twice a week almost since school started. Her team has struggled, they have struggled since 7th grade actually. I think although there are several GOOD athletes, there are no standouts. Because several of them are on the same playing field, there are a lot of hard feelings among them when it comes to playing time or being moved up to varsity for some games and then back to jv for others. I believe this has hindered their ability to play together as a team as they have matured and better developed their abilities and skills in the game. Jealousy can be a hard pill to swallow and it is especially hard on girls! I have made this comment to many people, " I can't ever remember a time when Chance came home with stories of dislike either on his part toward someone else or against him that he had found out about." There is ALWAYS controversy when it comes to girls! I promise being a teenage girl is a much bigger challenge than being a boy. Boys duke it out and it's done and over, girls go for the juggler and if you ain't bleedin', they ain't quitin' and they have several girls to help if needed.
The team played this week in the Childress Tournament. It was nice to be able to watch these girls actually win several games. The smiles on their faces lit the whole gymnasium. Chelsea gets this desire or competitiveness, from where I don't know (yeah, right!), and she plays to win. She is always a little more bummed out than most of her teammates and is often "HOT" when the other girls come off the court laughing and making plans for after the game as soon as they have lost their behinds on the court. This week in volleyball was enjoyable for the Campbells. Winnin' may not be everything but if you don't strive to be the best then why bother??!!

Flag drill team

Chelsea is involved in something new this year, at least new for her. She is on the flag drill team. It has been a while since Childress had flag girls in the band and she is thrilled to a part of their return. The drill team had a feature in the pep rally this week and then marched, sort of, with the band at halftime on Friday. I am proud of her courage in getting out there and doing this and also proud of the amount of time she has put into doing it well.

Caution...love hurts!

I know it's been quite a while since I posted last but anyone who knows me, knows writing is a sort of therapy and more for my sanity than any thing else. I write when I am happy, proud, excited, mad and sad. I use my written words to thank people for all they do for my family and/or me or both. I write because sometimes things are easier for me to say in writing than face to face ( it's a lot easier to erase the written word than to take something back that may have been said in haste or out of anger.) Writing also allows me to tell those who mean the most to me, how much they mean to me without getting choked up or chickening out. There is one thing about my writing you can be sure of, however, it's that it comes straight from the heart and shot straight from the hip and that I have chosen my words to express exactly how I am feeling right then at that very moment. I may offend you, provoke you, sadden you or make you smile and usually whatever you feel when you finish reading my blog is exactly what I hoped for when I wrote it in the first place. This being said I can get into the short blog I got on here to post in the first place today. It goes something like this:

This week has been a very trying one for me and several in my life. I learned AGAIN first hand that love hurts! I learned that it is not always best to put yourself out there...to care for someone or something the way you want them to care for you or someone you care about. It isn't always best to treat others as you would hope they would treat you or your loved ones. I learned that broken hearts CAN make you physically sick! I have learned that questions like who, what, when, where and especially why often go unanswered (or have no legitimate answers anyway). I have learned that each person acts differently to hurt and I am dealing with this too. Some are quiet, some loud, some cry, some shutdown, some curse and some of us, do a little of it all!! I just wanted to caution you all , love is great, love is kind BUT... love also sucks, love hurts and if you don't watch out, it might just sneak up and bite you on the butt. "THIS WEEK", LOVE... wasn't worth it!! Later, Lisa

LOOK OUT FT. WORTH HERE WE COME!

Well, we are busy packing and getting ready for our trip to Ft. Worth for STATE softball. We have washed cars, baked goodies, made hamburgers and snocones, driven all over town asking for donations, and flocked almost everyone with the pink flamingos!! I am very humbled by the generosity that this community has shown toward Chelsea and her teammates. Everyone has been so kind and my family is so grateful.

I have said I know at least a hundred times since the girls have been put into this place of "a once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity that Chelsea is sooo excited. Actually, we all are!! She has supported Chance and his teams for so long: decorating cars, helping with fundraising, cheering and wishing from the stands that someday she would get her chance to shine. Well, here it is. SHE is the one going to the STATE tourney.

The girls will play on Friday at 7:30. We were suppose to play on Thursday but I guess we scared our opponent so much that they withdrew before we even got to Ft. Worth! LOL! Just kidding (on the scared part anyway.) I ask that you say a prayer for each of these young ladies and their families as we travel to the Metroplex. Ask that God keep them safe and injury-free. Wish us luck. And I only have one more thing to say, "Chelsea, girl, I am proud of you and how hard you have worked on and off the field to get yourself and your teammates to STATE! Have fun, play hard and leave it all on the field babe! This is a once-in-a-lifetime event!! Eat it up and remember, I LOVE YOU!

All-Stars 2009

Tomorrow Chelsea and about 10 of her teammates play in what could be the Area All-Star Championship Game. They have already played one game against each team in the tournament and won. They have beaten each team pretty handily and this makes me a little nervous going into tomorrow's game. You know, the big head thing!!! Anyway, she is pretty pumped about it. The team we play tomorrow will already have 1 loss, a loss against us, in the double-elimination tournament. We just need to beat them again and we are on our way to STATE in Ft. Worth the week of the 23rd.

Chelsea admitted to me today that she is a little torn about getting to go and play in Ft. Worth. You see, we are suppose to leave on vacation to Colorado that week. Fun Valley in South Fork, Colorado is "THE FAV" when it comes to my kids and she is torn. I think she is worried about letting Chance and the rest of the family down should the team make it to STATE. She, herself, has been counting down the days to Colorado and yet, she's really excited about the opportunity to get to go all the way in all-stars. I assured her we could do both, may have to take out a second mortgage on the house (LOL), but as always we will find a way. Besides, how many times in your life do you get a chance to play all-stars at the State level???? Now that's exciting!!

Anyway, we may be counting our chickens before they hatch. We have to get pass tomorrow's game with a win. Should we lose, we aren't out, we just have to play the same team on Friday and beat them then. Wish us luck!

And Chels...Hit 'em hard, swing level, throw 'em out, and give it everything you got, Girl! This may be your one and only chance and you love this game. PLAY IT!

Special visitors!

We recently had a couple of visitors to Childress. We have waited quite a while to finally get to meet them and I can honestly say we weren't disappointed. You see, Naomi and Tristan finally got to come to Childress. Tristan is Naomi's and Anthony's baby and oh, my gosh! We all fell in love with him. What a beautiful baby and how wonderfully God blessed Ant and Naomi! Naomi is a very sweet young lady and a terrific mom. We were all so very impressed! We had a wonderful time getting to know her and Tristan. If you ask me, I think Anthony is crazy if he doesn't make every effort to be in Tristan's life and if he lets this young lady walk out of his life, he's an idiot! You can see how much she cares for him and I, personally, am a little disappointed that Anthony hasn't made much effort to help her with "their" child. I could so go off on this subject but I won't. Anyway, Tristan is a doll and Naomi, beautiful. We enjoyed having them here in Childress and hope to get the chance to watch Tristan grow.