Resolution

Resolution is such a beautiful thing.

Yesterday, Hannah was dreading going to the Rink for fear of running into her ex-boyfriend and the crazy stalker. She held her head high and did what she had to do. She had a lovely talk with her ex-boyfriend, established they will remain friends, confirmed the leak (allow me to say "I told you" right here) and the obsessed teammate stayed away from her. It was a good night and a positive lesson to always speak to the person when there is a mis-understanding. I learned a lesson in conflict resolution from my wee one.

My next prayer for my daughter is to stop defending the friend who spoke out of turn and lied to Hannah and me in my house, swearing she didn't say anything...and sat there when I asked her brother if he did....not a word came from her mouth. Not a single "Ooops, that's my fault" or "My bad" did she speak. She just sat there like an innocent when I questioned Matthew like the scariest and yet most gentle speaking anti-terrorist interrogator imaginable. I kindly discussed the importance of keeping a confidence and all the drama that came from breaking a confidence.  How this whole situation could have been avoided and a friendship could have been maintained. I spoke these words knowing very well the real person I wanted to hear these words was sitting right across from me. I was kind, firm, and coaxing with my gut instinct on full alert. And not a word did she speak. She sat there willing to let someone else take the blame for her actions. She was astounded that someone told the boy. And yet she knew full well, Hannah had a plan in place out of respect for the boy's love of soccer to talk to him that evening..and still, this "friend"... inserted herself into a situation she had no place to be. A simple, "Call her if you think something is wrong" response was all that was required when he asked.

Which brings me to the next question that I raised to Hannah, why is this girl still talking to the ex-boyfriend and his best friend? She hasn't even met them, she wouldn't even know them except through Hannah, why is this "friend" showing more loyalty to the boys than her? Why was this friend willing to let Matthew take the blame? And still Hannah defends her...

I have so much to learn from my beautiful daughter and so much to teach her.

January Snow

After many false starts at predicted weather and school closures, snow actually arrived to the Heart of Dixie.

It wasn't much but it doesn't take much to make this girl dance with joy for the falling flakes.

Sweet Sixteen

I've been so negligent on my blog and keeping up to date. Not only is Matthew 14 tomorrow, Hannah turned sixteen last week. The funniest part of all this growing too fast and missing my babies is now people think Matthew is the older brother.

Lauren went all out baking the world's best chocolate cake from scratch for her sister. It was delicious. Hannah picked Italian instead of Chinese this year so massive quantities of food were consumed at Carrabba's. To wrap it all up a birthday breakfast for just the girls after attending 6 a.m. prayer with our waitress giving Hannah a triple berry muffin warmed with little pockets of butter.

Hannah' birthday always falls during 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. This year, I broke my fast to celebrate her birthday...Our church teaches people before rules so I implemented this idea to my fast. I am so glad I did this, it seemed to put a damper on the celebration in past years.

Hannah is a woman of simple tastes that loves clothes so a Stitch Fix box was ordered and it was perfectly styled.

Now...we just need a little free time to go get her driver's license and she will be rockin' her 16th year of life.

Matthew Update

Matthew had a follow up on Monday for his broken clavicle and we fully expected him to be cleared to play. He was not. Now we are in a bind. He has a huge tournament coming up over President's Day weekend in Las Vegas. Do we buy plane tickets or not?

Matthew goes back on the 12th, 3 days before we would have to fly to Las Vegas. And if he is cleared for contact, will he be ready to get back on the ice. Imagine the sick feeling in my stomach when I saw his 4th game would be against the Phoenix Coyotes...the team he was playing when his clavicle was broken on December 1. Yeah, I am not mentioning it to him.

I am doing my best to get him in shape to play after being sidelined and unable to do much of anything besides sitting and walking. He is doing some training at the gym and a few lessons at Stick and Puck...I am even dragging him to yoga. He hasn't complained at all. He is quite the hard worker...which leaves me back to the question, will he be ready physically and mentally for Vegas?

Just a side note, tomorrow is his 14th Birthday! They grow so so fast!

Resolution Conflict

My weakest personality trait is conflict resolution. I really stink at it. This past year, God has been giving me multiple opportunities to excel in this area. Basically, I just want to hide under a rock until it all goes away. I am getting better. Last week I sucked up all my courage to tell a boy with great potential to become a date rapist to never bother my daughter again in any way, shape, or form. (My hands shook after I did it...I have so much work to do in this area) Afterwards, he began plotting filing a complaint against me with the hockey office...fortunately, one of the hockey players displayed more allegiance to Hannah than him and sent her the screenshot of this conniving young boy's plan. Have I mentioned how many opportunities God is giving me to improve my conflict resolution skills?

However, my daughters are much better at facing their problems head on. I am in awe of their ability to deal with the sticky situations in life. H had a better way in dealing with the boy's unwanted attention for the past year. His behavior actually had Greg and me discussing a restraining order...for a 14 year old (a very large sized 14 year old) who wouldn't take no for an answer. Last week, Hannah sat down and emailed his parents in a very articulate manner and included screenshots to prove her allegations were true. All I can say is "Well done, Hannah. Well done."

I am taking life tips from my daughters on conflict resolution. I have so much to learn.

Happy New Year

Baby, it's cold outside. I actually hate that song but it aptly describes the weather right now!  The hi today was 25 degrees and the "feels like" temperature is 9 degrees and dropping to -2 by 4 a.m. Winter.

Well, shoot, my blog time is cut short by Hungry Man wanting dinner...catch you all later!

December

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas....the weather is finally "winter-y" and the stores are packed. However, if I hear "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" one more time, I am going to become an angry elf.

The kids began their holiday with their annual movie trip to see Star Wars. This has become their Christmas Tradition and there are plans to keep the tradition going even after their married. It was suggested no spouses would be allowed...I suggested that rule be dropped because spouses are family, no excluding. There are certain advantages to having a lot of birthdays and wisdom is one of them. I could see the writing on the wall for hurt feelings so let's just avoid that situation.

Here is some documentation of the Christmas Kickoff Movie Event.

Elf has yet to be fired up but I'm sure that is just around the corner.

Star Wars Tradition. Take 3? Or is it 4? I can't keep up with sequels and prequels

Lauren, Hannah and Greg served at our Church's Giving Hope. M and I were supposed to be in Pittsburgh so we didn't sign up. Just as well since there wasn't much Matthew could do with his clavicle out of commission. I caught up on things which had fallen behind with the holidays.

Life

How Matthew is spending his time healing....lots of PS4 online with his friends