Playoffs......aye carramba

Ty's Pop Warner football team made it to playoffs! Today was the final regular season game and at the end of it a bunch of boys picked up the giant orange gatorade container and tried to dump it on their coach. They weren't QUITE successful, but it was a great moment to watch- pure joy!
I am trying to be very excited for Ty. He LOVES playing tackle football and obviously the playoffs are what everyone is going for. But truthfully I have mixed feelings about it. It's just SUPER difficult to get Ty across town an hour and half before the game, and then there's the hour and a half game, and the fact that they are ALWAYS running behind (making it about a 5 hour event every Saturday, not to mention the travel time all over the largest US city, land-wise), when I've got Eli to contend with. I'm always either begging a ride for Ty, or finding a grandparent for Eli to stay with, or a grandparent to bring Eli just for the game so he's not running amok in the heat for hours on end, and if he's there I don't really get to see Ty play, so what's the point? Ugh, no matter how I work it out it all adds up to mom guilt, every. single. week.
I LOVE that Ty is having fun and a part of a team. I really like his coaches- they're firm with the boys, but they treat them respectfully. They are super personable with the parents. They don't yell very often. They're very straightforward. I DON'T love the mass chaos of this league or the seriousness of the coaches and the board- asking for volunteers to video other teams so they can watch film to prepare for games, telling parents not to post any videos of their kids' games on facebook or youtube until after the season ends (can't give away secrets, or something). I mean, these are kids. It's not college ball or NFL. Also? Apparently breast cancer awareness month is big with the pop warner kids. So much so, I bought Ty pink athletic socks tonight. And pink eye blacks. And pink shoelaces. The part that gets me? No profits from those purchases actually go to support breast cancer research or to help women with breast cancer. Again, this is not the NFL.
All of the things the league/team does that make me crazy aren't really the problem. They're just annoying. What bothers me is that every week I feel like a terrible parent because I can't meet my kids' needs. That makes me stressed and crabby, which you can imagine makes me an even more awesome parent. No.
I was looking forward to the end of the madness. And it's not ending. To be fair, this whole playoff thing is not a surprise. Ty's team is undefeated. I'm not even sure if any team has scored against them. Maybe one touchdown, I don't know. What I do know is now there is no plan. It's week by week (I think), if we win we keep playing. Ty informed me they could go ALL THE WAY TO DISNEY WORLD(!!!). Which would be more impressive if it wasn't 2 hours away, you know? And if the idea of Disney World with all of Eli's sensory issues didn't give me heart palpitations.
I do enjoy it for Ty, it just takes so much orchestrating and feeling indebted to people that by the time I'm at the game I'm no fun anymore. I'm just exhausted.
I'm sure this is exactly what the powers that be had in mind when they ruled that 6th graders would be ineligible to play middle school sports, right?
If you see Ty, please congratulate him! He's worked hard and improved a lot and he's got a great team. They have truly earned their playoff spot. I am really happy for Ty and his team. I'm just less than thrilled for me. It's not a great mix of emotions. :-/

Guatemala Student Sponsorhsips

At the end of August we went to Guatemala to visit some friends that are missionaries there. I have been meaning to write about that trip, but I'm almost not sure where to start. I'll do it soon. I think.

Anyway, while we were there I was walking through the town/village with my friend Danae. She had many stops to make, people to talk to and check in on. One of them was to see a little girl and her mom who ran a tienda (basically a corner store). This little girl was probably in 1st grade and was STRUGGLING to read. Danae had some phonics activities for her and her mom to do together to hopefully build her foundation for reading. Danae went over it with them and the little girl was excited and cheerful about it. Danae told me later that the mom had very little education and could not offer much help to her daughter. That's not uncommon, but it's still not okay with me. The teacher in me was dying inside.

Reading is EVERYTHING!!! Do you remember the TV show Reading Rainbow? Do you remember the theme song? Here it is:

And it's TRUE! Yes, books can take you on a million adventures, but being able to read and write can get you a job that pays a living wage and out of poverty! For some reason, more than the lack of adequate housing, more than the lack of food, the lack of education in Magdalena/Buena Vista, Guatemala just rips my heart out. Obviously the people there need food and they need a structure to live in that keeps out the elements (as opposed to shacks made of cornstalk or cardboard and mud floors full of bacteria and parasites). But I wish everyone could read, too.

When we got back from Guatemala I kept thinking about the problem of kids not learning to read. School is different there. It's free, but students have to bring in school supplies and have uniforms, otherwise they can't go. That's about $90 US dollars, which is approximately 718 quetzales, or almost 2 months rent. Oftentimes families are so poor they send their kids to work in fields, or to gather firewood from the mountain to sell, or to do other odd jobs to help support the family just so they have enough food to eat. So saving almost 2 month's rent to send their kid(s) to school instead of sending them to make money is just plain difficult. Even if they do make the decision and work HARD to send their child(ren) to school, there is no extra help or attention for struggling kids. There are no small groups or intereventions or anything. You either learn or you don't. On top of that, many parents are uneducated and are not able to help their kids if they happen to be struggling. And none of our American friends who live there know anything about a library. There isn't one. 

Reflecting on all of these things, I felt like I had to DO something. So I went shopping. I ordered a ton of Spanish and bilingual children's books and early readers. And they are currently sitting in a box in my house waiting for either me to go back to Guat, or someone else who I can beg to send a suitcase full of books with (I know, EVERYONE is going to volunteer, right? Hehe.).

Fortunately my friend Holly is WAAAYY smarter than I am. She and her family are missionaries in Guatemala as well and she does A LOT of helping with homework for the kids in Magdalena. They come to her house after school and she moms them. They use computers, she checks their work, she tells them they need to not wait until the day before a report is due to get started on it, etc. You know, mom homework stuff. Holly either emailed or called me about a month ago with an idea to help many of the kids she knows and sees all the time to either stay in school or go back to school. All they need is sponsors. Duh! So Holly has been getting me pictures and information about the kids there and I have been banging my head against the wall and threatening to throw my computer out the window making cute little paper apples with a picture of each child and some background information. Then I get to take them to our community of faith and hang them on the tree my wonderful mom gave me so that I didn't have to make my own paper tree and amazing, loving believers pick an apple (or two or three or more) and provide $$ for the kid(s) to go to school! How brilliant is that??

And by the way, I am blown away by the people at Journey. In one week we had 75% of the kids sponsored! Un-freaking-real. So Holly is sending me more...=)

And here's the one that made me write this.

Meet Ingrid. She is 15 and in 2nd grade. She really wants to go to school, but her family is poor poor. (If Holly says she is poor poor, there's very little way to describe that. Everyone is poor there. Ingrid's family is the poorest of the poor.) Ingrid had dropped out of school because kids made fun of her glasses. 

Guess how old kids are in 2nd grade? 7 or 8. Ingrid is twice that. But she wants to learn and I love that so much! She either didn't wear her glasses for the picture, or she doesn't have them anymore. I'm THRILLED that she ever had glasses to begin with, because very, very few people get to see an eye doctor there. This also makes me think that she is probably close to blind without them, otherwise why would her family have gone to the effort to get them in the first place, whenever that was? 

Anyway, I just want to squeeze Ingrid and wear my glasses with her. I know she will be sponsored quickly and I'm already thanking God for that, even though it hasn't happened yet! 

It has been a ton of work getting things ready for these kids to be sponsored and my youngest kid hasn't made things any easier on me while I'm trying to get it all done, but it's also been a COMPLETE JOY. I am humbled that God would have me serve these kids. I am completely invigorated

And now I hear a crying baby. Adios!