This is a pic from my first 5k EVER!! Been running with Dana Tollison and Cessily Azbill for five weeks, and April Wade invited us to try this run with her. It was a GREAT day for a "race." I'm still a pretty slow runner at 11:12 min./mile, but I never walked, and I felt great the whole time, so I'm pretty proud. It was 40 degrees. Took my jacket off about 2.5 miles. (I'm merely adding the weather for later when I am out of my running habit and I can remember that there was a time that I didn't care about the cold) :0) Then after my run, I went straight to Cole's football game....
And WHAT A GAME!!! We played Tuttle for the second time this season, but at BC today. Our boys did GREAT!!!! Cole was QB on offense all game and safety on D all game. He made three 2-point conversions, and picked up a kick-off and ran it for a 50-yard touchdown. SO SO SO SO proud of him!!!! Tuttle got us though at 38-42. Next week we play at Lindsay.
We stayed and watch Cole's (well, all of our's) buddies play the 8&U game. After that, the boys and I came home and took a THREE AND A HALF HR. nap!! It was HEAVENLY!!!
A wonderful, beautiful day all around. So, so, so, so blessed!!
"...Let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us." Hebrews 12:1.
I'm not one to care about what others think about me, or the decisions I make as a parent. Now, of course, I LOVE people, and I'm careful to show respect and grace and patience, and all those things. But at the end of the day, I only have One person to please, and He is sure to show me loud and clear when I've done something outside His will.
All that to say...I still can't help but notice the look (or comments) I get when it sinks in with some folks that my six-year-old is a bull rider. They're mainly looks of astonishment. Shock. Interest. Curiosity. Now, I'm human, and I'm halfway intelligent, and I've seen 8 Seconds (hehe), and I've seen major injuries occur right in front of me. I know what can happen.
When Cole was two years old and told me he wanted to ride bulls when he grows up, I just brushed it off. When he was four, he wanted to ride a sheep in the Tuttle rodeo, so we let him. It was fun to him, but it shook his world a little, and the next night we went, he backed out in the chute. The whole next year, he couldn't wait until that next rodeo, to get back up there and not back out. So when he was five, he cowboy'ed up and went and won himself a belt buckle. 1st place at Tuttle rodeo, 2010....
....and he was HOOKED.
Since then, he's ridden sheep, calves, and mini bulls. As a mom, it's still pretty easy to watch him because the stock for his age group aren't that rank yet. And when I think about how crazy those animals can be down the road, I have to let it go. (Philippians 4:6) Cole loves everything. Baseball, basketball, football, music, painting, reading, swimming, exercising...I could go on and on and on. But there is something different about rodeo. Shane and I weren't in the rodeo and didn't even grow up around livestock or horses. It's not something we've forced him into. Cole knows more about rodeo than we do. I struggle to explain the happiness I see in him when he knows there's a rodeo tonight...or next week, the happiness I see in him when he's there.
It's important to him to pray about his rides. So many times we've bowed our heads together right behind the chutes, immediately before his rides. (Now, you know this mama's praying for protection.) But one night even the calves seemed like they were a little 'off' to me, and I was feeling a little uneasy about his ride. Low and behold, I forgot to pray. I was up in the press box with the video recorder in hand when I saw Cole hit a knee and pray right then and there. Right around all the other lil cowpokes. Wasn't quick either. I've since wondered if in that prayer he was showing God he can count to 100. :) On the way to a minibull event in Amarillo this past Saturday, we were driving through Elk City and I heard his DSi hit the floorboard and he said, "I'm gonna pray." Then he proceeded to pray about the ride he would take that evening.
Not that he really has to ask before we tell him, but Cole NEVER fails to ask Shane and me at least a million times "Was that a good ride??" I tell him every now and then that any ride that he can stand back up unassisted is a great ride in my book. He didn't make the short-go that night in Amarillo. But that ride was sacred. Blessed. Set apart. Holy. For His Glory. Protected.
I know, at the very core of my existence, that God has wonderful plans for Cole. And whether rodeo will be for just a few years, or a few decades, if He wants to use the rodeo to help Cole carry out the plans He has...who am I to try and stop Him?
Amarillo, June 25, 2011
"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, 7.
I truly remember when Cole was three months old, someone said, "Don't blink...they grow up before you know it." I had heard that before, but it had never registered until then. Even at that time I couldn't believe how fast three months had gone by. Now I'm writing about his kindergarten graduation. I seriously have to sit and ponder all the memories, just to realize that it actually has been that long.
Cole is my pistol. He came out of the womb ready to take life by the horns. (Like that?? ;) He has NEVER liked to sleep, and it took me until his sleep-loving brother came along for me to realize it wasn't me; it was just Cole's personality. Another thing I heard way back when was that kids who fight sleep are smarter and feel like they need to be accomplishing something and don't have time to sleep. Of course I didn't buy it. Not then; not now. But there may be more truth there than not. I'm going somewhere with this....hhhmmmmmm.....(Dori moment....pardon me.....)
First came his first day care. A home-based center that lasted a couple months with us because they let him leave with Shane without ID-ing him (whom they'd never met before), all because "You can tell it's his dad just by looking at him." Ummmm....NO. Then a wonderful child care center that he was at for a few years that we LOVED, but had to move him because it was out of our school district. Then one more center in our district. Point is, by the time he started pre-k, I knew a good teacher when I saw her. And on Meet the Teacher night, I was very pleased and comfortable to leave him for his first day of preK with Mrs Hodges. The whole school year that year confirmed my impressions of her. So kindergarten was a BREEZE!! Now I have two months or so to get used to the fact that I have a first-grader. One which goes to school all day, no nap, then to football practice for two hours. (I'm feeling a little nauseous.)
I couldn't be more proud. Here are a few pics of his big day.
Cole is amazing. He is growing up so fast. Shane and I are amazed at the person he is. I mean, this kid passes up fast food because he "doesn't want to eat anything greasy." He is a proud Christian. He mentions ideas that he comes up with for helping/teaching/showing others about Jesus. Sometimes I am taken back by the things he does, and just thank God for what a great kid He has given us, and how much Cole has taught us. He's growing up so fast (oh crap...I already said that). And he is SO independent and confident. So this is what this post is all about:
When I was tucking Cole in a couple nights ago, he got my attention, looked me square in the eyes, and said, "Hey! Will you be my darl'in??"
Cole joined Central Oklahoma Junior Rodeo Association this year. His first rodeos were March 25th and 26th. He rode a sheep and a calf each night. I am so very proud of him, I can barely contain it. It's a scary sport for a mama, but he has told us since he was 2 that he wants to ride bulls. ;) We were at an open rodeo when he was four, and he did mutton busting (sheep) and enjoyed it. The next time he rode he got a gold buckle and the rest is HISTORY. He's hooked.
Here are some pics from his first rodeos in the association:
This is the first night. His new buddy was teaching him how to spray his rope.
