my experience at a home OU game

Thanks to a friend from church, Chris and I were able to attend a home OU game; the Missouri game, to be exact.  Now, as a non-oklahoman, I was excited for a few reasons.  One, I knew I would be one of the few Mizzou fans there.  Secondly, to see what all the hype was for Oklahoma.  I have never really understood OU fans, except that it has always seemed creepy to me that they almost worship the team.
My experience began the moment we entered Norman. We lived in Norman for about 7 months, so I have already had my taste of the town and was not impressed. Anyways, as we walked the 3 miles from parking to the stadium, I was overwhelmed with the amount of people getting smashed out of their minds and calling it "tailgating".  The amount of beer, alcohol and crimson I saw was seriously overwhelming.  Add to this the girls, dawning their OU gear, with their skirts short enough to see their OU panties, and their cowboy boots next to the steriod infused men that groped them as they all drank was truly nauseating.  As we got closer to the stadium, the crowd mixed from these types to the "older folk".  The distinguished alumni and the rich folk who cheer for the crimson and cream, with their judgemental glances and their noses in the air.
We got to our seats and were surrounded by 90,000+ people.  As the clock entered the less than 20 minutes till game time, a roar went up from the crowd as pre-game festivities began.  The band took the field, the Oklahoma flag was unfurled, and the state song was played.  These things I enjoyed, as they paid tribute to the military with the playing of "Grand Ole Flag" and other national ceremonies.  Then began the customs and traditions of OU, that really got me to thinking.(More on that in a minute)
A video on the huge screen, about the size of my home, began to play some spout about how the loyalty to the crimson and cream demanded pain and blood and sacrifice from the players.  They ended the video with a phrase that rattled me to my core; "There is only one Oklahoma" and they held up their #1 finger raised to the sky.  At this, the crowd erupted and then the school song came on singing about how wonderful their campus was and how awesome the school was and "Long live University".  It was followed with the national anthem that the crowd sang, which would have been fine except they substituted words that referenced a unified nation with the word "sooner".  This also bothered me, as the song was written to remind us as countrymen of what our nation stands for.
As the game proceeded, the #1 finger was raised at every possible moment.  Fans were unifed in one voice, hands raised to the sky, lifting up in shouts of adoration, pointing their one finger, to.... OU????  Wait a minute!  I thought to myself, "this is worship".  Everything the Bible speaks of how we are to honor, pay reverence and treat God was happening in this stadium, but not to the God of all creation, but to a team of young men.  A team of young men who catch a ball and slap each other on the buttocks... and we call it "being an OU fan".  No way!
I was overwhelmed with a new sense of sadness and awe.  I stood among a large group of people who had traded the God of creation and had substituted him with a game, a team, a school.  Now, many would say, "No, we don't do that.  It's just tradition."  Really?  Then when was the last time you raised your hands in the air for the sake of Christ?  When was the last time you raised your hands in worship to your Creator God?  Oh, never?  Because someone might look at you funny in church and think you  are a.....fanatic??  Isn't that what we are supposed to be? A fanatic of God?
I saw more worship in that OU stadium than I have seen in a year at my church.  The feel at the game was that of worship, but in church, it is of comatose and boredom.  My husband got a picture of me near the end of the game and laughed about how it was a picture of a Mizzou fan after a loss, but what was in my mind at the time had passed from the score and was on the state of the people in this world that surround me. It was that of a Christian, realizing how desensitized we are to the dying of souls around us.  How many people who will be perishing in the pits of hell because they decided that God was too "old fashioned" and " old school". And the saddest part to realize was that I recognized the sin in it all and had no feeling anymore about it all.
As a Christian, the phrase "There is only one Oklahoma" bothered me because that phrase is biblical, except it is the first commandment of God and it says "There is only one God".  Some would say its just a coincidence and that sentence could have come from anywhere. Really?
We live in a world that is run by the enemy who will do anything and everything to steal our souls from our first love, which is Christ, our savior.  He is our groom and we are his bride.  Our relationship with him is similar to a friend of mine. She is awaiting her wedding anxiously as her groom is away in the military.  She longs for the day when he will return to her, marry her and carry her away from her current home and make a home together with her and "live happiliy ever after".  Isn't that the promise of Christ's return?  He fought the criminal who was going to take us away from him forever and died to pay the ransom for us.  Because of this, he had to go away for a time, but he will return with the full glory like that of a magnificent wedding and marry us, carry us away to his palace and we WILL live forever, happily ever after. The evil one has done such a wonderful job of wooing us away, however.  We, like the nation of Israel, have become prostitutes in this generation, giving our hearts and souls to another while our faithful love waits for us.
My prayer after this is that God will bring warmth back to my heart as I search for forgiveness from my first love and ask that He give me strength to wait faithfully for Him.  That while I do so, I will show His love to others and lift Him up as He deserves.  That I will not be afraid to be a fanatic of my loving God, who so willingly sacrifices so that I may have.
I want to live an OU fan life, but for God instead. Instead of lifting hands up in adoration of a team, I want to lift my life up to a God who gave His blood, and sacrifice for me.  That I will raise my voice in adoration to a God who created everything to point me to Himself, so that someday I may rest my head in his heart and have Him draw me close.  Rather than chant "Boomer Sooner", I want to be heard shouting "Jehovah Jirah", "Magnificant Redeemer", and "Lord God Almighty".

long awaited pictures of our summer so far

Kids and Great-grandma at Price Chopper posing next to the coke flag. The trip to town was a fun one, filled with laughter and Brach candy.

Can you tell he is excited to be done with 4th grade for the time being??:)

The kids goofing off on their first official day of summer break.

Playing chinese checkers with Great grandma

Spending time with a new baby cousin

Nathaniel looking cool in Eskridge, Kansas.

kids are ready to learn how to make great-grandma's famous apple jelly. Nathaniel's got the jars ready and Hannah has the sugar:)

Here are the pictures I promised along with some from our marriage retreat. It was an amazing time. The information was eye opening. What a get-away!! Only thing is making it happen in our home. Wow, so much more difficult to live a married life the way God asks. Old habits die hard!

The kids had a great time with Noel and Lorna. They spent one day mostly playing Mario party. It was great for Lorna to just be a kid. They went to the Shreveport boardwalk and got to ride the trolley too. Lots of memories made there while Chris and I tried to remember why we got married to each other:)

We came back and jumped right back into life, as vacation bible school was the very next day. It went smooth and I enjoyed so much working with the friends of mine from church in the preschool and kindergarten area. We made bracelets, picture frames, treasure maps, apple magnets, bookmarks, statue of liberty dress outfits. It was a fun time!

This week we are trying to get caught up at home. Laundry, dishes, and all that fun stuff has been put off the last 3 weeks, so we have plenty to do. Also this week, Chris has an appointment with the intestinal doctor, who will tell us what he thinks of chris' hernia and whether or not a surgery is impending this summer. I hope not, but we will see. I have a feeling they will want to repair it as it has been the cause of some intestinal issues for C.

We have a few weeks until church camp at Dry Gulch, which is located near Tulsa. I am looking forward to the experience the kids will have with church camp as well as the experience it will be for me as a mom.

Thats about it. Its been a busy summer, and we are glad the busiest part of it is over. Just want to enjoy my time off and hang with my kiddos.

Summer begins

Well, as I sit here unable to sleep, I am amazed that summer is already here. We spent the last week in Kansas with my grandma. What an amazing time! I cherish her company so much and just hearing her talk and laughing with her and gleaning from her wisdom, I wish she lived closer. It was so nice to get away from here and just rest in her hospitality and comfort. I must say coming home was hard.
When I got here, the reality of all the things I have to do was overwhelming. We head to Houston this coming weekend to go to the Weekend to Remember marriage retreat. I am looking forward to that as I hope to learn more of how I can make our marriage better. The kids will be staying with Noel and Lorna. We will come back and jump right into vbs. I am the preschool craft director, so that will be fun. I don't feel as prepared, but thanks to another lady in church, the crafts are set up, i will just need to get them implimented. That is what I will do the next 3 days, as well as figure out what we are going to decorate with.
Since last post, Hannah turned 9 as well as was baptized. She is growing up right before our eyes! Nathaniel too. I am not sure I am ready for them to be all grown up. They will be going to church camp for the first time this summer as well. I am going as a sponsor. The camp is up near Tulsa, so that will be nice. Right before we leave for camp, we will travel back to Kansas to see my brother, his wife and my niece before they fly to china for 2 years. We are hoping to get all 4 of us and our spouses there that weekend. If we can do that, it will be the first time us siblings and our spouses have been together ever. That is pretty sad to say, but we are hoping to make it work. Someone has always been "Missing in action" when we have had get-togethers. Mostly Chris has been the missing one. If we can coordinate it right and get everyoone there, it would make a really neat family picture!
We still have lab puppies. They are over 10 weeks old. We really need to find them homes, so if anyone needs a sweet puppy, please let us know.
That about sums up the last few months. I was super busy finishing online school, graduating, finishing up preschool, prepping and holding their graduation, and awards assemblies. All that plus Hannah's birthday was in one week, almost. It was crazy. Anyways, when I get a chance, i will update some photos. I have many to share.

Wow, how out of date this is!!

It is March of 2011, almosAS April. I have been the K-4 teacher since the beginning of the year. I traded another teacher as she needed to step out of that room. It has been such a challenge, however, making my online schooling very life applicable. Speaking of, I will submit my LAST paper Monday and graduate the 30th of April from Ashford University with a Bachelor's in Early childhood education. I have been going to school online since I was working at Mazzios. When I reminded Nathaniel of that, he was surprized. Ever since then, he has been telling me how proud he is that I am his mom! I think the reality of it hasn't really sunk in for me yet. It will when I dont' have online homework to do in the evenings!
As for Chris, wow, blog is out of date on that too! He took over being the assistant manager at Lifeway the 1st of March. He went back to Lifeway as they missed his previous experience. I forsee it won't be long and they will find a way to make him store manager! He is so good at his job and knows so much, he needs to run the store. He likes the salary, so he is fretting about his pay check! We actually used some of the up in our budget and part of our tax return to replace the truck today. We bought a used red Pontiac Sunfire. He says it is part of his midlife crisis as it looks like a little red sports car. Whatever! The gas money we will save in him driving to the northside in it will be a blessing!!
The kids are doing well. Both of them played basketball this winter and LOVED it. Hannah really did, so that will be nice to look forward to. Nathaniel got a little frustrated with her, but with his previous basketball experience, I think that had something to do with it.
Lets see, what else. We have two dogs; Ben,our golden lab and Belle, our chocolate lab. They had puppies last Sunday. 9 of them, so if anyone needs lab puppies, we will be sharing the end of May! Also, Melody, our younger cat that we got last March, had A kitten around valentine's day this year and he is so precious!! We named him Rascal, and boy does that fit! I will be posting pictures soon!
We went to Mary's for the first weekend of Spring Break. It was so nice to spend time with her and Jon. Karen and Joe got to visit us almost every day too! So much fun to just hang with the sisters! I am so proud of Mary and her ability at her hospital! She even took care of me when I wasn't feeling well while we were there. We went cosmic bowling and baked HUGE cinnamon rolls while we were there. Sure wish we lived closer to one another! Just love them so much!
Think that is about it. Just wanted to update and want to do it more often! Till next time, Happy spring!