Rainbow at the End of a Hard Week

What a week! Friday night Keagan broke his fingers in six places while in the weight room with the team. Madi texted me: I can’t believe this happened. Wait! Yes, I can! 

My feelings exactly!

He was home Saturday to pick up his pain meds from the pharmacy so he could maybe sleep through the night. 

Wednesday night Smokey was hit by a car. Keagan was devastated with the loss. We all are, but especially Keagan. He was the absolute best cat!

After several appointments, he went in for surgery on Thursday morning. 

He had three pins placed in his middle finger. He can’t play video games, do school work, play soccer, or even stay awake without pain. He was back home Thursday afternoon while recovering. 

His long, painful week could not be made better with mango nectar, lemon cake, or oatmeal cookies - all attempts on my part to make him feel better. 

But this came in today’s mail, and it did the trick! I think he said, “Oh. My Gosh!” a thousand times while opening the package.

Funny

Keagan: It’s a good day when you come into the kitchen and hear country music playing and the mixer running. It means Mom’s fixin’ something real good! 😂

I always do my best cookin’ with Morgan. 

District 13- AAA Champions

We did it! Rossview is the District 13-AAA champion! We avenged last year’s loss to Northeast and won tonight 2-1. Keagan typically shows very little emotion during a game - he’s very even keeled. Case in point.

But after three months of trash talk among players and all of the polls ranking us well below our talent level, the final whistle blew and Keagan was pure joy! He led the team to a celebratory run to the corner of the field in front of the student section. 

In the first half, Keagan scored a PK to put us up by two goals.

I haven’t seen this extension in a long while. In fact, I had to blow up the pic to make sure it was actually Keagan. The squishy knee is less squishy and is as healthy as his knees can be. This is the very best time for him to be playing well!

He was selected for the District’s All Tournament Team! This is a great accomplishment since he hasn’t played much the last few months; he’s been in a valley both physically and mentally. This honor was a great confidence booster! He scored three goals and had an assist in this week’s tournament. 

We advance next week to Regional play. 

I think God must be a Hawks fan, too! Look at that red in the sky!

Another Tally in the W column

Here we are with another tally in the W column. We won Thursday night 2-1.

(I’m going to need an intervention from the photographer.)

 Keagan is playing with the knee wrapped, but he’s clearly playing in pain. He refuses to sit out. At the end of Thursday night’s game Coach moved him to right back. He assumed it would require less running. Would you know the opposing team tried to take advantage of the limping player by taking the ball to his side of the field three times in five minutes? Keagan was working that sideline, though, like his life depended on it. His “squishy” knee gets four days of rest before our next game. 

Go Hawks!

Rivalry

Wednesday night’s game was against our local rival. Typically this is a very competitive game and all of the community soccer fans come out to watch. Our stands were full of elementary aged soccer players as well as school mates. 

Some of my favorite people came to watch the game. 

We kicked off just as the sun was setting. 

And 61 minutes later we came away with a 9-0 mercy rule win! 

Pure joy! This win has us sliding into the first seed spot for the district tournament. 

My #14 is giving it his all and playing with so much heart despite the knee pain and inflammation.

❤️ him!

Forgiveness

A few months ago, our side of the church was labeled “social distancing” side. If you wanted people to stay six feet away due to health reasons or vaccination status, then you sat on our side. We continued to sit in our same pew, not because we were scared of getting Covid, but because we like our space. We don’t share a pew with anyone. In fact, all four of us can stretch out and fill a pew. We do it every week and prefer it that way. I was never more thankful for our social distancing than today. 

This week’s sermon topic was Psalm 51 and the forgiveness of sin. In the middle of the sermon, just as the pastor paused for emphasis, Keagan’s right nostril began to gush blood. While the building was in complete silence, I hear Keagan say, “Oh, $hit!” Wes and Keagan jumped up to make a run for the bathroom. It took a good ten minutes to get it to slow down and then to clean up the bathroom sink. Too embarrassed to return to the sanctuary with toilet paper plugging his nostril, the boys sat in the truck during the invitation and the closing prayer. While they were hidden away in the confines of the bathroom, all I could think is, “Did someone hear that?” I began looking in every direction noting we were safely tucked between senior citizens with (I hope) limited hearing and two rows away on either side. I’ve never been happier to be social distanced. On the off chance they did hear the bad word, I hope they took note of the pastor’s sermon and practiced it on the spot.

Keagan went to school today with a roll of paper towels because everybody knows those brown paper towels in the bathroom aren’t absorbing a darn thing. 

Back on the Pitch

You would not believe how happy I was to see this kid play this weekend.

https://youtu.be/FR3qM8qwE9Y

In game one, he played lights out! It was such a great performance, I had to stand and give an ovation at half. 😂 We tied that game 5-5. In game two the opposing team’s player was red carded for cleating Keagan in the right knee. When he went down, I was so fearful it was so much more serious, but he just has cleat marks across the knee cap. In today’s game, Keagan did not play nearly as well, but in the first ten minutes of the game, he was stepped on and now has a broken big toe. What horrible, horrible luck! He’s icing and elevating all over again!

We lost the semifinal game in PKs, so we did not come home with medals. But we played in the 03 bracket and played today like a winning team. I’m very excited about our next game and the future of these boys!

Fall Break

While I was at work and Evan was at PT, Keagan was spending his fall break in Orlando. He spent his days hanging out at the pool, taking death-defying slides at a water park, riding a few rides in Epcot, and playing video games into the late hours. Even the hurricane didn’t slow them down.

Wednesday night he called us because Ty left the room key in the condo and they were locked out of the room. It was 8:00 and the Rouses were at dinner. The boys went to the front desk to ask for help, but they were told they had to be 18 with a room reservation. Wes called the front desk and explained to the kind man Keagan had severe anxiety and was near panic. Housekeeping arrived within five minutes, Keagan played the part of an anxious teen pacing and wringing his hands, and just like that the door was unlocked! We call that Dad Magic. 

He’s home tonight. I can’t wait to see him!

Tournament Finalists

Like every Labor Day weekend for the past six years, we spent the long weekend playing soccer in Murfreesboro. Keagan’s team won the first three games of our first tournament quite easily. We beat Stones River 3-0, Quest 4-1, and our club’s B team 6-0, but by the time the fourth game arrived against Camp Forest, we had nothing left to give. The boys were tired, sore, and hungry. And we played like it. We ended the championship game with a score of 2-3. 

Sons of Pitches

It’s summer time and Keagan’s 3v3 team spent their first free weekend playing soccer. We were hoping to spend Saturday playing in the state tourney, but our loss last weekend against Knoxville, eliminated our team. Sons of Pitches played in Clarksville instead.

Evan is the coach. He remained calm on the field, offered a few words of advice to the boys, encouraged from the sidelines, and substituted the players so they all got equal playing time.  (I know that last part was hard for him.) He argued with the ref’s bad calls AFTER the game and even got the final score of game two changed in our favor when he was able to articulate why she was wrong.

We won game one. Lost game two. Tied game three. And lost in the third place game. We finished in fourth even after playing up. Not bad, but not great. Keagan had a goal in game three - this is his shot. 

Evan’s coaching contract has been extended to July. Let’s see if he can come up with a plan for winning by then. 

Big Day

We’ve been snowed in for 60 hours with a half inch of ice and two inches of snow. We’ve been unable to go or do anything because of the thick ice. (You know the roads are bad when the Southern Baptists close the doors on a Sunday morning.) Round two of snow and ice begins in less than 24 hours, so this afternoon was the perfect time to get out and play some indoor soccer.

Keagan played futsal at a local gym with some of his former teammates. Team Panna played up against freshmen. After some easy wins and highly frustrated opponents, his team won first.

The highlight of his day, though, was bringing home this guy!

After ten years, I finally conceded that a boy (all three of mine) needs a dog. Now to name the little guy!

Big Boy Bed

Keagan turns 13 next month. Until last week, he was sleeping in bunk beds with train decorated bedsheets and Thomas the Tank Engine throw pillows. I told Wes it was time to make a change. When an acquaintance asked for donations to a garage sale to support her new baby's adoption, I knew it was time! So we donated the bunk beds to her great cause, and then I spent the better part of July looking at furniture and choosing pieces for his new room.

This week the bed was delivered, Wes put it together, and now Keagan has a new room. WayFair is my new best friend. After spending two weeks sleeping on the couch, I'm Keagan's new best friend.

The throw pillows haven't been delivered, yet, but any day now.

I love this idea for displaying his many, many medals.

My favorite piece is his lamp. The base is used as storage for his rock and shell collection taken from places all around the world.

Keagan woke up this morning, telling me he had no idea sleep could be so good. I think he approves of the new big boy bed.