Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Oh, these girls.

Before we knew when Briggs would be coming home, I committed to coaching my ninth volleyball season at Evangelical Christian Academy.

Ninth.
Who coaches NINE years of JUNIOR HIGH volleyball?
Seriously.

Anyway, if you would have asked me when I wanted to bring Briggs home (ha.), I would have said, "Anytime except during the eight weeks of volleyball season." But, as we all know, I didn't have a choice and Briggs joined our family right smack-dab in the middle of the busiest eight weeks of my year.

Coaching these 23 high-energy ladies after chasing my one high-energy boy all day wears.me.out. And focusing on practice plans and junior-high-girl emotions and complexities has been a serious struggle while I navigate the mommy-waters for the first time.

But just this week I realized how extremely, extremely thankful I am that these girls are a part of Briggs's story, a cog in the process of how his life began as a member of our family. Junior High Volleyballers have been a part of my life for a long time - how fitting that they be included in the joys and stresses of one of my most challenging transitions.
They ADORE Briggs - it's the love him and chase him and squeeze him until they make him crazy kind of adore. And they always ask me how he is doing.

And while these girls do seriously test my patience - causing me to say things like "We don't really need to make that noise," and "please stop playing leap frog" during practice - I will always remember them as the ones who were extremely patient with me.

They've been so forgiving when I show up to practice with an already-shortened temper or when I just can't seem to get their rotation (or names, for that matter) straight. They don't seem to mind when Mad Monday just really isn't that fun or when the practice plan is totally and completely all wrong.
And what a comfort it was for me on Sunday when we dropped Briggs of at the church nursery for the first time and one of my sweet volleyballers was volunteering in his class. She was so excited to see him and I had an incredible peace-of-mind knowing that she would give him a little special attention.

If you ask me, the timing of things was a little less than desirable, but I have certainly witnessed the fulfilling of God's promises as he weaves all things together for his glory and for the good of his children.

I get a little overwhelmed thinking about each girl and pondering what God has in store for her life - but then inevitably one of them hits me in the face with a stray serve and I get my head out of the clouds and go over the steps of overhand serving for the thousandth time.

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