The game

The game Saturday was so unbelievable sad, yet memorable. Caroline was so excited that she literally ran as fast as her little legs could carry her all the way to the stadium (Thanks Uncle Trav for dropping Becky, Caroline and I off!) It was so fun seeing it all through her eyes. She asked me a million questions and it made me think about why we do what we do at football games.She wanted to know why some people were painted red from head to toe, "because it is a fun way to show support of our team"??
She wanted to know if I was going to help her play football. I had to explain that we were just going to watch other people play football.
She was concerned because she only had one pom pom and the cheerleaders had two. (Becky helped her by saying that Caroline's had both red and white colors in the one pom pom, so it was special.)
She kept saying the Razorbacks are "tough!"
She wanted to know why everyone was so loud, but then sometimes I had to tell her to be quiet for cheering too loudly. (so confusing!)
I remember my dad trying to patiently explain to me the four down system of football over and over again so many years ago.I saw so many dads with their kids there enjoying their time and part of me wanted to shout--"Enjoy this moment!! DON'T TAKE A SECOND OF IT FOR GRANTED!" and then a morbid part of me wants to tell everyone "You know you are going to die at some point?" I try to imagine what I would have thought of someone who would come up to me and say that to me nine months ago--What a loon! But today, I would just tell that person "You are right. Good thing I know where I am going when that happens!" At the same time, I realize now that most people are either going through or have been through a terrible "valley" like mine. So many people look "fine" on the outside, but who knows what is going on in their lives. My friend Kimberly (see the end of this post) mentioned this in her blog. So many times you are asked, "How are you?" by someone and you just say "fine" when actually you are hurting so badly or crying in your head about what is happening in your life. I try to remember this when I am feeling like I'm the only one hurting and everyone else around me seems so perfectly content.

God has been showing me how he is/has taken care of me in a couple of ways these past weeks. In the last post I mentioned how I was dreading telling the sweet couple from the Little Rock area who sit behind us about what happened.
I went by myself to get Caroline a hot dog and saw them! I thought what a perfect opportunity away from Caroline to tell them. As soon as they saw me they just hugged me so tight and I knew that they knew already.
They said they had heard Rick Schaffer (who works for the Razorbacks and for the school system Thomas taught in) on the radio say they had lost a teacher-he didn't hear the name, but God told him that it was Thomas. He went to the computer to check and it confirmed what God had already told him.
It was comforting to know God took care of this worry I had about telling our Razorback football friends months ago. I shouldn't have worried about it at all--
Matthew 6:25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life... 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"A couple of days before the game my dear friend, Kimberly, got a call to meet her family at the doctor's office where her precious four year old was supposedly having a routine check up for a fever. By that evening they were at Arkansas Children's Hospital where they were told Hannah has Leukemia. This is a strong Christian family and God is giving them strength, but prayers are needed. She and I have talked about how one day is "normal" and then the next moment can turn your life upside down. Please pray strength and healing for this family. Thank you!