My last day at Xtreme Volleyball...Part 2...

While sitting at work on my last day, I wrote this...  

"Today, as I sit here on my last day of work, I am utterly amazed by the outpouring of thanks and love from my Xtreme family.  I am truly blessed to be surrounded with an AWESOME group of people who care about me and wish me nothing but the best, and so here is my thank you letter to them.

To ... you know who you are...

Thank you!  Thank you saying thank you, for sending me text messages, for sending me flowers, for hugging me, for understanding that I had to do what was best for me, and for supporting me in my decision."

Little did I know that there were people plotting a surprise going away party...  :)

I went through the rest of the day on some highs and lows.  I got my hair cut (Thank you Stacey!), closed out the day with a review of my "how to" folder, and headed to Cal's soccer practice.  When I drove off my boss was standing at the door and before I even got out of the parking lot my face was filled with tears.  I love Xtreme Volleyball.  I have spent 7 years of my life there...growing and changing, getting married, and meeting new people.  I made some really awesome friends and made some really awesome memories.  Despite my tears I knew I was still making the right decision (the right decision), soI dried my tears and went to soccer practice to cheer on CAL.  I picked up Baehr after soccer and headed back to Xtreme for Camryn's Volleyball practice.  

Courtney had already planned for us to meet for dinner to celebrate my new chapter, so after we left volleyball we headed to Pappasito's.  When we got there it was insanity...a 30 minute wait and CAL was on the verge of a break down after about 20 minutes.  I won't lie, I was ready to throw in the towel as well and eat cereal for dinner.  We finally got to sit down and when I turned the corner there was a table for 10...what?  Courtney told me that several of the Xtreme Coaches were coming and that they were on their way.  I cried...again!  (haha)  

We had a great night, and I am so grateful that everyone took the time to put this together for me! 

Thank you Mrs. Molitor, Royce, Telia, Alison, Courtney, and Baehr for working together and planning last night!  I needed it more than words could say, and I am so thankful for all of you!  Last night was the end to a great 7 years... Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!  :)

Oh yeah, and ... yesterday was my 3 month birthday!  hahaha 

Happy Rainy Saturday from the couch on The Baehr Block!  :) 

Carrie

My Departure from Xtreme Volleyball...Part 1

I know that the rumor mill in club volleyball can be nasty, so I thought I would write this note so that you could all see MY truth.  :)  Or the truth that I am willing to share with you.

After tons and tons and TONS of prayer, I have decided to leave Xtreme Volleyball.  For years (7 to be exact), I have been on the side of the fence where parents and athletes came and went.  Some of them were harder to take than others, but in the end I always said "You have to do what you feel is best for you and your athlete." Such is club volleyball.  People come and go...and come back again.

For the last few months I have struggled to decide what is best for me....if Xtreme was the right place for me.  I have thrown around ideas (if you know me they ranged from staying home to getting a "real" job), but always came back to, "Xtreme is where I am supposed to be."  It wasn't until recently that I realized I was just doing what was easy.  I was unhappy but unwilling to make changes because I felt an immense responsibility to BE XTREME and I also hate change!  (Who doesn't?)

I love my job (the work part), I love the hours, I love most of the people, and I LOVE VOLLEYBALL, but there were some aspects that I was not a fan of.  If you have known me for any period of time, you know what and who those are.  If you don't, I won't share them here because they are personal and not for the public to share or judge or gossip about.  At the end of the day, I still believe that Xtreme is one of the best training clubs in the Houston area and I refuse to change that perception because of my personal reasons to leave. 

Anyways, on one of my rather excruciating days I reached out to a few people.  Initially there were no openings, and so I decided to just pray about it and wait for God to lead me.  When my first interview came up I even said, "If this is not something that you have open, don't force it.  It will happen when the time is right."   And so I waited and prayed and prayed some more.  God answered...in a HUGE way. 

Remember how I said I LOVED my job, the hours, and volleyball?  Well, I get to do all of those still!  YAHOOOO!!!!

I am excited to be a part of a new group of people who love volleyball and love the Lord.  I am excited for the opportunities they (and God) have given me, and I am SUPER excited that this was prayer driven and God led. 

I have been blessed with 7 years of memories and relationships from Xtreme, but now it's time for that chapter to end, and a new one to begin. 

"God puts things in us we don't know we have, and sometimes God has to push us into our destiny, and sometimes it's through adversity....What I thought would be my darkest hour, launched me into my brightest hour."
-Joel Osteen

And so off I go...into the wild blue yonder!  :)

A rant...

Today, a friend on facebook posted this article about Kountze High School.  "District Superintendent Kevin Weldon banned the religious messages, including run-through banners at football games, after the Freedom from Religion Foundation told him that a resident had complained about the Bible verses."  Read the full article here...http://m.kltv.com/ms/p/si/117/view.m?id=124279&storyId=19604893

I reposted with "This is absurd! I am so over all of this "no God in schools" business!!!!!"  I got one comment.  A frownie face from my aunt. 

Am I frustrated?  YES!  Why?  Because we, as Christians, will post verses, ask for prayer, and talk about being blessed, but when it comes to standing up for Christ and our beliefs we like to shy away because we are taught not to FORCE our beliefs on other people.  And while, I agree that some times there are people in our lives who force church down people's throats, I also believe that we are taught to stand up for what we believe in. 

Why do we allow people to tell us what we can and cannot say?  How did we get to a place where we let a court or a government control when or where we pray, speak about God, or quote the Bible?  I mean for Heaven's sake, I didn't go to the government and say, tell all these athiest to pray with me!  Do it, do it now!  (Maybe I should have!)  I don't walk up to strangers and tell them to sit down and read the Bible with me.  We are grown, if you don't believe what I do, say no and walk away.  I do it to the Jehovah's Witness all the time.

I want to stand up for what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and taking God out of everything is not what is right.  How can we sit by and just let people run over us?  I believe WE are the majority.  WE, the people who believe in a higher power, WE, the people that live in this nation under God, WE, the people that believe we can pray together and be heard.  Why are the students of Kountze High School more willing to stand up for their beliefs than we are and why are WE not driving ourselves to Kountze to support the students of Kountze High School?  

I am ranting at you, but I am also ranting at myself.  I so WANT to make a difference, and here is an opportunity.  I am asking God to show me my purpose, and yet, instead of doing something or taking a chance, I sit here actionless.  Well, people, I am done with all of that.  I don't know where to start, but I am going to ask the Lord to guide my path.  I hope you will join me in my quest to better the world and spread the Word, either by prayer or action or both. 

Acts 6:7

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

My Wish For You....To my sister....

I wrote this long blog, but have decided that this song says it all for me...

To the best sister of all time:

I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take.
But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

This is my wish
I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big

Where were you on 9/11?

Isn't that the question you get asked 1000 times on 9/11 each year?  Well, why shouldn't I ask you too?  Do you remember where you were and how you found out about the attacks on 9/11?

Here's my story....

I was living at home, going to community college, and had decided that morning was a skip morning.  My mom would shake her head and say "of course it was".  haha!  When I got up that morning, I got on the computer and one of my friends immediately chatted me "Have you heard about the terrorist attack?"  My response "what the heck are you talking about?"  In my very naive world I had no idea what he was talking about...terrorist attack?  Those two words don't even make sense in my head... what the heck is a terrorist?  He immediately told me to turn on the news...I did, and the rest is history...literally.  I didn't leave the TV for the rest of the day.  I saw the second plane fly into the building, watched the news anchor ask if that was a person that had just jumped from the building, and watch both buildings crumble to the ground like a sand castle.  Unreal then, and unreal now. 

The sad part of my personal story is that I never fully grasped what happened until all of the information that came out on the 10th anniversary last year.  The wide spread effect it had and still has on America.  The videos that came out last year were ones that you only see on movies...but they were real.  Real families fleeing from their apartments, people calling their families not knowing what was going on, watching dust clouds envelop people and cars on the streets.  Unreal.  That is the only word I know how to describe it, and yet, it was so real.  

So today, when I see people post "We Remember" or "Never Forget", I will remember what I was doing that morning 11 years ago, but I will also remember how, in the days to follow, the people of our country united together as one.  That on this day, in this month, and for months after, our country loved one another in spite of religion, politics, or race.  That we stood proud to be Americans in the land of the free and the home of the BRAVE.  And that at the end of the day, we are all connected by a greater power.  

So I say "NEVER FORGET" today (and every day) the compassion we shared, the hands we extended, and the prayers we lifted for each other, and "ALWAYS REMEMBER" we can be like this everyday. 

“A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2 NIV

My favorite part of Sunday...

It's football season!  You know what that means... (or maybe you don't!  haha)  Another year of Sundays spent at Reliant Stadium cheering on the Texans.  Baehr is an avid Texans fan and always has been.  I, only the other hand, am just a avid sports fan.  I love all sports (minus the winter Olympics) and can pretty much enjoy any sport's setting.  Yesterday was the first regular season home game, and the Texans won!  Wooohooo! 
 
While the Texans winning was great, yesterday reminded me how much I love spending the day with Baehr.  We have so much fun together, and while we may not agree on whether we should take the escalator or walk to our seats (ha), I love football Sundays! 
 
Now, you say, "Is that your favorite part of Sundays?  Spending the day with your husband?"  Well, yes....but no.  :) 

My favorite part of Sunday is the drive to the game.  My subconscious tells me that Sunday morning means I need to be connected to God somehow, someway, and that means that I turn on KSBJ or music from my iphone.  The music of choice yesterday was Cornerstone by Hillsong Live.

This is my new favorite download, and the album is a must have if you love Christian music. 

I love being able to connect to God on our ride to the game, and being able to share this time with Baehr makes it that much better!  :) 

So there it is...my favorite part of Sundays.  I hope you get to share moments like this with the people you love. 

Psalms 68:4

Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.

It's been a while....

Why yes, it HAS been a while!  :)  Did you miss me?

We have been busy... Well, I don't know what we have been doing, but I feel like I am really busy so it must be true!  haha!  I am also in a place where my thoughts are trying to make sense of themselves so releasing them on my blog will only add to the madness swirling around in my head.  So I just wanted to post something real quick to you (and to me) about life....

Today, while chatting with my sister on gtalk I sent her a note....

10:42 AM

me: sometimes....

  it's so easy to forget

  how blessed we are....

10:43 AM

and I honestly....don't know how people go through life without God and without prayer....and without family

 

 

So to all of you, who are living the "busy" life, take a minute to really look around and be thankful for all you have, for your family, and for our God. 

 

 

Colossians 2:6 & 7

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.