A Slower Week & Time With the Bestie!!!

Whew, thank goodness this week wasn't near as eventful as the last. Tuesday nothing too exciting happened. Wednesday we hosted FCA Fields of Faith. We had 67 kids show up. It was so great to see kids from River Road, Highland Park and Bushland all come and worship together. We had some great testimonies and several accept Christ which was awesome. We had 4 River Road coaches help with the event. I am so blessed to work with a staff that is grounded in their faith and willing to take time out of their life to help those students who we work with on a daily basis. Thursday I went to the JV game at Highland Park. We suffered a loss, but no injuries. Friday night we hosted Highland Park. We won big, 68-0, and are currently in a three way tie for 2nd place (and leading the tie-breaker--thank you Fritch for beating Panhandle by 14!!!). It was a good game and everyone got to play. We had two defensive touchdowns by defensive lineman. One read a pass and intercepted the ball and returned it 14 yards (that's a long way for a lineman!) and the other recovered a blocked punt in the endzone. We had 8 different people score so that was super exciting. I did have to spineboard a football player, but thankfully it wasn't mine this week. Their quarterback went down with some neck pain and the guy (I still don't know if he was an athletic trainer, PA or what) wanted to send him to the hospital so I said ok. I was the first one to him, so I was in charge of the head. I got word on Saturday morning that he was up and walking around Friday night, which I was so glad to hear. I also had an official strain his hamstring during a run. We got the ball on our own 3 yard line and Chris Perez scored a 97 yard rushing touchdown. He was just too fast for the official running down the sideline. Thankfully, we finished the night with no injuries. (Even though I still felt like I had run a marathon at the end of the game, because they had 2 others go down with ankle injuries and I was always the first one there.)

Saturday morning I had treatments and watched a little film with the boys. Around lunch Mom and I headed to OKC to see Tara. Mizzou soccer played Friday night at Baylor and were playing Sunday at OU so she was going to be in OKC for the night. It's only about 4 hours from Amarillo to OKC so I jumped at the opportunity to spend some time with Tara. I didn't get to see her when I went to Missouri in September so this was the first time I have seen her since I moved to Texas at the end of June. We went to dinner at Chileno's, a great Mexican food place in Bricktown. Afterwards we went back to the hotel to check on the girls before they had curfew. It was so good to see the soccer girls as well. There are a few who I felt like were some of my own athletes because they were in the training room so much and I spent quite a bit of time with them. We had planned on going back down to Bricktown to watch the Mizzou-OSU game, but we got comfy on the couch in the hotel and ended up staying in and watching the game there. It was a tough one to watch, as it's never fun to see my Tigers lose. The game wasn't over til nearly midnight and all of us were exhausted by then. So Mom and I headed back to our hotel. Miracuously neither Tara or I cried when I left the hotel. I think we were both so exhausted we couldn't even show any emotion. Even though my trip was quick and we didn't get to spend too much time together it was so good to just sit down and spend time with Tara. I hate living 11 1/2 hours from her. We've both been so busy we haven't talked much, but we are both determined to see each other again before 4 months go by. Hopefully we will get to see each other during Christmas break sometime. I'll be right in the middle of basketball season, but hopefully we can find sometime to get together.

Well I better get in bed. I've got another week ahead of me. I hope you have an amazing week!!!

When It Rains, It Pours

Ok let me get you up to speed....my weeks have been jam packed.

My football team started district this week. We were 4-1 going into our game on Friday. It is the Road's best start since 1994. Pretty impressive if you ask me. This week started out positive and Friday the bottom fell out (well my stress started Thursday night). My kid that lacerated his spleen had a CT scan on Monday, his 6 week check up, and praise the Lord he is COMPLETELY healed. I was sooo excited and amazed by God's work. We were not expected him to return to football this year, but he was fully released to return to all sports. He played with the JV team on Thursday and is playing with the varsity this upcoming Friday. He did very well and thankfully I didn't have any scary moments with him. With 3 minutes left in the JV game on Thursday night I had a kid get driven into the ground, get up, then I ended up spineboarding him with neck pain. After the game I headed to the hospital to check on him. I left after his CT scan around midnight and he got released about 2 am. Thankfully he only had a neck bruise and whiplash. He's still pretty sore, but I am so glad he is ok. (Oh and my Mizzou Tigers lost to Nebraska on Thursday--not good.) My boy with a shoulder injury--AC sprain after falling off the hood of a car :( was released to start moving and strengthening his shoulder and able to return to football this upcoming week.

Friday night we traveled to Panhandle for our first district game. It turned into a not so fun night rather quickly. First I had a kid go down in the 1st quarter right in front of me with a non-contact knee injury. My initial thought when he went down was ACL, but he popped up and seemed to be fine. He wasn't swelling, didn't have pain in the back of his knee, only seemed to be medial. I wasn't able to test his ligaments because he was in his football pants, it was cold, and I couldn't get him to relax very well. The more I talked to him at halftime the more worried I got about his ACL. I was very open with him and told him I was pretty sure he had a medial problem, but that I couldn't rule out ACL because I couldn't test it, and with his knee slipping that concerned me. Then in the 4th quarter I had a kid go down with a back injury. I spineboarded him as well. 2 spineboards in 24 hours, not fun. We finish the game and end up losing by 3. Not a good night AT ALL. As soon as we get back to Amarillo I head to the hospital. Not too long after I get there, the doctor came in and told us that my athlete has a cracked vertebrae in his back. The night just keeps getting worse, but thank goodness that was all that was wrong. They move him to a room around 2am so I head home. Of course I am WIRED and worried about my boys. I don't sleep at all and head to work Saturday morning for treatments. My boy with the knee injury goes to the doctor and they suspect torn ACL and a few other things. Not how I wanted to start my day. He was scheduled for an MRI on Monday. I had a few other injuries to work on and we are all still disappointed and mad about the loss the night before. My head coach was really just wanting me to give him good news, but I didn't have a lot for him. After treatments I head to Lubbock for the Tech-Kansas State Homecoming game. It was a great game and the Red Raiders got a big win. My back kid was up and moving around, doesn't have to wear a brace and was able to go home Saturday night. Praise the Lord!!!

Sunday I went to a baby shower for the girls' basketball coach in Tulia then Mom & I headed to Amarillo to catch a movie. It was so good to just relax and not do anything. Mom helped me clean my house and make it look liveable again. She ended up staying the night with me and we had a great time. This morning I headed to practice. It was so good to see my back kid there and walking around some. He is pretty sore and slow right now, but we are so lucky that he only has a crack. He has about 6-8 weeks of rehab and hopefully will be healed. My knee kid was there and in pretty good spirits for his teammates. He had his MRI at 12:30 and I just got word that he did a good job of tearing up his knee. Torn ACL, partial tear of PCL, meniscus tears and some other things too, can't remember them all. His knee is totally messed up and surgery is obviously necessary. Pre-surgery prep starts tomorrow.

Needless to say this weekend has been a very very emotional one. I hate for ANY athlete to suffer any time of injury, but these types of injuries really tear me up. I was so excited to have each of my varsity players back this upcoming week and I lost two to very major injuries. So, after you finish reading this say a little prayer for my boys and for me. We all have a long road ahead of us.

After school basketball practice starts next week. My workload doubles but I am so excited to get in the gym and back to coaching. I have missed it so much. Well I gotta get back to grading papers and trying to catch up on all my TV shows. I hope everyone has a great week.