Sweet Gifts

I have a friend from college, who was actually my roommate freshman year, who has had a rough bout of life recently. She and her husband, who we (meaning Kim and I) think is just so perfect for her, have a blog (noahandjulieroberts.blogspot.com) that tells the story of their first precious miracle, Magdalena Grace. I received a text this morning, which I should have gotten last night but didn't, so I got up and turned the computer on. The blog post said JULIE AND NOAH ARE PREGNANT!!!!! I am so happy for them! Pray for them in this emotional time.

Soccer Star

PP and her friend decided they wanted to play soccer this year. When we lived in Lucedale, PP "played" soccer. She has barely turned four and basically stood on the field which was about an eighth of the size of a normal soccer field. So we don't really count that experience as cute as it was! So when we moved here I found out that you had to be six before you can play soccer. I can't say I was all that upset and neither was PP. It didn't help when a woman at the bank told me that her daughter played and it was rainy and cold almost the whole season. Oh I forgot.... the soccer season is in the winter which is REALLY cold here. Well, the next year PP said she wanted to play. I have managed to convince her for two years that she really didn't want to play. But of course this year I gave in. Last week was the first practice. It was freezing! I quickly decided I shouldn't have given in. But she really enjoyed it so I guess I can suck up the cold. The team, the diamonds, practiced four times last week and had the first game tonight. I should mention that our team is a totally new team, none of the players have played before.
Ok. The game.
For our first game we played the second best team from last year....great. The game started out a little shaky. The girls were very intimidated by the other team. But as the game went on the girls got better. PP is one of the fastest girls on the team so she was stationed in the mid field (I am new at all this soccer stuff so pardon the terms). The plan was for her to get the ball and run. She did really well. And that is not just a doting mother, several of the other parents said so too. Anyways, the poor thing ran up and down the field all game. Soccer is a very physical game and our girls weren't ready for the contact. They tended to back away when the other team pushed a little, PP included. She ended up tripping a girl from the other team by accident. Later in the game the girl pushed her down. PP says that the girl pushed her on purpose but she tripped her on accident. Then she said that she pushed her so hard that she flew in the air and hit the ground and then bounced and hit the ground again. Can you say dramatic? She did hit the ground pretty hard but not like that. She sat out for a few minutes. The coach and I proceeded to tell her to not let those other girls push her around. Oh I forgot the important part. She scored the only goal! That was before the pushing and tripping. She got the ball and ran it past the defenders and scored. She was proud and so was I. Needless to say she went to bed early tonight. We have another game tomorrow which will hopefully go better.
PS-I forgot the camera so I will take some tomorrow and post them.