We took it pretty easy on Friday night. It had been another long-ish week for us. Even though there wasn't much to report, and we did manage to get out and go fishing on MLK Day on Wheeler, the hurdles of the week wore on us.
Besides, Saturday we had plans to attend the Eli Williams Mustangs and Muscle Car Show. For those that don't know Eli's story, I will make it brief and let you go check it out for yourself. Eli is 9 years old, which is around Aubree's, our oldest, age. He and his family attend Church with us. Several years ago, he was diagnosed with brain cancer called Medulloblastoma. He was in relapse
for a year following 9 months of radiation and chemo but it has since returned
just last month so he is back fighting this and is currently undergoing chemo
again.You all can imagine what this must be like, and even when you think you understand....you don't. I know I don't. When I try and put myself in those shoes, my brain just turns off. Take some time to check out the blog of the William's life and struggle. It's called Stan's Got a Frog in His Mouth. Again, please take the time to visit.
Well, Eli is fond of Mustangs and the Limestone Co. Mustang Club from Athens Alabama decided to throw him a car show.Word got out and suddenly this small car show blossomed into a massive event. Though I am not a Mustang guy, and even though I have been out of cars for some time, we thought we should attend and show our support. It is really amazing how so many people can put a little effort into a small gesture and for it to turn into something spectacular. I had in my mind what I expected when we pulled into Lindsey Lane Baptist Church. But I was blown away. Some have estimated that there were easily between 300-350 cars, mostly Mustangs.
What was really awesome was to find out how many of my fellow Church friends and family were there too. I am sure they all enjoy cars, but they were there for Eli. So, we checked out all the vehicles, Aubree visited with Eli, and eventually the cold got to the kids.
Here are some photos that my friend Taco shot. There were his choice photos. Check out all this photography at SHOT by Taco, who specializes in automotive photography.
Obviously this show was about Eli and supporting him. But, I did take satisfaction that my kids were very into checking out the cars. They told me what they liked and what they didn't like. What made me the most excited was Griffin telling me that he wanted to build a car. I make the assumption that he was referring to the Classic cars. I have been contemplating getting a classic to rebuild and seeing this one particular 55 Bel Air with a late model LS1 engine, custom EVERYTHING, and slick paint really did me in. So, more on that later....I hope.
Sunday we attended Church after making an emergency trip to McDonald'd because we were running late. Griffin and Gavin were all but convinced that we were not eating breakfast. As we drove towards McD's, which is on the way to Church, the wailing and crying of these two was so fierce and even though we pulled into the parking lot, they were almost inconsolable. But, a few pancakes later and they were doing ok.
This quarter's class curriculum has been all about prayer and how we should teach our children to pray correctly. Everyone else might have their prayer life under control, but I don't. It was of great benefit to really listen and understand about how we are going before the Almighty God when we pray and we should devote the proper time and effort to it. That's important for a guy like me who is lucky to make it through prayer at night without falling asleep. But, I did pass on the wisdom to my children and at least Aubree seems to understand. She always does.
About lunch time, I received a notification via my Facebook that some guys from Tony/Harvest/Ardmore were looking for more players for their pickup football game. Some of these guys I went to middle school and high school with, and I hadn't seen a one of them for 13 years or better. They were playing at Madison Cross Roads school, which is where I went to elementary school. I hadn't been on that campus in 17 years. Ironically, we were going to play on the very same field that I grew up playing on. Every single day for years we played touch football on this field. So, I grabbed one of my flag football buddies, Nick, and we went to play.
Play we did. For 3 hours. Wow. I won't go into the game because there was 3 hours of it. But, I realized real quick that I am way out of shape. And I know everyone says that, but I didn't realize that the few down months I had because of my shoulder had really taken me that far down. Excuses excuses. But, we had a blast! I didn't kill myself entirely, but I deff bruised some ribs and my legs are still jello. At one point I looked down on the field and spotted an old quarter. I picked it up and brushed it off. It was from 1985. Part of me knew the statistics that I probably never knew the person who dropped it. But maybe I did. Maybe it was me all those years ago. How things have changed from being a kid at MXR to where I am now. MXR is a very rural school and while it is a fantastic school, it caters to fairly low income families. It's mind blowing how I never knew any different. The world was so small and yet large at the same time. 20 odd years of perspective would love to sit down and watch me as a child for a day. Really, I would give a lot to do that.
When I got home, we took it easy and watched a Percy Jackson movie with the kids. Aubree informed me how disappointed she was that we didn't go shooting this weekend as we did last weekend. If you didn't read it, at least go see the video of Aubree shooting for the first time.
The funniest thing was Griffin's reaction to the cyclops and other monsters. HE would run out of the room sometimes, but I would see his shadow in the hall where he was still watching it. Eventually he got brave and sat with Alyse. She laughed later when she told me that his hands were clammy and shakey as he clutched her during intense moments. After the movie, I had to be pried out of my chair. In the meantime, I was able to write in my journal that my mom got me for Christmas. She wanted to to write anything and everything that I thought of. Part of what I am doing was to write stories from the past that she never knew of and that I would have been embarrassed to tell. To get a list, I texted some old friends who put in their input. In the middle of that, I had a phone call from a very good and long time friend I hadn't spoken to and we had a great conversation.
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