Of all the ways we could say Merry Christmas, we thought Max said it best. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
TEAM BORICH: "The Coaching Life...by a Coach's Wife" ~We live, we laugh, we love...then I blog.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Sanity Slowly Returns
To our dear friends and family,
Thank you for all of your prayers and support during the last very long and painful month! We are so grateful for each and every one of you. As you may or may not know, Joe did not get the job that we wanted.
Please know, without a doubt, that we are okay. If you were on my blog yesterday and earlier today, you saw a very raw reaction that included my most personal feelings and thoughts. I removed the post because we are ready to move forward. We don't exactly know which direction "forward" is, but we will let you all know when we do.
There are only 2 thoughts that I will re-post:
Sometimes, we need a door slammed in our faces to turn our eyes so we can see something greater.
This poem is my favorite and will be heavy on my mind as we face our future...
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support during the last very long and painful month! We are so grateful for each and every one of you. As you may or may not know, Joe did not get the job that we wanted.
Please know, without a doubt, that we are okay. If you were on my blog yesterday and earlier today, you saw a very raw reaction that included my most personal feelings and thoughts. I removed the post because we are ready to move forward. We don't exactly know which direction "forward" is, but we will let you all know when we do.
There are only 2 thoughts that I will re-post:
Sometimes, we need a door slammed in our faces to turn our eyes so we can see something greater.
This poem is my favorite and will be heavy on my mind as we face our future...
Footprints in the Sand
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”
________________________________________
Mary Stevenson, 1936
We have ultimate faith in God. We know He sees us and He loves us. We know His plans for us are flawless, and someday we will understand...
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
A Prayer Answered (as only God can)
As some of you may know, we have been waiting to find out if we get to stay in Tiffin, or if we will need to move on. The decision is to be made on Friday (in 2 days but who's counting?!) and I am going crazy this week. With the exception of each Sunday, where I fall apart in church, I have been holding together pretty well. When our season ended a month ago, we knew we were in for major changes again. Joe interviewed for the position of head coach on December 2 and 3rd. He was the first interview, so we've had to wait while others are shown around our gem of a school and town that we have fallen head over heels in love with. The final candidate is here today and tomorrow, but the AD has told us that he will act quickly and have a decision on Friday- (BTW~Happy Birthday Friday, Kevin! ♥ Moo)
Now that you are up to speed, I can proceed to my not so subtly answered prayer. I do not want to wish away time-I know how precious it is. Instead, I've been praying for ways to pass the time as I get more anxious. We have so much to lose if Joe doesn't get the job and we'll have a lot of decisions to make. We remain hopeful because we strongly feel that we are not done here yet. But there is always that part of us that tries to prepare for the worst case scenario. That part is the one that I have been busily trying to keep preoccupied with other thoughts so that I don't stray into that territory unless I absolutely have to.
One of my keep busy projects is to fix the kitchen faucet. It's not broken, per se, but it doesn't swivel. We are renting our home, and if it were broken, I could just call our landlord. Since it isn't broken (yet), I thought I could give it a go. My brother Trevor knows everything about faucets and now I have a plumber in my family, so I can totally take this project on, right?! So I'm crammed into the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink, trying to contort my body into this miniscule space to tighten the nuts that secure the faucet to the sink. (Thanks, by the way, to Trevor for an extremely sarcastic description of a bolt versus a nut, which I didn't need!)
Bodie starts yapping like mad, and I think to myself, "Oh good. Joe's home early and is going to ask what I broke! This will be fun..." Then there's a crash in the sink, which is very loud when your face is smooshed right up next to it! I unfold myself and crawl out from under ready to lash out at Joe for throwing something into the sink for his own amusement. But Joe is nowhere around, and Bodie is still yapping like crazy, directing his gaze to the window above the sink. I look into the sink and it's one of my frogs that normally sit on the windowsill. As I'm thinking, What the *%^!, I notice that there is a bird sitting where my frog had been (yes, a real LIVE bird). I lean in thinking I have finally lost my friggin' mind and the little sucker starts going crazy!
So, as I'm tripping over all the bottles that are normally under my sink, waving my arms above my head, my dog is barking and this damn bird starts flying all around my house. (Don't judge unless you've been in this situation!) We live in a really old house that has awesome original wood trim around all the windows, but it's very drafty. So we have all the windows covered with energy-saving plastic to try to keep the heat in. Well, we did have all of them covered. This bird went nuts trying to find a spot to fly outside. He hit all the windows, repeatedly, popping and tearing all of Joe's hard work as he tried to get out. Then the bird found our Christmas tree. I gotta tell you, bird's wings are loud when they are beating as fast as they can between an ornament covered tree and a wall. Again, don't judge!
Please keep in mind that Bodie is still barking like mad and chasing this bird around the house as it tries to escape. At one point, the bird landed on the windowsill right behind the couch and Bodie got him. I'm screaming at the top of my lungs for Bodie to get away. I wish I could say that I was concerned for the bird's safety, but all I could think is, "If I have to clean up dead bird guts or watch my sweet wiener dog eat a bird, I'm gonna throw up!" It is at this point that Max comes upstairs, completely freaked out, and Mykah comes home from school.
Although we've lived here for 6 months, she has had a hard time making friends. Tiffin is a small place and all the kids in her school have grown up together. Much to my dismay, when I turn around to ask her to keep the door open, she is standing there with a friend. She is standing there with a friend, who she has invited to our house for the first time in 6 months, only to find the dog going crazy, her little brother an absolute mess and her mom running around like a psycho with a broom. I pause, long enough to say nice to meet you and smile, and then it's back to work. I put them in charge of holding onto Bodie and giving Max some other pair of legs to hide behind while he cries, "No birds in the house!"
In the meantime, I tried to call Joe, who was out recruiting, to find out where he is and when he'll be home. Lucky me- he doesn't answer. I immediately called my mom, but what's she gonna do from Idaho, and while laughing?! Fully aware that this story may not seem believable, I pause when the bird finds its way to the bathroom to shoot this video from my phone... (if you stop the music from playing at the very bottom of the blog, you can hear my message to Joe on this video)
The doors in our house are situated such that you have to turn a corner to go out of each, so the bird never went anywhere near the doors. Since all the plastic covering our windows was popped anyway, I was able to open the window that the bird was repeatedly trying to fly out, remove the screens, then "coax" it out from behind the curtain with my broom, where it promptly flew away.
I still have no logical explanation of how this bird got into our house. We don't have any broken windows, but at this point it doesn't really matter. Thank you, God, for helping me to pass the time!
P.S. I posted this a couple of hours ago, but I have just gotten home from picking Max up from preschool. Their project today, NO JOKE, was to make bird feeders out of pinecones, peanut butter and birdseed. When they finished, the teachers asked the kids where they wanted to hang their feeders. All of the kids said in the tree. Except Maxie! Maxie said in my house! Thank goodness Joe filled them in on the story when he dropped Max off this morning~ but his teachers just about fell off their chairs laughing when he said his was going in his house! I think I'll hang it above the kitchen sink. And the time continues to pass...
Now that you are up to speed, I can proceed to my not so subtly answered prayer. I do not want to wish away time-I know how precious it is. Instead, I've been praying for ways to pass the time as I get more anxious. We have so much to lose if Joe doesn't get the job and we'll have a lot of decisions to make. We remain hopeful because we strongly feel that we are not done here yet. But there is always that part of us that tries to prepare for the worst case scenario. That part is the one that I have been busily trying to keep preoccupied with other thoughts so that I don't stray into that territory unless I absolutely have to.
One of my keep busy projects is to fix the kitchen faucet. It's not broken, per se, but it doesn't swivel. We are renting our home, and if it were broken, I could just call our landlord. Since it isn't broken (yet), I thought I could give it a go. My brother Trevor knows everything about faucets and now I have a plumber in my family, so I can totally take this project on, right?! So I'm crammed into the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink, trying to contort my body into this miniscule space to tighten the nuts that secure the faucet to the sink. (Thanks, by the way, to Trevor for an extremely sarcastic description of a bolt versus a nut, which I didn't need!)
Bodie starts yapping like mad, and I think to myself, "Oh good. Joe's home early and is going to ask what I broke! This will be fun..." Then there's a crash in the sink, which is very loud when your face is smooshed right up next to it! I unfold myself and crawl out from under ready to lash out at Joe for throwing something into the sink for his own amusement. But Joe is nowhere around, and Bodie is still yapping like crazy, directing his gaze to the window above the sink. I look into the sink and it's one of my frogs that normally sit on the windowsill. As I'm thinking, What the *%^!, I notice that there is a bird sitting where my frog had been (yes, a real LIVE bird). I lean in thinking I have finally lost my friggin' mind and the little sucker starts going crazy!
So, as I'm tripping over all the bottles that are normally under my sink, waving my arms above my head, my dog is barking and this damn bird starts flying all around my house. (Don't judge unless you've been in this situation!) We live in a really old house that has awesome original wood trim around all the windows, but it's very drafty. So we have all the windows covered with energy-saving plastic to try to keep the heat in. Well, we did have all of them covered. This bird went nuts trying to find a spot to fly outside. He hit all the windows, repeatedly, popping and tearing all of Joe's hard work as he tried to get out. Then the bird found our Christmas tree. I gotta tell you, bird's wings are loud when they are beating as fast as they can between an ornament covered tree and a wall. Again, don't judge!
Please keep in mind that Bodie is still barking like mad and chasing this bird around the house as it tries to escape. At one point, the bird landed on the windowsill right behind the couch and Bodie got him. I'm screaming at the top of my lungs for Bodie to get away. I wish I could say that I was concerned for the bird's safety, but all I could think is, "If I have to clean up dead bird guts or watch my sweet wiener dog eat a bird, I'm gonna throw up!" It is at this point that Max comes upstairs, completely freaked out, and Mykah comes home from school.
Although we've lived here for 6 months, she has had a hard time making friends. Tiffin is a small place and all the kids in her school have grown up together. Much to my dismay, when I turn around to ask her to keep the door open, she is standing there with a friend. She is standing there with a friend, who she has invited to our house for the first time in 6 months, only to find the dog going crazy, her little brother an absolute mess and her mom running around like a psycho with a broom. I pause, long enough to say nice to meet you and smile, and then it's back to work. I put them in charge of holding onto Bodie and giving Max some other pair of legs to hide behind while he cries, "No birds in the house!"
In the meantime, I tried to call Joe, who was out recruiting, to find out where he is and when he'll be home. Lucky me- he doesn't answer. I immediately called my mom, but what's she gonna do from Idaho, and while laughing?! Fully aware that this story may not seem believable, I pause when the bird finds its way to the bathroom to shoot this video from my phone... (if you stop the music from playing at the very bottom of the blog, you can hear my message to Joe on this video)
The doors in our house are situated such that you have to turn a corner to go out of each, so the bird never went anywhere near the doors. Since all the plastic covering our windows was popped anyway, I was able to open the window that the bird was repeatedly trying to fly out, remove the screens, then "coax" it out from behind the curtain with my broom, where it promptly flew away.
I still have no logical explanation of how this bird got into our house. We don't have any broken windows, but at this point it doesn't really matter. Thank you, God, for helping me to pass the time!
P.S. I posted this a couple of hours ago, but I have just gotten home from picking Max up from preschool. Their project today, NO JOKE, was to make bird feeders out of pinecones, peanut butter and birdseed. When they finished, the teachers asked the kids where they wanted to hang their feeders. All of the kids said in the tree. Except Maxie! Maxie said in my house! Thank goodness Joe filled them in on the story when he dropped Max off this morning~ but his teachers just about fell off their chairs laughing when he said his was going in his house! I think I'll hang it above the kitchen sink. And the time continues to pass...
Friday, November 19, 2010
A Thank You Letter
To Joe Mike, my dear father-in-law,
I am overwhelmed with gratitude to you for my life. When you came to visit us last month with your lovely wife, I was given an opportunity to realize the tremendous impact that you have had on my very blessed time with your son, who is the love of my life.
Thank you for the way you see things, because my Joe sees things the same way. Instead of seeing the modesty with which the farmers in our area live, you see their pride. Instead of seeing the boarded up doors and windows of Tiffin's old courthouse, you see the majestic beauty that it was before it got too expensive to maintain for our humble town. Instead of noticing all the empty storefronts, you find the bookstore gems wedged between them and then make friends with the owner!
Thank you for our little Max, who shares your name, but his personality is yours alone! Forever I'll carry the priceless memory of gazing out from one of the stores we were exploring during your stay only to see 3 of the most precious men in my life; my son and my husband, standing next to the man who made them my treasures-you.
Thank you for loving your wives; Shauna until the day she died, and now Kathleen, who we love and are so grateful to have as part of our family. Because of your example, my husband loves me and our children unconditionally and with a quiet fierceness that few women get to experience, and I am so grateful to you for it.
So thank you, dear Joe, for all you've given me- my husband, the wonderful man he aspires to be, for he dreams of being like you; and the father to my children, children who will grow up secure in their father's love, just like your Joey did.
Come again soon! Max still looks out the window and asks where Grandpa Joe is...We love you so much. Thank you for being you.
Love, your daughter-in-law,
Little Red
PS~here are some pictures from your trip!
Ummmmm, I think we're lost! Corn maze 1, Borich family 0
Pickin' the perfect pumpkins...
Check out the expressions of each of their faces!
Behind every great man is a great woman (and an adoring child)!
It has been our tradition since we left Pocatello to set up the camera tripod and take a family picture the night we carve pumpkins. How wonderful that for this night, we were not alone!
I am overwhelmed with gratitude to you for my life. When you came to visit us last month with your lovely wife, I was given an opportunity to realize the tremendous impact that you have had on my very blessed time with your son, who is the love of my life.
Thank you for the way you see things, because my Joe sees things the same way. Instead of seeing the modesty with which the farmers in our area live, you see their pride. Instead of seeing the boarded up doors and windows of Tiffin's old courthouse, you see the majestic beauty that it was before it got too expensive to maintain for our humble town. Instead of noticing all the empty storefronts, you find the bookstore gems wedged between them and then make friends with the owner!
Thank you for our little Max, who shares your name, but his personality is yours alone! Forever I'll carry the priceless memory of gazing out from one of the stores we were exploring during your stay only to see 3 of the most precious men in my life; my son and my husband, standing next to the man who made them my treasures-you.
Thank you for loving your wives; Shauna until the day she died, and now Kathleen, who we love and are so grateful to have as part of our family. Because of your example, my husband loves me and our children unconditionally and with a quiet fierceness that few women get to experience, and I am so grateful to you for it.
So thank you, dear Joe, for all you've given me- my husband, the wonderful man he aspires to be, for he dreams of being like you; and the father to my children, children who will grow up secure in their father's love, just like your Joey did.
Come again soon! Max still looks out the window and asks where Grandpa Joe is...We love you so much. Thank you for being you.
Love, your daughter-in-law,
Little Red
PS~here are some pictures from your trip!
Ummmmm, I think we're lost! Corn maze 1, Borich family 0
Pickin' the perfect pumpkins...
Check out the expressions of each of their faces!
Behind every great man is a great woman (and an adoring child)!
It has been our tradition since we left Pocatello to set up the camera tripod and take a family picture the night we carve pumpkins. How wonderful that for this night, we were not alone!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Deep in the Season of Harvest
There is a stark contrast between the fall in New York and the fall here in Ohio. I find myself missing the vibrancy of the colors during the changing of the leaves that we were so blessed to experience for 3 fall seasons in New York. Here in Ohio, we only get glimpses of the colors we were once surrounded by. There aren't as many color-changing trees here, but we are in the middle of harvest and I find myself filled with new awe. The back roads that we so often frequent have been lined with row after row of corn. It's so flat here that the rows of corn provide the only height variation. When we returned from our visit home this summer, the flat landscape had been replaced by corn stalks taller than our car.
We've been watching as the corn is harvested. The first change we watched was the husks of corn forming on each stalk. Then the stalks began to fade from their vivid, deep green into a straw-like yellow. As I watched the stalks change color, I was overcome with awe for the stalks that were yellowing, but still green for the most part. Like the stalks, I get to watch while my children grow and blossom into the various stages of childhood and adolescence. Next came when one side of the road had been harvested, but not the other side, or half a field disappeared to harvest.
Now that my little Maxie is 4, he reminds us of Mykah at 4. That word, us, is a gift to me-to be able to say to Joe, "Remember when...", instead of "When Mykah was this age..." Joe and I now share the memories, instead of me filling him in on the years that he missed, but it's yet another painful lesson in time and how quickly it passes. It was only yesterday when Mykah was 4, wasn't it? It's humbling to realize how quickly 6 years has gone by.
This coaching life is fast-paced, even in sleepy Ohio. If we don't pause to watch the leaves change, or the corn harvested, we miss an opportunity that we may have taken away from us. We can't live how or where we live and say "Maybe next year, we'll..." Our next year could be anywhere, which brings me to me and how I feel like the now empty fields.
I'm struggling. I feel completely stripped of all I've produced so far and I long for the time when I'm led into my next season of harvest, because I feel empty. About 3 weeks ago, I was in a particularly gloomy place emotionally. I'm tired of the way we've lived for the last 4 years, but I love it, and that statement will be fully understood only by my fellow coaching wives. As I sat by my friend in church (Joe doesn't get to attend with me during the season here), I found myself unable to stop the tears from streaming down my face, completely vulnerable and deeply longing to know the plans God has in store for us. Just when I found myself calming, our pastor dropped a bomb. He said, "If you're praying for God to change your circumstances, stop. Instead, pray for God to change YOU, so YOU can change your circumstances." KA-BOOM!!
So, I'm asking for your help. Please remind me of this when I get weary again. I'm doing well in school, and I know my degree is a way for me to change our circumstances. I now also finally know what it is that I want to do with my degree. I will follow in the footsteps of my mom, who has done so much for so many, for so little in return. She's been a vessel for numerous people to change their circumstances and I pray that someday I'll be the inspiration that she is. I don't want to feel trampled down, like the cornstalks that have been harvested. I want to see it as an opportunity to prepare for the next harvest.
So for now, I'm going to be selfish. I'm going to drive around these cornfields and be reminded to prepare for the next season of harvest (By the way, this reference in no way refers to babies!). I'm going to appreciate the various seasons that my little people are in and the harvest of love that my beautiful husband heaps on me every day. The last thing I want to share today is the scripture that powers me through this crazy life. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path." Proverbs 3:5-6
We've been watching as the corn is harvested. The first change we watched was the husks of corn forming on each stalk. Then the stalks began to fade from their vivid, deep green into a straw-like yellow. As I watched the stalks change color, I was overcome with awe for the stalks that were yellowing, but still green for the most part. Like the stalks, I get to watch while my children grow and blossom into the various stages of childhood and adolescence. Next came when one side of the road had been harvested, but not the other side, or half a field disappeared to harvest.
Now that my little Maxie is 4, he reminds us of Mykah at 4. That word, us, is a gift to me-to be able to say to Joe, "Remember when...", instead of "When Mykah was this age..." Joe and I now share the memories, instead of me filling him in on the years that he missed, but it's yet another painful lesson in time and how quickly it passes. It was only yesterday when Mykah was 4, wasn't it? It's humbling to realize how quickly 6 years has gone by.
This coaching life is fast-paced, even in sleepy Ohio. If we don't pause to watch the leaves change, or the corn harvested, we miss an opportunity that we may have taken away from us. We can't live how or where we live and say "Maybe next year, we'll..." Our next year could be anywhere, which brings me to me and how I feel like the now empty fields.
I'm struggling. I feel completely stripped of all I've produced so far and I long for the time when I'm led into my next season of harvest, because I feel empty. About 3 weeks ago, I was in a particularly gloomy place emotionally. I'm tired of the way we've lived for the last 4 years, but I love it, and that statement will be fully understood only by my fellow coaching wives. As I sat by my friend in church (Joe doesn't get to attend with me during the season here), I found myself unable to stop the tears from streaming down my face, completely vulnerable and deeply longing to know the plans God has in store for us. Just when I found myself calming, our pastor dropped a bomb. He said, "If you're praying for God to change your circumstances, stop. Instead, pray for God to change YOU, so YOU can change your circumstances." KA-BOOM!!
So, I'm asking for your help. Please remind me of this when I get weary again. I'm doing well in school, and I know my degree is a way for me to change our circumstances. I now also finally know what it is that I want to do with my degree. I will follow in the footsteps of my mom, who has done so much for so many, for so little in return. She's been a vessel for numerous people to change their circumstances and I pray that someday I'll be the inspiration that she is. I don't want to feel trampled down, like the cornstalks that have been harvested. I want to see it as an opportunity to prepare for the next harvest.
So for now, I'm going to be selfish. I'm going to drive around these cornfields and be reminded to prepare for the next season of harvest (By the way, this reference in no way refers to babies!). I'm going to appreciate the various seasons that my little people are in and the harvest of love that my beautiful husband heaps on me every day. The last thing I want to share today is the scripture that powers me through this crazy life. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path." Proverbs 3:5-6
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