Football Update

Update (10/30/08):  Well, we won the Wednesday game against Westfield – so we played for the Northside Bracket Championship tonight.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that we ran into a buzz-saw in Warren.  Not only were they bigger and faster, but they were well rested.  They were in their 4th game in 8 nights compared to our 7 in 9 nights.  One of our coaches mentioned that we were the only team in the tournament to lose our first game and battle our way through the loser’s bracket.  We are all exhausted, but are super proud of our boys.  They really are All-Stars…the dedication and perseverance they showed in this tournament was incredible.  Go Carmel!                                                                                                 

Last night Philip’s All-Star team came up with a huge win over Hamilton Southeastern.  They are our main rivals and are the team that beat us in the first game of the tournament to send us to the loser’s bracket.  We were tied with less than a minute in the game and our QB broke free for a 60 yard TD.  We have now almost won our way out of the loser’s bracket by winning Saturday, Sunday, Monday and last night.  Thats right – including tonight’s game, that will be 5 games in 5 nights.  If we win tonight, we will play tomorrow night for the North Bracket Championship.  Not only is that 6 games in 6 nights, but the temperature has been in the 30s for each game – FUN, FUN, FUN!  Philip played well – he is playing Safety and had 3 TD saving tackles last night.

Our darling Anna forgot one of her shoes last night, so she was stuck in a chair all night – the worst possible torture imaginable for our 5 year old.  Luke has been a trooper as well.  Kaleesha even battled the cold despite having her temporary crown replaced after a botched job the first time around.   She is a true warrior when it comes to supporting Team Thompson. 

I’ll try to update this post tonight after the game.  Stay tuned……

PS – Did you see my beautiful new niece in the below post???

Happy Birthday to Rynn!

One Big Happy Family

Introducing Rynn Alise Riddle

Rynn with Daddy

Update (9:35am CST):   Rynn Alise Riddle is here!!!  (All 6 lbs and 14 oz!!!)  Tina says she is absolutely beautiful!!!  She thinks it looks like little Rynn may have a bit of blond hair and lighter skin than beautiful big sister Reece.  I’m awaiting pictures and will post them as soon as I get them.  I don’t have the time of delivery or the length yet, but I’ll let you know.  Congratulations Riddle Family!!!  We are all so happy for you!!!

Update(8:30am CST):   Just talked to my mother-in-law…they are wheeling Rachel back into the O.R. right now.  Everyone pray!!!  Rynn is on her way!!!

Today is the day we are welcoming our newest little niece/cousin into the world, and although we are so many miles away – we couldn’t be more excited!!!  Right now, Scott and Rachel (my sweet, sweet, sweet sister and brother-in-law)  are awaiting the arrival of their second daughter, Rynn.  They are the second scheduled C-section of the day, and in my opinion, that is frankly not good enough.  I wish they were first.  It is really hard to be this far away and have to wait on (sometimes) very slow information relaying the goings on in Lubbock, Texas.  If that isn’t enough, I’m missing all those little, seemingly insignificant details that I won’t hear until the story of Rynn’s birth has been retold time and time again.  I have yet to be present for any of the births of my three nieces and my nephew, and that simply crushes me.  Enough complaining, such is the lot for this transplanted Texan in Hoosierville. 

Right now, here is what I know…the first delivery of the day is scheduled for 7:30 am, and like I said before – it’s not ours.  I’m assuming that the nervous and excited couple have made it to the hospital, but I have not heard anything as of yet (if you are checking this for updates, Scott or Tina…call me!!!)  I will be posting updates throughout the day as news and pictures become available, so be sure and check back!!!

The Catch-up Post

I will try to get you all caught up on Team Thompson in this post.  We are in our favorite season right now.  There is a chill in the air, the leaves have changed, and we are in postseason football.  We are truly blessed to be living in a place like Carmel – the Midwest is really beautiful this time of year.  I have learned to accept the millions of leaves that fall on our lot every year – in fact, it is part of the overall experience now.  Pretty soon, we will be attending the “Headless Horseman” night at Connor Prairie.  Kaleesha has already taken the two younger kids to a pumpkin patch – and will take the two older kids to a hayride/barn-dance tonight.  We will also try to fit in a trip to Michigan – the fall colors are even more awesome the farther north you go.  We might try to go to Turkey Run State Park as well.  Last weekend we went to Cool Creek Park and had a picnic.  It is a wooded area a few miles north of the house – and provided some great hiking and exploring.  I have included some pictures below that were taken over the past couple of weeks. 

Pumpkin Patch

 

Cool Creek Park

 

 At home

 

As for football, Philip has been practicing very hard for All Star football over the past two weeks.  I am enjoying coaching him on this team – it’s cool when all the players come together to play for their city .  We have our first game Wednesday against one of our main rivals – Hamilton Southeastern.  Nate on the otherhand, ended his football season yesterday with a loss to Pike - the final score was 46-30.  It has been a great year being involved with the Pups.  Its fun to see how the entire community follows the success of the program – and Nate learned so much about the game this year.  I have included a few football pictures from yesterday – including this year’s installment of the boys next to each other in their uniforms.  I put the three previous year’s picture in as well just to give some perspective.  Take a look at the below pictures to see how much each kid has grown since last season. 

TEAM Thompson

2007

 2008

 

Tackle Football

2005

2006

 

2007

2008

 

Life on Loan

This morning, we particpated in our church’s Life on Loan weekend.  The premise of the series our pastor has been teaching is that when we belong to God, our lives are just on loan to us – we should be doing His Will and His Work.  In that spirit, our church suspended services this weekend and we went out into the community to do different acts of service where needed.  Our life group worked in downtown Indianapolis cleaning up alleys.  This particular area is particularly rough – there was a murder in the middle of the day on the same street we worked just a week and a half ago.  We took the kids with us because we wanted them to see that the life we enjoy is one of true blessing.  It was exciting to see how the kids all threw themselves into the work and probably ended up getting more of a blessing than the people we went down to help.

 I also wanted to share some follow-up to the car/house debacle from a few weeks ago.  We serve an awesome God who truly works in mysterious ways.  He is intimately interested in every detail of our lives – and knows all of our needs before we do.  He always has a plan – he just does not always reveal it to us in our timing.  Most of you know the story of Nate’s little accident involving our Suburban and the garage (if not, scroll down and read the post).  We were blessed in that the insurance paid the claim and we were out only our car and home deductible – $1,500.  What you might not know is that we had a garage door that was the original from when the house was built.  It was not insulated – and we had been throwing money into making it last a little longer over the past couple of years.  So, in addition to rebuilding a wall, replacing the brick, and fixing our car – we got a brand new insulated garage door for just $1,500 – less than what it would have cost to buy a new one straight up.  That does not even count the money we will save on our energy bill because we won’t be losing heat through the garage.  To top it off, both of our generous parents were a real blessing to us – we pray God bless them back for their generosity.  

Our God knows every hair on our head, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, he holds us in the palm of His hands.  He has never let our family down – not once.  He wants us to come to him with our fears, our heartaches, our needs, and our praises.  I am so thankful we serve a God that loves us so completely.  

Little Luker

Looking back over the past few posts, I realize I have been a somewhat neglectful mother.  We’ve kept you up-to-date with the goings on of the big boys and all of Anna E.’s quirkiness, but little has been said of our precious little Luker.  It’s really sad that so many in our family have missed the “blossoming” of our youngest son.  Six months ago, when Luke started speech therapy his communication was very limited and we were still guessing at his personality.  The transformation that has taken place over this half year has been amazing.  Luke not only talks now, he talks a lot, and in great detail.  I cannot tell you how my heart swells when I hear him speaking in fluent sentences and asking precious two-year-old questions.   Here are a few examples that (I hope) will bring a smile to your face, just as they do to ours.

The other day (as Anna E. was being punished for something) Luke said “Momma…don’t talk meanly!  Nanna (that’s what he calls Anna) Nanna’s my friend!”  When I told him I wasn’t talking meanly he said, “But you made this mean face”  and then he proceeded to squish his face up into a rather frightening example of how he thought I looked.  It was both funny and convicting.

In the car the other day, the kids and I were having a “who loves you the most competition.”  You know, we were all going back and forth saying things like “no, I love you all the way to the end of the earth with all the chocolate sprinkles and all the whipped cream and all the cherries in the world on top.”  Luke had just been taking it all in for a while, but I began to hear his voice in the mix.  I really couldn’t understand what he was saying, so we all just kept at it.  Finally, in a very frustrated and verging on angry voice he yelled, “Hey guys!  Listen to me! I  l-l-l-love…two dollar hamburger!”  We laughed the rest of the way to our destination.  He loved that, of course and I think that is now his new favorite phrase. 

Luke is full of energy, super sweet, somewhat mischievous, and a sure smile producer.  He grasps the concept of “she did it first” and uses that phrase quite often when caught in a troublesome situation with his big sister.   The past few days, I’ve been having a little trouble with my sciatica.  He’ll run up to me and jump on my back if I’m on the floor and immediately he’ll remember and say, “sorry momma…you’re back still hurt?”   (Just imagine all those r’s as w’s and you’ll get a more accurate picture)  (It’s really cute right now, but as I am beginning to see with Anna E. – it starts to lose it’s appeal when they get to Kindergarten for some reason)  Anyway, my favorite little Luker phrase right now is when he says, “Momma, you the best momma in the world.”  And without skipping a breath he adds, “you say I best Luker.”  Who could argue with that?

Real quick, let me give you a quick update on Playoff Football (since Wayland can’t quite bring himself to do it).   As you recall, Philip and Wayland’s Penn State team went undefeated during the regular season and this past weekend commenced playoffs.  On Saturday Philip and his team played a great game (Philip rushed for two TD’s and completed a pass for an extra point).  They won handily.  We completed the day with a win for Nate’s Pups team – it was a cold football night under the lights…lots of fun!  On Sunday, Philip’s team entered the next round of playoff football.  The two winners of the games played that day are playing in the “Rose Bowl” this Sunday on the high school field.  The team we played on Sunday we had beaten previously in the regular season and they definitely came ready to play.  Let’s just get right to it…it was downright ugly.  Not just the way we played.  It really got ugly.  The fans (of the other team) were completely rude, obnoxious, and the poorest examples of adult, mature and sportsmanlike behavior I have ever seen.  (Can you tell I’m still a little peeved?)  Wayland handled it wonderfully…I was so proud of him.  He told the boys that we would much rather “lose with integrity, than win with poor sportsmanship.”  It was a very tough loss, but (thankfully) both Philip and Wayland are continuing the football season with the All Star team.  Nathanael’s playoffs start this Saturday.  It is single elimination, so he is very intense this week.  I heard him “rallying the troops” tonight at the beginning of practice.  You can always count on Nathanael to keep his teammates pumped up and focused.  We’ll keep you in the loop. 

Playoff Time

I have been a very bad blogger lately – life is moving very fast in the Thompson household right now.  With the arrival of official fall weather (the high is 60 degrees today), comes the best time of the year.  Fall is my favorite season for a number of reasons: the beauty, jeans and jacket weather, the holidays – and don’t forget youth football playoff and All Star season.  Here is a quick update on both boys:

Nate: 

Nathanael’s travel team has had a rough couple of weeks.  They played 2 very athletic, hard hitting teams.  It is amazing just how intense the football is at this level.  In fact, many parents with older children have shared how the intensity will disappear for a few years after the Pups experience until they get to high school.  On average, we have about 4-5 players on the sideline with injuries every week.  You will see all kinds of medical hardware from ankle braces to casts gracing the home sideline.  Our QB suffered a concussion during the game this week.  He took a monster hit, stayed in the game for one more play, then was made to come off the field by the ref after he was having trouble walking back to the huddle.  All of the above describes the heaven on earth that Nate is immersed in right now.  He thrives in the midst of gridiron mayhem.  He has moved back to starting Center and is doing a great job despite being outweighed across the line by 30-40 nose-guards on a consistent basis.  He is the smallest lineman on our team – but makes up for size with sheer determination and work ethic.  You might remember that Nate was playing middle linebacker a couple of weeks ago.  The defense was changed from a 5-3 to a 4-4, which for you moms out there – basically means that his strengths as a linebacker are not as prevalent now (hence the change back to Center).  Nate’s last game of the regular season is this Saturday – then the playoffs start a week from Saturday.

Philip:

Philip has had quite a season this year.  Our team finished undefeated in the regular season (the only team in the league to do so).  Two weeks ago, Philip had his best game ever as he passed for 2 touchdowns on the way to going 6 for 6 passing the ball.  Its exciting to see him develop as a QB – he is very good at feeling the pressure from the rush, moving around in the backfield, and then setting back up and making the throw.  He also ran for an extra point and had a great game on defense.  Just when you thought it could not get any better, he had his new best game this week.  He went 2 for 2 passing – both of them touchdowns.  He then scored a rushing TD in overtime to tie the game.  His defense continues to improve as well – he picked up a fumble and ran it back 50 yards to the opponents 10 yard line.  We play our first playoff game this Saturday.  If we win both Saturday and Sunday, we will be playing in the championship game the following Sunday.  Philip was also named to the All Star team this year.  I was selected to be a coach on the team as well – the best part is that this extends our season through October – YES!

I am so proud of both boys – they are great teammates and are really fun to watch.  None of this would be possible without the rest of team Thompson.  Kaleesha continues to be both boy’s biggest fan.  The little ones are tiring of football – but are still being good sports about it.  its great to be a part of Team Thompson right now.