Soccer Is A Full-Time Job

Soccer is our world, literally. It's all we do, all consuming, but so rewarding. I'd so much rather spend hours and hours on the soccer field, even at the expense of gardening time, just to be involved in such a positive activity with my children.

The only downside is that the thugs I'm working hard to prevent my children from being attracted to...well they hang at the park, ridiculously thugged out, not playing soccer, so I'm all the more eagle-eyed and ill-tempered about it. There's some nice kids too who are unguided, yet attracted to our family...a family where the mom is super-involved and caring - not allowing this hanging out lifestyle. Where my kids want to resent it at times, or buck me about it, I know that they also appreciate obvious outward signs of me visibly caring for them.

Nearly 20 years ago, Big Joe and Daniel were cute, very young boys in foster care with an older very angry sister named Yolie, who was in therapy being prepared to be split off from her brothers. Fortunately a woman named Maureen, their caseworker, felt very strongly that they should be adopted together and preferably out of Texas away from the gang environment of their birth family. She worked hard to make it happen for them.

I remain eternally grateful to Maureen and I've often thought how lost Daniel would have been without Yolie. His anger and grief would likely have consumed him and prevented him from excelling as he has done. Big Joe would have combusted in a rage, as it was he still gave us years of grief, but had those two boys lost their sister, I truly believe they'd have been unreachable.

I was talking to Chuy yesterday about this as he thinks Daniel is a super hero (Duh, so do I) and Chuy only sees Daniel now as a grown man...he has a tough time understanding that Daniel's background was as hairy as his own, similar in too many ways. My gifted Chuy got put out of school yesterday morning for punching Tony who really does work hard at provoking folks. Chuy had a glued-to-a-grownup day yesterday, by my side, as we drug home a truckload of groceries to last us our four day weekend of Fall Break.

We need a four day weekend to regroup and work through some issues and stuff, Dr. Mandy coming today thankfully, and oddly enough, Paloma has successfully made it through two solid school days without being kicked out. We need to capitalize upon that. It's her entire sib group that, as a group, has given me so much trouble this school year.

This is their seventh year within our family and it's been a difficult ordeal for a long, long time. The Defector/Returned Runaway is the oldest, Pepe is locked up, yet calling us every single day, yearning to be home, Chuy is the middle brother - angry and defiant, yet gifted, and then there's Paloma and Jonathan...'nuff said.

It's more than a full time job to be The Mama.

Sarah updated her blog with her Eat Local Challenge while I ate an entire box of Edy's Fruit Bars all by myself.