Stubborn For the Win

On August 6, 2016 By My Crazy Graced LifeIn Boys, Daily Prompt, Sports, The Daily Post3 Comments

When your school is small and it feels like – for a variety of reasons – the deck is consistently stacked against you – the temptation could be to throw in the towel and give up. But, make no mistake when you overcome the odds – especially when it’s your 8th grade year – and win……It.Is.Sweet.

Basketball runner-up

In fifth grade they came so close – only to be denied the Big Win.

Their sixth and seventh grade years were hopeful seasons with disappointing eliminations in the play-offs.

Early on the boys decided eighth grade was going to be their year. Working hard, they overcame the odds and prevailed. Stubborn? Persistent? Or, just highly motivated? Probably a combination of all three. Whatever it was – these guys not only took the basketball championship but, made history for our little parochial school (named for St. Paul) and brought home the 1st place trophy for baseball too.

Basketball semi

Going to the Championship!

The semi-finals was a game against the #1 team. Excited about their chances our fans packed the stands and cheered loudly. It was close but with 1-second left before the buzzer #31, Eli, did a Hail Mary for a 3-pointer, made the shot and won the game.

The championship game brought even more St. Paul fans and another close score. But, in the end, the Packers prevailed and took home the trophy. It was one of the best nights of their young lives.

Basketball champs They Won! They Won!

Basketball champs 8th grade Dallas Parochial League 2016 Champions

Basketball champs Ben with the basketball trophy and his medal

Basketball champs Happy Moms – we were loud and proud

Several of the boys also played baseball and, wanting to make the most of their last season as St. Paul Packers, formed a team. With the basketball season complete they set their eyes on the baseball prize.

Baseball champs An undefeated season took them to the last game of both the year and middle-school.

Baseball champs

8th grade Dallas Parochial League 2016 Baseball Champs

Baseball champs

Ben with the baseball trophy and his medal

Baseball champs Wearing our matching Packer Pride shirts we happily posed with our sons medals

Two championships in one year – these young men made all of us – parents, coaches, friends, teachers and administrators – super duper proud. No question it was a pretty exciting spring semester.

Life Around Jiading, Shanghai

On July 10, 2016 By My Crazy Graced LifeIn Daily Prompt, Photography, Summer, The Daily Post, Travel1 Comment

No desert to be found anywhere near here as we are smack dab in the middle of a very large city. In other words – We made it to Shanghai! Despite a setback on our original travel day we did finally arrive, without further incident, on the next flight to China. Shanghai, being on the southeastern coast of China, is hot and sticky but we are having a good time.

My son, Joshua, who lives here, met us at the airport and got us to our respective accommodations before we crashed for the evening. After all, jet lag does take a toll. For this trip we are staying north of Shanghai in the Jiading district. It’s kind of like a suburb of Shanghai. My teenage boys – Patrick and Ben are staying at the apartment with Joshua and his Japanese wife, Ema, while my mom (Granny) and I are tucked away in a quaint little hotel in a historic part of the city. We have been keeping it low key since we arrived – soaking up the local culture and becoming familiar with our surroundings. It’s been lovely.

Jiading Villa Garden Hotel — Our boutique hotel

Granny waving from the window in our room

Scooters are a way of life and it is amazing how creative people can get with transporting things and extra people.

These children were so cute – following me and practicing their English “hellos”. I couldn’t resist taking their picture and they couldn’t resist hamming it up.

Shanghai McDonalds McDonalds

Adventures in Traveling

On July 6, 2016 By My Crazy Graced LifeIn Daily Prompt, Photography, Summer, Teenagers, The Daily Post, Travel2 Comments

07 July 5 (3)

The sun is rising while I sit, looking out my hotel window, with a view of San Francisco Bay, watching as planes land and take-off. It’s peaceful and I am relaxed and rested after a good night’s sleep. A far cry from the forbidden stress of a crazy travel day yesterday.

Ever heard that saying, “red in the morning, sailors take warning. Red at night, sailors delight.” For us yesterday it was fitting except I would change ‘sailors’ to ‘travelers’. When we left the house promptly at 6:00 am I commented on how intensely red the sky was and hoped it wasn’t a sign of the day to come.

It was.

Long story short – for the first leg of our travel we took two separate flights from Dallas to San Francisco. Don’t ask – it’s just the way it was. For me and my sixteen year old, Patrick, it was a breeze. For my mom, aka Granny, and my fourteen year old, Ben, it wasn’t. While our flights were only 30 minutes apart for a variety of reasons we left right on time but they left 2 hours late.

Emma & Patrick In the end, Patrick got to have a little adventure – taking an international flight all on his own while navigating security on this end and customs and immigration in China. I can’t wait to hear the details when we finally catch up.

I stayed behind for Granny and Ben and the adrenaline flowed as we attempted to get them off quickly, claim their bags, run from the domestic terminal to the international and get bags rechecked for our next flight.

No such luck and we had to rebook to try again today.

While the day brought it’s fair share of stress we encountered a multitude of angels. San Francisco peeps rock and we have met several wonderful people who did what they could to help us. It made the stress of the situation a little more bearable.

Ben and Teresa

Today is a new day and it will be a good one. And, hopefully the next time I write it will be from our final destination in China!

安全旅行和这一伟大的日子 safe travels and make it a great day in Mandarin (I think.) 🙂

Feel The Burn

On July 2, 2016 By My Crazy Graced LifeIn Daily Prompt, The Daily Post2 Comments

My gym has started putting motivational phrases on the bags we use to ‘hit it hard’. It was thought provoking for me as I did spend time reflecting on why I began to exercise regularly.

06 June 28 Title

Originally, my motivation was simple. It wasn’t about losing weight or getting into shape. I just could not run for 30-60 seconds without becoming completely winded. And so, after setting a goal to run a mile without stopping, I began to look at IPhone apps. I found a couch-5K program and the rest, as they say, is history.

I mastered the mile. Then, the first time I ran two miles – without stopping – I was in our neighborhood park. I scared the moms with their young children as I fist-bumped, high-fived and woohooed in mid-air. Three months later I participated in my first official 5K race.

Lovejoy 5K

The best by-product of figuring out how to run? Dropping 25 pounds. At that point it did become more about getting into shape and I wondered, “could I lose 50 lbs by my 50th birthday?”

Although I didn’t hit the 50 pound mark by birthday time, I got close. An invitation to try a class at Title Boxing Club was the next step in toning up. The trainers and the workouts helped me to reach my goal. And three years later I am still hitting it hard and feeling the burn with the amazing power hour classes.

Summer Water Fun

On June 28, 2016 By My Crazy Graced LifeIn Daily Prompt, Photo Challenges, Summer, The Daily Post2 Comments

Traveling is a favorite pastime and the beach always makes for a fun trip.

all copyrights belong to @terezpics 2012 and mycrazygracedlife.com — Folley Beach, SC waves

This summer I’ll be flying over the waves and not actually playing in them so, I will make my own water adventures in our swimming pool.

Solitude In The Middle Of Town

On April 28, 2016 By My Crazy Graced LifeIn animals, Daily Prompt, Nature, Spring, Thankful Thursday, The Daily Post1 Comment

A beautiful and perfect spring day resulted in a 3 mile walk around town. And, even though Allen, Texas is a busy place there was no shortage of solitude found.

This dove looked a little lonely.

Dove