Triumph of the Bad News Bears

Last night was a pretty exciting one in our eldest son's hockey season. His team, affectionately know as the 'Bad News Bears' finally won their first game of he season! They started the year with a bunch of small 13 year old boys, most of whom knew very little about hockey. Some could barely skate. They were losing games 13 - 1. Over the last 3 or 4 games they have really been pulling it together and on the weekend they only lost 6 - 5, my son scoring his first goal of the season! Last night they won in a deciding victory, 10 - 4! I think the parents were just as excited as the kids, what an awesome esteem boost. Now they know they can win, I think that is pretty important. They went through a time where they honestly believed that there was no way they could win a game.
Now they know better, and they played like a team. They passed, they spoke to one another on the ice, they made amazing plays. It was very exciting to watch!
My dh is supposed to come home tonight. I so need him to come home tonight. I am losing my mind. I feel like I am unable to deal with the children very effectively anymore. I am losing my temper much more quickly that I would like. The kids are whiny and disobedient. I feel like whining myself. Dh has been working out of town for more than a month and it looks like he is not going to come home tonight. They want him to stay til the job is finished on the fifteenth. When I heard that my heart sank. I felt like I would not be able to cope, especially through another busy weekend of hockey.
But, my God is good. His strength is all I need, and He will help me even for something so little as a busy weekend on my own. And He is so good to have given this work for my husband now. It was a very lucrative contract for my dh and it being extended these few days means that I get my dh home for the Christmas season! He won't need to work til the new year, and I am trusting that God will provide abundant work for his company in January.
So I can deal with another few days on my own. I will try very hard to not make my dh feel bad for being away and to have a thankful heart. I am going to try to knock some things off of my to-do list and prepare for Christmas, so that I can enjoy my time with my dh and our family to the fullest.
Oh! If you pray, please say a little one for my 10 year old. He has croup, quite badly :( Even though it is the middle of the day, his breathing is quite laboured. He always amazes me when he is sick. He rarely complains and he seems to have a sunnier demeanor than usual. When he was small he would get terrible ear infections, but we would never know until he got an eye infection. I am sure God let him get an eye infection every time so that we would treat his bursting ear drums and what must have been significant pain. Not a whimper, no tugging on the ear, nothing to alert us that his ear was so infected that the ear drum was usually moments from bursting when we arrived at the doctor for conjunctivitis. Anyway, he is a bit whimpery today, so we know he is pretty sick. I pray he is better soon and that it ends with him.

Update: well I failed miserably on the not whining to my dh about him staying at work. He called and told me that the woman he is working for came up to him and said that all the other contractors wanted to go home and would he please stay on to help finish the job. When he started to tell me that he said that he would stay there to help them out, I said, "I.. uh.. just.. no.. ugh... argh... why... AAHH!" and I hung up the phone. Then when he called back I was just too mad to listen, so I yelled that at him and hung up again. Now I feel bad. I could not even explain that I felt so awful that he didn't just say that he wanted to go home too. That I wanted him to be my hero instead of a hero to his client. I get all the practical reasons for him to stay. I do, I get that he is making contacts for future business to come his way, I get that he is making money so we can get ahead, I get that if he does this then he gets to spend a few weeks at home at Christmas. But I just want him here. I want him to choose me. I know that he really is choosing me for the long term by doing this, but at that moment I felt otherwise. Anyways, I am just a big whiner who misses her husband. Wah! He said he would come home to sleep tonight though, so I feel better about that. I guess I should get my housework done then:)

Comments

  1. Yeah to your boy winning!!

    My heart goes out to you, Kristen! Please don't be so hard on yourself. It is hard being alone with the children for that long...you are doing an amazing job!

    Hang in there...just a few more days!

    Hugs to you, Heidi

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  2. Wow, is your husband gone on trips for long periods of time often? When did he leave? No wonder you are losing it! You're a single parent right now. I hope he gets home soon, that God sustains all of you, and that you have a wonderful Christmas season. When your hubby gets home, is he home all the time (i.e. isn't gone during the day)? That's pretty exciting about the hockey game. You're right, so much of sports are in the head. Now they KNOW they can win, they will play with more confidence. My son was on a basketball team that lost every game last season (badly) and it was SO discouraging. The boys entered each game with a defeated attitude from the beginning. It was painful to watch.

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  3. Yay to Brae!!! Congrats from our gang!

    And I understand. Call if you need a virtual hug. Kev goes on Wednesday but only for 2 days. I'm not sure how you do weeks at a time. Thanks for the reminder of God's goodness. He is enough...
    Love ya,

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  4. I remember when Shane used to be away for long stretches,,,of course we didn't have kids at the time, but I missed him like CRAZY when he was gone. One time he was away for 3 weeks (the longest we've been apart since living here) and both of us almost died. By the end I just wanted him home and he just wanted to be home.

    Even when he was living in Kamloops for School for 6 months, we only went 10-14 days at most without seeing each other, one of us would drive to the other even if it was just for a night. I used to get off work at 5pm on Mondays and drive straight to Kamloops, get there crawl into bed, Shane would get up for school in on Tuesday morning, then I would clean house and do laundry, go have lunch with him and either head back to PG after lunch, or go back to his house, then we'd have supper, I'd go to bed at 8pm, get up at 1am and drive home for work Wednesday morning. I did that probably 2 out of every 3 weeks. If I was lucky enough to have Monday off too, then I would leave PG at 3am Sunday (I always had sundays off) after I finished working my other job at the bar. I don't know how we did it. Since we've had kids life has been so much simpler for us. Shane always gets asked to go work out of town......we know the money would be better, and he doesn't really like where he's working other than he can pretty much do his own thing. But he likes knowing he's home every night and has a set schedule. No weekend work, 8 hour days. He's ready for a change of jobs too, so who knows what the future will hold for us.

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  5. Just catching up here and this post struck a familiar chord with me. My husband works a ton of overtime, 3 to 4 nights a week. On those days, the kids don't even see him. He's up and gone before they get up and comes home after they're are in bed. I always say I feel like a single parent when he's gone so much. All of that to say, a month must be so tough on you! Email if you want to chat! :)

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  6. Sorry that he's working so much. My hubs travels for work and it's hard to keep yourself sane when they're gone and you're by yourself taking care of the kids. I hope he can come home SOON! :)

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