I am no longer the things of my past...I am the daughter of the Great I AM.

Exodus 3:14
And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
2 Corithians 6:18
I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

Monday, June 11, 2012

One Proud Mama

I am often proud of my children. Let's face it, most mamas are often proud of their children. Today I am especially proud of Ethan. For those of you that don't know, he is a golfer. He loves it, and has played since he could walk. He is 12, and loves telling people that he has been playing for 11 years. During the summer, we travel all over north east Texas for him to play in junior tournaments. Usually, the whole family is able to go. However, Jason couldn't get off. So Erin stayed with him, and I took Ethan to his tournament. We woke up at 4 am and traveled 3 hours for him to play today. He had a great round of golf, and posted the W (that means he won) in his age group. Yes, I am proud of the win, but that is not what has made me the Proud Mama I am tonight. Three other things happened today that I am most proud of.

First of all, Ethan's round of golf started pretty rough. He double bogeyed first hole, then bogeyed his second and third hole. That is enough to ruin anybody's attitude, but he maintained his composure. (This is an area we have been working on.) It is easy to have a few bad holes, get frustrated, and just give up on the whole round. He never did this. After 5 holes, he was 5 over par. (Not so great) Then he got in a groove... he finished the day 5 over par! (Again, for those of you that don't know golf... that is a great round!) By keeping his attitude under control, he came back and won the tournament. Yes, this made me proud.

Second, the boy he was paired with today, Evan, started out having a good round, and then blew up. He had one bad hole, and then could not get re-focused. He became very frustrated (to the point of tears although I was not supposed to see those). Ethan has been in this same position before. He understood what Evan was feeling. Ethan wasn't overbearing, but took every chance he could to encourage Evan. By the end of the round, Evan got his composure back, and finished strong. As a matter of fact, he finished 2nd. I was already proud of Ethan, but then Evan's father told me that he was glad that his son was playing with Ethan today. He said he could tell that Ethan was a good kid. He was glad that if his son was going to blow up, that it was Ethan he was playing with. Yep, that made me very proud.

The final thing that makes me proud happened after the round was over... but started before it ever began. This morning when we arrived at the course, we discovered that the man in charge had arrived late. (This was due to a series of events he could not help.) He was not set up, and therefore could not check the players in upon arrival. That meant he had to check them in during announcement/instruction time. While Ethan was on the driving range, everyone was called in 15 minutes sooner than on a normal day. Ethan had not hit any of his woods... this frustrated him. He began fussing loudly! No other players were around, but he was loud enough for the man in charge to hear. Of course I scolded him, and told him to get over it. I didn't think any more about it. However, after the round was over, Ethan asked me if he should apologize to the man. I told him that would be a good thing for him to do. So we waited until after the medal ceremony and Ethan approached the man and apologized for his earlier behavior. The man had not heard, (or was gracious enough to say he didn't), but was appreciative, and a little surprised at Ethan apologizing. This may have made me the most proud!

As I think back through today, I realized that in the midst of the numerous mistakes Jason and I (mostly I) make as parents, we must be doing something right as well. We are very proud of the young man he is, and pray daily that he will continue to grow in God. We also pray that we will have discernment as we direct him to be the man God has planned for him to be.

Ok, I am through bragging about my kid ... for now ... ;-)

2 comments:

  1. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL STORY KERRY!!!! I WOULD OF BEEN PROUD OF HIM IF HE WERE MY CHILD TOO!!!! THERE SHOULD BE MORE PARENTS LIKE YOU AND MORE THEREFORE THERE WOULD BE MORE CHILDREN LIKE YOUR SON!!!! CONGRATS ETHAN!!!! YOU ARE ALL SO BLESSED!!!!

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  2. Lovely day you had with Ethan, Kerry, and you have every right to be proud. Your family is so blessed. It's obvious that you and dad are doing a good job. God's blessing on all of you! Give my congrats to Ethan!

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