March Madness

This will be my first blog after actually inviting people to read it. Thank you, Shannon for becoming a follower, that means so much to me! Also, thank you to the others of you who have said that you would be willing to read it.

I love March Madness!!!! It is one of my favorite times of the year! My friend Kasey's husband
Adam calls it his Christmas! I love that!!! I'm going to have to borrow that thought! I absolutely adore college basketball! Ok, that was definitely a weird way of putting it...ah well, I have lots of weird quirks! :) Just today I was watching several games, and just finished watching Kent St. vs. Akron and Washington vs. Arizona. I was literally running back and forth from the guest room T.V. to the kitchen T.V. to watch these two games. Both were so close and so exciting to watch! Akron won theirs, but at the end as they were celebrating, they ended up stepping on one of the opposing teams players who was laying on the court. That almost started a huge throwdown! There was a lot of pushing, but they got it cleared so Akron could celebrate. Then Washington beat Arizona on a last second buzzer beater shot! It was awesome! I don't even know these teams that well, and I don't really care who wins, but it's just so much fun to watch and cheer!! This is why I love college basketball and March Madness!! I have even incorporated it into my classroom as an incentive. We have two teams who compete for four weeks, which are the four quarters of the game. The students get points for work, tests, and behavior. It's lots of work for me, but worth it to keep them motivated! I tell my kids all the time that the reason I love college basketball is because no matter how badly a team may be doing, they continue to play so hard. What a great lesson!! These teams never say die! That's something that is great to remember in life.
I was watching the UConn game last night so I didn't finish this post. What a great game to watch last night. And another great example of the never say die spirit. This was UConn's fifth game in five days and people were wondering if they could keep up enough energy and strength to pull out another win. They started out pretty good against Louisville, but before half time they started coming back. I decided to watch the last part of it in bed, because sadly last night we lost an hour of sleep. How can I sleep early with my boys playing. So, I took Bella out got her to bed with my mom, then got in bed to watch the game. Many moments I spent with tbe covers over my eyes, but there were a few moments where I had confidence to look and cheer. Finally, the last few seconds I was brave enough to see us pull through and finish with a fifth win in five days!!! I was so excited!! I wanted to cheer so badly, but just settled for a loud clap and some silent cheering! I started tearing up because I was so excited for them, but also because I was missing my dad. It just made me think because normally we would have been watching it together downstairs. When they won we would have been jumping up and down, screaming, cheering, and hugging each other. It brought back some sweet memories, that left me a little sad. I love this time, I love the memories, and I can't wait to see more!!
Lord, thank you for the lessons we can learn from college basketball. Thank you for the great memories of my pappy. Please tell him I miss him dearly, and give him hugs for me.