You're going to do great things

I recently heard a song on the radio that I've taken as my own. The title is "The words I would say" by Sidewalk Prophets. I sing it to Corban everyday a couple of times a day. I think it'll be our song for now. :) I change "our" song monthly it seems.

Below is the chorus:

"Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
Thank God for each day,
His love will find a way,
These are the words I would say."

My lil boy... He's going to do great things. My heart is so full.

Basketball Boys

Tonight is the last basketball game. It's been an incredible season for those guys. We started out as a first year program with only 2 guys returning from the previous year (pre NAIA) and managed to make our way to the # 4 spot in our conference. Granted it's a 4 way tie... but who cares... FOURTH!!!!! I'm such a proud team mom. I really do love those guys and am so thankful that they're here. I think sometimes I question how good this school is and if it really makes a difference in any of the lives of these young men. Jamon mentioned the other day that one of his players had gone to confession for the first time in years and over half of his guys attend daily Mass. I guess that answers my question. If our goal and especially Jamon's is to help form these young men into Godly men and get them to heaven then we really couldn't be in a better place. Now I have to take a moment to brag ... Today I was going to the cafeteria to pick up the food for the guys for their trip to Tampa for the game. I find Chuck (the head cafeteria guy) and introduce myself. He says "Now Jess, I need you to know something, players are a reflection of their coach. A solid and as true as they come reflection. I can always tell a lot about a coach before I meet him just by observing his players and I need you to know that your boys are far and above the best young men I've come across and it is a true reflection and testament to coach copeland. He's as good as they come." you know my wife pride and team mom pride jsut swelled up... i was lucky my big ole head could even get back into the car.
Ohhh... to funny.... today when I went to pick up Corban from Jamon's office after I got off of work I found Jamon but no corban. I looked around a bit more and found him sitting outside with the basketball boys. He was laying down on Colin's lap and they were all talking to him. So cute. So I as I went to get him to go Jamon informs me I need to run some errands for him before I take CX. "He'll be fine with the guys Jess... just go." So I go. When I return 10 minutes later more players had gathered and Corban was the center of attention. As I approached, Colin informed me "the sucker thing (pacifier) dropped on the ground, but it's like a 5 second rule right?" Uh, sure Colin. I don't think a little dirt will hurt him. Then as I went to get CX to go home Colin says "Mrs. Copeland" (as his hands are in the air) I don't really know how to move him, so you're just going to have to pick him up." I laughed... no wonder the poor kid hadn't moved off of Colin's lap since he'd been put there. HA. I really do love those guys. They also were adamant that I drop off Corban at the dorm one of these days. They want to watch him. I'm on to their wiley ways... I'm thinking CX is a chick magnet if I've ever seen one.

Corban took his first plane ride a few weeks ago. I wish I had a picture of it. I had my camera... but to my dismay (and the stranger I asked to take our pic) it was out of batteries. UGH. And he was so cute. He's a great little traveler and didn't cry or fuss the whole plane ride. We arrived in Dallas for some Copeland time and then went to Oklahoma for some Bodman time. Corban got to meet his Grandpa Bodman for the first time, as well as his Aunt Theresa and Uncle Troy. It was a beautiful time and such a gift to spend time with them. While we were in Dallas we also got to Stef and baby blackwell bump and Luke. So great! friends are such a blessing.

So I recently joined a website that reaches out to wives of coaches. It's called "Married to the Game." It is a constant reminder of how blessed I am. So many of the posts are about what it's like to be a coaches wife, which seems to be synonymous with single parent. Now I know coaches travel a lot... A LOT. and if you're an assistant coach then you travel even more for recruiting and stuff. It is a huge blessing that Jamon is in Ave where he can make his own schedule and even bring Corban to work with him. He's quickly become the athletic office mascot... Not sure how long that will last since last meeting he exploded. (poopy)Poor Jamon... and corby. :)

I made brownies last week...two boxes worth. And cookies the day after that... 72 of them. Yes, it was film time for the basketball team. Jamon was a little frustrated with the guys and said they needed to play like men and to make them "Man food." The only think that came to mind was steak and potatoes. I'm not making steak, but I can definitely bake 17 potatoes. So i did. delicious red potatoes, cut in half with butter on each side and a slice of onion, salt and pepper in the middle, wrapped in foil and cooked for an hour. SO GOOD. So when I took them out of the oven to get ready to give to the guys Jamon tasted one and made the split decision that those potatoes were too good for the team. i needed to throw some cookies in the oven. And yes folks, I had 17 potatoes that went straight into the fridge. We had baked potatoes with every meal. Eggs and potatoes, chili and potatoes, potatoes and potatoes.

Valentines day has come and gone. Just so it's out there, I love valentines day. my dad always made it very special for us growing up. When we woke up there was a box of chocolates at our place at the tables as well as a card that dad picked out juuuuuust for me. Mom made the table look pretty with a valentines table cloth and on occasion there were flowers. I love it. Dad is so good and this year I got my card in the mail, and much to my surprise so did Corban and Jamon. I loved it. Definitely my favorite part of the day. Jamon and I didn't really do anything. He bought me roses the day before and I made a carrot cake... and at the end of our busy day we looked at each other and said "You know I love you right? Yes! And you know I love you? Yep! Well Happy Valentines day babe." I think we need a date or something.

As I go back and read my posts I realize more and more that I am a rambler and not a very organized writer. Thanks for bearing through these... I've just got to get something written.

As Trish and I have taken to saying "sacraficial Lent." (since "Happy Lent" doesn't quite work like Merry Christmas or Happy day!) May each day bring you closer to Christ.

Jess

my lil sleeper

I think it's safe to say I'm crazy in love with my lil boy. Seriously... like head over heels.

He's 2 1/2 months old now and I can hardly believe how time flies. This picture was taken when he was 2 months and 3 days old... he looks like such a boy. He's smooshing his mouth here a bit... but I hardly notice cause of those big ole eyes.

So I started back at work a couple of weeks ago. TOUGH! I miss that lil guy the whole 4 hours I'm gone. And I've got to confess... I've got it super good. The ole work place was super flexible with me and I only work from 9-11 and 12-2. I come home in between and feed Corban and hang out with Jamon.  Jamon watches Corbs while I'm at work. Sooo exciting for those two. Jamon loves his Corban and Daddy time. he has big plans for when Corban can actually play... they'll throw the ball and play in the mud and do "everything mommy says we can't do" Oh JOY!

Corban is sleeping right now. He's been such a good sleeper. 3 naps during the day and then he sleeps for 8-9 hours a night. LOVE IT!!!! Pretty soon Jamon and I are going to have to move him into his own room. I'm dreading that day. We did a test run a little over a week ago and I ended up in hysterics and sleeping on the floor in his room. He didn't wake up one time but I was up about every half hour peeking into his crib. embarrassing. I'm just not ready for him to be across the house yet. Sheesh. I've got to "get tough."

Alright, I've got to go wake up my buddy. It's a game day so we've got to be at the gym in an hour and have plenty to do to get ready! Say a prayer for AMU... we could definitely use a victory.

Get tough

This morning I ws discussing with Jamon how we were going to teach virtues to Corban. This conversation came about due to an experience I had at the grocery store last week. I was talking to a friend of mine near the deli counter in Publix. She had two of her sons with her, they are like 3 and 5 or something close to that. While we were talking the younger one started fidgeting (He wanted the free cookie!) and she kindly turned to him and said "What virtue should you be practicing now?" He responded "Patience" and then promptly settled down and was an absolute angel. I walked away thinking "WHAT... he's three years old and he knows what virtues are... and that he needs to practice patience. Corban doesn't have a chance. I don't even know what all of the virtues are!" So that's how Jamon and I got to talking about it. How are we going to teach our precious lil boy to be virtuous. Jamons solution was quite simple. He said we only needed to teach him one. The "King of all virtues" as Jamon called it. It is:

GET TOUGH.

Yes. Get tough.

Corban, I know you want a cookie but you can't have one right now. GET TOUGH

I know you don't want to say the rosary right now. GET TOUGH

I know you're frustrated because you want to play with that toy right now, but it's someone else's turn. GET TOUGH.

Basically, according to Jamon, Get tough encompasses all virtues and will teach corban to choose to do what he may not want to do.... to choose a virtue.

My thought was to tell him to just "Offer it up." That's what I grew up with and it seemed to work okay.

Thank goodness Corban is only 2 months old and we have some time to fine tune the life lessons we'll teach.

End of '09

I typically wait to blog until I've at least thought of the first line I'm going to write. Not the case today. No first line has "come to me"  but I know I need to post an update. Life has been busy here and I've got some new pics. Yea!

On December 20th we had the "rest" of Corban's baptism. If you recall, he was baptised by Fr. Garrity when he was one day old in the hospital. On the 20th Fr. Tatman finished it all up with the anointing and we were so blessed to have Corban's God-Parents, Chris and Stefani Blackwell, in town! They arrived on Saturday and I was thrilled to get some much needed friend time. God is so wonderful in blessing us with their friendship! They're having a little boy, in May. Corban doesn't know it yet, but they're going to be best buddies.

Also, Most of the basketball team attended. Fr. Tatman was great and really went into detail about the baptism and related it all back to sports and athletes. Perfect, now even Jamon and I can remember why there's oil involved. Fr told us that the anointing went back to ancient times when athletes would put oil on themselves before they entered a battle. The oil made it difficult for the opponent to hold on to them. The same way it is with sin, we are anointed at baptism to make it difficult for the devil to hold on to us. (That is a butchered re-telling... but the best I can do since I'm not in a writing mood. :) )

You'll notice in the pictures that Corban is wrapped in a white satin-y blanket. It is a blanket made from the material of my wedding dress. So special. In my family there is a baptism gown that we've all worn and my mom has had our names embroidered on it. Jamon and I LOVED the idea of a tradition and really liked having a piece that was embroidered with names on it. So we're taking my moms fabulous tradition and making it into our own with the blanket. I love our new little family and figuring out what our traditions are going to be.

Jamon had off the rest of the week, which was awesome. We went to see a movie (Blindside... Awesome!!!) and took Corban to the beach. He's so funny and doesn't quite know what to do when wind blows on his face. He's quite dramatic and gasps for air with big ole eyes... needless to say the beach trip was short and sweet.

Christmas eve we went to dinner with some friends of ours at the Cheesecake Factory and then 10pm Mass (a nice alternative to midnight mass!) at St. Anns. It was wonderful! Corban was an angel and it was so special to hear the Christmas readings about a special little boy who was born to save the world. :) It made Jamon and I all warm and fuzzy about our own sweet lil baby boy, who has certainly changed our life! (notice Corbans hand over his face... he was being shy.)

 Christmas morning we opened presents. Jamon got a new grill... YEA!!!! (I'm so excited) and I think he was excited too. He said he feels all grown up now... we have a lawnmower, a grill, a vacuum and a baby. Grown up for sure.

Jamon's family came in town on Christmas day and we all enjoyed a big ole bowl of etoufee for Christmas dinner...  another tradition Jamon and I have settled on. Neither of us like the traditional Thanksgiving/Christmas food so we're changing it up. Cajun food it is. YUM!

While mom, dad and brenton and kaylee were here we relaxed, went on a golf cart ride, ate, played, saw alligators and on and on.

Mom wanted family pics, so we all dressed in white so that everyone on the beach would know what we were up to and stay out of our way when we were grouped together. I mean seriously... I wouldn't walk in front of a camera if there was a group of matchy matchy people posing in front of it. :)







For dad's birthday we went to Everglades city to go on an airboat tour. It was an absolute blast, although there are pelicans that jump on the boat and scared the beejeebers out of me. UGH!

Alligators are everywhere and we were fairly warned that they eat babies. Poor Corban.

Jamon and I got to hold a lil baby alligator named
skippy. I definitely washed my hands after that.


It really was a wonderful visit.

Now back to reality... Jamon is back to work and I'm gearing up myself to head back. I have LOVED this time of just hanging with the Corbster. He is such a sweet and happy baby. He takes after me and is quite the morning person. He wakes us happy, eats and then spends the next half hour or so talking and smiling. It is absolutely the best way to start my day. 

Next week Trish gets here. I can hardly wait!!!!!!!! I am so looking forward to spending some quality time with her. It'll be the first time in about 7 years that we've got to really hang out for more than a couple of hours. WOO. This is us a few years ago in Rhode Island.. she had just turned 21 and I felt the need to order some serious margaritas!






There has just been so many special moments and times when I smile from ear to ear. I am reminded daily that I am SO blessed. One of the Copeland family traditions is on Christmas we all exchange love letters and read them out loud. I LOVE this tradition. The letter that mom wrote to Jamon said something that really sums up 2009 and reminds me how faithful God is. She said that 2009's word for us is "NEW." New jobs, new state, 2 new houses, new basketball team, new baby... new new new. I am so excited for our future because looking back reminds me just how faithful and loving God is. He truly does grant us the desired of our hearts.