From The Heart

I am speaking to those women out there that do not have kids of their own. For the longest time (in my twenties) I thought I was Ok with not having kids. I was single and never saw myself as needing to have kids; I had a career and barely had time to take care of myself. I was busy coaching, traveling, playing and being me. Then when I turned 30 and married for the first time I REALLY began to think about my life and the relationship that I have with my mother. How wonderful it would be to share things with someone like we do. Thankfully I didn't have a child with my first husband - that would have been a train wreck.
Now that I am with the most wonderful man, the one that was meant for me, I have really felt the desire to have kids of my own. Having a step son who is a teenager and w been raised by other people is fun because he already knows how to clean dishes and mow the lawn and I love him and love having him around on our weekends. He has a heart the size of Texas; he gets that from his Dad and Grandparents. It still is not the same. When he is with us, he is a perfect kid. I know he is still a teenager giving people fits at times.
There have been people in the past that have said that I would be a better teacher, coach if I had kids of my own because I would understand how the parents feel and would better understand my students. How true is that? Who knows.
Here is where I am going with all of this. I would like to know how one goes through middle age and older life not having a child to share their love and life with. My 5 closest friends do not have kids and we never really talk about this issue. One friend decided a long time ago with her husband that they would never have kids. That is an OK decision for them. But I have NEVER totally made that decision. I feel like I am missing out on something BIG in life that has only been because of the circumstances dealt me in life. How does one figure out what to do with the reality that there is no one to share my past, future, and family history with? I have so much love that I would like to share with a child. Now I am too old to even think about having a child that it would be foolish to even think about it. Who wants to have parents that are almost 60 at graduation? It may be God's plan but I am not liking it right now. So if you are a praying person please pray that I have peace with what ever life gives me and be joyous in it. God does not give us anything we can not handle!!

Does God know better than I do and have a plan for me that I haven't figured out yet?

Winter Is Here

Since my last post we have celebrated MawMaw's 92nd birthday, I have gone to the State Volleyball tournament in San Marcos at the end of November.

MawMaw's 92nd birthday was success. All of her Kids so many of her Grand kids and Great Grandchildren got to attend. The pictures show how everyone enjoyed their time. My parents love having her around.

While in San Marcos, I did some Christmas shopping and watched a lot of good volleyball while visiting with friends. I always learn something new about volleyball or get a great idea for the next year during the times sitting and talking about that sport.




I also got the chance to visit my brother Chet and his new baby Jenna who was born 7 weeks early. She had only been home from the hospital 5 days when I got there. She is so precious. I felt special since I was the first one from our side that has seen her in person. We are blessed to have her home healthy.



On my way home I visited a couple friends in Cleburne. One inparticular, Renee, is a wonderful lady who was always there for me during the fun times and bad times in Cleburne. I wish I had her faith, strength and determination. This fall she underwent a double masectomy and is so full of optimism considering she is still not finished with her procedures. Every year she transforms her home into a Santa Clause - Christmas palace with Christmas trees in every room and there is a Santa sitting on every shelf, door frame, cabinet and wall. She said that she was not going to let this little old thing called breast cancer beat her and keep her from her tradition. That is a person I could learn a few things from. I wish she knew how much I have appreciated her. Words can not do it justice.

While I was on my way home, my wonderful husband told me that I had a surprise waiting for me the next morning. I couldn't think what in the world it could be. Little hints made me think it was a puppy but we had decided (I thought) to wait till Spring to get one. Well I get home Sunday evening and guess what was waiting on me. I little Australian Shepard puppy. Shane said it cost him a bale of cotton so it was fitting to name her BALEE. She is an early Christmas present.


If you know me at all you will know that I absolutely HATE cold weather. So the mornings have been in the 20's and 30's have made me not want to get out of bed and leave before the sun is rising. And I really have hated taking a puppy outside every 10 minutes to "potty". She has done a goo job with the training but she isn't fast enough for me. What were we thinking getting a puppy in the winter. Thankfully she is just too cute, otherwise she might have to stay outside all the time. I have had a wonderful Fall, but am now ready for the Christmas holidays.

October is almost over!!

WOW. Time has really flown by this fall. It was just yesterday that we were starting volleyball 2-a-days. We are finished with the first round of district and ended on a GREAT note the other day with a win over Friona. That win should carry us into the last round. Right now it is a fight to get a spot in the playoffs. We need to win 2 of our last 3 games. No matter what, I will be very proud of these girls this year. They have overcome some adversity and won games that we were down and have hung in there with me during long practices and travel that took the whole day to get there it seemed. We are a well-traveled group of girls. Our last 3 games are on the road. Tulia, Dimmitt and end with Friona on the 24th.

Through it all Shane and his parents have been there for me and have attended every game possible. I could not do all this without their support. I also appreciate the middle of the week meals that my mother-in-law would have prepared for us. It usually was on a day that I was totally exhausted and I appreciated it even more.

And a BIG thank you to me biggest fan ever AMANDA. She is right there along with them and never failed to attend a home game. She even helped during our tournament when she had bigger and more important things she could have been doing. I am so blessed to have such people in my life.

After volleyball season I will have a few weeks to gather my thoughts before I think about "Little Spiker" in January and Softball begins.



Then during this week a special surprise came to our family early. Jenna Leigh Harbert was brought into this world 7 weeks early due to a cyst on Momma's ovary. Jenna weighing 5lbs on Oct 12 is doing GREAT and so is mom. That makes 6 nieces and nephews on my side of the family. I guess since I will not be having any of my own I can spoil each and every one of them.

Volleyball Has Started

Well, summer is over!! We started volleyball off with a BANG with a "midnight" run on August 3rd at 12:01 am. We had wonderful numbers. Later that morning we had our first practice in the gym. We had a GREAT week of practice. Everyone worked hard and I hope had a great time. It wouldn't have ran so smooth without the help of all the coaches. A special thanks to them. We had our first scrimmage Saturday at Highland Park. We saw some very good things, bad and some ugly. We are only going to get better in the next few weeks before district play. I am very excited about the year and expect to have a great time.

AFTER THOUGHT

I forgot these few pictures the other day. I thought these pictures would be fun to share. They are of Shane & I on our rafting trip down the Royal Gorge and we stopped to jump off the cliffs a couple times. We learned last year that wet suites were the way to go. The water is around 45-50 degrees during the month of July.


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The lady that took the picture with our water camera was a Professor from a small Southern California University. She was a blast to get to know. We had all day to get to know the people on our raft. She had a hard time getting us at the right time jumping.

Getting back into the swing of things

Well, vacation is over. I wouldn't have it any other way but to spend 6 splendid days with my husband away from our stress and worries about work. Shane is a different man when he isn't worried about it raining too much, not enough, too much wind, being too hot, too cold, or something breaking down. He also wears shorts when we leave the state of Texas. It is guaranteed that he will have is "regular" clothes on when we cross the state line.

The week after we get back from Colorado, I leave for Austin to attend TGCA convention.(Texas Girls Coaching Association). It is a long drive no matter what. On the way I found out that my little brother and his wife will be having a girl in November. They already have 2 other boys. So of course I had to stop and shop in Hillsboro (outlet mall) to pick up some GIRL baby clothes. I spent some time at their house Tuesday evening in Leander before making my way into downtown Austin.
My brother works full-time for the National Guard in Austin. We are very proud of him for his service in the military.




The week was GREAT. I attended every volleyball session there was. The All-star games are always fun to watch. I learned a lot and enjoyed the friends that I spent the week with.

The saturday I got back from Austin we headed back to Decatur to trade in for our bigger pick up. Shane has decided to go FORD since they are not government owned. Anyway, we needed a space in the back seat where Kolton could sit for longer than 20 minutes. He has grown about a foot this year.




The next 2 weeks there are about 15-20 girls playing in a Summer Volleyball League in Vernon. I will be traveling there on Tuesday and Thursday evenings to watch them. I am glad that there was enough to make 2 teams to get them ready for 2-A-Day practices starting August 3rd. I am excited about a brand new year. The first year is always the hardest. There are many things that will be done differently.

I don't have much time left to get things ready for the first week of practice!! You may not hear from me for a while. I wish my best to you all & God Bless!!!

Somebody say WHOA! Summer is going by too fast!

Well, let's see what has been going on since the last time I posted... Middle of June I stayed a week with my Mother to take care of her after surgery. She didn't need much tending to except to make her sit and rest. I had to be pretty bossy!! I mostly had to care for my wonderful little Grandmother who lives with my parents. She is 92 and forgets everything when you walk out of the room, but she can remember all details from her childhood. It was a surprise and a blessing for her to see me each morning when she woke up. Only if everyone was that happy to see us each day. It was fun to hear her stories of growing up and her going to school even though they were the same old stories we have heard a hundred times. She of all people have turned in to a dog loving woman. She has turned my parent's two dogs into 2 fat happy dogs by feeding them from the table and gets mad at you if you tell her that they have already eaten. She thinks they are so hungry just because they are at the table begging. How can you argue with a Grandmother??? I haven't figured that one out yet. We had some pretty funny things happen. One may not be too funny. My parents have a bullsnake (named Fred) who comes to their yard to drink from the bird waterer and to our amazement can climb trees. I will put on some fascinating pictures later. If there is a bullsnake around then the chances of a rattlesnake being around are less so they let this one alone. Gives my grandmother something to watch out the sliding door each day.


My mom is doing well after her surgery and after 8 days of being away from my wonderful husband I had to go home. Saturday the 27th, before I came home I had to take the stinking ExCet test again. I can't say enough how much I hate that test.

I had a week to recover from that long week at my parents. I slept in a few days and worked around the house, finished 2 blankets I have been working on for the last month. One was for our camper which matches our camouflage decoration. I sure hoped we would get to use it since we are running out of time.

My friend who lives in Florida came down for a visit with her fiance who is from Pennsylvania during the 4th of July weekend. He has ever been to a rodeo, so we took him to the Clarendon Ranch Rodeo. It rained on us for about an hour and made the rodeo last forever. I thought the whole thing was fun.

Sunday afternoon, Shane said let's leave tomorrow for vacation since we just got 2 1/2 inches of rain. So all afternoon we packed up our camper and worked till 3am. We still didn't know where we were going, all we knew is that we were leaving town for the first time in our camper. We finally decided to head to Texas Creek Colorado. It is near Salida Colorado where we went last year.
I will have pictures of vacation later since that is where I am right now........







Here Shane & I are at a river on Mt. Princeton and us in the front of the raft as we are floating down the Royal Gorge. We had a blast!! We spent a few days of activities and the best days were sitting around the camper doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. There won't be very many days of that.

Wasn't summer suppose to be a time of rest?

The first week of June has been eventful. After one of the tractors went down in the field we had another one that needed a trip to the shop - in Lorenzo. Well, instead of having someone come get it, Shane volunteered us to haul it there. On the way, the pickup blew a fuel injection line. We made it up the hill outside Matador around the Tounge River Ranch. We sat on the side of the road for about 2 hours. I soaked up the sun, read and book. I witnessed a cute little cowboy helping his dad work cattle. He couldn't have been more than 5 years old. He rode off in the Mesquite yelling "YEA HAW". (Of course I didn't have one camera on me today.) I wouldn't have been able to see that if we didn't have trouble. He was so proud that he loped his horse all the way to the fence. Not much anyone could do for us except stop and ask if we were OK. After we got help we rode on into Lubbock to make our appointments. Shane does not like to "sit" very long so he was glad to get on the road again.
The first weekend in June I made a fast trip to Tucumcari to attend a wedding of one of my first students. First, I forgot about the time change and arrived 2 hours early. And there is not much exciting going on in that town. Second, no one said we would be sitting on bales of hay, so my dress got a little alfalfa on it, but the ceremony was short and sweet. She was so cute in her pretty white dress and a pair of boots on underneath. I didn't expect anything less.I am so glad I went to this wedding.
The next week, Shane & I went back to Lorenzo to pick up the tractor that got fixed, thankfully it didn't take too long since they still have cotton to plant. We made it almost home when we blew a tire on the trailor. Well, we thought it would be an easy enough fix. Yea, until Shane found out that someone had put the wrong spare tire on the trailor. So we drove real slow toward Paducah with one tire on that axle hoping it would get us into town to the tire shop. Well, so much for our luck. 5 miles out of town we blew the 2nd tire. We had to wait on the tire shop to send out their man to help us. We spent over an hour sitting and waiting again. I could only think positive about it - I thought it was good quality time with my husband. I don't think we are going to try to haul a tractor again. It sure wouldn't be a day at Harris farms without something exciting happening. That is why planning is so hard for us because anything could happen.

This week we received a small shower so Shane actually had one day off in the middle of the week. I thought relaxation. Yah right!! We have been discussing getting another 4-wheeler for awhile now. We are off to Altus to make us a deal. Thought we were going for a good used one and came home with a brand new one right out of the box. I think Kolton was more excited about it than any of us. Now they can all go hunting, not having to ride double. It is pretty white, but will not stay that way for long. We have named it Blizzard or DQ because we joked that Shane will have to give up having his weekly blizzards to pay for it. :)

Well, of course that night all the guys had to come out to help test out the new one. We cooked out and the "boys" went and played. Our friends daughter had to bring her little 4-wheeler out and she rode all evening long around our place. She was on it for hours. I think she will be their little "speed demon".

Just like tonight the boys had to be boys. It has been raining and they are all out still hunting pigs. Of course I had to go with them for a little while until the sun went down. I don't mind getting wet or muddy, I just don't like not being able to see where I am going past my headlights. Everyone had on their mud suits and looked like they are having fun. Tonight they were all big blue men in their rain suits. They have too much fun because who knows what time they will be coming in tonight.
I know my summer has been eventful so far. It has only been 2 weeks. I am just waiting for vacation!!!

Summer Time

Can we believe it is really here? The school year went by so fast. I thought the first week would be pretty uneventful. What was I thinking? I went golfing Saturday morning and had a great time again. It is amazing how inconsistent golf is when you only play twice a year. I am suprised that one of my clubs didn't end of wrapped around a tree out of frustration!!
I also finished a blanket that I have been working on for one of my very first girls I coached during the first three years of coaching. She is getting married here in June. It means a lot that she still keeps in touch with me and invites me to such an important time in her life. I hope I get to attend the ceremony. And who knew that I could sew?? I guess my mom rubbed off on me more than I thought. I wish she would have rubbed off on how to sew a straight stitch.:)
The first Sunday of summer was restful. We slept in a little, did stuff around the house and about to start working on getting our camper ready to travel this summer to the mountains. YEA can't wait.
In the middle of the afternoon we get phone call from Shane's dad. He was in the field working. He said he just needed a ride home. We sent Kolton after him and soon discovered that the tractor caught on fire that he was on. YIKES. Glad no one else was on the tractor that day and no one got hurt. We had Rangers, Hardeman County Sheriff, and other on-lookers on the place to see what was going on. It isn't every day you see a tractor burning to the ground. Other than that, summer is a wonderful time. We have had a couple showers and beautiful weather.
I have also spent my mornings up at the gym with about 30 girls for summer workouts. There has been a good turnout. I am very excited about next year.
Last night I spent my time hitting golf balls out in the Pasteur trying not to hit the cows, but with my hook I was hitting the water and module builder. Kolton and I had fun Easter egg hunting for all 40 of the golf balls.

Golf Scramble

Yesterday, I played in the faculty golf scramble. We played 9 holes playing the best shot. Everybody had a "best" shot. We ended up with an "even" score which means we "pared". It was the best game I had ever played due to the others GREAT SHOTS!! I have only played twice in the last year and didn't know how I would play, we had a couple experienced players and some beginners playing, we all had a good time laughing and taking pictures.


I played with some ladies who I got the chance to get to know better. We all had a good time. At the end of the evening we all met, ate and won door prizes. I appreciate all the work Coach Gaylor and Wendy put in to making this afternoon such a success. I have a few pictures to prove that we had good form while hitting. We did a little coaching and got better as the afternoon progressed. I want to thank Charla who carried us thru the game with all her great drives and her husband for "taking one for the team". I want to thank Amanda for all the laughs and funny pictures. I want to thank Donna for letting me share her room all year and putting down to play on such a fun team. I want to thank Paige for just being so nice and being able to laugh at our mistakes and yelling at our great putts.


Hopefully we can do this again sometime. It was a GREAT end of the year stress reliever.

Strawberry Planter

Spring time means time to plant a garden. I planted a row of strawberries thinking I was so smart and ahead of the game. Then I was informed that when they start growing they might now make it due to the rabbits loving the plant. So my wonderful father-in-law and Shane had a wonderful idea about moving a huge cement tank over to the house to plant the strawberries off the ground so that they will not become rabbit food and "might" come back next year. I thought this would be a simple task with the equipment they have. Well, it ended up being an almost all afternoon ordeal. It took a tractor, chain, another tractor to pull the tank out of the ground and a lot of dirt. The pictures will tell the story of how much fun we had. (Shane's mom) and I stood and watched laughing about how hard they were working for some silly strawberries. :) We had a good time when it was all done and when we have fresh strawberry shortcake it will all be worth the hassle. Thought you guys would enjoy the pictures.

SPRING TIME-Random

This spring has been one busy time of my life. After Little Spiker's volleyball league Softball season was upon us. The beginning of February was our first practices I am coaching JV team. We have not stopped till now. We had 2-3 day tournaments every weekend the first month and games every Tuesday, Saturday. Of course the weather did not cooperate. It was gorgeous during February and then it got COLD just in time to stand out in it for hours. Then the exciting stuff happened, during district we started winning. The Varsity team won District and now we are in the playoffs. And when I say we stopped now, that is because the whole state of Texas has suspended UIL competitions until May 11th. We will not have our play-off game until May 19th. In that amount of time until our playoff game, we will practice and I will have attended Faculty Dinners, Junior High Athletic Banquet, High School Athletic Banquet, Prom, and other High School activities. BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

Last night my assistant and I drove to Bridgeport to attend a volleyball coaching clinic. It started off an eventful evening. First, we thought we might not be able to go due to the SWINE FLUE closures of schools. We headed out about 12:30. Of course it couldn't be that easy; we ran into a storm and got "lost" in Wichita Falls. I know we need to learn our directions. But have any of you ever gotten turned around in Wichita Falls? We slowed down to about 40mph in the heavy down pour so we were already pressed for time we thought. The clinic was short, sweet, and we learned a lot. I hope it will bring us some common ideas and motivate me to do a better job. We left at 8:00 and made it home at 11:00pm. On the way home we ran into more storms around Vernon. I had to pull off for awhile because I couldn't see the road. Final event of the evening was on my FM road I was driving along talking and all the sudden saw water coming over the road. I slammed on the brakes and made it thru at 40mph. It was scary. We had to use the oh sh.. handles in the car. We laughed after our hearts starting beating again. Casey & I decided that we may not want to travel together again for awhile. :)

Last but not least, I knew I married a farmer, and a good man, but sure didn't know I married such a red neck. :) While I was gone last night Shane and his 2 friends were all off work and decided to chase pigs on their 4-wheelers after it had rained 4-6 inches. I can't imagine what craziness went on with those three. When I got home I had a picture left for me in the bathroom of a big pig tied on the 4-wheeler and 2 grown men COVERED with mud head to toe. They never grow up do they?

It has been an eventful SPRING and we still have 4 weeks left of school.

Little Spikers

On January 8th I began a new adventure for this year. I started a Little Spikers League, that will meet every Thursday for 6 weeks for young volleyball players who are in the 3rd thru 6th grade. The first day I was not sure how many would be attending. I had about 30 pre-registered. I knew a few more would come the first day. Well, I will say more came!!! I had 30 more sign up. We had 60 little one's ready to learn volleyball that first day. I only had 4 high school girls helping. YIKES!!! I will need more help.

Yesterday was the second day of the league. It went a lot smoother because I had recruited more help. There was at least 2 helpers per age group. It sure was an eye opened for some of them who have never coached younger kids. I know it was an eye opener for me also with the number of girls we were dealing with. It is very encouraging knowing that many parents and girls are interested in the success of the program. It will be exciting to watch these girls grow up and becoming better volleyball players.

In the midst of finishing up Little Spikers in February, softball will have had 2 weeks of practice so I know I will be very busy the first weeks of February through April.

This year has gone by so very fast.