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I took a few days off from blogging as I have been recovering from Covid 19 over the Christmas Holidays.  I am writing this to tell my story of the battle I fought with Covid and how it has impacted me and the family this past week and a half.  Since Covid hit we have been very focused on avoiding it the best we could and took precautions to not contract it.  That all changed a week and half ago as we were exposed to someone that did not know they were a carrier and within a few days the wife and I started feeling bad and suspected that we may have contracted it just prior to the Holidays.  It started out like a common cold with runny nose, chest congestion and stomach ache.  We tried for three days to find a testing site close to the house and eventually drove down the road about forty five minutes to be rapid tested.  We were steadily getting sicker and within  a few days of the test we got the results back that we were positive for the virus.  At this point we cancelled Christmas wi

Today I am writing about seven things that I look back on that I should have done a bit different when I was twenty.  Thirty four years later I have learned many lessons in life and am grateful for those lessons.  Setbacks, disappointments, tragedies, and unexpected life events allow us to grow and become who we are.  These events give us wisdom to share with our children and the next generation.  These events make us tough skinned and give us direction to overcome obstacles.  I am mostly satisfied with the way things have worked out so far, but looking back I now see doing these may have opened doors for me, my family and prepared me for life as an adult. 1- Get rid of toxic people- We all have family, friends and co-workers that we know are energy vampires.  We do not look forward to being around them or hanging out with them.  These negative people drain you and will hold you back with their poor pitiful me routine.  Get rid of them, see them less often or whatever it takes to keep

  Today I am writing about remote learning and giving some basic ideas and tips on how as parents we can not only survive but thrive during this Covid 19 mess.  As a career teacher it has been a daily learning experience for myself and my students.  It is up and down roller coaster ride of positives, negatives and in between.  With the various stages of Covid, spikes, slow downs and the gaps in between kids have learned 100% online, hybrid learning, and some even in class fulltime.  It is frustrating as a teacher and parent as it has added even more stress, anxiety, and tasks to our daily schedules that are already jam packed. I did some research and put together a simple list of things that have worked for me as a teacher and have helped the students and parents I teach to do a good job of maintaining grades, assignments, and online schedules.  It has been very challenging and is not the best option for most kids, but it is what it is for now.  As parents and teachers our options are

Today I am writing about woman and their super powers.  I am writing this in honor of my wonderful talented and beautiful wife Cindy and daughters Taylor and Brooke.  Women are super at being assertive, empathetic, powerful, fabulous, beautiful, caring, loving, inspired, hard working, dedicated, disciplined, healing, forgiving, courageous, adaptable and so many other traits us men need in our lives.  I can only speak for myself when I say, I would be lost without my wife and daughters.  They are the rocks in my house and keep me from doing stupid guy stuff all the time.   Women have super powers that are hard to explain at times.  These super powers come out at a moments notice and just amaze people.  I know my wife and daughters have them so I came up with a list of the different role model super women action figures to highlight just how great women can be and are in our lives.  Women are special, unique and should be treated as such.  I must admit that I am still learning about wome

  This week I have been working with my students in class on social emotional skills to help them grow their ability to get along better with peers at school, online and at home.  As a veteran teacher I have seen my fair share of conflicts between students, staff and their peers.  Most of the conflicts are honestly teenage drama that revolves around he said, she said stuff.  In today's world of the instant messaging on the thousands of applications things can escalate quickly.  It is not just teenagers though, I see here and there husbands, wives, sisters, brothers and friends going back and forth arguing their points or posting stuff in an attempt to start trouble or fuel the fire.  By the way, my students refer to Facebook as the application for (older people).  I guess I am old because I have a Facebook page. Anyways, back to the drama and how to resolve it.  My students have found out that as soon as they tell me what is happening, the first thing I ask them is did you see it,

  Today I am writing about having a winning mindset in life.  The definition of winning is to gain victory, overcome an opponent, gain status or conquer something or someone.  As a career football, wrestling and softball coach I have spent the better part of my adult life trying to win sporting events.  I have had my fair share of victories along the way and accomplished some pretty amazing goals.   However, I have had tough losses along the way and learned as much, maybe more from those defeats about dealing with life and its shortcomings.  As a player I had the opportunity to be on some really good teams one in particular in college that was undefeated and a championship program.  As a high school coach I have been part of state caliber programs, coached on conference and regional title teams.   On goal I have as a head coach is to win the ultimate prize, and that is a team state title in football or wrestling.  I have won conference titles and had numerous conference, regional and a

Do Not Hide Your Light Today we are talking about standing for right and not hiding your light.  What light am I talking about, you may ask?  I am referring to the light of Jesus Christ which is in all of us and only shows if we have chosen him over darkness.  I remember growing up and singing the song "This Little Light of Mine, I'm Going to Let it Shine" in Sunday school and during youth concerts.  Last night I was listening to the bible on audio and it was talking about being a light for good and fighting darkness in our lives.  The challenge in today's world is to try and hide your light for fear that you may be tagged as a Christian or a believer.  America has become so comfortable with sin that millions are refusing to do the right thing and show their light. Matthew 5:16, states that " In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven". We are called to be warriors

Today I am writing about the random acts of kindness that people show one another and how they can make a huge impact on that persons day.  Being kind is something we all like to see in people and it shows that one has a love for their family, friends, neighbors and strangers.  I can think of some examples of random acts of kindness where people have done something that seemed small to them, but was a huge boost to me at the time.  Examples of  this are below: 1- A good friend had someone come mow my yard while I was at home recovering from a heart procedure. 2- A random person (more than once) has let me turn into traffic on a packed road risking someone honking the horn at him or her for doing it. 3- People saying hello, smiling, and asking how you are today. 4- Kind words on face book, emails, and text messages that lift my spirit. I did some research so I will not lay claim to being a guru on random acts of kindness and built a simple list of ways we can all be kinder to one anothe

As I sat down to write today after eating a really yummy breakfast with my wonderful wife.  I was finishing up my third cup of coffee (shhh, don't tell my doctor) and talking to my wife about all the things we are blessed by and with.  We talked about our family, our daughters, in-laws and all the people that bless and pray for us daily.  So I decided to veer off of my typical posting today to write about these wonderful blessings.   I looked up the definition of blessing and it is to have Gods favor and protection in your life.  That hit home for me because without that we can wander through life, fighting things, having troubles and not knowing why those things happen to us.  As my wonderful mother used to say to me as a child "son, count your blessings" everyday.  I take that serious and do my best to count them so I stay grounded and never forget where I came from and most importantly, where I want to go.  I will not get there without the list below and Gods grace, me

  Finding Your Heart Losing heart is defined as feeling overcome by doubt and other feelings that you cannot accomplish something you set out to do.  I often write about sports and use them as an analogy because I have spent three fourths of my adult life as a football and wrestling coach.  I have seen so many young people lose heart as they prepared, practiced and competed.  Most of the time people lose heart because it gets hard, things are not going the way they were envisioned and that will  make someone quit. Adults often lose heart in relationships, jobs, family obligations and other activities.  A job gets tough so they quit because the boss is a jerk.  A marriage gets rocky so they quit and walk away.  Life gets tough and deals hard blows such as cancer, sickness, health issues and personal problems.  Have you ever quit on something or watched a person quit.  Did you give a true effort or did you just walk away because it felt like too much was at risk to overcome it.   I had a

Dealing With Anxiety and Depression Let us begin this topic by stating how real and aggressive anxiety and depression are in the lives of millions of people of all ages.  Anxiety and depression often go unnoticed by people close to those that are suffering until it is too late.  These are two leading causes of death and health risk in the world.  Being anxious and depressed can go hand in hand and are a double whammy that is hard to overcome in life.  Let's look at a few of the many symptoms of anxiety and depression before talking about dealing with it. 1- Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness and pessimism 2- Mood swings, not sleeping, shutting down mentally 3- Difficulty with decisions, lack of confidence, and irritability 4- Mental, physical and spiritual health issues These are just some of the major symptoms and signs that I could find as I made my list. At some point, I think we all have faced depression and anxiety in life. Major causes of anxiety and depression are life

  Living Out Your Dreams One of my wife's favorite movies, Pretty Woman has a line in it where the guy yells out, “welcome to Hollywood, what's your dream”.  That line has stuck with me all of my adult life as I have pursued my dreams one at a time.  How do you live out your dreams?  Do you have dreams and what are they?  We all have something we want to accomplish and they can be really big or really small.  Some want to be a movie star, be rich, be successful and have money.  Some want to achieve a certain career like a teacher, lawyer, accountant, business owner, etc.   I had a dream growing up of being a professional football player.  Most young boys have imagined themselves catching a touchdown in the super bowl, making a free throw to win the national championship, kicking the winning goal in a major league soccer game or hitting a grand slam in the baseball world series.  I talk about sports because for over 45 years of my life sports has been my thing.  Your dream may b

The Lions Today will be a quick write about my continued spiritual growth as I get closer to God everyday.  I prayed last night for God to give me direction, grace and mercy all the days of my life and as I ended, I asked if he had a specific message for me to send it.  Well, let me tell you that God is good, he is the greatest, he is the undefeated champion of all time.  I had been struggling with some health issues lately and have been really seeking God's word by reading the bible, researching, reading other blogs and praying.  All this as a way to gain a more direct connection to God and move forward with his plans in our lives. After asking for God to send me a message I dreamed about the Lion and a Shepard.  In the lion dream I saw two lions walking with each other like a pack would do. They kept their distance and walked near each other growling and grumbling as if they were seeking a meal.  I was watching them in the lion's den when suddenly someone threw a large piece

  Facing Your Demons This entry is very personal to me as I have recently been involved in a spiritual awakening due to a near death experience that opened me up to a much higher level and understanding of God’s power, grace and mercy.  I also have gained a higher understanding of evil and demonic activity in our life.  When we get closer to God by reading his word, praying and submitting to his plan.  The devil will dispatch demons to try and defeat us.  He will assign one of his many dark spirits to attack you, your family and friends. Please be advised and acknowledge that the devil and evil are very real and will attack your life and destroy it if they can. After my near death experience, I started to have visions, dreams, and spiritual activity that was a gift from God.  God had chosen to save me and gave me a gift of spiritual enlightenment.  With this opening of my heart, soul and mind I became a target of evil.  I was attacked twice by demonic entities in my bed as a result.  Y