It’s Amazing Grace

I read this book called, “Strengths Finder 2.0″ and took the 30 minutes test on-line. I discovered that my top 5 strengths of what I do best are: Input, Responsibility, Achiever, Belief, and intellection. As I am reading the descriptions of each one of these and the ideas for how to take action in developing them even more, things seem a lot clearer to me now–as far as knowing if I am moving in the right career direction, or if I’m way off track. I’ve been praying that God would show me if I’m moving in the right direction that suits me and I feel like he answered.

You see, ever since Scott resigned as the head coach for track and field at Eleanor Roosevelt High School it’s been difficult to figure out if I am suppose to let go and move on, or if I should keep coaching track. Now, I realize that I was doing too much at one time–coaching cross country runners in the 1, 2 and 3 miles and middle distance runners in the 800 meter race, and sprinters in the 100m, 200m, 110/100 hurdles, 300m hurdles, 400m race, 4×100 meter relays, and 4×400m relays. And several other different types of relays for those special meets where everything becomes a relay. I never realized how much I was doing until typing it out right now! But I think of the other things I was doing in addition to coaching last season, which was band practice, playing keyboards on Sundays, guitar and piano classes at RCC, small group and who knows what else! Sometimes it drives me crazy to be driven to want to be an achiever, especially when I don’t even celebrate my achievements. For me everyday is a new day and I’m back at zero. But I’m learning how to manage this strength and others to work for my advantage in the book I’m reading. I have been very anxious that the new head coach Erin Shiers would not hire me on as the assistant coach for the boy’s and girl’s sprinters. My future has been feeling unstable and part of me has been avoiding trying to talk to Erin to get to know him and if he would like for me to continue. The athletes are upset that I didn’t get the head coaching job, and I was too. They even talked about boycotting competing this track season. They are so use to me and my coaching style. They look up to me and I feel very close to them and am driven to want to help them succeed. They confronted the new head coach and suggested that he hire me to coach them. They said he told them that everybody loves me and Curtis and what we accomplished in the first year of the program. He said we had a big right up in the Press Enterprise about how well my boy’s did at Mt. SAC Invitational. I didn’t even know they were in the paper! Now I hope that I get to continue to use my strengths and build upon them in teaching and coaching these athletes. I understand now that it is probably for the best that I don’t try to coach is all. Otherwise, I am spreading myself too thin. If he wants me to coach the sprinters I will be happy to be able to put my all into giving them the best training and mentor-ship they deserve. Plus this will give me more time for my music and ministry to the Pipeline kids that I’m getting to know. I love music and would never want to give up leading people in worship–especially kid’s. I’m hoping I will be able to bring more athletes to church again.

It’s hard to believe that one year ago from tomorrow I started this blog with the help of Leah. I’m so glad I decided to do this because it allows me to speak my heart and share my thoughts, that would otherwise be difficult to do face-to-face. This has been a way for me to learn how to be more open and to build relationships with others. It’s encouraging to know that their are people out their who truly would like to get to know me better. With that said, Happy 1 year anniversary itsamazinggrace.

I am so excited because Curtis and I just signed up for AT&T DSL High Speed Internet. I have never had anything other than your regular dial up network. This feels like an early Christmas or Birthday present. Yes, NO MORE WAITING! My neck is killing me. Hopefully this will help. Bye-Bye.

We’re back! Although we had a lot of fun in Las Vegas, Nevada celebrating our 5th year anniversary, it feels good to be back in Riverside, CA with the cool breeze and people we love. It never got below 91 degrees there–even at 2am in the morning! The air was so hot it felt like someone was blowing hot air in our faces. Also, I have never witnessed 5 car accidents on the same street in less than a week! We figured out how to work the system–let me explain. Tuesday we went to two timeshare presentations to get discounts on shows we wanted to see and discounts on buffets. We saw Madaam Tusaund’s Celebrity Wax Museum at the Venetian, Curtis made Jennifer Lopez blush by touching her “assets”. While there we experienced the haunted house tour. Jason came after me with a saw and I screamed and pushed Curtis in front of him to guard myself from any infliction. Wednesday we dressed up, had dinner, and live music at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay. Boy, that big white man could sing! Curtis surprised me and had him say, Happy Annivesary Curtis and Grace, on stage. Thursday night we saw the Blue Man Group for less than half the price at the Venetian. They were good, but not worth the full price, which was $126 per person. Friday we had dinner and a show at the Tournament of Kings for free at Excalibur. We ate our whole chicken’s with our fingers while watching jousting and sword fighting and the javelin challenge as we cheered our King of Ireland to victory. Saturday we went to see Cirque du Soleil at Treasure Island. We saw the one called Mystere. It was AMAZING! The best show ever! There was so much going on all at the same time. For example, people were crawling down on the walls, doing acrobatics above our heads, comedy, people dressed up walking on stilts and etc. We got $50 in free gambling money. Curtis won $215 and we used it to buy a digital camera at Walmart. We saw this Mini DV camcorder and had to get it. So we took our chances with only $40 and went back to the same slot machine and I won $239. We were stoked! We got the money we needed to get the Mini DV camcorder too. We saw the water show at the Belagio and the Pirate show at Treasure Island. We ate at the World Famous Buffet which is now called, Spice Market at Planet Hollywood. It was ok, but not better than CBU’s buffet. We ate free at Rio’s world famous seafood buffet. Curtis won the Heavy Weight Championship Boxing Title at ESPN zone–I was his trainer. We saw the Lions at MGM Grand. And we visited a host of other casinos and malls. This was by far the best vacation Curtis and I have ever had together! We really enjoyed each others company!

Today is Curtis and my 5th year anniversary! I am so glad that we made it through difficult times and are learning how to communicate more effectively now. And even though he will be starting law school again this Fall I feel confident that Jesus will bring us through stressful times because I know now how things will be when we finish and don’t have so much on our plate. I always could say that I love Curtis, but now I can say that I like him too. We will dress up and go out to dinner tonight. Then we’ll leave Monday for Las Vegas where we will spend a week at one of our Worldmark by Wyndham resorts. We will relax, maybe go for a swim and mellow out in the lazy river. I can’t wait to sit in the hot tub! At some point we will dress up and go out again to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We want to see a really good show that is worth our money because I know those shows cost a grip. Maybe I will get lucky again and win $85 off the quarter machine like in Indio a few weeks ago. Lastly, we want to check out this world famous buffet in the Aladdin casino. We heard that it cost about $20 per person but we are willing to try it to see what all the fuss is about. There are suppose to be food from all over the world.