For a better part of the last 14 years I’ve been a closet country music fan. Yup! that’s right I’ve come out of the closet per se! There is a song called “gimme that girl” by Joe Nichols that every single time it’s on it brings a smile to my face & I have no choice but to crank it up.

Call me sappy if you want to but like I titled this post this is my home on the net so I’m posting this “because I can!” In fact, just typing this has me laughing hard enough that the people here at the coffee shop are looking at me strange. And that’s OK by me, because what they don’t know is that there is nothing more beautiful than my wife when we’re just around the house! In fact she’s probably at home right now with a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt on dancing as she sweeps.

Maybe that’s why while I’m supposed to be here working I can’t get her or this song out of my head:

Gimmie the girl thats beautiful,
without a trace of makeup of on,
barefoot in the kitchen,
singing her favorite song.
Dancing around like a fool,
starring in her own little show,
gimmie the girl the rest of the world,
ain’t lucky enough to know.

Most people only get to see the quite Heidi, most people just aren’t lucky enough to know that she does have a tendency to “dance around like a fool and star in her own little show”. And the best part is that me and our boys LOVE IT!

So like I said earlier I’m posting this:

1. Because I can…
2. I can’t get her out of my head and nor do I want to…
3. I can’t imagine life any other way or with anyone else!

So here’s the video, I’m going home…

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I learn the most profound lessons when I’m not really looking for, or to honest even wanting to learn them.  For those of you with kids this will ring true no matter how young or old they are.

Kids are a daily learning experience for the parent.

For those that know me, it’s no secret I love baseball. As a father of two boys I want my kids to like sports, but I want my kids to love baseball. I want my kids to have a favorite team, as long as it’s the Redsox! So far it’s working, well one of them loves the hotdogs more than baseball, but what’s a trip to the park without a dog?

"E"man (4 years ago) @ Safeco

I love my boys, I’ve talked about this a little here before but I coach my oldest son’s Little League team. We’re currently wrapping the season up and playing this Friday in the Semi-Finals of the City Tournament attempting to re-peat as champs. Before last night’s game I was pretty excited about the season coming to an end and getting back to some sense of a normal home life. Then watching my son play last night really stirred some mixed emotions. He’s grown so much, last season his first 6 at bats all ended with him striking out. He ended the year doing pretty well hitting .330 with a couple doubles. This year it’s been completely different  leading the team in extra base hits with 2 triples, 6 doubles and finishing 2nd in batting avg by hitting  .480. To top it off he’s been nominated to try-out for the City All-star team. I had no idea what those mixed emotions were until I read this post from Pete Wilson this morning.

Margin Is Essential

Monday morning I was heading in for a 7:00 a.m. breakfast meeting and for whatever reason I actually left the house early. The breakfast place I was headed to is exactly 15 minutes from my house so I knew I had to leave at 6:45 to make it on time, however, I remember sitting down in my truck, looking up at the clock and seeing that it was only 6:39 a.m.

Just a few minutes from my destination I noticed a middle aged man in a maroon Honda Accord who was trying to pull out of the gas station into my lane of heavy morning traffic. I had plenty of time left to get to my appointment, so without hesitation I put my brakes on and let him out.

As he pulled out and waved the thought crossed my mind…

Margin is essential for the unexpected!

I tend to plan my schedule and my budgets based on perfect scenarios. The problem with that is obvious. Rarely are there perfect scenarios. In other words I have no margins.

A margin is something allowed, or reserved, for that which can not be foreseen or known with certainty.

If I had left right “on time”  I probably would have been so focused on where I was going that I would have totally missed the opportunity to let him out. Even if I did see him I’m not sure I would have taken the time to stop. Now it doesn’t sound like a really big deal, right? I mean, it’s just let a car pull out in front of me. However, this principle plays itself out in almost every area of my life and has huge implications.

I’m afraid margin is something that is missing way too often in my life these days.

My lack of margin impacts…

How generous I am with my money.

How generous I am with my time.

How I lead.

How I love.

How is your margin or lack of margin impacting you these days? What one area of your life do you need more margin the most? - Pete Wilson

I guess I didn’t fully realize what I was doing last year when I was asked to help coach my son’s team. Now as the season is wrapping up I’m starting to recognize & ask myself the same question that is in Pete’s post:

What opportunities are we missing by not having intentional margins in our lives?

Those mixed emotions are pretty obvious today. If I would have chosen to just drop him off at practice and pick him up when it was over I would have missed the fist pump last night as he tagged the runner out trying to steal third. I would have missed getting yelled at by the umpire for hugging him at third base after his first triple. I would have missed the good conversations we’ve had about disappointment and sportsmanship. In essence the list could continue, but today the greatest lesson I’ve learned is that;

“Margin gave me something unexpected. Margin took me from just being there, to being involved…”

It’s that time again in the Anderson household, the time where cold evenings, fresh cut grass, the crack of a bat, the snap of a ball hitting a glove and the smell of a smokey barbecue fills our senses. It’s time for baseball! This year both of our boys are playing. Two different teams, two different leagues, two very different boys and two extremely proud parents.

It’s funny how sometimes it’s the subtle things in life that carry the most weight. Unfortunately they are also often the most overlooked. I have a hard time believing that God is ever really silent, I believe he is constantly shouting his affections for us from the balconies of heaven and that they really would echo through the halls of our lives if we would take the time to slow down and listen. Like I said earlier, I’m learning it’s the subtle things that seem to carry the most weight.

I’m one of the coaches on my oldest son Tre’s team. The other night we found ourselves in a position where we were up 8-7 in a rain soaked, cold game with only two innings left. Our starting pitcher had reached the 75 pitch limit and with no other pitchers available the head coach looked to Tre and asked him to bring it home. My heart sank, he’s never pitched before, in fact he’s never even thrown from the mound. He nervously accepted the challenge, wiped the rain from his hat and took the lonely walk to the mound where he proceeded to blow not only this dad away, but pretty much everyone else. He struck out 5 of the 6 batters he faced and got the save. Everyone was shouting and ran out and greeted him at the mound when it was over. It was an amazing moment for not only him, but for me as his dad. I can honestly say that it was one of the proudest moments I’ve ever had watching the team give him the game ball. He left that night and fell asleep with the biggest smile on his face. Last night we were back out on the field and Tre was tabbed as the starting pitcher against the best team in the league. To say he was nervous would be an understatement & I even more so, lets just say it didn’t end in the same fashion. He did great, but his nerves got to him a little. We lost 9-2, & he blamed himself. No matter what I said that look of disappointment didn’t disappear & there wasn’t a smile this time as he fell asleep.

Normally when we get to his school in the morning he is excited to get out and see his friends yelling I love you as the door slams shut. Today, he didn’t even open the door. I looked back and he apologized to me for his performance on the mound. Talk about ripping your heart out. I did my best to lift this little guy up and assure him of how proud I was of not only his baseball prowess but the man he is becoming. The hardest part was that my words didn’t seem to be penetrating the weight of emotion he was carrying. I got to the office and proceeded to edit some of the pics taken from last night when I saw this…

There I was forced to stare at the look of disappointment again. I began to pray for him, I prayed that he would know just how proud I was and that no matter what happens that nothing would change how I feel about him. That he was my son and that would never change. When I then could hear that subtle voice saying that no matter what I do the Father loves me and that I’m his son and that that would never change. It’s funny in that moment staring at that very picture above, the overwhelming feeling of love that I have towards my son, my God has for me. I began to think of all the times where I’ve felt disappointed and discouraged in myself, feeling the walls of life closing in only now to see that there was the love of a cross holding those walls back. Thank God for subtle lessons.

Just another random thought, well at least that’s what I thought. So, here we are sitting on the verge of celebrating not only one of the most significant nights in the History of mankind, but a life changing weekend for all of humanity but due to the nature of the week I’ve had ,I needed some mind numbing activity.

Then I stumbled on this video…

All I can say, & I know I’m not alone in this. This kid is amazing! There is no doubt about it. Not only is he only 5 & rocking the Ukulele, he’s also doing it to one amazing song.

(Guest Post by Heidi Anderson)

Last night my husband showed me this video, and to say I was moved, would be an understatement.

Afterward, I found myself remembering my life as a child, with really no worries, just ambitions and the dreams of who and what I would become.

I would find myself dreaming only the biggest dreams, wondering where they would take me. I would sit at the piano for hours thinking about where I would end up and what I would do. It’s funny, looking back it was probably like every other child’s dream of being famous, or at the very least someone important.

In all that dreaming I NEVER once thought I would have struggles or experience disappointment in my life. I guess I had always thought that life would be perfect, but what I’ve come to know is that life is not perfect, it’s definitely not always easy and we don’t always get what we want out of it. In other words God has a plan, and that plan doesn’t always match ours.

Sometimes God will give us the desire of our hearts, but sometimes God will say NO! And we have to not only be OK with that, but we need to realize that no matter what, God is still God and He is still good!

Here’s the video…