It's War, Baby!

We have focused most of our 12+ years of parenting on girl sports, as we had our two girls first. This is our first experience into the world of football. Gone are the encouraging, girly cheers from the sidelines, matching hairbows, cutsie goody bags, and sympathy for injuries. It's just pushing and dirt and mean-ness - on purpose.
Daniel ran for a touchdown, but his TRUE LOVE is defense! He gets really intense, his face gets red and angry, and (I think he might shove a little too hard, and he likes to give them one last good hard push AFTER the whistle). Isn't that against the rules? ...But Daddy tells me these things are good.

Our pastor was just talking recently about how women are made for love and men are made for war. And this was war, baby!

I wish I had a better view of his face in this picture! The whole sport just makes me feel the need to read Wild at Heart or Sweat, Blood, & Tears again. I need to be reminded that to raise a man is a totally different process. As Xan Hood says of a boy growing into manhood, "His father must lead him away from the nurturing, care, and protection into masculinity, risk, and his own power and strength."

Now, fortunately, we are not headed to manhood for a while now, so there's no need to be rushing away from that nurture, protection, and safety just yet! :) But, you gotta know it is coming! Ah... the difference in boys! We had an "art day" during our school week this week. I had a whole day of painting, crafts, and loads of creative excitement planned. The girls and I were having a ball. Daniel was participating, then at about 10:00 he turned to me and said, "Mom, this is fun and all, but art is just not my thing." I let him go work on his Lego project. His daddy, of course, was thrilled by this news.