So, clearly, I am a coaches wife. I haven't posted anything since September! I really have avoided writing as my life has been hectic and I am new to this!
Here we go.... I just got back from the AFCA convention. For those of you who aren't aware of these letters it is the American Football Coaches Association convention. As I learned over the last 5 days, it is a place that 8,000 Football coaches from high school to College division 1 can get together and never stop talking for 4 days straight except for meals and sleep and maybe not even then!
In connection with the AFCA, there is a wives association (AFCWA) that meets and supports one another. If you know me at all, you know it is hard for me to step out and just meet random strangers. I am not scared of new people, I am scared of the initiation of the meeting. What if they really don't want to talk to me? well, I have just walked up and started talking to a wall... or so it feels like. Or you worry about saying something and hearing someone, who clearly isn't secure in themselves, bring up that what you said was negative or that you should say what you just said in a different way. You meet women who are in the early stages of their husbands career like my new friend Rachel Brown who is supporting her husband who coaches at Henderson State. Then you come across women who are working alongside their husbands in the prime of their career like my new best friend Katharyn Richt (well, I say she is, but she might not!.. hey, I got my picture with her do you?!?) Then there are the women who as Mrs. Fullmer said to me (in the bathroom I might add), "have come full circle" in the gamut of their husband's coaching career. I was so overwhelmed with the variety of wives that I wasn't sure where to start! We all attended a Tea, a luncheon, and workshops from setting goals for ourselves to personal testimonies and a sharing of talent from amazing women such as Allison Stoutland a coaches wife and wonderful children's book author. For me though, the best thing I came away with happened in the hospitality room sitting at a table with some other ladies, or on the back row whispering during session to the lady beside me. This was how I eventually overcame my fear of the initiated conversation!
I made some great connections that will allow me to have more of a foundation of familiar faces when I go back next year. The best part about meeting all of these women is that I found that no matter what age they are or time of century they started being a coaches wife, we all had familiar stories and we all were able to open up and share the commonality among us. While our husband's job is not ours, we all seem to take on a new identity through it growing stronger and more independent. As I found, this can lead to a new profession to starting a family.
I prayed hard for a job to land in our laps this week, as Brett is looking for a new school to work with, and God put a new group of friends in my lap instead. While the convention was supposed to be a place for Brett to make connections and possibly get a new job, it turned out to be a refreshing time of fellowship among sisters of all ages and backgrounds.
I still am praying that God opens the right door, not just a door. I am pleading that we find peace over the place he has prepared for us, especially if it means we are staying in atlanta. Over Christmas Brett expressed this dillemma to his family and read us all this verse:
Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Pray for us that this verse becomes a way of life. If we want to be in Coaching as a profession, it has to be our way of life.
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