Hanging in Indy

Wow!! It has been a long time since I have blogged. Sorry if you have been missing my ramblings. So it is spring break week and I am hanging out at my grandpa's house down here in Indianapolis. He was recently in the hospital after suffering a minor stroke. He has been home for a little while so I thought I would come down and hang out at his place for a couple of days. I took him to his OT and PT appointments today and got a lot of work done while sitting in the waiting room for him to get done. Last night we had some visitors, Rosanna, Angela, and Chance came over. Chance was a riot. He is a lot like my Maddex.

I brought my mom and my daughter Aggie with me. Aggie has had a blast. She has been playing in the yard, doing puzzles, and playing with the waffle blocks. She built a whole town last night.

It has been a good trip. We went out for dinner last night and tonight and ended up going to places where kids got to eat free so Aggie has eaten dinner for free both nights. Neither time did we know it till we got to the restaurants so that was a nice little treat. She thinks it is really cool too. Her big find of the trip were some seashells she found in the flower bed that we think Grandma Catherine must have put there at some time.

We ended up driving my parents van down though. On Monday, while my better half and I were running errands the transmission went out on our Impala. I had it towed to the local Chevy dealership thinking it would be covered by the extended warranty we had purchased when we bought the car. Of course we were over the mileage, still several months short of the 3 years, on the warranty so it isn't covered. Well several phone calls back to St. Louis from Indy and with the help of a very good friend our car will be getting fixed at another place for several hundred dollars cheaper than the dealership wanted to charge us. It is great to have good friends that are willing to step up for you when you need a little help. Thanks brother, you know who you are.

Tomorrow we will probably head back north. Not sure I really want to go but there is so much I need to do since baseball season for Logan starts Tuesday and I have a softball season to start preparing for too. Once again I will be coaching Logan's team and I am really excited for it to start. I just hope that we are going to be able to practice this next week. It wasn't looking good when I left St. Louis Tuesday but I am praying for a miracle.

Thank you!

I just want to take some time to thank everyone for the outpouring of congratulations, love, and support today as we officially adopted Maddex and Ella into our family. (though they have been our kids since they came to live with us) We are truly grateful for all of our family and friends who came out to support us and for those that posted or liked our tweets, and Facebook posts. We love you all!

We had so many people at court today that they held the proceedings in the bigger courtroom. The kids loved it. They were running around playing with everyone before and somewhat during the proceedings. Everything went great and there were plenty of hugs and laughter to go around. Then everything took a turn to a bit of panic. Ella and Taylor were playing around and Ella was kind of running around the area where the carpet and wood met and turned the corner a little fast and slipped and fell, cutting her chin. Needless to say the mood changed rather quickly. Grandma Wanda scooped her up and brought her to me and we then quickly made plans for a couple of the kids and it was off to the hospital for what would be 4 stitches. (poor Ella and Nicole spent almost 3 hours in the ER) Here is a photo of Ella sleeping this evening after getting her 4 stitches.

Thanks to Lyss and Mom Daniels for taking Aggie and Gwen and Wendy for taking Maddex during all the excitement.

So now that they are officially ours we can post photos of them online. I know some of you may have already seen some, since some of my sisters have posted pics already let me now introduce everyone to my entire family.

Front row (l to r) Aggie (10), Gwendalynn (8), Logan (11)

Back row (l to r) Taylor (15), Nicole (not going to tell you), Ella (1), Maddex (3), Me (old)

"Our children are not ours because they share our genes, or because a piece of paper says they are. They are ours because they are a part of our soul. It was not an accident that they came into our lives. It was God's design that led them home. It was Him who placed them in our soul even before they were born."

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is only a day away!

Tomorrow is going to be an awesome day!

Tomorrow, February 3, 2014, my two little ones finally get their forever family!

Tomorrow afternoon my family will officially adopt Maddex and Ella into our family. They have been with us for about 16 months and we could not imagine life without them. They complete our family. They make 8. This has been a long journey filled with ups and downs, blessings and tribulations. Many sleepless nights, stressful situations, and more importantly special memories have filled these past 16 months. Looking back I think about a February day in 2009 when we adopted Aggie and Gwendalynn. What a great day that was and I expect tomorrow to be just as great. I just hope I don't cry as much as I did back then.

Tomorrow is going to be extra special too. My brother-in-law and his wife will be with us in the courtroom because they are adopting the two older siblings of our Maddex and Ella. These 4 children who, through no fault of their own, were faced with so much uncertainty and doubt, will finally have the finality that they need and deserve.

Any of you that have been regular readers of my blog will recognize the following quote. I penned this quote back in the fall when thinking about the things that we have gone through as a family and myself, personally through our years doing foster care and our eventual adoption of what will now be 4 kids. It really sums up my view and adoption and the responsibility that I was given from my heavenly father.

"Our children are not ours because they share our genes, or because a piece of paper says they are. They are ours because they are a part of our soul. It was not an accident that they came into our lives. It was God's design that led them home. It was Him who placed them in our soul even before they were born."

3 Hour Delay

So the call came in that we have a three hour delay tomorrow. Three hour delays are weird for the kids I think. We start school and then 25 minutes later we are going to lunch. We will miss music, which my kids love, and the whole day will just be a bit off. Personally though I like the delay because I can work in my room and get a lot done. Tomorrow I think I will be working on report cards before school starts.

Tomorrow holds more significance than a 3-hour delay though. Our country recognizes a man and the impact that he has had on our wonderful country. Martin Luther King Jr. is honored the third Monday of January each year for his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. His "I have a dream" speech may be one of the most well known speeches. I would have loved to meet this man. His willingness to stand up in such a public way for what he believed in is beyond commendable. The contributions that MLK Jr. and others like Rosa Parks made can never be forgotten. Appropriately and probably not coincidentally, my daughter and I just got through watching the movie The Help tonight. I believe that there is still a lot of racism and hate in America but we are definitely better than we once were and I think we will continue to become more acceptable but I have to admit I am glad that I live in this time period and not in those earlier years. Throughout my life I have met many people from many different ethnic groups  and nationalities. I can't tell you a single one that I hated because of where they were from or what color their skin was. Some of my closest friends in college were African American. I can't imagine living in a time when hate was so prevalent and accepted. I believe that we are all special and that we are all basically the same, the packaging is just a bit different. Scripture tells us to love others as we love ourselves and to love our enemies. That is how I want to live my life. I want to be accepting of others for who they are based solely on who they are. I want to be color blind, I want my kids to be color blind. I have two daughters who are bi-racial. I don't want them to ever have to deal with the hate that MLK Jr. fought so hard to overcome. I hope and pray that his dream will come true one day.

Too long....but there is some great news!

It has definitely been too long since I have blogged, over a month now I think. The reasons are many, the excuses even more, but I am ready to blog again. A special person in my family's life said she misses my blogs so I figured I better get back at it. I am not promising that it will be every day or every week. I don't know how much or how often but I am going to work at doing more writing going forward. I decided that tonight I was going to write regardless because I have some great news to announce. But you will have to read to the bottom to get that. First I must vent a bit. Though what gets published will be the cleaned up, family friendly vision.

As most of my readers know, I coach basketball. I love coaching, I coach all year round basically, be it baseball, football or basketball, with a bit of softball in there too, I have very few weeks where I am not working with one team or another. Coaching is really a passion of mine. Tonight for the first time though I felt almost helpless and almost physically sick to my stomach. I felt embarrassment, I felt failure, but I refuse to let those feelings consume me or even grab hold of me. Tomorrow is a new day and there is another game to prepare for this week. Tonight, frankly we were terrible. I won't go into the details, or the possible reasons for it. There is no room for excuses. But here are the facts: we turned the ball over way too often, we didn't make shots that we should of made, our decision making was terrible, and we didn't do the little things that teams must do to win. So now we are faced with a critical point in the season I feel. The team we face next is a good team and the odds are stacked against us. Does that mean we throw in the towel, just show up, and be content with just playing? I hope not. I hope that the young men come ready to work tomorrow, that they recognize that we are better than what we showed tonight and that us and only us can do anything about it. We need to practice harder! We need to quit making excuses and execute our game plan! We need to dig deep within ourselves and vow to do the little things! We must get better every day! Today's game is over, we must learn from it and move on. I believe that this team has its best days in front of it. One of the things I love about Michigan high school basketball is that when the season is over every team is still alive in the tournament. So our mission has to be that come March when it's district time we must be playing our best basketball. So boys, if you are reading this, let's be ready to go each and every day. Let's do the extra work in the mornings, before and after practice, and whenever and wherever we can to get to that point. It isn't about how you start it is how you finish.

"Natural talent only determines the limits of your potential. Its dedication and disciplining your life that makes you great." - Coach K (@CoachKWisdom)

Okay, now for the big news. Some may have already heard that we got our tentative court date for the adoption, February 3rd. I can't wait for that day when Maddex and Ella will officially and legally join the Koutz family for life. What is really cool too is that Maddex and Ella's older brother and sister are being adopted at the same time by my wife's brother and his wife. All 4 of these special kids will finally be legally and permanently bound to their forever family. It has been a long, hard road for such young children and it hasn't been the easiest for us adults either but oh has it ever been worth it. So on February 3rd around 3 o'clock or so. We will all be crammed into a courtroom (I have a feeling we may learn what it is like to be a sardine) celebrating together as one big family! I can't wait!  For my final thought tonight I am going to leave you with a quote that I posted back in October in an earlier blog. It is a summation of my take on adoption and my family.

"Our children are not ours because they share our genes, or because a piece of paper says they are. They are ours because they are a part of our soul. It was not an accident that they came into our lives. It was God's design that led them home. It was Him who placed them in our soul even before they were born." 

I'm back.......

Wow has it really been since Thanksgiving that I published a blog post? I guess so. Well I guess it is only fitting that I choose the eve of the start of our boys basketball season to post again. Tomorrow we start our season with a road trip to Ashley. I doubt that I will sleep a whole lot tonight. I seldom sleep much during basketball season anyway. Even though I am only an assistant coach I still over-analyze and go over and over our game plan and then pretty much every play after a game. I love it though. I am excited and anxious all at the same time. I can't wait for tip-off tomorrow.

I got a little bit of a teaser tonight though as I was able to watch the girls teams play. I hadn't been able to watch my daughter's first game last week so I made sure that I went tonight. Her team played pretty well and won by a sizable margin. I love watching my daughter play. I will actually get to see a lot more of her games this year then the past couple of years now that she is in high school.

I hope to do a better job of posting on a regular basis going forward. Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I leave you with a quote from the late Nelson Mandela.

Thankgiving

By the time I finish this post it will officially be Thanksgiving so I thought it would be appropriate to talk about my feelings on Thanksgiving.

Now anyone that knows me really well knows that I am not a big holiday person. I tend to be a little "bah humbug" no matter what the holiday is. The reason for this is that holidays have just become commercialized days that bring big profits to retailers. Family takes on less and less significance as retailers open earlier each year, to the point now that it seems more are opening on Thanksgiving night than are waiting till Friday morning. I prefer to stay home and do nothing on holidays. On Thanksgiving, I want to sit in front of my tv and watch the Lions (always hoping for a win, but usually disappointed) and eat a bunch of food with my family. Those are the only two things that really matter to me. I don't think Thanksgiving is really that different from any other day. I don't know about you but I am thankful everyday. A day doesn't go by that I am not thankful for something. I don't need to wait till November and then post each day something I am thankful for, and there is nothing wrong with that. Those of you who have done that and are doing that, good for you, I enjoy reading them, but it isn't for me. I want to be sure that I am thankful everyday. I am thankful for the ability to get out of my bed, no matter how painful it is. I am thankful for my wife, who as much as I am a sarcastic jerk to her some days, I could not live without. I am thankful for my kids, who make my life something new everyday. I am thankful for my entire family, without whom I would not be the man I am. I am thankful for my vehicles, my home, my clothes, and my possessions. Most of these things I could survive without if necessary, but they make life a lot easier than if I didn't have them. I am thankful that I live in the United States of America, the freedoms that we have should never be taken for granted. I am thankful for a lot of other things too, but most of all I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that he made for me.

We should be thankful everyday. I try to remember to thank the Lord everyday for his blessings, but sometimes I forget, which reminds me I am thankful that God is a forgiving god. What I fail to do is thank those people around me as much as I should, especially my wife and kids. I need to do a better job of showing and telling them my gratitude each day. So I want to challenge all of my readers to be more conscientious over this next year to show and tell your gratitude to others each and everyday. It doesn't have to be anymore than just saying thank you more often. It really isn't anything difficult. Let's not wait till next November to be thankful.

Philippians 4:5-7

New International Version (NIV)

5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

retrieved from www.biblegateway.com