One Sleep Away...

(BIG—BIG—EXHALE) I am on the brink of a two week vacation. We are taking the boys to St. Louis for three days. The agenda is jammed packed with a water park, the city museums, Fitz’s Root Beer Factory, the zoo, and much more. The boys are pumped. On a side bar, this has been the best summer. The boys have been in heaven having Coach around. Practices, camps and shootouts seem like nothing when it’s only a four minute ride the gym. Last Sunday, we all jumped in Air force One, took a ride to the gym and brainstormed ideas to enhance the atmosphere. Here we are, all four of us, laying on the gym floor throwing out ideas. Justice said, “We should put in a spot light.” Cameron’s idea was, “Snacks.” Coach thought it would be really cool to paint the bleachers and I was looking at motivational ideas for the locker room. Believe me; we came up with a list. For the first time, in a long time, we are all genuinely excited. You can’t put a price on that. After we play hard with the boys for a few days—and recover—Coach and I will board a plane to the Dominican Republic. Yes, All inclusive-- Adults only--six golden apples--tropical paradise getaway! We went to the Dominican for our honeymoon nine short years ago and thought it would be a great place to venture back to for refection. Not to mention the crystal blue water and the sandy white beach. We both need this vacation more than any other trip we have taken. There is something about getting fired publically that makes days seem like years. Honestly, I am on empty. One a positive note, it only made Team Keene stronger. Sure seems like all these attempts to hurt our family really backfired. Anyhoo—Now, to work on my book selection for the beach and the pool….

NEW COAT, NEW LIFE

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is about Joseph. Joseph had eleven brothers. Joseph was very special to his father Jacob and he spent a great deal of time with him. So Jacob had a special robe made for Joseph. It was very beautiful and had every color you could imagine in it. All of Joseph's older brothers saw this and they got very jealous. They got so jealous they couldn't even say a kind word to him. One day Joseph had a dream, and he went to go tell his brothers. He said, "Guess what? Last night I had a strange dream. We were tying up bunches of grain out in the field when suddenly my bunch stood up, while all of yours gathered around and bowed to me." The brothers looked at each other in disgust, but Joseph continued. "Then I had another dream that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me." "Who do you think you are?" The brothers said. "Do you think that you are better than all of us? Do you think that we would ever bow down to you?" This made the brothers dislike Joseph even more. The brothers made a plan to kill Joseph. So when Joseph came to them, they took off his beautiful robe and they threw him in an empty well. A little while later a group of people came by that were wanting to sell some things in Egypt. One of the brothers spoke up, "Why don't we sell him to these people, this way we never have to see him again, and we don't have to kill him." The rest of the brothers took Joseph's beautiful robe and dipped it in animal blood and took it back to their father. When the father saw this he cried, "Some animal has killed my son." And he cried for many days, so much that nobody could comfort him. In our darkest hour, God has a plan. He had a plan for the Keene's. Look at Joseph--jealousy, enslaved, backstabbing, evilness, and jail--pretty grim circumstances for a child of God. Just like Joseph, the Keene's continued to pray. The last few months have been very difficult in our very public battle. I have tried to keep my emotions quiet, but I have publically cried more than most people understand. Mourning the loss of orange and blue has been touch and go daily, sometimes hourly. My 6 year old lost sleep, my two year old went from potty trained to diapers again--it was like a death in our family with a never ending public funeral. As for Coach, he’s been a rock---on the outside. This year has made us all stronger. Justice asks, "Mom, we will always love the IW girls, right?" Yes, Justice. "Mom, the girl’s didn’t fire daddy, right?" No, Justice. "I am going to miss them..." with big tears down his face. As for the four board members and a few other nameless souls, just like Joseph's brothers--they too had personal vendetta’s against a loyal family member. As Joseph continued to lean on God in times of hardship he was rewarded and eventually, as the story goes--BECAME KING! Like Joseph, we Keene's will continue to follow our dreams. I only hope that someday when IW needs something, like Joseph, Coach Keene will show you mercy unlike you did for him. God has JOSEPH-SIZE plans for the Keene's. Tick Tock......Looks like we have a new coat of many colors--ORANGE AND BLACK! P.S. Its better then we had ever imagined!