Good Luck, Jacob!

Well.....I just dropped off jacob at ODP State Soccer Camp. His tryouts/training has begun. We should know by the end of next week whether or not he will have been chosen for the Illinois ODP State team.

The line to check him in at NIU (Northern Illinois University) was HUGE!! We waited for a about an hour in line, and thankfully it was moving at a decent rate. Of course, the whole time we were in line, I was trying to figure out how Jake was going to manage all his stuff by himself. They gave all the players a checklist of stuff to bring....and that is all he brought. BUT, he still had a large duffle, his very heavy soccer bag, his jug of water, his bag of healthy snacks, his pillow and his blanket. We originally thought he could make two trips to his room. Leave half of his stuff in the lobby with me, go up and drop off the first load in his room....then come back for the second load. (They don't let parents up into the living quarters of the dorms.) That is what we did the first time he went to NIU for soccer camp two years ago. This time, they wouldn't let the parents into the building at all, and they were funneling the kids in with all their stuff so that there was no place to put anything down, let alone leave it unguarded for a while.

We tried to combine his stuff best we could so that he could maybe carry it. I tell you though, it would be a struggle for a grown man--let alone a 90 lb. kid!

Jacob looked miserable when I left him--outside in the heat, (about 85* so far....), sun beating down on him....the heavy soccer bag with filled jug of water crammed in the top on his back, his large duffle with snack bag balanced on the handle in his one hand, and his pillow tucked under his other arm. (We took his blanket from him....decided he'd rather just sleep with his sheet than carry the blanket, too!) Poor kid.

Then, he was going to have to drop off his stuff in his room, grab his soccer socks, shin guards, cleats, jug and soccer bag....and book it right back down to the lobby to meet for their walk to the training field for a 2 hour training session/evaluation.

This is it....
He has gone to tryouts once a month since January for the opportunity to go to this State Camp. We were thrilled he was invited. Two of his buddies from his club team are there too. I hope they all do well.

THEN....we have to pick them up early from ODP Camp, so that we can go straight to Indiana for the Region II Tournament that his club team has been invited to compete in. The U16 team in our club just won their Regionals this week, and are headed to the Nationals at the end of July. It is so exciting! They will be playing in Massachusetts. If Jake's team wins their Regional tournament, they'd be off to Nationals, too.

Time will tell the outcome to both of these big Soccer events in Jacob's life....
Please pray that Jake stays healthy and there are no injuries for him or his team.
I am tired just thinking about it!