Odessa, Odessa!

Luke, Grace, and I just returned from a fun week-end with the Wall's in Odessa. Ben was gone for the week to Camp Bandina, so we decided to load up the van and spend a few days with Trisha, Alex, Katy, Elijah, and baby Olivia. What fun we had! Our first stop was the pool; the kids had a great time! Olivia, Grace, and Elijah hung out in the baby pool, and the big kids splashed and swam in the big pool. (New Life purchased the Odessa Country Club last year as the site of their new church building. Their church members have completely renovated (and are renovating) this huge structure--an UNBELIEVABLE amount of work that Ben & Trisha have been in the middle of--whew! This pool is on the property.)
Grace & Elijah
Grace, Olivia, Katy, Elijah

After our pool party, Alex and Luke discovered that they share a favorite hobby--building Lego structures. They spent HOURS during the week-end building, taking apart, flying, and floating Lego boats, planes, rockets, etc. (Thanks for being a trooper, Trisha, and letting them fill and re-fill your kitchen sink for their floating contraptions.)
On Saturday, our initial plan was to spend the day outside--but the rain came down instead. So, the boys and Katy decided to have some rainy day fun outside. The boys (minus Katy) also decided to dig a hole and see if they could cover themselves in mud. The after-picture in the shower was taken AFTER most of the mud was washed off!

While the boys played outside, Grace and Olivia played inside; Olivia is a beautiful little girl, and Grace enjoyed both she and Katy (she especially enjoyed trying on their shoes!) A special thanks to Katy for letting us stay in your perfectly pink room; you are one of the most sweet, polite, lovely little girls I've ever known!
When it was time to go, we lined them all up outside for one last picture. What WONDERFUL children! We love them all!

On a personal note, it was a blessing for me to spend time with one of my dearest friends. We laughed, talked, cried, ate cookie dough, reminisced, and promised to continue to be in prayer for each other in the days ahead. She is the most rare kind of friend, one who inspires and gives courage. She has held my hand during some dark days, and she has always, always prayed for me. I love her dearly.

Worshipping at New Life with both she and Ben on Sunday felt like being home. I am always blessed when I am part of a service Ben leads--he speaks in poetry, and his words are always filled with hope. Sitting next to Trisha as we sang, communed, and listened was both familiar and very, very missed.

On a funny note, I also got to go to the Odessa Wal-Mart with Trisha late Saturday night. Trisha and I have this running joke about the joys of shopping at Wal-Mart late at night, which is when you will usually find us there. Long lines, lots of small children who are unsupervised and eating candy, cardboard boxes being unloaded, and a cross-section of humanity that always looks disheveled and unhappy. Yep, folks, that's late-night Wal-Mart.

HOWEVER, I will never, ever complain about my Wal-Mart again. I assure you, compared to the Odessa Wal-Mart, a visit to your local Mart looks like a stroll through Dillard's. The Odessa Wal-Mart was a sight to behold--extremely filthy, extremely disorganized, extremely haggard looking people, and the kind of long lines that make you want to grind your teeth to dust.
Wal-Mart Odessans, and Trisha, specifically, you have my sympathies.

We can't wait to see you again, and we look forward to your trip to Lubbock! Thank you for letting us share your week-end with you, and as always, thank you for your abundant love.
We love you guys!
Jana

Game 10 Report - Final Game

Well, last night was the Twins' final game. We were playing the Purple Diamondbacks. In an attempt to get all of the players who had not played pitcher a chance to do so, we were down to each player getting to pitch one batter. Not really, but we did have the catcher and the pitcher switch after one inning. (Seems like our games this year are very, very short. I can remember Luke batting 3 times a game the first year. He has only gotten to bat once each of his last two games.)

Our pitcher/catcher combo for this game was one of our more athletic kids and one who shows up and tries hard, but is one of our youngest and smallest kids. Guess which one got more outs? Yep, the smaller one. In one of those "who knew?" moments, he scoops up the ball and fires a direct throw to first. It wasn't the fastest throw I have ever seen, but it was right on target and our first baseman was able to scoop it up and make the out. He did that twice - one time the first baseman made a great play to keep after it and get the out. I was really glad for the pitcher. Like I say he is smaller than most of the other players - even those his age. His dad helps out coaching and is the most positive coach we have. He even cheers for the other batters. I pretty much left calling plays up to him and his son responded well.

We had a couple of other good defensive plays. Sort of makes you wish you had a few more games since everything was starting to really come together.

Both teams got three outs one inning, but the three they did was really set up by the umpire. Our batter clanked the T so hard the ball jumped out about 6 inches outside of the circle in front of the plate. Everyone sort of sat there since it was technically a foul ball. Everyone except the catcher, who had gone out to get the ball to hand it back to the ump. She suddenly says "run, run..." and he is pretty much standing on home plate with the ball. As soon as she did, you could tell by the look on her face that she knew she had messed up. Our runner on third didn't even have a chance to leave the bag before he was called out. She kind of looked at me with a "I'm sorry" look and I just waved it off. No point in getting worked up with one out left in the season. Some of the parents started to grumble, but I hope when they saw us just blow it off, decided to let it go too.

Our cube player got all the way around to third twice. This is a big deal since I cannot recall him getting to first without being thrown out once this year. (Did I mention he is not the quickest player we have?) He is also the one who ran to third the first game -- from home plate after hitting the ball. Progress!

I would love to show you some celebration pictures of the team with their medals, but our camera goofed up and the files were somehow bad. As Jana says: 100,000 pictures of plants we can recreate but once in a lifetime shots like last game of T-ball and Luke's kindergarten graduation, the camera messes up. We were both pretty sick over it!

After the game the team went to Mr. Gatti's and celebrated a great season. It was sort of bittersweet to think that next year Luke moves to coach pitch, but for now, we will continue to celebrate a great season!

Happy Birthday, Jana

Every once in a while, I plan to use this blog space to celebrate the significance of a life.

Tomorrow, my friend Jana Miller, is having a birthday. She is probably not all that excited about the actual event; watching the year roll around again is always somehow startling.

Jana shares her name with me, which is just one of the many reasons
why I like her. :-)

She was one of the first people I met when we moved to Tyler, and I liked her instantly.

She is a wonder to me--she is raising 6 children (aged 5 to 20), she is/has home-schooled them with creativity and diligence, she is a a beautiful decorator and seamstress (her house and garden could be in a magazine), she is a great cook (and makes a delicious homemade wheat bread and chocolate chip cookies), she has the gift of hospitality, she loves her husband, and she looks like she just turned 30.

Her best characteristic is her gentle spirit and her deep and very personal love for her Lord. He lives in her in very visible and lovely ways.

If you're out there, Jana, I hope you have a wonderful birthday with friends and family. The list of people who love and admire you is very long, and our family is certainly on that list.

I love you, friend!
The other Jana (or as they say in New Orleans, Jay-nuh!)

Game 9 Update

I am glad I did not decide to title these updates "Game x Highlights." Otherwise, this would be a pretty short post. No, it would be a very short post.

Luke had made it down the batting order to the sub section, meaning he would only play in the second half of the game. Today was VBS at church and because of this and the aforementioned sub situation, we decided for him to just go to VBS. The only caveat to the above mentioned sub situation is that if there were several players gone, we might need him to be there to play. OK, we DID need him to be there, since we only had 8 players.

I have mentioned before the quality of play of the Red Sox girls. Did I mention that they have a boy that can throw it on the fly to the first baseman from deep shortstop? Did I also mention that said boy was playing shortstop because the Red Sox coach felt sorry for us after said boy fielded and threw to first for the out our first three batters? Even the umpire said she had never seen a three up three down inning.

Our pitcher, the original coach's son, decided that he was going to try to run the runner down on every play. We tried and tried (his dad was right on the edge of being overboard in yelling at him) to get him to throw the ball, but never did get it to happen. If I coach next year, I am going to do a whole lot of things different from the start ... like insist that everyone learn to throw to first.

Needless to say, this was not our shining moment. We missed Luke and Teigan and just did not play well. Some days are like that.

Thursday is the last game ... we play the Purple Diamondbacks. Then off to the team party! Which, when all is said and done, isn't that the best part?

Game 8 Update

Hail the mighty Twins!!

Tonight we played the White White Sox -- this would have been the second game with them had we not been rained out last week. Here's what you need to know about them: They have a couple of big girls on their team -- actually the team has a lot of girls, although not as many as the Red Sox. Their big girls play very well. Their not as big girls and their guys are not quite as on the ball, like the pair that kept trading flowers and grass blades with one another out in left field. Their coach finally told the ump, "You go talk to them. I can't do any good." Neither could she, by the way. The White Sox run, but not endlessly and usually just took one base on an overthrow, which I could live with.

I could also live with it because we had all fourteen players show up (a first, I believe) and a good pitcher and a great, super-star, wonderful, smart, fast catcher. (Guess where Luke played tonight!?) They did not get all seven runs any innings and the above named catcher made 8 of 9 outs for us in the game. I had to call him off at one point and say "Luke, when the ball goes all the way out to the pitcher, let him get it, even if you are fast enough to grab it before he does..." They did get us out three times in two of their three innings, but we did get 7 one inning, so it was 1-0.

In all seriousness, the thing that made this so good is that they would hit the ball to Ben, the pitcher, most of the time, and then Ben would throw it to Luke (most of the time) and Luke would field it and touch home. I would guess they made outs on about a third to a fourth of the plays they tried, but they were close on all of them. The contrast of them playing like they were supposed to and last week's having to chase runners around was very refreshing. Luke made some really good fielding plays and also ran out, grabbed the ball, and then got back to home on a couple of occasions. In the three seasons we have played, there has come a moment in each season when you feel like the team had turned the corner and were starting to "get it." This was that game for us. I felt bad for the rest of the players, but Ben and Luke got the ball on all but about 4 hits all game. Teigan got the other out - a foot race from just about at second to third and if Teigan's in a foot race, you can guess who is going to win!!

The only thing that got me was during the first two innings, when no one was on first, I would tell Ben to field it and throw it to first. Our cube player was on first and would have to work hard to field it and get the out, but I was going to play it that way no matter what. Well, Ben would field it and throw it home. Each batter I would tell him again - Go to first. So the runner gets on third and I tell Ben to throw it home now. Guess what he does. Yep - straight shot to first. The third inning on the first batter Ben throws it home. Our other coaches start to yell at him to go to first and I just tell them leave him alone. They will eventually get to third and he will have had three batters of practice. Sometimes coaching is about out-thinking yourself, not the players!!

I was proud of our guys and I think the parents were really enjoying this game. It seemed like everyone was talking more and having a great time. It's hard to believe there are only two more games. We get the Red Sox again Saturday. I would love to "beat" them, just because it shows how far we have come from when we played them the second game of the season. They are fun to play and have great coaches, so I am looking forward to a fun game no matter what.

Joyland

Luke has said all year he wanted to do three things this summer: go to Joyland, go to Joyland, and finally, go to Joyland. If he got to do that, then the summer would be a success and he would be happy. For those of you who have not had the wonderful experience, Joyland is our local amusement park. It is fairly small -- more like a traveling carnival that doesn't travel. It's a nice addition to the things-to-do list and so since Jana's mom was staying the week, we decided to take advantage of her offer to keep Grace and accomplish Luke's sole goal for the summer.

Here's the results:








Did I mention that Jana does not like the queasy rides? Did I mention the only reason there is not a picture of me like this is that I won't even get on the queasy rides? (And Jana doesn't know how to use Photoshop?)

Game 7 Update

Game 7 was a big game. It was the one where Luke was pitching and his grandparents from Vernon were coming to town to see him pitch. I think they even changed their schedule to accommodate this game. Not a big deal, right?

Wrong! You see, because Game 6 was rained out and because the league is very careful to make sure everyone stays in a proper rotation, the lineup for the previous game was supposed to be the lineup for this game. I tried to go with the next game lineup, but got called back to the scorekeeper's box. Twice. Once to adjust the batting order and then the second time to change the player's positions. I just fessed up and told her that I had grandparents in to see my son pitch and I really did not want to face the wrath of the grandparents, my son, and my wife if I changed him to another position (like left field, which was where he was supposed to be). She thought about it for a minute and then said: "That's cool. I have grandparents too. Here, just put him here, and him here and Luke at pitcher. There. That's good enough for me." I don't even know what she did, but Luke pitched, so I was good.

The game went OK, but it was the orange team - the team that runs all of the time. Knowing this and knowing I had my star pitcher on the mound, I altered our strategy and gave him the green light to get out anyone he thought he could run down. I would have liked to continue the fundamental building strategy of throwing the ball to the first baseman, but this picture will give you an idea why I did not.


This is Luke heading to third to field a ball. If you will look, you can see our second baseman looking toward third, following the path of the ball and hence, the play. But, if you also notice, you can see our first baseman looking who knows where, but definitely not third base. Had Luke thrown to first, it would have ended up near the green snow cone stand you see in the background and their runner (this team runs, remember) would have been running all the way to home plate. I wasn't going to let that happen and even my parents who were frustrated at the fact we were not throwing to first were in agreement that you had to play this team this way.

It brought up an interesting conversation with the head of the league about incorporating a one base and stop rule. He was adamant that he did not want to do this because it did not teach our kids true baseball rules. If they want to stop the play, he said, they should just run back to the mound. Which, I pointed out, is also not a true baseball rule and so contradictory to what he was advocating. I said it nicer than it sounded here and he seemed caught off guard -- like he had not ever thought of that. The nice thing about all of this was that a couple of parents came up after the game and said I was doing a great job, so that made me feel better.

The game itself went well. Luke had two outs in each of the three innings we played, the team picked up the last one each inning. Teigan fielded a ball about even with third (his position), the runner had begun to run as soon as it was hit, and Teigan still caught him about 2 steps from home plate. That one was a fun play to watch. We didn't hit well and they had a good pitcher, so they also got three outs each inning. It was a tie, but it was also a very weird feeling game. To be honest, I really did not like playing this team because we changed strategy and then you start wanting to beat them so bad... Bring back the girls who beat us like a drum, at least I don't feel slimy when the game is over.

Here are a couple of more pics.



Next game, Thursday night.

Game 6 Update

Rained Out

CPS Morning

I had a "I'm really not a good mother" day.

I was leaving the house this morning to take Grace to her 18-month well-check/immunizations. I put her in her car seat, turned on the van & air conditioning because it was so hot, and then shut her door and turned to walk to the driver's side. As soon as the door slammed, I heard this loud "click." My daughter and my keys were now locked securely inside my idling van.

Aughhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I panic, yell to Luke to grab the phone and call Rob, and stand there looking helplessly into the van window. I KNOW we have an extra van key, but today, folks, it was nowhere to be found. And believe me, I ripped open every drawer in the room in about 2.7 seconds in order to find it. Although I knew Grace was in no immediate danger, I was in a panic. I dialed 911; the operator directed my call in Fire station #9, and within minutes, the firetruck, with its sirens blaring, rounded the corner.

I was crying by then, Luke was white as a sheet, and Grace was sitting happily in her car seat, taking on and off her shoes.

They popped the lock in less than a minute, and I profusely thanked them--embarrassed, relieved, so happy that we pay taxes in support of our fire department.

I'd like to say that that was the only really dumb thing I did today, but unfortunately, it was not.

Sigh.

I think God is especially merciful to mothers and small children.

Jana

More flowers

I know I have posted a picture of this plant before, but that was when it had just one flower. It is really starting to bloom now. The only problem is that it is a good foot and a half taller than everything else behind it. Oh well, maybe they will catch up by next spring.

You don't see that very often!

I almost think I should post this one back with the bunny pictures.

Luke has a book about horned-frogs that makes the rotation every once in a while. He and I have talked about how I used to find them as a kid at Mom and Pop's in Breckenridge, but that they are on the endangered list, although according to Texas Parks and Wildlife, they are just threatened. (I thought you could not find them anywhere, but according to this fellow, there are a few places that have them.)

Because of our conversations, I thought when he yells out to me from across the yard at the Bailey's that he caught a horned-frog, he was trying to make a regular lizard into one of those things he had seen in his book. Perhaps I should notify the author of the TCU Magazine article that the Bailey's house is also a place to catch horned-frogs. I have proof:


What is interesting about the Bailey's is that last time we were there we caught a snake. I don't have a picture of it, but I do have a picture of the tarantula he caught later on this evening. That's him in the jar... (The tarantula, not Luke.)


Maybe instead of a fireman/policeman, he should do something in animal sciences?

4th of July

The Bailey's invited us out to their house out in the country for the 4th. For those of you who don't know, Bob is Luke's favorite fireman - he is one of the inspectors here in town and is incredibly patient to tell Luke fireman stories. Luke thinks he hung the moon and also thinks it is pretty cool he carries a gun. I figure anyone who is in the "I want to be a fireman/policeman like Mr. Bailey" category is way up there in Luke's book.

Bob did not get to be with us because he was at the big fireworks show downtown, but a lot of his family and Susan's family were there. We grilled hamburgers and the kids played until dark and then we got to see fireworks pretty much all the way around us.

Susan was lamenting the fact that houses had been built around them so you could not see as well, but we thought it was an incredible view and really loved the chance to visit with their family.

Here is a picture of Grace decked out in her festive garb.

Half Birthdays

Well, I am a couple of days late posting this, but this past Monday, we celebrated Grace (and Luke's) half birthday. I have been saying Grace is 18 months for at least 4 months now, so it seems fitting she has finally caught up with me. I am having a bit harder time thinking that in 4 1/2 months, I will have a 7 year old.

We had cake - half cakes, of course - and 1 1/2 and 6 1/2 candles. Luke got to decorate his cake. The one he is holding here is Grace's. It was a fun time!

Nice Hat!

Interesting news

I read two articles this week that made me wonder more and more about what the future holds for my physical body. The first, in today's Wall Street Journal, dealt with the long-term effects of depression on the brain. Scientists have linked episodes of depression in mid-life to increased cases of dementia and alzheimer's in later life. I got depressed just reading about it. OH, NO . . .

The second article, posted on CNN.com, was titled something like "Beauty after 40." Since I will be turning 40 this year, I clicked on the link, thinking I might read some skincare or makeup tips. Instead, there was a cartoon image of a woman with a moustache, which apparently is one of the many interesting physical changes we women will get to enjoy in abundance in our later years. The other changes include: an increase in facial hair ALL OVER the face, which the writer describes as thick peach fuzz. As we age, this fuzz will become dramatically heavier, especially on the chin and above the lip. The article suggested to avoid wearing make-up base, as the creamy liquid will mat in the hair. Lovely. As your lumberjack appearance is developing, the hair on your eyebrows and head will begin to thin. (On a very funny note, the author mentioned a follicle transplant surgery you could undergo. Hair follicles from the back of your head are transplanted into your eyebrows. This is a great solution, except that since your eyebrow hair is now head hair, it will grow like hair, and you will have to begin giving your eyebrows regular "haircuts.")

Additionally, you can expect your ears and nose to continue to grow, eventually becoming disproportionate to the rest of your facial features. Sun damage and inadequate skincare will make these features even more misshapen. And have you heard the phrase "long in the tooth"? This, too, applies to beauty after 40. Your gums will begin to recede (no matter how many trips you have made to the dentist), and your teeth will appear to be bigger with each passing year. (For someone like me who already has big teeth, this change will make me look like one of those caricatures you can pay to have drawn of yourself at places like Six Flags. Think BIG TEETH.)

All in all, after the age of 40, apparently we women cease to look like women and begin to increasingly resemble werewolves. It won't be pretty, girls, but at least we'll have our senses of humor!

Jana

The unloading zone

Have we mentioned that Grace has just enthusiastically entered the unloading zone? You remember this phase--your child walks behind you and unloads everything you have most recently organized or put away. Today she unloaded a box of pictures, organized by date, that were waiting to be put in a photo album. She especially had fun taking apart, and scattering throughout the house, all those nice brown shiny strips of negatives. They do make fabulous toys, especially when you try to rip them apart.

She then found a box of multi-colored envelopes, and my, those are equally fun. They bend, fold, and tear. Woo-hoo!

And how about the unfolded clean clothes in the laundry basket. Toss those wrinkled things over your shoulder, throw them in the air, and try to put on brother's white undies. Very fun!

And let's not forget the kitchen. It is a treasure trove of items waiting to find a new home. All those plastic serving bowls are especially fun, and when you drop several at a time, they make a nice loud pinging noise.

Bonus: watch the Mama jump when you pull out an entire drawer. The Mama especially loves that.

The unloading zone is a great place to visit--but I'm glad we don't have to live their forever.
That Grace is a fun girl; I sure do love her! :-)

Jana

P.S. Against Luke's judgment, I rented The Apple Dumpling Gang for us to watch on movie night (Walt Disney, 1976). He didn't think it sounded very good at all, but it was one of the first movies I ever remember seeing, and I promised him he would like it. Thankfully, I was right. He laughed OUT LOUD for almost the entire film. Watching him was worth every penny of the rental.