Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Summer and the "SHOULD DO LIST"

As I was running this morning I started to think about how fast summer is going by and then realized that even the second part of my summer is full already. With just 5 weeks before schools starts up again, my second part of summer is already taken up....
with one more baseball tournament, a church camp, and an IFL-Reformation Tour to Germany, Turkey, and Austria!

Where has the time gone? And how come my TO DO LIST never got pulled out this summer.

Things I should try to do before school starts again, but probably won't....
1) Rest
2) Visit Grandparents (some far and some near)
3) Clean Out All Cabinets in the house
4) Paint my living room
5) Paint the shed and make it look nice
6) Clean out the Office (this one I have been thinking about doing this week)
7) Go on a date with my husband
8) Go to Six Flags
9) Redo the flowerbeds (hey, I have weeded them a few times this summer)
10) Read a good book

So, I hope I do get at least 3 of these done before school starts! That would make me feel somewhat better, but we will see:-) But I do know something I have done this summer that I am so glad we have done....are these baseball tournaments and our spontaneous trip to Florida. These two things have been great for my family! Been spending lots of time with my husband and babies and these are far more important that all the organizational things on my SHOULD DO LIST;-)

Saturday, July 10, 2010

The Signs of Our God and Answered Prayers

If any of you keep up with my facebook, you would have noticed that the last 4-5months of my life has been consumed of little league baseball! With two boys, Zander-8yrs old and Gabe-6yrs old, we have been to alot of practices, games, and tournaments! And I must say it has been ALOT OF FUN!

This past week, my oldest son Zander played in the Dixie 8U Coach Pitch State Tournament! His team is amazing and Zander has played his heart out all year long! He has a very successful year. He has hit 6 HRs! He is an amazing First Basemen! And he and his teammates NEVER QUIT!

The double elimination tournament started last Saturday. We played 6 games before advancing into the Championship game. We won our bracket and Prosper (a rivalry team just 15minutes away from Gunter---that several friends play on) won their bracket. The championship game was played on Saturday. It was a best two out of three game series.

So Wednesday morning, we played game one! We lost 5-3. We had cold bats and our defense was still in bed, it seemed. Bad news though! Not only did we lose, but rain was headed our way. The Dixie League Commissioner had said if our next games were rained out, that Prosper would automatically be the State Champs (for the THIRD TIME). Our first game was at 9:30 but our next games was scheduled for 5pm and 7:30pm. At 2:00 we all were in the hotel lobbies feeding the kids SPARKS energy drinks and oranges and watching the storms approaching the area. There was an 80% chance of thunderstorms!

At this moment I begin to tell the boys and Zander...to pray! Pray that the good Lord will give you the opportunity to play the next two games....give you a chance at winning the STATE TITLE!


My own personal prayer was...."Dear Lord, these boys worked very hard for this! Please be BIG and show them how you can work for them in this silly little game of baseball. Keep the rain away! And if it be your will....may they win this!"

We began our games at 4:30 since it was obvious the rain was just minutes away! And let me just tell you....it was so amazing just looking at those clouds. There were rain clouds on every side of us...but blue skies above us! Not only for game 2 but game 3 too!! It was as the Lord opened the skies so we could play ball right there on that field for 4hours! And would you know...we WON!!!! Our boys won game TWO 15-14 and game THREE 8-5. It was so exciting and so fun!

After the game...we were in the car driving and talking and discussing the game! At one moment I looked at Zander and asked "Did you pray?" and he replied YES... and I told him "that none of this could be possible without the Lord. He gets the Glory for win! He gave you the gifts and talents and the heart and drive to play good ball. And Zander did you realize, there was a 80% chance of rain today?" He said "Yes, Mom...it was supposed to rain but not a single drop fell.." At that moment...we saw two rainbows out of our car window. WOW! I said "Look Zander! Just another sign that God is in control!". We then start talking about rainbows, the FLOOD, etc. Then right then and there we see a diesel truck that is completely covered with signs that say JESUS CHRIST IS LORD! GOD IS IN CONTROL!

Now let me tell you....I have never seen a diesel truck with anything such thing written on it....and the timeliness of seeing this one rare truck was not accident! I know my God is in control! And I know He answers prayers in a big way! But on that big game day, I sure did appreciate how God totally showed my Zander how He was in control and He does answer prayers! There is no doubt in my mind or heart that Zander understands that now!

Now on to the WORLD SERIES:-)