A day in the life …

Baseball Practice

I love watching my kids have fun.  Tonight was the first time I’ve seen Gabe act like his old self at a practice.  The coach told me that he thought Gabe was probably the most improved player.  What the coach doesn’t realize is that Gabe didn’t “improve”, he just hadn’t found his spot yet.

Well, Gabe’s team had a scrimmage tonight.  I’ve been telling him to take the catcher’s gear with him, but he hasn’t wanted to.  Tonight, I insisted.  I figured it was better to have it and not use it than want it and not have it.  I was right.

Still Friends

Getting involved

I was thinking the other day about how sad I am, inordinately sad, about the end of baseball season. Every week since the first week of May, we have had games or other baseball related obligations a minimum of four days a week. I didn’t even do as much this year as I did last but it was certainly busier this season. We are looking forward to sitting down and doing nothing from approximately 6:00 p.m. until, oh, 6:15 or 6:30, for no other reason than because we can. We are all looking forward to doing stuff at home. Maybe we’ll even get the house ready for company. Still, I feel like the season went too fast and wasn’t very satisfying for anyone. Maybe I’m putting too much stock in the baseball season and need to put more stock in what else God has in mind for me.

OH! Speaking of company !!!

The other morning, I was sitting in the midst of debris from a vacation Bible school project we’ve been working on. All was quiet and peaceful and I was contemplating which place would be a good starting point on my incredibly long list of things to do. I was in my jammies, I hadn’t showered or brushed my teeth and hair or anything a person would normally do when someone is coming over. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. 8-0 The dogs started barking and going crazy. I walked, bowl of Grape Nuts in hand, to the front door and peered out the window. An old friend was standing out there. When I say “old”, I mean that in reference to her age, an age at which she would’ve certainly been raised to call first.

She hadn’t been able to reach me by phone so thought she’d stop by.

*People who do not leave voice mail messages will not have their calls returned!!!*

*People who do not leave voice mail messages should not complain that I’m hard to reach!!!*

I long to be the type of homemaker whose house is almost always guest ready. There’s a minimum level of clean and orderliness that is required for guest readiness and our home is not like that. Lately it is hardly owner ready. (One of the blessings of baseball season ending is that I will have evenings to return this house to a state of order and homeyness. Can you believe “homeyness” is a word?) I am not making excuses for my housekeeping. It is what it is at the moment.

So anyway, my dear old friend whom I care about, sat here and talked to me for a good 15 or 20 minutes. I was so embarrassed. I mean it is beyond just messy.

She finally left and once again I resolved to clean up the house and keep it clean. I resolved to start that tomorrow. Ha!

We used to love to have people over. It has been a long time since we’ve done any entertaining. I’m looking forward to doing it again sometime in life.

Vacation Bible School is this week. We’ve been constructing this week. It has been interesting and I’ll be glad when we’re finished. There’s always something satisfying about finishing a job. I hope the kids like it. I hope it doesn’t detract from the point of the room we’re decorating. I also hope it doesn’t fall down.

I have this tendency to see a project as one big giant worry producing monster rather than a bunch of smaller, more manageable projects. I have made that mistake with the VBS room decorating. It was overwhelming to start with. I would’ve said no if the boys hadn’t been so excited about helping. Thank God for boys who force me to get in there and do something! I don’t feel real thankful right now but I just keep thinking about how much fun they’ve had over the years when other people have gone to much more work than what we’re doing. All the same, I can’t wait to be finished.

Stuff to do:

Transport large multi-part monster to the church and set it up.

Build tent frame

Make signs

Load up, take to church and arrange everything

Oh, and something exciting happened in the life of one of the Little Guy’s buddies. His adoption was finalized this past week. Woo hoo!! His foster mother has kept that low key and told me yesterday that the boys (Little Guy’s friend and the friend’s bio brother) are finally theirs. Yay!!! Congratulations, friends!!! That sort of puts things into perspective.

Well, off I go to load up the Huge Thing to go to the church. Might as well get that done.

I’m really trying, hard as it may seem, to stay off the computer and do productive things. I hope my kids don’t develop the nasty habit of time wasting. Ah, the rewards of time well spent!

The Cringe

I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a catcher’s face this close up during a game. At any rate, I don’t remember ever seeing this expression on someone with all of that protective gear.

I thought it was necessary to leave the batter in the photo for context. The catcher isn’t cringing for no reason; the batter let go of the bat with one hand. The catcher was nailed by a thrown bat once so I suspect he was bracing for impact.

I got a kick out of the Spartan in the background during this game.  I’ve got about a zillion pictures to go through.  It would be interesting to do a montage of just him.

The big file.

Beautiful!