Baseball Season Begins

Well, this weekend was the opening weekend for our family for BASEBALL Season. Tanner, my 13 yr. old had a school game at 4:00 on Friday in Deer Creek, and then Sat., Macy (5 - 1/2) had a 10:00 soccer game; at the same time, Tanner had a 9:00 baseball game and Carson (12) had a 10:30 game. Then both boys had 6:30 games, but true to any tourney, they both started late - so we weren't home from the ballpark until about 9:30. The time change made getting up and going to church yesterday morning extremely difficult, but we did manage. And then we had baseball games from 1:30 until about 9:00 last night, because we kept winning! That's the crazy thing about winning........you are there the latest! So, sometimes its kind of nice to be the loser and get to go home early, but don't tell anyone else in my family I said that. Really, you can tell by this schedule, that we need another parent or two in the mix. Having four kids all playing sports is tough. Now I can kind of understand polygamy. As long as I could pick the wife........and only if she was willing to cook, clean, and drive kids around all day. Not sure why anyone in their right mind would sign up for that gig! It is kind of funny when you consider that polygamy doesn't go the other way. Notice there is no sane woman that wants more than ONE husband - Ha. Ha! That's because they are as much or more work than the kiddos! Sorry, all you husbands that might be reading this, but it is TRUE! I really am kidding about the whole polygamy thing - just a joke!

My husband and I had some good laughs while watching the 7 yr. old parents and coaches go crazy over their games. Now that our kids are older, we look back at how competitive we were when they were so little and we just laugh. You definitely get wiser as you get older. I used to be so competitive and thought it was such a big deal - win or lose. Now, I am just so grateful that my children are healthy and God has given them the ability to play sports at all! This knowledge has come through watching some of my friends' kids have illnesses that prevent them from playing. Last year there was a 12 yr. old boy at one of my son's games that was in a wheelchair with both arms and legs amputated (from elbow down and knees down) - He was in a uniform and cheering on his team. We found out that just the year before he had been one of the star players on their team and during the year (post season) he had gotten strep throat. They put him on antibiotics but apparently it was a different strain of strep that started attacking his main organs - heart, lungs, liver - so they had to give him something that directed the strep bacteria to his limbs, knowing that they would have to amputate. But this was the only way to save his life. Wow. To go from being a perfectly healthy, even athletic, 12 yr. old to a quadraplegic. Can you imagine how heartbreaking? But there he was, in his wheelchair, cheering all his teammates on! It brings tears to my eyes even thinking about it. That is why I am not so competitive anymore. Who cares if we win or lose? All that matters is that my kids are healthy and happy and able to play at all. I'm sure that the Lord has a very special plan for that little boy and his family. I bet they have touched so many lives and don't even know it. I know that they have definitely changed my outlook on life!