The Boys of Summer

It was an incredible weekend of baseball!

The Bombers went 1-1 in pool play, not the start we were hoping for, but the boys worked through it. Our bracket play started 10:45 on Sunday morning, the sunshine was plentiful, already a toasty 81 degrees and climbing, and a slight breeze blowing. Our boys didn't care they were on a mission - make it through 3 games then to the Championship Game at 7:00.

First on the list the Arkansas Bearcats. Our bats were on fire, the boys blazed by them, 18-2 in three innings, run rule in effect, game over. One down 2 more to go.

Our second game of the day started at 2:30. We had seen this team before, a scrappy little team from Fort Smith. They had us down 5-0 until the bottom of the third. Then with two outs #50 steps up to the plate, he turns to the third base coach for any last minute advice, "step in there and swing the bat." With his teammates looking and waiting he steps into the box, one foot in, both feet in, back foot digs in, pitcher throws his fast ball, bad move, Bryce turns perfectly on it, ping the ball is over the left field fence, it is outta here! Two run home run. We're rallying back, we ended the inning 8-5 and held them for the rest of the game. Two down, one more to go.

It's 4:45 next up the Dragons. This team is a good team, full of talent, good pitchers and hot bats, however their coaches struggle getting them to play as a team. Each player wants to be number one, you don't win ballgames with that attitude. Kyler gets the call to pitch this one. He's ready, he knows what's on the line. They have to win this one to make it to the Championship Game. He knows is job, throw strikes, no junk, if they hit it the defence will back him up. That's what he did they shut them down 14-2. Our boys bats were smokin hot! They were hitting the ball all over the diamond! They did it, three wins in a row! They made it to the championship game!

The sun was setting, and the temperature was beginning to fall and the breeze was picking up. Game time 7:00 under the canopy of the lights. Magtel Twisters were coming into this game undefeated for the tournament. The knew the journey we had to get here, and they had saved their best pitchers or our boys. Bombers win the coin toss, home team. Top of the first, not our best effort, the boys allow 5 runs to score before getting three outs. We start to chip away one or two runs an inning, but our defence was wearing down mentally. They never recovered, final score 15-13. Second place.

Even though it wasn't a first place victory when the dust settles on home plate and after all the pitches, catches, hits, stolen bases, fly balls, line drives, and home runs are over, our boys of summer can look back and remember that they beat the odds, made it the big game, and did it all as a team.

For Rene

Rene...I have been in your shoes, not wanting to go back to work full time. Let's be honest it stinks and for the record Gloria Steinem is not my hero. I don't have any wise words of advice for you and you didn't even ask for my opinion anyway, but I feel you need someone to tell you that it will be alright if you have to go back to work.
Don't think of it as a punishment, you have to think of it as a your mission field. If this is what your path is suppose to be God will place you in the right job where you can be a blessing to someone. He will open the door at a great child care center for Tatum & Evan, where someone there can be a blessing to you if you let them. That's the key, you have to allow someone to bless you. Yes, it is our job as parents "to bring our children up in the way of the Lord", nowhere does He say that you can't have help.
God will provide a way for you and your family to prosper, it may not be your way or even a way that you would prefer, it's just HIS WAY.
I hope you have found some comfort in the above words and know that I will continue to keep you and your family in my prayers...love & peace, Nikki.

P.S. You asked me what I did for a living...I am a Property Manager for a commercial real estate firm.

They Don't Get It

Why do people think they have the right to tell you how to raise your children?
I had a conversation with a partner in the company that I work for today and he said that "we need to get rid of all the baseball. It takes up to much of our time." We started in March, we have our state tournament this weekend and the World Series in July, which is a week long event. I immediately asked him, "Why? It's only the three of us. Kyler loves it. Why should we get rid of it?" He had no real answer and just said, "He didn't get it."
Then I started to think about how some people don't get it, as they would say, "let baseball consume our lives" and others, our friends and family, who know Kyler completely understand that we did not push him into baseball he pushed us.
Kyler loves baseball. It's in his DNA. Without any prompting from us, when he was about 3 years old we would come home from preschool and he would get his little backpack with his tee ball bat & glove and go out to the back yard for his “bayball practice.” My parents had gotten him a little pitch back for his birthday and he would spend about an hour a day in the back yard hitting and throwing tee balls into this pitch back. He always worked on both fielding & hitting!
He never wanted to watch cartoons only ESPN. He learned his letters by watching ESPN’s Bottom Line. He would go to Pre-school and tell his teachers that Albert had 3 RBI’s last night or that Matt Morris has an ERA of 3.6. They would just smile, they had no idea what he was talking about.
I have stopped trying to justify our life and our choices regarding sports to everyone else. We have never forced Kyler to play anything. We have always said if you want to try something then "you play the season through and quitting is not an option, no matter what."
The lessons he has learned from playing sports and being part of a team are unmeasurable. He knows that you don't win all the time, there is a winner and a loser. If you don't win then you practice harder and you get better. He knows what it means to trust his teammates and for them to trust him, how to take directions, be a good sport and encourage others, how to be responsible for his actions and the effects of those actions. He also understands the result of hard work, determination and perseverance. As another season wraps up his team is currently #1 in Arkansas out of 33 teams, #26 in the nation out of 904 teams (at one point they were #1), they have an over all record of 34-5, scoring 446 runs and only allowing their opponents to score 149 against them, looking back it as been a great season!
Some people won't ever get it and that's alright, I don't expect them to. I'm not telling anyone to do what we do. I just wish they would show us the same courtesy. In the meantime we will continue to go to "bayball practice."

Her Faith

This morning my best friend called me and asked me to say a prayer for them. Christy and Tim have five children under the age of ten and so my first response was "What happened? What's wrong?" She quickly assured me that nothing was wrong and proceeded to tell me that the owner of the house that they have been looking at to buy came by their house last night and wanted to discuss house swapping with them.

They put an offer in on this house months ago, it is exactly what they need; more square footage, unbelievable kitchen, fenced backyard, better location. So, the negations began, but to no avail they couldn't come to an agreement. Christy kept thinking that is our house somehow this is going to work out, but refused to get her hopes up. So, I'm doing what she asked and I am praying and believing with her and her family that this is their house and if it doesn't work out she will keep her faith, she will be content in what she has, and know that according to Philippians 4:19, "my God will liberally supply; fill to the full, your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

My Value

One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 31:10, A capable, intelligent, and a virtuous woman--who is he who can find her? She is far more precious than jewels and her value is far above rubies or pearls. It reminds me of my past, my present, and my future.
After our second first date (that's a story for a different day) when Kevin asked me out again the conversation went something like this:

"Maybe we can do this again sometime?"

"Sure."

“Great! I’ll pick you up in the morning.”
“What? Where do you want to go in the morning?”
“Church. Nikki, I won’t date someone who won’t go to church with me. I have been down that path before and it never works out. So, what do you say?”
“What time?”
“I’ll be here at 9:30”
“See you in the morning.”

I had been raised in a Christian home. I knew God, Jesus, Mary, Noah, Moses, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I knew most of the stories and all of the rules. I knew right from wrong. However, for the years prior to this date I had been making horrible choices, forgetting what I was taught, and doing what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it. It wasn't until that night that I had even thought about the results of my bad choices or where my life was going or not going in this case.

My life was a toxic waste dump and I was the waste; nothing of purpose, nothing of worth, nothing of value. For most people having to put on the the HazMat suit before they came around me was just to much work. In the middle of this dump I was calling my life, Kevin saw my value. He ignored all the warning signs and entered the dump without a suit, not even a mask. He didn't care about my past; what I had done, the wrong choices, the wrong relationships, the wrong friends, the wrong places. He only cared about my future and it started at 9:30, Sunday, August 4, 1996.

Among all the trash, sewage, and muck he saw my worth when no one else wanted to look. I have said many times that I owe my life to him. I would still be in the dump if it wasn't for Kevin. Four months later we were married and twelve years and one child later he is still showing me that I am more precious than jewels, more valuable than rubies and pearls, even when others or myself may not think so.

How can I begin to repay him for changing my life forever? The answer is in Proverbs 31:12, "She comforts, encourages, and does him only good as long as there is life within her."