LET'S PLAY BALL...

We about 3/4 of the way through softball season and it's been a blast!  Bailey has shown some really good improvement over last year.  She's getting better at hitting the ball as well as fielding (when she's not too busy talking with another player in the outfield :0). Wish you all could be here to be a part of the fun.  Hopefully the video and pictures help you join in on the experience :0)  Enjoy!

Brother enjoys the games as well :)

NO PICTURES...JUST LOTS OF PRAISE...

We all have things that we do, almost second nature without even thinking.  For me, there are things that I do when I'm driving, that are second nature...a habit.  Today, I was driving my family to the park; in order to get to this particular park, I have to drive onto a major road about a mile from our house.  At this intersection, whenever I turn left, my second nature is always the same:  I look to the left to see if it's safe to turn and, if it is, I look quickly to the right to make sure the turn lane (in the middle of the road) is clear and then pull out.  I've had to have made that turn a hundred times and each time I tell you... I do it the same way.  Check to the left, check to the right and pull out.

Today, God reached down and turned my head the other direction.  Had He not, I truly believe that neither myself nor my son would be alive tonight.  I question if Tom and Bailey would have made it through...possibly, but only with severe injuries.  Because today, when I looked to the left, it was clear...there was big pick-up truck slowing down to turn onto our street; when I looked to the right...it was clear.  And so, I pulled out...but then, God turned my head back to the left and I saw a very light blue car going at least 60mph fly past the truck and while I remember hitting the breaks, I will tell you that I don't know how I reacted so quickly.  How I moved my foot from pushing the gas to pushing the break... so hard that Bailey commented that the jolt from the stop hurt her neck.  He would have hit us, had I pulled into the turn lane.  He would have t-boned our vehicle and, I believe, hit our van right in between my door and Brandon's door.

So...no pictures today.  But lots of on my knees, thanking God, tears streaming down my face....praise.

RAISING A MAN...

I was putting Brandon to sleep a few weeks back with the routine that we've fallen into: bottle, followed by a bath at least 30 minutes later (because he spits up), and then pj's and bed.  His room is dark, the purifier (which also works for white noise) is on and I stand by his crib and rock him to sleep.  It's such a sweet time.  I use the rocker in his room from time to time during the day, but at night (maybe it's because I'm afraid that I won't be able to get up from the rocker :), I stand and hold him...rocking him as I stand.  I know that I should probably try putting him down before he falls asleep, but I also know that soon (much faster than I want) he will be too big and too heavy for me to hold and rock so...for now, I hold him and rock him to sleep.

While I'm rocking him, I take the opportunity to praise God for both our little miracles.  I thank Him for them and then I ask for His blessing over their lives.  I ask for specifics regarding their futures and then I pray for their spouses.  Something I know that my mother did, for the three of us, from very early on.  A prayer that I am very thankful for.  A walk with Christ that I am grateful to my mother for...one which I plan to pass along to my children so that when they rock their babies to sleep, they pray over not only them...but for their spouses as well.

On this night, a few weeks back, I was suddenly struck by the realization that...I was raising a man.  Funny how hard this hit me that particular night. We are raising a man. Maybe it's because I am a woman and I know just how important a good man is but, on that night, that realization burned deep into my soul.  A man.  I am raising a man.  This little guy, who turned 5 months old today, the baby who loves to grab at his toes and stick out his tongue while he licks his lips, the baby who gives me open mouth kisses, who looks for his sister when I ask him "where's sissy?" and the baby whose just discovered that those things on his hands?  Yeah, they're fingers :)  Cracks me up even as I'm typing this, he will stare at his fingers like they are the most amazing things anyone has every seen.  He holds his hand up and opens it wide (which he really just figured out how to do in these last few weeks, up until that point they were always in a fist) and he'll take one hand and gently  hold and study a finger on the other hand.  It really it something so sweet to watch.  This little baby will one day be a man.  A man who will love a woman, a man who will raise a family and a man who (I pray) will impact others for Christ.  A man.... we are raising a man.

Two new "tricks"....grabbing his toes and
licking his lips :)