Did you think I'd left the Planet?

Photo disclaimer....there will be no photos in this post. For some reason my computer is not reading my flash drive.

Well, so much for my New Year's resolution to try and update a few times a month. March seems like forever ago and there have been so many things I wish I had posted to our blog. Honestly sometimes it's the time it takes to upload pics that bogs me down. I just wish it was faster. And sometimes it's just life in general, thinking that I'll sit down and do it and then things keep popping up.

So I'll try to recap briefly. April and May were just baseball, baseball and more baseball. With the three boys all playing we were at the fields most week nights. All of them did great. Mark Thomas' team only won 2 games during the regular season but advanced through the brackets much to our surprise to play the best team in the league. We had them on the ropes and were up by several runs when Mark Thomas was put into pitch. He caught a pop up and threw the first runner out at first and then struck out the next batter. We thought we were golden. I was standing behind the bleachers praying and trying not to cry I was so nervous for T. Some sloppy errors and some not so great calls by the umps, missing two calls that should have been outs and well....we lost. It is nothing short of pure devastation and heartbreak to see your son want a victory so badly and not achieve it. We just tried to pump him up as best as we could and let him know he did great!

Ben's team also had a great year. He played for the best coach in the league, Coach Terry Falgout and we had a great time sitting in the bleachers every game with some super fun parents. Ben's team suffered a heart breaker too, just two days after Mark Thomas. One of the biggest issues in Little League is pitch count and we had bases loaded with our lead off hitter up to bat who had already hit two home runs in the season and one grand slam. The opposing pitcher had reached his pitch limit, we knew it, the press box knew it and so did the head coach but he did not remove him. We didn't protest immediately thinking we'd be able to pull out a victory but we didn't so a protest after the game did not put us back into the tournament. Our coach did an excellent job of communicating to the kids the importance of playing fairly and winning the right way. We all knew who the real winner was even if they didn't advance in the play offs. Sometimes winning is more about character development.

And Max's team advanced through the third round too. This was his first year in the Junior League and boy was it different. Such a drastic difference to Little League. The field was huge, same distances as a Major League field except for the distance to the home run fence. I felt like I needed binoculars to see him most days. He did well. Learning to hit with more confidence and field it in quickly since the batters had to book it to even have a chance to get on base and stay there.

May brought about the end of school for Mark Thomas and Max at St. Anne's. They had a great year and we just fell in love with the school community. May Crowning, worshipping during Mass; Mark Thomas was asked to read during closing Mass and he did a great job, and wonderful teachers and parents. It's a fabulous place to learn and grow and we're thankful the kids had the opportunity.

Ben and Ella finished up at Regina and had some fun field trips. Ben got his cell phone early so he could collect numbers for the summer and one day while I was at work he texted me to see if I could come get him early. I said yes that I had to pick up Ella for something so I'd get him when I got her and he said, "ok, I'm in Port Arthur by the playground, so look for me." Well to those of you unfamiliar with the area Port Arthur is not that close. I cracked up and immediately texted back saying, "sorry bud, you'll have to wait until the bus gets back to the school." My Ben.

Well June brought about additional change. Mark and I had been praying about discerning a new call for the last year or so and what that might look like for our family. God has faithfully provided a new call for us and we're excited about this new adventure. The kids are thrilled and that makes the transition so much easier. I'll be able to post within the next few weeks exactly where we're going. Just more red tape in this Presbytery. But if we still have readers and you're still awake at this point then we'd covet your prayers over the next few weeks and months as we transition into our new surroundings. We will be putting the house up for sale the first part of July and I will venture off to our new location so hopefully it can sell quickly without me stressing out about showing a home with 4 young inhabitants. Mark's last Sunday is slated to be the first Sunday in August and then we'll start at our new post middle of August after a week of vacation in Maryland.

So, updates, updates, updates. I will try to post more regularly and include some photos in the next post. The kids have changed a ton! Growing up too quickly for me.