Friendships and Baseball

A few weeks ago I shared on here that my heart was broken over a situation.  I can now share that my heart was/is broken over the fact that Jonathan, Suzanne, and their kiddos are leaving Marion.  She shared the news with me weeks ago and I have had to grieve with just a few dear friends because it was very hush hush per the Methodist church. 

God has big plans for the Jonas family as they move to Bristol.  The only sweetness about this move is that their new house is only 36 minutes from my house and they still will be near their extended families.  I know our family friendships will remain, but we will miss Jonathan as the pastor of FUMC and he is kind of, sort of my boss.  Sigh. 

All of our hearts have been heavy about this move, so last night several families got together for some BBQ, playtime, and smores.  It was exactly what we all needed.  My stomach muscles are actually sore from laughing.  God has woven together some special friendships that a few miles cannot separate. 

 

Roasting some smores.  Dave was the roasting man!  He did them perfectly:)  I also didn't know until last night that you can substitute a reese cup for a hershey bar in the middle of the smore.  Oh my word....

The boys got a big kick out of playing baseball-daddies versus boys.  We women just sat and laughed at them.  The men were beating the boys and then some little boys jumped ship to be on the winning team!  Ha!

Daddy's in the field.....

Sydney, Hope and Sage watching the game from the trampoline! 

We have a lot of kids amongst us all and here is the boys team:) I was doing fine last night until Suzanne took us into Sage's nursery to show us some new clothes she got her and I saw that she had packed up some of her stuff.  We have all had some special and fun times together in the parsonage. 

Before our our smores party, we had two baseball games.  Kyle's team played a heartbreaker yesterday and lost in extra innings by one point.  It happens and it hurts, but that is why sports are so important.  You have to win and lose with grace and class.  Kyle is a competitive kid and takes every loss very hard. 

Kyle's friend, Luke started the game pitching and did a great job before pitching out for the day.  Little League is very restrictive about how many pitches each kid can throw.  Kyle came in mid-game and finished it up.  He too did a good job under pressure and it was a low scoring game.  He keeps him cool better than his Momma does:)

Before Kyle's game this little enthusastic tballer had a game!  It is hilarious and exhausting to coach this age group.  She loves every minute of it and here she is in the "ready" position. 

 

We stress to all of our kiddos how important service to others is.  One of the ways that Kyle has really jumped in an served this year is at the Little League field.  He and I often do a weekly rotation in the concession stand to raise money for the program.  Here he is patiently counting out dimes, nickels, and quarters that some cute little kid plopped down on the counter.  The kid wanted to know what he could buy with this and Kyle helped him count it out and make a purchase.  Kyle has also helped rake the field, run the scoreboard, help in concesions, and he actually umpired a game (bases not behind the plate) Friday night. 

 

This week is a we bit stressful in our household.  SOL season is up on us (sigh) and David has one tomorrow, Kyle has one coming up and is already starting to prepare, and Mike has a stressful week at work with some travel and some public meetings.  With good friends, baseball for stress relief, and a living and awesome God we will get through it all:)  Happy Sunday!