Ballgames and Bears

It is offically baseball season here in our household. Mike is coaching Kyle's baseball team and I am "coaching" Hope's Tball team. This past Saturday was Little League Opening Day and we had such fun!

David and Hope before her first game. I could barely stand the cuteness! For many years I have been helping Kyle find his cup, his heart guard, and get all his gear ready. This past Saturday was the first time that the only prep we needed was to match her hairbow to her uniform. She was so excited!!!

Another thrill for Hope this weekend was Adventure Bear. It was finally her turn to bring him home for the weekend from preschool. She took him everywhere with us-he even sat in the dugout!

Hope may love princesses, lip gloss, and ballet, but she was so excited to get out there and play ball! I love it!

She just wants to do everything right:) At one point she was rounding the bases and she splatted in the mud. I really thought her career might be over but she hopped up and was excited that I could use the special soap that I use on Kyle's white baseball pants to clean her clothes! I use Fels Naptha soap on Kyles:)

GG and Pops came down to catch both games and we enjoyed a Mexican lunch between games. Later in the afternoon Kyle had his first Little League game. Between his travel team and his Little League team he played five baseball games this weekend.

I tseems like yesterday Kyle played Tball and now this is his last year of Little League. I am stunned how fast time is going by.

Kyle pitched a little on Saturday which made him very happy!

I love this picture of Mike and Kyle.

Life is going at a pretty fast pace these days. David has his scan this Friday which of course has sent me into nervous mode. I know our God is bigger than cancer, relapses, and Creatinine levels. I trust in His plan always, but these never get easier. Thank you dear friends and prayer warriors for your prayers for us this week.

God's Not Dead!

Last week our whole family went to see God's Not Dead! It was an AMAZING movie and though some parts of it went over Hope and Dave's head, they enjoyed it as much as we did. I highly recommend this movie and if you need someone to sing the theme song to you by Newsboys, then we have got you covered. Hope and Dave love it!

I am so thankful that I love and serve a living God and that He is living on the inside and roaring like a lion. This week has had its fair share of drama and stress, but as always God has gotten us through and reminded us that he is alive and active in our lives. I just need to remember to slow down so I can see His handiwork.

During David's treatment I saw his handiwork everywhere because 1) I was desperate for him to sustain me. I was praying, reading the bible, and worshipping him with all that I had out of a desperate need for him. 2) My life was at a much calmer pace. Our only schedule was David's chemo and we were quiet and still a lot while he rested. My calendar was not book at all during those months except for clinic and chemo. With those two factors I could see Him so clearly. That time was the most stressful and scary time of my life, yet spiritually it was a mountaintop experience because I felt Him so strongly. I will never ever question His presence in my life again.

This week has been full of baseball for Hope and Kyle!

Hope wanted a picture of her new bunny "Rapunzel" to make an appearance on the blog, so meet the newest furry friend in our family.  She just HAD to have the tutu to go with it. 

 

 

Hope had her first Tball practice this week.  She was so excited to leave her dusty cleats outside on the front porch with Kyle's.  She is loving Tball.  Her team is full of cute girls and I am the head coach.  Well let me clarify, on paper I am the head coach but thankfully another mom has a clue about baseball and runs the show!  I am so thankful for her!!

Tonight Hope had a little scrimmage against the other four year old team.  Here she is in the dugout getting ready to hit!  I can barely stand the cuteness. 

Big girl up to bat!  It is so cute to see Mike help me coach all these little girls.  Hope was so excited tonight that her brothers had to come to the field to watch her practice.  Saturday is Little League opening day and she has her first official game this Saturday!!!  I love seeing her excited about a new activity.  She still loves her ballet but we can now add Tball to her list. 

Fashion for a Cause!

It has been such a fun few days around here.  Friday morning we started the fun with the Teddy Bear picnic for letter T at preschool.  This little girl was so excited for that fun event at preschool. 

This class of cuties will be heading to the big kindergarten next year!!

Friday after school we loaded up and headed to Radford to visit with family.  One of my grandmothers is in a new apartment and we went by to see her.  We then headed to the nursing home to visit my other grandmother.  She is really doing awesome and loves her Hospice nurses. 

Saturday morning we loaded up with GG and Pops to head to Charlottesville for a fun reason-a fashion show!  Belk is a new partner with UVA Children's Hospital and they put on a fashion show with lots of kids and five Miracle Kids! Pops was our driver and GG helped me get Rock Star David ready for the show.  Miracle Kids were allowed to wander around the store and pick out whatever outfit they wanted to model for the show.  David started with the Under Armour section but then he decided to go dressy and he really wanted to wear a sport coat! Here he is with Mr. Ryan checking out the awesome selection at Belk!

Under Armor has some new dressy shorts for boys that are awesome and we tried those on with a Under Armor golf shirt.  I really loved this outfit and thought he looked so cute and sporty.  He liked this one but the really wanted to go dressy. 

If you think this looks fun it really was except that it was HARD WORK!  We were sweating and working hard in the dressing room with David who only wanted to dance in the dressing room in front of all those mirrors.  The price tags stressed him out but we could not take them off until we knew that it fit properly.  I could not have done it without Pops (our driver for the day) and GG (who scoured the store for Dave's sizes).  It took a village to get this dude looking awesome!  Children with Down Syndrome have short arms and legs and it is difficult to get clothes to fit properly. 

Here are four of the Miracle Kids with Dr. Druzgall and Mr. Ryan.  I love that Tyler and David are watching her so intently.  She is one of the four awesome pediatric hematology/oncology doctors on our team.  All of us were commenting that it was so fun to come together for a fun reason instead of meeting up at clinic.  We have truly met some amazing families through this journey and we are so apprective of their support.  They speak our language and know first hand the fears that we all hide behind our smiles.  We are so proud of our kids. 

Here comes Rock Star for the show!  He did AWESOME!  He looked so handsome in his gray slacks, blue shirt, tie, navy sports coat and black belt.  It would have taken me hours to have put this together but GG used her shopping talents to whip it together!

Krissy Pitts is Mom to sweet Anna (on her hip) and Grace.  Tyler is standing behind David!  Anna recently finished her treatment for Leukemia and Tyler is in the middle of his treatment.  We had such fun with these families! 

Striking the sassy pose!  Amazingly the Miracle Kids got to keep the clothes they modeled up to $100!  Thank you Belk for not only blessing us with new clothes, but for a fun day to raise money and awareness for UVA Children's Hospital.  What an awesome day!

 

Today Kyle was suppose to head to Kingsport for a baseball tourney-clearly it was cancelled when we woke up to more snow.  This is the winter that will never end!!!!  After our busy and fun two days I am thankful for a day of rest at home!  Have a great week!