Doing Hard Things

To some these may all be pictures of some kids and Tyler playing baseball. No big deal. But to me, I get tears in my eyes looking at them. These are such a testimony to me of God's faithfulness! This was the very first real baseball game Tyler has ever played in. Some of you may know the struggle that lead up to this day, but for those who don't let me assure you, it was a struggle!! Tyler really wanted to sign up for baseball and was excited when we did. That all changed when it actually started and it was much harder than he expected it to be. That was it for him and he wanted out! I tried to encourage him that this was going to be a great opportunity for him to experience God's faithfulness to him to get him through this season. But let me tell you, I got to a point where I was doubting that and was ready to call the coach and pull him from the team. However, I continued to get the sense that God had Tyler exactly where he needed to be-in a challenging situation. Over and over again my thought was that Ty needed to learn to do hard things; to persevere and trust that God would see him through. This all sounds kind of strange when you consider that this is a game, but God is even in the games we play!

So the first game came and Tyler sat out due to his back being sore. But when the team won, he was a little disappointed that he hadn't been a part of it. This past Tuesday was the 2nd game and Ty announced that his back was indeed feeling better and that he thought he could play this time. So here he is, in his first Little League Baseball game. For the first time since this all began, I saw him engaging with the other kids, encouraging them, getting excited by the good plays that were made-in short, he had become a part of the team! I was teary eyed then watching him get more and more excited. And again when he got up to bat! This is such an accomplishment for him! He was obviously nervous, but he did it! He didn't back away from it! I was amazed in that moment at how faithful God had been through this time leading up to that moment! How all of the prayers I prayed from the bleachers while watching the practices had been answered in this 1 moment! Even though he was "walked" to first, he still got a pretty good hit in before that, it just went a little far off the field! But that walk eventually lead to him getting a run and scoring a point for the team.

So here are a few shots from the game. Can you see his smile as he waits on second to run to the next base? Yep. Our God is so good!

The Warm up before the game.Tyler got a hit!Running to second base.On 2nd base.Home Plate! He's Safe!

My angel in the outfield!Game over. Red Sox win it, 10-3!

Oh and a side benefit to this...I get to take pictures of Tyler and he isn't ducking and dodging my camera!

Next up, NASCAR

This past Saturday was our cub scout den's Pine Wood Derby. It may not be NASCAR, but let me tell you, the competition is official and fierce!Here is Danny's car at the official weigh-in. All cars must be under a certain weight. The boys and their dad's are given a block of wood and some wheels and they get to design their own car. Here were this years entries.

Danny had in mind that he wanted to make his a Honda. Perhaps he will grow to be a more practical sort who chooses function over form. For now, it seems he made a wise decision. This is his car in the lead. (I wonder if we could get some royalties from Honda for this picture?)

This is how they start the race.

Here are the men awarding the ribbons to the winners.

Kate was the official car stopper!

Here is Danny with his 1st place ribbon! His car won all the races he was in! He was not so happy with me when I took this picture because I was singing the Speed Racer theme song.
"Here he comes. Here comes Speed Racer. He's a demon on wheels...."