My extra inning streak HAS to end!!!!!!!!!  It has been a joke in our family for years that when I go to see the hubby there is inevitably extra innings or a rain delay. This usually happens on the first day I arrive or when we have dinner plans.

Well this year's Opening Home stand has beat it all!!!  On Opening Day we had a 10 inning game. We won, thank God, because the only thing I dislike more than extra innings is losing in extra innings!!  Then on that Wednesday we played 16 innings.  Much to the dismay of many baseball fans, coaches do not have to show up just before game time and leave immediately following the game.  They go in about 6 hours before, stay at least 1 1/2 hours after and then go home to do more work, about 2 hours for my hubby.  So the 16 inning game ended around 12:30am and we left the ballpark at 1:45am to home for 2 hours of work.  I tried to be a good wife and stay up with him until he was done, which I regretted the next day as we had a 12:45pm game. .The hubby had to be in at 8:15am so his sleep was much shorter than mine.   When the rain began during the game on Thursday my prayer was there was not a delay, it was a 9 inning game.   There was not, Thank you God!!!

Thursday night ended up being a quick dinner out, I didn't have the energy to cook and clean up, and early to bed.  My thoughts about opening week was...I am tooooo old for this!!!!!!!
Baseball is always entertaining.  However, there can be too much of a good thing!  I love baseball and I love watching my hubby doing what he loves as a job.  But these long games have to stop!  I cannot take it!!

No matter how many innings there may be I will always be at the ball park waiting on the hubby.  I may threaten to leave early or complain about being unhappy with the extra innings or rain delay, but my love for this game and my hubby will always win out!  I would rather be in a ball park with thousands of fans than be in an apartment alone.  Through out the years this has been my choice and it will continue.  My kids know that this is my destiny to be waiting on the hubby through extra innings and rain delays, and they know that is where I will be...always.

My Baseball Chapel Devotion

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.”   Philippians 2:3 

As women, mothers and wives we often live this scripture in our daily lives without really thinking about it much deeper than just what we do. Being Christ-like to our children, our spouses and our friends often becomes second nature. The side effect of this selflessness often produces extreme fatigue mentally, physically and spiritually. When these times of fatigue overtake me I find that I sometimes retreat into a place of ‘Who is going to take care of me?’  I am a true believer that Jesus is there for me in all circumstances. However, sometimes the enemy sends a black cloud to cover my belief, my knowledge, and my common sense. It is at these times I have to dig deeper into God’s Word and pray that the Holy Spirit will control me and wipe away my doubts. I reach out to our loving Father and ask Him to fill my cup with his unconditional love. God has given us an open buffet that we can take from as we need. He has laid His love out for us.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:5-6.

“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31.

Quiet your hearts and wait on the Lord. Wait for him to refresh you.


Prayer: Lord thank you that when the darkness of the enemy covers me, when my cup runs low, I can reach high with my cup and fill it with the love that you, Jesus, have for me! Lord, let me embrace all the sacrifices that I make in your name and know that my reward waits for me with you. 

Suggested Reading: Psalm 23, Romans 8:31-39, Romans 12:9-21 

Opening Day

Yesterday we celebrated our 11th MLB Opening Day!!!  Every one has been memorable in its own way.  I am not an emotional girl but seeing the American Flag brought in by a paratrooper really tugged at the heart strings!!!

The day was wonderful with it being sunny and not so cold.  Also not to disappoint was a walk off home run.  Pirates win 1-0!!!  A few more days with the hubby then back home to the little man.  Balancing the baseball season leaves me feeling like a circus juggler with flaming batons but once again I will tackle our 27th professional ball season the best I can.  So proud of the hubby and all of his accomplishments!  I am blessed to live with a man who strives for excellence in all that he does and for the Glory of God!

"The best of the best make their life and work a quest for excellence and that there is a difference between success and excellence. Success is often measured by comparison to others. Excellence, on the other hand, is all about being the best we can be and maximizing our gifts, talents and abilities to perform at our highest potential." Jon Gordon

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters," Colossians 3:23

Make a difference today, right where you are!  We have been called to make a difference in this world.  Start now!  Make a commitment to begin the forward motion now.  

‘This is my command—be strong and courageous!  Do not be afraid or discouraged.  For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’  Joshua 1:9

 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters."  Colossians 3:23

Don't wait around for the right moment or a 'sign', do it now!  God has called us to serve Him in Loving obedience and in this obedience we have to be committed to the mission God has given us.  God has given us a purpose to worship and glorify Him.  

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

What are you going to do about it?  Start with one small action and it will grow because He will work it for good!

‘And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.’  2Corinthians 9:8

“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me, which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.
Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.”
John Henry Newman

I guess I am not so good at doing this blogging thing!  It has been a while!

Here we are at mid-September and my life is in the roller coaster face first dive into the post season...or not!  As a wife with a hubby in a professional sport you have such mixed emotion this time of year, excitement for more and disappointment for more. Some wives are not too excited about the season and the time away from each other during the regular season, and the post season only brings on more issues...then there are those who LOVE the game and enjoy the games and the atmosphere, especially in the post season.  Guess where I land.

I was the weird teenager that would get dropped off at the local ballpark to watch all different levels of games being played.  I would sit and watch the intricacy of the game...not always knowing what was going on...but definitely intrigued by the many plays that would happen within the time of the game.  Being one who welcomed the chatter of the older farmers that attended the games, I would always be joined on the top concrete seating by a few that loved to talk the game.  The men would argue and yell and cheer all for the same play.  This, many times confused me but definitely amused me.  I learned to not like umpires and question coaches while also learning a few new words that were combined to sound like poetry at times.  The southern slang and phrases were plentiful among the cursing!  Oh how I loved the game and the atmosphere!!!

Little did I know the way God gives us experiences in our lives that set us up for the future.  Although there was no time in my young life that gave me any clue to the life I would live as an adult, looking back now it seems so simple.  Growing up in a small town in Eastern North Carolina on a farm, I believed I was doomed to stay there.  There was no desire to stay there and live that simple life.
However now, the simple life is what I long for now!!  There is little simple to our lives!!  But I do love it!

So to the craziness I go...watching games...shielding my eyes when things aren't going good...turning the channel when we lose a lead...screaming as we take a lead...sitting at home alone while the teenager is living his life...waiting to see the hubby when we are blessed to be able to spend time together!

Every day I have so many thoughts rumbling around in my head that I have no rest!!!  Most people around me find no rest either!!!  My favorite question for my hubby is...'What are you thinking?'...his response...'Nothing'...  I find it very hard to believe there are no thoughts rambling around in one's head!
Today my thoughts are many...as usual...but one is...How Does One Rest??  I know we can sleep and we can relax, but true rest befuddles me!  I am a mother of 3 and a wife of 1(thank you Jesus, more than one hubby might kill me!!!).  There always seems to be something to do or take care of.  I have had suggestions to read...and I do...a great deal!!!  But I get so involved in the book I am reading that my mind races with thoughts of what is going to happen next...or worse...how would I have written it differently?  I think my major problem is one of always doing.  Doing this doing that...I think comes from growing up on a farm.  There was always something to do!!!  If we were ever sitting down we were told to get up and do something.  No rest for the weary!  Whenever I am sitting and not doing something I feel like a failure...not being productive is not an option!  Resting is a new idea for me...and I have been struggling to learn how to rest.
In the book Invitations from God by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, the idea of rest is to 'set aside the compulsion to "do, do, do" and live into God's creational rhythms that nourish and restore the body, soul and relationships.'  "Therefore, since the promise of entering [God's] rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it."  Hebrews 4:1.
My hubby tells me that I have a major illness of 'right hand syndrome'.  When the invitation to do something arises my right hand shoots up and I volunteer to do it!  I enjoy serving, I enjoy blessing others.  What I do not enjoy is the inevitable over doing that happens when I volunteer to do something!  It is not the responsibility that others lay upon me but the desire of approval and perfection that I strive to accomplish.  The problem is that I usually fail because of the desire of perfection of the task and the people's response to it.  I have to be more conscious of the pressure I place upon myself and not be striving for the fantasy response that I have created in my own mind!
While chairing a local Women of Vision Chapter here in Southwest Florida I learned a lot of lessons.  One of them is if God has given you a task then he is going to see it through using you as only a vessel through which it will be completed.  I learned a great deal about God opening and closing doors.  If it is not His intention for something to happen then things will not come easily...the harder you have to push something the more it is not of His plan.
This is also very true of all of life!!!  Not that everything comes easy but that it is not a stressful push of forces.  If it is too difficult to accomplish...not the work but the circumstances...then He must be closing that door.  Stop pushing on it and move on to one that has an opening!!!
Living the life that God has given me has not been easy!  It has not been too hard either.  It has been a challenge of sorts that I could have never planned or predicted!!!  So this life has not offered a lot of opportunity for me to find rest.  Raising three boys while my husband travels away from home for 6-12 months a year has not afforded me the opportunity for much rest!  But I find myself in a season where I am having to learn this idea of rest...and I am trying to embrace it!!!!