36th Annunal Firecracker legion Baseball Tournie

Day 1

Two games today. In the first game at 10a, Conyers Post 77 pulled ahead of Troy Ohio's Post 43 with seven runs in the bottom of the 5th. However, they ended up losing 8-7. The second game at 2:30pm they were neck and neck with Jacksonville Post 283 and pulled up another 8-7 but this time as the victors.


Normally, I'm at the beach by now, but with two games so close together and not much fan support, it seemed like a good day to catch the action. So with a record of 1-1 so far, the Conyers boys seem good in individual play, but lack the ability to pull it together as team for smooth and confident play. They are also allowing what I would call some stale innings and have some limp fielding, but are able to generate enough energy to pull it out. Mr. Jeff is writing his own report for the Citizen, so I' thought I'd try to update my "readers" too! : )

Another day in paradise

Mr. Jeff is feeling better. He still has some lingering affects of "the bug from Binks" as he's referring to it.

Miss Annie is off watering the plants at the monastery I think.

Chloe is doing what she does on long summer afternoons, sleeping.

I'm doing laundry and taking care of little things that I haven't attended to in a few months.

Our air con is making a laughable attempt at keeping the heat at bay.

Heard from the boss yesterday evening before I left work. He was checking in to make sure all is well. And it's fine. I felt badly saying we're fine without him, but we're fine without him. He is doing well in Alaska, seeing a lot of things and I think sounded relaxed and in a good mood for the first time in a long time. Good for him, and that's good for us too : )

if you haven't see it yet, check out "that Catholic Show" it's wonderfully short, sweet and to the point. I'm looking forward to using it for our RCIA class as opening for discussion. Catch episodes 1-4 very excellent faith formation and very entertaining http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThatCatholicShow

Prayers please

Mr. Jeff is under the weather with a particularly vicious stomach virus.
Also for our youth minister who is ill today.
And for Miss B who is home healing.

Keep them in your prayers today please.

A lesson in perspective

Avalanche Ranch was closed out yesterday - WAH HOO! Looking back we had a very successful run and things went rather smoothly. We had great staff to work with and everyone pitched in with as much as they could muster each day.

Interestingly to me, day 1 God is Real - Wah Hoo!, brought some behaviorial issues that I thought I might not see until day 2 God is present - Wah Hoo!, and in a moment of surprising clarity and insight my boss lifted my spirits. He asked me his usual yearly question - if I was "please with the day?" I responded "yes, but there were some behavioral challenges." He looked at me with a smile and said something along the lines of... When you have that many people together (150 +) are you really surprised that you'd have a few behavioral challenges?

He was right and I tried to put the "fires" we had to "put out" the rest of the week, from daily decorating and supply wrangling to personality conflicts and family emergencies to whatever in my mind in perspective and it worked.

I prayed really hard at the beginning of every day for the grace sufficient unto the day to get done what the Lord wanted, more than what I wanted. And at the end of the day prayed to be grateful for the joy that was present in the room and in the individual smiles from the kids and leaders and also for everyone getting home safe.

It was a good lesson in perspective - God's not my own.

It's official!

VBS has officially sucked my brain dry! I went to dial my home phone number and I couldn't remember what it was for a minute...this is so sad.

On the up side, Begs came by to deliver a much needed item for our Youth adventure program during VBS and lent her expertise, style and wit to the process, which added to the camaraderie of the event.

Also on the up side, we have some great people who have worked every night this week to create a fun and exciting space for our Avalanche Ranch buckaroos. Kudoo's to Barb, Beth and Jessica.

We have built so far this week, a roof top in Jericho, the river Jordan parted a la the Red Sea complete with fish watching us pass by with squishy water underfoot and squirting from above and now the town of Jericho that our kids will topple as the horn is sounded and they march around the "city", I use the term very loosely.

I wonder aloud every year, why I can't make the regular PSR year like this...I realized this year - it would kill us! So I'll take the largeness of VBS for the week, savour it and move into the world of real and doable, that is until next June!

(I tried to post some picts, but couldn't get them there.)