Take Me Out To the Ball Game......

The Washington Nationals have a new ball park. We hadn't been there yet but one of Jay's co-workers has season tickets. He made a list of the times available for anyone to purchase some of his tickets and so we went last night. These seats are amazing. They are between home plate and 3rd base, and in a "special" section where you have a clubhouse, nice restrooms, etc. etc. It was a nice Saturday evening and there's just something about a ball game that is so much fun!

The new ballpark was beautiful!



This is a picture of the mascot "Screech" who, as you might have figured out, is an owl. I'm not sure of the significance of having an owl as the National's mascot. But he is cute.




There are so many things I like about a baseball game. I love having a hot dog and a beer. I love the "roar of the crowd" and the music that they play that everyone sings along with. I love the 7th inning stretch when everybody gets up and sings "Take Me Out The The Ball Game". I love having a bag of peanuts on my lap and dthe fact that you can just throw the shells on the ground. It was just a lot of fun!




The thing is, the Nationals lost to the Cubs 7-0. (I believe this should make Kendall and Joel happy) :) But as they say, it is "ROOT ROOT FOR THE HOME TEAM.... at the OLDDDD BALLLLL GAMEEEE!"

Women's Retreat

Our Women's Retreat was this past weekend at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel in Staunton, VA. It is about 2 hours away from us and in a very historic area. The houses were beautiful and there were blocks of quaint little shops just inviting us. It was a very special weekend with a wide age group of women. This is a picture of Miss Edna - a lady who I have gone shopping with! She is so sweet and has one of the nicest hearts around! Doesn't she look cute in her hat?




This is Edna and I during one of the breaks!




These are two of my friends - Colleen and Kris. They were on the planning committee with me.




This is Carol, our Pastor's wife.




This is Colleen and I. She and I were roommates. Rather, our suitcases were in the same room. We stayed up VERY late Friday night and got up way too early on Saturday.

Our speaker talked about being quiet with God - listening to him breathe. Hearing what he has to say to us. Being close enough to feel his breath on our face. She talked about her children and how she knows that God is singing their song. Everything that her children go through is part of their song.

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save, He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

Something Positive about DC

As I was driving home from work today, I realized that I was feeling.... well, dare I say it...... positive. It surely couldn't hurt me to to think positive thoughts about where I'm living, could it? Positive reinforcement is good. How does that saying go.........how you think is how you act? Nope - that's not it. But honestly, that COULD be it. I think it's time that I stop dwelling on all the negative things about this area and start focusing on some of the good things. It certainly can't hurt.





We live in a nice apartment. Its modern, very clean (except for those cigarette butts on the sidewalk all the time, the newspapers that nobody seems to ever pick up and the trash that our neighbors always leave outside their door....) and its in a nice neighborhood. We are both close to work and close to the metro. I feel safe here.



Two more things: I've met my friend Chell who is like a SISTA to me. She is awesome and has gone through gastric bypass so she is a wealth of information as well. And speaking of gastric bypass, there are great doctors here. Not only was I able to find someone for my gastric bypass (which I also could have found in Kansas I admit) but found a great doctor for my trachael stenosis. He is one of 9 in the nation - good find for me!




There are a ton of great places to visit and see here. There is a lot of history - and I have the pleasure of being right in the middle of it. I've got to see a lot of things I might not otherwise have been able to.

So - honestly, I need to think twice when I start bashing this area. Yes indeed - there are a lot of minuses. The crime rate is high. The traffic is unbelievable. There are so many people it makes my head spin. But, I am where I am. I'm going to concentrate on the positive aspects for awhile. It can be a good thing.

American Idol - Shout To The Lord

Apparently this week's American Idol ran a little long and the song that we didn't hear at the end of the show was Shout To The Lord. Here's What it sounded like. Click on the title of this blog to hear it.

Parenting Shoes

The other day I was looking for pictures of shoes and I found this "pair" of shoes. There is so much that can be said about this picture!

These are called parenting shoes - or shoes for a child and his parent.

Before you have children, you didn't even know these shoes existed. You didn't know how they'd feel. You've never seen them before. But when your feet first slide into these shoes, you are amazed how comfortable they are. Then you slide in your child's little feet on the other side, and you are amazed at how wonderful it feels. You never want to take them off.

Everywhere you go, you can feel the tiny little toes wiggling around and there is a certain "extra" comfort in that. You know where your child is and what they're doing. You can take care of them. You are close enough to know when something is wrong and you're right there to mend a heart, wipe a tear and whisper I love you.

Then, one day, before you even know it, your child's feet grow too big to fit into the little shoe. They slide their foot out and get their own shoes - ones that just their feet fit into. You walk along beside them, but its just not the same. You can't feel the wiggle of their toes.

Looking back, you realize how blessed you are to have worn those shoes, even for the short period of time that you do. You are glad that your children have grown up and are able to wear their own shoes. But I have to admit - I miss how those shoes felt on my feet.

The Bottom Line

Today was a day of analysis for a lot of people. Many were analyzing the results of their brackets. Some people had multiple brackets so that made it even more complicated.

Some analysis was going on about the Final Four and the fact that this was the first time ever that all four #1 seeds made it to the Final Four.

There was a lot of discussion about why Roy Williams wore a Jayhawk on his shirt for the championship game. Apparently there were some North Carolina fans who were angry about that.

There is speculation now as to whether Bill Self will look to Oklahoma State as a future job.

But - lets take a little time to study the bottom line.

Kansas is the National Champions. They beat North Carolina and no matter how you feel about Roy Williams, there was just a little bit of retribution in beating his team. Now maybe all of that silly anger can be put to rest. Kansas also beat Memphis - in overtime. It was a close game and there was a point where I was pretty sure Kansas was going to lose. But they didn't.

Bill Self may very well get an offer from Oklahoma State. I certainly hope he doesn't accept it . Kansas fans are going to get a complex when their good coaches keep on leaving.

But back to the bottom line. It was a great year for a very unselfish team of great young men. They ended up being the National Champions 20 years after another great KU team won the championship. Last night was just fun for them and I congratulate them on a job well done!

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!

My suspicions have been confirmed

First of all, let me apologize to Jason. No offense.

I subscribe to the Dispatch, my hometown newspaper. Granted, it takes awhile for mail to get from Kansas to Virginia - but the Dispatches are always about 3 weeks behind. I've accused the Postal Department of just throwing them in a corner and getting to them when they can.

Today at work I got a phone call from the Post Office. She started off by saying how sorry they all were. They had found some of our office's bulk mailings from DECEMBER under some things in the corner - and did we still want them to be delivered? Are you serious? Let me think....... Yes please. Go ahead and deliver them. And again - they were so sorry that this happened.

They were in the corner under some things. 17 envelopes with our newsletter in them. From December. In a corner. And did we want them delivered.

My suspicions have been confirmed. Somewhere - out there somewhere.... my Dispatches are sitting in a corner waiting to be discovered by the night janitor.

Deer in the Headlights

This was my face this afternoon - ok, not literally - but that's probably how my eyes looked. I was driving home at 5 o'clock - a feat not for the weak-hearted. It was pretty much stop and go traffic but for a brief instant, things were moving along rather well. That was until the guy in front of me stopped suddenly. So, I stopped suddenly.

As I looked into my rear view mirror, I saw a Lawn Dr. truck coming up behind me. The driver was talking on his cell phone. I had my sun roof open so I could hear his breaks squeal as he was trying to stop and keep from hitting me. Then is when you would be seeing my eyes looking like the furry guy in the picture. I could not believe how close he came.

And... he just kept right on talking. Didn't blink an eye.