The Summer of Baseball

As you may have noticed, I haven't spent much time blogging this summer.  And that is because I've been at baseball games the majority of the time.  Joseph and Michael were both selected to be on American Legion baseball teams this year, which was quite an honor, and they were SOOOO happy and proud.  But it kept our family SOOOO busy because each of the boys was on a different team, with different practice times, different game times, and many of the games were out of town, which often resulted in my husband and I traveling different directions to watch our boys plays.  It was crazy but fun for the whole family.  Baseball is the big-boys' passion, and the little boys enjoyed chasing after fouls balls and receiving a prize from the concession stands. :)

It was exciting to watch the boys play at a higher competitive level than ever before and improve their skills.  Both boys also had to learn how to deal with disappointments along the way too, which was no fun, but I'm sure it helped them grow in Godly character! :)  Michael's major disappointment was injuring his right hand middle finger at the beginning of the season.  It was an injury called "mallet finger" or "baseball finger" where the tendon that straightens the finger gets damaged.  In order for it to heal properly he had to wear a finger splint for 8 weeks.  Despite the annoying splint, Michael somehow managed to have one of the best batting averages on the team and was the starting 2nd baseman most of the time.  Joseph's challenge was learning to deal with the reality of being a small fish in a big pond this year.  There were 18 young men on his team, many of whom played Legion ball last year and had done traveling All-Star teams the previous years.  About half of his teammates were pitchers, so Joseph didn't get to pitch quite as often as he would have liked, but he still enjoyed every single minute of his season whether he was cheering on his teammates from the dugout, pitching from the mound, batting, or playing left field.  Both boys and their teams had a great season, with more wins than losses, and our boys are already eager for next season (mom and dad are still recovering)!  :} We were super proud of our boys, but we were also a bit grateful when the season was over so that we could get back to normal family life and do some other fun things before summer was over.

Here are some great photos of our boys in baseball action!  I was super thankful that a few of the other parents had amazing cameras and high-powered telephoto lenses, and I was able to download them off of Facebook.  It's the only thing I've ever used Facebook for!  :)

I'll start with photos of Michael...

He only got to pitch a few games before he injured his finger,

but honestly, he loves playing in the in-field more anyway.

And now photos of Joseph:

And now we wait for next year... :)  While we wait, Paul and the boys have plans to build a batting cage in our extra garage so that they can practice in the off season.  I sure love my baseball-loving boys, and I hope they always give glory to God in their sport, grow in virtue while they grow in skills, and have fun no matter if they win or lose.