Marathon Man

 Our friends the Bekkers moved here from South Africa a few years ago.  Wynand runs the shoppers drug mart up the road from us.  He came to me back in the spring and was thinking of doing a different type of fund raiser and wanted to ask me questions about my walk... my walk for my mom... my 8KM walk.    As it turns out he decided to do 6 Marathons 6 Days in a row and raise funds for Cancer Care at BGH. 

 Here are his children (Twins) getting ready to run with dad the last leg of the race.

 Marathon 5 of 6

 Matthew 5:16 "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven"

Challenger Baseball

 Was asked a while ago to particpate in Challenger Baseball witn my friend the Wilds.  Nathan is 17 and is such a special kid.  Each tuesday they go out to Loyalist and play baseball with other special needs kids.  I learned a lot and appreciated the smiles on the kids faces.  So encouraging to see kids who struggle in life and struggle so much to communicate in normal situations, to see them swing at the ball and run and the joy that is in their face was pretty special.

 I was invited as a guest "buddy" for the night.  Nate and his regular buddy Erin would go up and swing and run to first and then their guest celebrity buddy would come up to bat.  First two pitches i swung and missed... started to worry a fair bit... but was relieved to find out that everyone gets on base and there are no outs.

Was fun night and so great to see these volunteers who run Challenger Baseball really making a difference in peoples lives

 

Ferry to the US

 

 

 

 

Syracuse Chiefs

 Starting to get into Baseball again.  The lockout of 94 and loss of my Expos, life with a family, all influenced me and I've lost touch with the sport.  Really starting to enjoy the pace and the game again.  Was able to go with our family in July and had a great time

 

 

 

Protection

On a recent trip to Syracuse, we were able to take in a Syracuse Chiefs game, AAA affiliate to the Washtingon Nationals.  At one point, we elected to leave our comfy seats near the dugout and venture out into left field.  We were enjoying the lack of other fans near us, just enjoying the pureness of an evening outdoor minor league ball game.  When all of a sudden a foul ball was launched and hit seats near us.

 This completely spooked out Faith and for the rest of the time, she decided to hide behind the chair and not risk being hit by a foul ball.  Completely cracked me up.  Wasn't til i affirmed my protection over my daughter that she decided to come back out and sit with us.

It again reminded me of our relationship with our heavenly father.    Many times we venture out on our own and the perils of the "foul balls" come our way and leave us vulnerable and afraid.  Its not until we realize that we have the protection and guidance of our heavenly father who guides us and by putting our trust in him, we once again can watch the ball game of life and participate in it.

 

Soccer Pics

 

 

 

Soccer 2012

After a long absence from Blogging, i feel its high time to start doing things a little more often.  Life takes over and before you know, kids are grown up. 
For the first time, we had all 3 kids in organized sports at the same time.  Eva on Mondays, Faith on Tuesdays, Isaac on Wednesdays and Swimming for the older two on thursdays.  Was quite busy but a lot of fun

Faithy hasn't quite got the concept of soccer yet... she's young but most times she was either coming off the field for snack, sleeping with her head on the ball or her shirt pulled up over her head.  She's quite a card.

 Eva did really well this year on the Mackay Insurance Fuscia team.  Perhaps new corporate colors are in the future.  She scored 2 goals this year... one on the first day and one on the last day.  She decided she liked defence and took her job very seriously.  One of her last games, she got a break and almost was in on a break away... a few more steps and she would have been all alone and get the shot on net.  Instead she stopped, passed the ball, and ran like mad to get back to her defensive position.  She definately does not get this trait from me:)

 Isaac had another good year in soccer.  Throughout the year, he was near the top of the team in scoring with 6 goals.  In playoffs, in 4 games, he scored 9 times.  I helped coach the team and we went from being near the bottom of the pack in regular season to playing in the finals.  After a hard fought playoffs, the boys came up a little short.

I'm a firm believer that sports teaches our kids several good traits and also some hard valuable lessons.  You have to committ, you have to work hard, your teammates are relying on you and sometimes things dont work out the way you want them too

I hated soccer growing up.  Still not a big fan.. but thankful for what soccer teaches our kids