I don't know what it is, but we are not good as the visiting team. We need to be the home team. Apparently while I was away we had a game and the other team had to forfeit from lack of players, so we are now 1-2.
Despite the crushing defeat we had some really good plays, and some really funny ones as well.
Good plays
*Bases-loaded and my 3rd basemen hits a triple!
*We batted the entire line-up the first inning!
*My 3rd basemen ran down a runner headed for home and dove and tagged him!
*I only struck out 2 of my kids.
*Every kid on the team got a hit.
Not so good plays
* We are on second. No one on first. No force. The ball is hit to the 3rd basemen, my kid on second takes off to third. I am yelling at him to stop and go back to second. The whole time the 3rd basemen is bobbling the ball. My kid finally realizes that I am yelling for him to stop, so he does, RIGHT NEXT TO THE 3RD BASEMEN. He just stands there. The 3rd basemen, who is clueless as well, throws the ball to first, and I final get my kid to third.
* My left fielder kept scooting up as the inning progressed. I would look up and she would be standing next to my short-stop. Finally I drew a circle in the dirt in left field and wrote her initials in it. I told her not to leave the circle. Well, you can guess what happen next. The ball is hit 5 feet from her and she stays in the circle. She reaches for it and misses and then watches as the ball rolls by her. My 2nd basemen finally ran out there and got it.
*We are batting and the catcher is throwing the ball back to me and beams my batter with the ball.
*The right handed runt on my team comes up to the plate and stands in the left handers batter box with his back to the plate in the ready stance.
Despite the defeat my kids have improved 200% since the last game. I am excited to see them by the end of the season.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Monday, April 24, 2006
Kenya Trip Video and Pics
Well, it's here! We arrived home early this morning. I was able to throw together this video of our Kenya trip. I've also uploaded a digiatal photo album to your right under my photos. I apologize though, because some of the pics aren't very good quality. I had to take them from the video. Our digital camera seems to have a 10 minute battery life.
We were able to take a half-day safari, which was awesome! The little girl you will see in the video is adorable and I have already secured marrying rights to her for our son when he gets old enough.
Africa is a great place. Very little compares to the feeling of running across the plains in a Safari car watching the rain clouds coming in from the North. I understand why the earlier explorers say that they hearts stayed in Africa.
Enjoy the video. Click on the picture to see it.
We were able to take a half-day safari, which was awesome! The little girl you will see in the video is adorable and I have already secured marrying rights to her for our son when he gets old enough.
Africa is a great place. Very little compares to the feeling of running across the plains in a Safari car watching the rain clouds coming in from the North. I understand why the earlier explorers say that they hearts stayed in Africa.
Enjoy the video. Click on the picture to see it.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Quick Glimpse of Kenya
We are still in Kenya. I apologize for the lack of blogging. I've been fighting the African electricity trying to get online long enough to post. I will do my best to post everything when we get back to a more steady and constant connection on Monday.
Here is a pic of the sign at the beginning of the game park. I will upload the album when we get back home. Until then.... enjoy life and talk to y'all on Monday.
Here is a pic of the sign at the beginning of the game park. I will upload the album when we get back home. Until then.... enjoy life and talk to y'all on Monday.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Signal Looses Season Opener Against Cozmo
Well, there went our perfect season! My kids gave it their all, but the kids on Cozmo just out hit us.
For those of you that are thinking that our team names are stupid, you are right. We are all named after our sponser company, so my team is Signal. We are....a toothpaste. Arrrr....run and hide the toothpaste team is coming. Scary huh?
But seriously, the kids did great! We lost in the bottom of the third. (we only got three innings in, in the 1.5 hour time limit. The final score was 11-12. My kids hit really well, they just were out matched. The team we played had only 12 kids and most of them have played before. We were just no match for their experience. Not to mention our pitcher (me) stinks. I managed to strike out 3 of my own kids.
Next week I won't see the game because I will be out of the country, but next Friday Signal will take on Baby Cord! I hope it will go well. I will be back in time for our showdown with Pharmacy 1 though.
Below are some photos. I was meaning to get a video of it, but things got hectic this morning and I forgot the video camera. Sorry. Better luck next time.
For those of you that are thinking that our team names are stupid, you are right. We are all named after our sponser company, so my team is Signal. We are....a toothpaste. Arrrr....run and hide the toothpaste team is coming. Scary huh?
But seriously, the kids did great! We lost in the bottom of the third. (we only got three innings in, in the 1.5 hour time limit. The final score was 11-12. My kids hit really well, they just were out matched. The team we played had only 12 kids and most of them have played before. We were just no match for their experience. Not to mention our pitcher (me) stinks. I managed to strike out 3 of my own kids.
Next week I won't see the game because I will be out of the country, but next Friday Signal will take on Baby Cord! I hope it will go well. I will be back in time for our showdown with Pharmacy 1 though.
Below are some photos. I was meaning to get a video of it, but things got hectic this morning and I forgot the video camera. Sorry. Better luck next time.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
What is this?
I always new this day would come. You move away from your home country and upon returning you find that things have changed and you are left feeling stupid. That day has revealed itself in my life.
I went today to the bank to withdraw money in US dollars for our trip tomorrow. The cashier gave me several of these:
I looked at her and said, "Are these the new 50s?" She began to laugh and told me, "Isn't that your country? Why don't you recognize your own money?"
Yeah, I am stupid, but its been about 8 months since I've used dollars. The money here is really colorful and different sizes. I was looking at my own currency and thinking, "Man, its all.......green and ..........the same size." Trust me, it was weird.
So, its official. I've officially earned my "out of touch with one's own money" patch for my stupidity vest. :)
I went today to the bank to withdraw money in US dollars for our trip tomorrow. The cashier gave me several of these:
I looked at her and said, "Are these the new 50s?" She began to laugh and told me, "Isn't that your country? Why don't you recognize your own money?"Yeah, I am stupid, but its been about 8 months since I've used dollars. The money here is really colorful and different sizes. I was looking at my own currency and thinking, "Man, its all.......green and ..........the same size." Trust me, it was weird.
So, its official. I've officially earned my "out of touch with one's own money" patch for my stupidity vest. :)
Friday, April 07, 2006
Kenya for Easter
We are leaving in a week for a conference in Kenya! Yah! Be jealous, if you want. Be happy for us if you want, no skin off my back. Either way, we are in Kenya.
Because of the baby we won't be able to do any of the really cool stuff though. No safari's, lion-hunting, or hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, will be on the agenda. Mostly meetings, so we will be in Kenya, but not "in" Kenya, if you know what I mean.
But we can all dream together. If you could go to Kenya, what would you do? Tell me. You can use some from this list or something else.
1. Safari
2. Eat at the Carnivore (an all meat buffet! yummy!)
3. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
4. Ride through the Serengeti Plains
5. Ride an elephant
6. Tour a tea plantation
7. Visit the Java House (famous coffee shop in Nairobi)
8. [insert your own crazy thing here]
Leave a comment and let us know.
Because of the baby we won't be able to do any of the really cool stuff though. No safari's, lion-hunting, or hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, will be on the agenda. Mostly meetings, so we will be in Kenya, but not "in" Kenya, if you know what I mean.
But we can all dream together. If you could go to Kenya, what would you do? Tell me. You can use some from this list or something else.
1. Safari
2. Eat at the Carnivore (an all meat buffet! yummy!)
3. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
4. Ride through the Serengeti Plains
5. Ride an elephant
6. Tour a tea plantation
7. Visit the Java House (famous coffee shop in Nairobi)
8. [insert your own crazy thing here]
Leave a comment and let us know.
Our Heritage
I live in a culture of people that know their heritage. They know who their 10th great grandfather was and where he was from. We in the West don't really have that. I can tell you the names of all my grandparents and a few of my great grandparents, but that’s it.
*sidenote*
Somewhere in my family was a crazy-Irish guy that beat a donkey to death. Well, I don't know if he was Irish or not. Someone in my family was Irish, but donkey-beating sounds like something the Irish would do. Anyways, I've got donkey-beater in my blood -- beware.
*sidenote finished*
The truth is we have a spiritual heritage as well. All the stories that happened in the OT we always say, "Wow, that's cool!" or "Cool, the Red Sea thing, Pharaoh was stupid." or "Man, they are always disobeying, when will they ever learn.\?"
Those are family stories. Some of them good, some of them bad (some of them were donkey-beaters!) Look, they were called "The children of God." And we are called.....yup, "Children of God." We've all got the same Father.
I've been finding parallels with the deliverance of our brothers and sisters from the slavery of Egypt with my own deliverance from the slavery of sin. I was reading in Hosea and I just wanted to share with you this passage and see if it you can see a resemblance in your own "Exodus" from the slavery of sin with what God did for our brothers and sisters.
Hosea 11:1, 3-4
1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
it was I who healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love;
I lifted the yoke from their neck
and bent down to feed them.
*sidenote*
Somewhere in my family was a crazy-Irish guy that beat a donkey to death. Well, I don't know if he was Irish or not. Someone in my family was Irish, but donkey-beating sounds like something the Irish would do. Anyways, I've got donkey-beater in my blood -- beware.
*sidenote finished*
The truth is we have a spiritual heritage as well. All the stories that happened in the OT we always say, "Wow, that's cool!" or "Cool, the Red Sea thing, Pharaoh was stupid." or "Man, they are always disobeying, when will they ever learn.\?"
Those are family stories. Some of them good, some of them bad (some of them were donkey-beaters!) Look, they were called "The children of God." And we are called.....yup, "Children of God." We've all got the same Father.
I've been finding parallels with the deliverance of our brothers and sisters from the slavery of Egypt with my own deliverance from the slavery of sin. I was reading in Hosea and I just wanted to share with you this passage and see if it you can see a resemblance in your own "Exodus" from the slavery of sin with what God did for our brothers and sisters.
Hosea 11:1, 3-4
1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
it was I who healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love;
I lifted the yoke from their neck
and bent down to feed them.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Second Practice and Poll Results
The results are in and they have been tallied. Before I tell you, or before you scroll down and look... I want to tell you about our second practice in preparation for our game on Friday. We were trying to do some batting/fielding practice. You know, they hit it and run to first base and the infield tries to catch it and if they do that then they try throw it to first. If they do all of that correctly and in a timely manner, then the first basemen tries to catch it. Needless to say our firstbasemen was bored out of his mind.
We have a kid on our time is just barely eight and is a runt. He is a really cute kid, but doens't know anything about baseball or about English. He got up to the plate and hit one. It barely trickled up to the pitcher's mound. He took off towards first as fast as he could screaming from excitement. About 4 feet from first he turns and heads to second. About half way there he runs three steps towards third and books it towards home. He gets home and stops screaming. That was only his first hit.
After this I told him to just run to first and stop and stand on the base and listen to me. He gets another hit and goes running off to first. The pitcher grabs the ball and instead of throwing it to first, starts running after him, so what does shortie do? He runs right by first and into the shallow outfield and heads towards second. In the meanwhile all the kids are jumping up and down and screaming and the pitcher is chasing shortie all over the outfield until he reaches second where I grab him and hold him on the base. We are doomed!
So here are your votes. It's too late to change them.
We have a kid on our time is just barely eight and is a runt. He is a really cute kid, but doens't know anything about baseball or about English. He got up to the plate and hit one. It barely trickled up to the pitcher's mound. He took off towards first as fast as he could screaming from excitement. About 4 feet from first he turns and heads to second. About half way there he runs three steps towards third and books it towards home. He gets home and stops screaming. That was only his first hit.
After this I told him to just run to first and stop and stand on the base and listen to me. He gets another hit and goes running off to first. The pitcher grabs the ball and instead of throwing it to first, starts running after him, so what does shortie do? He runs right by first and into the shallow outfield and heads towards second. In the meanwhile all the kids are jumping up and down and screaming and the pitcher is chasing shortie all over the outfield until he reaches second where I grab him and hold him on the base. We are doomed!
So here are your votes. It's too late to change them.
Baby Shower In A Box Slideshow
We have been blessed to have friends and family members such as yourselves. For those of you who are lost then allow me to give you alittle background.....
L & A have been some of our closest friends since we were in university together. A decided that she was going to through us a "Baby Shower In a Box." She sent out invitations to people with a plate and cup and other little paper "baby shower things" (A, if I am butchering this than comment and set me straight.) People could then go online to our baby registry and buy gifts for Baby Bull and ship them to her. Her dad was traveling on business here so they just added a suitcase to his load.
Thank you guys so much! Thank you L&A for your support and getting this together. Thank you everybody who took time to buy something, and all of those of you who are reading this and thinking, "What? I didn't know about this or I would have sent them something, or called them, or....." Don't worry about it. Your prayers are better than gifts anyday.
I wanted to put all the pictures on here, but the blogspot picture uploader was being stupid, so I thought I would just put them on a slideshow for you to see all our cool stuff. Click below to see it.
Baby Shower In A Box Slideshow
L & A have been some of our closest friends since we were in university together. A decided that she was going to through us a "Baby Shower In a Box." She sent out invitations to people with a plate and cup and other little paper "baby shower things" (A, if I am butchering this than comment and set me straight.) People could then go online to our baby registry and buy gifts for Baby Bull and ship them to her. Her dad was traveling on business here so they just added a suitcase to his load.
Thank you guys so much! Thank you L&A for your support and getting this together. Thank you everybody who took time to buy something, and all of those of you who are reading this and thinking, "What? I didn't know about this or I would have sent them something, or called them, or....." Don't worry about it. Your prayers are better than gifts anyday.
I wanted to put all the pictures on here, but the blogspot picture uploader was being stupid, so I thought I would just put them on a slideshow for you to see all our cool stuff. Click below to see it.
Baby Shower In A Box Slideshow
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Stories from Last Week
Due to the massive amount of coffee I just drank to keep awake to study for my test tomorrow, I can not stop twitching, so sleep is out of the question for another couple hours.
This being the case, I will try to wear myself out by the telling stories from last week.
Ticket Hoopla
I have made friends with a guy that works for a travel agency, so I usually get pretty good deals on airfare. Izan, (therefore) I have been deemed the "lets get everyone's ticket" guy. There are several of us headed to Kenya in a couple of weeks (be jealous) for a language conference, so I've been working on getting all the dates and tickets and money together for everyone. Thursday I finally get everything together and head off to buy the tickets and .....dun Dun DUN!! (shocking music)
Several of our ticket reservations got cancelled. Yeah, me ain't happy! Well turns out that all but two of the tickets were rebooked and paid for with no problem, but the kick in the teeth was that my ticket and another guy's ticket weren't able to be rebooked. The airline had cancelled our reservations and weren't letting us rebook. I told my friend to keep working on it and call me when it is all worked out.
I got a call this evening saying that everything with the other guy's ticket worked out, but mine is still up in the air. Yaba Yay (Arab expression for Geez!)
The Arabic Bear
Language has been tough. Language learning goes on what people call “plateaus.” You learn alot and then level off for a while. It’s normal. Sometimes you seem to hit walls and you feel like you are going backwards instead of forwards. Well, I think I ran up the hill pretty fast and ran smack dab into a big wall.
The more I study the more I forget. The more I learn the stupider I feel. Apparently the other people in my class hit it and moved on or just aren't there yet. My class it divided half and half. Half of us don't enjoy studying, but we endure it. We live for that moment when we are done and can go run outside and talk with people. The other half...well, they are really pale. They don't get enough sun. So one day last week, I was the only one from the "fun half" in class, but all the “good students” were there. Lucky for me, we were in our grammar class and I so do enjoy a good grammar discussion! Oh Boy!
Anyways, I didn't know an answer and judging by the faces of everyone else in the room it must have been easy. Truthfully, I didn't even know what to call the thing in English much less in Arabic. It was one of those reflexive, passive, direct object, niner, participle thingies. So needless to say my pride was hurt and I felt stupid.
So last week not only was the Arabic bear eating me, but he was taunting me and calling me stupid too! Yaba Yah!
It's Raining It's Pouring
I live in a city of mountains. Level ground doesn't happen here. The rain tends to match the same extremes as the terrain. When it rains, it pours, and because of the lack of flat land the water doesn't collect anywhere. It just flows. Streets turn into rivers. Small children and household pets beware!
We had just finished group and about to leave when "Noah: Part 2" came. If I had a car it wouldn't have been a problem, but since I have to walk two blocks to get to the main street to catch a cab, it was a problem. By the time I got to the street I was dripping. It didn't help that no taxi was there for 15 minutes and all the cars took pleasure in driving by and splashing gutter water on me.
I finally grab a cab and head back to the house to pick up B (I wasn't going to make her stand in the rain). I am soaked and ready for the 15 minute ride back to the house to change clothes and take a nap. Well, Arabs don't deal with rain or water on the streets very well. So many Arabs drove too fast through the water and sucked up water into their engines that there were traffic jams on every street due to stalled out cars! What should have been a quick trip took forever. Yaba Yah!
So.. the coffee is wearing off a bit. I am going to post this and get some sleep.
This being the case, I will try to wear myself out by the telling stories from last week.
Ticket Hoopla
I have made friends with a guy that works for a travel agency, so I usually get pretty good deals on airfare. Izan, (therefore) I have been deemed the "lets get everyone's ticket" guy. There are several of us headed to Kenya in a couple of weeks (be jealous) for a language conference, so I've been working on getting all the dates and tickets and money together for everyone. Thursday I finally get everything together and head off to buy the tickets and .....dun Dun DUN!! (shocking music)
Several of our ticket reservations got cancelled. Yeah, me ain't happy! Well turns out that all but two of the tickets were rebooked and paid for with no problem, but the kick in the teeth was that my ticket and another guy's ticket weren't able to be rebooked. The airline had cancelled our reservations and weren't letting us rebook. I told my friend to keep working on it and call me when it is all worked out.
I got a call this evening saying that everything with the other guy's ticket worked out, but mine is still up in the air. Yaba Yay (Arab expression for Geez!)
The Arabic Bear
Language has been tough. Language learning goes on what people call “plateaus.” You learn alot and then level off for a while. It’s normal. Sometimes you seem to hit walls and you feel like you are going backwards instead of forwards. Well, I think I ran up the hill pretty fast and ran smack dab into a big wall.
The more I study the more I forget. The more I learn the stupider I feel. Apparently the other people in my class hit it and moved on or just aren't there yet. My class it divided half and half. Half of us don't enjoy studying, but we endure it. We live for that moment when we are done and can go run outside and talk with people. The other half...well, they are really pale. They don't get enough sun. So one day last week, I was the only one from the "fun half" in class, but all the “good students” were there. Lucky for me, we were in our grammar class and I so do enjoy a good grammar discussion! Oh Boy!
Anyways, I didn't know an answer and judging by the faces of everyone else in the room it must have been easy. Truthfully, I didn't even know what to call the thing in English much less in Arabic. It was one of those reflexive, passive, direct object, niner, participle thingies. So needless to say my pride was hurt and I felt stupid.
So last week not only was the Arabic bear eating me, but he was taunting me and calling me stupid too! Yaba Yah!
It's Raining It's Pouring
I live in a city of mountains. Level ground doesn't happen here. The rain tends to match the same extremes as the terrain. When it rains, it pours, and because of the lack of flat land the water doesn't collect anywhere. It just flows. Streets turn into rivers. Small children and household pets beware!
We had just finished group and about to leave when "Noah: Part 2" came. If I had a car it wouldn't have been a problem, but since I have to walk two blocks to get to the main street to catch a cab, it was a problem. By the time I got to the street I was dripping. It didn't help that no taxi was there for 15 minutes and all the cars took pleasure in driving by and splashing gutter water on me.
I finally grab a cab and head back to the house to pick up B (I wasn't going to make her stand in the rain). I am soaked and ready for the 15 minute ride back to the house to change clothes and take a nap. Well, Arabs don't deal with rain or water on the streets very well. So many Arabs drove too fast through the water and sucked up water into their engines that there were traffic jams on every street due to stalled out cars! What should have been a quick trip took forever. Yaba Yah!
So.. the coffee is wearing off a bit. I am going to post this and get some sleep.
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