Brewer's Live

Some pretty amazing stuff going on at Miller Park this summer. July 25th....we're there for the Houston game to celebrate Mark's birthday. Of course, we show up at the right field bleachers 90 minutes before the game for batting practice, hoping to catch some balls. Davey Nelson, former Brewer's player, is an announcer for Fox Sports News show "Brewer's Live" and is set up to the left of the R field bleachers getting ready to broadcast. "Whap!" He gets knocked off his chair by a home run hit during practice. Kenny is on the scene and within seconds has his glove hanging over the railing, hoping to be the lucky recipient of the ball that hit Nelson. Davey recovers, sits back on his news stool, laughs it off and tosses the ball to Ken. Ecstatic, he races across the bleachers to show us his treasure, when Nelson yells, "Hey, kid! Get back here!" Kenny runs back...."You got somethin' you wanna say to me, kid?" "Thank you, sir for this ball that, ummm...knocked you off your chair?" Nelson's smile was almost as wide as Miller Park, so he decided to sign the ball for him. Now get this...not 30 seconds later, Kenny is on the front row of the bleachers and "POP!"...he catches a home run hit by placing his glove in front of a small kids face (may have saved the kid's life!). Silence...he turns around, the bleachers erupt into applause for him and, with both hands raised high, he yells, "This is the best day of my life!" What a day at the park....

Home Sweet Home

Well, our closing went off without a hitch. Here is a picture of us taken by our realtor today...yes, we are dressed in our moving clothes and looking great! More pictures of the house to come soon. Moving all week and getting re-settled...we appreciate your prayers!

Rodeo

Mark, Josh and Ken went to the rodeo in Richland Center on Friday. Some missionaries from Texas were up to help Pastor Paul Fries do some outreach at the rodeo. These guys have been involved in starting "Cowboy Churches" in Texas and hope to help Paul and Heartland Community Church reach the "western" culture types up here in Wisconsin. Needless to say, the boys had fun and made some new friends from Texas. You've gotta love these pictures...

First Grade Rocks!

I (Deb) got to go on a field trip with Josh's first grade class to the local Rock Quarry. Now, I've been on my share of field trips with the boys, but this was absolutely my favorite! Josh loved the bag full of rocks he got to bring home. I think my favorite part was the hard hats we got to wear...and all the dust! No, maybe it was the tons of dirt that came crashing to earth when the tractor dug sand out of the side of the quarry to put into a 2,000 TON dumptruck....I was stunned! Anyway...hope you enjoy these pictures of our adventure.

Moving

Yes, it's been a long time since I've updated this. Along with everything else going on in our world right now, we're moving across town next month. We bought a duplex (just 1/2 of it) about a block from the elementary school the boys attend. Kenny will actually move on to middle school next year, but Josh will be able to walk to school. Look for an e-mail to come soon with our new contact information on it. Lots happening this summer....both boys start baseball in June, Ken goes to football camp in July and starts playing on the 5/6th grade team in August. Josh also has basketball camp in June. Deb is teaching summer school 3 mornings a week to 4 autistic/down's syndrome boys (grades K-3). Mark has multiple mission teams coming in from all over the country to help with building projects, vacation bible schools, block parties, etc.... We may get to go down to Texas at the end of July together to connect with and work with some of our partnering churches in the Bell Baptist Association. Here are a few pictures to enjoy. The first one is Josh helping Pastor Chad with some baptisms earlier this year. The next three are in Indiana when we were visiting the Millmans last Fall....Happy Spring!

Basketball Tournament

Kenny participated in his first basketball tournament yesterday. He played three straight games in a row and slept like a bear in hibernation last night. His team won against Waunakee, a team that ran circles around them all season, so they were all pretty proud to be able to pull that off. Sure, Mark enlisted a couple of "free agents" for the tournament, but it seemed the playing field was somewhat leveled because of it. They lost their second game against an inner-city team from Madison who made the sport look like ballet. They were amazing. Kenny actually scored a basket against them, which was no easy task.

Basketball season is over for now...flag football starts this week.

More to come....

Basketball Season

Well, Kenny and Josh are nearing the end of their first basketball season. Ken has played on the "Sun Prairie Red" team with other 4-5th grade boys and Josh is now playing on the YMCA White team for his age group. Josh is pretty intense about it and gets kind of annoyed with a girl on his team who seems more interested in checking out her pony tail than shooting baskets. He has a good sense of the game and takes a lot of shots. He's working on learning to share the ball a little and pass it to his team mates from time to time. Ken's team is 4 and 2 (won 2) and has 2 games left to play. They've grown together and have learned a lot. Lots of free time is spent on the basketball court shooting baskets, so it has been a good way to stay active during the winter months. Mark has been coaching Kenny's team and has learned a lot doing that. I'm attaching a video clip we were able to take at one of Josh's games. He's the one w/ blonde hair in the center who catches the ball and makes the basket (black shoes/black shorts/ grey shirt)....enjoy!