Thank Me Out to the Ballgame!

No, you read that right...

THANK Me Out to the Ball Game!

Baseball season is upon us and today was perfect for it!
Sunny, 80 degrees, a cool wind once in a while, and my 7 year old playing his very first baseball game!
Baseball where someone is throwing a ball at my son!

This ain't T-Ball folks!

My Jonathan did awesome!

He made two plays on first, got another two guys out on third, and got two HUGE hits!

What a game!

I was super proud of him!

But not only because of his great game.

It was another moment.

It was right after the game...

After the big hits...
After the shouts of praise when he came running into home plate...

After the game.

Coach was giving his post game talk and then said he had a surprise for the team.
He started handing out wooden bats to each of the players.  Nice ones.  Heavy ones.  With the White Sox logo on them!

Apparently, a friend of the coach works for the White Sox and got them all for him.  What a wonderful treat!

And here is where the THANK Me Out to the Ball Game comes...

Jonathan is the ONLY one who said thank you.

The only  one.

There were eleven boys there.  Eleven boys who got a REALLY cool bat!

And one said thank you.



Now, the whole Jesus story and the one leper saying thank you went through my mind just now while I was writing this,


(And if you do not know that story in the Bible, it is a great one and you can find it here),


 but the real MOMent that the Spirit was reminding me of was not the actual saying,  "Thank you," but  the proud MOMent that came after the game.

AFTER the game.

We spend our days running like a baseball player.
Sure, it isn't running bases, but it is carpooling, going to the office, cleaning, worrying, blogging, burping, planning, running from here to there, and everything else a mom does.

But we are not necessarily going to get our "Thanks" during the game.

More often than not, we will not get thanked for the countless things we do as mothers.

Your daughter will not thank you as you hold her hair back while she vomits for the fifteenth time with the flu.
Your son will not thank you for staying up all night looking for his baseball cup so he can play in the game.
Your husband will not thank you for getting all the cute cupcakes to your child's Valentine's Day party on time.

Not that they wouldn't ever, and not that they always won't, but most of the time...they just do not realize the extent of what you do.  What you did.  For them.  Out of love.

And that, my Friend, is you.

It is me.

We do not fully realize what our Jesus did for us.
Our simple minds cannot fathom where we would be without him.
We just will never know the extent of what He did for us.
On the cross.
And everyday since.
We will never know...
Until after the game.

After the game.

On that day, when we are whole.  When we are made perfect.  When we are fully aware.

We will see his pierced hands and feet.
And we will look into his eyes.

On that day, we will know.

And we will say, "Thank you."

To Be A Homeschooler or Not to Be

Okay, I see posts all the time asking for advice...advice on what car to buy, where to buy clothes, even where to work out.  My answer for that last one is, "You can always just run around chasing my four kids," but no one ever likes that answer...

This is not really advice, per se, but a call out for facts.

Facts.
And Opinions.

So here is my question:

If you homeschool...


WHY do you do it?
Please tell me the benefits, tell me the reason you would never do "regular" school, tell me the 1000 perks that make you do it...tell me all about the joyful MOMents you experience!

Or even tell me why it is crazy hard, but you love it!

I really want to know.

We always evaluate schooling each year...Now is the time...

We are looking to you for the facts.  Your facts.  Your Opinions. No, not to make up our mind, but to give us real honest answers.


And...if YOU DO NOT HOMESCHOOL...

WHY do you send your kids to school?

What are the things that you love about school?
Be real, be honest.


What do you gain?  What do your kids gain?


Your facts. Your Opinions.

And to say thank you and to show you how important this is to us. 

I am offering a free give away. 

Okay, I guess that is redundant.  If it is free...someone is obviously giving it away!

So, how do you enter?

It's simple.

Rule #1- You must be a follower of my blog to enter.

Rule #2- Following my blog? Great. Now type your schooling MOMents and why you do it day in and day out! 

You can also get more entries by 3 different ways:
     -Follow me on Twitter, and type your Twitter name into the comment box.
     -Tweet about this giveaway, and copy a link of your tweet into the comment box
     -'Like' my Facebook page, and type your Facebook name into the comment box


  Check it out:

 

Winner can pick the print that they want.

Gel pens, thin markers, and shorter pencils fit in the rolls as well.

Aren't they adorable?!

I bought them from a wonderful friend of mine who has her own ETSY site:

http://www.etsy.com/people/CutieBoots

Oh, to be that creative...

Two Big Winners Will Be Chosen!
One Homeschooler
One  Non-Homeschooler

Now, for those families with older children...I still want to hear from you, so winner could either get this for a younger loved one, or choose a $5 Starbucks gift card.

The winning name will be chosen using RANDOM.ORG.

Giveaway will end June 3, 2012. 

No International winners.  I just can't afford the shipping...

So,  here is your chance...

A chance to be a winner,

A chance to get it out why you do what you do, and 

A chance to help out a family with a big decision!

Thanks so much for this wonderful gift of MOMents...