Happy Thanksgiving

We had quite an eventful day today. Billy got up bright and early and went to spend some quality time with Grandma. They are feeding her real food now, so she had grits, eggs and coffee this morning. They are still planning to send her home maybe on Tuesday. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and an awesome time with your families. God Bless.

Thanksgiving & Other Stuff

-It's been a long time, so there's SO much to say. Both boys are currently taking a break from baseball right now for a few weeks. Regular Dixie Youth season will pick up again around February or March. Whew . . . it's been a long baseball season. Billy and I are so proud of both boys.

-Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I've had to take a new look at this holiday and learn to enjoy it for what it is. Billy and I are both from divorced families and it makes it hard to see everyone during the holidays and spend equal time with each family, but we do the best that we can without running ourselves out. We enjoy our time with each family and we've decided that we will go to Aunt Donna's at Noon and visit with the Frye family for a little while. Then we're off to Aunt Renee and Uncle Jim's around 2 to visit with the Chavis family for a little while. Then we're heading to our land around 5 so that we can visit with Billy's mom, sister and some of his family for a while. We will pack it all in and I'm sure we'll have a great time. I particularly want to be sure that I visit the Chavis side for a while for Mama. She lost her baby brother (my Uncle Edwin) a few months ago and it was very traumatic for her. She has also been pretty sick with her lung infection, but she's finally starting to feel like herself again and I want to give her all the time with the boys that she wants.

-Please continue to pray for Billy's Grandma. She's still in the hospital. It's been several months now. She's so ready to come home. They still have her on the vent. Like Billy said, possibly the hardest part is that we know her mind works 100% and it's hard to see her like this. She's such a strong woman. She and Billy have this special bond . . . when Billy goes to visit her, she lights up and is always glad to see him. The boys haven't been able to see her since she was admitted months ago. They miss her. The family is talking about getting her ready to come home, but there are a few kinks to be worked out. Hopefully she will be home soon.

-I will be Christmas shopping on Friday (Black Friday) for those of you who may see me out. I'll have on my serious shopping face, but please speak if you see me. I usually meet up w/ Michelle at one store if not more and we speak for a few minutes. Happy shopping and I'll blog sooner . . . I promise!

Grandma Wilson

If you would, please say a prayer for Billy's Grandma. She has emphyzema and has had it for years, but she has recently gotten worse. She's in the hospital right now in ICU and really struggling. They have her sedated and have her on a ventilator 100%. Please pray that they will soon be able to begin weaning her off of this machine and she'll be able to return home and enjoy her family again. Billy and Aunt Sue are going to get some plants and put them in Grandma's flower garden so that she'll have something pretty to look at when she gets home. They said it will be a long recovery, but my God can do great things and I'm praying for a miracle. Please pray for Grandma Wilson and her healing. She's a rock in the Wilson family and she means so much to everyone.

On a MUCH lighter note . . . while you're praying, whisper a quick one for Billy. He's applying for a new job in the plant and it will be a day job M-F only. He's worked swing shift for 15 years and the boys have never known what it's like to have a daddy that works regular hours. It would truly be a blessing to our family and to our marriage to have this weight lifted off of Billy. Billy doesn't think that he'll get the job b/c others are applying, but I have faith that God will do the right thing and hopefully let the management and supervisors see that Billy is the most qualified for the position and give him the job. Funny thing is that Billy trained the guy that is retiring from the position. So, who better to have that job, right? Seems obvious to me. Thanks.

Scott's Such a Tough Kid!

On the evening of Scott's birthday he was at baseball practice playing 2nd base. A line drive was hit directly to him and guess what . . . he caught it w/ his face. That's right. It was an aweful sound when it hit him directly between the eyes. We rushed to the ER and they said that it was "significantly broken", but they wouldn't touch it b/c of the way it was broken. They suggested we see a specialist once the swelling was down. Today, Billy and I took him to the specialist and they said that they didn't see a need to set the bone or put a splint on it. The septum in the middle looked to be straight and not deviating to one side or the other (which is great). He felt through the swelling and down to the bone and said that as far as he could tell, the bone was straight. We are to watch for signs of anything looking crooked or not right once the swelling continues to go down and take him back if something looks to be "off". He released Scott to play ball as soon as he feels ready and boy is he ready. He actually went to ball practice on Monday night (shhhhh). He's a trooper and we're proud of the way he has handled himself. He and Clayton both have tournaments scheduled this weekend at different locations. Luckily Billy is off of work this weekend and we'll be able to each take them to their games. I'll get the picture of Scott off of his camera phone if I can and post it. It's a beaut!

Too Long!

Okay - it's been a while since I've updated. Clayton played in a ball tournament about 2 weeks ago. They came in 3rd. They should have been in the championships to bring home a 1st or 2nd place trophy, but they had a terrible first game, so they spent the entire first day trying to play catch-up instead of starting out on the top like they should have done. We still had fun though.

Scott's All Star team lost out in the last day of the District tournament. They were down by several runs at the beginning of the game, but they came back and were leading for a while. They ended up losing 11-12. It was a tough loss. So they are now done with All Stars and are beginning practice for travel ball. The boys celebrated the All Star season w/ a pizza party at a local fun park and they rode gocarts and played laser tag together. They had a great time.

Scott hasn't had a travel ball tournament yet, but practices have begun. He has a tournament tentatively scheduled for the first part of August and it will be local. Scott's coaches are really tightening things up this travel ball season, so it's cut throat. They have really been drilling them on running (not walking) on the field and also with their batting and fielding technique. Scott has really done awesome at all the practices and the coaches have recognized it. One of the coaches even called me to let me know how proud he is of Scott and how well he's doing. Way to go Scott.

I don't like to post exact locations and times of the boys' games and tournaments since this is a public blog accessible by anyone, but if you'd like to know where or when a game is, please feel free to leave a comment w/ your personal email or either email me and Billy @ bwilson234@sc.rr.com and we'll let you know. Have a bless week and we'll be in touch.

Ball Tournament

We're finally home from Clayton's ball tournament. We didn't win overall, but we did better than we thought we might do. We played some REALLY tough teams that have been established for a very long time. This is only our 2nd, so we weren't sure what to expect from the boys, but they really did well. On Saturday they played 4 games. That's a long day for little boys, but they played well. Sunday they played 2 games. The tournament guaranteed everyone 5 games, so Billy's goal for the boys was more than 5 games. More than 5 games would mean that the boys had earned the right to keep playing further into the tournament. They accomplished that goal by playing 6 games. They will have another tournament later in the month (local) and they are already talking about it! Here are the game scores . . . I'll list our score first (warning: some are huge losses and some are huge wins)
*0-15
*16-0
*21-1
*7-18
*3-5
*16-6

Overall it was a great weekend. Give us a call if you're going to be in town or if you'd like to come and watch them play. Scott plays travel ball as well. It's much more competitive than regular season ball and the games are much more exciting!! I promise you'll enjoy it.

WINNERS!!

Scott's team played the championship game on Wednesday night. They won and now hold the title of the Sub-District champions. I was so proud of him. He's quite the outfielder. He scored a run and just played great overall. He has also been quite the spirit captain for the team. One of the other mom's even commented on how Scott had such a great attitude and was trying to get the others in the dugout to stand up and make noise. The District level competition begins next Tuesday night. I can't wait. Keep you posted.

Can't Will Em All!

Scott's team had a pretty significant loss this evening, 9-1. They were playing a team that they've already beaten, but for some reason our boys couldn't get the bats around. The team spirit was running low this evening. However, the silver lining is that all 3 teams left were even at 1 loss each. There was a drawing to see who would advance directly to the Championship game and Scott's coach drew the lucky ticket!!! Tomorrow night the other 2 teams will play at 6pm and we will play the winner of that game at 8pm. Papa Bill is back home from Louisianna tonight and he will be at the game tomorrow with Grammy. They haven't missed a game yet! Grammy was even whooping and hollering tonight trying to get the team spirit boosted. We'll get them tomorrow!

Can You Say Winners!?!?!?

Scott played his first All Stars game tonight and I was fortunate enough to catch the first half. He played some outfield, but didn't have a very strong bat. This is something we're going to pray about. They ended the game w/ a win 11-3. They will play again tomorrow night. Clayton's team finished 1st and won the title of National League Coaches Pitch All Stars Champions. It was a HUGE win 13-0. Two boys hit over the fence homeruns and Clayton caught 2 line drives and threw someone out at 1st for all 3 outs in the 3rd inning. It was beautiful. The other night Clayton's friend hit a Grand Slam! It's been an awesome All Stars time for Clayton and Scott's team seems to be off to a great start also. That's our boys!!!!!

Thanks Aunt Sue!

Almost forgot . . . the other day Aunt Sue made a scrapbook page for Clayton's book. Isn't it adorable?!? That's 1 of my favorite pictures of him. She's working on 1 for Scott's book too! She's so talented!

Tough Loss

Well, it was inevitable and it finally happened. We got beat - or should I say we beat ourselves?!?! I'm not sure about the final score, but it was something like 6-1. Our guys gave up in the first few innings. It was quite discouraging and upsetting to see how hard they took it. However, it is great to see how passionate they are for the game. There were many tears shed, including a few from Clayton. When they struck out or had a bad inning there were tears all the way to the dugout. Our team spirit was a little off tonight. Some parents were pretty ticked off with the head coach and Billy didn't agree with some of his choices either, but we kept to ourselves. All 3 teams left had 1 loss, so they drew names to see who would playoff and who would go directly to the championship game. We drew the lucky number. The other 2 teams will play Friday at 6pm and we will play the winner in the championship game on Friday.

There's a catch for me though . . . Scott's first All Star game is also on Friday night at 6pm. I had a heart to heart w/ him and he said that he didn't think I should miss Clayton's game. I'm going to stay for about 45 minutes of Scott's game at 6 and then head over to Clayton's game at 7:30. I think that's fair. Mama and Bill showed up tonight for the game and they said they would go to Scott's game to support him. I'm SO greatful for that. I can't even put it into words.

Quickly I'd like to give a special thanks to Papa Bill. He is a bridge engineer and has been working on a HUGE project in Dubai. He woke up this morning there in Dubai and traveled 13 hours home by plane back to our side of the world. He got a quick bite to eat and then came to Clayton's game and will be at Scott's game tomorrow night. That means so much to us. Thanks Bill and Mama. You guys are the best!!!

Wednesday Night

Okay, it's another late night. We grabbed a quick bite to eat after the game and just got home. It's already 10:55. We played a really competitive team tonight and won 9-3. The coach from the other team was a sore loser. He was ticked that we took off in the first inning leading by 6 runs. It was a great game. Clayton played another great game on 2nd Base and Center Field. Grammy came to watch the game again. She's gotten sucked into the competition! The atmosphere is wonderful and nail biting! It's addictive. Scott's games begin in 2 days. Til tomorrow night . . .

Quick Post - Late Night

It's gonna be a quick post tonight guys! It's already after Midnight and I'm pooped. Clayton had a game tonight and they played a team that offered the most competition so far. However, Clayton's team pulled off a big win 11-4. Clayton played 2nd Base and played it very well. His hitting was just OK. Daddy and Erlinda ended up coming out for tonight's game. It was a very pleasant surprise! Scott had practice, getting ready for his All Stars to start on Friday night. He has had practice from 6pm until after 9pm everynight for the past week or so. I sure hope this coach isn't burning them out before the games start. Nonetheless, the game was a late game and we're getting to bed late. Scott is off tomorrow night and Clayton's team will have another HUGE game tomorrow night. 'Til tomorrow . . .

Let The Games Begin!!!

Clayton's team (National Coaches Pitch) began their games in the District level tournament. They won the Sub-District level and were the only team that was undefeated. Tonight's game started at 6pm and they played a team called Meadow Lake, not sure where they are from. National won the game 12-6. To be honest, they played a lousy first 2 innings and then they started to Rock-N-Roll. Clayton hit a few singles and then a double. Me and Grammy screamed extremely loud, but we blended right in with all the other crazy people in the stands. Clayton started the night off playing on the Pitcher's Mound, then Second Base and an inning in Center Field. He made some really good plays! This picture is of him stopping a ball at the Pitcher's Mound and throwing it Home for an out.

Scott's team (National Minor League) played in the Minor League Invitational this past weekend and they came in second place overall. That was quite an accomplishment. They actually lost out in the very last game to the Independent Minor League team. It was a nail biter. Scott played Outfield and an awesome Second Base. This league is extremely competetive and we're always proud of Scott. He got a great hit that he crushed all the way to the fence, but unfortunately someone was there waiting to catch it. That's the way it goes in this league. This picture of Scott is on Second Base "making some noise" trying to distract the batter. Scott's All Star games start this coming Friday and we can't wait!!! Til tomorrow!!! The Wilsons are going to bed now.

Here Goes!!!

This is my first post!! Gotta admit that I'm a little excited about sharing our lives and our baseball with friends and family (& strangers if they want). First things first, thanks to Aunt Sue! I showed an interest in her site and asked a few questions and 24 hours later here I am. Check out her site So Many Scraps. It's in my favorites. Her scrapbooking skills are out of this world and you'll see some of her handywork on this site in the future. She's not done helping me yet.

Billy and I have a purpose for this site. Our lives revolve around our boys and their love for baseball. They both play Dixie Youth baseball and are also playing on invitation only travel teams. We play ball all year long and we love it. We have lots of family out of town that can't make it to games and would love to know how things are going and how the boys are doing, so this seemed like the obvious answer. Starting 6/23/08, I'll be posting pictures and updates of the boys games. Right now they are both playing in All Stars. So get ready b/c we'll have plenty for you to read and keep up with. I hope that you enjoy this as much as we do. Love to all!!!