Project Life 2012 - Week 43

October 21 - 27

On Sunday, the 21st Bennett got to pitch again and I was there to catch it with my camera!

I forget to breathe when he pitches. I just was beginning to remember to breathe when he is up to bat!! He, however, is cool as a cucumber :)

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Well, we went through our whole flag football season without any wins - until the very end! We went out winning, which shocked everyone. Well, everyone except for the boys!

We played in the tournament on the 22nd and wouldn't you know it - we won!! 

 Shocked. That is really the only word that I can have to our win. I have to admit that I had counted the game on the 22nd as our last game. That'll teach me to make plans :)  And wouldn't you know it that the next game, which was on the 25th was a late game!! In case you don't know it, we are not much on late night activities around here. 

But, regardless of how I feel about late night activities, we were moving on up the bracket! So, on Thursday, the 25th we headed back to the fields for another game. 
This game didn't go so well for us.

The boys were sad, but they had a great season. And, as Coach said, they made great improvements over the season!
And, as a consolation, we had a little impromptu team party at Brusters, complete with trophies. Ice cream and big gaudy trophies make everything better!
Then I hurried Bennett home to get into bed. Gotta stick to the schedule :)

On Friday, the 26th, Bennett's school had a their Service Day. Since it was our first time to experience this day, I was excited to be able to go along! We went to downtown shelter to let the kids play with the younger children there. I wasn't sure how it would go, but I was sure that God would work it out, and boy, did he!

When we arrived it was like most mission trips we have been on - pure chaos. Of course, the kids really didn't know and were having a great time just doing something out of the ordinary. We finally got divided into groups and our half of the 4th grade was to go and 'play' with the 3 year olds in their classroom. Well, just as we settled in to read books, the fire alarm went off. We all headed outside - the residents acted as if this happened all the time (and come to find out, I think it does! It happened once more before we left!!)

Well, we had brought silly b@nds for the children (the kids had donated from their own collections) so we let them give them out while we were outside. It was awesome to watch! Bennett was so excited to interact with the children and just give. 

Somehow, after the fire alarm, our group was allowed to go outside with some of the little children to play on the playground. What a blessing! At first, the big kids weren't sure what to do, but after a little encouragement to 'just play', they began doing what kids do best. Bennett found a friend after just a few minutes. We don't know his real name - he only wanted to be called 'Batman', so that's what Bennett called him :)

They sawed down trees and pretty much were inseparable for the 45 minutes that we were there. We brought Popsicles, which were also a hit as you can imagine. Finally, they brought out the $ store goodies that the kids had donated. It was so cute to see each child as they finally understood that the gift was theirs to keep. As Bennett helped Batman put together his big Styrofoam airplane I walked up and as I watched them together I realized that Batman didn't understand that the plane was for him. Bennett was putting it together for him and Batman was content just watching. I encouraged Bennett to tell Batman that it was his to keep. At first Bennett was a little defensive, but once I explained, he understood. My heart swelled as Bennett told Batman that the plane was his to keep. For ever and ever. And the smile on Batman's face was enough to melt my heart.

The experience at the shelter reminds me of all of the other times I've been on mission trips - I go thinking that I am going to help others (or in this case to be a chaperon on a field trip), but really, God does a work on me. My heart broke as 2 little boys on 2 separate occasions cried for me to pick them up and not leave them. I could only imagine the heartache that these little guys had been through at such a young age. 

Bennett didn't want to leave when it was time to go. He told me that he had tears in his eyes when he heard it was time to leave. He's asked several times if we could go back and visit Batman. His heart has been changed and he has a new understanding for loving others. What a blessing. 
I'm thankful in so many ways.