Our daughter Juliane’s softball team lost their second game last Saturday and was knocked out of the tournament by a group of Amazon 5th graders.  The girls did well but were clearly overmatched.  We were both very proud of Juliane and her whole team

Clay is on a great team.  They hadn’t lost yet, and seemed to be stacked going into their game on Wednesday Night.  A win would have put them straight to the championship game on Saturday, and losing meant a game on Friday night to extend their season through the losers bracket.  Friday, here we come!

I can’t believe but all three of my kids have ended the spring tee-ball/softball/baseball season in first place!  Each one did well for their teams, with Juliane and Clay playing in a competitive league.  The one who shined the most was Hannah in tee-ball!  She did great fielding and showed an aggressive side that we hadn’t seen before.  I helped coach her team, while Mariah juggled the other two, which made for a pretty busy spring for us.

5.  22 states that banned texting while driving also offer some kind of traffic awareness service that drivers can access through their cell phones

4.  Police in Louisiana are no longer using speed cameras because they were issuing too many tickets to government vehicles

3.  New York City office workers who ran out of confetti during the Yankee’s World Series Parade instead threw confidential financial documents, including pay stubs and bank statements

2.  In Freetown, Mass, a 7 yr old boy was benched at a Little League baseball game because his mother was a no-show at the concession stand

When Mariah and I got married we both were flying by the seat of our pants.  Neither of us had anything of value, and working minimal wage jobs didn’t leave much room for material improvement.  The few “nice” things we did have were treasured with extreme sensitivity.  This is where the lamps come in.  Mariah had brought these two white lamps into the marriage that were the remnants of her freshman apartment at University of New Mexico.  They were cool, stylish, and a little too hip for me, I cared less about light, I just wanted a TV.  Nevertheless, I cared for the lamps as if they were a long lost family heirloom, carefully taking them across the country to Michigan, making sure they survived unhurt.  Throughout our marriage I have painstakingly protected the precious lamps from the violence of Downriver Detroit, the destructive power of youth group meetings, and another move across country back to Texas.  Only once did I let my guard down, which allowed the anointed one (our first born Clay) a small opportunity to bump into the table it stood on and knock it into a few dozen pieces that ended in a special can at the curb with “Taps” being performed on trash day.