Boys of summer ball

Cody just finished his Dallas High School baseball season. He had some great pitching and hitting not to mention his base stealing. (We tell our kids that stealing is bad and yet we encourage them to do it in baseball???...go figure!) Cody gets a couple of weeks off before summer ball starts, mean while Garretts JBO baseball season is in full swing and Parkers mens league Softball season is underway(...and somewhere in the middle of all this summer ball madness I'm supposed to work and my wife and I are trying to raise a family!!) Last week we were playing ball in 40-50 degree rainy weather and then this weekend we're in a tournament in Corvallis and it's high 80's and we're getting sunburned and over heated. Only in Oregon. For the next couple of months we'll be in a ballpark somewhere almost every night and on the road every week eating out of a cooler or some concession stand (if they have good Nachos) This is why we had kids. God blessed us with 6 awesome boys and a precious girl, who by the way has grown into a beautiful young lady. (we'll cover that in the next blog...she is getting ready to go to Abuja Nigeria with Parker this summer. You can catch all the news at http://www.abujabound.blogspot.com/ )

Diet Shasta

No, that is not a drink I'm talking about. That's the Real Life spring retreat that Parker and Whitney are going to this weekend. (Real Life is the name for our church's college ministry) I think about 175 youth ( I call them that because they are soooooo much younger than I am...when I was their age, I...well never mind about me!) are going down to lake Shasta in beautiful northern California. They will be living on house boats, and getting around on ski boats and Jet ski's. The weather is supposed to be 75-85 all weekend...jealous? yea me too. The teaching and the worship will be awesome.
Pray they have a safe time there and that God will minister to them there, and they will have a safe trip down and back. Parker is driving his car with 4 other youth and is car pooling down with another car.
Oh to be young again...sun, water, jet ski's, ski boats, worship, more jet ski's, food lots of food...ahhhhh!

4 yr old view on Easter

Our 4 yr old going on 20 (Isaac Robert Smith) had some interesting comments this Easter. His Mother and him were shopping one day at the used and antique furniture store in Dallas where we live (she's getting him started early) and they came across a shell lamp with a cross in it. When he saw this "Christian icon" he said "look Mom, this is the time that Jesus died on the cross and was swallowed by a giant clam!!" My wife said the lady who overheard his pointed comment almost died laughing when she heard this new twist on Christianity. When she came home and told me what he said, my comment was,"OK no more Sponge Bob for him"!
As we were going to church Easter Sunday we were passing pastures and fields with various animals which we like to point out to the kids (probably because when we were living in the Bay Area there were only fields of buildings, bridges, houses, freeways and parking lots) so they can enjoy the beauty. My wife said to IRS "look at those little lamb's Isaac, they're playing with their Mother" Isaac quickly shot back in a dead pan tone, "yea I know Mom, we ate one of those for Passover."