"If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another."
~Oswald Chambers

Friday, June 28, 2013

dear summer, pah-leeze S. L. O. W. down!

Indeed, I feel as though my head in swimming literally these beginning days of our precious most coveting season of the year.  With school ending in mostly half days (honestly, who makes up the school calendar??  clearly not a mom.) we immediately launched into a full week of all day basketball camp.  After that, we needed a week of nothing, go nowhere, get up whenever and go to sleep whenever.  After that, a weekend of scrambling to notify late invitees of Titus' baptism, which he decided to do practically in the 11th hour, like someone else I know, who I won't mention, but looks like a mini boy version of me with the initials E.L.S.  Then after that, literally right after the dunkin' picnic I packed up Joseph and shipped him off to Messiah College.  Wow!  College student already??  No, but seriously, I wouldn't be shocked if that did occur next month with the way our life is zinging on by us at warped speed. Joseph spent a week on Messiah's campus at sleep over basketball camp.  He loved every waking and probably every sleeping moment of it.  As his father noted upon our first visit there to watch, he was in his element and looked very confident and strong.

Somewhere in the middle of all that school ending going to camp and trying to just chill, our baseball rec season ended.  Elijah's season ended quickly with a loss.  There's always next year.  We hope.  Meaning, if this year didn't drive him closer to basketball, it'll be a miracle.  But Titus' ended with a bang.  His young and little team got off to a bit of a shaky and rough start, pulled it together and ended up in the championship playoff game with none other than team Meadows, formally known as Navy!  We lost to them, but it was a great game!  Way to go Titus!  You have grown as a baseball player this year and we are thrilled and love to watch you play!  I must add here, that Elijah has grown in character this past baseball season.  We are hoping to finally see him grow and blossom as the player we know he is, this All Star season. 

Our first tourney for 10U All Stars is this weekend with game tonight at 6pm in Halifax.  Let's go Susquehanna!!  So, before I forget and get distracted with camp laundry and who knows what else, here's a few pictures to tell the story much better than I ever could with mere words.

First up: Championship game RGC v. Meadows

 Friends who came to cheer Titus on!
l to r: Elijah, Joe Marshall, Joseph, Dee
 The crowd grew in support - Kyah and Kentrell showed up with their momma (not shown)
 Cousins!  Dee and Jordie
 Lil' Ray and E
 Goobers!
 Hats off to the champs!  Good game.
 Titus receiving his trophy from Coach Eric, whom Titus adores...
 One last team huddle chant - 1-2-3 RGC!!
 Thank you, coaches!
 Shawn and his mini me.

Next up baptism Sunday:

 We were honored blessed that people took time out of their Sunday to come witness and celebrate with us in believers baptism.
 Bap-i-tees - Nancy, Caressa, Logan and Titus
 Titus professing his faith in Jesus Christ and his willingness to be baptized in obedience to Him.
 In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
 Pure joy for Shawn and an honor unspeakable to baptize his own son.
LoVe

Final round of photos:
Yikes!  It's like a flash forward!  Dorm life.  First day of camp.  The moms unpack and make their beds up.  Bye, Joseph, have fun at camp!  PLEASE brush your teeth and shower.  Often.

We were encouraged by the camp to come watch the kids in the afternoon or evening.
So glad we took advantage of that opportunity!
 Shawn rearranged his work hours so he could come watch too
 Um...those aren't the shoes we sent you to camp with, son.
 a competitive round of knock out
 keeping track of points
 I think they lost by a point.  Bummer.
Mr./Coach/Uncle Tone stopped by too!
 Brothers watching from the balcony up top.
 Elijah's thoughts...
I wanna go to this camp.  Why didn't they send ME?
 Will it go in??
YES!
 My favorite bunch of ballers!
 Titus getting into the camp action
 WHO is this kid?

 Campers' sibs
Wha???  Broke his ankles.
 Future campers - Elijah, Aubrey, Titus

We attended the last day ceremonies.  Our friends who recommended this camp to us were right.
Top notch organization.  Cannot say enough good about it all.  Each camper was given a report card at the end and a group camp picture.
 Checking out the Camp Picture
 Rick VanPelt, Director extraordinaire.
 The Director and Commissioners.
Excellent job!
 Dee, thank you for being the best roomie and friend!
See ya next year, hopefully!
 Thanks for taking us to Friendly's, Dad!
 Happy to have my boy back.
Joseph, how was your first overnight basketball camp experience?
TWO thumbs up!

Onto the remainder of our Brightbill Basketball Season and the beginning of our All Star Season.
The fun never ends here in Shay land.

2 comments:

Jonalee said...

love it! keep them coming! :)

PS - can you tell those boys to stop growing??

lisaqshay said...

Will do, and yes, I'll tell 'em.
xo u