Ouch!

I'm not sure which is more painful -- sunburn after a day at the Dells with no shirt and no sunscreen... Or blowing a 9-3 lead in a baseball game and losing 14-11.

Ask Carter. That pretty much sums up Tuesday.

I took this picture with my phone and was almost bragging prematurely about Carter getting his second hit on the way to our first regular season win for the Red Team. We were ahead by 6 runs after all.

Now I understand that meaningless phrase "It ain't over til it's over." It does have meaning!

It just took one error-ridden inning and we were suddenly in the hole 14-9. We battled back over the final two innings but came up short by 3.

Ouch!

After that, I'm pretty sure any sensitive skin issues from Monday's fun in the sun were a nonfactor.

(I guess my own busy day isn't worth complaining about either!)

Mission Possible

Carter and I are on a mission. Well, we aren't ON it yet, but we are counting down the days. Next Friday, on June 28, we'll be heading south to the Ozark Mountains.

Booneville, Ark., to be exact.

There will be 11 of us from our church making the trek. I will be driving a van full of girls and Pastor Josh will be driving a van full of Carter and the rest of the girls. That's right. Carter and 8 high school girls. Good thing we know God will be watching over us!

There was another boy going but that is still up in the air. Either way, we are excited for this mission trip and what we can do... and what it will do for us.

We are working through an organization called YouthWorks, which has based their program before in the town of Booneville, which is approximately 4.5 hours west of Memphis and 3 hours northeast of Little Rock. In other words, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but near the Ozarks.

Our mission in this town will be to work with the many families who struggle with low incomes, unable to meet basic needs. Our group will be one of many serving as the hands and feet of Christ in this community as we assist with home improvement projects and children’s ministry. We may be painting homes or other projects may include yard work, community beautification, building cleanup or any other project that will serve individuals in the community.

All in 90-plus degree weather.

Oh yes, it's going to be way warmer than we experience here in Wisconsin, where I've only gotten to wear shorts twice this year so far. We will appreciate home, appreciate our air conditioning and, with the spirit working with us, appreciate everything we are blessed to have!

It's going to take us 14-16 hours to get there. We'll leave on my birthday and drive the 7-8 hours to St. Louis, where we'll stay overnight at a church there before moving on to the next 7-8 hours down to Booneville. Good thing gas is cheap! 

Well we know it's not. There will be expenses of food and fuel for which we are still raising funds. I'm only going to ask this once -- and please don't feel obligated -- but if you are interested in supporting our trip financially, you can "invest" in it by purchasing a $25 stock certificate, signed by our mission students and redeemable for a nice treat later this summer. Contact me if interested. Checks can be made out to First English Lutheran Church. We are also accepting prayers of support, too!

Remember, don't feel obligated. We will be going no matter what. Somehow God always finds a way for us to do his work! To learn more about the program in general, visit www.YouthWorks.com. 

Thanks for listening!

Father's Daze

Found this picture of my dad and me today and had to scan it in.

It reminds me that I can still feel my dad's love, even if he isn't physically here anymore. And hopefully, he is feeling mine, too! Especially today on Father's Day.

It wasn't easy so soon to have the one holiday where we typically make an extra effort to let our dads know how much we love them. I was tearing up in church when we sang a "funeral song." And another "father" one. Yes, God is our father and I love him. But I love and miss my "earth father" too!

I have to thank my hubby and his family for taking my mind off of that. We had his parents and sister's family over and grilled burgers and brats for supper. Casey was home in Rapids for the weekend so he came over, too. It was just great to have family time.

You'd enjoy the day, too, if you could hang out with these handsome guys...

After everyone left, I took a walk. It was a gorgeous day after all. Earlier, I had to sneak in a little time with Mr. Deck Chair... sitting there with  my face upturned to the sun, just as my dad (my sun-seeking soul mate) would do!

I called my mom a little bit ago. I reminded her I was typically the last kid that called Dad on Father's Day so I'd chime in as the last one this year, too. I am so grateful a few of my sisters spent time with her yesterday and today so she could spend Father's Day with family -- as usual. I know that helped her (and probably them, too) get through this day.

Never underestimate the power of a good support network -- whether in the form of friends, family or your best friend, who also happens to be the father of three beautiful brown-eyed wonders in my life!

Happy Father's Day!

Mad Town Tour

I had an unusual tour of sorts today on the southside of Madison.

Edgerton: First I left the house around 8 a.m. to get down to Edgerton (exactly 2 hours, including one pit stop) for my friend Mark's funeral. I'm glad I was there along with two other women from his newspaper days in Rapids. His father (his only surviving immediate family member) appreciated it. He held my hand and told me he had just talked to Mark on the phone less than 5 minutes before his fatal collapse. "He was just fine then. You just never know."

Let me tell you, as hard as it was to bury my dad, there is nothing sadder than seeing a dad have to grieve for his one and only child. Very, very sad. There were some light moments, though, in his celebration of life. When I said my goodbye to him as he lay in the casket, he had a Snoopy figurine on his right shoulder and a John Wilkes Booth bobble head on his left. I had to laugh (quietly, of course) at that. So typical of Mark, who enjoyed, studied, collected, obsessed about anything and everything Abe Lincoln!

You could tell he had a good friendship with the pastor, too. The way she talked about him, you knew that Mark hasn't changed much over the years. Still burying himself in his work and under piles on his desk -- yet always finding time for others. Rest in peace.

Stoughton: From Edgerton, I headed back north and swung through Stoughton where our next-door neighbor Madison happened to be playing in a softball tournament. They had won their 8 a.m. game 20-0 in just 3 innings and the game I saw also lasted only 3 innings -- as they won that one 15-0. Wow. Hardly worth the trip! Good thing it was on my way from Point A (Edgerton) to Point B (Oregon). I also ran into my work partner Brian who was there with his clan watching his daughter (in a younger age group than Madison) play. He didn't recognize me, I don't think, since I typically don't wear a dress to work.

Let alone the ballpark!

Oregon: Oregon (the one on the southside of Madison, not he state) was my "original" destination -- on my calendar for a month. My high school BFF Julie was holding a graduation party for her oldest daughter. Arriving early (thanks to the shortened ball game), her visiting college roommate and I got to be helpers. So that worked out nice. Even if we didn't do much since she was so organized!

I got a kick out of seeing Julie's brother Danny, now a grownup man named Dan.I had to pick on him for being a pest when we were younger. Julie and I would be on the phone and he would take one of the "extra" phones in their house, hold in the toilet and flush so we'd hear that in our ears. Funny guy. He's definitely matured!

I also got to see Julie's finished scrapbook she did for her daughter. If you recall, I kidnapped her and "forced" her to go to Camp Crop-A-Lot with me in February. She took home my Cricut and cartridges after that so she could keep working on her masterpiece. It turned out great! Her husband still, however, prohibited me from talking about Camp Crop-A-Lot or Crop-toberfest in front of their friends, who would obviously no longer think they were cool. (Some people don't understand!)

Headed for home a little after 5 p.m. and got home to my empty house by 7. Jim and Carter were up in Marshfield to watch our nephew Colin run his first stock car race of the season. Unfortunately, it poured and poured rain there -- and here -- so they left. I think they still might try to get a race in, but we are all home and the only thing we're watching is TV ... and the skies for a possible rainbow.

I think that was guaranteed in the cost of my "tour" today.

SH+GNO+BB=FUN

Call it the "new math," but today's equation totally adds up...

Summer Hours + Girls Night Out + Baseball = FUN!

Summer Hours: From Memorial Day to Labor Day, they let us out of the asylum at 3 p.m. on Fridays. It's great when it's sunny and you can't wait to escape. Also convenient if traveling for the weekend or getting to the garage on time to pick up your car with its four new tires. Made it just in time!

Went grocery shopping after that -- which I would not recommend on a Friday. Uff da -- for people! Then I had this checkout girl who was telling me her life story, including how her mom adopted her boyfriend's kids while he was in prison, etc. It assured me my life is "normal" on some level at least!

Girls Night Out: The nice thing about summer hours is that I can go shopping after work and still get home by 5 p.m. So my friend Christine and I went over to Plover to check out our girlfriend Lori's new massage business. She and her business partner were holding an open house and, besides hoping to win a free massage, I wanted to check out their sign / business logo in real life -- since I designed it for them. I must say it looks great and goes great with their setup and decor. A proud moment for me.

Their location is awesome, too, in an anti-dieting way. Next door is a "cupcakery." Yes, you got that right. A bakery that specializes primarily in cupcakes! ALL kinds. We had to stop in and get some for our guys. (And well, maybe one for us, too.) Then, across the street is King Cone. I can't make this up. So we took advantage of that, too. Christine had never been there so I was obligated to take her. Wasn't I??

We will work it off on Monday when we go back for our massages. Or isn't that how it works? Either way, it was a nice evening catching up.

Baseball: I warned you we might end up at a ballpark. In this case, it was the older version of Carter's 14U Red Team. The 18U team played in Nekoosa so we went down there to watch some his Assumption teammates play. They lost 9-7 but it was still a decent game and good to see some of our school ball "parental group."

The mosquitoes showed up, too. They left me alone, though. Obviously, they knew they weren't part of the equation.

I like this new math.

Phooey! Foiled Again!

The Red Team traveled up to Auburndale tonight for a 6 p.m. game. It took a few scoreless innings but after Carter got a hit (and I even captured action on my smart phone), we finally scored when he eventually made it all the way home, thanks to the next two batters.

For awhile that was the score. Carter's one run over Auburndale's none.

That was nice. Then the home team scored 4 runs in an inning and put us in a hole. Carter got up again and got on with 2 outs. Then the next few batters did a great job and we had runs coming in! Just not enough. Carter pitched the last inning and didn't give up any runs but we were unable to get any more ourselves. So we ended up losing 4-3.

Phooey! Foiled again!

But it was a much better outing than last night. Maybe a little sunshine goes a long way!

Now we (as in Carter's teams) are off until Tuesday so I can enjoy some other activities on my schedule. Do not rule out time at a ball park. Just sayin'. But I will be having some other fun, too, and -- at least for tonight -- getting to bed on time for a change!

Baseball-related laundry is just gonna have to wait.

Rainbow Dis-Connection

There may be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but I can tell you what's not there: hits, runs and a win for our baseball team.

This evening Carter played with his tournament team -- that's the red / Rudolph league team not to be confused with his blue (aka Brewers) / Rapids league team. It was a home game and Coach Austin had to come out of retirement to run the show while the regular coach led the older Red Team at a different ball park.

We arrived at 5 p.m. along with rain clouds and thunder, but no game-canceling lightning.

The game was set for 6 p.m. against Marshfield. I stayed in the car and read a book while they did field maintenance in the rain. It was weird. The sun was shining in the west (and the western side of the parking lot even), but as the clouds moved east, they kept dropping the rain.

At that point, I figured we were in for a rainout. But no, it stopped in time for the game, which was very long -- very, very long -- for a contest shortened to 5 innings by the 10-run rule. Pretty sad.

Even the brief glimpse of a partial rainbow did not give us hope. It was too late by then. We were down by a dozen and had to make a major comeback. We tried (Carter got a hit) and we did get a few runs, but not enough to keep the game going. Sometimes that's a relief.

We'll just try again tomorrow.

Maybe God's promise with the rainbow has nothing to do with a sports victory. Oh well, it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow anyway so the boys in Red will be on their own.

Unless I find a four-leaf clover in the wet grass...Wish me luck!