For my birthday, my family took me about 3 hours up the road to see some of our Dinner Table Guys. Beau Torbert and Troy Patton are in Salem this year playing for the Salem Avalanche. Friday they played the Potomac Nationals who had a major league pitcher starting for them during his rehab assignment. So we got to see Pedro Astacio pitch for 3 innings. He didn't throw that hard but he threw well and kept the Salem hitters fooled.

Troy had pitched a few days before so his job for the night was videoing a few Salem players at bats. In between his work, he would come over and chat with us. He surprised James with a baseball autographed by all the players, a Salem hat and 4 different Troy Patton baseball cards.

We didn't get to see Beau play, he has a slight injury with his thigh and has been rested the last several days. He had physical therapy after the game so we didn't get to chat with him either.

Troy also went to lunch with us on Saturday, it was nice to be able to touch base with him and he is wonderful with Grace and James.

We also went up on Mill Mountain where there is a small zoo, and a nice overlook. It was a nice short get away.

Exfoliating Conspiracy

One of the baseball team mom’s gave Shannon some samples of beauty stuff she sells. Shannon threw one my way and said it is for guys. It was a packet of anti aging products for men (just what I needed after turning 39 last Sunday). One of the packets held an exfoliating face wash. This morning I decided to give it a shot. Ripped open the packet and squeezed alittle on my finger tips as the instructions indicated and began working it into my face.

As I rubbed, I realized I had felt this sensation before. I tried to place the feeling of little pieces of grit on my skin.

Finally it hit me. I have it out in my garage for when I have done some checking of fluids and I have oil or grease on my hands. It is in an orange container and feels the same way on my skin as that exfoliating face wash did. (Though I don’t think I will use it on my face due to the very strong orange fragrance.)

So is it a beauty industry conspiracy? Package it 2 for 1 at AutoZone to get grime off your hands and then sell the same stuff in a package claiming to make your face look younger at a much higher rate? Any thoughts?

Cute at 6, unacceptable at 16

After reading Denise's post about Abby's Wardrobe Malfunction I feel complelled to share a comment made by James the other night. It was one of those comments that out of the mouth of a 6 year old is funny and cute but would not be so out of the mouth of a teenager.

It was bathtime and I had sent James upstairs to get ready for his bath. A few minutes later, we hear from above, "Hey guys, I'm naked and I have 10 dollars and 27 cents." Not only had he gotten ready for his bath, he had counted his change in his bank.

I made it to the bottom of the steps and found him standing on the landing stark naked with his change in the lid of his bank in his hand. A picture would be inappropriate but I think I have one engraved on my brain. Aren't kids great!

Happy Mother's Day

I am blessed to be married to the best Mom in the world. Shannon does such a great job of managing schedules, remembering appointments, knowing when to challenge and when to cut some slack. She knows the importance of a good cuddle and a favorite meal. As she is finishing her first decade as a mother, I just wanted to say thanks to her for all she does. I am about to wake up the kids to help me fix breakfast in bed for her and we have some lunch plans as well. It is fitting that we should make a fuss over her. She regularly makes a fuss over each one of us. That's what Mother's do.

Teacher assignment is as close to the lottery as I will get. Some parents put in request for teachers or request which teachers they don't want. We haven't done that. We trust the people at the school to know their staff and our kids. So far our "gamble" to not go the way of the over controlling parent has worked. This year James & Grace have had great teachers. Grace's teacher has done a great job of working with Grace's scheduling needs and making her feel special by giving her flowers after her talent show performance (although Dad here about had a stroke when a little boy delivered them to her).

I want to spend some time honoring James' for the extra effort she gives to make each child feel special. Mrs. Southerland has done a great job of working with James at his level of ability. She does it in a way that doesn't make anyone notice she's doing it. For example, Friday they had a luau at school. They were going to sit on the floor to eat and she asked James how many students needed to sit on each side. What a great way to let him use his math ability.

The other reason we have appreciated Mrs. Southerland's teaching is that she makes every child feel special. Mrs. Southerland came to James' birthday party in January and yesterday she came to watch him play baseball. She doesn't just do it for the kids she likes, she does it for all the kids.

Individual attention both in school work and in personal matters makes each of us feel special. I am very thankful that Mrs. Southerland has taught my son this year.

Dinner Table Guys Update

Every summer, when the Greeneville Astros are playing, we try to have a few of the guys over for lunch. They are young and away from home and we provide them with a home cooked meal.Since we are at the low end of minor league baseball, we then get to follow the guys progress through the minors. So far this year, only two players are on active teams:

Troy Patton & Beau Torbert are both at Salem Va. They are playing for the Salem Avalanch in the Carolina League (High A). Troy has experience his first bumps in the road in his young career. He has started 6 games so far and is O-4 with a 4.27 ERA. Part of the learning process in the minors is learning to deal with things not going your way. Looks like he is getting some practice there. He still has more strike outs than innings pitched.

Beau has been doing fairly well. He is hitting .270 and is leading the team in runs scored and is second on the team for doubles (8)and triples (1). He is leading the team with 5 stolen bases.

We have had the first of our dinner table guys released this year. Bryan Mulhern was a back up catcher on last years team. Bryan was released out of spring training by the Astros.

The majority of the rest of the dinner table guys are at extended spring training. They will be assigned to one of the Astros short season teams in June. Some will be back in Greeneville for more seasoning.

Multi Tasking

One of the blessings of living in Greeneville is the school Grace and James attend. They love going to school and are loved at school. The principal there is a good man. He is also a smart manager. Here is an example:

You need to get the whole student body out of the building in an orderly way to do a ribbon cutting at the new picnic pavilion on the campus. How do you do it?

You schedule a fire drill before the ribbon cutting. Everyone files out in the orderly way and then they are directed to the pavillion. You have to do so many fire drills anyway so why not use them to your benefit. I like this man's thinking.

Home Field Advantage

Below is an article I drafted a few years ago and was part of my pitch for the 5K run that I talked about a few post ago. May is National Foster Care month. If you know folks who foster, give'm a pat on the back or a night out to say thank you.

"The Greeneville Astros have the privilege of playing home games in a beautiful state of the art stadium. When the people are in the seats, the team is said to have a home field advantage. What is the advantage of being at home in sports? It is the advantage of being surrounded by people who want to see the players be their best. The supporters encourage them, cheer them and sometimes, when it is needed, even let them know they are capable of better. There truly is an advantage to playing at home.

Many of us grew up with a different kind of “home field advantage”. Maybe you remember as a child the sound of your parents cheering for you as you played little league sports. Maybe you remember seeing their faces in the crowd at recitals or concerts. Maybe your memory is of a parent encouraging you not to give up on: riding a bike without training wheels, playing the piano, 7th grade math, or finding a date for the prom. We, like athletes, had the advantage of being surrounded by people who wanted to see us do our best. They encouraged us, cheered us and sometimes, when it was needed, let us know we were capable of doing better.

Unfortunately, not every youth has that advantage. Some children have experienced home life where they were abused or neglected. Others come from families whose problems are so overwhelming that the parents are not effective in providing for the physical, and emotional needs of their children. Foster parents fill the gap for these children. They provide a youth with a “home field advantage” while their family works on the problems that led them to being placed in foster care. They want to see the youth be at his or her best and if it is possible for the youth to be safe at home with their family of origin.

We want to recognize the hard work of people who devote themselves to giving children away from their homes a “home field advantage”. Foster parents come from all walks of life. Some are married; others are single. Some work in factories; some work in offices. Some have children of their own; others do not have first hand experience with children. Some are young; others have more life experience. Some have room just for one youth; others have room for six. They all have one thing in common; the desire to make sure a youth has a safe place to be while to problems of their family get sorted out. Some children’s families are not able to overcome the obstacles that make their home an unsafe place to be for a youth. In those cases, many foster parents end up making a lifetime commitment to give the youth the “home field advantage” through adoption.

Our area is blessed with many families who have chosen to be foster parents for Holston United Methodist Home for Children, The Department of Children’s Services and other agencies. To those who have made the commitment to serve children in foster care as foster parents, we say a heartfelt “Thank You.” If you know someone who has made this commitment, give them a pat on the back, and ask them what you can do to help them or the youth they are serving.

To continue with the sports analogy, the foster care arena is not filled to capacity. We need to make sure that youth in foster care know that someone wants them to be at their best. They need someone to support them by encouraging them, cheering them and sometimes, when it is needed, letting them know they are capable of doing better. We need more people to help give youth a “home field advantage” by being foster parents."

GLAWPIGT

Congratulations to Grace. She was selected to be a part of GLAWPIGT. You ask what GLAWPIGT is? It stands for Great Literature Alive, Well and Playing in Greeneville, Tennessee. It is a program of the arts outreach program at Tusculum College. Her try out piece was an excerpt from Little Women where Jo is explaining to everyone why she cut her hair. She did great!