Baseball Blessings Abound!

Jacob loves baseball, and more specifically…he loves the Atlanta Braves! He and Greg used to try to go to a game or two every season. Jacob’s 15th birthday is this coming Friday, May 9. Greg and Jacob had recently started a tradition where they would go to an “away” Braves game together in May….there birthday month (Greg’s birthday is also in May). They wanted to go to as many different ballparks as they could. For Jake’s 13th birthday, they went to Chicago and on his 14th birthday, they went to Cincinnati. Unfortunately, it was a short-lived tradition, but Jacob has many great memories from those two trips.

In the cockpit, on the flight to Chicago!

At Wrigley Field

Wrigley Field

The limo ride back to the airport

14th birthday in Cincinnati!

The Great American Ballpark!

At the beginning of this season Jake said, “I bet I don’t go to any games this season.” Well, God heard the discouragement in that boy’s statement and He has provided MANY “baseball blessings” over the last couple of weeks!

Last Friday, Katie took Jake to see the Braves play the Giants for an early birthday present. They had a great time together! After the game, Jacob even got the chance to meet John Smoltz, get his autograph and have his picture made with him! What a blessing for Katie and Jake to have this special time together!

Katie and Jake at the Braves/Giants game.

Jacob and John Smoltz!

This past Monday, Jake was blessed to be able to go to another Braves game, this time against the Cardinals. Frank Wren, Sr. (father of the Braves’ general manager) took Jacob to this game….how cool is that?? On Easter Sunday, after our church service ended, our friend, Kevin Burrell, grabbed Jake and said, “I’ve got someone I want you to meet.” Kevin is a former MLB player and is currently a scout for the Chicago White Sox. Turns out that Mr. Wren goes to our church (we had no idea!) and Kevin introduced Jacob to him! Thanks to the connection from Kevin, Mr. Wren called Jake this past Sunday night and invited him to go to the game with him on Monday evening. Of course, Jake said YES!!! He had a great time at the game! Before the game started, Jake was allowed to go down to the track behind home plate and take a few pictures of the field. They had great seats right behind home plate, and Mr. Wren even treated Jake to dinner and snacks during the game. Jake thought that where Mr. Wren got to park was pretty cool too! What a special blessing that night was!

Jacob and Mr. Frank Wren, Sr.

Getting ready to start the game!

Go Braves!!

And now….Jake is going to the another game on Saturday! This time to see the Braves play the Cubs! Yesterday, one of Greg’s coworkers emailed me and said that he and his wife have season tickets to the Braves, but will be unable to go to the game on Saturday. He wanted to know if we would like to have the tickets! I am unable to go with Jacob, but his cousin is going to take him. (I’m sure he would rather go with his cousin anyway! 🙂 ) Once again…another baseball blessing!

And, we’re not finished! We’ve got another special game planned in a couple of weeks. I’ll blog about that later.

What a caring, compassionate, loving and merciful Savior we have! In the midst of much pain and sadness, the Lord brings blessing and joy to one of His children. Actually, not just one of His children, but two. It brings such joy and happiness to my “Mama heart” to see my child happy and blessed! And I know it does the same for His “Father heart” to see His children happy and blessed!

We are so grateful for His constant love, mercy and provision for us. We are also thankful for the ones who allow Him to use them to bless us!

Trusting His Plan,
Sandra