Summer Reading

Do you tend to read more in the summer? We do and that is one of my favorite parts about summer. Although this year we haven't gotten to read as much as I had hoped I still love to read this time of year. The kids always participate in the Summer Reading Program here at the Fairbanks Library. At the end of completing it they let the child choose a free book. Well yesterday was the first day that the books were available, so we all had to get up early to try to see if they had a Calvin and Hobbes book (yes it isn't really great literature but it does make us laugh). Ryan and Jack were both able to receive one :) The boys have read faithfully all summer. Jackson has enjoyed books on sports heroes and Ryan has enjoyed some World War II books. Ty is working really hard on learning how to read. He gets easily flustered but is still trying. He was very excited this summer when he could read most of a Henry and Mudge book by himself which are his favorite. I also enjoy reading aloud to my kids. This summer we read a book from one of my favorite authors....Hilda Van Stockum. Her books are great. We read The Mitchells which is the first book of a three part series. It is about a family during World War II. Even Ty kept asking if I could read some more so he could find out what happened next with the family.
On a personally level I have enjoyed reading the book of Colossians in my Bible this summer. I have enjoyed being focused in on the cross and what Christ has done for me there. Also this summer I have read two amazing books which I highly recommend. It is Well by Mark Dever and Gospel Powered Parenting by William P. Farley. Although I brought more books to read and this was all I was able to get too, I am still thankful. These books are amazing. I received It is Well from the T4G conference we attended this last spring. It talks about what Christ has done for us on the Cross. It has encouraged my heart.
So what about you? What have you been reading this summer?

Gym & Putt Putt

On Saturday we got to go back to the gym that Mrs Meade works at. I am learning how to do a cart wheel. We also played on the mats and trampoline. Then last night after our day game we went to Pioneer Park to play Putt Putt with dad. That was fun although I didn't do so well. Dad won and Ryan came in second. I am looking forward to going home although I will miss the players.
Jackson

Host Family Picnic

On Sunday after the game we had our annual Host Family picnic. The families who have hosted our players truly are a blessing to the guys and us. We have had some that have hosted for almost the 10 years that we have been up here and others that joined this year. We are thankful for their desire to serve these guys in this way. Yesterday I was talking with one of them who is planning on surprising one of our previous players at his wedding this fall. We are very thankful.
Danielle

Recap of Anchorage

Sorry about the lack of blogging. Last week we were in Anchorage. The boys got the pleasure of having a sleepover with the Wuerth's. They loved it all from football, to swedish pancakes, to hanging out with their friends. Chris and I enjoyed a night off too. While we were in Anchorage we spent time: at the games, walking around Anchorage and hanging out with the Wuerths. While we were there we even went to Bouncing Bears which is a inflatable place.
We also got to meet lots of parents of our players who had come to see their sons. One of the families was a host family for us in Wichita years ago. Their son traveled with the Ohio team and now the Alaska team. It was neat to see. We also got to see our friends the Hoffmans who were a host family for us in Fairbanks our first 3 years here. And have been in the lower 48. They were up here fishing and their son Timmy (who was our first bat boy) was on assignment from Westpoint at Ft Richardson. It was great to see them. The father Scott will be working with General Petraeus this next year in Afghanistan. Please pray for him while he is there. We had a great time seeing so many people.
Thursday we drove back to Fairbanks and are here for our final week. Please keep praying for Josh Debore and Chris Turner. Chris spoke with both of these guys this last week, they haven't made a decision for Christ yet but seem close.

Anchorage

Well our drive to Anchorage went well. We rolled into Matsu two days ago and played our game which we lost in the bottom of the 9th. Yesterday we got to hang out with our friends the Wuerths which was fun. The boys played wiffle ball and football and Adria cheered them on. then we took Alex with us to the game back in Matsu....which we lost. When we dropped off Alex there was a moose in his yard and then we saw another moose with two babies on the way home. Ty was a little freaked that they were going to charge after him but overall it was fun. Then today we had a 12pm game which we lost 0-1. The boys are thrilled though because they are having their annual sleepover at Alex's! More on that later :)

Leaving for Anchorage

We have had the last 2 days off. In our baseball house we have been busy watching the Home run Derby and the All Star Game. We are rooting for the National League...so we shall see how this turns out. Ty was thrilled that his favorite "Big Poppi" won the Home run Derby. Today the players had practice and discipleship.

Tomorrow we head down to Anchorage (yep it is about 6 hours). We will be there about 8 days. The kids are looking forward to hanging out with their friends down there.

Pray for these final weeks. These last three weeks are usually when lots of conversations happen.
Danielle

Morning at the Gym

Saturday morning we went to the gym with Mrs. Meade (she is one of our host families). It was fun because we got use all the equipment. There was a zip line, balancing beams, vault, tumbling mats, parallel bars. We tried the parallel bars but couldn't really hold ourselves up....I think we will have to do more push ups in boot camp. My favorite part was running down the path and jumping up the vault and falling into the blocks. I am not sure how they flip on it though. Ty really liked the trampoline and rolling around in the barrel mat. Ryan liked the zip line and the vault. Mrs. Meade showed us how to do all the activities. Her daughter used to compete at the gym. We got to play for about two hours and were pretty hot and sweaty when we were done. I think it would be hilarious to take the players there although I am not sure my dad will allow it. He says he doesn't have very good insurance. :)

Jackson

P.s. By the way Ryan wrote the blog on the helicopters but forgot to sign his name.

Kiowa, Blackhawk and Chinooks

Last week we went on Fort Wainwright to check out some helicopters that one of our host families flies. The Chinooks were bigger than what I thought. Those are the helicopters that have two propellers and are used for cargo and transport mostly. We also saw the Blackhawk helicopters. Those are used for transport and also are decked out for the special forces. Finally we saw the Kiowa which is the one that Mr Merksamer flies. This helicopter has a ball on top, which is amazing. It is a computer laser which the helicopter can zero in on a target and another helicopter or a jet can drop the missile for and it syncs with the laser. It is really cool what it can do. This helicopter also has guns on both sides....it has hellfire missiles, rockets and a machine gun can be attached. They also ride without the doors on so they wear body armor as they fly. There is a small piece that protects them but it isn't much. We got to get in the helicopter and play around for awhile. We also got to try on his armor vest and helmet. My dad barely fit in the helicopter. He also told us that all the different pilots make fun of each others...like they make fun of the Chinook guys, and the BlackHawk pilots. They call the Chinook the Magic School Bus of the Sky. Mr Merksammer (I don't remember his rank) suggested that if I wanted to join the military that I should get an education first. He came in as an enlisted and just became an officer after helicopter school. He has been in the military for 10 years. In February he is going back to Iraq for the third time. Last time he was an explosive engineer and this time he will fly his helicopter. Please pray for the Merksammers this next year. His mission is dangerous and he will be in Iraq about year. His family will be here in Alaska where they recently moved.

Angels Rejoicing!

Yesterday we got a text from Chris that one of our players accepted Christ. The boys were jumping up and down. So last night when Chris got home from the game we got to hear the whole story. Matt Addias is one of our players who was meant to be on the Great Lakes Team. But when our team kept having players drop off in May we asked him to join the Alaska team. We knew that he wasn't a believer. Anyway he has been staying in the apartments with the other guys. So the other night he was talking about how he needs to clean up his act. So the guys there with him called him out on it. They asked why he doesn't clean up his act now and that he can't do it without Christ. Matt was totally convicted and asked how to change. Chad, Tyler and Kellen shared with him the Gospel again making sure he truly understood. After that Matt asked now what do I do. Tyler started to pray and then left it open for Matt to pray. Later on, Tyler said it was one of the most amazing prayers he ever heard. We are rejoicing in our house as they are in heaven. It is interesting....we knew when we got the apartments up at the dorms that God had a plan. We knew that although this was a huge expense that we hadn't planned on that God sovereignly placed each guy there for a reason. We are so thankful for that reason.
Yesterday in discipleship Matt was beaming as he shared with his team what he had done!
Please continue to pray for Matt that he will walk Worthy of his Calling. Also pray for Chris Turner and Josh Debore that they will be drawn to Christ.
Rejoicing,
Danielle

Called Up

In May before we left we met with one of our former players, Robbie Weinhart. He traveled with us for two summers and always loved holding Ty as a baby. He was playing in AAA for the Detroit Tigers up in Columbus. After his game we took him to The Thurman Cafe. Well this week we got a text from Robbie that he got called up to the Big Leagues. We are so excited for him. He ended up pitching the next day. Hopefully he will still be there in August and we will go up and see him.

Can you pray for Robbie. Pray for him to Stand for Truth and Live for Eternity. Pray that he will remain strong in the Lord in the midst of such temptation.

Danielle

Dinner at the Duke's

Last night we had dinner at the Duke's. They are dear friends who have helped with our host families since we have been here. After a yummy meal, Don once again had fireworks for the boys. They love the parachute ones that launch and a parachute comes out which they all chase down. Both of their boys were about Ryan's age when we started this 10 years ago. Now their oldest Donny who traveled with our New York team in the past is home working as a personal trainer. Their youngest Dustin completed the fire academy this year and is a fire fighter, which was very exciting to Ty. He gave us a full tour of the station and all the trucks. It was neat to see these two young men grown up and having fun with our boys. We are thankful for the Dukes and all their hard work in the past 10 years. They have a heart for these baseball players to grow in their walk with God. In Ty's words, "It was a great night"!

Danielle

Happy 4th of July

Well on the 4th we made our annual trip to Pioneer Park. They had music and we went to the Air Museum there, where the boys played on the helicopter. Later that day we had a doubleheader which we unfortunately lost both games. Afterwards we had dinner with the team and some firecrackers (Since you can't see fireworks when it is light outside we didn't see or have any of those). We hope you all had a great 4th. We are blessed to live in a country that we are free. Thanks to all of you have served our country!
Danielle

Small Group

One of our players Tyler Bersanno started a small group with the team yesterday. Tyler is from The Master's College in California and had had such a group on his baseball team last year. It was lead by a senior who encouraged the players to always be discipled by someone and to disciple someone. Anyway Tyler asked Chris a few weeks ago if he could start one. He wanted to show a fellow teammate here how he could run such a group on his campus when he got home. Well yesterday they met for the first time and half the team showed up. They will listen to a sermon online during the week and answer questions that Tyler has made up for them. Then they will get together and discuss it. They are also memorizing Philippians 2:1-18. We are excited that they are taking initiative within themselves and that they are hungry to study God's Word. Pray for these players and for Tyler as he leads this that the Lord will be Glorified!
Danielle

Resolved

Hey I just wanted to encourage you all to look at www.resolved.org . It is a conference put on by Grace Community Church for the younger generation to grow in their relationship with God. The messages are great and are available online. I pray it is an encouragement to you.
Danielle

Boot Camp

This summer my brothers and I are doing Boot camp. I am the only one that likes it. Usually we do push ups and sit ups (which we have had to learn to do). Sometimes leg throw which are hard and wall sits. We also are trying to work on foot speed by doing Dot drills and running more. My brother aren't crazy about this.
Jackson

Picture of Sams

Here is a picture of the crazy adventure to Sams the other day....we will head back again in a few days to restock the guys at the dorm. You can't see very well but Ty is behind Ryan and Jack with a cart!

Arm update

Sorry to leaving you hanging about Ty's arm. Even though the x-ray seemed fine he still isn't using it fully. Yesterday during the game he fell on it again. Chris asked the trainer to look at it. She was able to do a series of test including a tuning fork test which should hurt if it is even fractured. She said to the best of her knowledge it seems fine but he is scared that it will hurt again. So she iced it for him. So yes I think it is better but he is still walking around like it is in a cast. So I think most of it is mental although it might be a bit sensitive.
Danielle