Do you have angels in your outfield? **UPDATED**

Last week we did!  Dustin's in his fourth year of baseball and really struggles to connect with the ball. Some day's he's got it - some day's not-so-much.  He's been sitting on the bench a lot this season and the coach usually puts him in during the fifth or sixth inning. The game wasn't really coming together and I was starting to feel bad for him - that maybe he wasn't enjoying it either. When he finally got up to bat - I pleaded to the Big-Guy, "Lord, please give the guy a little help - he really needs it!" 

If you know me at all you'll know that I don't take the power of prayer lightly.

He got up the plate, got set and "ponk" he hit it - and it rolled three feet from the plate so off he went to first and wouldn't you know - they overthrew it! Off he went to second and they overthrew it again! It was like slow motion watching him running the bases and sure enough - they overthrew third and on to home he went. He got there with a nice big SLIDE and tagged the base a milisecond before they tagged him - it was a HOME RUN.  Everyone was cheering and yelling his name!

So, yes, we had angels in our outfield.......I almost feel guilty - the other team didn't know what hit 'em!

**UPDATE**
Okay, so it happened again! I had to leave for a little bit during the game for a meeting at church. Dustin was up while I was gone and struck out. Right after I returned he got up to bat. I thought it over and decided, yeah, he needed a little more help since he wasn't even off the bench until the 5th inning - and BASE HIT BABY!  He even stole two bases before making it home. I'm so proud of all his hard work and tickled that even my prayers for the little things are heard!

Buzzworthy - Lisa Grace's ebook Angel in the Shadows for 99 cents! And an Ipad2 Giveaway

What could be better than that? 99 cents for a trendy, recently released ebook AND a chance at winning an Apple Ipad2.

AOL rated Angel in the Shadows  an alternative to their #5 most challenged book - Twilight. An interesting angle that sets Lisa Grace apart as an author is that she believes angels are real. Her interviews are quite controversial and add a fresh look at paranormal fiction.

Angel in the Shadows is a suspensful book about 15 year old Megan who can see angels and demons and their intent to destroy her high-school friends.With the help of Johnny, the angel, she battles Judas, the demon, to save the souls of her friends from eternal destruction 

I've had a sticky note on my laptop for a few months now reminding me to order a copy and now it's going to be less than $1 at Amazon.com today in the Kindle ebook section! ASIN# is B0052AI5W8 (The 00 are zero's not oh's.)

 And just look at that cover - those eyes! Is he the angel? or the demon?

Author Lisa Grace is almost finished with book two and to celebrate is offering the chance to win an Apple Ipad2 once she hits 10,000 downloads of her ebook version. All you have to do to enter is be a "friend" on her website http://www.lisagracebooks.com/.

Mom Monday - If I could go back to junior high-I'd choose to be a boy....

Next to my coffee pot this morning was the 8th Grade  Course Manual for next year. I stood there thinking - what? That's it? 7th grade is ending? and More importantly - How come 7th grade was so socially-easy for my 13 year-old son? Are boys just way more easy going than girls? No gossip conflicts? No boyfriend/girlfriend or who-likes-who issues? No emotional-spillage?  I didn't have to mediate or smooth over even one friend issue. I had no idea being a teenage boy was so cut and dry,  football season- video game-skateboard-best friend-simple! If I could go back in time and re-do junior high - I'd be a boy....Mooooom, have you seen my cleats?

Oh the Blessed Chaos...

Mayan Calendar

.....that is life raising four school-age boys!  The saying, "It takes a village" is our motto this month. Usually, we are the Kool-Aid house that latchkey kids are drawn to for company. But, whenever school starts and ends we find ourself thrown into this schedule conundrum x 5. The boys are in school, I'm in school, we have sports, birthday parties, church events and we both work. The hitch is that I work earlier in the afternoon now that I have accepted a promotion and this week I'm covering for a coworker who's at an out of town training meeting.... and that leaves the "village" to cover those two hours in between a few days a week.

 I tried to enroll the youngest boys in the afterschool program but it was full. Hence, I find myself dependent on Josh, 13, to fill in for me and if he's not available, ask the neighbor to cover those half-hour chunks in between him getting off his bus and me leaving for work the minute he walks in the door. This week my minivan was twice converted into a dressing room on wheels!  My mother-in-law said, "You're going to run into yourself coming and going!" Is this why the Mayans' calendar is in a circle? Is the guy toting his laptop, lunch, work-clothes and son's team jersey?

 But, I digress -  it's all good brotha'.....

What crazy things have you done to make your family schedule come together?  Change your clothes in the car? Send your son home with a friend so their parents will get them to the band concert on time while you go to work and your husband covers the concession stand obligation for your other son's baseball team?  Drop them off at Sunday school so you can run errands?

Book Review: Plenty-Coups Autobiography as told to Frank Linderman and sensational Spirit-Dance video

It's time to step out of your box, book-lovers. This autobiography blew me away. Initially, the black and white -well, grayish really- cover with the archaic-looking, bad-hair-day Indian on the front made me dread reading this for school. Was I ever in the wrong mind about it! This is the BEST non-fiction book I have EVER read!


Plenty-Coups, Chief of the Crows, is an account  recorded by Frank B. Linderman of the chief telling his life story at the age of 80. Plenty-Coups was born about the time white people were settling in the East part of America but he didn't encounter them until around his late twenties when they reached the Northwest. He was given the privilege of living wild and free as a young Crow boy, warrior, and Chief. What shocked me was how much freedom he had as a boy. At age nine he went on a journey to fast and pray alone - miles and miles. He climbed a butte, fasted and prayed until he received his "vision" but was too weak to return to his tribe. So what does a nine year old do in a situation like that? Well, if you are Plenty-Coups (who at the time was still named Buffalo Bull Facing the Wind), you cut off the end of your finger so that the blood will attract vultures and your family will find you by following the birds! What?  Yep, that's what he did and that's just when he was a kid.


He was given the name Plenty-Coups after his vision quest because he was destined to "strike-coup" many times. That means he would quickly take over other tribes. Indian warriors wouldn't just go in for the kill - no, they would ride up and smack the other warriors in the face with their horse whip to start the fight. I just crack up thinking about the smile they must have had riding away after - whack!  It's on-Like Donkey-Kong!


His story goes on to tell of many battles over land and horse stealing between tribes but takes a turn when the Crows decide to fight along with the American soldiers. Sadly they saw that they had to make an alliance with the soldiers for the survival of their tribe and preservation of their land. But, his telling of battles was like an action movie -Jumping on and off horses without stopping, firing his arrows at a run on the horse. I had to keep reminding myself that this was NOT fiction!  He scalped many men- never a white man but many other Indians he fought. This guy was WILD!


I'm saving my copy for my sons when they get older. So much was lost when they lost their way of life. Everything they did had ceremony, meaning and honor. They were taught by their uncles. If they didn't "get" something, they working with them until they got it - no "epic-fail's". Today we don't even let our boys cross the street. We have to find ways to instill honor, bravery, and valor in our boys (without the violence) so that they can be warriors in their own way, protect their families and their way of life.

I give Plenty-Coups

While this man is not Crow, but Lakota, it's awesome to witness the love Native American's have for the earth and their ceremonies

Book Review: Reckless by Cornelia Funk. This Ain't Your Lil' Sister's Fairy Tale!

Reckless, by (my favorite fantasy writer!) Cornelia Funke, is a story about two brothers. Jacob Reckless, disappeares into a magic mirror and his brother, Will, embarks on a quest to bring him back.  A curse of the evil Dark Fairy immediately begins Will's transformation into a jade-skinned guard of the King Kami'en. The journey takes Will, his girlfriend Clara, Jacob, Fox the shapeshifter, and an unlikely dwarf companion named Valiant, through a magical world with hints of familiar tales like Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel and filled with dwarves, deadly unicorns, watermen, lorelie and the dreaded stone-bodied goyl.

Wow! Wild! First off, the name - Reckless!  Irresistable! And obviously - the cover is fantastic (unless you are my six-year old, then it's scary). True to her form, Funke's writing is descriptive and imaginative beyond the average cranial-whimsy. I loved how the story emphasized Jacob's love for his brother and the hints of his father's presence in both worlds. The storyline of Jacob's special relationship with fox was original - and which, by the way, would make a fantastic story of its own. I saw a hint of this being a series and hope the next book will encompass their relationship potential. Towards the end of the story it is full of twists and tricks - finally a story that doesn't sag before the climax! Her writing was descriptive I felt like I was in the castle, felt fearful of the finality of Will's transformation to jade, and even felt a bit afraid of him at times. It wrapped up with an ending to satisfy the reader, offering some closure with the possibility of continuing the journey.

My only complaint was that it was tough to follow the characters in the beginning,  as they were sporatically introduced. I had trouble telling them one from another until halfway through the book. Even so, I loved how even if her characters start off as "bad" you end up sympathizing a little off and on with them. I would say this story fits clearly in Young-Adult due to the dynamics of the mature relationships in the story. A middle-grader may enjoy it but would need parental guidance with some of the storyline. That said - it makes a fabulous YA and YA loving adult fantasy novel.


I give Reckless  5 stars!

If you're in over your head, lost, or just love good music - free download!

This song just resonates in my head all day long and it's FREE!    iTunes Code: F3KH3HTJJRF9 at www.iTunes.com until May 15th

"Listen to the Sound" by Building429



Lyrics:

Are you in over your head

Are you in water so deep you're drowning


Do you think you've been left


And there is no one to feel your hurting


Well, everybody has been there


And everybody's felt lost


If you're in over your head


Lift it up, lift it up






(Chorus)


Oh, listen to the sound of hope that's rising up


Over your horizon


Listen to the sound, listen to the sound


And listen to the sound of a new beginning


Oh, this is where the old is ending


Listen to the sound, listen to the sound






I hear you say you're alone


I hear you saying that you'll never make it


I've got to tell you you're wrong


‘Cause I have been down this path you're takin'


You'll never know what faith is


‘Til you don't understand


Sometimes it takes a silence


To finally hear His plan






Chorus






Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound


I once was lost, but now I'm found


Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound


I once was lost, but now I'm found






Chorus






His Grace is reaching for us


His Grace is reaching out


Listen to the sound, listen to the sound


Wherever you are


(X2)

Mom-Monday: How to Guarantee Your Sons will NEVER Wear their Pants like this...

All you have to do is have this conversation:

Mom: Pull up your pants or get a belt - are you trying to wear your pants like that on purpose?

Josh: No, *snickering as pulling them up*

Mom (with that evil-mom smile): If you EVER wear your pants like that on purpose I am going to show up at your school and follow you around with baggy-granny underwear sicking out of MY pants!

Josh: Laughing hysterically - Okay, OKAAAY!

If I can't have......

Then I'll take the next best thing.....

and enjoy God's gift to student/mommies - the semester ending one month before the kids are out of school! YAAAAAY

Solstice by P J Hoover

And we thought summer coming was exciting - check out the trailer for P.J. Hoover's new book Solstice!




Dystopian Mythology Novel for Teens (and teen-readers)

Find PJ at her webpage Roots in Myth