M A K I N G L I F E S I M P L E: Extracurriculars: Kickball

This season, J. and I joined a kickball league for one of our city parks. Normally we aren't able to commit to such activities because my work schedule fluctuates so much, but this semester I am taking an on-campus class which requires me to keep Tuesday and Thursday free during the week. The scheduling is actually kind of a pain, but from it we have been blessed, not only with our kickball night but also with our Tuesday night Bible study group.

So, in September we started off with a team made up of random strangers from our church. There were actually five or six teams from our church (out of the twelve or so total teams from the league) and they all previously knew each other -- some of them had even played with one another -- and signed up for a team together. We were all of the "leftovers" without a place to go.

Our first game was sad.

J. and I showed up at the park and realized we were positioned against another church team, Stack Attack, that was mostly comprised of friends that we first got to know while in the Singles group at church. Aside from the team name (which is a play of words on the Singles Group leader, Lance Stack, and a pile of pancakes), they also sported bright pink shirts with a screen print of a large stack of pancakes. J. and I knew they had been practicing together before the season started so we felt doomed. I can't remember the score, but there was no "team" yet in our team. We did end up knowing one couple (Jamie & Jordan) from our Engaged Couples Sunday School and then later our Newlywed Sunday School, so we weren't all strangers, but by the end of that night most of still didn't even remember the others' names.

As the season progressed, so did our playing. By the third game we finally had a certain rhythm. We looked forward to games, seeing our team, and having good ole' elementary school fun our one night a week (but it's much more serious than that). Boy were we surprised to find out at the end of the season that even with 3 losses (one of them being a forfeit for not enough players) we still came in at second! The following week was the tournament, in which all teams played. I wasn't able to be at the game because of work, but I heard from all it was intense and we barely made it to the championship game by just one run over the other team.

Tonight we played our championship game against Balls and Dolls, a group of teachers from a local high school. They were the other team we lost against during the regular season aside from Stack Attack. I literally had a stomach ache as we were driving to the game (still not sure if it was anxiety or hunger), we both were really bundled up as it was supposed to be in the 30s during our game.

Well, if you are friends with me on Facebook, you will already have found out that we won against Balls and Dolls, 11-10 (the most runs we've ever had in a game, by the way). What a game! We are the champions!

By the way, our team name was Shandon Team #1 since we never did name ourselves. I thought it was appropriate since we ended up being #1! Here are some [albeit, blurry] photos from our night:

Jonathan is so excited after our win!

Championship Photo (before being presented with the shirts & trophy)

Terry and Jonathan showin' off our new championship winner t-shirts!

Jay and Lauren

Competitive/Angry Faces (I need to work on mine...)

Jamie and her mother-in-law, Darlene (who helped us out in a pinch during several games and always cheered us on with her husband, Chuck!) holding a shirt in spirit of Jordan (Jamie's husband), who had to work tonight and couldn't make it to the game. Jordan was such a hard worker and asset to our team, it's a shame he didn't get to be with us during our win! In front is his sister, Lacey, who joined our team a little later in the season and helped us to victory many times. This family is one talented bunch!