Max is really enjoying playing baseball this season.  He is in the Minor ‘A’ league, on the Durham Bulls (a minor league of MLB). 

He prefers playing 1st base.  The coach also puts him in left field because Max has the speed to chase fly balls.  He has made some tremendous defensive plays and has been awarded 3 ‘game’ balls this season.

This past Saturday, Max tried something new.  The coach asked him to start off the game in the position of pitcher.  Max had never pitched in a game before, but has been throwing balls into a piece of plywood in the yard for a while.

In the first inning, Max got 2 strikeouts and had 1 run scored on 13 pitches.  He did so well that the coach had him pitch for the second inning as well.  In the second inning, he struck out 1 batter and held the opposing team scoreless in 21 pitches.

The coach’s original intent was (and continues to be) to give each boy who wants a chance to pitch for at least 1 inning.  Max exceeded expectations, and so I think the coach might add Max to the pitching rotation.  The coach really likes the idea of having a left-handed pitcher.

Jade, our French Canadian exchange student, made a local dish last night for us.  The dish is called Poutine.  This is a Quebec fast-food consisting of french fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy.

Toby made some burgers to accompany this delicacy.  It was a yummy dinner.

Toby and I have just completed the 14-week Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at Ventura Baptist Church.  We really benefitted from this class in many ways.  We have begun a process of paying off our current debt, avoiding future debt, and saving for the future.  Many people helped us, many time, to take this class, most prominent were the people who watched our kids on Sunday nights during the class.

While this class was nominally presented from a Christian world-view, the lessons focused mostly on the philosophy of avoiding debt and saving for the the future.  One of the changes in our thought process that is required is delayed gratification.  This is very hard in America’s consumer driven culture.

In an effort to speed up our debt payoff, Toby and I have taken second jobs.  Our second jobs are hosting foreign exchange students for a local international language school.  We are currently hosting a French Canadian student and a Korean student.  This winter we have also hosted students from Japan and Holland.  Having 2 students is a bit like a second job, as we are expected to provide breakfast and dinner each day (and lunch on the weekends).  Toby prepares full dinners each night and I clean up each day.  Toby laments the loss of throwing tacquitos and quesadillas at the kids as we rush from baseball to Awana to dance class to Cub Scouts.  But the effort is worth it as we work towards financial peace.

For my 38th birthday, Poppa made me a Bacon Explosion:  bacon crumbles inside a layer of sausage, rolled up inside a bacon weave, smothered in bar-be-que sauce and smoked to perfection.

Toby followed up with peanut butter brownies : brownies layered with marshmallow sauce and topped with a chocolate peanut butter, rice krispy concoction,

Goodness.

From the Coast View News, Carpinteria California.  Volume 17, No. 28 : 14-20 April 2011, p. 7.