Parents vs Youth Softball Game

 Every fall we host an annual Parents vs Youth Softball Game.

  

Whereas we have some pretty amazing kids in our youth group...

Every single year, we have lost to the parents.

Some years have been closer than others, but for the most part, we just have some amazing softball playing parents.  

This year, however, was our year.  With a few new additions to our team, and some amazing plays...

I'm proud to share that for the first time ever, the youth finally beat the parents, 5-4.

During the game, I got to hang out with this amazing little guy.  For the most part, he is a man of few words... until you get him talking about something that he loves.  I discovered that one of the things he gets pretty chatty about, is Toy Story 3.  So we discussed Buzz Lightyear, and Lotso Huggin Bear.  It was a great conversation.

This kid was a little spunky today.  Maybe it was the fact that this week was crazy busy... maybe it was the spiky hair?  We are pretty much the same temperament, and also share the same level of strong will, so we tend to go head to head, and some days are a bit more trying than others.  After awhile, he did finally settled down.  I love Christian so much, and I'm really, really hoping that some day, with his commanding personality and stubborn strong will, he will do great things and lead others to do the same.

 Ellee was pretty much content to color nearly the whole time.  One of the sweet girls in our youth group gave her two big bags of "hair pretties."  There were all kinds of colors and shapes and we had to immediately try a pink one out.  Ellee told me with such passion in her voice that she "had always hoped to have such beautiful hair pretties someday."  

I absolutely love that she takes such joy in the simple things in life.

All in all, it was a great day!  We took this picture to commemorate it.

And then ended with this "Silly Picture" to keep in tradition with nearly every youth group picture that we have ever taken.  Thanks to everyone who came out and a big congratulations to all of the youth who played today!