Sports have hijacked my life!

Do you ever wonder where you own life goes? Find yourself sitting back thinking how did I get here? Realize that you love someone else more than anyone in the whole world, but that someone or someones are less than 5 feet tall?

I have, and am currently right there! I have been blessed with 2 boys who are sports inclined and love with an intense passion the game of baseball!

One, two, three strikes, your out at the ol' ball game...

We have played a wide variety of sports since our boys we able to toddle on the field. Soccer at 3, baseball and football at 4, basketball at 5 and then have consistenly played football and baseball every year since they were able to play. After we moved the boys decided they wanted to give up football (frowine face) and play year round baseball (happy face) so that is what we did. We played 2 seasons in a new organization and decided real quick the people in the city of Azle have no idea how to play a real game of baseball (their youth program SUCKS!!) So this season we made the decision with our kids that we were going to play select ball. Both the boys were lucky enough to make select teams and away we went. It hasnt really been to bad thus far with only practices going on, but HOLY COW last week we started games too.....AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!  This was our schedule last week....

Monday: practice 530-630, home by 645

Tuesday: game at 6 and at 745, home at 11

Wednesday: (normal day for us to go to church) game 745, home by 11

Thursday: practice 530-8, home by 830

Friday: OFF, PRAISE GOD!

Saturday: leave house at 9 home by 4. scrimmage from 10-12 and then batting practice from 1-3

Sunday: get up go to early church service 830-1030, practice 12-2, then pictures 430-630.

Is that insanity or what?

The really crazy thing is we have done this so many times with two kids, yes its a bit busier being in a select league...normally practices stop when games start, not here we practice...when we dont have games,

but its our life and we have become accostumed to this life and we LOVE this life.

Running in two directions and meeting in the middle, gathering as a family when ever we can. When the odd chance happens that we only have one at practice, the other doesnt stay home, no heck no, we enjoy it as a family and cheer each other on.

Our friends think we are nuts, that we need to find a league that is less competitive...WHATS THAT YOU SAID??? LESS COMPETITIVE??? That is insanity! How could our kids really enjoy this they ask...isnt it too much?

Believe me when I say I have asked them, we made this decision to go select as a family and they love it every minute of it. What kid doesnt want to stay up late on a school night anyway? Hear their name chanted from the stands or stand firm protecting their plate while knocking another kid over and call it a baseball play. My kids love it, as a family we love it. So yes maybe we are a bit nuts, but it works for us. Our kids are learning team work, what it feels like to loose and to win, comradarie, balance and they are having fun!

Sports have absolutely hijacked our lives for now, but I know come July we will be back to normal for a few months and my kids will have taken so much from this experience.

And that keeps me going when my eyes feel as though they are going to fall off my face because I am so tired. It keeps me excited to sit in the stands when it's 102degrees or 62 degrees.

So now of coarse I wanna know...

What sacrafices do you make for your family? Is anyone else out there crazy involved in some sport or youth function? I wanna hear from you!!! But please no bashing, if you dont agree that is fine, but respect that this is our families decision. Share in fun and relation to our experiences, what did you do as a kid, what do you do with you kids???

Jen