Joy

I love Tuesday nights! Vera and Emma have Angel League baseball and they are just so much fun to watch. I wish all ball players had as much fun and worked as hard as they do. I always get a huge smile and a thumbs up when they hit the ball (Emma from the T, Vera SLUGS pitched balls). They are quite the crowd-pleasers, too, when they slide home, stand up with arms raised victoriously and scream, "I WON!!".

My joy hardly ends there, though. Another aspect of Tuesday nights that I relish is watching my older children act as mentors on the field. Luke always helps Vera; they are bonded over baseball plus he's the only one who can reliably catch her strong throws and can throw it back to her with just the right degree of challenge. Last night, Anna helped Emma; her teaching and encouragement struck just the right note without keeping Emma from achieving on her own. Other nights will likely find Song doing the same thing with her spot-on maternal instincts.

What amazing lessons they are learning by standing alongside their siblings with love. They teach, they encourage, they cheer, but they never take over or take the joy out of the game for their siblings. Above all I believe they are learning to be selfless, to understand that another person's success does not diminish them, and to rejoice when others rejoice.

All that on a Tuesday night...imagine!