Mojo Takes 1st in USSSA Tourney!!

Liv showing off her 1st place trophy!

Mojo, Olivia's softball team, took first place this last weekend in the USSSA Summer Sizzler Tournament in Midwest City.  The girls won all three games Saturday which put them in the championship game Sunday at 3:00.  We ended up losing that game to Nemesis which forced one more game.  Nemesis is a tough team and we've been back and forth with them on wins and loses all season.  It was a good game and the girls worked hard to win!! 

Moore Mojo 2011

Livie with her good friend Kennedy who plays on Nemesis! 

We start the State Tournement this coming weekend! I'm looking forward to it!!

HEADS UP!!!!

Heads up is what you yell in a baseball/softball game when a ball is hit foul out of the ball field.  Well, apparently someone forgot to yell that last night when Livie got clocked in the head with a softball during practice!!  Oh wait, you don't yell it when they're going for a fly ball... Yep, Liv hasn't learned the lesson about protecting your face with your glove when attempting to catch a fly ball.  I guess she knows now!!  When she came in from practice she had a huge, and a little mischievous, smile on her face.  I asked her what was up and she said, "I'm just waiting to see if you notice anything!"  Such a silly girl!! 

Find the things that are 'alike' in these pictures!

Well, I know my girl's tough!!  :) 

Love you, Liv! 

Total Forgiveness by RT Kendall

Every once in a while you come across something that you feel way down deep that you were meant to share with anyone that would listen.  That's how I feel about this book, Total Forgiveness by RT Kendall.  This book uses scripture to show us how we are to live our lives in love and TOTAL forgiveness.  Every one of us has either been intentionally or unintentionally hurt by someone, this book lays out what forgiveness is, NOT what it's not.  I think there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about who and how we are to forgive.  This book will open your eyes and convict your very soul.  God wants us to live a life of freedom and the only way for that to happen is to freely give total forgiveness.

Goodreads:

"Release Them, and You Will Re Set Free." These were not exactly the words R. T. Kendall had hoped to hear during a painful situation when he had been terribly wronged! However, these words cut into his heart. He knew he couldn't ignore them and also be healed. When everything in you wants to hold a grudge, point a finger and remember the pain, God wants you to lay it all aside. You can avoid spiritual quicksand and experience the incredible freedom found in total forgiveness. Is total forgiveness easy? Of course not...but this book will give you a game plan...and the encouragement to cast out areas of unforgiveness that have kept you from enjoying the best God has to offer you. Learn what forgiveness is and what it is not. Uncover the physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of unforgiveness, and see why God adamantly encourages you to forgive others. Make the choice to forgive -- and step into a new dimension of freedom and inner peace.

I'm also attaching the link to RT Kendall's website.

Happy Reading!

I ~heart~ Texas Rangers

I grew up on the Texas Rangers.  They were my first MLB game to attend and I had so much fun!  Since I've dated Phil my choice of team has swayed some but I'm still a Ranger at heart. 

The recent story about the Rangers just makes me even more of a loyal fan! 

Last March, Georgia Bulldog teammates Johnathan Taylor and Zach Cone were in a serious on-field collision during a game.  Zach made it out without any injuries but Johnathan was paralayzed from the waist down...never to play baseball again.  Monday Cone was selected by the Rangers with the 37th overall pick.  Then on Wednesday they used their 33rd-round selection in MLB's amateur draft to select Bulldogs junior outfielder Johnathan Taylor. 

Statement made the the Rangers organization:
"We thought selecting Johnathan was the right thing to do," Rangers director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg said. "We would have drafted him either way, regardless of any other circumstances involving his injury or Zach's draft status. Our area scout in Georgia, Ryan Coe, has had a relationship with Johnathan since he was a high school player. The club has always liked his passion and ability as a player."

Now THIS is a news-worthy story!! 

Click HERE to read more about it!! 

Summer Reads

I love summer.  It reminds me of being a carefree kid, playing outside all day, enjoying family vacations and hanging with my friends.  I really miss those days but now I look forward to summer reading.  I get several book/book store related emails and I really enjoy checking out the new, and not-so-new, reads.  There are so many books I want to read...I only wish I could read faster!  That makes it really tough for me to fit in all the books I'd like to read. 

Well, I've narrowed it down to 4 books I'd like to read over the summer...
1. Don't Breathe a Word, Jennifer McMahon

Goodreads:

On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.

Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn’t fear the dark and doesn’t have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam’s hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed—a promise that could destroy them all.

Check out what Coffee, Books, and Laundry had to say about it.  Sounds pretty exciting!

2. A Long Walk to Water, Linda Sue Walker

Goodreads:

A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about a girl in Sudan in 2008 and a boy in Sudan in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.

Easton, my 9-yr-old, read this book a couple months ago and had been asking me to read it ever since.  He says it's very good and it has actually gotten pretty high reviews.  I think it should be a quick read, even for me! 

3. Lone Survivor, Marcus Lattrell and Patrick Robinson

Shelfari:

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.

This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.

Luttrell takes us, blow-by-blow, through the brutal training of America's warrior elite and the relentless rites of passage required by the Navy SEALs and transports us to a monstrous battle fought in the desolate peaks of Afghanistan.

After one of my dear friend, Becky from Becky's Babbles, highly recommended this book I just couldn't turn it down.  And since I've always wanted to read a book like this I thought Lone Survivor would be perfect!  You can go here and see what Becky has to say about it.

4.  100 Cupboards, Nathan D. Wilson

Amazon:

Twelve-year-old Henry York wakes up one night to find bits of plaster in his hair. Two knobs have broken through the wall above his bed and one of them is slowly turning . . .Henry scrapes the plaster off the wall and discovers cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he can hear the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room–with a man pacing back and forth! Henry soon understands that these are not just cupboards, but portals to other worlds.

This is the first book in a 3-part series.  I've wanted to read it for a long time and I figure after the previous more deeper books on my summer reading list that this will be a nice break.  I'm hoping that by me reading it my kids will be more eager to read it. 

I can't wait to get started.  Let me know what books are on your Summer Reading List!! 

Happy 'Summer' Reading!!  :)