Simply Soares

I am a home body. On my one day off per week I would rather stay home curled up snuggling with a good book. But I have been trying really hard lately to get out and DO something with the kids on my day off. A few weeks ago we did the beach, if you remember this post. Today we headed to Laguna Lake Park where we could have a picnic, play on the swings and even feed the ducks!

The kids got to play on the play structures, and I think I am beginning to relax a little, even though it is so hard after Bryce's death...

The kids even invited their Gramie Betsy to join us for the afternoon.

Feeding the ducks was a little challenging..... they REALLY did NOT like all those birds coming up to them. But I think that their biggest mistake was to take off running away... still carrying the bags of bread!

It's been a difficult week around here. One of the things that has been bothering me is that my son Nathaniel has taken a lot of low hits about his being different, or his disability. It's always heart breaking to a mommy to hear her little one being slammed. But especially when he is being slammed for something that he battles each and every day, something that he had absolutely no control over being born with. People can just be so thoughtless and hurtful at times. And even people who are supposed to be trained to work with those in the disabled community can say thoughtless and hurtful things.

So I was pretty hesitant when we went to the local park today and Nathaniel wanted to join a group of kids playing a pick up baseball game. Strike one, I knew NONE of the people involved. Strike two, Nathaniel's disability is physical and puts him in danger in these types of physical games. He could be hurt so badly by the slightest bump. Strike three, it had been a really bad week with slams about his disability. But, after a quick little prayer and conversation with the Lord, I said "Go ahead and ask if you can play too."

Gulp, Gulp.... Please Lord don't let them be mean to him. Please Lord, don't let them tease him. Please Lord, let him have fun...

They had a mitt that Nathaniel was able to borrow so he could play.

And he got a turn at EVERYTHING! Not just stuck out in the middle of the field and forgotten about! These were the nicest people! It's so wonderful to see that there are kind people out there willing to let a special little boy join in their fun and games.

And I think that he surprised them with what an AWESOME hitter he is!! This boy has GREAT hand eye coordination and LOVES anything ball :)

And they were SO SWEET to him!! And Nathaniel had a BLAST!! His sister, who isn't very athletic, even joined in the fun. We had so much fun. Thanks special strangers that we played baseball with today!

And this was just a fun picture of Audrey that I got. She fun in these carves out bushes. And did you notice her special fashion sense? I think I am going to have to do a week of Audrey fashions just so you can see her funky ways!

Till next time, Blessings!