More Baseball

Tonight was one of the last regular games for Joel. He has two more games this weekend that are make-up games for rain cancellations.

Joel batted four times this evening. He got 3 hits and got hit once. Below are brief videos. The first one was one of his hits. I started cheering and lost control of the video. The second one is when he got hit with pitch - I new it would happen sometime, but he shook it off well.






Joel also got to pitch the last inning of the game. He has been hoping for the last several games that he would get a chance to pitch. We've been thankful for his coach; he has made his first year enjoyable and beneficial.

Some pictures.

I love this picture of Gardner; he was lying on my lap and very alert, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Gardner and Daddy - more of Laura's photo work.
John found a razor; true to when we used to call him "Jolly John," he isn't too ashamed of it. It happened on Saturday evening, John was having his turn in the shower and found a razor in the bathroom. How he did this without cutting himself I'll never know. Carol told me that John told her he was trying to get the hair out of the razor with his teeth. . . Can you believe this?
Laura and Gardner.

I finally got back into the garden the other night and was able to run the tiller between the rows of green beans and corn. Several of my squash and cucumber plants didn't survive all of the rain that we had a couple of weeks ago. My zucchini is doing very well; the cucumbers will be alright, but I don't think we'll have enough to make as many pickles as we did last year.

Family Update

Things are going well with little Gardner at home.  He eats and sleeps well and is generally just very pleasant.  We did find out yesterday at his check-up that his left collar bone was broken, possibly during delivery (it happens sometimes).  It has begun the healing process and he should have no lasting consequences.  Please do pray for him to have as little pain as possible.

Carol let Laura take some pictures the day that she and Gardner came home from the hospital, so the pictures below are from last Thursday.

Mom worked on fixing some screens.

Gardner with his wonderful Mommy.

Laura worked at organizing Gardner's little room.

Grant and John = playmates - here they are getting along; the picture is posed . . . :-)  Notice which hand John uses to throw?

Kara and Josiah manage to get very dirty.  They certainly enjoy life.

I've found that Joel is indispensable.  He helped me re-install the rear seat in the van (since there are 9 of us now).  I thought this picture had a Norman Rockwell feel to it (this was not posed, it was captured).  Good job Laura!

The hospital gave us the poster.  Believe it or not, with it on the back door, this is how several people in town got the news that we had another baby.

Here are a couple pictures with me and our little guy.  Pictures sure make you remember God's goodness.  I know that this is number 7 for us, but I'm still thrilled to get to hold him.

That's all the pictures for now.

Right now, Carol is playing the piano for the first time since she has been home from the hospital.  The kids always go to sleep well when she plays . . . I always enjoy her playing; it is such a manifestation of her heart.  Wish you could hear her; sometime, I'll just record her playing for a little while and post it.

I'm so blessed.

We're Home

We left the hospital a little after 1:30 PM this afternoon.

Everything is fine and we are adjusting to "the new normal" at home.  It's been a blessing to have my mom here since Monday to help take care of all the home fires.  Carol's mom is coming tomorrow to help through the weekend.

Thank you all for your prayers!  Enjoy the pictures.

I should tell you, even though Gardner was over 10 pounds and his face is quite full, his legs and arms are actually quite slender.  He's just a big boy.

He's here!

Gardner Luke Deatrick was born at 7:40 PM.  He was 20 and 1/2 inches long, he is very alert, and seems to have a little bit of light colored hair - he is 10 pounds and 2 ounces.   This is the third one of our children over 10 pounds.

Praise the Lord for a healthy and safe delivery!

Still Waiting

Everything is going well, just a waiting game.

I've tried sending an e-mail to those of you who attend Grace Baptist, but for some reason, I'm not getting my outgoing mail to work through the hospital server.  So, here is the content of that.

I know that several of you have come to visit Carol and baby in the hospital in the past; the hospital has changed policy and there is now a limited number of visitors that can come during the entire stay (only 4 others besides my Mom).  There is no way that we could say to one "you can come" but not to another, so it is probably best if you want to see Carol and the baby before she is able to be back to church, to just plan to stop by the house sometime after we get home from the hospital.

 

At the hospital

Well, today is the day; we are at the hospital and Carol is ready to be delivered. 

I didn't realize that today was my nephew, Andrew's birthday; so, two Deatrick grandchildren will share the same birth date.  Andrew is 4.

Keep us in prayer.

Church

The last 2 weeks have been very busy (and the baby hasn't even been born yet).  Below are more pictures of the new building.  Our folks have worked diligently at getting things organized.  Thanks to the Neighborhood Bible Time guys and several of our men with trucks and trailers, the move from one building to the other was very good.  

The first picture is of the entry-way/foyer to the church.

The next four pictures are of the auditorium.  It's difficult to perceive from the pictures, but we could probably seat 150 people in this space; this set-up has 80 chairs.

This picture is of one of the Sunday School rooms; these are the little doors at the back of the auditorium.

The following 3 pictures are of the nursery.  It is rather spacious!

The picture below is of my office; still in progress - most of my books are still in boxes.  That is a can of Pringles on my desk.  Notice my rotating book-shelf to the right of the chair; interesting the things that excite book-lovers. 

There is a matching office right next to this one that is the church office; both offices are in a hallway off of the auditorium.

The following pictures are of our prophet's chamber.  There are two bedrooms, a large living room, full bathroom, and an eat in kitchen.

All we can say is "Praise the LORD!"   We are in awe that we had only to move in - at this point, no remodeling has taken place.  One of our men has rightly observed that "it's as if God was using the previous owners to prepare the building for us."

There is a two car garage and just under 3 acres of land total.  If we should ever need to, there is room to add a new auditorium to the existing building.  The location is as one is entering Paxton on the main north/south road going through town.  The appraiser checked with the Illinois department of transportation and estimated that between 3200 and 3500 cars travel past our building every day.

So much more I could say, but I'll leave that for when you come and visit.

Paddle Wheel Boat; New Building

Carol and I were able to go to Oregon, Illinois yesterday and eat lunch on a paddle wheel boat on the Rock River.  Annually, the AIBCI board members bring their wives to this outing; we also interviewed Pastor Bruce Love as the prospective director for our association.

We went 7 and 1/2 miles up the river then back down; it was warm, but there was a nice cool breeze on the river.  This boat was built in 1989 as a replica of one in bygone days.  You can look at www.maxsonrestaurant.com to see more of the details.  The paddle wheel sounded like someone clapping their hands (I avoided the thought yesterday while on the boat, but I have thought of John Mason Peck being wrecked on a steam boat on the Mississippi and saving several lives). The meal served was beef bordelaise, mashed potatoes and gravy, sauteed vegetables, salad, rolls with orange sauce, and German chocolate cake - it was excellent, especially the beef!  The statue is of an old Indian - Black Hawk, I think.

We're thankful for dear friends, the Stilleys and the Kennellys, who each kept some of our children so that we could have the day together.

Below are a few pictures of our new church building; we closed on it today.  The pictures only show the main part of the building and one of the outside.  The next few days will be quite busy getting things moved in preparation for the services on Sunday - exciting times!