Opening Day - Little League

We here at team Shattuck want only the quickest updates for our friends, family, supporters, and strangers out there who have somehow managed to find us online! So, we're bringing it to you live (ok...not quite live, but close) from Poznan, Poland straight to your computer screen. Vicki got some great pics today for you.

Today was the big day for many of our kids...the start of our new baseball season. We didn't know what to expect, especially since this is the beginning of a week-long holiday here. Will people come? Will they have already left on vacation?

Can you imagine that we had about 25 kids there today? With parents we were looking at around 45 people!! The coaches met this past week to talk about some goals for the season, one of which would be to build the size of the group to the point where we might be able to have 3 separate teams: girls softball, t-ball for the young ones, and baseball for the older boys. I'm absolutely thrilled to tell you that today all three of those groups were formed!!

Something that we've been thinking about for awhile has been leadership. Bottom line, we have to have more help in order for this thing to continue developing...or even for it to survive. Well, again, I'm thrilled to tell you that in a matter of a week or so we've added three new coaches to our group. One of Jack's daughters (Ros) volunteered to work with the girls, a missionary friend (Kirk) is going to be coaching boys, and a mother of one of our younger players told us today that she'd like to coach softball with Ros!!

Things went great today. It was obvious that everyone was having a blast and enjoying themselves. That is so important for these kids to be able to have such outlets to get together and just have fun. They don't have so many such opportunities like kids in the states. So, it's awesome to be able to provide this opportunity for them...in a safe, clean, Christian environment.

One thing we have kept in the forefront of our minds is that this is a ministry for us...not just playing ball. So, today we took a concrete step toward solidifying that in a more tangible way. During our team time at the beginning of the practice we spent some time talking about normal first training day things. But we also started what will become a permanent part of our practices...a time when we speak with the kids about "things of God". "Why the strange way to say it?", you ask.

We really do need to be careful here not to push the spiritual side of things too hard. We really don't want for parents to start pulling away, thinking that we're big bad evangelicals who have come to entice their kids in with baseball, only to turn around and begin brainwashing them (trust me, this is not a stretch). So, we're going to basically transition from teaching strong moral lesson associated with the game (which in and of themselves are "things of God") to the point when we will just begin basing those talks from a Scripture verse or passage. I think this is a good strategy and we're glad to have started it from the git-go.

So, I just wanted to let you know that things went incredibly well today. Thanks to those of you who have really been a part of this. One more thing...if you are someone who helped with the donation of uniforms, I can tell you that you put some huge smiles on many faces today. Watching them grab and try on various pieces of uniforms was a blast!! Thanks so much for your support in this!!

It's incredible to see God at work...and to be allowed to be a part of that. I believe there are some great things in store for us this season. I just sit back and am in awe as I look at the pictures and see all the new faces (including our lawyer and his family!! Shown left). Wish you could have been here with us!!