August Summary-Part 3-San Jose Trip

Although it was tough getting the news of my Gradnma's passing, it made me realize to not take my time for granted and enjoy this special time with my Tutu. Daniel's team left a day before my Tutu and I were planning to head up and we were able to spend the day celebrating the marriage of my cousin Keoki to his new beautiful bride, Grace. It was such a treat to be able to experience and share in their wedding because during the baseball season, it is usually hard to attend weddings. Everything was beautiful and it was so nice to catch up with family. It was also beautiful to see how my cousin and his wife incorporated both of their cultures. My cousin is Hawaiian and did a hula dance for his bride and Grace is Peruvian and they did a Latino style dance together, it was perfect!

The following day, my Tutu and I were off for San Jose. The drive started out interesting, due to that fact that my GPS-aka Martha took us on a very unexpected scenic route through a national forest. Those windy, pot holed filled pavement roads would not have been my first choice to say the least, but we had fun with it and saw a ton of gorgeous birds and scenery. We arrived at our destination a few hours before the game started and checked into the hotel. We rested up, got ready and we're off to the game. The game started out on a high when Daniel hit a leadoff homerun!

The next day, we met up with my mom's cousins and my second cousins for a delicious home cooked Chinese feast! It was delicious and amazing! We had a ton of fun catching up with everyone and we're so thankful for all the support and cheers they brought to the game for Daniel and his team.

August Summary-Part 2-Faith Night

During a homestand this last month of the season, we had "Faith Night" at the field. It's an awesome promotion night alot of minor league ballparks around the country put on. It is a great opportunity for players on the team to be able to boldly and publicly share about their faith in the Lord. The pre game show started with a great Christian band playing covers and original songs, followed by an interview between the baseball chaplain and a few of the players on the team, Daniel being one of them. I sat there in the stands during the interview in admiration of my husband. I am so in love with the man he is and couldn't be more proud of him! I love seeing the Lord using Daniel in bigger ways in baseball then just playing the game. I know God has a bigger purpose in all of this and it's so exciting to see it unfold.

Speaking of faith, our faith would be tested not too long after that night. About a week after, we got news my Grandma Beck had a massive heart attack and was in critical condition in Illinois. I quickly got online to help my parents book some last minute tickets to Illinois to get out there to be with her. God truly provided a great deal on airfare and my parents were able to leave to following morning. Originally, before this happened, my mom, Tutu (My mom's mother) and I were planning on all going together on the week long road trip with Daniel's team up north to visit family there and catch some games. When we got news of my grandma just a couple days before the trip, my mom had no doubts and understood that she needed to be with my dad during this time, but wanted my Tutu and I continue on with the trip that was already planned. So as my parents took off for Illinois, my tutu and I headed north.

When my parents arrived in Illinois, they were told my grandma had little to no brain activity. She was hooked to life support and after all my dad's siblings arrived, they knew what my grandma would have wanted and they knew the best decision was to take her off the breathing machine. Although it is always hard to lose a loved one, there are almost no words, the Lord truly did give us all a peace in knowing that my Grandma loved and knew Jesus and would be with Him in heaven. II Corinthians 5:8 "...to be absent from the body and is to be present with the Lord."

I am thankful that Daniel and I were able to spend alot of time with her during our time in the Midwest League the past seasons. My grandma loved going to Daniel's games and listening online when she couldn't be there. I will hold onto and cherish those special memories we shared and look forward to seeing her again one day.

Grandma Beck and I at Daniel's game 

 Grandma Beck

August Summary-Part I-Latino Dishes & Dancing Gnomes

The longer I have procrastinated writing this blog, the more and more things and events have piled up (obviosuly), which leaves me sitting here stumped not knowing where to begin. Again, I admittedly know that I am not the best blogger.

Well seeing that my last blog was over a month ago, I will try my best to start where I left off. Considering how much has happened, I will put this blog into parts.

 So here is... Part I:

August was a full packed month. Having Neyeska and Jose move in with us turned out to be a wonderful blessing and the beginning of a deeper bond we would form with them as friends. Neyeska and I would take turns cooking meals, which worked out great because it cut the work in half for both of us. It also was great because Daniel and I got to experience and taste some real delicious 'Latino' dishes, I even learned to make some myself! We were so thankful to have them with us this season. It's always refreshing to be around other girls follwoing their husbands around on this adventure too, makes me feel a little less crazy knowing I am not the only one.

On the subject of following Daniel around....I know alot of people wonder how/why we do it. To answer that question, this is truly where my heart is. I love being with Daniel and we love being together. Although there is a lot of sacrifice it takes in the minor leagues to follow your husband around (fyi. minor league salary is not much), the sacrifices are worth it to us so we could be together. We're young, healthy and on a wild adventure, why not?!

Back to our adventure... on our first off day of August, we went with some friends to a taping of the game show, Let's Make a Deal! Daniel and I dressed as garden gnomes and had a blast! (Pics Below). Unfortunately, we didn't get chosen as a contestant- which I'm still super shocked about because Daniel was "rocking" that studio! They told us during our interview process to be as crazy and fun as possible in order to have the best chance possible of getting chosen. Well when you tell a "Caroll" to get "Crazy", we mean business! Daniel danced around the aisles during commercial breaks, even started getting dance competitions going between other contestants. It was wild! We did definitely have eye contact with Wayne Brady more then a few times, leading us to believe we would get chosen, but no. We didn't. I blame our seats being in the top corner and Wayne Brady being lazy. Haha. Either way though, we had a blast!

 

Neyeska teaching me how to make "Arepas"

Lets Make A Deal