First off, we moved from home, which is in Opelika, AL to Spring Training which is in Viera, FL. Our Heavenly Father used Florida as a learning experience for us both! Being married in November and moving away from our HOME, my family, Maggie and everything I have ever known in March was NOT PRETTY. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. We lived in a hotel for three weeks, I had to eat out every meal, and had no where to wash clothes. Looking back now, I think it was God's way of saying "WELCOME TO BASEBALL MY DEAR CHILD!" Levale learned to be even MORE patient than he already is in Florida. Needless to say we survived! I got to catch lots of rays, have many dinners with great friends, grow in my faith, and wash lots of clothes when we got home!
This is one of my favorite pictures from Spring Training! On Easter we cooked Easter Dinner for the guys! Stove Top isn't exactly the best, but for cooking in an apartment eight people (including two babies) live in, it works! Thanks to Corrie and Paige, Levale and I had some place to eat a true Easter Dinner with Turkey, Ham, Sweet Potatoe Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Homemade Mac & Cheese, Potatoe Salad, Stuffing and Rolls!!!
Another memory I am fond of is watching the shuttle land! Levale, three of his teammates and I piled in, and went to watch the shuttle land...off of a dock, on the bay!
After Spring Training, we were off to Harrisburg, PA! Oh, it was SO COLD! We picked up Maggie on our way up and spent one night, which happened to be MY BIRTHDAY at HOME in OUR bed! We lived with a host family in Harrisburg who were AMAZING!!! They were so nice. She cooked dinner for the guys every night, and it was so nice to live in a HOME. I will never forget the way they made us feel. We will forever be indebted to them. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of them and us, but I do have one of the other couple that lived at the house with us. The Hall's were such great Christian people. I now realize the Good Lord put them in our life to teach us about marriage and he put us in Harrisburg to teach us to grow in HIM and trust HIS plan, not OURS!
Josh, Joshua, Corrie, Me, and Levale after a day game in Harrisburg, PA. Corrie and I had so much fun together. I would go to her "HOME, HOME" with her while the boys were gone. It was quite a sight...Me, Corrie, Joshua, Maggie and her dog, Max would pile up and drive to Lynchburg, VA! Oh what wonderful memories I have!!!
After Josh and Corrie went home, this is what we spent most of our off days doing...swimming with Maggie. It was such a blessing to have her with us for the majority of the season. We enjoyed her so much, and she enjoyed herself as well!!!
After Maggie and I drove home to Opelika, 12 hours, stayed two weeks, drove back, 12 hours to Harrisburg and stayed there for a week. We got a call! Levale was being promoted to AAA which is in Columbus, OH. Thank You Jesus is all I could say, but unless you know a lot about baseball, you don't know what moving means! We had to pack up our whole house and Maggie in about two hours and drive to meet the AAA team in Toledo, OH. Luckily, the team hotel took dogs, so Mags and I drove with Levale, stayed there for two nights and then headed to Columbus, OH! This is where I began to LOVE EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF BASEBALL!!! I am going to create an entire post on Columbus, so stay tuned...it will be coming soon!
