Because "Every Child Deserves the Chance to Play Baseball"

Last Saturday, Cale's 7th. grade baseball coach asked for volunteers to come to Des Moines with him to volunteer at the Miracle League. It is a baseball league for kids with disabilities. They ask for volunteers to come and help the kids field, bat and run the bases. Each one of their athletes is paired up with one or two "buddies" or "Angels in the Outfield." Cale is always eager to go any where that Coach Becker asks him to, and was more then ready when Saturday arrived! Originally, I was needed to drive and I wasn't disappointed by that because I wanted to see what it was all about and take some pictures. When I got there, they had enough drivers but I ended up driving down by myself so I could check it out! And I'm glad I did!! It was a really neat thing to experience!

This is Cale and his friend, Ryan. During this particular game (the kids volunteered for 4- 1 hour games) their buddy was this girl named, Kelsey. And let me tell you....she could really zoom around those bases in her chair! Those boys had trouble keeping up!

As you can see, I had trouble narrowing down which pictures to include. Thank goodness for collages!!

The man in the upper left hand picture is Coach Trent Becker. I cannot begin to say enough good things about this man! He is so good with ALL kids...not just his team, or the athletes on Saturday....ALL kids!! I feel like Cale was truly blessed to be able to have him for a coach, and we wish he would coach Cale every year.

In this particular picture, he was trying his best to charm this little guy. His mother said he was in some sort of funk that day, and I told her that Coach Becker was just fabulous, so not to worry. Just a few minutes later, this little boy threw his arm around Trent and sat right on his knee. It was really neat to see! When Trent saw this picture he told me that they were discussing whether or not to to intentionally walk the next batter. (I'm also thinking that Cale's friend, Ty, was trying to get the wave started in the back!)

At the end of each game, both teams meet at the pitcher's mound and throw their hands in and yell: "1, 2, 3....MIRACLE LEAGUE!"

Each one of our Gilbert kids did a great job with their buddies! I couldn't have been more proud of them in how they handles themselves and the impression they left. They had to get up early and give up a good chunk of their Saturday to do this and not one of them complained about being tired, or hot. They laughed and smiled all morning. Several parents and coaches told Mr. Becker that the Gilbert kids were really good with the kids and very mature. I'm not really surprised, though...I knew all of those kids were good kids and WANTED to be there. Cale talked about his experience all weekend, and is ready to go again and from what I have heard from other Moms...so are their kids. Coach Becker would like to make this a yearly event for these kids...if not more often. He thought this was more fun then he should be allowed to have!

VERY COOL GUYS....KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

(And thanks, Mr. Becker for providing the kids with this opportunity...it's something they will never forget!)