Our Sports illustrated Moment

OK, yes I am a slacker when it comes to blogging but last Saturday I had an experience that I just had to put out there and share. As the father of a little boy with Down syndrome, I have come to accept that the pleasures that most dad's share with their son's may not be shared the same way with me and Jonah. Jonah may never hit a home run with the bases loaded, having 2 strikes and his team is down by 3. He will never score the winning touchdown for his football team. Jonah's experiences are always sort of different.

A couple of weeks ago I received an email about a father and son walking by the park and his little boy wanted to play baseball. Yep, you know the one (it's gone around for a while). Needless to say, one of the teams lets the boy be on their team and in the last inning they let the boy play in the outfield. All of a sudden it's the bottom of the last inning, bases loaded and 2 outs and they let the little boy bat. You know how this goes, the other team's pitcher moves in closer so that the boy can hit the ball and once he does hit the ball, the other team continues to over throw each other and offer verbal encouragement until the little boy finally crosses home plate. Yes, because these young boys saw that winning was not the most important thing, the young boy's father had a chance to experience something with his son that he never thought he would get to experience. The email went on to say that the little boy went on to die that winter.

Now, my goal is not to tear you up as I a sitting here typing this but now that I have laid the foundation of the story, let me tell you the McBride version of this story.
For the last 3 months I have been coaching a couple of basketball teams for our church. One of the teams consisted of 1st - 3rd graders and this is the team that Jonah played on. Long story short, the team went undefeated during the year. Somehow, I was able to make sure all 13 (yes, we had 13 little guys show up to play at most games). At the end of our regular season there is a tournament. After our first round bye (due to being the top ranked team), we won the next game and then were going to be playing for the championship. Once again all 13 boys showed up for that game. I told them to play hard and not to worry, everyone would get to play and that they would play about the same amount as everyone else. Now this is a hard promise to try and keep for a couple of reasons: 1) We were playing for the championship and 2) When Jonah played, you were actually playing 4 on 5 because he would not play defense. I was hoping that we were gonna play this one certain team because I thought that no matter of the outcome, that they would help me achieve something that I could only dream of and that was Jonah shooting the ball during the game (and I wouldn't have cared which goal he shot at (well, maybe I would have cared a little). Well, God's plan was not for us to play that team. I still felt strongly about Jonah trying to shoot during the game so I shared that with Dustin (one of the refs). I told Dustin that we were going to try and get as big a lead as possible so that I could put Jonah in and let him try and shoot. Well, the game turned out to be a good one for all involved, we were leading but never by a large enough margin to were I felt that I could put Jonah in. At one point he decided to go and sit in the stands, first with his best friend Trent and then with my Mom. Finally, I guess he was ready to play and my Mom brought him back to our bench and let me know that he wanted to play now. I told him and her that he could play in the 4th quarter. The 4th quarter comes and I still don't feel that I can put him in yet; so, I asked Alek (one of our R.A. leaders that came to games to help me keep up with all those little boys) to let me know when there was 3 minutes left to go in the game. Next thing I know,Alek has told me that there was 3 minutes to go in the game. I waited another minute or so before I called timeout and was able to put Jonah in (now at halftime I had told the other coach that I would be putting my secret weapon in during the 4th quarter and he said "No problem"). So we are up by 8 with 2 minutes to go in the championship game and Jonah is in the game. To offset the lack of playing by Jonah, I also put Cade back in for 2 reasons. First of all Cade is like the energizer bunny on Red Bull and I knew that he could a) score if and when we needed it and b) he would try his best to get Jonah the ball. Well, the other team went down the court and scored a basket. I told Cade that we needed a basket and he went down and scored one for the team. The other team went down the court, shot and missed and we rebounded the ball. I yelled at Cade to give Jonah the ball. Jonah proceeded to dribble and carry the ball up the court and got to a place where he could shot the ball. Yep, he shot and missed. The other team rebounded the ball, went back up the court and missed again when they shot. Once again, I yelled at Cade to give Jonah the ball. This is where it gets fun. Somehow Jonah ended up standing in front of the right basket shooting the ball. He missed the first shot, then the most amazing thing happened. The boys were all standing on each side of Jonah and not a one of them were trying to get the ball from him. Jonah was able to shoot maybe 3-4 more times before finally making it (with the help of Dustin the ref). Jonah didn't care how it went in, all he knew was that he made it in and the crowd went nuts. With tears in my eyes, I could help but think how all the boys on the court understood that there was more to this than winning a basketball game. Well, this was all a time consuming event and the clock ran out shortly after that. The refs said that they were gonna let them play a little longer and I had no problem with it. Win or lose, my season was made already. The game ended a few seconds later and we won. I believe that no one lost that day, that the other team was just as big of a winner if not a bigger winner than we were. As I shook the other coach's hand, all I could say was THANK YOU.

That's it, that is our Sport's Illustrated moment but please read on...

It's easy to go out and coach boys to win but to teach the boys to be more Christ like far more important. So, if you know anyone who goes to Friendly Baptist Church in Tyler Tx, please tell them that you have heard that their LAD (1st - 3rd graders) basketball team made a huge impact on a little boy and his dad. They truly are a picture of what R.A. basketball is suppose to be all about.

As for the parents of my team, all I can say is THANK YOU. Thank you for sharing your boys with me, thank you for your support in getting the boys to practice and the games and THANK YOU for understanding the importance of Jonah being able to be on the team with your boys.

Moldova Mission Trip - Day 6

 Day 6 is over, no pictures to share and I'm struggling to blog tonight (and not for the reason most of you would guess). We spent the day at Orhei (the special needs orphanage), where we had (key word) 120 beds to do in 2 days. joining us were our 3 translators, 2 drivers, Lucia (Works for Sweet Sleep in Moldova) and 10 people from a church in Orhei. By lunch time we had built 100 bed frames and had placed 21 beds (fully completed in their rooms). Off to another long lunch (this time about 2 1/2 hours since the waitress forgot to put in a couple of the orders). 

 Once we got back to the orphanage we found out that the director of the orphanage had the boys (all that were getting new beds) clean out their old beds. If you are doing the math then you realize we have alot of work ahead of us because if we didn't complete all the beds then there would be boys with no place to sleep tonight. All hands on deck; the guys from the church in Orhei were able to put the remaining beds together rather quickly, most of the team that I came with went to put slates in the beds and put sheets/blankets/pillows on the beds. By God's grace,  we were able to complete 86 beds (a Sweet Sleep record according to Stuart) and now 107 boys and young men are able to sleep sweetly on their new beds. 

 Normally I blog about the days events and post lots of pictures but not tonight. I hardly ever blog about my feelings (not sure why) but tonight it's the other side of Dan. This has been a great experience but I think that God wanted to get my attention and show me that it's all about him and not my happiness. For the past few days I have been more involved in the putting the rooms together, making sure that they were complete. Well today Stuart told me that we needed to change jobs (he would be in the rooms and he needed me to oversee the staging area where all the parts and pieces to the beds were). No problem, I still should be able to get around to the rooms and be a part of it anyway. The reason that Stuart needed to be in the rooms was that there was a young man named Martin that has been waiting for 3 years to get his new bed and Stuart was not sure which room Martin lived in so he was going to be there to capture this Sweet Sleep moment on video. before I knew it the day was over and I had not been to any of the rooms and the only orphans that I saw were the ones who were helping gather supplies to get the beds completed in their room. It was at this time that I believe that Satan started attacking; I started to realize that I didn't have any pictures to share with anyone nor did I have any of the wonderful experiences that I am hearing everyone else talk about. Let's just say that the later part of today has be a mentally draining struggle. On the way back from Chisinau from Orhei (about a 45 minute ride) I started praying to God for help in understanding what today was about. It takes awhile to get stuff thru my thick skull but the reality of it is that this is not about me feeling awesome because of the things that I have done. Today was about sharing God's love thru new beds. Because I was in the gym working "behind" the scenes, the rest of the team was able to experience something that I get to experience daily (unconditional love and appreciation (thank you God for blessing me with 3 Foot of Love (my nickname for Jonah)). Although it hurts not to be one of the gang with the stories I realize that I am a part of it and should be extremely happy and satisfied with what I am hearing. I can say it sucks having to learn things the hard way but it is GREAT having a loving, compassionate God like we have.

 Tomorrow we still have a few beds left to place and then we get to walk around and hang out with the kids . 

 With that I will end, not sad although it feels that way, and hope that you come and see what God has in store for me tomorrow.

Dan

Please check out the Sweet Sleep blog at sweetsleep.blogspot.com to catch the rest of the teams experiences.

What kind of parent am I?

OK, last night Jonah decided to throw a fit when told it was be time. One minute he's standing there fussing at me, next minute he's on the floor crying. Finally, to bed he goes; he ends sleeping thru the massive storm we had. 3:30 a.m. rolls around and he's up, standing there beside my bed. He says that his toe hurts, half asleep I take him to the bath room then back to his bed. 

I sent Jonah to school with the belief that he has probably sprained his foot. When I went to get him at daycare, there Jonah sat without a sock or shoe on and his foot up in a chair. His daycare teacher was worried, Jonah wouldn't get up and play; nor would he put any pressure on his foot. I called Rae and told her what was going on. Once Rae got to the church she sat down and looked at Jonah's foot and finally decided that she would take the him to Urgent Care to have the foot looked at. 2 hours later, the foot has been X-Rayed and the foot is BROKE. Man do I feel bad. Mollie and I left church and headed to Urgent Care. When I arrived at Urgent Care they were starting to put a splint on the foot. Jonah now has to see an Orthopedic Doctor tomorrow to see about a walking boot (he can't use crutches and may have to use a wheel chair).. My poor lil fella can't put weight on his foot so we are having to carry him around the house (the boy weighs a TON).. Right now he's asleep (thanks to good meds)..

I now sit here wondering what I missed, how did he get hurt and why was I not listening when he was trying to tell me he hurt. Jonah has a hard time getting his point across and I guess that I'm gonna have to try harder when he's trying to tell me something (even at 3:30 in the morning).. Guess I won't be winning "Father of the Year" this year. More to come as we find out from the doctors how bad of a break that it really is!!!!

Our God is an awesome God

Alright, we leave for Moldova on March 7th to work with Sweet Sleep in 2 orphanages building beds. We had a garage sale to help raise money to finish paying our way and to help buy needed supplies. That was OUR PLAN, not GOD's; nope on Saturday, January 31st two more people came forward wanting to go with us. Our garage sale raised just over $4500, we were excited with what we could do with the money. God provided the money and now we felt that he wanted us to increase our team from 4 to 6... Lots of questions arose as to whether there was still enough time to get their tickets and other things. A quick phone call to Jon at Sweet Sleep let me know that there was still time.

Here's how God truly works; if we had keep our team to 4 from our church, then our overall team would be us 4 plus 1 from Georgia and a member of the Sweet Sleep staff. Now by adding 2 more we are closer to achieving our calling "A Bed For Every Head". Thru the gracious support of our church the financial burden and worries of this mission trip have been taken care of and now we can focus on training and preparing for our work with the children in the orphanages.

While we are gone on our Mission trip (March 7th - 15th), I'll be blogging here so please add this site to follow our Great Adventure.

Wanna see where will be working? Then watch this video: 

Tournament Time

OK, for those who know me know how chaotic (coaching 2 basketball teams, my men's bible study (Go BOB) and trying to raise money for the Moldova mission trip) my life has become. Thru God's grace, a very understanding wife (can't say that enough) and a supportive group of friends and church; I just had to get thru Saturday, January 31st then things could slow down some. Problem is; my 2 basketball teams were going to be in a basketball tournament and the Missions garage sale were going on at the same time. We were to play at 8:30 and 9:30; if both teams won then we would play the following Saturday (and I could go back to the garage sale to work); if we lost, we would continue to play and no garage sale for me. My older team was undefeated and if they played like they had been then they should win and they did. 

My younger team is a different story, it normally takes then the 1st half to get warmed up and playing. Well, Jonah showed up ready to play and so did the rest of my team. Jonah played the first and third quarter and actually was able to tie up the baskeball (which was fun to watch). The rest of my team were on fire; we normally score 16-18 points a game, this time they scored 40 and win. 

I am so excited, both teams win and I get to go back and try and raise money at the garage sale. The boys were excited and now get to play this upcoming Saturday at 8:30 and 9:30. My hopes and prayers are that Jonah continues to want to play. As stressful as it is for me, he tends to bless everyone on the court and in the stands..

Dan

Proud Moments!!!

As parents we are always looking for those moments that we'll remember forever. You remember the birth of your child, their first words and when they took their first step. Well when Jonah was born I realized that some moments that I had dreamed of for my son may never come. He may never leave home, may not get married, we pretty much were guaranteed that he would not be providing us with grandkids and more than likely he would never be a star athlete. OK, we've tried baseball for special needs kids and he did not enjoy it, sure he like hitting the ball but after that there was a lot of standing around. Next came soccer, we had him playing in a developmental league and needless to say his biggest joy was kicking the ball into the woods. I have just about given up on Jonah and sports because when Jonah plays, Daddy has to help coach him and when Jonah's not happy to be doing something then it's not fun for me either.

I tell you this because today was one of those moments that you dream of.  I coach 2 R.A. (Royal Ambassador (boys missions organization thru the church)) basketball teams and have been asked when was I gonna let Jonah play. The standard answer has been next year (that would give me time to enlist more help) because you need one coach to focus on Jonah and one coach to take care of the other 4 boys on the basketball court. This all sounds great and very thought out until today. After my older boys finished playing, the younger team was getting ready to warm up and I hear Jonah saying he wants a shirt (basketball jersey). Well Rae (my wife) ended up having to work today so if letting Jonah wear a basketball jersey will make him happy and help him mind what the heck. I picked up a jersey (#12), put it on him and told him to go over to our fans and let them see his "shirt". Off he went to show off, boy was he happy. Next thing I know he comes back to the center of the basketball court and says "I wanna play". Hmm, I have 7 boys there, dressed and ready to play basketball and now Jonah is pretty much saying that he's gonna play since he had a jersey on. I walked over to the other coach and told him that we had a problem; he looked at me and said "What's that". I pointed to Jonah and next thing I hear was "Let him play". All of this is sounding great until you realize that Jonah has never played basketball, he doesn't like to listen very well and really does not like to run alot. OK, he can play. I pick 5 boys to start the game , they go out onto the floor and there goes Jonah wanting to plan NOW. I try and explain that he has to wait and he says "NO, PLAY NOW." All I can do is ask, so we walk out to the center of the court and I ask my team if anyone was willing to let Jonah start in their place. Needless to say, one of the boys said that Jonah could have his spot. Jonah ended up playing the first, third and 3 minutes of the fourth quarter. He actually ran up and down the court chasing the ball. 

I have to say, the results of the game (we lost by 4) was not what was important that day; the fact that my other boys accepted Jonah playing with them and one of them giving up his spot so that Jonah could start shows that we are teaching them right. No, it's not always about winning or losing, that it's about representing God,our church and our families.

More to come, gotta see if Jonah actually goes to practice on Thursday night...

Dan