January 25

I was fully expecting Brady to be salty after today's 2-1 loss. He did, after all, strike out in both of his at-bats and I'm not sure he ever touched the ball on defense. There was much for him to be bummed over.

But he wasn't upset at all. In fact, one of the first things he said after we'd enclosed ourselves in the comfort and safety of the car was "Christian and Ben think I should play tight end next year." It took me a hot second to figure out that he was talking about football. 

And then, a few minutes later, as we hurtled back up the freeway toward home, he asked a question: "Was that pitch I struck out on during my first at bat really a strike?" (The answer? No, but the umpire was calling low and outside a strike all day long. On our team, at least.)

No complaining. No frustration. No dwelling or ruminating. Just "I didn't think it was. Oh well."

He's a perfectionist and doesn't like it when things aren't just-so, so I'm proud of him for handling what I figure was some pretty significant irritation with such maturity and grace. He's growing up. And I'm grateful to God that I get to watch that process happen. 

And as these guys head off to play for their separate high school teams, I'm also grateful to God for this TVBR cohort that we've been part of for the past three years. Getting to know these families and watching all of the boys grow has been a unique blessing.