Here, Kitty Kitty

I was out with Autumn on the last Saturday in September. We had just dropped Austin off to play at a friends house. On the way back home, Autumn asked if we could drive by the Walker's home to see if Courtney could play. I was not totally familiar with the neighborhood we were driving through at the time, but I decided I could find my way there. We drove up a big hill til I saw Hampton Way, which I knew of because there is a family in our ward with the last name of Hampton who lives on that street-- so we turned there. We went up a few blocks where we were flagged down by a bunch of kids who were putting out signs for their lost kitten. They had a picture on the flyer and showed it to us while asking if we had seen it. At that time, I remembered that a couple of days ago, Autumn had told me that her friend Sabrina's family had found a kitten. I mentioned that to Autumn and we decided that we would call Sabrina's and find out if the cat they found matched the description of the one on the flyer. (Needless to say, the kids were giddy with the prospect that that might be their cat.) I decided to drive the 6 blocks and go see if the kitten matched up with the mug shot. I told the kids that I would be back in ten minutes with the cat if it was theirs or not if it wasnt.

We got to Sabrina's house and checked with her dad as Sabrina brought the kitten out. It looked like the same one-- there were stripes on its tail and between its eyes. Apparently, it had been lost for about a month, and was now four months old, so it looked a bit larger, but it seemed to be a match. I thought Sabrina would be sad to see it go, but her dad said it wouldnt be too big of a deal as they already had three cats. ;)

I had Autumn hold the cat in the back seat as we drove back to show the kids. (The darn thing even attacked me once as we were driving!) When we got back there, the kids were eager with anticipation. I rolled down the window as they all crowded around. Autumn held the kitten up for them and they started screaming like maniacs. "PADME"! (I guess they named it after the girl in the new Star Wars movies) Needless to say, they were very thankful, and ran down the street excitedly.

The next morning we got a call from Sabrina's dad asking us if it was alright if the people whos kitten we had found could come to our house to bring us flowers. The three girls and their mother showed up at our doorstep about 20 minutes later with a nice boquet of flowers.

It was a good experience to see how nice you feel after helping people out. It was a good lesson for Autumn to see how we can gain happiness through service to others.

October 10

14 1/2 Goals!

Austin had a soccer tournament this past Saturday. They were scheduled to play three games on that day. Initially, we thought we would miss one as they usually play a game on Sunday as well. Austin understood that he wouldnt be playing on Sunday. We told the coach and they were a bit concerned that they would miss him as he has been about the only one on the team to score any goals. After that, it turned out that there was another team which had a couple of boys who couldnt play on Sunday (Imagine that-- keeping the Sabbath Day holy! ;)) and they decided that we would play a third game on Saturday.

In his first game he scored one, his second two, and on his third, he scored three-- or a "hat trick" as he started telling everyone. ;) I then jokingly told him he would need to score four goals on his fourth game- but suprisingly, on that one he didnt score any.

However, I saw Saturday just how much talent and tenacity this kid has. The first game was against a team that had been together for two years. (Not bad for a bunch of 6 year olds) They actually knew how to pass! They scored three goals in the first five minutes. All of us parents were dreading the rest of this game. You never want the score to get run up too high. However, Austin's team, the Pirates then started to kick into high gear. It was amazing to see how hard Austin plays. He never gives up on a play, and is becoming quite a good dribbler. I have taught him that he needed to start taking shots from farther out as at this age group they dont have goalies yet. They play with three boys on each team and a goal that is about three feet wide. He has found that if no one is playing defense, and he gets behind their back line, that he can usually get a good shot off. Anyhow, he ended up scoring 5 goals that game, and another boy, Tyler, got one. Each time Austin scored again, the parents would look over at me incredulously. After the game, the coach called him a "one man wrecking crew". They ended up tying that team that we thought we would get slaughtered by. The next game was at 11:00 and I tagged out with LeAnn. After that game, I got a call from Austin. He sadly said, "Dad, I didnt score any goals this game". As I was about to start consoling him, he said "Just Kidding. I scored five again!" This really blew me away. I thought the first game might have been a fluke, but he definately has a knack for it. They won that game 5 to 4. The last game started out slow, as the other team scored the first two. But once again, Austin kicked it into high gear. He got through the defense a couple of times, and once he kicked it off a player from the other team who accidentally kicked it in--hence the "1/2 goal" It turned out that he scored 4 other goals during this game and they won 6 to 4.

It has been so fun to see him play and do so well.  We have had to have a couple of talks about not bragging/boasting about it (Thats my job. ;)) and making sure that he tries to pass and get his teammates involved, while being humble in the process. But all humility aside, "Thats my boy!"