Growing Paynes

April has definitely kept us busy! There have only been a couple of days on our calendar that have been blank.

Baseball is continuing. Sadly, we have only won one game so far. However, they have played hard and almost won several. Hayden has finally gotten to pitch! Two weeks ago, we had a game that was tied up and we have to keep playing until someone wins. Both of our top pitchers had met their inning / pitch limit for the week. So we had to put someone else in. Well, they tried 3 others and it wasn't going so well. Hayden was next on the list. He only got to pitch about 8 pitches, but he stuck two out and shut down the inning. Unfortunately, we lost that game, but he was happy that he got to pitch! The next Saturday, we had a make-up game, and once again, our pitchers had met their limit. They started the game with another player, but took him out after he walked several in the first inning. Hayden pitched for 4 innings, until he got tired and was near his 75 pitch limit for the game. This week they put him in again at the end of the game. Over all he has done well with it considering he's just started. Anyway, it makes him happy even if they lose!

Hayden has also been preparing for Children's Bible Drill this year. The Bible Drill is for 4th -6th graders. During the year they memorize 25 Bible Verses; 10 Key Passages; and all the books of the Bible. Every April they participate in a Church Drill; Associational Drill (all Baptist churches in our county) and the District Drill (covers several counties). In each drill they are given 24 "Calls" - 12 Bible Verses; 6 Key Passages; and 6 Books of the Bible. When the call is given you have 10 seconds to respond and quote the verse or find the key passage or book in the Bible. Our Bible Drill team did so well this year. We had 8 on the team. All 8 advanced from the Church Drill ( had to make a 12 out of 24) to the Associational Drill. The lowest score was a 19! Seven of the eight then went on to the District Drill ( required a score of 16 or more). All seven of them made a 20 or more at the District Drill! A 20 is considered the passing score. We had 2 that had a perfect score and 3 that made a 23! We were so proud of Hayden! His scores were Church - 20; Associational 18; and District -23.

Our Bible Drill Team

Check out Hayden's eyes! Looking to see if he's at the right spot!

As if that weren't enough to keep us busy, Jimmy's mom has been in the hospital since late March. She broke her foot late Feb / Early March, but thought it was just twisted. Then somewhere along the way she accidentally burned it with a rice bag. She has neuropathy and couldn't feel that the bag was too hot. She finally had it x-rayed and they put her in the hospital. It took almost a week to be able to do surgery because of her blood being too thin. The put pins in, but there was infection in the open wound on her foot where it was burned. They have been watching it and sent her to a rehab facility. Gangrene has set in and she must now have the foot amputated. We expect surgery to be early this week. Please keep her in your prayers.