MLB Draft Party

Last Thursday was the MLB draft.

I'm sure you knew that, right?

No, probably not.

While I love me some Giant's baseball, the only reason I knew it was the MLB draft last week was because we were going to a draft party.

You know, where you eat good food and watch who gets picked to play on what team.

Normally I really wouldn't care about this, since I only care about the Giants and no other team, really.

But...we were going to a draft party with someone who was actually being drafted.

Mark Appel.

So that made it pretty cool.

Mark grew up in Houston until middle school and then moved out to CA.

Him and his family attended our church for many years.

After high school Mark went to Stanford, where he was their baseball teams starting pitcher.

Last year, after his third year at Stanford, he went to the draft and went #8 to the Pirates.

He ended up not signing his contract and decided to go back and pitch his last year at Stanford.

So, this year, he was back up in the draft and expected to be one of the top picks again.

We were all hoping he would go #1 because the Houston Astros were the first pick, they are Mark's home team growing up, and that's where he wanted to go.

It was so fun being at the party.

So suspenseful.  

Here is the fan club, waiting for the draft to start.

Finally it was go time.

You can imagine our excitement when this happened!

Wow.

#1 pick.

It was awesome and so fun to be in the room with him when he heard his name!

(Sorry for the blurry pictures - I think my hand was shaking from all the excitement)

What's even cooler is that Mark is an amazing man of God.

He truly see's the baseball diamond as his mission field.

Last year when he decided not to sign with the Pirates, he got a lot of flack from the media.

But, this past year at Stanford, he pitched one of his best seasons.

And, he played a role in bringing four of his teammates to know the Lord.

When interviewed by ESPN after he was drafted #1 this year, he was asked if he felt some vindication from those that gave him a hard time for not going to the Pirates.

Mark simply quoted Romans 8:28,  "And we know that in things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose."  He then said he is simply excited for how God is going to work through all of this.

To God be the Glory.

Love it.

I might just have to become an Astros fan.

Or at least get Jack an Astros jersey.

Congrats, Mark!

Sharks Game

For the past few years, I have really wanted to go to a Sharks hockey game. To be honest, I'm really not that into the Sharks, but I've been to two Stockton Thunder minor league hockey games, and they were so fun. I figured that going to see a professional game would be even more exciting. Plus, my brother-in-law is a huge Sharks fan (my 3 year-old niece has known how to do the Shark 'jaws' during a power play since the time she was 18 months), so I've had the family enthusiasm spurring me on! And...you must admit, hockey is a great, fast paced sport to watch.

I've never been to a professional football game or basketball game either, but I didn't put a 49ner game or Warriors game on my list of 30 Before 30. The Sharks are who I wanted to see!

Well, it's funny because the first time Jason and I ever hung out was at a Stockton Thunder game (you can get the whole scoop in my previous post One Year Ago). Well, one year and exactly one week later, we went to our second hockey game together...this time it was the Sharks, though! Jason had been wanting to take me for awhile, and we finally had a wide open night. We didn't start looking for tickets until about two hours before the game. Jason went on craigslist to find season ticket holders trying to get rid of their tickets. About an hour before the game started, he struck a deal with a guy, and we got AWESOME seats for half the original price. (Seriously, this is the way to get tickets if you can wait until the last minute).

So we made our way to San Jose (in the pouring rain) and had a great time at the Sharks game. Unfortunately the Sharks lost 3-0 to the Blue Jackets, but we did see a good fight :) I was blown away by how clean the rank was and all the fans are so fun! And, I must say, any sport's stadium that has fully padded chairs is okay in my book! I definitely want to make it to another Sharks game in the near future...and hopefully see them score at least one goal...