A Family Favorite....Frisbee Fridays (and Fridays in general!).

We like Fridays (not sure there are too many people who don't).  There are so many reasons to like Fridays...some of our favorite reasons include waffles, ultimate frisbee and family movie night! 

Thought it would be fun to share a bit more about frisbee.  Most photo credit goes to Emma and Caroline. 

Most Friday afternoons the kids come home from school (well, so far they've come home from school every Friday that they've been in school...the "most" here is referring to how often we go to frisbee: "most Friday afternoons" :) keep reading).  We hang out for a bit (with varying numbers of other children in our cabin...sometimes it's just the 3 Cash kids...sometimes it's quite a few other kids as well!) Then, about 4:45, we (gently) kick everyone out and start getting ready for frisbee!  We get dinner (to eat afterwards since the dining room is closed by the time we get back) and change clothes and get our water....then we head down to the dock.  

We load up in Landrovers with some of our favorite friends and head to the ultimate field.  Sometimes it's quite the ordeal to get out of the port (depends on the ships that are docked and the cargo they are offloading).  Sometimes it's quick and easy.  More often times than not it's a game of patience.  

The field is about 3 miles away....and is usually occupied with a football team when we arrive. Another lesson in patience as we wait for them to wrap up their practice and relinquish the field that Mercy Ships has reserved (You think your children are good at the "5 more minutes" game?! These guys are super awesome at that game....5 more minutes has been known to turn into quite a few more minutes than 5!)

So we finally make it to the field and make it onto the field and the games begin!  The past few months we've had enough people for 2 full games....there's a variety of abilities out there...thankfully no one takes it too seriously (that wouldn't be much fun for them!).  We run around and laugh and get sweaty and dirty and it's WONDERFUL. 

The Cash kids play...sometimes there's a frisbee involved in the play (Eli has quite the flick!)...sometimes there are bubbles present (and maybe even a princess dress coupled with soccer shoes )....sometimes dirt is the only accessory needed.  Emma definitely made something akin to a dirt angel last week.  We don't mind a bit....they kind of don't get to interact with dirt much on the ship.  

It's good to play...good to be outside...good to connect with friends and meet new people (it's amazing the connections that can happen as a result of playing frisbee!).  There's usually a beautiful sunset - or at the least a wide open sky to enjoy.

Another fun part of the evening is when the choir starts singing at the church beside the field...that usually happens around 6:30.  Wow...what music.  In December we were able to hear them practice Christmas songs....the other night it was "How Great Thou Art" (in French, I think).

And it's in the familiar things like tossing a disc or picking up the cones when the game is over....in the dividing up of teams and running up and down the field that we feel the ache of missing friends and family in Georgia.  And it's in those very same things that we experience the provision of God - knowing that He's taking care of us and giving us so many good gifts - gifts like exercise and fresh air...and new friendships...and a fun activity to share as a family.

Once the sun goes down and it's way too dark to play, we load our sweaty, nasty selves back in the Landrovers and head back to the ship for the best 2 minute showers of the week.  After showers, we warm up dinner and dive into family movie night (we rotate through who gets to pick the movie).

And there ya have it...a look into a few of our favorite hours of the week.  A wonderful way to end the work/school week and start the weekend.

Surely there will be more to come.