Raising Awareness for National House of Hope

Written by Taylor Brigham, Wife to Jake Brigham

I got an amazing chance to go to this conference a few weeks back with Jake, it is called Professional Athlete Outreach (PAO) and is for baseball players and (wives-gf-fiance) -not what you see on VH1, but a time get together meet each other, and have an amazing time of fellowship, worship, and much more!

One of the speakers was talking about how in the Bible it says give to the needy, love the blind, and poor, they got the opportunity to take some homeless San Fran people shopping (that got my attention, being a fashion major!) I was thinking how on earth could I give back, because most of us are struggling with money, then I thought... I have 3 full closets (ridiculous) and starting praying how I could get in contact with a good organization in Orlando when I completely forgot about a organization I've been involved with since I was 10 and is House of Hope which is a christian organization for troubled teens (boys & girls) My parents good friend works there, I called her to see her thoughts and she said "I'm going to let you run with this, and see how it goes!" I was so excited, and contacted a few of my friends who went through their closest and pulled some amazing gently used items!

Last night was the first night we did it, and we separated them into sizes, we had 6 girls sizes 1-16 last night! They had a blast getting to pick out some new things, and were so excited! This cute girl kept grabbing all these winter coats, and I was a bit confused by it since we live in Florida and come to find out she doesn't have any heat in her home, She was grabbing for her family..The HOH will be getting a lot of teens after Christmas, and usually has more than 6 girls.

These girls are just like us who love purses, shoes, and jewelry! We let the girls grab a pair of jeans, a few shirts, a dress for when speaking at events, and a few other items!

We want to do it again in January before we leave for the season, and we need items!

We can accept jeans, tops, jackets, jewelry, shoes, handbags, scarves, you name it--they do have a dress code so had to remove some clubwear items (haha) but all the strapless tops/dresses they can put a cardigan over it!

You can learn more about National House of Hope by visiting their website at www.nationalhouseofhope.org

How can you help? You can send new and gently used clothing and accessories to me by Jan 13, as we'll be doing another event for the girls the following week. We will also be accepting gift cards to TJMaxx, Target, Payless, Marshalls, and so on. I'll be accepting items at my house, and if you email me at taylorbrigham49@gmail.com I can give you the information needed to ship items down to these girls.

I Am A Baseball Wife

Written by Nicole Johnson, Wife to Elliot Johnson

I am a baseball wife.

I log long hours of driving and flying to be with the man I love, cheer for, and support.

I take care of my child by myself a lot of the time.   I try my best to give him enough love for both myself and his daddy.

I've watched my child run at the door screaming for his Daddy when my husband had to leave for another road trip.  I've wiped away his tears, and cried with him over his heartbreak.

I comfort my child when he asks (again) where Daddy is.  I know he is at winter ball for a whole month, and I simply respond with "Daddy's working," and continue to draw his attention away from him missing Daddy.

I pack up my home before spring training, before the season, and at the end of the season (and more some years).

I make each place we live in with as many of the comforts of home as possible.  This includes baking for my family, cooking meals for my son, finding preschools, swim coaches, and anything else I can to make my family as comfortable as I can.

I run the house during the season.  My husband doesn't even have time to do the laundry, let alone try to manage anything in the house like the groceries and bills.

I cheer for my husband whether he's doing well or doing terrible.  I know he's amazing, and he doesn't have to have the best day on the field for me to feel that way.

I didn't marry for money.  When I married my husband, he was in the minor leagues and in debt.  I knew this, and I didn't care.  I married him because of the way he made my heart feel, and I know that having that and having God is always going to be enough for us.

I try to travel with my husband on the road as much as I can.  It's costly, but when we can afford it, I do my best to make sure my son can be around his Daddy as much as possible.

I've stayed home from road trips because we didn't have the money to go.

I've packed up while pregnant to go with my husband to rehab and injury a few states away.

I've held several part time and temporary jobs because this lifestyle didn't allow me the opportunity to be with my husband and have a career.  I have a Masters Degree in Accounting.  I do what's best for my family.

I have seen my life go from bringing the food from our pantry with us because we couldn't afford to buy all our groceries again, to borrowing money from my mom because we got called up and were on the road and I couldn't afford to eat within a 6 week period.  I've borrowed money from my parents to pay my mortgage because we  had a baby and I couldn't go back to work to buying my parents dinner when they came to visit us in the Big Leagues a year later.  

I am helping my husband chase his dream.  I believe in him, and I do everything I can to make my family happy even with our sometimes uncertain situation.  I make sacrifices, and while I am lucky to live a comfortable life, I don't live a life of luxury.

I am a baseball wife.

This, my friends, is what a baseball wife is.  Not what VH1 is portraying.  I'm embarrassed and insulted by the way they are making us look.  Those women are being misrepresented.   For some ratings, VH1 is ok with misrepresenting a whole community of amazing, strong women.

Playoffs 2011

Written by Nicole Johnson, Wife to Elliot Johnson

This September, I witnessed the single most awesome game I have ever witnessed, and may ever witness .  The day the Rays made it into the 2011 playoffs.

I went to a last night of the season dinner with some of the wives from the team, and we made our way over to the game, late.  I think that by this point, we were all avoiding dealing with trying to figure out if we were going to make it to the playoffs or not, and just didn't want to think about it til it was figured out for us.

As we watched our team fall way behind and got word that the Red Sox were ahead, we started to think it couldn't happen.  I mean, we were behind 7 runs.  Seven.  Then luck started to turn around, we started scoring, we tied, and we won.  (Obviously my details are NOTHING like what happened.  Seriously, google some of the youtube videos from the events that day and tell me you don't get excited).

We won.  We won the game.... and before we won, the Red Sox lost theirs.  Woah mama.

Whhhhaaaaa???

Did that really just happen?  Heck yes it did.

Oh. My. Gosh!

For as long as I've been with Elliot, the team he was on went to the playoffs.  Literally.  When we met in 05, his Fall league team was in the playoffs.  In 06, the Montgomery Biscuits went to the playoffs.  In 07, 08, 09, and 10, The Durham Bulls went to the playoffs.  We were kind of disappointed at the beginning of September because it was looking pretty bleak.  But the Rays pulled it off, and we were about to go play Texas in the playoffs!

The next 24 hours were a blur.  Celebrations, pictures on the field, booking a flight to Texas with other wives through text (we left the next day), Flying to Texas, and there we were.

The playoffs were over for us quicker than we would have liked, but we loved every minute of it.  It was the first time that we had gotten to be part of playoffs in the Major Leagues, and the crazy, unpredictable games were fun, and such a great experience.  I hope that I can watch my husband play in the World Series someday, and hopefully, win it all someday, too.