Day 3,694

The Fourth ALDS Game

It started off like any best morning—an OFFICIALLY FREE Covid household, ready to explore the world again after an extensive hiatus, AND of course, Fruity Pebbles to celebrate!

A fresh Bub-made coffee to top it off!

Adam has been working out with the taxi squad team as he gets back into pitching form (even though he was never out of it because he never had actual symptoms), and this time, he came home in his workout outfit—something we only get to see in the off-season. The kids went nuts over how good he looks in all that Rays gear! Or was that just me? ;) 

We spent the day in the pool and packing more and more items for our upcoming move. Monday night’s game was a must-win in order to play game 5 to determine the winner of the ALDS, so we’d been preparing to have to live in potentially three different places up until Monday. 

We played our hearts out. 

Came in. Cooked, colored, and put on the game. 



We were as excited as a group of Covid-sidelined Conleys could be while we watched the drama unfold on a team we’ve so enjoyed being apart of. Unfortunately, we lost to the Red Sox and Daddy’s season is officially over. 

More to come in the days ahead, and though we’re bummed how it ended (in more ways than one), we have so much to be thankful for, so much to reflect on, so many blessings through so many unmet expectations, and my goodness, we’re excited to be home with all our people. Stuart, church family, we’re coming for ya! 

Rays family, we’ve only known you barely one season,  but what you have created in St. Pete (and Durham!!) is absolutely incredible. We are thankful that of all the teams we could’ve played for this year (Japan included!), we ended up exactly where we never knew we wanted to be. The Lord is kind. 

 Rays Up!

Day 3,693

The Third ALDS Game

Game 3: parents (and a few kids cooking), Bubba reading. He’s one of a kind. 

Sunday we watched the third game of the ALCS all together (we lost again) and said goodbye to our Grandma and Papa. But not before a quick family Matching Game to lift our spirits! We’ll miss you both and those cute puppies!

Day 3,691

The ALDS Game Two

Molly dives!

Mommy pressure washes. 



Conleys eat ice cream cones while watching Game 2!

The series is now tied, as we lost the second game at the Trop. The team is now headed to Boston to play two more games at Fenway before returning home as ALDS Champions. If we split the two games, however, they will come back home to play a winner take all Game 5. 

And just to follow along, here is what the Postseason bracket looks like:

RAYS UP!

Day 3,690

The First Postseason Game

Thursday was the first game of the AL Division Series and as we had anticipated, Adam was not put onto the roster. He instead is practicing with the taxi squad, as he hadn’t faced any hitters in nearly two weeks due to Covid. He’s totally healthy otherwise and has been feeling great throwing the ball. 



And even though it’s not the same watching from home, we’re all screaming for our Rays!! We won the first game against the Red Sox in a best-of-five series, on our way to hopefully winning “The World Serious” (as pronounced by Ella Mae and Molly)!

Day 3,687

The Light at the End of the Quarantine Tunnel (Hopefully)

Two of our babes got “The Rono,” as they call it. 

They experienced an identical symptom: two mild twelve hour fevers on back to back days. And then, it was gone, thankfully. 

The other two have gotten tested multiple times now—an easy, tickling swab of the nose—to obviously determine if they’ve since picked it up, which would prolong our quarantine. But as of Monday night, the tiny babes and the mommy are in the clear! 

And so, for now and if the testing continues to show up negative, we’ll be ready to take on the world one week from Monday!

Until then, Legos,

and yard work (so many weeds in luscious Florida backyards!),

and help on help on help maintaining the home and our sanity! Making progress, always!

As for Adam, he took his final tests at the hospital on Monday and was cleared to resume work. Woo! But since he’s missed the last ten days of the season, the likelihood of him rejoining the team for the AL Division Series against the Red Sox is pretty well slim, as it begins on Thursday and he’ll not have faced hitters in a live game for two weeks at that point. Anything could happen, I suppose, but the expectations are low at the moment. Wednesday begins “taxi squad” practice, where the players not on the current playoff roster continue their training at an off-site complex together. He’ll be joining them to pitch live and in simulated games in order to hopefully ramp back up and be available in the days ahead if he’s called upon. 

Rays Up! 

Day 3,681

 The Vitamin Sea and D

Vitamin D, you say? AND Vitamin C? Well how about that, we live in the perfect place! Florida, we love you! And we love your calm, mid-day sparsely populated, Gulf Coast beaches.

Soaking it all in.

And loving every moment.

Tuesday, it was announced that Adam was moved to the Covid-19 IL as the team began their final road trip of the regular season. He'll miss the entire road trip and then be eligible to possibly come back on the 5th or 6th, pending multiple moving parts and variables. He's doing fine though. No symptoms still and he's been throwing every day along with working out in the pool.

Day 3,679

 The Belated Championship Party

After an upsetting Saturday night, in which everyone was either shocked, frustrated, sad, or a mixture of some combination of the three, we decided that if we couldn't celebrate with the team, we'd bring the party to us. So, we woke up to an AL Easy Division Championship party, complete with balloons and hats and party blow things,

championship party cinnamon rolls, a party #1 candle,

and we even got to party with Raymond the Ray, who wore his championship party hat and all!

And then we sang, "We are the champions." Because that's what we are!

So, Adam tested positive for Covid, hence his (and our) immediate and sudden departure from the field on Saturday. He's tested every other day with the Rays and also with the Bulls over the summer, as is his protocol and he's obviously not contracted it since last August in Philly with the Marlins. But for the second year in a row, he's tested positive with no symptoms and no sign that he had the sickness at all. And once again, he's now facing the reality that because of the timing of this positive test, he may not be able to participate in at least the first round of the postseason, as he is to quarantine 10 days, followed by more medical testing and the approval of the league before he's permitted back onto the team. I'm not sure I can particularly articulate the frustration that welled up inside of me that first night and next day, as these last 18 months have shaped and reshaped our lives--and many others--in ways we just couldn't even begin to fathom before this pandemic began.

What I can say however--because if I say much more I may not be able to hold my tongue--is that though this is incredibly frustrating, I have been consumed by and in awe of the timing and providence of the Lord the entirety of the last 10 months. He has continually shown me--even in the day to day--that He is intimately involved in our lives, actively working things for His glory and our good, and present always. The faithfulness and kindness He's shown to us over the course of this year has grown me in ways I wasn't anticipating, but am so thankful for. So though I am wholly frustrated by more than one aspect of this positive test, I am digging in and resolved to choose to see this as another opportunity that the Lord is using to grow my faith, to deepen my trust, and to reveal more of His glorious attributes as I faithfully rejoice over His perfect, sovereign timing in all things.

Day 3,678

The AL East Champions

It was the first time ever—in the history of the Conley family—that we’d get the opportunity to celebrate alongside our championship team. Because Saturday night, the Rays clinched our place atop the NL East division as *the* Champions when we beat the Miami Marlins in our 96th win of the season!! We’re heading into October and the postseason with the best American League record and are excited for new experiences and many more wins! What an incredible team! Rays up!!

Unfortunately for us though, our plans of attending the celebrations post game and celebrating our victory alongside the fans and the team and the families and our friends were cut short in the sixth inning when we had to leave the game unexpectedly. More on that later (everyone is ok and we’re still on the team), but we instead had to watch our guys clinch first place from our Airbnb couch, while teary eyed babes tried their best to understand why we couldn’t be there for “the party.” Choked up and disappointed, we reminded those precious little sad faces that regardless of our circumstances, we’d choose to be content and trust the Lord. As we’ve said all year long—especially over the last six months—the timing of the Lord is specific, purposeful, and intimate to our lives and we both recognize that and trust Him increasingly more because of all the ways He’s proved that to us in the past. I must only look back very recently to be reminded of how intricately God is involved in the lives of His people. And so, whether on the couch or on the field or wherever we find ourselves to be, we will pursue contentment and rejoice in God’s timing because His ways are always better than ours. 

Day 3,677

The Postseason Clinch

Date night with Lady Kate!

And since she loves baseball SO much, the Rays decided to let her celebrate their clinched postseason spot on our date!! Friday, we secured our place in the playoffs! For the first time ever, the Conleys are playing in October. 

Rays UP!!!



And we did it against non other than the Fish. 

Let’s go Rays!!!!

Day 3,672

The CBC Sunday in St. Pete

It looked a whole lot different than worship within the body at home on Sunday, but for the first time in a while, we were able to worship alongside some of our church family here in St. Pete when our friends stayed the night on Saturday! It was a loud and busy morning—I’ll be re-listening to the sermon at some point this week—but what a delight it was to be with our people on our most favorite day of the week. 

The whole weekend was such an encouragement to my heart and I’m so thankful for all the time we were able to spend together. This year has been one unlike any we’ve had since becoming members at CBC, but continually, the Lord has been so kind to put people and conversations and experiences into our lives that tether us both more closely to Him and more closely to the church He’s graciously added us to. We are missing our people more than ever, but feeling fueled for the remainder of the season through faithful friends and honest conversations. We love you Twombly family!!

….aaaaaaand, now back to our normally scheduled nonsense! To be fair, the filtered water button is on the inside of this refrigerator, so she was only meaning to be self-sufficient  



And for more fun: Daddy did some sprinting and chasing and diving and tumbling all in a days work on Sunday! He’s seemed to find himself in numerous situations this season that require a certain degree of extra effort and quick thinking and he’s absolutely killed it each time!! 

Yer out!!

Day 3,670

The New Pool Friends

Fun with new friends!

This kind of pool is quite different than the one they’re used to swimming in, but they found it almost nearly as exciting! Bear mentioned having a disagreement with his new friend over the rules though, so we’ll have to brush up on some rules before next time. 

  

:)



I’ve been this tired lately. 

I think ten straight years of posting has finally caught up to me, as I’be been pretty inconsistent the past few months with timely entries. I’m trying still—but at this point, there’s almost a small guilty feeling that exists at the thought of ending this specific part of my life because of how much less Molly would have documented in comparison to the other children. We’ll see. But after all that’s happened this season, I am quite tired, so please forgive the delays!

Day 3,659

The Best Part of Waking Up

DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HE’S HOME!!!!!

We are just so happy!

Thursday, life resumed as normal. We got our Papa Bear back, we continued our week of homeschool,

we did big girl things,

and we saw another Tampa Bay homerun!



:)