St. Louis Cardinals and Albert Pujols

We are big St. Louis Cardinals fans.  I grew up in the St. Louis metro area and Troy grew up in Springfield, IL (about an hour north), where most people are Cardinals fans.  We both grew up rooting for the Cardinals.  My dad has had season tickets to the Cardinals since I was a little girl so I have been going to games all my life.  I think Troy was pretty excited when he first found out that my dad has these tickets....luckily, I already knew he really liked me or I could have wondered if it was just the tickets :) 


As my husband would say, "We bleed Cardinal red."  I have seen this man pace the floors through many a big game and back in 2005 when they won the World Series, I swear I saw tears in his eyes.  He denies it to this day, but I really think I saw them.  Another one of Troy's favorite things to say is, "In this house, we celebrate every Cardinals win and every Cubs loss."  We had this same rule in my house growing up.  Now that we live in Lafayette, IN, we are definitely outnumbered by Cubs fans.  Whenever I walk into our local Meijer and see Cubs gear greeting me as I walk in, I inwardly think... "stupid Cubs."  I can't help it.....I was raised this way.  I was very happy a few months back when I walked into Meijer and saw Cardinals gear also greeting me along side the Cubs stuff....maybe there are some Cards fans around here.


Here is a picture of the newest Cardinals fan in our family....showing her pride:

 

Here she is with mommy and daddy...we tried to get Kyla in this picture, but she was "in a mood" about taking pictures.  This was taken at my parents house the day Troy and I were going to a Cards game.

 

My absolute favorite part about the Cardinals right now is Albert Pujols.  Yes, he is the star player.  Yes, he is one of the best players in baseball.  It is more than that.  He is an unbelievable Christian and he also has a daughter with Down Syndrome.  I remember after Ashlyn was born, it kind of just popped into my head one day that I remembered that Albert Pujols had a daughter with Down Syndrome.  Well, a few weeks after that I was looking through our mail and I saw a letter in the mail with the return label saying it was from the Pujols Family Foundation.  I opened it to read a letter from Albert Pujols saying that his foundation had received word that we just had a child born with Down Syndrome....it went on to say what a blessing their daughter was to them and how he uses his foundation to promote awareness and bring hope to the children and families connected with Down Syndrome.  I already knew that he did tons of events for kids with Down Syndrome in the St. Louis area, but I didn't know about his foundation.  He also included one of his baseball cards in with the letter.  When Troy got home that day, I was so excited to show him.  He just kept staring at it and saying how awesome Albert Pujols is.  Then, a few weeks later when my dad was here....same thing.  He just kept staring at it and saying how awesome Albert Pujols is.  The letter is tucked safely away in Ashlyn's baby book.

A couple of weeks ago when we were at my parents house, Troy and my dad went to a Cards game one night.  While he was there, Troy sent me a text and said that just a few rows in front of them was an adorable little girl with Down Syndrome.  He also texted me a picture of her.  After the game, Troy and my dad were able to talk with the family.  It turns out they adopted this little girl three years earlier when someone contacted the Pujols Family Foundation and said they knew they were going to have a baby with Down Syndrome and wondered if they knew anyone who was interested in adopting their child...they just didn't think they could handle it.  Well, the mother at the game was that person and the little girl was that baby.  How awesome that the Pujols Family Foundation could be used that way and that also that family chose adoption over abortion.  Troy told me that the girl (her name was Carley) was the life of the party in the section they were sitting in and a very happy little girl.

Here is a picture of Albert Pujols on deck from my dad's seats.  We are so proud to root for a team that has such a great man on it.....who loves God and stands up for kids with Down Syndrome, including his own daughter.

 

Saturday morning Troy was out running errands, which included a stop to the gas station and while there he was wearing his Cardinals hat.  A man walked up to him and said that he was also a Cards fan and was surprised to see another one here amongst all the Cubs fans.  He told Troy that he grew up in Springfield, IL.....too crazy!  They shared about growing up in Springfield and rooting for the Cardinals and he found out Troy was a pastor.  The man ended up sharing some difficult things going on in his life right now and they ended up praying right there at the gas station....two Cardinals fans. 

 

 

Go Cards!  (Obviously, Kyla was still "in a mood").