Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Peace in the Process
    • Bringing Home More Than Groceries
  • Contact

Dear Donte …

April 5, 2012 by Kristin Leave a Comment

We established she has a crush on Donte Poole. She is a mixture of proud, excited and nervous when she hears his name, especially when he scores. When she hears anything about the Racers, her next comment is usually about Donte Poole. Or just #11. And she often uses his whole name. 
{Read the first installment about her crush.}
So when her preschool sent home a note saying some Racer players were coming to play with the kids, she was ready to meet Donte. Again. She talked about it so much that 2-year-old brother Ben was saying, “Meet Donte” yesterday morning as we were getting ready to go play with the Racers at Cate’s school. 
What would you do if you were preparing to meet your crush for the second time?
Cate decided to write a note. Really, it’s a two-sentence love letter.
Donte, 
You are my favorite Racer. I like to watch you play. 
Love, 
Cate Taylor
And included on the bottom was a picture of Donte and Zay Jackson playing together.

Seeing her give the note to him and watching him listen to her every word was sweet and honest and innocent. And I loved being a mom and witnessing this moment. I hope she remembers it. If not, I’m documenting so we can tell her all about it when she’s grown up, probably with some other crush that makes her daddy and me nervous.

Unlike their first week last month, Cate was brave this time, standing right next to Donte. She still doesn’t grasp why he isn’t going to play at Murray State anymore. But we wish him well and thank him for helping our girl love basketball.

_______

During the play time with the players, another Racer may have captured her heart. The kids were divided into four teams for a relay event that concluded with guys who are given college scholarships to play basketball shooting household items. See Ivan Aska there under the basket? Yeah, he’s shooting a roll of paper towels. Anyway, Cate was on LaTreze Mushatt’s team.

Admittedly, she was disappointed she wasn’t on Donte’s team. But I reminded her that LaTreze would be back next year and he wears #4. Something about the number being the same as her age {although she won’t be 4 for much longer …} is cool to her. That seemed to help.

Then Team LaTreze won the relay event, which lead to this awkward “We’re #1!” pose …

See, perhaps LaTreze is winning over her Donte-lovin’ heart. I can’t blame her for choosing #11 as her favorite, but truth is we want her to like basketball next season when she’s 5. I’m thinking she’ll be cheering on #4 anyway.
_______

Yes, Ben was with me. And, yes, of course he wanted to meet Donte too. Last time he gave the players fist pounds. This time he just ran toward them, fully expecting them to pick him up. Or at least bend down to his level … 
That’s Ben and Donte. 

LaTreze was great with the little ones. He asked Ben what his name was and Ben pulled on his shirt and said, “Murr Tate.” Um, well, yes, that’s what your shirt is about. But what’s your name? He just pulled up his shirt and laughed. I have no idea what he was really thinking, but he seems proud about whatever it is.

Ben ran, like full-force ahead ran, toward Ed Daniel. And Ed scooped him up. After the picture, they walked around and Ed even lifted Ben up toward the basketball goal, helping him shoot. I asked if Ed babysat, but he just laughed. I guess that’s a no.

These guys are finished playing basketball this season. Two of the four are seniors and are going to leave Murray sooner rather than later. They gained national attention this year. They won more games than any other Murray State team. They were ranked higher than any of the Racer teams who came before them. Yet they still came to a preschool and played, laughed, hugged, and smiled with a bunch of kids who have loved them from a distance.

________

Want more? Subscribe to get “Insights” in your inbox. Or follow me on Twitter.

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Cate, community, Racers

Comments

  1. Life as I know it says

    April 6, 2012 at 3:11 pm

    I love everything about this post, including the awkward pose, lol. These guys look like natural with kids.

    Reply
  2. Good Golly Gertie says

    April 9, 2012 at 5:00 pm

    aww… that is so precious! Is that Marli Mehta in the group photo?

    Reply
  3. Kristin says

    April 9, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    @Good Golly Gertie Yep, that's cute Marli Mehta.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let’s Connect

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Me

Telling stories is my therapy and I love sharing them with friends on my porch.

The main characters in my stories are my entrepreneur husband, our high school girl who never forgets, our middle school boy who has no fear, and our joy-filled first-grade girl. As we live out our stories, we seek God as the author of them all.

Learn more about my story here.

Subscribe for Updates

Recent Posts

  • How to host a party
  • All the places she’ll go
  • Cruising for Spring Break
  • How to take care of yourself
  • How to recreate favorite foods

Join the Conversation

Join the Conversation

On Instagram

🎶 All throughout my history / Your faithfulness 🎶 All throughout my history / Your faithfulness has walked beside me / The winter storms made way for spring / In every season, from where I'm standing / I see the evidence of Your goodness / All over my life … 🎶 @joshbaldwin in “Evidence”

I love summer. But my summer has started off busy: appointments, book edits deadline, establish new habits with the kids at home. All that’s necessary and good, it just cuts into my down time beside the pool. 

Today we have two open gyms for our basketball players, my book study with a few friends, a new weekly high school girls’ book study at our house, and a monthly dad-son character study. 

I long for a little more white space on the calendar, but I also wouldn’t change a thing because the kids are only 16, 13, and 7 once. This summer will only be this summer once. And I’ve already learned time flies with big kids. 

So here we are finding out footing, singing praises with church friends on our porch, grilling delicious chicken, and squeezing in the wide-open spaces when we can. This is evidence of the good stuff. 

#84daysofsummer #poolpeople #momlife #momconfessions #faithlife #livingfaithfully #favoritethings #choosingJOY #countryliving #reallife #PorchStories
The Hill family reunion at @shelterpointretreat ha The Hill family reunion at @shelterpointretreat has become a favorite tradition to kick off summer! The weather was perfect and everyone enjoyed one another. 

#familyreunion #lakelife #kentuckylake #kylake #getoutside #familytime #memorialday #memorialdayweekend #favoritethings #84daysofsummer #summerisbest #choosingJOY
Hello, #84daysofsummer! ☀️ #TeamTaylor #girl Hello, #84daysofsummer! ☀️ 

#TeamTaylor #girlmom #boymom #momlife #reallife #summerisbest #siblinglove #countryliving #poolpeople #getoutside
First of all, who else has read this book? The plo First of all, who else has read this book? The plot was promising as a thriller and the setting really worked. There were some good twists, and then there were ridiculous twists. I skimmed the end only because I wanted it to make sense. And it didn’t. It was too weird for me. 

But this made me wonder: how do we know if a book is going to be weird, contain elements we don’t like, or go places that don’t make sense? I don’t like to read much about a book before I read the book. Usually, I do a better job of picking books for myself. 

#KHTreads #bookstagram #booklover #donotrecommend #bookofthemonth @bookofthemonth
I needed this low-key weekend that was pleasant we I needed this low-key weekend that was pleasant weather, a mixture of productivity and rest, and had plenty of wide-open space to enjoy our property and each other. 

#weekending #TeamTaylor #poolpeople #countryliving #favoritethings #choosingJOY #maydays
And that’s a wrap on soccer season! I love watch And that’s a wrap on soccer season! I love watching them both play. 

#soccermom #weekending #springtime #momlife #girlmom #boymom
On Mothers Day, I wanted to sit by the pool with a On Mothers Day, I wanted to sit by the pool with a book, but I didn’t know what I wanted to read. Whenever I have indecision about books, picking up a thriller usually helps because of the story’s pace. 

“The Only Survivors” worked well because there was a lot happening! Lots of creepy, mysterious moments. Only so many people could be guilty of infiltrating a small group who had lots of secrets! 

I loved the timeline of this one. The back story about an accident was told in seven one-hour segments. The present mystery was told in seven days. 

#KHTreads #bookstagram #booklover #latergram #bookofthemonth @bookofthemonth #poolpeople #mothersday
Y’all we are very ready for summer. ☀️ And Y’all we are very ready for summer. ☀️ 

And when I say summer, I mean we are ready to shake up the routine, mentally regroup, turn off the alarms, establish some new habits, soak in the sun, and catch up with friends we’ve been crossing paths with too quickly. 

I want to savor the #84daysofsummer and I want to embrace this new season. And it’s almost time. Three more days of school. (Deep breaths.) 

Meanwhile, I’m going to keep collecting the moments — the hard, hurried, happy, and heartfelt. The seasons do change, but this is the life we are living. 

“The moments you collect may not be loud or flashy. They might be quiet or covered or a far-off view you were lucky to catch. But this I know to be true: A moment savored says to your soul, ‘You have lived something beautiful.’ And it keeps you buoyed. It sustains you when you’re running empty. It lifts you up and carries you forward.” — Joanna Gaines in @magnolia summer 2023 journal issue no. 27 

#momlife #reallife #momconfessions #livingfaithfully #summerisbest #teenagedriver #choosingJOY
I’ve read quite a few World War II novels, but t I’ve read quite a few World War II novels, but this one by Soraya M. Lane focused on three nurses, their friendships, and how the war changed their lives. It’s a hard story, but it’s full of love and hope despite the destruction around them. 

And it’s the second historical fiction audiobook I’ve listened to in a row! #KHTreads #bookstagram #booklover #audiobooks #Audible #KindleUnlimited #historicalfiction
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Favorites

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 Kristin Hill Taylor | Design by Traci Michele | Development by MRM