Arizona.

Jake was told last week that he will be rehabbing out in Arizona for 8 weeks.. Yup, you read it correctly, with only 2 weeks left in the minor league season Jake will be doing treatment out in Arizona. 

He only goes into the field for 2-3 hours a day, so we are trying very hard to keep him entertained as much as possible 3,000 miles away from each other.. We have decided it is best I stay home for some other issues we are dealing with and I will start to travel again with him in February. 

They are working him up to be able to throw a bullpen, then will go from there if he is able to come home for the rest of off season or......

If all goes well he will be home second week of October, our place will be ready at the end of October. 

Thanks for all your prayers!! 

It changes so quickly...

July 30 10 pm: Traded to the Cubs

July 31: Jake flew out to Tennessee

we waited a few days to see what needed to be done

August 3: parents and I flew out to Texas

August 4: Packed up and headed out 

August 6:19 hours later at home

August 7: Started drive to TN

August 8: Arrived to TN moved into Hotel.

The day we found out Jake had been hurt, and he finally told us (pitched one inning 6 runs not like him at all.) He went in, told the Cubs, and was placed on the DL. 

August 12: Chicago to meet with Dr.

August 13: Parents made 10 hour drive back to FL with my car (again) and cancelled flights 

August 14: I flew home and Jake flew to AZ. 

August 15: SPEECHLESS

TN

I'm not really going to get into detail about what has happened in the last two weeks for a few reasons..I will keep it short and simple because I know many people have asked how is Jake doing, town, and so fourth.. To sum it up..It has been complete chaos. I don't know what I would do without my family especially my parents who have dropped their entire life in the last 2 weeks to try to fix mine. An idea of the last few days, we arrive in Chicago after a long day of travel very expensive flight (for me) and get to hotel where reservations were made, and they did not have reservations for us..Jake and I both parted from each other yesterday after a very emotional day in Chicago not knowing how long until we would see each other again (remember I hate hate flying and flew 4 times last week) anyways.. the guy forgot Jake at the airport to pick him up, my mom and I waited over 2 hours for my bag due to weather. Jake credit card has fraud charges he had to deal with. Lets just say I finally had a meltdown last night. Like I said above not going to get into anymore detail because it's not worth it, but this is just a small dose. We need prayers, and lots of them! Everything we had thought would happen and so excited for the potential even this season is kind of out the window with Jake's injury.. He was very unhappy with his last two outings because he knows he could do better, and was disappointed putting that taste in the Cubs mouth. It is okay though, injuries happen, and he will be just fine for next year!

Jake has what you call a stress strain, thankfully his ligament and everything is very strong-healthy! He just needs rest, and treatment! Since it is so late in the season they shut him down, and will have to wait until next year to hopefully make his dream come true of the majors. They sent him to Arizona, we don't know for how long but could be up to 8 weeks or longer, hopefully shorter..He has no car, living in a hotel, and one suitcase with minimal items. We are working on renting him a car as cheap as possible to make it work so he doesn't go insane. We will get more answers hopefully this week, but he is in good hands getting treatment and what needs to be done to improve his arm.

 I was apart from Jake for 52 days until last Wednesday, and got 6 days with him just trying to figure out what we need to do next that is best financially, as well as realistic since his paychecks stop September 6.

All I can say is through all of this is we have grown a lot closer, I will NEVER bring a trailer for the season again, and will pack very light, and appreciate my family more than ever! We are thankful for the new opportunity with the Cubs, and will do our best next year to make an impact.

Update

** if this was already sent to your email I apologize..I realized they had not "activated" Jake yet, and we already got something said to us about thanking fans on twitter before it was official..so definitely didn't want to get in trouble (again) for posting before he was officially activate..

I have now sent out 3 post in the last 2 days sorry.. annoying, but I know many of you are praying for us, and wondering where we are going, whats next, what does this mean, and how this all works!

We had a very very late night waiting on the call from the GM, and then minor league coordinator. We both only slept about 3 hours. Jake called me around 10:15 pm. He immediately asked me if I was sitting down, I thought he was going to tell me it was so hot out he almost died, not that we got traded to the Cubs! I didn't even know what to say. He had to go quickly to pack up his locker. I ran downstairs to wake my parents up and was shaking like a leaf, and just fell on my mom in fear/confusion/excitement/anxiety attack! After that the phone calls and texts, tweets have not stopped at all in the last 24 hours!

I waited for 2 hours which felt like forever, and finally got a call from Jake. The GM called and couldn't have said nicer things welcoming us (kind of funny Jake missed his first call, strike one...) He told us that he has been wanting us for years now, and tried to get Jake to go to the Padres last year when he was there (sooooo glad to not be on the west coast!!) Rangers wouldn't budge letting Jake go just yet, so he continued to tell us how excited he was, and the potential he sees with Jake and his career with the Cubs. This immediately made Jake feel so good, and calmed him a little! We didn't get word where we were going until this morning since all of this was happening around midnight last night.

Jake was assigned to AA-Sevierville TN (20 minutes from Knox.) Jake will more than likely pitch on his rotation day- Thursday. We had to pay for August rent in Frisco so will not head out as soon as we expected to go pack. My parents and I will probably go sometime next week, to pack up the place. We will either drive it back, or the Cubs pay for shipping and will ship it to FL. When Jake gets back from a road trip we will head to TN. We will just live in a hotel the rest of the season since so short (5 weeks.) I don't think we will bring our car so will maybe just rent a car or I'm not really sure about that at this point...We will bring the basics!

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/12319/soto-trade-to-rangers-becomes-official

I have been so calm, which is not normal for me, but I feel so at peace with this! I am excited to see what is in store for us this year, and next! This is a very good thing for our career as the Cubs rankings aren't the best right now, but thats okay. They are bringing in lots of new players hoping to turn it around! Jake has had a pretty hard day, which is understandable! He has been with the Rangers for 7 years, only team, and drafted with them. It is scary being the new person, and he wants to impress them. Please pray for a smooth transition for him, as he just arrived to TN less than an hour ago!

The fans of the Cubs have been AMAZING!!! I cannot express to you the hundreds of fans that have reached out to us welcoming us, and about a thousand fans in the last 12 hours have followed Jake on his twitter. I have had about 40 girls in the baseball community send me an email, text, or tweet congratulating us and how lucky Cubs are to have us which made me feel amazing.. I don't even know how to describe the support we have felt across the country today!

‪@jbrigham49 welcome to the team! Super excited for you! We wish you all the best!

Welcome to the Cubbies!!! We ARE the greatest fans in sports and we are excited to have you as one of our own!!

Good luck, its been a pleasure watching you play

Phil La Puma ‏‪@LaPuma7348

good luck and make it to the big club soon please

bob mellott ‏‪@bobmellott

welcome to the chicago cubs!!

Russell g Luce ‏‪@RLuce721

welcome to chicago , cant wait to see you at Wrigley

welcome!! Work hard and we will see you at Wrigley!

Welcome to Chicago ‪@jbrigham49 it is here that you will get your first WS ring. ‪#cubs

‪@jbrigham49 and we are excited to have you in chicago! Ahhh cubs are going places FINALLY!

‪@jbrigham49 Welcome to Wrigleyville..can't wait to root for ya! ‪#Cubs

‪@jbrigham49 Good luck and I can't wait to see you play for the Cubs. Win a World Series for us!

‪@jbrigham49 God has such amazing plans for you! Hold on to Him and enjoy the path He is guiding you on.

‪@jbrigham49 The best is yet to come!! GO CUBS GO!!!

you have cast your net brother - Cubs' nation will help lift...

‪jbrigham49 glad to see the Cubs are getting another young arm and a follower of Christ. glad you're part of the family.

HUNDREDS OF THOSE!!! Talk about feeling welcomed!!!!! We are already very impressed Cubs, and the Brighams are ready to get to Chicago when God wants us to!! 

so long Rangers...

It was the last day of trades... we got traded...

Cubs here we come I guess... I found out and within minutes media was blowing us up.. I haven't ever been apart of this, and I have a feeling these next few days are going to get crazy. Jake can either go to Idaho or Tennessee. He will be on the next plane out. I will be flying out Wednesday to Texas to pack up and drive to the next location...We are scared to death, but overwhelmed with close to a hundred responses from people.. This is what we prayed for, and we need to trust in God.. But I am scared to death!

My twitter has blown up, but we feel loved for sure~

Home Sweet Home..

Enjoying our view from master.

These last few weeks has been VERY busy in Orlando, and something happened that I didn't think would ever come true for us, or at least for a very long time!! We became homeowners!!! Jake and I have been talking A LOT this year about where we want to live, and raise our family.. We thought about staying in Texas since we love it so much, but there is a good chance we wont be with Texas, and you can't put a price on family who is in Orlando. Although Orlando isn't ideally where we see ourselves raising a family, we know we want SOMETHING there! We have struggled over the last few years with places to live, and knew we would hit that challenge again this off season. We are always keeping an eye out with Matt, and decided to start looking for fun. Homes were going like hotcakes, and we were getting a little discouraged due to the area we wanted to be in!! After the first day of looking we came to this newer neighborhood that we thought couldn't afford, and fell in love with it!! I knew it was THE place (now trying to convince Jake I wasn't fully off my rocker finding a place within technically 48 hours of looking!)  He already says we aren't very patient people in this department!! We are still getting together all the loan stuff, and is pretty confusing when it comes to Jake's career since we are only a "year to year contract." It also made me sad the day we signed the contract Jake was not apart of it-He signed everything via email..This is just one of the big negatives with our lifestyle! Thanks Matt Mckee for all you did for us! If your looking for a realtor in the Orlando area he is THE best!!

Hi from our Front porch!!

we have a second story going up!

 We are 2 miles from my parents, and 5 miles from his family! We are neighbors with my cousin (this will be trouble) and cannot wait to have a place of our own at the end of October!!!!! Also we look directly at a baseball field (really fitting!!) We are soo thankful, especially me because I have really struggled with our lifestyle, and not having something of our own!!

Ryley already picked a room out (since it had a stuffed animal) and approves of Aunt Tay Tay's new place! lol

Of course I already started designing, and putting a theme together (Jake thinks this is hilarious & says "only rich people have a theme") HAHA I am so excited and have found some great stuff that I will be DIY! 

Baseball updates: Jake had a few rough outings in July, but the last two have been really great!!! Last Monday he was throwing up in between innings with a stomach bug, but he still did great!! He is working really hard and wanting to finish up the season strong! I can't believe the season is ALMOST over! We have 48 hours left in the trade, and praying if it's meant to be we will trust God, and will be playing where we are supposed to if staying with Texas, or another team! We heard that if the Brewers trade went through Friday we were going to be apart of it-Brewers and LA traded. Jake also got the okay to play winter ball, and our agent will be working on the contract in the next few weeks. This would be from October-November somewhere in there and this is another downfall of our lifestyle Jake will not be here to move into our new place.. haHA.. I kind of have to laugh because it never fails, but him playing winterball is huge for us financially, and for him to be seen more, therefore I am 100% fine with him playing! Jake has only been home for about 12 days the entire month of July, that is why I ended up staying as well as some family issues we have been dealing with. I have really enjoyed my time home for the most part, and trying to get some stuff situated before we move back in September. 

Grayson helping Jake chart at the game last night! His hair is slowly coming back in!!

AUGUST: My parents and I are headed out to Texas in about 2 weeks. We will have about 2-3 weeks left of the season so I will pack up our apartment, and wait until the playoffs which is always hard because we have to be ready to go at any moment and usually sleeping on air mattresses and in an empty apartment! We will take 2 full days to drive to FL, move in with my parents for 6 weeks, then pack up again, and move into our new place!! I will be SOOOO glad not to pack at least for 3 more months!! Thank you all for the love and support! I am so thankful we have an amazing support system who follows Jake's career and cheering for him!! :) 

Is it September yet?

As I'm typing I cannot believe its the middle of July, and we only have about 8 weeks left of the season! Honestly this has been the FASTEST season ever!!!!!! I guess that is what happens with your having fun right? We have had some ups and downs, more ups but I will be glad once July is over! 


I came home unexpectedly back in June for a MUCH needed break from my baseball world. I hate flying so until someone flies with me (ahem mom-dad) I wont be returning to Texas..haha Sorry Jake! We are actually working on flights back at the end of the month-beg of August! Jake is only home 9 days or something in July, goes to Corpus Christi 3 times, so it only made sense to stay in Orlando and enjoy our family! We have had some very interesting-exciting stuff happen with our living situation in the off season! We are praying it all works out, and will be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO amazing to have our OWN place (can you tell i'm ready?!?!) I've only had our wedding gifts in boxes for over 2 years now, live like a gypsy, and moved over 9 times. YES I deserve something of our own, and no boogers from ballplayers except Jake :) ..Right now just waiting to see if it's the right time (approved).. it has happened so fast like I said who would have thought we would find a place in 48 hours! Prayers please that everything works out if it's meant to be! I am very excited, and has been a fun week dreaming! 

sisters

Our roommate, Tyler Tufts a few weeks ago thought he got food poisoning so was really sick while Jake was traveling for All Star and our other roommate, Richard ended up taking him to the ER because he couldn't stop throwing up..With baseball you STILL travel the next day doesn't matter how sick you are, so the entire 5 hour bus trip Tufts threw up, and felt terrible.. He ended up not going into the field, and eventually went back to the Hospital because his gf forced him..He went into emergency surgery, and his intestines had a leak from his bowels! They said if he didn't come in that day there was a good chance he didn't make it through the night! He had surgery Thursday, and finally by Tuesday I think was the first time he had some solids. He is done with baseball this season, and went back home after a week in the hospital. He got home, and had to go back into the hospital for an infection or something (still waiting to find out details) It was soo scary, and I am so glad Ashley forced him to go in, and thank God he is alive!! :(


Jake has been doing well with his last few starts until last night! Last night he had a rough game, which is normal! Like i've said a million times before everyone has bad days at work, but these guys are super heros  so should be perfect, and how dare they have bad games! via twitter-haha. Last night it was just off, and thats okay! It's going to happen. There has been a lot of stress, trades, family--a good mixture of things on our minds this week.

All Star team-Grayson and the boys came to Tulsa!

Some of you are thinking trade deadline? Teams have to make their trade deadlines for the season by July 31. Yes there is always a good chance of us getting traded, teams call often about Jake along with all the other players too! Nothing is guaranteed, but we more than likely will not get traded. We are just praying that we will be exactly where God wants us to be, and focus on today! Easier said than done, I still will worry! 


That's all for now! I hope everyone is having a safe fun summer!! 

Fundraiser for Kenna's Kids

They have my heart

Whew..I made it through the event and everything went GREAT!! I am so thankful for the entire team who donated items, the girls who helped put together baskets, and help host it all weekend, along with our friends with the Rangers! We raised over $8,000 for an event we planned in 9 days!! I was very happy, and appreciated all the work everyone helped! It was very stressful week for me, and I have not worked that hard on something in a longg time! It was worth it! :) Here are some pictures from the event!

finalizing all the baskets

Jake came by during practice while setting up

The roommates 

table of baskets 

raffle and mystery balls

ladies!

Sweet girl<3 at the Kenna's kids golf tournament

The Hughes

stronger than cancer-

PHEWW..I'm glad thats over!! It was a great event, for people who really deserve it especially the Hughes! Jake made the All Star team, and had a very busy schedule so I ended up coming back to Orlando for some beach time, and vacation! Jake pitched pretty well in the 1 inning for All Star, and actually pitches tonight in Arkansas! I miss him like crazy, but have enjoyed my team at the beach with my family! There is no place like home, and I needed a break!!! 

of course I got burned the first day, so had to wear a long sleeve rest of weekend! 

I bought a one way flight, and not sure when i'll head back probably more towards the end of July. Jake is only home for about 9 days in July, and no point to go back to be alone. I am enjoying my time at the beach, and then will come back to Orlando next week for the rest of the time! It feels so good to be home, and can't wait to see everyone!