The Bookworm

Hey everybody, I thought I would take a break to come up for air and say "Hello!"
-- Don (a.k.a. seminary student)

Lady Lions!

I have had the joy of coaching the ladies volleyball team at my school for the past three years. The first year I was entrusted with the JJV girls and the past two years I have coached the Varsity Girls. We are in mid-season right now and I am pleased to announced that we are 3 - 0. Our girls have been working very hard and recently defeated our rival school with close match scores of 25-17, 25 - 22, 16 - 25, 25 - 20. We will be seeing them one more time in our regular season and again in the final tournament. Last year, we were defeated by them in both regular season games and beat them in the final tournament, putting us in 2nd place in our conference. This year the first place team is no longer a part of our conference and for the first time in our history of volleyball, we have an opportunity to take first place. I am excited and nervous for our girls because they feel the pressure as well. God has given us such a unity in Christ that I am so thankful for and the girls are continually teaching me through their love and example on the court. It is a busy couple months, but so worth it! Please pray that I would continue to make wise choices and that Christ would be evidenced in me to these girls.

I have also had the privledge of coaching with Kristen Varner the last two years. She has been such a help and joy to work with. We work so well together and I appreciate her willingness to submit herself to my leadership even though she has more experience with volleyball than I do. Thanks Kristen, you're the best!

Hopefully, I'll be showing a picture of our team in a few weeks with us holding the trophy! Go Lady Lions!

Go Blue!!

Here's props to the home team! With a 47-21 victory over the #2 team in the country, the Wolverines demonlished those "Fighting" Irish in South Bend. Way to make those maize and blue fans all over the country proud of those Wolverine stripes! Good luck against Wisconsin this week! Let's Go Blue!

Tropical Storm Ernesto

The local paper, The Virginian Pilot, claims that our area had more than 10 inches of rain dumped on us on Friday. We, living in a flood zone, have the privilege of seeing this effect up close and personal. The following pictures are a testimony of Ernesto's impact in our front yard.

As you can see, that is our road with several inches of water on top of it. The highest it got, was to the top of our first step, meaning about 10 - 11 inches in the road. We were hoping (for blogging sake) that someone would stall out in front of our house, but everyone made it through. Some made it through several times creating a wake to our house and over the bank of my new flower bed.(grr!) I thought of my brother Shane, who would have completely forget the homes he was splashing water into for the sake of getting a high out of putting his truck through some water. (sorry, Shane, but you know it's true!)
This is our backyard under water. This does not flood as fast as the front, but still gets real damp!

True Story: Katrina goes to front door to look at the mayhem in the street. She notices man carrying all kinds of groceries and such and walking through almost knee-high water. Katrina thinks to herself "What a poor, miserable looking man! AND what a terrible wife he must have to make this man go out in this weather for just a few groceries". Then Katrina laughs out loud as she runs for the camera and the lightbulb goes off - that is her husband coming home from seminary! He stopped by the store on the way home because he knew we needed milk and some other goods and knew we would not be going back out in this weather! What a guy! Don had to park one block back where the flooding was much less and did not know if the car would have made it through the water without stalling.

This was Godiva's perch all day. She would watch car after car attempt to ford the flood waters. I did not have room for the drown-dog picture of her from when she had to go potty. It was pathetic looking!

You've seen it on TV, you've watched them on the news, we've had them in our front yard! Yes! This is a canoer taking his son for a little ride on the floodwaters after the storm. Funny and entertaining! Overall, it was a nice day at home! God spared us from any damage from the water and it was entertaining as well! Hope you enjoyed our little adventure with Ernesto!