give thanks

...for a church family that braves the cold all for the sake of fellowship and supporting their community

...that my father did not get injured while running around on the football field with high schoolers. :)


...for families to be together again

...for friends that have become family

...for wonderful traditions that stand the test of time and distance

Violet Ann Eloise Lewicki

...for new life

...for lifelong friendships

...for unconditional love

...for a God that answers our prayers...and grants patience for ones yet unanswered

...for everything HE has given us and so much more


give thanks


Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
Psalm 126

my 2 cents

this year we are struggling to form a freshmen girls basketball team. last year i only had 7 girls, and this year only 7 girls came out again. now before you go thinking that i'm scaring them all off before they even get to high school, it's not true....really. it's a trend that we are seeing in sports across the board at timothy christian. as coaches, we're stuck scratching our head and wondering why we have to beg kids to stay playing or search the halls far and wide to find enough bodies to fill our uniforms. i ran across this quote from a volleyball coach's blog in an entry titled "my love letter to athletics"...

“We need to encourage parents, coaches, sports leagues, the culture itself to go back to multiple sports participation. And there needs to be real off-seasons with unstructured play. No adults. No rules. No leagues. No registration cards. One of the best sentences a parent can utter is ‘Go outside and play.’ One of the worst is, ‘It’s nine a.m. Get in the car, we’re going to practice.’” (Warrior Girls)

"go outside and play." pretty sure i heard that one a time or two. but that "play" is now what i love. so i realized i need to say a big thank you to my parents and coaches who instilled in me a love for play with the right perspective....and my siblings and friends for being my teammates. a love for play in its pure, hard-working, sometimes unstructured but so very rewarding form.

from one to another

saturday marked the end of the timothy volleyball season this year. we made it to the regional final match, but lost in a tough 3 set match to immaculate conception high (in illinois, you go through regionals and then sectionals.....and you only play best of 3 matches). the girls played so hard and had some pretty amazing saves....at one point i even cracked the corner of my clipboard off b/c i was so excited about a diving save by our libero! :) i had such a great group of girls this year - of course we had our struggles, but they had so much fun as a group and had great team chemistry, which isn't really something you can coach.

with the end of volleyball comes the beginning of basketball. no rest for the weary - freshmen girls bball practice starts tomorrow afternoon! i think i have a small team again this year, so no worries about playing time or making sure the girls get in good shape. matt's already started bball season and has a full week of practice to go along with parent teacher conferences this week...it will be a busy week for him!

last weekend, i was able to go back to dordt to visit my brother, see a few volleyball games, and be at van den bosch's reception. it was a great weekend away to visit friends and family....and really fun to see some high level volleyball again.

some pictures of jill (and her baby #2) and i....

and with coach...

colorful

there is no doubt that fall is absolutely my favorite season - the sound of crunching leaves....volleyball season....harvest season....cool enough to open up the windows all day long....and of course all the reds, yellows, and oranges of trees and birds. yes, birds. it's not every day that i go for a run (i could end the sentence here, but that's not the point :) !) and see a man walking his parrot. well, i did...just last week. it made me a little nervous with it just perched on the man's arm with nothing restricting it from flying right off and right at me. i just avoided parrot eye contact and picked up my pace. thankfully no harm done, but i did find out that parrots are pretty loud birds - i could still hear it squawking after i was an entire block away, over the sound of my music. i guess parrot pets need some fresh air every once in a while too....

our volleyball season is nearing the end. we have 2 more conference games this week and then we start playoffs the following week. the girls have done great this year...our current record is 21-12, and 2 conference wins this week would put us in a 3-way tie for 1st in the conference. last week we honored eight seniors at our last home game. that was a little bittersweet...i have been coaching four of these seniors all 3 of my years here at timothy. they are a great group of girls and it won't be quite the same without them.

last week we also took part in a volley for the cure game. here's the team with their pink jerseys for the night...

matt's parents came to visit this weekend and toughed out a long day on the bleachers at my vball tournament. i've had family come to 3 of my 4 tournaments (outside of matt who is just the best trooper and statistician EVER for almost every single game!) and i feel so incredibly blessed to have that kind of love and support from family. and to top off a great weekend, we got a surprise visit from brent and becca late on saturday night too! what a great week and weekend!

happy fall everyone!

sista sista

kelli came down to visit this weekend and watch some volleyball. she toughed out a 12 hour day in the gym, sitting right next to me and coach reitsma on the bench the whole time. we make a pretty dynamic coaching combo....we finished 2nd in the tournament. :)

moving along

the summer slumber has ended. my schedule has picked up now....classes have started and i'm getting observation hours in a 3rd grade classroom 1-2 days a week. this semester i'm taking a literacy course for upper elementary and a practicum to go along with my hours.....but really i'm just itching to student teach. i'll be student teaching in the same 3rd grade class that i'm in this fall - it's at timothy, which works really great for coaching.

speaking of coaching, we're about 1/2 way through our season with a 9-8 record. every year presents its own challenges and this year we are really working on mental toughness...which i realized is a pretty hard thing to teach. so if anyone has any great ideas, please pass them along! here's the team...

oh and how could i forget - twins win the division! we better watch our back over here in chicagoland. :)

yah twins!

it can be a dangerous thing to be a twins fan in US cellular stadium...especially when joe mauer hits a 3 run home run and your cheers are surrounded by black and white stares and boos....or when they handily beat the white sox 2 nights in a row and crush their chances to catch up with the twins for the division. :)

over the past two wonderfully wedded years, i admit that i know more about the twins than i ever hoped or really thought possible. so now i find myself getting nervous/excited about their race for october.....and surprised that i am knowledgeable enough to know all this.

at the game on wednesday - the best we can do when target field is just a little too far away to see a game on a school night. :)

after mauer hit his 3 run home run!