Busy Week

It was quite the busy week! *PHEW* Last week was our "Vision Week" for our church. It was a week of fasting & prayer with numerous church meetings. We had an all night worship night on Wednesday followed by an all night prayer night on Friday. It was an amazing week. God is so faithful & brought so much breakthrough & revelation to our church. God delivered people from drug addictions, pornography, alcohol, family bondage, and many many many other things. It was amazing! Also, God is doing such amazing & divine things in our church. Personally God has brought such clarity to Sara & I on numerous things. We love our old church, but know we followed God's leading & feel we are exactly in the right place right now & in His will. He is opening doors in our life personally & it's exciting to see what 2008 will bring.

Consequently we were quite hungry after a week of fasting so a big group of us went out to the Macaroni Grill after church & it was quite delicious. After that we chilled with some good friends of ours, Josh & Jana, & watched some football. That night we had our celebration church banquet which we unveiled our new church website as well as plans to buy the church & new designs we're going to do to the building. It was an awesome banquet & it was so fun to be apart of. (Again it was AMAZING catered food).

Monday was nice having another day off & I always enjoy Sara being home! I had basketball practice for 2 hours & she had appointments, but we got to relax together all afternoon as I took the day off, which was so nice! Then we went out to the Olive Garden with friends for a youth staff meeting. Again AMAZING food.

After fasting, I've eaten such glorious food this weekend. It was awesome!!! Today was a little struggle going back to work, but after commuting to the office (walking down the hallway to my home office...lol) I snapped right back into the swing of things & had a very successful day.

On a sports front, I was a bit frustrated this weekend. To start out on Saturday, my JV team is by far one of the best JV teams at the 2A level in the state. However, we had lost by 15 to Blanchet at our home floor in December. Since then we have been game planning & gearing up for them. Consequently, we came in FOCUSED on Saturday in their gym. It was a very physical game with one of my players having a nasty bloody nose & one hurting their elbow very badly. We battled & battled & found ourself winning in the end by 6. It was an amazing game! I have never been more proud of my boys. We another big game tonight against Salem Academy.

As for the the Varsity team, we had a big game against Blanchet on Saturday & we came out flat. 3 of our 5 starters were in foul trouble the whole game & we could never get over the hump against this team. We ended up losing by 6 with our star player on the bench for most of the second half. It was very frustrating for us coaches & so we had a long "team meeting" on Monday. We're still in the hunt for the league title, but it is very difficult now. We have enormously big game against #1 Salem Academy tonight followed by #2 Kennedy on Friday. What a fun week of Basketball!!! I personally think we come out of this week 2-0, but we'll see. We can only coach & the players still have to play.

As for football, those DANG PATRIOTS!!!!!!!! Gosh, I hate them! I wanted them to lose so bad, but alas they won! Then, I was rooting for the good ol' boy Brett Favre & the Packers, but again they disappoint in overtime (what a stupid pass he through & don't even get me started on the play calling). So we are left with Tom "I'm a pretty boy" Brady vs. Eli "I only wish I was as good as my brother" Manning. More than likely the cheating Patriots will win the Super Bowl, but come Feb. 3rd trust me I will be rooting loudly for the Giants. Man I hate the Patriots....almost as much as I hate Regis, but not quite. =)

Lastly, the Blazers had an up & down week! They are on a 7 game road trip & are currenlty 3-3. They pulled out a huge win yesterday against the young Atlanta Hawks in overtime. Travis Outlaws shot at the buzzer was amazing. If you didn't get a chance to see it here you go:

Networking

So a lot has happened since my last post. I made it through the holidays alive (That is always a feet in itself).

Christmas was good! It's always good to see family & friends & whether you want to accept it or choose to realize it, December is by far the happiest time of the year. People are always friendlier & every time you walk into a store they tend to greet you with "MERRY CHRISTMAS" opposed to a short little "hi". People are laughing, people are smiling, everyone is dressed in holiday gear! It's great!

The new year was great. It was a little different this year. I was in Seattle for 4 days with our basketball team, but my wife got to come this time which made it completely more enjoyable. We celebrated her birthday on the way back from Seattle & what was nice was just spending the evening with each other. It wasn't a grand thing, we just went shopping for her & then relaxed together with some food she wanted & cuddled why we watched TV. It was a special birthday for our first year of marriage. We did the same thing the next night on New Years Eve as we were both a tad sick, so we skipped out on 2 parties & stayed home which we both decided was the best New Years Eve we'd ever had.

As I scooted through the holidays, I started to think about my life & where it was going. My life was starting to take shape right in front of my eyes! It's kinda weird when you always hear the things about "writing your own legacy" & "deciding what is right for YOUR life". Well it's a bit odd when you realize how your life is working out & how it's already taking form. For some of you that might not be strange, but it was a little eye opener for me.

To think of where I am in my life, brought one word to my mind.....NETWORKING. I am who I am today because of the wonderful people in my life. When I'm 80 years old, I want to tell my grand kids & great-grand kids that I am who I am today, because of the people that were in my life. I have an amazing family....both my natural family, my new extended family, & my church family. I have people that love me, support me no matter what the decision, I have people who trust me & my judgement, I have people who have my back no matter what the outcome! Then I started thinking of my friends both work friends, close friends, basketball friends, etc. I have such an amazing network of people around me.

It appears every time I need something, I know someone who does it. I need a mortgage? Got it. I need a car? Got it. I need some money? Got it. I need help moving? Got it. I need someone to hang out with me? Got it. I could literally go on forever! God has placed such amazing people around me that I am in awe! The Bible says "How good & how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity." Well I always knew what that meant for the 'Church' but it hits home now for my personal life. To live in unity with my "network". How GOOD & how peaceful/pleasant it is. My life is streamlining right now. No drama, strictly peace.

God has been so faithful to Sara & I, for which I am so thankful. Each day I find new ways she challenges me & sharpens me. Each day I find new things about her that I love (& maybe occasionally things that annoy me =)). She is an amazing wife & very special gift for which I am daily thankful. To see how hard she works teaching & how she dedicates herself to it to be the best she can be & yet still finds time to bless me at home or take time out of her relaxing evening to make dinner or bring me coffee. She is one of a kind & I am extremely proud I snatched her up when I did! =)

Well before I end this post, let me update you on basketball. My JV team is clicking on all cylinders right now. We have won 5 straight & are now 13-3. My boys are starting to grow & become better ball players. It's always rewarding for a coach when his players buy into what he's preaching. My players have done that & most of them hinge on every word I say. My core group of guys would run through a wall for me which is something that any coach desires. A couple guys are floating up to varsity already & 4 of them have a great chance to make varsity full time next year. If you don't know much about basketball & how a program works, that means I'm doing my job & it's a successful season whenever anyone moves up!

As far as varsity goes, they have hit some bumps in the road, but are starting to click now. We beat a VERY good East Linn team last night 10 & have some great showdowns coming in 2 weeks with Salem Academy & Blanchet! Should be a lot of fun!!! We need to make a push to make it to state. We'll see how it turns out, but I think our young varsity team is starting to understand what it takes to win & that is simply play as a unit of 5 instead of 5 individuals. A key element that many great teams/players miss.

Lastly, HOW ABOUT THOSE BLAZERS!!!???!!! I'm an AVID Blazers fan & always has been. i remember watching games in my dads lap when I was 4 & 5. We've won 17 of 18 now & are in 1st place!!! If you haven't caught the fever yet, they play on Sunday vs. Toronto at 9:30 am. What an amazing turnaround & they are playing great! I'm excited to see what else happens.

Well I'm off to basketball practice....