The Legacy Begins

The Next Generation of Lincolnton Volleyball! Coach is laying the foundation for her own personal dynasty by having a hand in the middle school and high school teams. She's already starting to surround herself with good coaches for future positions and tapping into the love that these people share for the game and these athletes. Each team is winning for pride and building for the future!

Trying to catch up

High School volleyball ended with a disappointing loss in the first round of the state play-offs. Middle school try-outs have ended. We had 60+ girls come out and now have a team of 14. I just love making cuts. Patrick and I butted heads over a discipline issue on our team during the school day on Friday, but managed to pull it together for volleyball cuts that afternoon. We have one week to practice before some county scrimmage where all the teams in the county play against each other. Then we have our first match at Kings Mountain! Welcome back to KMMS!

I really do have wonderful teammates at school that I'm learning to appreciate more and more. The last three Fridays we've spent over an hour talking about everything and nothing after school (or after volleyball this week). My one complaint is that they are very indecisive - especially since Heather moved to her new position. If you know me at all, then you know that I'm becoming the decisive one of the team. It's weird to make the decisions though because I'm the "new" kid with the least amount of experience. They support me in my decisiveness. I think I'm pretty fair at weighing every one's opinions and making a decision that best fits everyone. The kids have simply been pushing the limit with the interim substitute and we're having to take on "bad guy" roles to cover for her. Some of them are learning and others probably won't learn no matter how hard we try.

One final thought that I am struggling with today. I am amazed at how busy I can be but also how lonely I feel. I'm still searching for the friends around me (in Hickory) to talk to and do things with that won't interfere with their family's life. Most of them include me in their plans and outings when I'm right there in front of them, but out of sight, out of mind usually applies. Hickory can be pretty lonesome, but I don't know where else I could go. My prayer of the morning was "Lord, I believe that you know what's best for me. But Lord help my unbelief."

I am alive

I know I'm doing a horrible job of keeping up with my blog, but most of you that read this know I'm alive. We are in crunch time for high school volleyball with middle school volleyball set to start very soon. My JV team finished first in the conference. Our final record was 15-3. We had one conference loss at the last game of the season. We had been playing horrible all week and the last one got to us. I've had some good conversations with some of my freshmen since then so I'm excited about next year's team. We asked five girls to play up on Varsity for the play-offs. One said "Do I have to?" Two others simply did not show up to practice on Friday. One was here yesterday for our game, but missed today because she was getting her nails done for Homecoming on Friday. Coach and I are trying to decide what to do if she shows up to play tomorrow. We wouldn't want her to break a nail. Varsity started our conference tournament on Monday. We won easily on Monday. We are the #2 seed in our conference. We played West Lincoln tonight and just about lost. It was some pretty high emotion games. We play for the conference championship tomorrow. No matter what the outcome for that game we'll play at home on Saturday for the first round of the state play-offs. The way we played tonight, we might not see much past this weekend. There's always hope for our team to go on a run of good playing. Middle school ball is set to start on Monday. Patrick and I have our game plan ready and hope to find some good girls in our week long try-outs. I'll be glad to be coaching a team at my own school and not having to travel so much. I might over-lap for a few days but more than likely not too many. So between all of that and simply being an 8th grade teacher I'm staying pretty busy. Most of my time has been in Lincoln County the past couple of weeks. I'm finally starting to feel somewhat better - still coughing but hopefully that will go away soon. I've got a pretty busy weekend planned and hopefully will fit everything into it. I'm learning to better appreciate my teammates at school. We are coming together well and they truly do care about me. It's nice to be reminded that someone loves you. I've got to go work on some lesson plans for tomorrow. I hope to write again before another two weeks go by. I hope you are well as you are reading this!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Friday, October 5th was my 28th birthday. To some I'm still a young person and to others I'm older than dirt. I very rarely reveal my age to my students at school and didn't break that habit this year. They think I've passed the 30 milestone already. One of my students asked me what I was doing to celebrate. I replied, "I'm going to my parents' to have dinner and cake." She got a surprised look on her face and said "You have parents?!" My jaw dropped and then I about fell on the floor laughing. One of my new favoritest people, Emily, who teaches next door to me, was passing by at this particular moment. Her response to this student was, "Did you think she evolved out of some ooze or mud somewhere?" This made me laugh even harder.


My day started with a phone call from Thailand - which absolutely made my day. I talked to Melanie all the way to school - just like we've done a hundred times before in our teaching careers. It was exciting but sad when I realized that she was getting ready for dinner while I was eating breakfast. We had a fun conversation. Melissa came in from Kentucky to spend the weekend with me. We spent Friday night and Saturday at my parents' house. Melissa and I went shopping for some new school/church clothes for me. I'm not sure if there would be anyone else I would want to help me pick out clothes. She dressed me in some nice new things - some of them were even the next size down!!! Mom made me a birthday dinner (roast beef, potatoes and carrots) and a chocolate cake. Then Melissa and I headed back to Hickory. We stayed up late talking - just like the old days. We went to church this morning, ate lunch, talked some more and now she's home in Kentucky. Overall it was a great birthday weekend. All of my friends who I wanted to hear from did call or email at some point this weekend.


I'm going to end with my favorite birthday present of the weekend. Lori "broke" into my house on Friday to leave my present for when I got home from school. I was happy to see the card and a book on my counter. When I opened the card it said the best way to spend your birthday is with a good book and...

It's great to be known and loved! Thanks to everyone for giving me a good birthday! May God continue to use each of you to bless and encourage me in the next year of my life!

Welcome to the Club!

This post is for my lovable niece, Jasmine. Welcome to the bad eyes club! Jasmine was having a hard time in school (which is her first year). The problem turned out to be that she couldn't see what was going on. My adorable niece has had to get her first pair of glasses at the young age of four! It's possible she could grow out of these glasses in a few years or like some of us Procita's it could be the beginning of a lifetime of eye wear. I think she looks really cute and possibly a little more like Aunt Holly with them on! Either way, I know I love my Princess Jasmine - no matter what her eyesight!

I'm so sick

Of being sick...

I finally broke down and went to the doctor today. I know - probably two weeks too late. I have a very good case of bronchitis. I was given some antibiotics and a cool looking cough syrup in the form of gel caps. It's my "favorite" cough syrup that always does the job so I'm looking forward to trying out these gel caps. The information packet says not to let it dissolve in your mouth because it will burn your throat all the way down. Be sure to swallow it whole. My only hope is that it will help me to sleep through the night! I wasn't feeling that bad this weekend - that or I'd grown accustomed to feeling bad and it didn't bother me. Being woken up at 3:30 AM and coughing myself into a fit pretty much sealed the deal for me. I croaked and coughed my way through four classes today. I'm taking a half-day tomorrow (I can hear most of you asking - why not a whole day?). You know me - volleyball game - pure stubbornness. By going in the second half of the day I'll just have to teach one class and sit through a technology workshop. If I feel bad enough, I'll come home after the JV match. Wednesday is an away game, but it's here in Catawba county so I might ask if I can drive to it. We'll see...I'll slow down come Christmas when high school and middle school volleyball seasons are finished. OK, my couch is calling my name. I'll be up for a little while longer and then I'm testing out the new gel caps for sleeping abilities. I hope you're all healthy and happy!