God is GRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT!

Ok... I've had a lot of news since Friday of last week. The only way that I can really do this without totally going marathon with this story is to do it day by day:

Friday am... 8:30. I got a call from my AD and he wanted to meet/talk to me about the job that I applied for (read earlier posting). I got up there around 9, sat down in his office, and he told me very nicely that they were going to offer the position to the present asst. coach. I understood his decision and had accepted it (for the most part) and began to make the phone calls to family, friends, and fellow coaches who were interested to hear the verdict.

Saturday afternoon... 2:30 pm. Got a call from a friend of mine who had heard that the guy that was offered the job, had in fact turned it down. Still rumor, but wasn't sure about it. Just waiting again...

Sunday afternoon... more calls about the rumor. News travels fast in the Creek.

Monday morning. Hadn't heard anything from a school official about the rumor. Tried to call my AD but he was smart and turned his school phone off while he's on vacation. 12:00 had to go to Oklahoma Christian Univ. to drive a bus for the church camp kids. They were going to an inflatables building for some recreation. 3:15 took the bus back to the school where I got it from. 3:20... checked my cell phone to call Jeanise and noticed a missed call. Come to find out it was my principal. Called and chatted with her... to make a long story short the rumor was true and they offered ME the girls' head coaching job, if I was still interested. ABSOLUTELY! So now I've got my first high school head coaching job.

Tuesday. Still feeling the 'high' of the news from Monday and woke up at 2:00 am to a 1/2 crying 7 month old. I waited for her to keep going for about 10 minutes... but by 2:30 figured that she had gone back to sleep. And then for the next hour I could not go back to sleep; thinking more of the new job and what I'd have to do. Had a great morning (thanks to Joel starting it at 6:40 am) of playing with the kids and watching tv. I went back and drove the bus for the OC programs. [now here's where it gets fun]

On the way back from OC to the school (no kids--done for the day), several cars were honking at me and telling me something about the bus. I couldn't understand them for one because the engine noise is so loud and I just assumed that they were telling me that I had a flat tire. Well... I knew that I could make it to the school which was only 2-3 miles. As I started to pull into the street that the school is on, a lady in a SUV rolled down her window and I told her that I was going to check out the 'problem'... and she said that you had better get out of there because my tires were on FIRE! That wasn't good. I quickly stopped the engine, put the emergency brake on, put the bus in gear and jumped out to see. It was a little fire on both tires in the rear... it looked like it was on the rim, not the tread. So I ran to get the extinguisher and couldn't pull it out. After calming down, I pulled the release lever and raced over to play fireman. I used 1 whole bus extinguisher and it didn't put it out... it came back. Someone at the school saw me and ran another extinguisher to me. Tried that one... still no dice. I'm thinking by this point that I'm going to witness a bus explosion! Someone from the street then told me that they called 911. The firetrucks were at the scene in about 4 minutes. About 3 of them were in full-gear and crawling under the bus. Long story, short (yea right) there was some brake fluid that was leaking and something (heat maybe) ignited the fluid, causing the fire. That was pretty freaky. I was just glad that the news people didn't come out to do a story on it... that would have been just great after the news I got yesterday. Anyway... I'm just glad that God was protecting me and watching over me and my stupidity.

Tomorrow (Wed.) I'm going back for the last day of bus driving... hope that it's uneventful.

Later.

Just so blessed...

... to have my family. Father's Day was great! My son made me a card in his Sunday school class for me and it was the cutest thing. And my wife spoiled me for Father's Day too... a great card and wonderful omelett cooking pans! (I don't know if omelett is spelled correctly or not... spell checker isn't working)

It's been a nice summer staying home with the kiddos and getting to play. Sunday, I started a little 'project'... a golf-ball display case. I like building things and thought that this would be a nice little project for me to do this summer. It's been fun. I'll post a picture of the finished project. I've also had some summer league games this week and it's been nice getting to see our varsity boys work hard and get things done.

I haven't heard about the head girl's job yet. Still waiting on that ever-anxious phone call. I 'should' find something out the end of this week. I'll keep you posted.

OK... gotta get up early tomorrow morning and go over to Casaday HS and play basketball... 6:15 am! AH!!!!!! Am I nuts?!?!?! Well I guess we'll find out tomorrow. I've been trying to play 1 or 2 times a week as well as walk about 1 hour a couple of days a week. Trying to lose a bit of weight and get a bit in shape too. Anyway... I'm off!

Spring/Summer-time Spring-Spring/Summer-Summer-time

It's been about 3 weeks since I've been out of school... first week we traveled to ALB, NM (not going to spell it for fear that it may show my lack of spelling ability) and visited Jeanise's brother and family. It was a lot of fun and a great beginning to the summer break. The last 2 weeks have been full of family time with the wife and kiddos. It's been a real blessing to wake up and spend some time with Joel and Lindsay and get to play with them.

Today is Jeanise's birthday! YEA YOU! She went out with a friend and her mom and just had a 'girls' night.' They had fun. I'm glad that I'm 'dad enough' to watch the kids and allow her to do that. It also helps to have that little thing called 'timing' so that the baby will eat her jarred food and then when mom walks into the door, the wake-up call begins. :-) No... she's a good baby. It's getting a little easier to handle 2 kids than it once was for me. It used to be a whirl wind but it is getting easier. Having a 2 year old that is a good kid helps too.

The last week I've tried to go walking about about 2 -3 times a week, play basketball 2 times and just try and stay active. I had a good week this week, so let's see how it continues. The morning walks are nice. I listen to a local radio station and just get to hear songs from the 70's-90's... it's kinda nice to listen to those 'old school' songs that I grew up with. Kinda' makes the walk a little more enjoyable. I get out about 6:30 am and I've been walking about an hour a day and cover about 5-6 miles. It's more like a power walk and I do get passed by joggers who are also out in the mornings. My knees don't handle the jogging part very well, so the power walking is perfect. Not to mention... I can keep breathing and not have to stop when I get tired. I like that. I've also been nice to go to Oklahoma Christian Univ. and play noon-league basketball with guys I've played with in college or during basketball camps. It's a lot of fun and this year, I'm handling it a bit better... may be due to the walking and the fact that I coached boys basketball this last year and shot a boys ball during practices. No telling...

Still haven't heard about the head girls' basketball job yet. Still waiting on that phone call. I know that God has HIS plan for that and we'll just keep waiting to see what happens. I do know that I'm in the running... and with a program that is continuing to grow and with a school that is moving up in the class size, it's a good job to have. We'll just see!

I just love these....

From Jan Bost... I just love reading her stuff and it gives me more ideas for writing:

5 things in my fridge:
a gallon of milk
a 1/2 bottle of Diet Dr. Thunder (thank you Wal-mart)
hot dogs (the SAMS pack)
Jolepeno and Cheddar cheese dip (yum)
an energy drink that I bought in Alb. NM

5 things in my closet:
basketball shoes (2 different pairs)
bunch of athletic shorts for coaching and playing
three words-- T-SHIRTS, T-SHIRTS, T-SHIRTS!
about 2 dozen baseball caps
Jeanise's clothes

5 things in my briefcase:
pens and pencils for grading and class stuff
deck of cards just in case I get bored
fill-it-ins... again... just in case I get bored somewhere
my travel zip-USB drive
folders for school

5 things in my car:
sunglasses (ok... I have 3 more pair of 'extras' in my glovebox)
cds
carseat for the Joel-meister
Pike-pass
sunshade... you really need those in Oklahoma

5 things I did this week:
coached 2 summer-league games (won 1 and lost the other)
played basketball with Joel at the gym
went to dinner with Jeanise for our anniversary
went to a coaching job interview (hope I get it!)
told my wife and both kids that I loved them

THAT'S ALL FOLKS! Have a great week!

12 Years!

TODAY... 12 years ago, we tied the knot! Yep... 12 years. We were talking about that this morning and talking about how much time and how much we've done in 12 years! Can't believe it. We're almost getting close to that mark in our lives where we've been together almost 1/2 our lives. Interesting huh? Still have a few years to go, but it's pretty close.

We've been so blessed to have all that we have and have had the success that we've had in the last 12 years. We now have 2 wonderful kids who just light up our lives and make every day SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO interesting. We have a great place to live (could turn down the heat a bit though) and wonderful families that live near by. What more could you ask for?

Well... I love my wife more and more and she is just a beautiful today (if not more) than that day I saw her come down the isle. And she looked awesome that day and I about passed out! She is still my best friend to this day and I treasure her so much. Thank the Lord that she's been patient enough with me all of these years and put up with me this long. She has supported me in everything that I've ever done or wanted to do... and that's just amazing love! She's (as they say at school) the 'bomb'!