Following a girls dream

Tiffany is my child that is very athletic.  As much as I would like to say I am surprised, I am not.  Her father, Joey played basketball and baseball in high school and was fairly good at it. I played volleyball and softball in high school as was fairly good as well.  It is nice that Tiffany was blessed with her own athletic ability.  She is the type of person that no matter what it seems to be if it is a sport or art work and you take the time to teach her the basics of it she takes that and runs with it in no time flat.

Tiffany started playing volleyball three years ago when her sister showed and interest and played in school.  At the time Tiffany really wanted to play, but her school did not have a team for sixth grade.  So Tiffany practiced with her sister a few times and then asked me if I would coach her since I used to play.  So began Tiffany's start in Volleyball. I would spend at least 3 days a week coaching both Heather and Tiffany and although both girls can play Volleyball, Heather would rather do cheer-leading and dance than to play volleyball.  Heather can play volleyball, but it is not her strongest sport. Tiffany on the other hand really took to the sport.  After working with me for a year, she decided to go out for the 7th grade team.  I was really happy to see that all the time I spent working with her really paid off when she was chosen for the varsity team in her 7th grade year. Tiffany did really well in the 7th grade and was given more training and encouragement by Coach Begley.  This past year we missed the try-outs for the Copperas Cove Jr High 8th grade team, but this did not discourage Tiffany.  She kept practicing on her own and did not let that stop her at all.  In February she went out for the Copperas Cove Spring League and again made the team.

We are now nearing the end of the Spring League and she has been doing so well.  Not only is she playing spring league Volleyball, but she is also made the Copperas Cove Jr High Tennis team as well.  It seems like there is not a day that goes by that we aren't at either Volleyball tournaments, Volleyball practice, Tennis practice or Tennis Tournaments.  Tiffany even has most of her Tennis Tournaments on Saturdays, which means for her that Saturday morning start for her at about 530am and she doesnt normally get home until about 6pm from the tournaments.  She really has been working hard.  To top it all off she is playing two sports at the same time and is still keeping her grades at A's and B's.  I have been really impressed with her.

Last week while we were at a volleyball tournament I was told that the High School Coaches had been watching Tiffany during the games.  I did not think much about it until tonight.  Tonight Tiffany's team was the last team to play tonight and half way through the team I saw all four of the high school coaches come to the side of the court that she was on and start watching the game. Again, I tried not to think about it and kept on cheering for Tiffany and giving her encouragement and guidance.  Towards the end of the game Tiffany was up to serve and she had been doing well all night then she missed her serve.  I could tell that it really upset her.  The head coach for Copperas Cove High yelled out to her and said,"No biggy Tiff, next time just toss the ball a little higher."  I saw this smile come across her face as she shook her head yes at the coach.

Later, after the game, I asked Tiffany about this, she told me that she was upset because she knew the coaches were watching her and she muffed up her serve.  I asked her how she knew that they were watching her and she told me that last week and today during UIL the Jr High Volleyball Coach had pulled her aside and told her that she really wanted Tiffany to make sure she did well at the games and to really pay attention to her techiques because the Head Coach at the high school was asking about her and really watching her for one of the teams next year.  Rumors are now comfirmed. 

This all really means a lot to Tiffany because she really wants to go to college on a scholarship.  Even though we are no longer in the Copperas Cove School district, I have decided to keep Tiffany in this district for several reasons.  Copperas Cove ISD is a one high school town, therefore, there is a larger opportunity for Tiffany to shine when it comes to her abilities in sports.  Next, CCISD has a fantastic Volleyball and Football program.  It is the only school in the area that offers Volleyball and Football training and practices all year long for the members that make the program, meaning that there will be a lot of opporunity for her to really get good at her sport.   CCISD also is not as large as the schools in Killeen and really has the ability to focus on education and sports.  Tiffany has a better chance at getting a sports or art scholarship in the CCISD system then she would in KISD.  So even though that means I have to drive her back and forth to school daily it is all going to be worth it in the end as she is working towards that dream of getting a scholarship to Harvard.  Next week I will have pictures of Tiffany playing volleball for everyone.

A boys adventure

Alex has really been having a blast here at our new house.  He has made some really good friends.  God knew that it was time for Alex to learn how to have more than one friend at a time and we had no idea when we purchased our new house how many boys there where on this street alone and that all of these boys that Alex would make friends with are good boys that he can really learn a lot from.

Thursday, Alex had an early release day from school and I went to get him from school as I now do everyday. (Alex is back at his very first school he attended when we moved here and for him this is yet another wonderful blessing and gift from Heavenly Father.  We all love Clear Creek Elementary School.)
Alex and his friend Glenn went to the field behind our house and clear on the other side of it is a canal that is full of water. Next thing I know Glenn and Alex are walking back with a white Styrofoam cooler really slow.
My Motherly instincts tell me to stop them at the edge of the yard and ask them what they have before they got any closer. (We have a lot of snakes here and the last thing I wanted was them to bring a snake into the yard.) They tell me that they have a baby turtle.  So Glenn and Alex take the turtle to Glenn's house.  The next day Glenn, Alex, Andrew, Kent, Shent and Alex and the aquirinum with the turtle come to the house.  All the boys ask me if I will let them all keep the turtle here.  After talking to each of them and having each of the sign a contract that their parents saw as well it was agreed that Alex could keep the community turtle at our house and the rest of the boys were responsible to make sure we have food to feed it.

First thing on the list was that they were to find out what type of turtle it was.  They had problems trying to find out the exact species, but Alex said from the beginning that it was an alligator snapping turtle.  I really need to start listening to him when it comes to the names of animals outside.  He loves to watch the animal channel and discovery channel on tv and I realized that he actually does learn a lot from them.  Which was proven today.  Jon went online early this morning when he got home from work to see what type of turtle this little guy was so that we could make sure that we had the right food for him.  Low and behold Alex was exactly right.  This turtle was in fact an alligator snapping turtle.  Now this was really neat to me.  We looked on the map and found out that this type of turtle was not even supposed to be in our region that it is mainly found in far eastern Texas.  That more than likely with all the rains we have had that it came here via the rivers and canals. 

Now the down side to all of this is that we also learned that this species of turtle is what is called a threatened species and it is highly illegal to own or capture this type of turtle unless you have a permit for this type of turtle.  This type of turtle has been known to get to be about 15" to 26" round and weigh up to 250 lbs.

When we read this we decided that we would wait for Alex to get up and explain this to both Glenn and him and then we would have them take the turtle back to where they found it so that no one gets into any trouble.

Tiffany decided that since Glenn could not go that she and Jirah would help Alex take the turtle back to its family.  Alex had told us that there were several of them where he got this and even a very large adult one as well. Although Alex was sad that he could not keep the turtle he said that the turtle really did need to go live with its Mom and was willing to take it back.  Jon and I talked and decided that if Alex really wants to have a turtle that we will be getting him one from the pet store for his birthday.  When we told Alex this he was very happy. 

Our NEW Home

I wanted to take a moment now that I have a few minutes to introduce you all to our new home.  We are so happy to have this home and it was something that truly was given to us by Heavenly Father.  We found the house early on the morning of my birthday.  Funny thing about this was that Jon had asked me about and hour before we found this house if there was anything that I really wanted for my birthday and I told him, "I have prayed for us to have our own house again."  After making breakfast for the kids I decided to get on CraigsList and just look around.  This house was just listed on the sight for sale by owner.  I called the gentleman about the house and Mom and I left a few minutes later to look at the house.  The next thing I know we are signing papers and were handed the keys.  We are so happy with this house.  No house is perfect unless you build it from the ground up yourself.  There are some things that we want to do with the house as time goes on, but we love it just like it is too.

We have four bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a two car garage, a large living room, kitchen, dining room, and most of all a good size backyard.  We need to put up a fence on the back side of the property and on each front side of the house, but that we are working on.  We actually have to wait for our shed to be delivered before we can put up the fence because it comes on a tractor and trailer and they have to place it in the back, but that is okay in the meantime we have the kennels for the dogs when we can not be right there to watch them.  Once the shed is here and we build the fence we will be building a kennel run area with concrete flooring. 

This house was such a blessing for us and we found out later that this really was a gift from God when we learned that one of the two people that we used as a reference happened to be the previous owners best friend. God truly does open a window even if it is just a crack for people you just have to look for it and squeeze through it.  Enjoy the pictures.