Packing Up and Heading Home

We've been traveling a week now but we are trying to wrap things up and head back to Houston, Texas Today. Connor is holding up very well. I do agree with a family friend that Connor is internalizing his pain a lot right now and it may come gushing out later, but for now we're just going to keep a close watch over him and just love him and shower him with prayers and kindness.

Monica and I have both been fighting the flu for the entire week. We're close to exhaustion and are just going to take our time and spread our return journey home over two days with lots of rest breaks. We should get back to Houston sometime Friday afternoon or early evening. We need to have our rental vehicle back by 7 PM so we're shooting for that to be our latest arrival time.

Monica's already over at the house with Connor packing up a few things. I stayed in the room to take care of some business correspondence that has been backing up on me.

We're going to pack up and I'm going to mow Brian's yard before I go. We're hoping to be packed up by 4 PM so Connor can play in a school tennis match on our way out of town. He really loves his tennis and that would mean a lot to him so we're going to make every effort to grant his wish.

I've mentioned this in some of my other blog postings, but I know that each blog I write pretty much has it's own unique audience so I'd like to mention here how grateful I am to friends, family, and colleagues who have called or written in to express their concern, prayers, and well wishes. We are especially grateful to Monica's parents who helped us out financially with the trip. Thanks Arno and Judy...!

We have felt a tremendous outpouring of love throughout this entire week and that's what's kept us going. So on behalf of Connor and Monica I just want to say Thanks...!

We Feel the Love...!

I hope you have an awesome day. I'll try to post a little more this evening when we finally stop for the night. (assuming the hotel we stay at has highspeed internet in the rooms...)

Coach Sam

First Time in Missouri

I've never been to Missouri before but we made the 6 and 1/2 hour drive from Memphis and here we are. I met Brian's family tonight. His Mom and Dad, Brothers, Uncles... They are such a nice family. And they were extremely gracious to me. I wish the circumstances that brought us together weren't what they are....

But Connor is still holding up well. He's such a great kid...!

It's late... 12 AM I'm still up for two reasons. I'm desperately behind on my work, and my throat is very sore from coughing so much. I started taking a z-pak tonight and I had two Nyquil liquid Gels so I should konk out here before long. I'm absolutely miserable with this sore throat...! If I keep coughing I'm going to ban myself down into the lobby in a few minutes otherwise I'm going to keep everyone up all night...!

So... I'd better close here... I'm just going to be more negative if I continue...

Pray for Connor and the Copeland Family as they pay their last respects to Connor's Dad tomorrow morning at 11 AM.

Thanks to all who have called and emailed well wishes and condolences... They are greatly appreciated.

Bye for now,

Coach Sam

Update From Tennessee

We've been in Tennessee since Friday at 1 PM. Connor is holding up very well. I'm extremely impressed with this young man. Losing one's Father at the tender age of 12 has got to be extremely difficult. I lost my parents as a full grown man in my mid 30's and that was pretty difficult. While I do know what Connor is going through, I don't think that I would be holding up as well as he is.

In fact, I distinctly remember my grandmother's funeral. I was 11 at the time. I remember just crying and crying uncontrollably. But I wasn't crying for the loss of my grandmother. I was crying for my mom because I was thinking how she must felt to lose her mom and then I was thinking how it would feel to lose my mom. There was no way I was ready to lose my mom at that tender age. I wasn't as close to my dad, but I know that Connor was super close to his dad.

Anyway, I think Connor is a lot tougher than I was at the same age. He's a remarkable young man.

Monica was feeling really sick on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but today she felt a little better. We went to Easter service at Connor's Church then spent the rest of the day working at Connor's house packing up things to bring back to Texas.

We're getting up early tomorrow morning and going over to pack some more, and then head over to Missouri for the funeral. That's supposed to be a 5 hour drive. The funeral is going to be on Tuesday at 11 AM. We'll drive back to Tennessee on Tuesday afternoon and then Wednesday we're going to visit the administrators at Connor's school in the morning and finish packing and loading a U haul truck and I hope to be on the road early Thursday morning. At least that's the plan as it stands right now. I'm ready to be back in Texas.

I've got ton's of work piling up on me right now, too. I've got a million emails to send, and two different tournaments to work on. Really, I've got enough work to keep me up all night long. Obviously I'm not going to do that, but I do need to do a little bit of work before I go to bed.

So, that's the word from Tennessee. I'll try to check in tomorrow, but I'm not sure if the hotel we're staying at has high-speed internet in the rooms or not. But, if not tomorrow, then Tuesday night, for sure...

Bye for now. Please keep your prayers headed this way...

Coach Sam

We made it...!

Monica and I have been traveling since 2 AM... We finally made it to Tennessee this afternoon. We picked up Connor and now are resting at the hotel room. Connor's Dad's funeral will be on Tuesday Morning in Missouri. It's a 5 hour drive from where we are in Tennessee. Then we have a 9 hour drive home after that.

I'm not sure how it will all pan out at this point but I doubt we'll be home until Thursday or Friday. Connor seems to be holding up quite well inspite of the circumstances.

Monica and I are, well, exhausted. Monica is sleeping now and Connor is watching TV while I write in my journal. Thank God for free highspeed internet in our hotel room...! I'm actually too tired to sleep right now. My eyes are burning like crazy and the burn whether they are open or closed. I'm going to close them in a minute.

When I checked my email a minute ago I had 26 messages of condolences and well wishes and prayers. Thank You all...!

Please keep those prayers coming...!

More later....

Coach Sam

Getting Close to the Weekend....!

I'm looking forward to a little more relaxed pace this weekend. I have six hours of lessons in Rustic Oaks today, Only my morning classes tomorrow, and then I'm off until Monday... Although I might teach a few classes in west Columbia Saturday afternoon. We'll see how the weather and my bookings go.

Monica's feeling poorly today. Hopefully she'll perk up by this afternoon. The weather's awesome out there and I'm looking forward to getting out side. I've spent the entire morning working on my websites and blogs and returning email.

That's the quick update... More later... Coach Sam

Long Day Ahead...

Today I have a very full day. I am in West Columbia from 8 AM to 8:30 PM. And I had trouble sleeping last night so I'm a little tired already. I think I'm going to go back to bed and lay down for another thirty minutes or so. I'll see if I can log in and write a little from Columbia Lakes after lunch. My only problem over there is that I have to use a dial up connection and it's painfully slow compared to my service here at home....!

Oh well, I'm grateful for what I do have, though... Thanks for reading my journal. Bye for now,

Coach Sam

Oh What a Beautiful Day...!

It's absolutely Gorgeous out today...! It's officially Spring, You know...! I've got a busy afternoon on the courts. But I'm actually a little sore from teaching yesterday. I had six hours of lessons and my arm and shoulder are a little tight this morning and my wrist just downright huts. Ah... But those are the occupational hazards of a tennis pro...!

I have to put together a flyer for my summer programs today. I should have already had that done...! I need to work on some HPTA stuff this morning, too. Actually, all in all it's going to be a busy week up until Friday. On Friday I'm just teaching half a day then taking Saturday and Sunday off...! Yea...!

That's about it. I'll write a little more on Thursday. Perhaps we'll have the name picked out for our son by then... We're still working on it!

Oh and I'll publish some new baby belly photos on Thursday, too...! See you then!

Coach Sam

Sunday: Kicking Back and Catching Up...!

Hello Friends,

It looks like I've finally settled in to a 'normal' routine...! I worked hard all week. And now I'm going to take it easy today (Sunday). It's 7:13 AM... Monica's still asleep. I slept in until 6:30 AM...! We'll probably go to the 10 or 11:30 AM church service today. Then lunch somewhere. Then, I don't know... Maybe we'll go for a walk somewhere. I don't have anything really pressing today. I might clean out my car... Perhaps I'll work on my websites a little...

The sun is out right now and it's looking like a gorgeous day after a very stormy night last night. I'll probably try to do something outside and enjoy this beautiful weather. Perhaps we'll go to Raveneaux Country Club this afternoon for a few minutes and catch some of the gran prix action. I have a few students playing in the tournament this weekend.

Let's see... Let me do a quick recap of the week...

1. Gasoline prices are getting us down because I do a lot of commuting in my business.

2. The weather has been very unpredictable... Hot, cold, rainy, sunny...! I had a rainout Tuesday and Wednesday this past week.

3. Monica's been really tired with the pregnancy. And she's had quite a bit of heart burn...! We understand that is normal for this stage of her pregnancy.

4. We just took our 22 week photo of Monica's belly. We haven't taken my photo yet because I'm ashamed to say I've actually gained a few pounds these last 4 weeks.. That reminds me... I definitely want to get some exercise today.

5. Peepers has been sick again this week. She's had upset stomach two days in a row. Previously she has been fine for about a month since we quit feeding her table scraps. We're worried now that the Doctor's diagnosis of feline leukemia might be accurate. We're monitoring her closely.

6. Gabriel continues to be quite mischievous. Sparky is starting to hang out on our back porch more. I need to publish some photos of Sparky. Hobbes is now the 'Alpha Cat'.

7. Things are going great in my tennis business. I'm getting new students every week and I have a big tournament planned at Columbia Lakes on April 22. That's exciting.

8. Monica has registered our baby at Babies 'R' Us. Note that when you click this link it takes you to the Amazon.com site because Babies 'R' Us has their registry through Amazon. I wanted her to put on the registry that the baby needed a new plasma big screen television, but she wouldn't do it...!

9. We had a good HPTA board meeting on Friday. You should check out the HPTA website sometime. I'm making changes to it every week. I'm going to add a bunch of new photos this afternoon.

That's pretty much the major stuff for the week. I'm really getting in to photo journaling now. So keep an eye out for more photos. You know what has often been said: A picture is worth a thousand words...!

Take Care, Bye for now... Thanks for reading my journal!

Coach Sam

Saint Patrick's Day...!

We've got a beautiful day on our hands for Saint Patrick's Day...! And I've got about 5 hours here at the house to get a lot of things done...! Yesterday I stayed home because of the rain. (and I wasn't feeling too well yesterday afternoon, either... I've had a lot of achey flu-like symptoms the past few days....

I spent much of the day working on my websites. Be sure to check out my new tournament website for the adult and junior tournament I'm hosting at Columbia Lakes April 22-24. And check out the HPTA Link and my personal web page, too...!

It seems I'm a little link happy today. So while you're at it why not take a quiz about Saint Patrick Link, too. I learned a bunch about the patron saint of Ireland from this survey.

Monica was feeling really bad last night. She had heart burn and barely slept a wink. I almost took her to the emergency room. She's trying to sleep in this morning.

I've got lessons this afternoon from 2 to 6 PM in League City. It's a short day for me.

I'm going to spend this morning working on HPTA Stuff. That's what's happening in my world. Talk to you later...

Coach Sam

It's Tuesday... Where's the Rain...?

The forecasters got it wrong today, BIGTIME! They said rain most of the day, 90 percent... and it hasn't rained at all. I cancelled lessons earlier today based on the forecast, but I'm planning on teaching this evening in Seabrook from 6 to 8 PM. Oh well, I guess they can't get it right every time...!

Anyway, I put my afternoon to good use and worked on my next tournament at Columbia Lakes. My entry form looks great and I've even got online registration set up for this one.

Our HP fax/printer went on the blink today. That's particularly annoying. And Hobbes has been marking areas around the house to claim his territory. More Annoying...!

Other than that things are going well. I'm going to be spending a lot of time the next few days promoting this upcoming tournament at Columbia Lakes. And I've got tons of HPTA stuff I need to do also...!

Coach Sam is a busy man.

Well thanks for reading my journal. I'll see if I can take some time this evening to write about a little more interesting stuff.

Bye for now.

Coach Sam

It's Already Mid March...!

This month is picking up speed. The temperatures reached up into the mid eighties yesterday. I suppose summer is just right around the corner...! Saturday I taught at Columbia Lakes all day. Saturday evening Arno and I had dinner at Pappadeux while Monica and Judy were taking Connor back to Tennessee. We went to bed early that night. Sunday I got up and watched church on TV then worked in the garage a bit, then spent the rest of the day working on the HPTA Gran Prix tournament and website.

Monica and Judy made it back safely around 7 PM last night. Poor Girls, they were exhausted...!

Arno and Judy are getting ready to leave in a few minutes. They want to be on the road before traffic gets bad. Boy do I know about that. I like to be on the road by 6 AM myself for just that same reason...!

Today will be a long day for me. My first lesson today is at 9 AM and my last lesson this evening is at 7:30 PM so I won't even be off the court until 8:30 PM and probably not back on the road again until 9 PM and probably not home tonight until 10:30 PM...! Mondays and Wednesdays are like that. Hopefully I'll be able to work out a better schedule by the fall. I'd like to hire an assistant soon...!


Until then... I work all day. But hey, I'm not complaining. I feel blessed to have so much business...! I'll try to log on later today and write a bit more. But I need to close here for now. I've still got one more project to complete before I head out the door at 6 AM.

Bye for now... Thanks for reading my journal.

Never Been More Busy...

Wow... This was an incredibly busy week. I got quite a bit done... I had two pretty big tennis camps and finished up the third gran prix tournament data entry and made the draws. I was exhausted by the time I went to bed last night. It was about 11 PM when I went to bed and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Today I slept in until 7:30 AM...! I did some yard work in the morning and then we all went to have lunch at the Taste of Texas. Mmmm.... It was delicious...! We spent the afternoon watching the movie 'Dodgeball'. I've been a Television junkie today. I watched the last part of 'Survivor' and now we're watching the classic sci-fi movie: Alien versus Predator. I've never seen it before. I'm 20 minutes into the movie and so far Predator is kicking butt...!

I'm going to work on my web sites this evening and returning some email messages.

This has been a very relaxing day. I deserved it after the past two days...!

Tomorrow I have a full day of tennis lessons. Saturday is going to be pretty full, too...!

Well... That's the update. More later... I'll try to update again Sunday

The week ahead (and behind...)

First, the week behind... (last week)

Monica and I literally wore ourselves out effecting numerous house repairs that we had procrastinated on, but I must say the place looked pretty good by the time Judy and Arno arrived on Tuesday afternoon. I had a full week of lessons last week and Monica and Judy drove to Tennessee to pick up Connor. Arno and I shared a great dinner at Pappa's Bar B Que Friday night. Saturday I taught in Columbia Lakes all morning and Sunday I went to church and spent the rest of the day working on the next Gran Prix tournament.

This week:

Today I'm hosting a spring break camp at Columbia Lakes from 10 AM to 3 PM and I'm just hoping the weather cooperates. If all goes well I'm taking tomorrow off from lessons and I'll have a little more time to catch up with my journal writing. I have another camp Wednesday and then I'm taking Thursday off, too.

More later... Bye for now. Coach Sam

Remember that bee hive we had in our wall last year...? Well, we're finally getting around to patching the hole. I wanted to just hang a big picture over the hole but Monica put her foot down to that idea. 

Monica pressed a charcoal template on butcher paper to cut an exact replica of the hole in the wall. 

Safety Galsses, work gloves... She's ready to cut some sheet rock....! 

Here's Monica using her favorite tool... The Jigsaw.... (she also likes to use the power sander, too...!) 

Here's the patch job from Monica's cut out template... 

I got to paint it, but Monica did most of the work! 

Here's Monica in front of the finished work...! 

Catching Up...!

I've had another really busy week. The tennis business is Good. Life is Good. Monica and I got caught up on a bunch of home improvement projects over the past weekend and early this week. Judy and Arno, Monica's parents are visiting right now and Connor, Monica's son will be here for spring break.

I'll probably only be posting about once or twice a week for now because I simply can't keep up the frantic pace I've been running at.

Today I am teaching in Nassau Bay from 8 to Noon, then I'm taking the rest of the day off to work on the Gran Prix tournament and make calls for lessons this morning and next week...!

Monica and Judy are driving to Tennessee to pick up Connor and Arno and I will be hanging out here at the house.

That's the brief update. I will try to post some more this weekend, though. And I'm going to try to use pictures whenever I post from now on. I think pictures make it a lot more interesting...

Thanks for reading my journal. Bye for now. Coach Sam