Fun Day on Court...!

About My Wife....

I love my Wife. I've never met a sweeter, nicer person my entire life. I knew the first time I ever met her that she was very, very special. I've never once in my entire life not observe her give 100% of herself to the task at hand. She's an awesome mommy to Elijah and Connor. She's a totally devoted wife to me. She always thinks of and places everyone else's needs before her own. She's a beautiful human being both inside and out.

We've both grown very much in our personal relationships with Jesus Christ since we first met. It's really been an incredible journey. I love how we encourage and inspire each other. I love when she prays for me and when we pray together. I am a very blessed man because of my precious wife.

Monica, I know I'm embarrassing You and you'll deny that you are deserving of such high praise, but it's that very humility, kindness, and gentleness about you that sets you apart from the rest of the world and makes you so special. I want everyone to know how special you are, what you mean to this family, and how much I love You. I praise and thank our heavenly Father every day for You and our family. You are a blessing to us!

Tree Limb Down...

This is the worst of our storm damage in the back yard. As you can see, we got off pretty easy at my house. We had lots of branches and spanish moss to pick up...

One of our neighbors had significant damage from a large tree falling on his porch.

The golf course suffered pretty severe damage. They have been cleaning up for nearly a week now and are still not ready to open.

A very large tree behind the tennis center came down. This was one of my favorite trees on the property.

One of our two bulletin boards was demolished by the high winds of Hurricane Ike.

Another Bulletin Board went down at the tennis center.

Connor climbed up in one of the trees to give you an idea of the size scale. We had many, many trees lke this one go down all over our neighborhood.

Back Home...!

Hello Friends and Family, (maybe a few strangers...)

We arrived back home on Monday and the discovered our neighborhood looked like a disaster area. There were huge trees down everywhere. Some were on houses. Praise God our house had really no damage. The only inconvenience we have suffered is no internet at our house. I do have internet working at the tennis shop, though and that is where I am posting from this morning.

It's been six days since the storm and our little comunity is still far from back to normal. Farther south and east of us the situation is even more dire. I'm going to spend today calling and checking up on many of my tennis students.

That's about it. I have many photos to post and I'll try to get around to that as soon as possible.

More later...

Coach Sam

Hurricane Aftermath

It breaks my heart to see some of the damage from Hurricane Ike. Wow… Galveston really suffered a lot of destruction. According to reports from friends who stayed behind, Columbia Lakes suffered quite a bit of damage. There are many fallen trees, power lines, and the electricity is out.

We are still in Dallas. We were planning to return on Sunday afternoon but may delay that return if our power is still out.

More Later…

Coach Sam

Evacuation Blog

In anticipation of Hurricane Ike, we left the gulf coast area Wednesday night to avoid any traffic issues... We arrived at our destination about midnight.We're in Dallas right now resting comfortably. We've been watching Galveston begin to get pounded this morning.

We're glad we're not there.

Earlier this afternoon we went to Dinosaur World in Glen Rose, Texas. We just barely missed touring the Creation Evidence Museum.

And we were not able to visit Dinosaur Valley State Park. I think we'll definitely come back for another visit sometime, hopefully under more favorable circumstances.

Tonight we've been watching the live coverage of the hurricane's landfall non stop, but I'm pretty worn out and think I'll go to bed pretty soon...

That's it for now... More tomorrow...

Coach Sam

God Created the Heavens and The Earth...

As seen from outer space, Earth looks like a bright blue ball. The blue is water, which covers most of the surface of Earth. Clouds and bodies of ice, such as Antarctica, appear white, while land forms look brownish. None of the other planets in our solar system are capable of supporting life. But in contrast, millions of different species are able to thrive on planet earth.

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I simply refuse to believe that all this happened by chance. It is preposterous to consider that all life, all this diversity of living is evolved over millions and millions of years.

The bible clearly states: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God created all life. Humans are the highest form of life on this planet. What is our purpose here? Why did God make us? Why did God make You and Me...?

The answer to that is for us to know Him, to tell others about Him, and honor Him with the way we live our lives. We are no accident.

Today I simply marvel at the Greatness of God, and humble myself before Him. God is Great. God is Good. God is in control. He truly does have the whole world in His hands.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Lord I love You. How Great thou Truly are. My King I submit to You. I seek only to do Your will. Father God You are the Maker of the universe. You are the Author of Life, the Giver of all good things. You are my Comfort in times of trouble. You are the Everlasting, All-Powerful God.

Father God I give this day to You. Thank You for another day of precious life. Thank You for another opportunity to make a difference in this world. I recognize that everything I have and everything I have accomplished is from and because of You. Lord I live for You.

And I pray these things in the sweet name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Amen.

Nice Weekend...

Wow... I awakened around 7 AM this morning and stepped outside for a moment and the temperature was a crisp 68 degrees...! I'm not sure what the humidity level is but it must be a little lower than normal. Although I'm certain that we'll still have lots more dog-hot days, a cool morning like this morning signals that fall is just around the corner...!

The weekend is starting off nicely. Yesterday was a good day. Today should be pretty good, too. I'm about to head out for lessons. Ive got a busy schedule today so I probably won't complete this post until this evening sometime.

Any way, I just had to take a moment to remark about the weather...!

OK, that's it for now. I've got to get to work. More later....

To be continued....