Coach Sam Update

Here's a cute photo of Elijah taking a snooze on Daddy's Belly...! This photo was taken on Thanksgiving day after our meal...

I'm getting back into a regular routine, except that although I've been going to bed on time, I have still had a difficult time waking up in the morning, I'm 8 or more hours a night! I think I'm still a little fatigued from the pneumonia.

I normally like to blog early in the morning and I'm a little behind schedule for the day now.

I've got to head over to the tennis shop and work there for the morning. I need to get my office there in order... And that will give me some quality time with Peepers who is living at the club now...

I'll be at the tennis shop this morning from 9 to Noon. Then I'll come home for lunch... That's kind cool. Perhaps Monica and Elijah will walk up for a visit, that will be kinda neat, too.

Well, anyway... I need to head out the door. That's my morning report. Bye for now...

Coach Sam

Making Traditions

Here's a few more Thanksgiving Photos. These are after-dinner photos... By the way... I don't really have a double chin... It was just the angle I was reclining in the rocking chair. (I promise!) Elijah is a few days shy of 4 months old in this photo. Daddy just turned 40 years old a few weeks ago. That's about 480 months old for Daddy!


Losing consciousness into a turkey coma after Thanksgiving dinner is going to be a Chadwell family tradition for Elijah and Dad...!

Chadwell Family Thanksgiving 2005

We have recently moved from North Houston 60 miles south to West Columbia Texas. It was our first Thanksgiving at Columbia Lakes. Here is a sample of pictures from our first family holiday in the country!

The old Smokey from New Braunfels cooked it's best holiday turkey ever!

Monica prepared all the side dishes including our favorite green bean casserole!

Sam, Elijah, and Connor hang out in the back yard with the old smokey...!

Connor says Hi and Happy Thanksgiving to all his relatives and friends across the country!

Monica made sweet potato pie...! Mmmm...! She's a great cook!

More Chadwell Family Thanksgiving Photos

I'm starting to carve the turkey here while Connor and Elijah anxiously await!

Here I am ready to devour a delicious holiday dinner...!

Our good friends Joe and Dolphina Nagle baked us this delicious pecan praline pumkin pie...!

Here's the main course...! I brined it for about 14 hours the night before and smoked it for about 10 hours on Thanksgiving day. It was the best turkey I've ever prepared!

Elijah Relaxes in Mommy's Lap following the meal....

Gabriel relaxes in a chair after the Thanksgiving meal...

Hobbes went in to a 'Turkey Coma' on the couch after the Thanksgiving meal...!

OK...I'm Back...!

Back to the land of the living...!

I've been so sick, probably about the sickest I've ever been... But all that is behind me now... And hopefully never to resurface.

Just to catch everyone up to speed I had strept throat that morphed into pneumonia and I've been out of commission for nearly three weeks. And through that all my family packed up our house in North Houston and moved 58 miles south to West Columbia, Texas.

Now my once arduous 75 minute commute is a pleasant 9 minute walk across the golf course to my tennis shop. I still drive to Clear Lake three days a week but that is a shorter easier drive and I only have to get up early on Friday mornings. That is quite a life change.

I've taught lessons the past 3 days and my throat is still a bit weak, but at least I don't have the fatigue issues I had last week.

Hopefully now that I have such a less stressful schedule I won't ever put myself in such a depleted physical condition again.

Today I'm at Coffee Oasis enjoying a delicious hot tea. I go back on the court in about 2 hours then I'm heading back home. Tomorrow I have a couple of privates then I'm heading to Houston Racquet Club for a PRO AM. Sunday I'm helping a friend run a tournament at Quail Valley Country Club. I'm not sure how long I'll be there. Hopefully not into the evening....

Then Monday through Wednesday I have a tennis camp. So I'll be fairly busy the next week.

We're planning to have Thanksgiving dinner at home. I'll be smoking a turkey. I don't know if we'll have any guests or not, but I'm looking forward to my first holiday in the new house.

Well, that's the quick update. More later... Coach Sam

Big Moving Day

Hello friends,

I haven't posted in a while because I've been deathly sick. My strept throat turned into the beginning stages of pneumonia and I've been out of commission for almost two weeks...!

But I'm on my third day of a new antibiotic and I'm definitely getting better...! I still have very little voice, a very scratchy thoat, and a low-grade fever, but other than that I'm on the road to recovery.

Today we start our move from North Houston to West Columbia. It's about a 70 mile relocation and we've got a very full 3 bedroom house to pack up. We're renting a u-haul and taking some smaller items over the next two days and then on Sunday we've got a moving company coming to get the heavy stuff.

We should have the bulk of our belongings moved by Sunday afternoon...! But until then I'll be busy packing and moving so don't expect very much in the way of journaling this weekend.

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

Starting a New Life

OOPS... My apologies... This post should have been posted to my daily devotional prayer journal. Unfortunately the blogger tools do not allow me to cut and paste so I would need to delete this entry completely and type it in again on the other blog in order to move it. I don't have time to move it this morning.

WARNING: The post you are about to read contains life perspectives from a Christian worldview...!


Monica and I are closing on our new home in West Columbia on Monday. We'll be moving there inside of a week. It will be a whole new life for my family. We'll be living in the country. (how I grew up) I'll be within walking distance of work and will shorten my commuting by 14 hours a week...!

We'll be getting involved in a new church. Connor will be going to a new school. It will be a completely new life for us. We'll be settling down to a slower pace.

And I've been dreaming about a situation like this all my life. I've never felt a better fit with a job before and never really clicked and enjoyed the community like I do this one. I really feel like this is where I'll retire. This is definitely where I want to raise my kids. My Life is Good. And it's all from God.

Yes, I give God 100% credit for my successes. I am nothing without my Lord and Savior. He strengthens Me. He Leads Me. My only hindrance is Myself. I don't let God be God enough. But I'm working on that. And Monica's helping me. We're helping each other through prayer, encouragement, and love.

I've missed a few days of journaling because I've been sick. Strept throat has wiped me out for the entire week. I'm really just getting on my feet today.

I missed Thanks and Praise yesterday so I want to take today to just count my blessings and proclaim the Goodness of the Lord...!

Dear Lord,

My King, You have done marvelous, wonderful things in my life. I can't praise You enough. Thank You Father for blessing me above and beyond what I ask for and certainly above and beyond what I deserve.

Lord I know that apart from You I am incapable of anything. But through You I can do all things...! What a Mighty God You Are...!

I love You, Jesus. And I Praise You. And I lift You Up above all else...!

You gave Your life for me long ago and I pledge my life to You today and ever more, My Savior...! Thank You Lord for giving and restoring my Life. Thank You for the new life for my Family. We will make the most of it and live it for Your Glory.

Lord Jesus I pray this in Your holy name, Amen

Christian School Scalps Astros Ticket...!

It's going to be difficult to make a comeback now... Last night's game was a tough pill to swallow, but I think that so far the White sox have played just a little bit better than our beloved 'Stros.

Every game played so far has been win-able but we just haven't been able to get the job done. Still, I am happy and proud of the Astros for doing as well as they have done to get this far. Over all, it has been a great season that has brought great excitement and entertainment to Houston.

My step son's school was given a single Astros ticket to last night's game. They planned to auction it off as fund-raising for the school. Although the ticketed face value was $125, they started the bidding at $1000. I wonder how much that ticket went for and if the winner of the ticket enjoyed the game by themselves and felt they got their money's worth...?

I find it ironic that a Christian School which is supposed to be providing a Godly witness to our children and our community was publicly 'scalping' a ticket to a professional sports event in the name of fund-raising. I mean, would Jesus sell a $125 ticket for $1000...? In my opinion that action was an extremely poor christian witness. What exactly does that teach our children about money, and what is important in life...? Where is this school's priority...? It looks like it's more concerned about green, cold, hard cash than raising up Godly young men and women.

We actually withdrew Connor from that school yesterday and plan to enroll him at West Columbia Junior High as we are moving either over the weekend or early next week.

I'm still under the weather with strept throat. My voice is a little better but I still sound more like the lead singer from Dire Straits than myself...

I don't feel too bad... I've just got an extremely scratchy throat. I may try to teach a few private lessons tonight that are mostly just hitting sessions anyway.

But that's about it. I'll be eagerly watching the astros tonight to see if they can extend it to al least one more game and allow Roger Clemmens to pitch game 5.

Bye for now... Coach Sam

Hobbes Takes a Break After an Exhausting Game of Ping Pong!

Here's a photo of Hobbes sulking as Monica had just defeated him in a very close game of ping pong...!


Doctor's Report on Hobbes:

Poor Hobbey had some pretty bad bites. The vet said it was definitely feline bites. We suspect Peepers. Hobbes and Peepers have never been friends. I have this theory that Peepers is from France and doesn't speak English. Hobbes is from America and doesn't speak French... What can we do...?

Well, when we move to Columbia Lakes we're going to have Peepers live at the tennis shop. I've always had a cat at my club wherever I've worked. Many of you who have known me a long time probably remember 'Henry Topspin'. He was the beloved tennis cat at both Windsor Court and Bay Area Racquet Club for about 10 years...!

Coach Sam's Health:

I'm still out with Strept Throat. I've just been working from home getting caught up on email correspondence. Don't try to call me on the phone. I have no voice, but I don't feel so bad, just extremely fatigued... Hopefully another day of rest will have me on the road to recovery...

That's about it for now... Until Next Time... Coach Sam

Another Trip to the Vet...!

Here's a photo of Gabriel and Hobbes. Gabriel is the slightly darker of the two in front. Hobbes in the background is going back to the vet for the second time this year for a 'battle injury'. Last time he was attacked by a mocking bird. But this time it looks like he was in a fight with another cat. Monica's taking him in now.

Poor Hobbes. He's always been such a pacifist. And he's a big cat... He weighs over 20 lbs... Oh well, I hope and pray he'll be ok...

Today I'm taking the day off from lessons. I'm completely dead from the tournament. This strept throat has kicked my butt...! I'll probably have to cancel lessons tomorrow, too. We'll see. You know this always happens. I typically wipe myself out physically doing a tournament and then end up having to cancels lessons afterwards which voids out any extra income the tournament produced. Sigh...

We did hear back from the seller whom we're buying our house from. They are having their own inspection of the foundation done and will get back to us probably today regarding that issue. We're pretty much all set to close on the house on Friday morning if everything goes as planned...

I have to pull all the Junior Excellence together this morning. This will be a busy week...!

Not much else to report. The tournament went very well... Connor and Monica and the baby are doing well. Just Hobbey and myself are under the weather.

More later... Bye for now. Coach Sam

Quick Weekend Update

I am busy the rest of the weekend with a tournament here at Columbia Lakes. I don't have time to post very much this morning. All I can say is the tennis shop looks better than it ever has before, and the Club has rennovated the bathrooms.

I'm poised for a busy, exciting weekend. Too bad I'm fighting a severe sore throat today... I hope Cloraseptic and Tylenol Cold and Flu daytime formula can do the trick...!

I have matches scheduled starting at 8 AM with the last round going on at 6:15 PM...

I'll try to post a short tournament report this evening before I go to bed... That's it for now...

Coach Sam

Still Savoring the Victory!

Well, for some reason the photo feature on blogger isn't function properly this morning. I've tried unsuccessfully to add some Astros photos to this post but although it said 'done' it wasn't done... Now it's showing mulitle photos of the same image... Oh well... That's better than nothing I guess.

Any way, Im still enjoying the victory. And I'm loooking forward to the Astros first world series game on Saturday.

Today I have lots of driving to do. I'll be on the road to Clear Lake in a little bit. Then I have to go to Columbia Lakes and stay there the next few days for a tournament I'm hosting.

I'll try to blog more tonight befor I go to bed, but my schedule is pretty much non-stop straight through from now until 8 or 9 PM tonight...

More details later...

Bye for now... Coach Sam

ASTROS WIN...! We're going to the World Series...!

I was seaching for Astros images on the web this morning and came across this one... I'm going to have to think about it for awhile but if anyone has good suggestion for a caption I'd like to hear it...!

Today I'm Off To a Rough Start

I overslept this monring.... So I'm not going in to Columbia Lakes early. I probably won't get on the road until after lunch. That will allow me to get a few other things done here at home, but I hate the fact that I've let down some of my most faithful tennis students...

Today I'll be monitoring the entries coming in for my tournament this weekend. I have about 55 registered so far. I was hoping for 100, but now I'll settle for 75 and I think that's attainable. There is normally a mad rush at deadline time to enter so I conceivably could get 20 entries in the mail or online today. Entries close at midnight, but I'll probably start making the seeding and making the draws around 10 or 10:30 PM...

Monica and I will probably have to go down to the bank today and discuss our home loan with them. There have been a few issues with the fact that our Houston home hasn't sold yet. I don't think that will be a 'deal-breaker', but it is something that will require my direct attention. I can't push this off on Monica to handle by herself...! So in that regard, perhaps it's working out for the best that I didn't leave for Columbia Lakes early this morning after all...

I'd better close here and start tending to the things I need to tend to this morning... More later... Coach Sam

Go Astros...!

I was really tired by the end of the day yesterday but I was lifted up a little by the Astros win...! How exciting... But still, I went to bed early last night and slept 8 hours without interruption...! Yea...! I've been in desperate need of sleep for days... And today I'm going to take it easy physically and just work on stuff here at the house. I'll do a lot of blogging, string some racquets, and send out information on my upcoming tournament next weekend.

I'm going to watch Dr Charles Stanley's church service broadcast this morning. It comes on at 8 AM in about an hour... After that message I'll probably blog on my prayer journal. I know I should really take the entire day off from work, it's actually a command from the bible... Perhaps I will. It seems like I'm overwhelmed with too much stuff, but maybe that's precisely because I haven't fully honored the Lord's Day in weeks. I am feeling a little convicted about that right now... Oh well, I'll explore that thought in my prayer journal. I like to keep this journal and my prayer journal topics separate.

I have so many readers from different nationalities and religious persuasions that I don't want to offend anyone with my personal religious views. I try to live my faith in every encounter, in every conversation, and in every coaching opportunity. Everyone has a perspective. And if anyone wants to know about my faith they are welcome to click the appropriate link.

OK, wow... I sort of went off on a tangent, didn't I...? Well, as I was saying earlier, I'm taking it easy today. Monica suggested that we watch a football game this afternoon with Connor. I think that's a fantastic idea. I wonder if the Ram's game will be televised in our area today...? Connor is a big Ram's fan... I'm not that keen on football, but I'm definitely keen on Connor...!

I'll probably blog a little more here later... I've got some good Hobbes and Gabriel photos to post... Bye for now... SC

My Birthday Photos

Here's a photo of the cake that Monica baked for me... I didn't want a fancy expensive cake, just a delicious, fresh baked, Betty Crocker Yellow Cake with chocolate icing... Yum... And it was decorated just right by my sweet wife... It was Great...!


After a delicious meal at Kanomwan Thai Restaurant and my cake... I crashed on the couch with Peepers by about 9:15 PM... I didn't even stay up to watch sci-fi Friday....


This morning I'm up early, stringing racquets, and preparing for a trip to Columbia Lakes. I need to leave by 5:45 AM. I have my first lesson at 7:45 AM, but I need a few minutes to get set up for the day once I get there.... Then I teach straight through until 12 Noon. That's my day. Pretty soon I won't have to get up so early because I'll be waking up at Columbia Lakes every morning starting in November...!

Well, I gota finish this last racquet... More later this afternoon...

Coach Sam

40 Years Old Today...!

Here's a great photo of me and Elijah. (I'm the one with the beard...) I posted this photo on Elijah's Blog a few days ago but it is such a good photo I thought I'd post it again for those who don't check out http://elijahchadwell.blogspot.com.

Wow... It's hard to believe I made it 40 years...! I'm about as happy as a guy can be... I've got an awesome life. I have a beautiful wife, a wonderful baby and stepson... I have a great career... God has really blessed me abundantly!

I only wish I was in better physical condition. I'm in the worst shape of my life this year, but hopefully this major life change of moving to West Columbia will be the start of a less stressful, more healthy lifestyle for me. I'll be able to walk to work most days and not have to eat fast food on the road hardly ever again... Yea...!

Forty. This is it. I'm supposed to be over the hill... But I still feel like a have a lot of productive years left in me. I'm excited to be 40... I'm now one of the youngest players in my age group on the senior tennis circuit... As soon as I lose some of this weight I'll be a force to reckon with. Back ten years ago when I was 30 I had a number one ranking in Texas in Men's 30 doubles. But I weighed 50 pounds less than I do now... Sigh...

Oh well... I'm not going to start worrying about that diet until Saturday or Sunday... I plan to teach lessons in Clear Lake today and then meet Monica, Connor, and Elijah for dinner at Kanomwan, my favorite Thai Restaurant. I love that place...! I won't be holding back my appetite this evening.

Well, it's nearly One O'Clock in the morning right now... I'd better make myself get to sleep. I have to get up in a few hours and string a racquet before I head off to teach my classes...

Bye for now.... Coach Sam

The House at Columbia Lakes

Here's a photo of our house at Columbia Lakes. As of today we're supposed to close on the deal October 31... But we're hoping to hear back today if we can possibly close earlier. Of course, we still have to get the home inspected but I feel confident that will go ok...

We'll need to trim the tree in the front a bit, and the yard hasn't been mowed in 3 months... You can see from the photo that The grass is up to Connor's knees. But it is all good and healthy grass. The back yard has a big pecan tree and an awesome patio... We'll be doing a whole lot of entertaining at this house...!

Today I'm working out of my office at home until about 12:30 PM then I head to Clear Lake for my afternoon lessons. I've got ton's of HPTA work to get taken care of... And there's still a few minor home improvements to take care of here, but we're mostly done with the bulk of our fixing up. Now we're just trying to keep things neat and de-cluttered in case we have a surprise viewing from a realtor.

That's about it... I don't have a whole lot more to report. More tomorrow...

Bye for now... Coach Sam

Baby Kitty Next to the Baby Bouncer

Gabriel is fascinated with the baby equipment. All the kitty's are. I think they are a little jealous of Elijah because he gets so much attention. But I think they love him too. Especially Peepers. Yes, we're all one big happy family.

Although tempers were a little shorter yesterday as we faced a big deadline to get out house ready for viewing by perspective buyers, things are going pretty well. This is a busy, hectic Month. We'll be closing on the house at Columbia Lakes on October 31...! That's just about 3 weeks away...!

I'm working feverishly to get caught up on all my work. When we finally get moved I'll have a much more manageable schedule...! But until then It's going to be crazy!

Well, I have to get on the road... I'm at Columbia Lakes all day. By for now...

Coach Sam