February is Winding Down...

February has been an incredibly busy month and March only looks to get busier. But here's a recap of last week:

• I got my Babloat equipment in and have really dressed up the tennis shop nicely.
• I also got Sunglasses in, too. Now all we need is some sun!
• Lessons every where are going very well.
• I've been stringing racquets like crazy.
• Sadly, one of my favorite home school families (The Knaupps) moved away.
• The Pine Forest Gran Prix had bad weather but was completed on time.
• Monica and I drove to Houston or Clear Lake nearly every day last week.

Here's what's coming up:

• I have a Sci Fi Saturday Tennis Social this Saturday.
• I'm starting a new singles league next week.
• We have a Spring Break Camp here at Columbia Lakes.
• We have a Spring Open Tournament here at Columbia Lakes.
• I have a Gran Prix Tournament at Raveneaux.
• I'm starting a new adult and junior beginner program after Spring Break.

And I don't even want to begin to think about April...!

That's the update.... More tomorrow! -Coach Sam

Kitty Update

Our kittys really like living in the country... We installed a kitty door for Hobbes and Gabriel so they can come and go as they please and Peepers lives at the tennis shop. She loves all the attention she gets, and the members really love her, too.. I'd say we have three happy, well adjusted kitties on our hands...!

Today I have a short morning here and then I head to League City for my afternoon lessons. I'll be home late this evening and then I'm going to try to parctice a little tennis with Connor before bed time...

That's about it.... I got up early and have had a fairly productive day so far... Tomorrow there is a high school tournament at my club and I have lessons in Nassau Bay, too so it will be a long next few days for me... More later...

Coach Sam

The Day After Valentines....

Here's a more recent photo of Monica and Elijah taken in January. (Yesterday's photo was from early December.) Both Monica and I have been working out and eating a more healthy balanced diet since moving to Columbia Lakes and we're both starting to lose a considerable amount of weight....!

That being said, we splurged a little last night for our Valentine's date. Monica, Elijah and I enjoyed a very nice evening in Houston at Kanomwan, our favorite Thai restaurant. -That's one cuisine you can't get out in the country.... But we don't mind the drive... As I said, we had a great meal and then we went to Johnny Carinos in Pearland on the way home for our dessert. All in all, it was a good day. -I enjoyed a very nice date with my wife and baby. We arrived home last night around 11 PM. (very late for me...) I went to bed promptly...!

Today I've to keep my nose to the grind stone... I have to work on a bunch of stuff... First of all I need to finalize the Gran Prix folder for Pine Forest and get their t-shirts ready for Monica to deliver later today. Then I have a private lesson at the club at 9 AM, then I have the rest of the morning to work on a club newsletter and string racquets... I have 9 racquets to work on...

And I have lessons this afternoon from 3 to 8:30 PM... So wow... Busy day, huh...?

That's about it... Gotta Run... Bye for now.... SC

My Valentines...!

Here's a photo of my sweet wife and baby inspecting one of Elijah's Christmas presents.

Monica and I are going to celebrate Valentines day by going to dinner at Kanomwan, our favorite thai restaurant. Prior to that it will be another busy day. I'm already up early trying to get a good head start on my day. So far it's going well. I was sound asleep by 10:15 last night so I was able to get up at 4 this morning with no trouble.

I desperately want to keep my journals updated and am trying to make that a priority.

I'm trying to not open my email in the evening any more. When I get home in the evening after work it's time to quit working. I want that last hour and a half or so of my day to be quality family time. Email can wait until the next morning, right...? And get this, it's 5:15 AM... I've been awake for over an hour and I still haven't checked my email yet... I don't need that distraction right now... There will be plenty of time for that through out the day.

Ah... my day... How is that going to unfold...? Well, I need to get the first match times for Pine Forest posted before 8 AM. I need to prepare a tennis report for Columbia Lakes. I have a private lesson at 11 AM... The at some point today I need to go to Galveston and pick up some t-shirts for the Gran Prix this weekend. I don't have any lessons tonight.... (in honor of Valentines Day) It should be a good day of getting a lot of stuff done....

Since my last post there's nothing remarkable that's occurred. I went to a tennis conference this past weekend... It was pretty good. I've been really busy with the HPTA Junior Gran Prix circuit. I'm still trying to get caught up on every thing...

This morning Elijah awakened at 5:15 AM... I've been watching him so Monica can get a little more rest. That's thrown off my day a little this morning, but not too much... It's a joy to get to spend a little quality time with my son any time. And if I can help out my sweet wife too, all the better...!

I've got to take Connor to school in a few monutes and then dive back into my day... I hope to update Elijah's and Connor's photo blogs a little later today, too... Until next time... Bye for now...

Coach Sam

The Weekly Report

Busy... I've just been too busy... I spent last weekend working a tournament in Clear Lake. Then first part of last week was spent wrapping up the tournament and of course, my regular lessons schedule. Wednesday It rained and I took it easy and relaxed a little. But Thursday and Friday I was very sick with a sore throat and spent much of my time in bed just not feeling good.

Saturday was a very busy day with morning lessons, unexpected afternoon guests, and working on Connor's new basket ball goal.

Sunday was a flurry of activity. I got up at 7 AM and started some yard work and house work. Monica and I watched Dr Charles Stanley's Sunday morning broadcast. Then we finished working on the basket ball goal, finished working in the yard and cleaning the garage, Then we spent the afternoon and most of the evening in Houston. We worked on our yard and also spent a little time sprucing the inside up...!

Afterwards we did some shopping followed by a delicious dinner then followed by more shopping...!

I bought a couple of new books to read. Now I have enough books to last me a long time. I've got four that I'm reading right now. And at the pace I'm currently at I may not finish them for several years!

Now, something kinda wierd and scary happened when we got home last night. We found both our back doors to the backyard patio wide open. And we know they were locked when we left. Nothing was taken (That we know of so far) but we called the sherriff's department and they came out to investigate.

We're seriously thinking of having a security system installed this week, and adding some deadbolts to make the doors more secure.

This week will be another blur, but I'm going to do the best I can with my time management. So hopefully there will be another post in the next day or so...

The rest of the day today I ahve lessons this morning from 9 to 10:30 AM. Then I have to come home and help Monica get ready for her ladies group bible study. She's preparing the meal for over 20 ladies today. I've got a couple of racquets to string and lots of work to do on the computer... Lots of data processing!

That's about it for now... More later... Coach Sam

The Crazy Mixed Up Life of Coach Sam

I know Ive been posting very irregularly the past few weeks. But I just can't seem to get into a routine at the moment. I have too much stuff going on...! The need for an assistant pro is growing ever increasing. At the very least need to hire some help in the tennis shop. And I've got to do that very soon.

I've been praying that the right candidate for an assistant pro would present themselves to me. I think that once Monica and I sell our house in Houston that we will have enough extra income to get an assistant pro started off well, and the position will quickly grow into a full time livelyhood for someone...

We're hoping to sell our house before the summer gets here. Hopefully it will sell much sooner than that. We're going to go to Houston this weekend and work on it a little bit... I've got a good feeling that it won't be on the market much longer....!

Here's a quick update of the Chadwell Family:

• We have been visiting First Baptist Church in West Columbia and think that might become our new church home.
• Connor is doing very well in his tennis. He played his second tournament this past weekend and won his first match but lost the next one in 3 sets.
• Elijah is still the smiley-est baby in the world... He's doing great!
• Monica was very sick last week but she's doing great this week and thank God that no one else got sick...!
• I got a promotion and a raise at my job recently. The tennis program is thriving at Columbia Lakes.
• Monica and I are continuing to lose weight... I've gone from 242 to 224 in a little under two months. We're both very pleased with that!
• Connor had straight 'A's' his last grading period.
• Monica has joined a women's group bible study on Mondays and I'm going to start volunteering with the child care during her study...

There's probably more, but those are the highlights... I'll try to post again before the end of the week!

Coach Sam

Taking a Breath...

Hello... I'm taking a little time this morning to catch up on blogging... I've been running ragged lately. And just can't seem to get caught up on everything. I push things back and reprioritize all the time... Sigh...

My business has grown tremendously this year. I'm very seriously thinking about hiring an assistant pro soon... I'll be keeping my eyes open and praying for the right candidate.

Between running the Houston Pro Tennis Association, Managing the Columbia Lakes Tennis Center, and keeping up with my lessons programs in the Clear Lake area, I'm always attending to some deadline or following up with someone. And I'm trying to carve out some quality family time in my schedule, too.... Coach Sam's work is never done.

My routine of getting up early and blogging was disrupted last week by getting the Bay Oaks Junior Gran Prix tournament ready for publication. -I'm helping with that tournament this weekend too, serving as the Referee. And we're supposed to get a lot of rain on Saturday. That will make it difficult. Oh well.... We'll deal with it...

On a quick side note: This morning I was reading a commentary by George Barna and he reviewed Anne Rice's latest book: Out of Africa. It is the life story of Jesus. That's right, Jesus. Apparently the noted author of the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches has 'rediscovered' her faith and has rededicated the rest of her life to writing about Jesus. That's pretty cool, isn't it...? here's a link to George's commentary: http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Review&ReviewID=17

I'll be writing some more about this topic in my online prayer journal later this morning.

Today I have to string a few racquets, and then I have lessons from 3 to 8:30 PM, plus I have babysitting duty since tonight is Monica's Tennis night...!

That's my day... I'd better close here... I'll try to publish some photos soon...



Coach Sam

The Chadwell Family Update

Wow... It's been a good deal of time since I've last posted... Thus entire week I've had double duty with the house and Elijah while Monica's been sick... But praise the Lord Monica's feeling better now and we're sort of resuming a normal routine.... (Except that we're still trying to define 'normal'...)

It's been a great Sunday... We got up early and listened to an awesome sermon from Dr Charles Stanley. Then we went to church here at First Baptist West Columbia and heard another great sermon.

It looks like it will rain all day so we're just hanging at home playing with the baby. I'm grilling some beef tenderloin for lunch and we're just going to enjoy a nice relaxing day here at the house...

Kife has been busy lately. Too Busy...! And I'm very grateful for a slow day. Well, I've got to close for now and finish lunch. More later... Coach Sam

Catching up...!

Hello... It's been an incredibly busy past few days... I have been teaching lessons, taking kids to tournaments, changing diapers, and generally chasing my tail 24 hours a day lately.

Tournament report: Everyone had some good matches, but no one made it too far past the second round. Connor competed very well, but lost in main draw and consolation. Still, it was a very good showing for his first big tournament. He took Sunday off but was back practicing hard yesterday.

Monica's been sick since yesterday. She's feeling terrible. We're going to the doctor later this morning. I'm going to try to get a bunch of things done today here at home in between taking care of Elijah. In fact, Elijah's getting fussy now so I'd better close here.

More later...

Coach Sam

Need an Extra Day...

Sigh... Things are starting to pile up on me... I have work to do here at the house, work to do for HPTA... There's racquets to string.... There's the marketing of my lessons programs, there's helping Monica with the baby... There's returning phone calls and email.... There's trying to carve out some quiet time and just sort things out.

Sigh... I'm away this weekend at a tournament with Connor and my other students. Hopefully I'll be able to get caught up on things over the next 72 hours....

Today I have lessons in Clear Lake all day from 1:30 PM to 8:00 PM.... And I'm proceeding full steam ahead for the next 4 hours before I have to leave at 12 Noon.

Gotta Run... A tennis coaches day is never done...!

Happy Healthy New Year

Here's Monica at a tennis workout this past weekend. My Family has Tennis Fever...! Both Connor and Monica are playing pretty much every day and sometimes twice a day. Both Monica and I are committed to getting in better shape this year and we started more healthy eating habits before the holidays. We've both been exercizing more and are really starting to drop some weight. Plus, Monica's tennis is looking better and better with each passing day. She's going to play some leagues and tournaments this year, and we hope to start playing mixed doubles together more too...!

January 9, 2006:
We're off to a good start this week. First of all, we had a fantastic, relaxing day yesterday enjoying a morning church service, then a nice lunch out and shopping in he afternoon. We concluded the evening with a fun tennis match with some dear friends. I capped off the evening with Monica watching a Dr Stanley sermon we recorded on the tivo. Then, I went to bed about 9:30 PM. Monica stayed up late working in the office and was up most of the night...!

I'm watching the baby for her right now. Elijah and I are watching the Kids Sprout channel. It's pretty good. Elijah loves it. But we're about to go out for a stroll in a few minutes.

Today I have a full day as usual. I'm on court for an hour and a half this morning, then I'm back on this afternoon from 3 to 8:30 PM. In between I'll be marketing for the HPTA and returning email messages. That's it. If I can I'll blog again this evening...

Bye for now... Coach Sam

Mimi and Elijah at Christmas Time...!

Elijah's Great-Grandmother Mimi really enjoyed Elijah's Christmas visit. (yes, I still have a few Christmas photos to publish...)We need to go to Bay City again soon. It's kinda cool when we have both the youngest and the oldest members of our family present in the same room.


January 8, 2006 Yesterday was a good day. I started off with a big Saturday morning drill which had 12 participants. Then I had three more private lessons. Monica came up at the end of my last lesson and we enjoyed a nice stroll with Elijah back home. Later last night I had a tennis social for junior players. There were only a few participants but we had a good time. It's always good to play tennis, eat pizza and hang out with friends...!

Today will be just a family day... No high pressure anything. I may try to get one home improvement project done and Monica might spend a little time in the office catching up, but over all we're going to chill out, try to do some things together as a family, and refresh ourselves. And that's just what Sunday should be about. I'm going to post a bunch of photos on Elijah's Blog , Connor's Blog and my Tennis Photo Blog today so be sure to check them out if you get a chance...

That's it for now... Thanks for reading my journal.... -Coach Sam

Some of My Favorite People

From l to r: Dolfina and Joe Nagle, Dr Earl Brown, My Sweet Wife Monica, and Baby Elijah is hidden in the stroller.

This was a photo taken on December 24 at my Saturday morning drill. It was a little cool and windy but we has a good workout none the less... I told everyon in attendance that they could have an extra piece of pie at Christmas dinner for working out so hard...!

Saturday, January 7 (2006) I can't believe that tyhe first week of 2006 is almost passed. The weather has continued to be unbelievable and I have been on the court 6-8 hours a day for I can't remember how long... All I can say is that business is good....!

I've been busy juggling work and helping with the baby and there's been absolutely no time for anything else. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to cut back on blogging a little until we get some bad weather and my business slows down a bit.

I'll still try to keep up this blog at least every other day, and of course I'll try to remain daily with my prayer journal, but Connor's and Elijah's may drop down to once or twice a week... But when I do publish I'll include lots of photos instead of just one or two.

• We are still looking for a church home and plan to visit a few other churches in the community but we really enjoyed our visit to FBC West Columbia.
• I bought a 12 foot church pew at an anrique store recently to furnish the pro shop. It's an awesome piece of wood work and lookd great in there.
• Monica and I have really changed our eating habits and have both started to lose weight steadily...
• Our Kitties have found a way to get out of our house.. We're not sure but we think they are climbing up the chimney to escape...!
• I'm loving my new schedule of only driving to Clear Lake twice a week now. And our gasoline consumption is way down!
• Elijah just turned five months old on Dec 28... He's doing very well. Just a happy, smiley, healthy baby!
• Connor is doing great in school and had straight 'A's for the semester. He's focused intently on his tennis game and improving every day.

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

Columbia Lakes: I Love this Place...!

Here are a few photos of the lovely area where my wife and I bought a house recently. These are photos of the golf course near the tennis center and the cottages that the property books out for over night guests.

It is peaceful and quiet here... It's a great place to live, work, and raise kids.

This area is just across the street from our house..

Here are some of the cottages surrounded by tall beautiful trees

This is a view of the lagoon that surrounds the tennis and golf facility

This area is just behind the tennis center and the path leads through the cottages to the main club house.

Monica and Elijah are about to walk home after a tennis workout. It's about a 15 minute walk if you take the long way home through the cottages. It's under 10 minutes if you walk along the golf cart path along the fairway.

Family Christmas Photos

I've still got a few Christmas photos to publish, but I'm almost done...! This photo was taken at Mimi's house. Monica, Elijah and I had a quiet Christmas. Connor was gone to visit relatives on his father's side of the family. Monica's relatives were just down for a few weeks right before Thanksgiving so they didn't come down again... And my family... Well... My sis lives n New York... That's a bit of a commute for her. My brothers live close, but I couldn't get them to participate in any family activity.

We did go visit my 91 year old grand mother and she simply adores Elijah so that was a nice visit...!

Well, the new year is here...! I still weigh a little over 230 lbs, but I'm down from my all-time high of 242.2 lbs at the beginning of October. Monica has lost considerable weight, too and is helping us out tremdously by planning and preparing nutritious meals. I really feel that living here at Columbia Lakes is really going to help me lose weight because I am not eating out nearly as much as I once was. And walking to work most days is a little more exercise for my regular routine.

We're still hoping to sell our house in Houston soon. And we're still looking for a local church although we really enjoyed our visit to First Baptist West Columbia yesterday.

I am swamped with business right now... It's been difficult to keep up with everything including helping Monica with the baby and picking up around the house.

All in all it was a nice Christmas and New Year's. (We stayed at home for New Year's)

I think we have started a tradition of snacking on appetisers and hosting a Star Trek marathon for New Year's Eve. (That was really fun and very nice to be able to just hang woth the family for the holiday!)

That's about it... I need to close here... I've got a very busy day today! Talk to you later...

Coach Sam

Still Publishing Christmas Photos!

Here's Monica assembling Elijah's new Baby Einstein activity center.

It was a little more complicated to assemble than one would think...!

Thursday, December 29th: Well... I've had a busy last few days. The weather's been so nice that I've been quiye busy on the tennis court. This is actually the best and busiest December I've ever had in my career!

Today I have lessons from 10 AM to Noon at Columbia Lakes then I go to League City for an afternoon camp! Tomorrow is a very lite day lessons wise... So I'll try to get alot done here at the house! Sigh... There's always something to do!

I've already had a very productive day and it's only 7:38 AM... How many people can say that...? I got up with my alarm at 4:30 AM and had my morning devotional, emptied the dishwasher, took out the trash, straightened the garage, and have been blogging for the past hour.

I have many emails to reply to and several phone calls to return before I go on the court at 10 AM and whenever Monica gets up I promised her about an hour of baby sitting time so she could get some things done on her todo list.

Yesterday was Elijah's 5 month old birthday! and yesterday also marked two and a half years of happy marriage for Monica and I...!

It was a very good day.

We only have today and about half a day tomorrow before Connor returns home from his Christmas vacation to Missouri. I'm looking forward to having him back and hitting some tennis balls tomorrow evening!

I'll try to blog a little more Saturday afternoon after my morning lessons.

Bye for now.... Coach Sam

Elijah's Christmas

This morning Elijah played in the activity center that his Aunt Becky sent him for Christmas. This has become his favorite past time. In this photo I don't think Elijah knew he was about to be photographed.


Elijah knew he was about to be photographed here and was smiling brightly for the camera. While he played we all watched the Polar Express together this morning... 12:07 PM

12 Noon Update: We're watching the Polar Express right now... The Turkey is cooking slowly. I'm having trouble keeping the smoker temperature above 200 degrees... That's ok. We're just having a lazy, relaxing day...

The Kittys have been missing Connor and have slept in his bed the past two nights.

Coach Sam's Christmas Day Blog: Mid Morning Report

Well, we are emplementing 'plan b' of our Christmas dinner because the heating element in our oven caught on fire while Monica was pre-heating it to make some bisquits... That's going to change our Christmas menu a bit....

And... I tried to post some photos but the photo blogger tools aren't working properly now.

Sigh... I'm going to log off and completely shut down my computer and try another report a little later this morning....

Bye for now.... Coach Sam at 10:32 AM

Coach Sam's Christmas Day Blog

I found Hobbes on the couch in fromt of the fireplace this morning playing in some Christmas wrap tissue paper.


I brined the turkey last night and put it in the smoker this morning at 7:30 AM . By 7:40 AM the smoker was 250 degrees. I'm using a combination mesquite and hickory wood. I'll be checking the temperature about every 45 minutes and try to maintain an average of 220 degrees for about six and a half hours. (it's an 8 lb turkey). Once the internal temperature is 185 degrees then our feast is on...!

8:05 AM Christmas Day:
Well, it's Christmas morning.... Monica and the baby are still asleep. Connor is in Missouri visiting family. It's 54 degrees here in West Columbia this morning but it's supposed to warm up to 75 today... There ought to be some great tennis weather this afternoon!

The weather was gorgeous yesterday, too. Although it was a bit windy, I had a tennis clinic in the morning and then Monica and I walked with the baby through the Columbia Lakes property. I strung a few racuets in the afternoon and then we went to our neighbors house next door(The Klements) for a Christmas party. It was very nice... Elijah got lots of attention as he was wearing his Santa Suit. After that we went to church in Lake Jackson, had a bite to eat and came home and went to bed.

This morning I'm going to catch up on all my blogs, cook the turkey and dressing, help Monica around the house look after the baby... Oh yeah, and I need to string a racquet some time this morning.... But I'll be taking photos and posting updates every couple hours throughout the day so please check back again...!

Oh and the time stamp at the bottom of this post is a little off... The 'real' time of this post is in RED next to my sign off signature. The time I started the post is in Bold at the beginning of my posts...

Merry Christmas...! -Coach Sam at 8:18 AM