MARCH MADNESS!!!

Ok, I know that you can't really see this but, you can here: http://www.ncaasports.com/basketball/womens/brackets/viewable/2007/DIII

The only thing that you REALLY need to know is that my school, McMurry has qualified for the Division 3 National Tournament for the second straight year, which is only the THIRD time in school history!!!

McMurry actually gets to travel up to Newburg, Oregon (Having schools travel in D3 is almost totally unheard of, so is a big priviledge for us!). The host school is George Fox University and the draw is favorable for us because we don't have to see our nemesis this year, Howard Payne, until a potential matchup in the Sweet Sixteen. I have every confidence that our ladies will have a great trip and come back and crush Howard Payne and get our revenge as we end their season.......BUT first things first--The team we play, Puget Sound had a good year and tied for their regular season crown with George Fox but lost to George Fox in the Conference Tourney Final. Our conference has been much tougher this year, as we have had 4 teams ranked in the top 25 for most of the year, and 3 teams in our DIVISION were ranked in the top 15 almost all year!

I just wanted to say publically that I am soooooo proud of our Lady Indian Basketball team this year and I can't wait to watch as they show the country what they are all about!

Fun in Texas 2

I just wanted to make sure to write a quick note to all of my friends and family up north who are struggling with the nasty weather. I heard on the internet radio from Cedar Rapids that they are under a winter storm advisory, could get up to 8 inches of snow, and the wind chill is down around zero AGAIN. I just want everyone reading this blog to know............IT WAS AT LEAST 65 DEGREES DOWN HERE IN ABILENE TODAY!!!

This is for all of you that made sure to call me last fall when we had gotten snow and none of you had--PAYBACKS!!!

PS-I have finally updated my myspace account so please come and add me as your friend if you have a myspace account!!!

Pardon me while I go put on a light jacket because the temp has dipped down to 57 degrees and I just got a chill! =)

HOORAY for college life!

I have been having a renaissance recently in regards to my love for the college life. I have been remembering all of the wonderful experiences that I had in order to bring me to this point in my life. I have started to remember what it was for me to be a college student and all that wonderful possibility that laid out before me. Having the excitement, wonder, and feeling like anything was possible is what makes college life so amazing! It's the hope of something more. I am reminded that THIS is my role as a college professional=it is to play a role in shaping the dreams of students. So often I get bogged down in the negative decisions that some of my students are making that I forget that they too are just trying to figure out who they are and what can be done with this new found freedom that they have. The real problem is that a lot of these same students don't have enough of a foundation to have a real skill set to make good decisions; They have been thrown in the deep end of the pool and told to swim with barely a beginning knowledge of the 'doggie paddle'.
I was encouraged by a colleague recently that said, "How can we be asking our students to go out and live and function in the real world, if we ourselves have not done so?"-This statement was her pitch for working at non-Christian institutions. It made a lot of sense to me. As I am constantly reflecting on my life and what God has in store for me next, I am able to think back to the amazing experiences that I had in Williams, and I think that I can now add White's AND McMurry to that "Hall of Fame" for different reasons.

As a side note, another reason that college is such a buzz is because of some of the rivlaries that occur on the sports field. McMurry's arch rival is Hardin-Simmons because they are both here in Abilene. After a men's basketball game 3 years ago, someone was STABBED!!! A close second to HSU in terms of intense animosity is Howard Payne. The YellowJackets are located in Brownwood, Texas which is about an hour up the road (imagine a Taylor/IWU rivalry) but this year for our Basketball girls, the feud is especially powerful. Last Saturday, Howard Payne came into our gym and was ranked #6 in the nation. We rallied from 19 points down to beat them by a point-To ratchet the intensity up even further, they didn't drop any spots after their first loss, and we play them in their building again on Saturday. We are taking a hoard of people down and it should make for a very interesting afternoon of college hoops!