A Year in Review

August 1, 2012 my house was full of our family who had come to town to watch Shelby in her summer theater performance.  Late afternoon while sitting around waiting to leave, I received this text from Nate:  I think I need to start looking for a new job.  Ahhh what?!?  I was sort of annoyed that he didn't wait till the next day to mention that and I wondered why out of the blue he was saying it?  That day was the first day he had met the new VP who had plans to make some big changes in the Athletic Department at Heartland.  Many people found out about this in the spring, but few were aware of what had been going on since August.  It truly was a long school year.  My personality is not one that gets worked up too much about things.  We went about our daily routine and was sort of a sounding board for Nate as he addressed some of his frustrations and/or concerns.  A few weeks passed and the girls returned to school.  Early one morning I had prayed that the Lord would give me peace regarding the situation and that I wouldn't over think or worry about it.  I took the girls to school and came home.  I went to turn on my TV which sits in front of the windows that look out at my deck and back yard.  My eye caught this huge bird sitting on the base of the deck.  I quietly walked away to get the camera and was happy to see it was still there.  I considered this my answer to my morning prayer as I had never seen this kind of bird in our back yard before, and I thought it looked like a hawk.   Typing this 1 year later I must say I have not seen one since.

 I wasn't sure what the bird meant but knew my prayer had been answered and that the Lord was in charge of this situation, just like everything else.  In case you are reading this and are thinking, what is the big deal about a big bird?, they are the Heartland HAWKS.  Fall turned to winter, winter turned to spring.  Spring brought the announcement from the President that he was going to absorb Nate's AD position (which is the main source of our income).  The baseball community and other athletic supporters (people, not the equipment - ha just keeping it light here!), did not support this idea one iota.  In days a facebook support page grew to 100's of supporters.  At the May Board Meeting two days before the team left for their third consecutive trip to the Jr. College World Series, over 200 people crowded the room we use for our baseball team family potluck in August.  Several people spoke in support of Nate and the Athletic Department in general before Nate had his chance to speak to the board in closed session.  Somewhere around 1:45am the next morning the board overturned the President's proposal to cut the budget in this way.  The next good news came when the President announced he was moving on!  Nate still has to work with a clueless supervisor on a puppet string and a sport hating VP (the 1 he met on August 1, 2012), but the man on the top is not going to take whatever they advise without doing some further study of his own.  Nate is still working without a department secretary as she left in December for a different job.  And considering they don't think they need Nate, they are not in a hurry to fill that position.  So I along with a few other folks are helping out to keep him from completely losing his mind!
This fall I'll be participating in my 13th or 14th year of BSF, Bible Study Fellowship.  Last fall Nate started going to the men's class for his first year.  Our study was the book of Genesis and the lessons were packed full of very timely applications to help Nate keep focused on righteous actions and responses and working for the Lord and not for man.  On August 1, 2013 the situation is not completely resolved and it will never be what it was.  But I'm confident that the Lord had control and still does and it will be alright.

Region 24 Champs......AGAIN!!!

That is 3 exclamation points for 3 years and counting.  Nate earned another coach of the year award as his team earned their 3rd consecutive trip to the Jr. College World Series in Enid, Oklahoma.  I finally got to see them win their regional tournament.  Rain and extra games have always pushed the championship game to Monday and I can never go.  Finally a tournament with no rain and they got the job done.

the dog pile

 receiving his 4th consecutive MWAC Conference Coach of the Year Award

receiving his 4th consecutive Region 24 Coach of the Year Award

 congratulatory hugs

 the coaches with Gordo

he was the stat keeper the first 3 years

never got to the world series

he recently returned to fill in the vacated role & help Nate out 

 

 Congrats to the HCC Hawks.  They head to Oklahoma on Thursday and play their first game on Sunday.

T-ballers vs. Parents/Siblings

At the last T-ball practice they play a game with the players against parents & siblings.  Nate & Shelby participated while I tried to take pictures.  Most of them did not come out because Shelby's new friend Wayne kept getting in the way.  I'll post what I got.

making a circle for stretching

 arm circles

 leg stretches

 the race

Shelby got 2nd, Morgan 3rd (she is hidden by the coach)

 Daddy waiting to field Morgan's hit

 blurry pic but she's actually running!

 Shelby playing the field

 Daddy hitting to Morgan

 beat him to the bag Morgs!

 Shelby takes a big swing

 Shelby beating up the T

 good game everyone

 Morgan had a lot of fun with her coaches

Bailey, Michelle (called her Seashell), Brad, Dan (she called him Stanley)

Michelle coached T-ball when Shelby played.  I remember Brad trying to stay awake on Saturday mornings keeping the clock at Parks N Rec basketball when Shelby was in 1st grade.  Nate knew Dan from high school baseball.  He played for Normal Community.

Daddy Day

Nate finished up a busy week of recruiting with staying home on Father's Day.  We went to church, out to lunch and relaxed at home.  I think his dream day would have been to relax in the chair, but life is not a dream but a reality.  And the reality is the 2 little people that make him a dad were not going to let him sit in the chair all day!

Don't they look like they are no good?!?  And no, we did not have a miniature baby no one told you about.  Morgan insisted her babydoll was in the picture.

Heartland Hawks Baseball 2011

The Heartland Hawks Baseball team started the 2011 season ranked #1 in the nation for Division 2 Junior Colleges.  When I board the bus in March for the spring break trip to FL, I really don't  know what to expect.  I don't see a lot of the games on the fall schedule due to weather conditions and keeping up with the girls' schedules.  Also, they play most of those games on the road.  I remember the picture on the cover of the packet Nate hands out at the start of the trip.  It had a big pile of bodies with 2 letters in the corner:  D.P.  Dog Pile.  And that was the season goal.  To have a reason to dog pile.  They started the season #1 and finished the regular season ranked #1.  Their regular season record was 53-9.  (Even without doing the math, that's A LOT of baseball games!).  The sophomore class won 99 games in their 2 years at HCC.  Their overall record was 99-22.  In all of college baseball (all divisions), Heartland won the 2nd most games.  Following the regular season, they play a region tournament to determine who goes to the College World Series.  This tournament is in Springfield but I've never made it to any of those games.  I usually have the girls' birthday party during this time and this year was no different.  In 2010, they came oh so close to winning, but unfortunately fell short.  But in 2011, the Hawks won their 1st regional title in their 4th year of existence.  They got to Dog Pile (D.P.)!!

I was one lucky coach's wife when Nate's mom offered to stay with the girls yet again.  She comes to stay for 8-10 days in March when I go to FL.  So I was blessed that her schedule was open and she was willing again to hold down the crazy fort.  We loaded the charter bus again but this time the stop was beautiful Enid, OK.  The only beautiful thing in Enid is the baseball field and it was good to be there.

They had a professional like opening ceremony with a meal.

 Each team was introduced.

Nate received his coach of the year award that night.  It's not a great picture since I took it with my phone.

They even had a home run derby with 1 batter from each team.  Dom D'Agata hit for Heartland and Nate threw to him.

Heartland's first game was the following night and they played UConn Avery Point.  The people of Enid came out and really filled up the stadium.  They love hosting the world series.

starting line ups

Heartland won the opener against UConn AP 9-6.

Parents volunteer for uniform laundry duty on the spring trip and they were lucky to get another chance to do that.  Too bad they don't all feel that way.  

2 very willing mothers

will miss them in 2012!

Second game was against Jones out of Mississippi.  Our starting pitcher was able to get the first 2 outs of the game but could not get the 3rd and didn't make it out of the 1st inning.  The Hawks ran out of innings to catch up.  They ended up losing 10-5.  First loss, double elimination.

 that kind of dirt makes the moms on laundry duty cringe!

the group of Hawk fans that were still there on the last day

 1 thing you can say about Enid, OK - It Is HOT!!

The final game was against Cecil from Maryland.  They were the obnoxious team we shared a hotel with  so it hurt a little extra to lose the final game to them.  The Hawks amazing season came to a sudden and final end when they lost to Cecil, 5-3.

Nate didn't want me to post this entry but I told him it was my blog and I'll post what I want to. :)  Besides, as I've said before, this blog is for the girls and a way to record their lives.  I thought it would be nice for them to have a record of their dad's success and see that he is being productive during all that  time he is away from home.  Since I am posting this on 1/2/12 and spring practice starts next week, here's to hoping all the drama of the fall turns itself into another successful season.  GO HAWKS!  I'll see you in Florida!