Tough Choice

As of yesterday, I stepped down as the JV Volleyball coach. :( It was a really hard decision to make because I love sports and I love coaching/teaching high school girls the sport -- but I also don't want to be an insanely stressed out first-year teacher. Ultimately, the time commitment to both would be too much and since they're paying me more to be a teacher, that's where my focus must lie. Ugh. It stinks. But sometimes you have to give up "good" things for "great" things.

In the past I've been HORRIBLE at saying "no" to things. I kept putting things in my schedule until it got overbooked and before I knew it I was an emotional wreck because I had too many things going on at once. (Just ask Zach what I was like during our 4th year of college...) This time, as hard as it is, I'm saying "no" ahead of time and avoiding the whole stressful breakdown thing. Teaching, worship team, and being a wife is plenty on my plate this time around.

On a lighter note, IT'S ZACH'S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW! His birthday list is quite interesting... first he told me all he wanted was new socks and undershirts. Please. Those are necessities! What kind of birthday present is that! After a few days he revised his list: kettlebell, handgun, iPad... The bigger the boys, the bigger the toys. :) I'll see what I can do.

Not only is it Zach's birthday on Saturday, it is also MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY!!! She got her gift a little early this year. While she was gone on a hiking trip to the UP with a group of middle schoolers from Trinity last week, we (my siblings & dad) did a speed makeover of my parents' master bedroom. Whoa mama, was it a lot of work! We spent all Thursday cleaning and prepping. Friday we painted. Saturday we hung curtains, put light switch covers back on, rearranged furniture, put new sheets & new comforter on the bed, and made it look pretty. Mom got home Sunday night and she was very surprised! I wish I could have been there to see her face! She totally deserves a nice, relaxing room after all those years of raising seven kids. Love you, mom! I don't have any pictures at the moment but I'll post some later.

Happy Belated Birthday to our good, good friend who lives too far away, Candace!

AND!

Happy Belated Anniversaries to Ryan & Sarah Potter and Josh & Carlyn Thomson! I was a part of both of those weddings when they happened and I am so glad to call them friends.

It's fair week in Mecosta County! Zach and I are going to wander around after dinner tonight to check out the 4-H barns and browse the midway. Saturday night we are going to the Demolition Derby and I can't wait! It's so fun to watch -- the cars on the infield and to people watch. Seriously. There are some unique characters that show up for the demo derby... including us, I guess! Haha! Small town living at its finest.

Love,
Sarah

Volleyball Camp

My mom and I co-directed a middle school volleyball camp through our church's youth ministry, Powerhouse. It was a 3-day camp from 8AM-noon and about 30 girls attended! They came from almost every area school and even a few from farther away! We had a ton of help from Morley Stanwood coach, Matt Kozuch, who ran mostly all the drills. He was a lifesaver because he has a wealth of volleyball knowledge and drills/games. We also had CCA head coach, Mike Shaver, teach a session on passing and Ferris State University volleyball player & Morley Stanwood HS graduate, Ashley Huntey, come in and share her testimony today. We had a registered dietician come in and do a talk on healthy eating and body image with the girls. Along with my sisters, our youth pastor's wife, and a high school volunteer we had a great group of coaches. Each day during snack we had a devotion/faith story sharing time and two girls accepted Christ for the first time. We're praying those girls keep growing and learning more about Jesus Christ and that the girls who didn't respond have time for those seeds of the gospel to grow inside them. Here's a picture of the whole crew.



After volleyball, some of us staff went out to lunch at Pepper's, mmmmm! We chatted about how camp went and any things that we could do differently next year. When Katie and I got home, these little guys were in the back yard. There were 3 of them laying out there in the shade.