He took it!!!!

Go figure!  He did it!  In the rains from tropical storm Fay and in another sudden death playoff, Brandt's name will be on the trophy as The Island's 2008 Club Champion.  

Since I wasn't there, I don't a lot of details, but I heard he did great.  Went through a lot of towels trying to keep his grips dry, but he didn't let the rain stop his game.  

Poor Chad was soaked from head to toe and didn't have a good round either. :(  By the time he got home he was freezing.  Danny withdrew after the 2nd hole when he couldn't hold onto his club.  He loves the sport, but not enough to play in the rain.

Another great weekend on the golf course...for Brandt.

What a Service!

Sunday's service was so sweet and the reactions Daddy, Anne, and I have received has just been overwhelming.  What an impact Momma has had on so many people's lives, even during her time of death.  Oh, to be like her.  What a witness...and she was MY mom.  I am so blessed.

Daddy and I were talking, saying how Momma would have never let us call attention to her when she was here.  Especially the pictures in the newspaper and journal.  I can hear her fussing at us now.  :)  If she could only see how she has touched so many people.  The Lord is doing great things, continuing to use Momma for him and his kingdom.

Happy Birthday Mom! I miss you!

Sunday is Momma's birthday and Daddy will be preaching on her last few days with us when she saw heaven and was able to share it with us.  It was truly amazing and that was such a special time with her that I would not trade for the world.  I'm kind of dreading it though, because I know how emotional it is going to be.  I have been so busy with school that I think I have put the grieving process on hold, which will make things so much harder Sunday.  With the Lord's help, we'll make it through this.  He's been so good this far.

I miss her so much and have so many things I want to tell her.  I still catch myself saying "Oh, I need to call Momma and tell her..." then I catch myself and realize she's not there to tell anymore.  No one can take the place of your mother.  

I love you Momma!

Off and running - FULL SPEED

Yep!!! School's started and it's crazy.  Between school, volleyball, and the Olympics, I'm experiencing major sleep deprivation.  I don't think I have cooked in weeks.  That's ok because I'm having fun.  It's great being back on the volleyball court.

I have an awesome class this year.  They are blogging for me too.  They had their first blog assignment and they were so excited.  I had one student ask if they could blog every week.  How cool is that!  Kids wanting to do school work.  

We have another weekend of golf ahead.  This weekend is The Island's Club Championship and all of my guys are playing, Danny, Chad, and Brandt.  Brandt probably should be playing Arrowhead tour this weekend to add to his resume' for college ball, but he wants his name on the trophy at the club (go figure).  He already has him name on the Jr. Club Championship trophy at The Island.  It's ashame he's not very competitive HaHa!!! :)  I'm just praying for late tee times (sleep?????)  And - who do I follow????????? Maybe I should stay home - Hum!!!!

2nd place in the Baton Rouge Amateur Championship!

The weekend was full of golf again, but this time we were at Santa Maria Golf Course for the Baton Rouge Amateur Championship.  Brandt teed off Saturday morning at 8:50 for his first match play round.  He won that match on the 16th hole. He was 3 holes up with 2 to go.  That afternoon he played his 2nd match play round, teeing off at 2:30.  He won it on 18.  He went into 18 - 1 hole up, he had to tie his opponent or win the hole and he tied it for the match win.  That one lasted much longer than it should have.  He had a chance to close it out much earlier, but just couldn't do it.  Oh well...he won that match.

Today he played his 3rd match play round, teeing off at 7:00 a.m.  These early tee times are KILLING me...I am NOT a morning person.  Anyway, he won that round on 17 with 2 holes up.  After that win, he was now 1 of 8 players left in the tournament out of 64.  He got a small break (which he needed because he was able to practice his putting) before the top 8 teed off at 1:00 and 1:10.  He played a much improved round (from his previous 3) and scored a 75 placing 2nd in the tournament.  

When he started this tournament, we just wanted him to make it to the top 8, taking one match at a time.  Once he made it to the top 8, I kept thinking "just don't be 8th, you can be 7th...just not 8th."  We'll take 2nd all day long.  I'm so proud of him.

He will be in The Advocate again tomorrow.  We're still awe-struck that they actually want to interview him about his rounds, but it's so cool for him.  He's so funny about it too.  He says he doesn't know what to say.  Go figure...Brandt with nothing to say????????

I forgot to mention, spectators had to WALK the first 3 rounds of match play.  That was not fun.  I've never walked so much in my life...I'm beat!  

You know, we thought the Lord was leading us to Parkview so Brandt could be seen in baseball.  Well, he led us to Parkview, but little did we know it was because of golf, not baseball.  He has blessed Brandt with this talent in golf and we give him all the praise.  We know he couldn't do this without the Lord's help.

It's Friday!!!!!

What a week!  Chad got a job, school started, and I was asked to be Assistant Volleyball Coach at Parkview.

Chad got a job at University Club Golf Course.  Apparently the Lord didn't want him at the other course because U Club called him for an interview and hired him on the spot.  It is so strange seeing him get up (at 5:15 a.m.) and go to work.  This is his 1st job.  He seems to like it, so hopefully he will be there a while.  He has to work at a golf course for 6 months before he can begin his online courses for golf school.  What he likes the best is he gets to play the course free.

School started this week.  I feel like we just got out for the summer and now we're back.  I had a great week and seem to have a great class.  Thursday (our 1st day) after school, I can honestly say I was glad to be back and look forward to a great school year.

The highlight of my week though was being asked to be Assistant Coach for the high school volleyball team.  Just weeks ago I had resolved myself to the fact that it just wasn't in the Lord's plan for me to continue coaching volleyball.  I stopped coaching about a year ago so I could be around to help Daddy with Momma and then teaching elementary school makes it hard to coach high school because we get out at different times of the day.  Well, the Lord had other plans...and I'm glad.  I didn't know how much I missed it until after I got back on the court this week. I LOVE THIS SPORT!!!!!!!!!!

And yes...more golf this weekend.  Brandt's tee time is 8:50 a.m. Sat. at Santa Maria for the Baton Rouge Amateur Championship.  I'll try to keep you posted.  

Have a great weekend and I'll post again soon.

Unbelievable weekend on the golf course

Wow!  What a weekend!

As I mentioned, Brandt played in the Arrowhead Jr. Golf Tour Coca Cola Championship at Beaver Creek in Zachary.  He teed off Friday morning at 8:05 and at the end of the day was in a 3 way tie for 1st place with a score of 71 (1 under par).  Saturday the 3 leaders teed off together.  Another great match.  Brandt and one of the other boys in his group remained tied for 1st going into Sunday's match with a score of 74 (2 over par).  Sunday's match was unbelievable.  Brandt started with a birdie on hole 1 and remained in the lead for 17 holes.  At one point he was 3 shots ahead, but the other player didn't give up, he just kept coming after him.  When they got to the 18th hole, Brandt was 1 stroke ahead, but had a bad shot and ended up with a bogey which put the 2 of them tied again.  This put them in a sudden death play off, so we went back to #8 - they tied it...#9  Brandt skyed his 3 wood, then hit his next shot in the water :(  this opened the door for the other player and he won the hole over Brandt, taking 1st place for the tournament.  For their round Sunday they shot a 68, which is 4 under par.  Brandt was 6 under after hole 14, but just couldn't put it away.  The other golfer was good and he wasn't going anywhere.

Brandt handled the weekend like a champ.  Saturday we had so many people following him.  A writer from The Advocate (Baton Rouge's newspaper), WAFB - Channel 9 Sports, a friend of Brandt's that we haven't seen in a year or more came out to watch Sat. and Sun., a friend whose son went to school with Brandt at Starkey saw the article in the paper and just showed up to watch, and a friend of ours, Tim Guedry, came and watched Sunday.  We had our own little entourage.   It was really cool.

It was a crazy, but awesome weekend.  I think I went through every emotion I had.  I told Daddy, at one point Sunday, I was so nervous, I thought I was going to throw up.  I have never felt that way in my life, even when I played volleyball.  Not long ago Danny and I were talking about how much we enjoy watching him play golf and how it was a whole lot less stressful than baseball was...I take that back now.

The Advocate writers did a great job reporting the tournament, but I do want to say how impressed I was with the last article of the weekend in The Advocate.  The writer did a great job capturing the true essence of the day, not taking anything away from either golfer.  That means a lot to the mom of the golfer that didn't win after giving it everything he had through 56 holes of golf, with all eyes watching.  Also, on Arrowheads website www.arrowheadjgt.com they put Brandt's picture on as the runner up.  I have never seen the runner up on the site, just winners.  Thanks Mr. Paul!  

Brandt plays again Saturday at Santa Maria. 

Stay tuned and hang on...we still have a lot of golf ahead of us.