The Beginning of a Long Season

We are small, slow, and inexperienced. It's hard to overcome all three. We lost the first football game of the season 56-6, the game stopping just after the beginning of the 4th quarter due to the 45-point mercy rule. There were many bleak spots for these young men, but there were a few highlights, also.

Aaron and Nathan each caught a kickoff. They didn't run far after the catch, but at least they didn't fumble! And Aaron got swung to the ground by his face mask, so with the 15 yard penalty, we started in a pretty good position on that drive.

Nathan got to play quarterback for two series. One one, he had a pass tipped and then it was intercepted. But another of his passes went 30 yards and found his brother in the end zone! Touchdown Mateer boys! That was exciting!

I think Aaron played every play of the game, except maybe on the kick blocking team. He was the second leading receiver and the leading tackler. He played center for most of the game.

We know this team needs time to click, time to figure out how to play with the big boys. They'll get there. Hopefully each game will be just a little better than the last. We'll take our lumps and ready ourselves for next week--a state-ranked public school. We'll have to look for little victories.

Scrimmage

The boys had a scrimmage tonight. They didn't do too badly, either. Nathan got to play a couple of drives at quarterback and did pretty well. Of course he had a beauty of a pass to his brother in the end zone--that Aaron dropped! Actually, Aaron dropped two passes he should have had.

However, Aaron had his own successes. He made two good solo open field tackles. He ran down one guy, taking the angle to make up for his lack of speed.

Of course adrenaline isn't quite the same during a scrimmage as it is in a real game. We're ready for the season to begin!

Leaving Middle School Behind

Nathan's first day of high school. We don't ever have to do middle school again. Yippee! It felt very strange, though, to send the two boys off in the car that has so long been Elizabeth's!

Dorm Room

Hey everyone well i am all moved in. My roommate's name is Paige she is from Thibodaux and her mom is the associate dean of the business school here at Nicholls. I put up some pictures of my dorm so yall can have an idea of what it looks like. It is really nice. Everyone here has been really helpful and nice. Well i guess that is it for now I will do my best to keep everyone updated.

Love yall

Elizabeth

Two-A-Days

And so it begins . . .

The boys are off to two-a-days. It will be a much different season this year, with a very, very young and inexperienced (playing time) team. But I'm hoping that, as often happens, the boys will play with such heart that they will rise above expectations. For now, they just have to survive the August heat!

(Don't worry. They are drinking plenty of water!)

Elizabeth in Africa

Just a few images of Elizabeth and her friends in Africa. This first is of Elizabeth and Ibrahim, a little boy she met four years ago, on her first trip. She has visited with him every year since.

This is Elizabeth with Pastor Mohammed's son, Saleem, who is 2. Apparently he follows his father everywhere!

This is Pastor Mohammed, a man who loves God and his people--and Elizabeth and Mrs. Read!

Elizabeth and her good friend Leah, who went for the first time this year.

This is Elizabeth's translator, Abucardo. He has been her translator on the past three trips.

She's Home

Elizabeth got home this afternoon. It was a long trip home and started with some confusion at the airport in Ghana because the computers for the airline were down. But they all made it on the plane, finally, and arrived here this afternoon. She had a great time, as usual, especially enjoying her time at two different orphanages and doing hut to hut evangelism in the villages. She gets a couple of days to recover, then she's off to work on Monday. I'll post some pictures soon.

Wisdom Teeth

Two down, one to go. Elizabeth had her wisdom teeth out two years ago. Today it was Aaron's turn. To be honest, I've dreaded this. Aaron has never had the tolerance for pain that Elizabeth has. (I don't think she feels any.) But he's done remarkably well. Even so, 'm glad we only have to do this with one more child!

And She's Off . . .

We got Elizabeth off to Ghana for the fourth time in four years. We're old hat at this now!

If you want to keep up with the team over there you can check out the mission team's blog. They'll arrive in Ghana tomorrow night and will be there through July 3.

John and NIcole

I know for many of you, as for us, John is like family. Here's a snapshot of his wedding day yesterday, with his sweet wife Nicole. It was lovely. I wish the picture showed her dress. It was gorgeous! We wish them many, many blessed and happy years together. (The new picture at the top of the blog was taken at the reception.)

CELEBRATE!

What an amazing day! A day of rejoicing, not a tear shed among us. We are so proud of our girl. So proud that she has made it through high school. So proud that she finished strong. So proud that she is excited about her future and ready for a new adventure. For those of you who couldn't be here, the following is a sampling of the day in pictures.

Elizabeth and the amazing graduation cake, made by the mother of another student at her school. It not only looked great, it tasted great!

Elizabeth with her good friends, Jordan, Lauren, and Jenna. They are all jun--oops, I mean seniors--so they will be staying behind to finish high school while she goes off to college. But I think there are already plans in the works for visiting Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth's memorabilia table at the reception at the school. She had quite a varied array of things to display from her growing up years.

Elizabeth with her diploma, with her senior picture on the screen in the background. This is the pose she chose for the yearbook, although I chose a more traditional picture for the one I sent to friends and family!

The happy graduate. Being on the school's Board of Trustees gave Jeff the privilege of handing the diploma to her. What a special moment. We are truly thankful for the young lady she has become and are excited to watch her grow up even more in the next few years. 

Cleaning Up

Nathan's end of the year honors recital was tonight, and he cleaned up on the awards. He came home with three trophies and two medals to add to the ribbons he's received at competitions throughout the year. He played well, too. I have it on video and hope to get it up here soon, but probably not until after I get the graduation stuff up this weekend.

We are so proud of all he has accomplished and he is excited to try out next week for the Praise Band at school. If he makes it, he will play every week at chapel. It still amazes me to watch my child excel at music. 

Pictures Promised

Here are the pictures I promised from last night's sports awards. Note: in the one with Elizabeth and Aaron, I TOLD them I wanted it with their trophies. Of course I was helping clean up the place rather than supervising the picture, so that didn't happen. But it's a cute picture anyway. The other two pictures are each of them receiving their all-district basketball medals.

Enjoy!

Bringing Home the Hardware

Spring sports awards were last night. I'll post pictures later. Elizabeth and Aaron both brought home honors in basketball. Besides their all -district selections (Elizabeth, 2nd team, Aaron, honorable mention) which we already knew about, they also received some team awards. Aaron received the Hustle Award. It is one he often gets for his effort both in practice and in games. Elizabeth was awarded Offensive Player of the Year, averaging 8 points a game, with a season high game of 18 points. 

The big surprise came in softball. This being Elizabeth's first year of varsity softball, she didn't expect any accolades. But she was named 2nd team all-district AND Newcomer of the year for the district!

A fun evening of wrapping up the year in sports.

A Fun Surprise

I had a fun surprise at secondary awards today--Aaron received medals for highest average in both English II and Spanish II! Of course I have to qualify this for you: these are the non-honors sections of those classes. Maybe 4-5 students in each? Anyway, we are proud. He has worked very hard all year to reach this pinnacle. And I'm so happy he can be successful in a regular class rather than tank in an honors one. Huge boost for the kid who thinks he has no school smarts!

Over and Done

It's official. Her high school career is over and done. Her last class was yesterday. She turns in her last paper and project this morning. We still have a week until graduation, but she is finished. It's been an amazing ride--sometimes harrowing, sometimes smooth and peaceful, but always driving us to our knees in prayer. We are so proud of her, of who she is becoming. We can't wait to celebrate the actual event!

End of an Era

The girls lost their regional playoff game today, 11-1. We gave up all the runs in the first and seventh innings. They played well in between. While we are sad, it certainly gives us some breathing room in our schedule, which is nice. But more than a loss, we realized it is the end of an era for us. No more will we watch girls' sports where we have a vested interest in the players or the outcome. It's a bittersweet ending. On the one hand, we've been watching Elizabeth play something since she was 5 years old. On the other hand, now we only have one boys' team to watch each season, which shrinks the amount of games on our calendar. 

It's been a fun ride, but we are excited to see what new things we will get to experience with our daughter!

1st playoff win

One game down, three more to go!

We honored our five senior girls before the game tonight, then we went out and tromped the other team, 12-0 in five innings. Elizabeth struck out her first at bat but had a great single over the first baseman's head that garnered an RBI. In the 7-run bottom of the 4th, she grounded out to 2nd but got an RBI on that one as well. 

One more home game next week. If we win that, it's off to the state semi-finals/finals tournament. One game at a time, but they sure are looking good!

One Place Short

Aaron finished 5th in the 3200 meter (2 mile) race at the Regional Track Meet yesterday. One place short of moving on to the state meet. But he was several seconds behind the 4th place finisher, so at least he didn't have the heartbreak of missing it by a hair! He had a good track season and can now settle in and finish his schoolwork, which has been sadly neglected over the past few weeks!

Finishing Strong

Middle School baseball ended their season on an up note, a 13-3 win! They really did play great, in spite of some questionable calls by the umps. Nathan played third base for the first two innings and pitched the last inning. At the plate, he walked, grounded out to first (although our coach swears he was safe!), and hit a TRIPLE into left field! His pitching was good, too. He gave up a couple of hits but picked off the runner on second base for the first out then struck out two batters in a row to end the game. A great ending to middle school sports!

Elizabeth's team is finishing strong, too. They are playing a few, good, larger schools to get ready for playoffs. Tonight they beat one of those teams 8-5. All we know is that she was 1 for 3 at the plate.