"How to Avoid Feelings of Apprehension During a Somewhat Scary Movie"

Sit shoulder to shoulder with a best friend, cover yourselves with a warm blanket, put the hoods of your sweatshirts up, and eat brownies and ice cream. Works every time!!!

Good Times

Melissa Franklin came to visit for four days over the New Year holiday. We watched lots of chic flicks, made yummy food, got pedicures, played cards, and just had a good ol' time. New Year's Eve we had about ten people over for food and games. It was a great night. I am blessed with some pretty amazing friends.

Remembering "Joy to the World"

I love the song "Joy to the World." When I was in college we had PC (Prayer Captain) and RA (Resident Assistant) meetings every Tuesday night. Usually we would sing a few songs to start things on the right note. (Pardon the pun!) Being the silly college girl that I was, I would always request "Joy to the World" - no matter the season. When I left, my friend and fellow RA, Hayley (a.k.a Hayles) realized I wasn't there to request "Joy" so she did it for me, in my honor. Such a silly little thing, I know. But college held such sweet memories of people and moments, and I wanted to share this holiday memory with everyone.

To all of you I say "Thank You"

A close friend of mine is going through some major health issues at the moment. Her trials inspired me to take a moment and tell each of you how much you mean to me. Those who read this blog are teammates, classmates, dorm mates, teachers, coaches, and friends and relatives. Each of you has played a significant role in my life, and for that I give God praise and glory. You have given me godly advice, unconditional love, many prayers, and a shoulder to lean on. Bethanie always gave me a hard time in college because I constantly referred to this friend or that one as "one of my best friends". It is true, God has blessed me with such an enormous circle of friends that I consider to be my best, closest friends. I wish I could even put in words the gratitude and love I feel, both to God and toward all of you. Most of you are hundreds of miles away, but I send you, as best as I can, my love and appreciation.

More Soccer Thoughts

- Who could forget sitting in line for meals during preseason with bags of ice on and under various body parts?!

-One year when we went to Northland we forgot the girls' socks and had to wear the boys' stinky ones after they played.

- Sophomore year Mandy Blumer and I missed about half our Principles of Bible Study classes because it was sixth hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we had games to go to.

- Coach would declare no laughing practices when we weren't paying attention, then we would laugh even more.

- The best practice was when we were doing butt traps in the pouring rain on the upper field. I laughed so hard!

- After a drill during one practice Sandy said I had hit her nose with my elbow and I couldn't figure out how my elbow, way down there, could hit her nose?! But then I remembered how tall I am and how short she is and it all made sense!

- Eventually Sandy evolved my nickname, "Lenny", into "Leonard."

- The Hummer dealership we went by to one field we played at I always said I would love to test- drive them at their little driving course thing; coach said if a guy ever asked him where to take me on a date he would tell him to take me there.

- Hayley's dad was our biggest fan and it was great hearing him cheer for us. Sometimes he would show up for games when Hayley didn't even know he was coming!

- I always liked to smile and wave at the trains going by our soccer field because I was confident that someone needed a smile and a wave and that I might be able to brighten their day. Weird, I know. =)

- For team pictures I had to stand in the back, in the middle...I wonder why that is?!

- One of the most embarrassing moments was freshman year and coach was going to put me in the game for someone and I asked where she was playing and he got mad and wouldn't put me in. Boy did I feel stupid. But, in my defense, I was asking because he was putting me in at either forward or midfield (can't remember which it was) and I was so surpised so I asked to make sure. So there!

- One other game I had just received the ball and out of nowhere a girl from the other team ran into me and knocked me right over and coach really yelled at me and I was so mad at him because how was I supposed to know she was going to run into me? Later I did realize that I should have been looking up and paying better attention, but still, I was totally ticked at the moment. =)

- Jen Adam was and is so fun and encouraging and she told me consistently that I had the best touch on the ball. That meant alot to me because I really am not that super at soccer, but I love it, so it was nice to be encouraged.

- Because of soccer I gave up drinking pop, and to this day I rarely drink the stuff.

- I loved that coach encouraged his players to be godly women on and off the field. He was a great spiritual leader.

Memories

Yesterday I was rather shocked by the most recent post on coach's blog. He's not going to be coaching soccer at MBBC anymore. At first I was swept with a wave of sadness, but that was quickly followed with a sense of gratitude that I had the privilege of being on his team for four years. He mentioned in his blog that he wants to take the next few days to reminisce a bit about his years as Maranatha's soccer coach. I was inspired to do some remembering of my own. My four years at Maranatha were some of the best in my life, and the four soccer seasons were the highlight of those years. Here are some of my favorite personal memories

- Preseason, freshman year, coach asked if I was related to Lenny Dykstra. Regardless of the fact that I was neither related to him nor even knew who he was, coach decided that I was to be called Lenny from then on. It stuck, big time.

-Preseason, sophomore year, coach had written on the board "How to Survive at Maranatha" with the "survive" crossed out and replaced with "thrive." I was thoroughly challenged with that, and it has stuck with me ever since.

- My first or second year we were running before practice (which I hated) and I was in the middle of the line. I also hated being in the middle because that meant I actually had to keep up with everyone else, which wasn't easy for me. I must have said something about it because KJ said that if I didn't push myself I would never get any faster. I have thought about that and carried it over into other areas of life as well.

- One year our team verse was about loving the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, etc. I couldn't remember the reference in the locker room one day, and the one I said was to a verse about not knowing the Word of God. Doh!

- Freshman year (I think it was) when I was actually playing in a game, coach told someone (Sandy?) that he had a three day old niece who could run faster than me. Unfortunately, it was probably true... =)

- At an indoor tournament some of us played in, we were resting outside between games and some of the girls got it in their heads to spell MBBC on the grass. Laura hollered up the hill to me, "Hey, Lenny, wanna play?".

- Once coach and I predicted what time we would get back to campus. He saw that I was going to be dead on so when I wasn't looking he changed the clock in the van so it read the time, or close to the time, that he'd predicted. Cheater!

- Senior year there were three RA's on the team and several PC's. Good for us!

- Senior year, last home game, Parents' Day...I scored my first and last goal on a free kick. That was fun. Later I was given the Goal of the Year award. Won't be forgetting that anytime soon.



This is all I can think of for now, but maybe I'll post some more memories as I think of them.

Friendly Day

All my college friends live in other parts of the country, except for Karin Woodby of course. Today I got a call from Bethanie Wall, my best friend in college. We talked for about an hour and a half, just getting caught up on each other's lives. Email is great, but a phone call is better. Then this evening I was invited to dinner at the Woodby's house and then to go out with Karin and Melissa MacNeal. Melissa lives in New York but is working at Camp CoBeAc for the summer. She was the same year as Karin in school, two years behind me. They were friends first, but when we started riding to church together and working in Sparks together on Wednesday nights Melissa and I also got to be pretty good friends. I loved college and miss all my friends, so I was blessed to have contact with two of them today. Thank You, Lord!

So, tonight Karin, Melissa, and I went down and walked on the boardwalk. First we stopped in Mackinaw Kite Co. and had some fun. On our walk to the pier we walked on the rocks just like when we were kids. Saturday nights are always crowded and super busy, but it was still fun. After our trek to the end of the pier we stopped in at Cold Stone to enjoy some of their delicious ice cream. Great friends, nice weather, yummy food, perfect night!