Kent State and Coach Christian

Kent State played their first round NCAA tournamnent game a couple weeks ago. The game was only a few miles from my house in Auburn Hills, MI. Of course, I was there and had a great time. I enjoyed the game but more importantly, I enjoyed seeing old friends. I saw some of the old players I coached; Antonio Gates, Demetrick Shaw, John Merritt and Nate Gerwig. I saw several friends; Debbie Dantz, Bob Heller, Deb Hummel, Tom Welsch, Vicki Nader, Lauren Senderoff and Mrs. Kennedy. It brought back a lot of memories, good memories. And some may think, "well of course it brought back good memories, you advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight." But in all honesty, it is the relationships that were formed that made the good memories.

Deb Hummell gave me an "all access" pass so I could go back to the locker room and visit with Coach Christian before tip-off. It is a moment I will always cherish. And would you believe we didn't say a word about the game...we spoke of our relationship.

A sports writer saw me at the game and asked me; "you're so young and had such a promising coaching career, how could you walk away after all the hard work it took to get where you were?" I reached into my left pocket and showed him a picture of Abbey and said..."It's about relationships."

**Pictures are myself at ACU, Coach Stan Heath (Univ. of Arkansas) and I and Coach Christian (sorry, I tried to make all these pictures the same size but this is the only format I could get to work).

Abbey's First Haircut

She didn't even cry!

Ocean, Mountains and Friends

I took a quick trip to the Pacific Northwest with my friend Scott Samuels to see my friend Travis Bass. We had a great time! We flew into Seattle on a Thursday night and drove to the northern portion of the Oregon coast. We stayed right on the ocean in Seaside, Oregon on Thursday night.

We watched the sun rise on Friday morning and spent all day driving down the rugged Oregon coast, stopping for short hikes, pictures and good conversation.

When we arrived in Newport, Oregon we decided to drive east over to central Oregon into the mountains. We took a scenic byway over the cascade mountain range and drove over several beautiful mountain passes. We drove through Sisters, Oregon to get a peak at the "sisters" mountains (three peaks all over 10,000 feet). We stopped for the evening in Bend, Oregon which is nestled on Mt. Bachelor (popular ski resort town). The three of us rented snowmobiles on Saturday morning and had the time of our lives!!! We had Mt. Bachelor to ourselves as we drove all throughout the beautiful range and even made it above the tree line. The views were breathtaking but the battery on Travis' camera ran out!

We left Bend on Saturday afternoon and drove up to Mt. Hood (11,239 feet, highest point in OR). We also drove to Multnomah Falls as I have always wanted to see this breathtaking site. Click on http://trips.stateoforegon.com/multnomah_falls/ and check it out, our pictures did not turn out.

We spent Saturday evening in central Washington at the Bass ranch. Woke up Sunday and worshipped together. Stopped in Cle Elem, WA to see some property and a cabin Travis recently purchased in the Stewart mountain range and ended up back in Seattle on Sunday night.

The best part of the trip was the conversation and camaraderie that took place in the car as we drove along the ocean and into the mountains.

Nothing quite like a road trip with close friends!

Enjoy the pictures.

CA In Two Months

Rachel, Abbey and I will be in Malibu, CA in two months! This picture of us in Florida a few years ago reminded me that we will be in the sun and on the ocean in just 60 days. Rachel, Randy Harris and I are teaching a three day class at the Pepperdine lectures this May. We are taking an extra day after the lectures to just relax as a family!

By the way, please be praying for my family this week as I will be in Seattle tomorrow through Sunday. I hope to get some good pictures to post when I return.