FLYING HIGHER

I just wanted to give you a quick look at my staff. This is a picture of most of my staff - professional, graduate students, and undergraduate students. The week before school started, they came over to my house and we had a picnic and took a staff photo...which we will make into a poster entitled

CAMPUS RECREATION FLYING HIGHER in 2007

Readin' Writin' and 'rithmatic

Wow...what a whirlwind last few weeks...two major projects that originate in Campus Recreation have occurred with several smaller sidebars.....

On August 15th and 16th we moved in over 3000 incoming students. We started with about 1000 on Wednesday and had the big Freshmen Halls on Thursday. Over 2500 volunteers helped direct traffic, carry boxes, clothes, and "stuff" into dorm rooms that are barely over 150 sq ft. This annual event, affectionately called MOVE IN, grew this year into two days after last year being a 5:00 am - 4:00 pm ordeal in 106 degree temperatures.

School started on Monday, August 20th and we held our annual Late Night at the SLC on Friday. This year we had over 100 organizations with booths set up all over the SLC and over 150 dodgeball teams in the kickoff intramural event of the year. We have been touted as having the "largest collegiate dodgeball tournament in the nation" which I have always disputed because actually, no one measures. But this year, that became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our new IM Coordinator had wide eyes and a GREAT Late Night!

Last but not least, on a more meaningful note, I have read several books the latter part of the summer. Non-fiction, I have read The Gospel According to Starbucks (Leonard Sweet) and From the Heart, Seven Rules to Live By (Robin Roberts) and Same Kind of Different As Me (Ron Hall and Denver Moore). I have also read several fiction books like The Last Sin Eater (Francine Rivers), Plain Truth (Jodi Picoult), and am almost finished with The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini). Each of them has taught me something and led me to think about things beyond my life here on earth. I recommend all of these books and will leave you with a little prayer of prose from Robin Roberts' family:

The LIGHT of God Surrounds Me,
The LOVE of God Enfolds Me,
The POWER of God Protects Me,
The PRESENCE of God Watches Over Me,
WHEREVER I AM, GOD IS.

California Girls

I wish they all could be CALIFORNIA GIRLS....here is a pic of my favorite California girls. My 1st cousin Trina and her daughter Ashley, then "Gaby" then me and Dee Dee and Aunt Sue. If I ever left the Great State of Texas I would become a card-carrying CA girl for sure.


This weekend started out on Friday night at the Huntington Beach around a fire pit. We roasted hot dogs and smores and had about 5 family members and about 20 friends. The Pacific Ocean was warm enough even in the evening to go it (some of the guys went in at 9:30 just before closing).
It was a great time of relaxing by the fire and it was the first time in my life that I donned a jacket in the month of August.

Saturday, I went over to pick up my 90 year old grandmother "Gaby" to take her to get an IN n OUT Burger and to pick up some "bridge mix" at See's Candy Shop. It was a good time to get her out and for us to visit since I didn't make it out in May for her b-day party. She is a bit forgetful these days but her laugh is contagious.



Finally, Sunday after church, we all went to my Aunt Sue and Uncle Don's condo for a family celebration of Ron's birthday. It is on Huntington Harbor. The weather was unbelievably nice and being with family is beyond words. I am grateful for the fellowship and true kindred spirits we share and treasure each time we are together.