ex(PR)essed

I do love palm trees. And sunshine. And even afternoon rain. I like open-air shopping malls and eating outside. I like Florida. I do. But, Pennsylvania is home. While I certainly enjoyed my time in the Sunshine State, I’m also pretty happy to be back home.

After a cancelled flight and relatively easy re-routing, I arrived in West Palm Beach on Wednesday safe and sound. It was raining and humid. I met my first CCCU friend — Carrie from Mt. Vernon Nazarene in Ohio — and got checked into the residence hall. We quickly bustled off to a reception, dinner, presention by the president of the CCCU, and time of worship. All my nerves about venturing off to a conference where I didn’t know anyone were quickly put to rest. When you have Christ in common, the rest just starts to fall into place.

It wasn’t until Thursday that I started to really take in my surroundings:

An unexpected sighting:

These little critters were a frequent sight on the sidewalks, and you could hear them rustling around in the dead leaves along the sidewalks. I wasn’t too bothered by their presence, but I heard more than one girl scream when a lizard would go scurrying across the sidewalk…even once coming very close to running right over Meredith’s foot!

Besides the camarederie (too lazy to look up proper spelling) with the other attendees, my favorite part of the conference was playing croquet at the National Croquet Center. This place was no joke! Our teacher, Kathie from New Jersey, was a hoot. Sometimes she called me Beth, sometimes she called me Teresa, and sometimes she just called me babe. But, my partner Katie and I had a great time, and our record was 1-1. Trust me: you’ve never seen croquet like this before. The courts are laser-leveled (at a cost of $50,000 per court; this place has 12). The seven-time world croquet champ works at this particular center. There were mallets for sale in the gift shop for more than $400!

Also, I can’t talk about Florida without showing you this tree. Check it out!

This tree is in front of Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Norton Museum of Art. It’s very cool. I stood in awe of it for so long that the people I was walking with were getting impatient and slightly tired of hearing me say over and over, “Wow. Look at this tree.” I took like 33 million photos, but I’ll just share this one. And, while this particular tree looked quite fabulous beside the museum, the same type of tree looked quite creepy in the cemetary across the street.

All in all it was a really great trip. Great people, good food, helpful sessions, fun free time, hassle-free flying. It was also really great to see Jeff waiting for me in the airport and to sleep in my own bed.

Just one unpleasant thing seems to have happened while I was gone:

Good news to report on behalf of my family in southern California — the fire nearest them is mostly under control, and they are no longer in danger. The fire that was closest to them is shown in this photo that my brother sent me — yikes. And this fire’s cause was arson. I can hardly fathom the mental imbalance of a person who would take delight in causing this much damage and hardship to so many people.

Speaking of things I can hardly fathom…I was home sick yesterday, and I spent the entire day in my pajamas, wrapped in a blanket, and alternating between watching television and doing crossword puzzles. I seriously watched nearly 12 hours of television yesterday (which is about 12 hours more than I normally watch on a given day). Daytime television primarily. Wow — talk about mindless drivel. The only good part of my television viewing? Reruns of “Perfect Strangers” and “Who’s the Boss” last night. Those shows take me back to my childhood. I could almost picture the black and white afghan that I used to lay under when I was home sick, and I could almost hear my dad ribbing me about my greasy, unwashed hair! Sigh…the good old days!

Seriously, it’s good to be back at work today. This is a big weekend for Messiah athletics. Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams take on Elizabethtown tomorrow. These are big games to determine conference titles and homefield advantage in the play-offs. Go Falcons!

I took in my first ever Messiah College men’s soccer game on Saturday, and I’m still feeling totally thrilled by the experience. The footwork — done with such precision — was amazing, the ball always seemed placed with a purpose, and the game just flew by. Messiah won, 4-0. They pretty much dominated the other team — so much so that Rachel and I wondered if our goalie was ever tempted to text message his friends from the field. “Just hangin’ out at Shoemaker. Oh, TTYL, guys — the ball is mid-field…”

Speaking of Rachel, she is crazy about men’s soccer at Messiah, and she was gracious enough to educate me on some of the finer points of soccer etiquette. Messiah’s fans proved to be the biggest mystery to me — the chants and cheers were…well, unique. My husband Jeff (an `02 alum) assures me that many of them are steeped in tradition. While I made peace with that explanation, the boys from our youth group that we brought to the game with us seemed less convinced!

All in all — it was a great night for soccer, and I suspect that I have attended only my first of many Messiah men’s soccer games!

In case you forgot over the weekend, “Remedy” comes tomorrow! You know, the new David Crowder Band CD? It has a green cross on it which is like the Red Cross, only green.

I’m not much of a numbers gal. Math was never my thing. I actually remember the moment when my math struggles became painfully obvious: It was sixth grade when my teacher, Mr. Santner, taught the section of the textbook about rounding numbers and estimation. I absolutely could not grasp the concept. My inability was of enough concern to my parents that they scheduled a meeting with Mr. Santner. He wisely recommended that we all lower our expectations and move me from advanced to intermediate math for the rest of my academic career. Thank goodness for Mr. Santner.

Regardless of my math inabilities and general forgetfulness of numbers, I am often impressed by statistics (though I quickly forget them just as I’m trying to tell someone how impressed I was). The number that impressed me the most today? A baseball score of 30-3! Who’s ever heard of such a thing?!

I have a few other number-related items that I want to share with you: According to a D3Kicks.com preseason poll, Messiah’s men’s soccer team is ranked #1 in the country; the same poll ranks Messiah’s women’s soccer #3 in the country; the National Field Hockey Coaches Association’s preseason poll places the Lady Falcons at #2 in the country; and, lest you think Messiah is known only for superb athletic programs, the 2007 “U.S. News and World Report” college rankings place us #4 in two impressive categories — best baccalaureate colleges in the northeast and “Great Schools at Great Prices.”

You know what a synonym is, right? Webster says, “one of two or more words…that have the same or nearly the same meaning in some or all senses.” Examples: fast and quick, mistake and error, cute and adorable, Messiah College and soccer. You don’t have to live (reside, abide) in Grantham very long to realize that soccer is huge (gigantic, large, big) at Messiah College. It’s no wonder why — the men’s team just won their fifth national championship in six years, and the women won it all in 2005 and consistently earn their way to the final four.

The players and coaches are regularly — and rightfully — praised (lauded, commended) for their outstanding skill and performance. However, the phenomenon that is Messiah soccer would not be nearly so exciting if it weren’t for the dedication and enthusiam of legions of fans. And, in an interesting turn of events, Messiah fans have been recognized by the NCAA. In a recently released stat, Messiah College ranks first for having the highest average attendance at men’s and women’s soccer games in Division III. According to the NCAA, a Messiah men’s soccer game averages 1,194 fans per game (plus one falcon and, depending on the game, scads of marshmallows)! So, not only do we have the best soccer program in the country, we have the best fans! Yay Messiah!

So, perhaps by now you’ve heard that Messiah’s women’s basketball team is ranked first in the country. First. In the country. That means Messiah has the best DIII team in all 50 states. Way to go, ladies!

The new rankings came out yesterday (Messiah moved from third to first), and the ladies validated their rise by defeating Juniata last night (63-32). This victory is their 17th in a row and brings their season record to 19-1. The Patriot-News wrote a great article today about the ladies and their No. 1 ranking. Did I mention they were number one? Yep.

In other Messiah news, J-Term ends today, so it will be a quieter few days around campus. It’s also pretty c-c-c-cold, and we’re all holding our breath to find out what Punxsutawney Phil has to say! C’mon spring!

1,000 points! Two of our athletes recently reached this admirable milestone in their basketball careers. Sarah Ringer sank number 1,000 on Jan. 13. Jared Yoder netted his thousandth just last night. Now, both are among an elite few at Messiah to accomplish this feat. I’m impressed. I think the only time “1,000 points” would be associated with my name would be if I had a month’s worth of good Scrabble games against my husband!

Separate from individual accomplishments, both men’s and women’s basketball are having terrific seasons. Both teams are undefeated in their conference. Overall, the women are sporting a 17-1 record and the men are 13-4. Check out the great coverage both teams got in the local newspapers today – the Harrisburg Patriot-News and the Carlisle Sentinel.