Top Five

This post is bittersweet.  I'm writing about my top five moments of basketball season, but I can only do that because the season is now officially over.  The Elks lost in overtime on Thursday night to end the season.  It was a rough way for the year to end for the seniors, but they are all great kids and have bright futures ahead of them in college.  

Above: The gift the seniors got for Nathaniel

In an effort to dwell in the wonderfully positive moments of the season, I'm going to think back and pinpoint my five favorite moments of the year.

Honorable Mention: 

January 13: Elkins vs. Green Forest.

I will never forget this game because of my reaction to the outcome.  This was our second conference game (the first was another against Mountainburg, which we won) and I was very, very nervous about how we would do.  This is a team that beat us handily last year.  I was also really nervous because I couldn't go since it was at Green Forest which is quite a drive.  When Nathaniel called to tell me that we won, I kind of freaked out.  I'll never forget him telling me that he thought I was more excited about it than he was!  That was when I really knew that this year was going to be different.

5. November 11th: Elkins vs. Mountainburg

This was the first game of the year.  It was Grace's first real game to attend (she'd been to a few summer camp games) and she did great.  It was also a win which marked the first time Nathaniel was undefeated.  ;-)  It was great to be 1-0 for a couple of days.  This game also gave me a hint that maybe this year would be different.  We beat a team from our new conference, something we hadn't managed to do the year before.

4. January 16, 2009: Elkins vs. Lincoln

I actually didn't initially remember this game, but Nathaniel reminded me of it after reading an almost-finished version of this post.  We won this game by about 20 and it wasn't a terribly exciting game or anything except that it made us 8-7.  That was the first time in Nathaniel's very short career that the Elks had a real, bona-fide winning record (other than that 1-0 at the beginning of the season).  I was SUPER pumped.  I was so pumped that I took Nathaniel out for dinner the next night to celebrate!

3. Thursday, February 19: Elkins vs. Greenland

This was one heart-breaking game: the District Tournament Championship game.  After being down by as many as eight in the first half, the Elks came back to make it an amazing game.  The second half was back and forth the entire time.  With about 11 seconds left in the game, one of our players missed a free throw but another player put it back in for us to go up two.  Greenland dribbled down the court and took a timeout.  Coming out of the timeout, with 3.5 seconds left, the Pirates throw it in and throw up a three point prayer...and it goes in.  Total disappointment for us, total elation for them.  Why would a loss like this be one of my favorite moments?  It was one of the most competitive, hard-fought games I've ever watched.  And I was so proud of the way our boys played.  9 times out of 10, that shot at the end doesn't go in and we win...

2. Friday, January 23: Elkins vs. Greenland

This was a crazy day for me.  Grace was really sick for the first time, throwing up and feeling very yucky.  My two sisters, brother-in-law, Tyler, and my parents were all coming to watch the games that night.  Both the junior and senior high played at Greenland.  Nathaniel and I were pretty nervous about the game because Greenland was the #2 team in both junior and senior high and we were #1.  Both of our teams were 4-0 in conference and looking to be 5-0.  And both teams won!  In fact, both teams won by 12 or so. It was a great night!

1. February 12: Elkins vs. Green Forest

This was the game that sealed the Conference Championship for us.  I know I posted about it in detail a couple of weeks ago, so I won't go into it again.  It was, however, the coolest thing ever in basketball and a game and night I won't soon forget.  It was the first time in 22 years Elkins won a conference championship in boys basketball.  As Nathaniel likes to say, those boys achieved what had been (nearly) impossible in Elkins for the last two decades.  They did something very special this year.  

To conclude the basketball season (although I'm so sad to do it!), I wanted to just mention to verses that have been coming up in my head over and over throughout the past couple of months.  

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!  Ephesians 3:20, The Message 

I've gotta tell you, I never even dreamed to ask God for the senior high to win a conference championship. I  expected it of Nathaniel's junior highers, but I was kind of just hoping the senior high would be middle -of-the pack.  So this season and the blessing Nathaniel has received from coaching those kids would certainly count as "far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams."

Naked I came from my mother's womb, 
   naked I'll return to the womb of the earth.
God gives, God takes. 
   God's name be ever blessed.

Job 1:21, The Message

This is actually my memory verse for the next two weeks (although I've neglected to post on it, the Scripture memory project Grandma and I have tackled is still going strong...mostly because she keeps me accountable!).  The verse reminds me that it's not appropriate to only praise God in the good times.  In fact, we must always remember his goodness, no matter what is going on in life.  The past year has had major ups (see: Grace's birth) and major downs, honestly even more than I could have imagined.  But God is always faithful and God is always good.  So we certainly praise and thank him for the blessing of this basketball season, just as we've praised him in the rough times: "God's name be ever blessed."