First off, I want to give a shout out to Sha Brooks (an American on my team). Today, it is Sha’s birthday!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY J
Have an awesome Tuesday J
First off, I want to give a shout out to Sha Brooks (an American on my team). Today, it is Sha’s birthday!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY J Have an awesome Tuesday J
0 Comments
We were back in action today! Had two practices :). We play Botas this Sunday, so this week we will be preparing for them.
I forgot to tell a story that happened to me yesterday. Actually there is a lead up to what happened yesterday, so I will have to tell that part first. One of the grocery stores that I go to a lot here in Ankara is Carrefour. Well, they have a card similar to a Kroger card in the states. You can save a few dollars, or in this case a few lira. I had seen people in front of me, each time I would check out, have a card that the cashier would swipe. When it got to be my turn, I was asked if I had one, and I would always tell them no. So, for the first few weeks over here, I continued to shop there, and each time I would think in my head, "It would be nice to have one of those cards." Fast forward to about two weeks ago. It was my turn to checkout, and the cashier asked me if I had a card, and of course my answer was "No". Well, this time the cashier pulled out a card, swiped it, and then handed it to me to keep!! I was excited that I finally now had a card :) He (the cashier) doesn't know much English, but asked me if I played basketball. I told him that I did, and that I was playing for Cankaya. There are not too many tall females over here, so I seem to get stared at a lot. Just yesterday in fact, I had someone come up to me and ask me if I was from America. I have gotten used to people staring over the years. Growing up with two other sisters who look like me (or I look like them), and are my same height might cause just a few people to stare or say something ;). I don't really understand though...lol just kidding! I am sure I would stare if I saw triplets! So, yesterday I was getting a few things at the store, and I happened to check out with the same cashier who had given me the card a few weeks ago. Over here, the cashiers sit down in chairs when checking out people, and we also have to bag our own stuff. The cashier that I had though, can't sit down because he is a midget, so he has to stand up. Before he checked me out, he pointed to the screen and it showed 5 lira on it. I wasn't sure what he was saying, so I just nodded my head and said okay. Come to find out, after he rang up everything, that he gave me 5 lira off my purchase!! When I finally recognized this, I told him tayshekular (thank you), to which he replied "Thanks you very much"!! That is all I have for today. Below is a verse to check out: "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses." Acts 13:38-39 Until next time, have a great day!! :) Happy Sunday to everyone!!
Today has been a great day J. I went to church, and took a couple people with me, which was pretty neat! After church we went and got some lunch at Armada. This afternoon I have been reading about the history of Turkey…pretty interesting! I then went on a walk around some of Ankara. It is such a beautiful day outside. It was nice to take in God’s creation and reflect and pray while walking. Below is a picture I took while on my walk. Have a wonderful rest of the day! I am going to make some dinner and then listen to the Thomas Road Baptist Church Service J. Happy weekend to everyone!
Today has been a great day of relaxing J. I slept in until about 10:00 and then woke up and did three loads of laundry. While I was waiting on the laundry, I listened to some of John Piper’s book called “Desiring God”. So far, the book has had a lot of good things in it. I have had to hit the stop and rewind buttons several times! I also got to talk to Katie on Skype. She is over playing in China. It is interesting to share stories of life overseas. Katie played at Liberty and graduated right before I went there. She is having a FUN time in China, but is also still in the process of adjusting. Her first game is tomorrow! This afternoon I went to a 3M Migros (grocery store). They just opened it up by Armada (the mall). It is pretty interesting, because how many M’s are in front of the Migros tells a person what size of grocery store it is; the biggest grocery store has 5 M’s. I was going to take a bus (dolmus) to the store, but while I was waiting for a bus to come, I heard a honk. I looked over to see that it was my coach! He gave me a ride to the store, which was so nice. When I got back to my apartment, I made some banana nut bread!! I will post a few pics below. Tomorrow I will get to go to church again, which I am excited about J. "God by his providence brings you into circumstances that you can't understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you." Oswald Chambers Today we played Tarsus. The game was close throughout, and then they pulled away in the fourth quarter…we lost 94-75. I hope we can take away some things from this game and continue to improve! We will get a “W” one of these days J, and when we do it will be great!! Coach gave us tomorrow and Sunday off, so I will have a relaxed weekend. “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.” Tomorrow is GAME DAY against Tarsus!!
Today we watched some film of when we played Tarsus during pre-season. They have three WNBA players on their team, so it will be another good game for us. After practice I came home and relaxed and talked with my family. This evening, some of the Turkish girls cooked up a great meal for all of us to enjoy J; they even had some appetizers. The meal consisted of mexican beans, rice, eggplant soup, cheesy mushrooms, salad, and potatoes. For dessert, there was the dirt dessert as well as a delicious lemon cake. It was a great time of food, fellowship, and FUN. It is always great to be able to hang out with the girls from the team. Tonight I am going to relax and read some before going to bed. I will let you know how the game goes tomorrow. Below I posted a few pics from the team dinner we had tonight. Today we had another day of practicing twice. Praise, is that Jo is starting to feel better J. After the first practice I went to Armada (a mall) with Jo and Linds. I got some ingredients to make some dirt dessert!! Tomorrow evening we are having a team dinner, which I am looking forward to J. Some of the Turkish girls are cooking some good food from what I hear…so for sure I am going ;) It was interesting getting the ingredients for the dessert. I finally figured out what cream cheese is in Turkish, and I also had to buy some heavy whipping cream (krem santi) to make cool whip. I mixed all of the ingredients up a little bit ago, and I am going to let it chill over night, before I add the cookies tomorrow. I will take a picture of the finished product tomorrow!
For lunch today, I made some cream of broccoli soup that was delicious! I was given a Turkish cookbook to use for a little bit, so I am trying to make some of the different recipes that sounds good. Today was a perfect day for soup, because it has been rainy and cold the entire day. Let me say, the recipe did not disappoint at all! I thought it was good, and I also had great feedback from Linds and Jo who ate some as well. I want to refer back to a blog I wrote a few days ago after our game against Kayseri. As I mentioned in that blog, so many of the girls were extremely disappointed from the loss. Don’t get me wrong, I was bummed that we lost, but my disappointment was only temporary. You see, as a follower of Christ, we are called to higher standards. My job happens to be a basketball player. For others of you, you work a typical 9-5 job, you teach, you work in an office, etc. The Lord calls us to give our absolute BEST in whatever area or field we are working in. Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” For me, when I step out on the basketball floor, I am looking at it as an opportunity to give a praise performance to the Lord!! With God’s help, I want to be able to give 110% while I am out there. When I walk off the floor, whether I win or lose, I will know that I have given it my best FOR the Lord. The Lord knows and sees each and every one of our hearts. It ultimately doesn’t matter in God’s eyes whether or not I win my game, or lose it. If I walk off the court after a win with a prideful heart, that is not good. If I step off of the court knowing that I gave it my all, that is what matters. The Lord is calling each one of us to serve Him! I challenge you to remember, that whatever you do, make sure your attitude and motives are correct. Some questions to ponder: Who do you serve? Who are you working for? Why do you do what you do? How is your attitude? I realize that we need to work in order to provide for family, and ourselves but ultimately it is the Lord who deserves any and everything that we receive. Our accomplishments need to be diverted from us and reverted back to the Lord! Thank you Lord for giving us the opportunity to serve you J. Help us to keep the right perspective, and remember that it is you who we serve! Verse of the day: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 God bless!! Today we had two practices J; both of the practices went well!! I didn’t do much today besides practice. In the afternoon I read some, and then took a nap.
I forgot to write about an experience I had at dinner the other night on the way back from Kayseri. We were sitting down waiting for our main course and we are always served bread as an appetizer before the food. I asked one of the girls if we could have some honey and butter to go on the bread. A few minutes later the waiter brought out some butter and honey. The interesting thing about the honey this time, was that they literally brought out a piece of honeycomb. I sat there, waiting to see exactly how I was supposed to use honey like that. After observing some of the Turkish girls eat it, I decided to try. All they did was take a chunk of it and spread in on the bread. I did the same thing, and boy was it delicious J. One thing that had to take some getting used to, was the fact that not only were we eating honey, but we also were eating some wax…fun stuff! A few verses that I want to leave with you from James 4:13-15: 13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." How true these verses are! This is a good reminder for all of us to take it one day at a time. The Lord is the one who already knows what we will be doing before we even do it. It is our responsibility to surrender ourselves completely to Him. When we surrender to Him, he will let us know the next step or path that we ought to take. How refreshing to know, that we do not need to worry about tomorrow J. Have a great day!! Prayer Request: Pray for Jo (the girl from Kenya). She is sick with a stomach virus or something and is not feeling well. She just got back from the hospital and was given an IV there. Pray that she can start to feel better soon! I am just now getting around to posting this blog, but I wrote it last night. We got in so late, that I did not feel like posting it.
The game was an intense one. We were up by 5 at half time!! In the second half we led the entire way until the very end. We were up by two, and a Kayseri girl threw up a last second shot that was an air ball. Unfortunately, another girl ended up getting the rebound and making a put back to tie the game. The ref also called a foul, so she was given one free throw attempt and made it, so we lost 69-68. We were so close to getting a “WIN” and ended up coming up short! It is at times like these, where I am so thankful that I have a Savior who does not require us to “perform”; we are accepted just as we are! A lot of these girls are extremely disappointed when they do not play well or we do not win. Yeah, of course as an athlete and competitor, it can be hard to lose, but at the end of the day my self worth is not found in basketball…praise the Lord!!! I think about this from time to time, and every time that I do, it makes me so THANKFUL that I have the Lord who I can go to anytime or anywhere. I love the passage in Psalm 142 that says, “I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me, I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. I cry to you, O Lord; I say, ‘YOU ARE MY REFUGE, MY PORTION, IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING.’ Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Set me free from my prison that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness.” These verses are amazing!! Whenever you need help, the Lord is just a breath away J. One last verse I want to leave with you: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Today we have off to relax and get some rest. I will be doing some laundry, and maybe making a trip to the grocery store. Have a great Monday! I posted some pics from the Kayseri trip under the "pictures" tab (they are at the bottom of the page Enjoy :) Greetings from Kayseri!! I will keep you posted on how the game goes! Have a wonderful Sunday J |
Info:I am currently playing basketball professionally. The Lord has blessed me with so many opportunities. I hope to be able to share some of my experiences with you! Archives
February 2017
Categories |