 I hope all of you in AGHP and AG2 have a happy thanksgiving with your families, and take a moment and really consider what all of you have to be thankful for.THANKSGIVING WEEK TOPIC: THE HAND  Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave his class a fun assignment--to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful. Most of the class might have been considered economically disadvantage, but still many would celebrate the holiday with  and other traditional goodies of the season. These the teacher thought, would be the subjects of most of his students art. And they were.But Douglas, made a different kind of picture. Douglas was a different kind of boy. He was the teacher's true child of misery, frail and unhappy. As other children played at recess  Douglas was likely to stand close by his side. One could only guess at the pain Douglas felt behind those sad eyes.Yes, his picture was different. When asked to draw a picture of something for which he was thankful, he drew a . Just an empty hand.His abstract image, captured the imagination of his classmates. Whose hand could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a farmer, because farmers raised turkeys. Another suggested a police officer, because the police care and protect people. Still others guessed it was the hand of God, for God feeds us. And so the discussion went--until the teacher almost forgot the young artist himself. When the children had gone on to other assignments, he paused at Douglas's desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was. The little boy looked away and murmured, "It's yours's teacher." He recalled the times he had taken his hand and walked with him here or there, as he had the other students. How often he said, "Take my hand. Douglas, we'll go outside." Or, "Let me show you how to hold your pencil." Or, "Let's do this together." Douglas was most thankful for his teacher's hand. The story speaks of thankfulness. It says something about teachers teaching, and parents parenting, and friends showing friendship, and teammates giving support to the Douglas's of the world. They may not always say thanks. But they'll remember the that reaches out! S. GoodierWeekly Updates: There will be no practice on Thursday, all other practices are normal. If you miss a lot this week, try to get outside for some type of physical activity! Don't come back next Monday feeling like a stuff turkey! Swim and Rock Meet Wrap: All of you did a great job this weekend both in and out of the pool, swimming your races and supporting your teammates. I know it was a long weekend but a lot of you approached it with a great attitude. I heard very little complaining and a lot of confidence is your talk. I truly believe that a lot of you learned some valuable lessons. We had a lot of JO' and Tom Dolan Cuts in the group, and we had a fantastic swim off Saturday night by Matt Jones in the 50 free at the start of finals. On Friday the following teammates made finals, Lauren Yi, Gillian Crews, Rachel Anderson, Miles Oakley, Matt Jones, Logan Moore, Christina Gonzalez, Amy Berglund, John Kim, Zoe Hemmer. On Saturday night we had the following kids make finals Lauren Yi, Amy Berglund, Abby McCranie, Zoe Hemmer, John Kim, Katie Schwindt, Matt Jones, Logan Moore, Katie Yost, Rebecca Ward, Miles Oakley. On Sunday night the following swimmers made it to finals, Lauren YI., Gillian Crews, Zoe hemmer, Katie Yost, Logan Moore, John Kim, Amy Berglund, and final but not least making final for the first time with her first lifetime JO cut was Rachel Avery. We also had a lot of swimmers swim events for the first time and turned in outstanding performances. I haven't had time to go through all the notes, but I will in the next couple of days. I can say that are pullouts are looking a lot better and our race strategies are starting to sink in and your confidence is growing.  to all of you who swam this weekend. Don't forget to figure out how many best times you had and write it on an index card and give it to me this weekend for you "Tootsie". TOP BANANA FOR THE WEEK: AGHP Lauren Yi made all her practices, pay attention to detailed and had a great racing weekend. AG2 Sarah Rushforth who had a great week of practices and had a great day of racing on Sunday with little rest in between events. Anyone who made their school honor roll please let me know in the next week by e-mail or a note at practice! The Cowboys just ended a brutal 3 game division stand beating the Eagles, Giants and now the  to take a big lead with 6 games to play. I was concerned all week about yesterday because when those two teams play you can throw out the records, because they don't mean a thing, and yesterday was no different! So now we get our annual Thanksgiving Day game.HAVE A GREAT WEEK! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! MIKE |
Monday, November 19, 2007
NOVEMBER 19-25
