Movie Night: Believe in Me

We love sports movies around here.

Y'know the ones like Miracle where the underdog US Hockey team succeeds because of the awe-inspiring coaching ... or Rudy, where the star does whatever he needs to get to Notre Dame to play football ... We Are Marshall where the football team is killed in a plane wreck and a brand-new, untried coach needs to step up and re-build the morale of the team and the school ... or Radio where the team gets a new assistant "coach" who they first abused ... or movies like Glory Road or Remember the Titans -- both movies about racial inequalities righted on the playing field ... or The Rookie where Patrick Swayze Dennis Quaid (!) plays the oldest rookie ever to play in a major league baseball game. These are fabulous -- especially for family movie night -- movies that show that right prevails, that the underdog can win, that faith and love are 9/10ths of winning. And these are all based on true stories. And these are all movies dealing with different sports at the professional, college and high school levels.

Well, tonight we watched such a movie ... but this one has a bit of a twist. Believe in Me is about a small town high school in Oklahoma. A small town high school where the girls' basketball team is nothing ... gets only the boys' hand-me-downs and little funding ... gets only left-over coaches. That is until Coach "Driscoll" (real-life coach's name is Jim Keith) ... a man who thought he would head-coach the boys but gets "stuck" with the girls ... and leads them to succeed. This is a great underdog wins type of movie ... a great, spirit is more important than funding type of movie ... a great dedication brings success type of movie. Don't forget to watch thru the credits as there is an interesting bit at the very beginning ....

Staring Bruce Dern as the bad "this is my town" character, Jeffrey Donovan as the Coach and Samantha Mathis as his wife, this movie far exceeded our expectations. Check any of these out (and pardon the language in some -- these are better for kids who know better than to direct-quote a movie!) and you'll enjoy a great family move night!

College: choices and challenges

On Thursday we dropped Kotch off at the airport to fly to her "sometimes first choice, sometimes second choice" college for a college visit/scholarship competition. At the same time, I started the socks for this trip.

She came home today and definitely has placed this one as her "definite" first choice ... at least until she hears how much aid she'll be getting from this one and the other "first choice". I finished the socks tonight as she described her visit to the mid-west and this wonderful college.

Once she decides, she'll get the socks for the college -- so, either the above or these (for her other "first choice"):It's completely up to her and either college would be a wonderful experience for her; my first choice would be the one she just returned from (and this is only SLIGHTLY affected by the fact that the girls in the freshman dorm all learned to knit this year!).

While we were waiting for Kotch's flight to arrive, we took the opportunity and spent the day in D.C. Dh took StringBean to the Art Museum while I took the boys to the Air and Space. On our way to meet up with Dad and StringBean, we stopped in the Hirschhorn Sculpture Garden for a photo op on this gorgeous 70-something day in the Nation's Capitol:

College: we grow 'em smart

So we brought Kotch up to her "some days first choice, some days second choice" college for a full-day scholarship competition. 120 some kids are vying for full-ride scholarships for this amazing school. While Kotch was taking her test, I got to sit for 3 hours, listening to the school's sales pitch ... which was phenomenal! I want to go there.

The enthusiasm and love of teaching exuded from every presenter. These folks really love teaching there and the student takes priority in every aspect of life. There was also a panel of students who were so pro "The Mount" that it would be hard to doubt their veracity.

When we got home I saw this post from my favorite SIL living in Colorado: the feast of St. Francis deSales. So, on the Feast of this great saint (and patron of writers), one of our favorite nieces (just 6 months younger than Kotch) received a full-ride offer from DeSales! How cool is that!

Guess we grow 'em smart ... or at least teach them to use appropriately and completely the gifts and talents from God!

Oh, and just so you know I wasn't completely idle while sitting for the almost 2 hour car ride, 3 hour testing, and 2 hour car ride home:
I have a quote on my knitting blog from fellow hand-knits designer Jill Wolcott:

I hate meetings ... but if I can get some knitting done, it's not a total loss

So not only was it a great meeting, but I ALSO got some knitting done.

Kotch and I have made a deal ... when she goes off in two weeks for another scholarship competition at her other "some days first choice, some days second choice", I will knit a pair of socks again. When she decides which college she'll attend (or wins the full-ride, which will decide for her) ... she'll get that pair of socks!

College: Her Cup Runneth Over

We're very proud of Kotch. In October she figured out the three colleges she really wants to attend. She completed the application packets -- including hounding her college counselor to ensure timely submission of transcripts and recommendation letters -- and promptly forgot about them as she figured she'd here after Christmas.

Tuesday before Thanksgiving, she received an acceptance from her first choice.

Saturday after Thanksgiving, she received an acceptance from her close-second choice (including an amazing scholarship and today an invitation to apply for a total, free-ride scholarship)


Monday evening after Thanksgiving, she received a call from her third choice's admissions counselor who asked if she'd received her acceptance packet yet as they wanted to know what she needs to accept their offer.



Three applications ... three acceptances ... a scholarship in hand and the offer of more ...

Her cup runneth over!

Where should you go today?

How 'bout Gettysburg, the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton at Emmitsburg, with a quick tour of potential future undergraduate spot, Mount St. Mary's?



Well, that's exactly what we did on Wednesday, the 30th. We left NoVA around 7:30 and going the slightly round-about but lovely Hwy 15 thru Leesburg, Frederick and then into Gettysburg got us thru to Pennsylvania in just over two hours.



Gettysburg is a wonderful site to see ... but don't waste your money on the movie, A New Birth of Freedom, narrated by Morgan Freeman. The movie is excellent but at $8/$4, just Lego Maniac and I went -- and it wasn't worth the money. Seems the Park Service has turned over the running of the museum/visitor center to a non-profit foundation that wants to be self-supporting. Great! But the movie just isn't necessary.



Skip this and go straight for the free museum. The museum includes more information in their localized videos scattered throughout the museum than the 20 minute Morgan Freeman one. The museum shows every aspect of the battle, from the causes for the war in the first place (altho they stress the slave issue without ANY mention of the states' rights issue or the economics) through to reconstruction. One point they made -- which was VERY interesting -- was that the South after the war put forward more Black political nominations/officers than the North! The museum has lots of hands-on displays for the kids and great exhibits that kept even Bam-Bam interested for over an hour.



After a quick picnic lunch, we headed to Emmitsburg, MD which is just 20 minutes across the border. Maryland is justly proud of their home-grown saint. St. Elizabeth Ann, one of our SAA patrons, helped to found Catholic schools open to all as well as an order of Religious Sisters to help run these schools. SEA was a convert, a widow and a once-wealthy-but-disowned woman who gave it all up to be Catholic and to do the good. At least two of her daughters also joined the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph.



Literally a stone's throw from the Shrine is Mount St. Mary's University, or "The Mount" as it's called locally. Kotch is VERY interested in attending The Mount. The history of the place alone would make me want to go, but it's got her potential majors (biology, environmental, pre-med, international), is pretty Catholic, relatively small (1600 undergrad) with 90% living on-campus and near big cities. We had a great tour of the campus, including the on-campus Church -- 100 years old and GORGEOUS, the brand-new Bicentennial Hall (which is as nice as a hotel for a residence hall), and the science labs (which look the same as the labs 25 years ago but are now state-of-the-art).



The Mount seems to do a great job of educating the student to be an intelligent, well-formed Catholic in the new millenium (altho it's not as orthodox as some, it's not as bad as others).



So, come viist and join us next time we go traveling!

... and the prodigal returns

On May 30th, Brikhead drove off down the street to begin his college career. Since then, we've had a dozen or so emails and three phone calls from our sports-fanatic son. You see, not only was he going to classes (his to keep his grades at 3.0 or higher to continue to get scholarships) and working .... it seems he was also at EVERY HOME game for LSU! He was there when they were winning ... and there for the rather distressing loss to unranked Arkansas! And he'll be there for the BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans on January 7th.

But in between, he will be HOME! God willing, he'll be here on the 13th (St. Lucy's Feast Day) and then leave on the 6th of January. He'll be working (so he can afford another semester at Harvard-on-the-Bayou), eating and sleeping .... and maybe getting in a few games of football with his younger siblings.

Please keep him in your prayers -- as he finishes his semester, as he travels back home, and that he can get lots of hours of working in while he's home! Oh, and if you can keep it a secret that he's coming home .... we're trying to surprise the littles and granmere!

And he's off ...

... to college. Brikhead starts at LSU on Tuesday and left today to spend a couple of days with his step-sister's family and then on to Tiger Territory .... please keep him in your prayers as he starts out on his adult life ....

Thanks!