Big Win and More..

Hellooooooooooooooooo everyone, let me tell you all about the game that we had last night.

Like I mentioned before, we played the same team that we lost to in the Israeli Cup game by one point at the buzzer. Well, last night we were tied at 66 with 10 seconds left in the game. We all knew that they were going to give the ball to Jia Perkins, their star player who was actually on fire in the second half. We anticipated it and trapped her coming off of the screen, and as she tried to pass out of it her pass was picked off by one of our new teammates, Sherri Sam, and with three seconds left in the game Sherri managed to make it down the court and scoop in a shot off the glass as the buzzer went off.

Everyone in the gym was screaming, some was due to excitement, and others were due to frustration saying that the basket could not have counted. Many thought that it was after the buzzer went off. Our team was really happy and we were running around like we had won the championship, I do look at it as one step closer to it though. We were all very happy and excited, especially with us playing with a new player and managing to make things work for all of us. HOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!

Also this week our team got up and did a little clinic with some young girls that are up and coming athletes over here in Israel. It was really fun. We did some ball handling drills with them, some competitive drills with the balls, and we also got to scrimmage against the girls. They had a blast and so did we.

This week has been a very good week. We got a new President, we won a game that was a much needed win, we put some smiles on some young girls faces, and I finished the book that I was reading called The Shack. I am not sure if everyone have ever heard about The Shack, but it is definitely a book that I highly recommend to any and everyone. This book will have you feeling great about life and yourself. It may even have you searching deep within yourself. It is about a young boy who has a tough childhood and grows up with a lot of anger in his heart towards God, but has a life changing experience. I am sorry that I cannot give you a better summary of the book, but if I continue I may give it away, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone. Once again I highly, highly recommend everyone getting this book. It is written by Wm. Paul Young. It is a great story and a nice easy read. I promise you, you would not want to put it down.

Until next time...............................

Meek

HOPE in the Air..

Hello everyone, I have to be honest there has not been a lot of stuff going on here with me in Israel. We have been practicing a lot, working on some things that we really need to work on, and scrimmaging against others to prepare ourselves for our first game of the second half. We play against the team that we lost to in the Semi-finals in the cup right before the Christmas break. I am ready for that this Thursday.

But the main reason for me writing this blog was to share the happiness with many Americans for what took place on this wonderful day. Starting today we have a new president. I am so happy and so proud of the strides that our country is taking in the right direction. I think this is truly a blessing to our country as well as many others. I am so excited for the Obama's and so glad that I am here to witness what everyone thought would never ever happen. The first African-American President.

Before this day of course we celebrated another great American on the 19th. Martin Luther King Jr's 80th Birthday. Dr. King spoke about this happening 45/46 years ago, and no one ever thought that they would witness it. To hear Dr. King's speech on Monday was still amazing. I honestly get chills every time I hear it, and it never, never, never gets old. For Dr. King to have that belief and that passion at the age that he did; not just for African-American boys and girls, men and women, but for all races and nationalities in America was something spectacular in itself. And for an African-American who believes the same thing to be put in the most powerful seat in the world following Dr. King's 80th Birthday, is beyond amazing.

I think this will open the doors for many, as well as raise the H.O.P.E. for all the young girls and boys, men and women..... to strive to become the best that they can be. It is definitely true now . The sky is the limit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I truly hope that we as Americans do our part in helping bring America back to the way it was. The way that it is suppose to be. It is the land of opportunity, the land of the free, the land of H.O.P.E., and so much more. I am looking forward to all that will come with this. There are a lot of things that need to be fixed and I know as well as everyone else that it will not happen in a blink of an eye; but the one thing that puts smiles on people's faces is the feeling and belief that we now have someone in office that cares about what will happen with our country. That alone is some thing that smile about!!!!!!!!!!!! Right now America is holding on to belief and HOPE. And who better to help out with that than Barack and Michelle Obama!

What a wonderful Day.

Meek

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!

I hope that everyone had a terrific holiday, and that Santa was able to grant all of your wishes. We have been blessed to see another year, and I don't know about you all but I am very happy and Thankful for that. I hope that 2009 will be just as good if not better to you than 2008 was. Whatever you were dealing with in '08' try your best not to let it affect you the same way in '09' This is a new year, and opportunity for new beginnings. I know that things are bad in a lot of places, and i know that the economy is not where we would like it to be. So many of those things are out of our control. So I ask everyone to try their best to find happiness in whatever it is that they do still have. God, Yourself, your health and strength, family, friends, teammates, churches etc. There are still so many things to be thankful in these trying times. Don't like all the good that cant still occur be affect by the bad that we can not control.

Now on to some of the things that I did while being at home with my family and friends.

When I left Israel I went on to visit my best friend and her family In Miami. We had a blast. I had not seen her in like 6 months so it was so good finally seeing her again. We exchange Christmas gifts which we both loved very much, her mother( which is my second mom) and exchanged gifts as well. We all began to catch up and talk about some of the things that had been going on in our lives. We went out on the town, did some shopping, went out to eat etc. but for the most part we just sat around talking and enjoying each others company. I stayed there for like 3 or 4 days and from there flew into New Orleans to be with my family. I brought in the new year in my grandmothers house with most of my family members. It was kind of hard but I know that was the right place to be. Some people may understand this and some may not, but as much as I love my family, it was and is super hard for me to be around them right now for holiday things. For 25 of my 26 years I have always had my grandmother with my for the holidays, so I wasn't looking forward to being with my family at all for the holidays. It was just too hard for me. I was not home for Christmas so that kind of helped me, but did bring in the new year with them like mentioned earlier. On new years day, I had my little cousin who is like my brother with me and my best friend came down to baton rouge with me for a few days. She flew in and I picked her up from the airport, from there we headed to LSU we were happy that we were able to catch one of the lady tigers games. It was really good to see how much that young team has really been making progress. You can see that they have been working really hard and I am extremely proud of them. While there at the game, we were able to see some people that we had not seen in a long time and all the fans were happy to see Sylvia back in the PMAC since she had not been back there since she finished playing. They were all happy to see the Olympian back on the premises. After the game was over we spoke to the coaches and the players, and the three of us headed to Mike Anderson's which is one of the best seafood restaurants that we have tasted. It is one of our favorites. We also hit up some of our other favorite places, such as Sullivan's- great steaks and if you wan to just relax and listen to music there is a bar and a live band playing on the other side of the restaurant it is a nice setting. We were able to get us some sushi from Ichibian this Japanese place in baton rouge that we like. It was a great time. We saw a movie, visited friends, shopped and was able to take some pictures. It was a great time. After she left I went back to spend some more days with my family and do more family things with them and the kids of the family. Then my mom and my sister ad my new niece came back with me to my house to spend some time with me at my house. I gave my mom her gift which she loved. She wanted a laptop for Christmas so she was blessed with it. I guess Santa was good to her . She was very excited so that was enough for me. I was happy to see a smile on her face. The next day I went o visit the elementary school that I adopted. It was so great to see those kids and their teachers again. I was able to participate in their dance exercises that they were doing during P.E., I got a chance to attend some of their classes, i did some question and answers with them, but the most amazing part of it all was all the hugs that I got as well as the ones that I gave. I think that means more to the kids than anything. It amazing how far just one hug can go .

As you can see I was very busy while I was home, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I am not back in Israel, oh yeah and I didn't mention how my family was in an up roar about me coming back here while I was home after watching what was going on over in Gaza with the war. Don't worry everyone, all is good where I am. I called everyone that I knew to call, I spoke with my agent, my teammates, my owners of my club, and some of the other Americans that were here already. They all told me the same thing. That it is so far away from where we are and that we are not affected by it. I was a little nervous at first but I did trust them. I am now back and so far they were all right. But I will promise everyone this. If i feel as though there is any danger headed this way, I will be on the first plane back to America. Ok I am off to get some rest now but I will keep everyone posted.

Until next time.............

One more thing I would love for you all to write in some of your new years resolutions. I would love to read them and see some of things that you all have to say.