Season Ends..

Hey Everyone!

I have to say that I am a little saddened that our season has come to an end here. I wish I was writing you to tell you that we were able to pull off a win but unfortunately I am not. I didn't get to play in game two due to a stomach virus or food poison (one of the two). All I can say was that it was a lot of pain. Our team fell to 0-2 against a very good Ramat Hasharon team, and one yesterday we were not able to redeem ourselves to go any further.

I have enjoyed my time here and have learned and grown a lot. The people here were really nice and did all that they can to help us out in every way possible. My teammates work extremely hard each and everyday, and together were grew stronger and stronger on the court and as sisters. I am looking forward to getting back into the states though. Before I leave here I wanted to make sure that I visited all the historical sites that I could. I know that I have been writing that I was going to be visiting Jerusalem and never wrote about it, well that's because I didn't get to go then, but Today was a great day and yes Y'all I went to Jerusalem.

Me, charde and one of her friends hopped in the car and headed down there. We had a wonderful time. We visited all kinds of sites; we saw The Grave of The Virgin Mary, and then across the street from that was the Garden of Gethesemane where Jesus was the day before he was crucified and where he also found out that he was betrayed. It was beautiful, from there we visited Bethlehem and saw all the wonderful sites and beautiful artifacts. We also went in the tunnel where Mary and Joseph were when Jesus Himself was born. There is a star engraved there where Jesus was delivered, and right on the side of it is where he was placed to rest once he was all cleaned up.

From there we went to visit the Wailing Wall. This is the wall that everyone prays on and and you can also put a letter to God inside the cracks of the wall. You can stay there all day if you would like. It is such and amazing experience, Don't worry I prayed for everyone. (Smiling)

From there we went on to visit the sites where Jesus was buried and we were able to see the actual place his body was laid down and washed after he was taking off of the cross. We were able to walk up the stairs which was the walk up Calvary where Jesus walked before he was nailed to the cross. We also saw the ground that shook once Jesus blood hit the ground when he died on the cross and in that crack right you could see a little trail of Jesus blood. All in all, it was a really great day.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention to you all that I road a camel Huh? Yes I did. I got on a camel today, I was somewhat scared in the beginning but the trainer assured me that I had nothing to worry about and it turned out that he was right. The camel was very obedient and cooperative. It was a very long day everyone but a very good one. I am headed back to some more site tomorrow, so I should be back on here telling you more about the great things here.

One last thing before I go. I know I touched on this a little in the last blog, but I can not begin to express how happy I am that I am now with the Phoenix Mercury. I look forward to great things, and playing alongside of some great players. This is a new start and a fresh beginning and I am looking forward to every minute of it.

Ok everyone until next time..

Meek

Headed to Phoenix!!

big news everyone!! i'm heading to the Phoenix Mercury!! i'm excited to head to a team that really did everything to get me.. it feels great, and i know it's going to be a great season.. while i'll miss my teammates, i also know that this is a business.. I wish we could've won a championship together, but i'll be looking to get that title w/ my new teammates on the Mercury! it's going to be an exciting season..

check out the news!

First Team Selection & Facebook..

What's going on?!

I'll be quick and to the point (pun intended).. I wanted to share the big news that I was selected as one of the Top 5 players in the league over here.. It's big news for me, especially as I got a late start over here.. Check out the link (or go to my web page) for that news..

Also, I'm on Facebook now.. I have a Page and a Group.. Make sure that you add me and join the group for the latest and greatest on there as well.. I'll be adding more pictures to that page, so you'll be able to see more of me there..

Thanks for the support!!

Until next time......

Meek

Happy Birthday, Grandmom..

Hello everyone this has been a tough week for me. I have to say that I have kept it together pretty well though.

Today, March 20th, is my Grandmother Jewel's Birthday. I am missing her so bad it is crazy. I was looking forward to calling her and sending her something home to put a smile on her face but hey. My family and I was able to get through the first Thanksgiving, the first Christmas, and now we will have to get through this first Birthday. I figured it like this she would have been sixty seven here on earth, with stress and concern, worry, sorrow, love, happiness, sadness, sickness, etc. But she is almost one year in Heaven so I figure she is having the best times ever there and can just have fun and enjoy being a child. A true child of God. There is peace, happiness, love, caring, joy, laughter all the good stuff. I find comfort in knowing that she is happy. So that's that. I know some may read this and say that I am crazy but thats just how I feel and I wanted to share.

Now on to the games this week.

On Monday we lost to Ramat Hen, Ivory Latta and Shay Doron's Team. We lost to them at the buzzer it was a very intense game and quite a fun one. We had a chance to take second place and it didn't work out like that. We did beat Holon last night though. I have to say that the team really played well. We were all on the same page and everyone stepped up and played well for each other. We are now headed into the final four, where we will have to play Ramat Hasharon Eboni Hoffman and Jia Perkins' team. This will be a very tough first round, but I do think that we could beat them. It will be a best out of five series so everyone keep your fingers cross until the next blog post. I am hopeful that I will be telling everyone that we have advanced to the championship game.....................

Until then later everyone..

Meek

WNBA.com Feature

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I'm featured on WNBA.com again!

Check it out here.. WNBA Feature..

Hope you like it!!

Meek

This week started out very interesting. With a day off after our win against Ashdod, my teammate Charde and one of her friends along with myself spent a little day away from basketball. We started out at the Safari here. It is called the African Park. Once you pay to get in, you drive yourself through the park in your own car so you can stop and see all the animals as well as take as many pictures as you would like. I found this very interesting and kind of fun. It was something different to do and I actually liked it.

The animals were, of course, some that I had never ever seen before. I will list a couple that we were able to see:

Scimitar-Horned Oryx: it lives in the sands of North Africa deserts in herds of 10-12 animals both the males and females have Scimitar shaped horns;

Nubian Ibex: its family relatives are of the goats; They live in hilly, desert areas in Israel;

White Rrhinoceros: they live in small herds and feed on wild grass; it is said that in Africa they are hunted for their horns and then sold at a very high price in Asia;

Somali Wild Ass: these were very cute and you can tell that they were a little unique; they are the ancestors of the domestic donkey, and is the rarest of all the horse family with only 500 remaining;

Arabian Oryx: they adapted to the desert climate, they need little water, and sparse vegetation;

Grant Zebras, and the Grevy Zebra: I honestly didn't know that there were different zebras like this. The Grevy Zebras are a larger species than the Grant species and their stripes are a lot narrower and the also have white bellies. They live in small families, not in herds like the Grant Zebras, and they are closer to extinction in the wild;

Eland: they are the largest of all the antelopes;

Waterbuck: what I found interesting about them is that when they are in danger they jump into water and stay there until the danger passes, i am not sure about everyone else but I found this interesting about them;

The Gnu: Another animal that is interesting to me. It has a very distinct appearance, the hind quarters are lower than the shoulders, the head looks like a cow, and the tail is like a Horse's tail. They are common in East Africa plains, and they migrate with the zebra herds;

Addax: they too live in herds of about 20 individuals. their broad hooves allow them to gallop on sand dunes without sinking;

Other animals that were there were the lions, ostrich, crowned crane, Marabou of the bird family (it spreads its large wings to expose themselves to the sun, the Solar radiation helps them to rid themselves of feather parasites), the flamingo, the hippopotamus, the pelican, giraffe, Nyala, Sable Antelope (their names refer to their body color, they travel in herds that include one male and a few females; the females are a lighter brown), and the Gazelle.

I am sorry to blab on about the animals, I just wanted to make sure some of you knew exactly what some of them were as well as a little about them.

From there we went on to the mall to find a gift for our teammates, whose name we had pulled out of a hat of names. I will explain this part later on. We also grabbed a bite to eat and strolled the mall for a little while. Once we found what were looking for we headed to the movies. We were there to see the movie Changeling, but it wasnt showing at the time that we wanted to see it, so we went to see the movie Slum Dog Millionaire. Now I had heard about this movie but I wasnt sure of how it would actually be and to tell you the truth I am mad I waited so long to go see it. It was awesome. A very good movie. After the movie was over we headed home. We figured that was a long enough day for us.

The next day we are getting ready to go to practice and after practice we had to exchange gifts with one another. This is what I had mentioned earlier. This day is March 10th and it is a holiday here in Israel. It is called Purim. If anyone has ever read the Book of Esther in the Bible it speaks about this. Purim is a Jewish Holiday commemorating their Deliverance from Massacre by Haman. This was a plot to destroy all of the Jews in Persia. It is kind of a unique day to those of us that are not Jewish. To me it is like halloween, Christmas, and Mother's day all in one. Actually Mother's day is March 8th here and all over Europe. This is the day that they celebrate mothers; they call it womens day.

Anyways, sorry for getting off track..... where was I.... Oh yeah... Purim, it started out as you originally giving gifts or candy to the poor, as much as you wanted to or would like, from there you can get it to your family, and your friends etc... it is still like this but there is also a lot more fun with it than it was when it first started... this is the part that is like halloween. Everyone here dresses up with costumes, and paint there faces and enjoy this day of celebrations. There costumes though are not like ours, they are not scary or anything like that. they are mostly action figures, and animals, no devils, vampires, etc things of that sort. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that it is also like Mardi Gras, there are also parades in the different cities all over this country all celebrating and having a blast. All dressed up and faces made up, it is a day of feasting and gladness for the people of this country and I was happy to be a part of it, experience it, and share it with them. Believe it or not this was just the first two days of the week. Talk about and interesting start.

Now on to the other stuff.........We had another game last night and it didn't turn out as well as we had planned. We lost to a very good team. Ebony Hoffman played very well for her club as well as Jia Perkins. We will be playing again on Monday against Ivory Latta and her club so hopefully I will come back with a victorious story.

Until next time.....

Meek

Meek Earns MVP AGAIN!

Meek is at it again!! She's having a great playoff run, so stay tuned.. The MVP is just the beginning..

Meek Earns MVP

Long Victorious Week..

Hello all, this has been one stuffed week.

We have played 3 games in 6 days with one day off. So I think you all will understand when I say that my body really hurts, but it is good though because we are winning. We won the last regular season game on Monday, then started the playoffs on Thursday. We played against Ramla to open up and it went to the wire. It was a very physical game, yet exciting game. Sherri Sam did all that she could to try and lead her team to victory but we were able to overcome that. Our team played really hard, and gave a great effort, but we turned the ball over way too many times. (Come on now everyone knows that there is always a but) LOL.

On to the next game which was against Ashdod. We won this game as well and it was yet another fight. Tahsa Humphrey did all that she could to lead her team to victory, along side her was Sherril Baker with that explosiveness, but we were able to pull away from them as well. Charde led us tonight with a great effort and a hurt eye after getting poked in it in the third quarter. She was a warrior and came through very big for us. We have some things to continue to work on and I am sure with the coach that we have here, we will definitely get it together. I haven't spoken much about our coach in these blogs, but I feel that everyone should know that Shiki (that's his name) is one of the best coaches that I have come across. I am happy and honored that our paths have crossed. He is so passionate about what he does and cares deeply for his players. He wants nothing but the best and expects that of you as well. He wants nothing more than for a player to reach her full potential. I love that about him. So with all that being said I know that he will get us where we need to be.

Until next time I will keep everyone posted. I know I have been speaking about picture from Jerusalem and I promise everyone that I will get them up there. I haven't been there due to the hectic schedule that we have been having but I will go and have some amazing pictures to show.

Thanks to everyone..

Meek

Regular Season Comes to an End..

Hey there everyone!

We have finally come to the end of the regular season. Last night was our last game and we came out on top. If I am not mistaken, we beat the team by almost forty points. I am not boasting about that but I am happy that our team played well and showed what we are once again capable of.

We started the game out like we meant business and that was a great sign for us. Now we are about to start the playoffs. I am excited about that especially the way we finished the regular season, we are going into the playoffs with a great attitude. As well as a good gel within the team. This will be a fun and testing time for us so hold on to your seats and enjoy the ride with us.

There is a busy week ahead of us so I will be getting back to you really soon. We have two more games this week as well as a trip to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea with the team. I am looking forward to it all and sharing it with all of you. Thanks for the support...

Until next time..

Meek