twelve and six

The Suns are now on a nine game winning streak! They beat the Boston Celtics, who had a pretty good effort tonight, 116 - 111. As Dan Marjlie says, "Holla'!" Shawn Marion, who played more than any other Suns player with 50 minutes in last night's battle with the Nets (Suns winning 161 - 157), came back with another big night of 29 points and 12 rebounds in 35 minutes. Oh, and I found out that the previous game (against the Nets) was the fourth highest scoring game in the history of the NBA. How 'bout that? You'd think the Suns would be tired and just kind of give up, letting the Celtics have a win. But, as this season is starting to show about them, the Suns are not quitters and they want the Ws. Nine games is the largest winning streak in the league, right now, but the Mavericks had a 12 game winning streak already. The longest in Suns' history was a 14 game winning streak. Are we headed to break some records? Is Nash headed for a third straight MVP? Time will tell. GO SUNS!

eleven and six

The Suns have an eight game winning streak; and what a way to make it eight! This game was an even higher scoring game than last season's Suns vs. Sonics game. There have only been two games in the 11+ seasons that both teams combined for over 300 points: the Suns were involved in both of them, though we lost the first. Jason Kidd had a valiant effort to keep the Nets in the game late in the second OT. There were 21 ties in the game. Steve Nash had a regular season career high of 42 points. What a show! Excitement and adrenaline running wild! And I can't believe that the national coverage of this game was passed up to cover some other game. Talk about an instant classic game. Great way to start the Suns five game road trip. 161 - 157. What a great game. Those who were in the arena got their money's worth, that's for sure; I did, too, but I didn't have to pay for it! WOOHOO! Next game is tomorrow in Boston against the Celtics. Tipoff at 5:30pm AZ time. GO SUNS!

woot

Double overtime! 143 - 143. Jason Kidd tried a last second banked jump shot but missed, so the Suns stayed alive. The Suns, now without Raja or Amaré, have another five minute OT to prove their worth. The Nets are without Vince Carter, who fouled out in regulation. What a game! GO SUNS!

WOW!

Like see-saws? Back and forth, back and forth. No defense at all. The Suns and Nets go 133 - 133 in regulation! Nash hits the three to tie with three seconds left in the game. The Suns force an overtime. WOOHOO! Now this is a show! GO SUNS!

ell

ELL students are students who are English Language Learners, meaning it is not their first language and are not proficient enough in English to succeed without accommodations. I was informed of one student that I had at the beginning of the year that was ELL. If the student has a D or F at the end of each quarter, then I have to turn in a form that shows all of the accommodations that I've made to aid that student. Today, in my staff mailbox, I find a list that has four total students on it, one that I knew needed some more help (no surprise there), one who I can understand being partially ELL (but ready to exit), and the last I never would have guessed. The fourth student's English is perfect. He understands every word I say, just not every math concept, but that's a different reason other than language needs. He told me that he was exitted from the program after he tested out of it last year. Now I've got to deal with the paper work of the new three students added to my ELL list, because they all have Ds. And there was much rejoicing...yaaaaay.

half day

Oh, the dreaded half day. Well, not for the student, but for the teacher, that is. Half days are a waste of time for student learning as well as a waste of time for teacher learning (at least at DVHS, since we haven't had any of the in-services that the principals said we would the week before school started). It seems that each half day becomes a day missed to actually do something worthwhile with our students. The students don't want to do anything because they "don't have to do anything in any other classes." So, instead of math, they are doing the writing prompts that the admin is telling us the district is making them make us do. What a tangled mess this bureaucracy seems to create. GO SKYHAWKS! I guess there is a high note to the day: I get to walk home for lunch and eat lunch with my wife! Love you, Amy.

ten and six

The Suns are now on a seven game winning streak! The Suns took out the Sacramento Kings (now 8 - 9) Tuesday night, 127 - 102, lifting the Suns to a 10 - 6 secord. I only got to watch the last few minutes, but we were up by so much that the bench was playing. The last three shots made by the Suns were all Pat Burke, who hit three three-pointers in a row. The crowd was cheering "We want Pat, we want Pat!" It was fun to see the end and the excitement. Raja Bell was going for a Suns' record, but he missed the record by one three-point shot. Nash had 20 assists in a regulation game. His career high was during an overtime game where he dished out 22 dimes. Barbosa got the game high of 26 points, followed by Marion with 23. Six Suns' players were in double figures scoring. We just ended a three-game homestand, and now it's time for a five game road trip. Here comes the challenge to the finely tuned machine that is the Phoenix Suns. First up: the NJ Nets (7 - 10). GO SUNS!

four cryin' out loud

The guys in the barbershop quartet Four Cryin' Out Loud (the second group named such from Southwestern College; same bass and tenor) met last night to nail some rough spots down. We are performing this Friday night at Northwest Community Church for their Women's Christmas Tea. Our families all got together to eat before we practiced, and we all had a few laughs: and such is very normal with this group. I am looking forward to performing together, and possibly getting more Christmas gigs for this season. We'll just have to see.

yo mama

Katherine Ann Van Liew (Bonsack) is my mother. She has been going through a lot of difficulties physically for years. First, she's had to have two back surgeries; both were very invasive and serious. The second surgery, the doctors (in AZ) went in and actually fused together two of her vertebrae, in order to stop the back problems she was having. She was in wrenching pain beforehand, and she was in wrenching pain afterward as she recovered for a long time. Amy (my wonderful wife of four years) and I were able to have my mom live with us for a month or so after the second surgery. It was hard for all of us, but the Lord pulled my mom through and has healed her back now. Second, my mom has had stomach issues for a long time. A couple weeks ago, the doctors (now in AL) decided it was time for my mom's gall bladder to be taken out. So it was. She then had a very hard week, or so, afterward in recovery; but the pain wasn't from recovery: something else was wrong. They found that her bile (liver produced) was somehow leaking where it shouldn't, so they had to go in again to place a stint where the issue was. They went in orthoscopicly (from which she's incurred no problems) and place the stint by her liver. The operation was a success. Starting a week ago, she's felt better than she's felt in a long, long time. She told me that she even got a leaf blower/vac and was enjoying going outside and using it to clean up the yard. She was excited about it even. What joy it brought me to hear my mom talk like that (meaning that she was feeling well enough to enjoy working outside). This past Friday, the doctors went again down her throat to remove the stint, and that was also successful. She was so out of it, though, from her anesthesia, that she called me, had a thirty minute conversation on numerous topics, but didn't even remember calling me the next day. How strange the human mind is (a thought from her). We talked the next day, resaid everything that had been said the day before (but I finished her sentences this time), and I enjoyed every minute of it. What a blessing it is to know that the Lord provides! To God be all the glory for the great things He has done which show off His character for us to see and respond to. That He would even give me a chance to respond! Love you, mom.

znotaboutme

Yesterday, I taught at ncc again in the studentministries. I spoke on James 5.13-18. I will teach again on this coming Sunday, and will be closing up a 12 week stand in James with ch5 vv19-20. For any of the sm@ncc's messages from any of our teachers, please feel free to visit www.znotaboutme.com and click on "messages" at the top. You can listen online, or download them for later listening pleasure. I felt that the Lord used me, and that there was no way that it could have totally been me. I'm sure that my sinfulness got in the way somewhere, but the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness , and relenting of evil (Joel 2.13). How great is our God, and greatly to be praised! It can't be about me. It must be about Him. He is glorified as His character is shown off to the world around us. It is our job to be like Him in order to show others even a slight glimpse of who He is. He has radically changed my heart, and He will do the same for you. Leave me a comment if you want to talk about it, and I'll get back to you. He alone is worthy.

less and less

It almost seems, lately, that I've only got something to talk about if it involves the Suns, and then only when they're playing. This blog wasn't meant to be a Suns featurette, so we'll have to rectify that. And I only wrote 7 times this last week, which is half of the lowest amount I've done since I began this specific page five weeks ago. We'll have to deal with that one, as well.