Leaving GRACE and Teaching in Another Culture: This was very difficult for a few reasons. GRACE had been our home for the past nine years. We knew everyone and were very comfortable to just continue on there. As a teacher, I had a great rapport with my students and Tonya and I were involved in so many different aspects of the school. Fast forward to September: We don't know the language, We speak differently than the last speakers did so the students struggle to understand us (some of them anyway), and everything is different. The Grading Scale is different. The computers are different. I didn't know how to erase emails because I did not know the Czech word for "delete." There were just so many differences all at once. I would go more into them here, but I'll save that for later. Look at it this way: take everything you are used to, turn it upside down and backwards and then make it black and white instead of color. That is almost close to what we experienced in the first two months here.
Leaving Family: I have always been very close to my family. Living only forty-five minutes from where I grew up certainly helped. My parents, my sister, and my brother would come to our team's basketball games. We would go out and eat every couple of weeks. My dad always helped me with things that need to be fixed in our house. My mom always wanted to make sure we had enough of anything and everything we needed/wanted. We even lived with my sister and brother in law for the last month of our stay in the USA. The last day we were all together, we ate breakfast at the Atlantis Restaurant in North Myrtle Beach, SC. There were tears and long held hugs just before we pulled away. It is a hard thing, leaving a piece your heart behind. We look forward to the day when we will all be together again.
Leaving Basketball Behind: This is where it gets really difficult. We coached basketball together for ten years. One year at a school in Chattanooga, TN, and nine years in Raleigh.
Basketball became more than a chance to win championships or trophies. We had the opportunity to be around some of the most amazing girls that anyone could ever meet. We were coaches and we were friends. Sometimes we were the bad guys, and sometimes we were the heroes.
We coached middle school for a few years and then were blessed with the opportunity to move up to high school. I'll never forget our first year when we did not win a game until the last two weeks of the season (we won a total of three that year). The thing that really stood out to us that year was our lone senior captain. A girl who almost did not play at all, but decided to give a young couple a chance to make her better. She was our cornerstone. Thank you #55, we are always grateful for that.
Years past, and we went from bad to good to great. We won championships, shared family heartbreak, and became a family ourselves. The team became "Our Girls".
Then, in January 2012, we knew it was time to go. The Lord had called us to do something else for Him, and we were going to. All that was left was to tell our girls goodbye. We knew we were leaving for about one month before we told them. On the night of our first and only JV Championship we knew we had to tell them. Our varsity girls had just lost their championship game and we knew the whole group would not be together again for a long while. It was the hardest thing that we have ever done. If you have ever had to break the hearts of twelve teenage girls all at once, then you understand how we felt. My wife, I think felt it the hardest. Basketball has always been a huge part of her life, and saying goodbye was painful. It was clear that it was God's time though, because she had such peace about it. So with 83 wins and 58 losses, three varsity championships,(two tournament and one regular season) two 1,000 point scorers, and one girl playing in college, Coach Tonya Taylor left the building. Here's to hoping she will get the chance again one day, God willing.
If you ever played for us, thank you. You all impacted our lives more than you will ever know.
I am sure 2013 will be a year of change as well. I could do with a little less than 2012:)
