Late night thoughts

I'm not sure what to write... I'm home for Christmas. That is good. I've enjoyed seeing my family for the last week and a half. I leave for California Monday.

I came home on Recruiter's assistance. All that means is I worked about 11 hours a day down at the Recruiting office for the local recruiter. I didn't bring in a contract but i was helpful in other ways.

I got to get geared up for school now. I hope I enjoy it. I'll try and post more often for anyone who might actually read my blog.

So long,
Matthew.

Home on Leave

Well I did it. What a ride! I am now a marine.

I've enjoyed being around my family for the last few days. They were the ones I missed the most. Bootcamp itself wasn't that challenging. It was being away from my family and being around drill instructors, who's purpose in life was to make your life miserable, that ended up being my biggest challenge. As far as training goes, it was smooth sailing. There was only one hike which happened to be 10 miles long that I feared I wouldn't make it through. But I made and feel great. Now comes MCT (Marine Combat Training.) 3 hard weeks of training that will prepare me even more for the stress of combat. 3 weeks that will push my body to its limit just like the 10 mile hike. I ask for prayer and strength to make it through. After MCT I will fly out to 29 palms for my MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) schooling. I hope to come home for a few weeks for Christmas but that may not happen. Thank You for all your prayers, letters, and support. I appreciate having friends and family that care about my story.

God bless,
Matthew.


MCT videos: http://www.devildogs.info/MCT.htm

The Marine's Bible

...Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
To please the recruiter, no one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of everyday life... Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

-Paul (2 Timothy 2:1b-3, 7)

Off to Basic Training

Hey everyone I'm leaving for bootcamp. I'll talk to you all when I get back. If everything goes as planned I'll be back at the end of October or Early September. Ask God to strengthen me and keep me during the whole thing.

Going away Party

Sunday, July 16th at my House from 4:00pm to closing.

Umpiring

Life is good. I've been down at the park umpiring the game that made my childhood so enjoyable. The game that I grew to love and dreamed of playing professionally. The game that I now watch other kids play and enjoy. YEAH! Baseball!

I wonder if I will find a profession in life that is as fun as baseball. If God made me good at baseball and gave me a desire to play it until now; won't he give me another gift that I will enjoy doing outside of baseball? I say, YES.

I plan on pursuing a side career in umpiring, it's fun and its good money too. But for now I will perfect my skill down at the ballpark where I first found the game of baseball.

Psalms 27:4

One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple.

-The fugitive David

AAU Baseball for my Bro.

Hey, Hey all you out there. Well, all 2 and a half of you. My brother just tried out for an AAU 16 yr. Old traveling baseball team and made it. If you know anything about baseball, this means he's playing with the best of the best. He'll be playing for the Mustangs out of Westfield. Their facility was unbelievable. Everything a baseball player needs. He is an official left handed pitcher. I'm not sure if he's starting but he will be pitching this Saturday in a tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is so sweet!!

The pitching coach put 5 mph on his throw after working with him for 5 min ( not bad at all). The pitching coach also improved his change-up by adjusting his finger position. Did I mention he has defense behind for the first time in his career. These boys are good.

Aight I'm out.

The End of High School Baseball

Saturday
June 10th

My final Game

Well it wasn't all I wanted it to be but some good things did happen amongst the rain and pitching struggles. My brother was the starting pitcher and threw for 2 and 1/3 innings. He then came out with a sore shoulder from throwing a ball that slipped out of his hand. Between the long half innings where we played 30 min. of defense, we did well at the plate. I batted fifth and was up with two on first and second base. I sent a shot to left-center field driving in both runs before getting thrown out going for a triple. In the end the game was called after 3 complete innings due to rain. I finished my highschool baseball career batting 1 for 1 with two RBIs and a walk. Even though we were loosing 12 to 2, I enjoyed it all. How can you not enjoy the last game you'll ever play in highschool?

Baseball

Monday Curtis and I played a double-header in Lafayette. We took them both easy, racking up around 10 runs a game. Curtis pitched the entire second game of the Doubler. He struggled with accuracy but still got the win, only giving up 3 runs. I did well at the plate coming out of a 0 for 6 slump. We play a tournament in Indianapolis this weekend to wrap up the season.

The Pond

It's nasty!!! If you have ever worked on a pond, you know it can be pretty nasty around the edge. Some people put up with the vegetation that grows around the pond and some people fix that problem. I happen to be working for people that fix that problem. First, da drain de pond. Second, we'd destroy de weeds. Third, which is the rewarding part, we lay the plastic. This ensure the vegetation never returns. We aren't quit to the "lay the plastic" part. We have to dig the seaweed out of the bottom along with the frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs, turtle, frogs, frogs, tadpole, frogs. Get my point? I guess the refreshingly cool water on a hot summer day keeps people diggin these things.

Graduation

It feels good to finally be done with high school. For those who didn't know that I had to take one more science to finish high school, now you do. As of yesterday I am done with it. I'm the type of guy that doesn't really realize something big has happened till the day of or well aftewards. So as of right now, I still have the "big deal" attitude. Maybe it will change after today or maybe it won't. I'm ready to start my adventure in the military and I pray that the Lord will bless me through it. Whaaahooo!!! I'm done

For Nardoni

Where'd I find this at?

The Whole Fred Factor Thing

Well I started thinking about what I was actually going to do about this book. I think it's illegal to talk about ideas from books in writting. You know the whole copyright thing. Let me know what you think.

TimNardoni

Nardoni's blog

Joe and Rachel

Hey I'll miss you guys. Thanks for helping out with the Youth group for the last two and a half years. Even though you guys are gone, don't be strangers. They have this thing called email and blogs that can keep the connection goin. :-)

Well at church yesterday we talked about being a witness with are life and not just by telling our story of grace. I think God is really preparing me to be a witness for him when I step outside of my Christian circle and into life as a marine. The message was centered around Paul's trial before the corrupt Roman governor Felix. How Paul's life was so consistent with his story of grace, that even Felix could not find a corrupt thing in him. Paul was so consistent that Felix had to resort to bribery. I want that kind a consistency in my walk with the Lord!!!

The Fred Factor

Well I'm reading a book by Mark Sanborn and it pretty much focuses on how to be an extrodinary person in your ordinary day. I've enjoyed it thus far and will probably keep writting about it over the next few weeks. By the way, the book's title is The Fred Factor.