Serve by Design

Our youngest granddaughter, Klaire Michelle, recently completed her first volleyball camp in the nearby high school gym. She loved it! Klaire is a petite, yet athletic, nine-year-old who’s going into fourth grade. She, along with one hundred other campers, participated in a week of disciplined two-hour sessions that included instruction and hands-on (pun intended!) practice! Hey Girl, Keep Diggin'!! Both of our twin daughters played volleyball during their middle and high school years. They were short in stature, but gritty, daring, and highly competitive! They were our team’s best diggers long before the sport would designate specialists called Liberos, who excelled in backrow defense. Monique, their mother, continues to score for the Libero during high school volleyball games! What makes a backrow specialist so valuable? They are agile, have quick hands, and are balanced on their feet. Diggers must get low enough to the floor to protect against the deadly hits of fierce tall hi...

Did you hear about the little boy who comforted his mother? She was having an emotional day as her twin boys headed off for their first day of school. Their four-year-old brother, Andrew, along with the mother, had walked them from the house to the corner where the bus would stop. When it arrived, the twins jumped up the steps into the bus and waved goodbye through the window. It was then that the mom broke out in tears! The younger brother comforted her with these words, “Mommy, don’t cry! Maybe one day you’ll get to ride the bus, too!” 😊 This funny story caught my attention for two reasons. One is that we have twin daughters, and the other reason is because of the subject of tears. I can remember what it was like to send those little red-haired charmers off to their first day of school. I couldn’t fight back my tears while they charged off hand in hand down the sidewalk and into Houston’s Ed White Elementary! They were ready for kindergarten, but I was not ready to let them go! Te...

How many times recently have you heard someone disparage technology? Parents, schools, and employers regularly monitor the use of cell phones. Even our smartphones are programmed to calculate daily screen time and post the results on our home pages. The government is also concerned that certain platforms are being used to steal personal identities or track citizen movement. Some of this caution is justified because there are innumerable “bad actors” out there who are engaged in nefarious activities and disruptions. Daily, we read or hear about security breaches! Image credit: clipart-library.com Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing industries today. A recent study revealed that there are 3.4 million cybersecurity jobs in the workforce. The number of college bachelor students seeking a degree in cyber engineering doubled from 3500 to over 7000 between 2018 and 2022! It is understandable that we should exercise some vigilance in the use of technology and avoid bad screen time. T...