I'll be a homeowner FRIDAY!!

Hi all!!

Yes, it's time to move out from living with Mom. It's really not been too bad however it's completely time for me to move on and actually live on my own and ALONE for once....kinda scary to be honest. I'll be closing on my townhouse in North Aurora this Friday. For those of you familiar with Turner's in Aurora, I'm just North of there across the tollway off Mitchell Road. New address will be 37 Johnson Court, North Aurora 60542!! ;o) Feel free to visit at anytime and now that I'm closer than Hainesville, I hope you can all come see me!!

Hope all is well!

Go Cubs!!

Sarah

Our Newest Family Member

I wanted to introduce the newest member of the family to everyone. Lexi Grace joined us Saturday June 14, 2008 at 8:00. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and is 20 inches long. She is simply beautiful.

I was able to speak with Lexi yesterday and learned some of her hopes and desires in life. I'm always amazed at how advanced the youth of today is.

Lexi intends to make the high honor role throughout her high school career, graduating first in her class, all while being lead choreographer for the school drill team. Lexi believes the true talent lays within the dance team and not simply shouting cheers into the crowd. After high school she will attend Duke University. I have to be honest here, she was undecided early in our conversation whether it should be Duke or Harvard but after talking to me she was sold. Duke it is! She believes in a good strong work ethic and feels that her one down fall is that she places to much pressure on herself to succeed. After graduating from Duke with her doctorate in medicine, architecture and business she hopes to design a new hospital facility centered around the maternity wing and improved methods of child birth.

I guess when you're only hours old there really isn't much of a base to pull from related to the needs of the world. I do applaud her intent though.

Lexi wanted me to appologize but she had to cut the conversation short. Nursing and a diaper change was desperately needed as well as a long nap. It's exhausting making you're way through the birthing canal. She did want me to let everyone know that she looks forward to meeting each of you.

Here is a picture of Richard & Bill with DJ and their good friends, Fred and Jim. Their combined age is 385 years. Bill is 88 and Jim (far right) is 92. May we all look so good at that age! Since Richard has told them all about you, I thought you might want to see them.

Greetings from your Uncle Richard!

Just returned from a visit with Richard and Bill. They said to "tell everyone we love them!" Richard found a little rug hooking kit in Darrell's closet--10 feet by 8 feet. It is The Last Supper. An incredible undertaking!

Vikings expect success

Pitcher Chris Jordan is just one reason for the Vikings' success.
(Donnell Collins/For the Beacon News)

Geneva puts together best four-year stretch in school history
May 23, 2008BY PAUL JOHNSON -- SPECIAL TO THE BEACON NEWS


When Matt Hahn finally got his first chance to be a head baseball coach at Geneva in 2005, he came in with a clear message.

"My first goal when I became the head coach (after serving as an assistant under Gary Spratt) was that the whole attitude needed to change," Hahn said. "Guys were like, 'If we win, great. If we lose, it's no big deal because after the game we're going to go do something.' Guys up and down the program have bought in that just being out there isn't good enough."
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Geneva baseball

Hahn's vision has played out in the best four-year stretch in the history of the program. His Vikings won 21 games in his first year, reached a regional title game his second year and then posted the best season in school history last year.

The Vikings tied the school record with 24 wins, winning a Western Sun Conference title and a regional title for the first time.

Today at 10 a.m. against Bartlett, an 8-3 winner over Glenbard West Thursday, Geneva hosts its first regional championship game as the No. 4 seed, the most respect a Vikings team has ever received.

"We talk about what our program goals are (win conference, win 20 games and win a regional title), and that has become the expectation," Hahn said. "We have guys when we lose, it sits with them, it eats at them, the same way it eats at me. I think that's been the biggest change in the program, that we now expect to win."

Senior ace Chris Jordan, who won Geneva's regional semifinal game against Streamwood Wednesday, has been on the varsity team for three years and has seen first-hand what Hahn's influence has brought to the program.

"It's been great," Jordan said. "It's been a lot different. When I was a freshman, those seniors had a lot of talent but they didn't really play as a team. Coach has stressed playing as a team out here and I think that helps a lot."

In order to continue Geneva's rise to respectability, the Vikings will need to win Saturday and make a run at sectionals for the first time ever.

The first step in that direction comes this morning as No. 2 starter Rodney Nelson takes the hill against a solid Bartlett club from the strong Upstate Eight Conference.

Geneva is basically hoping to avoid the fate it has suffered the past two years. The Vikings were knocked out by the eventual state champions, Naperville Central and Neuqua Valley, the past two years.

"I'll bet we're the only team in the state that got knocked out by the eventual state champion the last two years," Hahn said. "It's a good feeling (to be in the regional finals for the third straight season), but we know that we won't be satisfied unless we win Saturday."