Y - June/July 09 - Carpe Diem

June/July 2009 Newsletter

Junior's:

• Congratulations to our 18 National for taking 3^rd in GOLD and 16 National teams for taking 5th in GOLD in their divisions at the AAU State tournament.

• Come play for free at Holland State Park! Tuesday and Thursday evenings, beginning between 6:00 and 6:30, there is ‘open play’ for all ages! Playing in the sand is the BEST training you can get for indoor volleyball! Not only do you touch the ball every other contact, you also learn how to move better and strengthen your muscles and joints! GREAT work-out to strengthen ankles and knees!

• Beach Leagues – at Holland State Park. Second Session begins July 20.

• Beach Tournaments – July dates: 11 & 12 and 25 & 26 at Holland State Park. Saturday’s are Men’s, Women’s and Youth (co-ed, 2 boy’s or 2 girl’s) divisions starting at 9:00. Sunday is Co-Ed and begins at noon.

• The MJVBA/AAU Michigan Championships on July 25^th. Open to ALL ages!

• Our Summer Indoor Camp schedule is available! We offer everything from All Skills to Hitters/Setters to Serving & Passing/Defense camps. Private lessons are another option! There is something for boys and girls from 8 to 18! Our first middle school camp had 23 AWESOME young people in attendance!! What fun!

• Many have already taken advantage of private training for individuals or teams, adult or youth, and we have limited private training times available. Contact Michelle to schedule a time.

Adults:

• The First Annual Midwest Collegiate Beach Championships are happening this summer at Holland State Park. If you are a young adult in college and love beach volleyball, come and compete against other colleges.

• Beach Leagues – At Holland State Park. Second Session begins July 20.

Extras:

• Carpe Diem Volleyball is a non-profit organization! As you look at our needs you will be able to write them off as a tax deduction!

• If you have any prayer requests please feel free to share them with us! Be sure to let us know if you'd like your request included in the newsletter or kept private. Thanks to those who have trusted us and presented their requests – what a privilege to carry those to God in prayer!

• Please keep Janie in prayer. Her latest check-up revealed that her heart surgery actually caused a hole in her heart and did not repair the dysfunctional valves. The next step sounds like full open heart surgery. Please pray for discernment in this and also for comfort and healing.

• Pray for a Carpe Diem family that has had many trials this year. They have had two deaths in the family and a close friend also passed away. A business partner was hit by a car and is finally home, but will need to learn to walk again over the next year. Along with this, their daughter Rachel was diagnosed with cancer (Large B-Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) and is undergoing treatment. They feel it is curable, but the chemo is taking a toll on her 20 year old body, as it does with all cancer patients. It is difficult for them to see Rachel going through such things and not be able to ‘do’ anything about her pain and sickness. They are doing well, have amazing attitudes and are quite a testimony to others going through such diagnosis! Pray for complete healing and comfort as they travel this path together.

• Continue to pray for Shirley, one of our moms, who suffers with an inner ear disorder. Pray for healing without radical surgery, and pray that her other ear is not affected as the doctors seem to believe.

• Pray for Gary; three years ago July 30 his beautiful wife went to be with her Lord and Savior, and he just received test results back saying he has cancer on his liver. Pray for a miracle healing and comfort during this time of trials.

• Pray for a family whose elderly parents/grandparents are staying with them.

• Praise that Bill’s retinal surgery this past winter went well. Please continue to pray for him as he learned the continued blurriness is not from the surgery, but because he needs cataract surgery.

• Please continue to be in prayer for a wonderful man who claims to be an atheist. Pray that the scales are removed from his eyes and heart, and that the Lord surrounds him with Godly people who will love him as Christ Himself loves us!

• Praises for another season of club volleyball. Although trying at times (and insanely busy!), we wouldn’t want to be doing anything else! Thanks to all the parents who entrusted their kids to us and took time out of their busy lives to chauffer and support their children! Thanks to all the players who were SO incredible; what a wonderful group of young people we got to ‘hang out’ with! Thanks to the coaches who worked so tirelessly; we had an amazing staff and are excited for next year already! And thanks to God for allowing us to use our passion and love for volleyball and youth! We are truly blessed!

Facility Update:

CARPE DIEM SPORTS AND WELLNESS CENTER!!

• Praise God for His guidance and provision, and thanks to all of you who have made these past 2+ years so memorable and exciting!

• We changed! We tore up all three courts and put more ‘padding’ down! (It is what we wanted when we opened, but at that time we couldn’t afford it! After saving up, we were able to make this huge purchase! God is good!) Thanks so much to the people that came in and gave their time (and sweat) to help us!

• Come see our new lighting! YES! No more yellow hue and lights hanging down! White light, fluorescents and UP IN the ceiling!

• Thanks SO much to Brice for donating all the carpet squares! The place looks GREAT and we get compliments on it every day!

• If your business is interested in advertising at our place, contact David. We have a great amount of wall space for banners!! Cost for advertising is: 250.00/year and you supply the banner. 350.00/ year and we will get a banner made for you.

• We'd love to have a ‘library' in the facility! If you have any new or gently used, family friendly books, please bring them in! This prompts another need – somewhere to store them! If you have a bookshelf to donate, we'd really appreciate it! People have already taken advantage of our ‘cozy' reading supply!

• Help us fill up the facility: renting out courts for parties, running basketball teams, bringing in inspirational speakers, exercise/Pilates classes, AAU tournaments, and eventual tutoring programs/after school programs and Bible studies, along with the ‘normal' stuff we do! If you have ANY other ideas for us, please let us know! We need to keep this place filled for financial reasons, but we also need to use it to minister to all people! If you are interested in renting out the facility, please contact David .

• THANK YOU to all those who have donated their time, money and ‘stuff'!! We sure appreciate you and would not be near where we are without your support! PLEASE continue to pray for us, as we need every kind of support you can think of, especially prayer and financial! This is a huge step of faith and we know God will provide for all of our needs! Knowing that God uses people to fill the needs of others, we are letting go of any earthly pride and asking for help in filling some of our needs: projector, financial assistance, any connections with local businesses and especially prayer!

God’s Blessings to you,

David and Michelle Vander Meer

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-5