Reflection while on the road: Well, we are on our last road trip, before we all get to head home for Christmas! It is hard to believe, because the semester has flown by. This year we get three full days off for Christmas! We play Winston-Salem State on Saturday, and then play Vanderbilt on Monday. After that we don't have to be back at Liberty until the evening of the 26^th. We will have a seven and a half hour bus trip from Winston-Salem to Nashville, which should be rather interesting!

Last night, we had our annual team Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. We do it at Coach Green's house every year. This year we did a "secret" Santa. This involved each player drawing a name and buying a gift for that person with a $15 price limit. We exchanged gifts last night, and everyone loved their gifts. They ranged from a Jack Sparrow picture, to lotion, chapstick, shirts, blankets, etc.

We as players always give gifts to the coaches. This year we made fleece blankets for them. It was a lot of fun because we all made the blankets together, watched the Elf movie and made hot chocolate! The coaches gave us red Liberty t-shirts, and we also got Nike backpacks! It was so thoughtful of them, and all of the girls loved the gifts.

 We will get to go to a Broadway show in Nashville called Christmas Spectacular on Sunday! It should be a lot of fun, because we are going to be semi-dressed up. I hope the girls come out ready to play both Saturday and Monday. I will be doing my best cheering them on! My rehab is going great, and I should be able to start running within a couple of weeks.

Reflection from the weekend: Today I am writing from my grandparents' house. Our Christmas time with family has begun. Overall, we had a great road trip. We won on Saturday, and lost on Monday. However, there were a lot of memories that I will never forget.

Our team stayed at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, and it was amazing. Inside the hotel, there were three atriums that simulated being outside, including running water, several trees and vegetation.

We got to see the famous Rockettes perform during a Christmas Spectacular show on Sunday. At the end of the show, they presented the true story of Christmas with a live nativity scene.

Our last meal before we left the next day for the Vanderbilt game, was at the Nashville Aquarium. It was interesting, because it felt like you were eating under water. There was a big fish tank in the middle with several different types of fish swimming around. That was a unique experience.

Well, I pray that everyone reading has a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. With all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping and visiting family, never forget the true meaning of Christmas! We will be back the evening of the 26^th, to begin preparing for our Virginia Tech tournament. Merry Christmas, and may God bless each one of you!

Hello all from Megan Frazee again!  This past weekend, we finally were able to add another "W" to the win column.  It was great being able to go into the locker room at the end of the game victorious.  The game had its moments that were kind of ugly, but there were also a lot of positives.  We had six people score in double figures, which I don't think has happened in a while. (Editor's note: Jan. 19, 1987 was the last time Liberty had six people score in double figures, which was about two months before Megan, Molly and Moriah Frazee were born.) 

We have also added Jessica Nelson, a former Liberty standout volleyball player, to our team.  She has fit in nicely with our team already!  With all of the injuries we continue to deal with, she has been a blessing to us all.  I believe Jess is going to contribute to our team.  She was able to get to play a lot against Saint Paul's on Saturday, and scored five points in her debut as a basketball player.

I continue to nurse my sprained ankle.  The Lord is teaching me a lot throughout this process.  I am so excited to eventually get back out on the court and play the sport that I love!  My ankle continues to get better daily.  I never would have thought that spraining my ankle would entail me being out for quite a few games, but I know the Lord will sustain me and give me the strength to get through this.  I am reminded once again of how many times I take for granted the privilege of being able to step out on the basketball court and play. It is at times like this in my life, where my faith and trust in the Lord is strengthened and deepened! 

We hit the road at the end of this week to play two games before Christmas break.  We will be playing Winston-Salem State on Saturday, and then we have a big game against Vanderbilt on Monday.  This year, we have three days off for Christmas, so a lot of us will be going home to see our families for Christmas, which I am so excited about. 

My family and I will be going to Indiana for a few days.  We always do Christmas Eve at the McNally's and then Christmas Day at the Frazee's.  I look forward to spending time with my grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins each year.  I love and miss you all, but I am looking forward to seeing you soon!

As we approach this holiday season, I want to wish you all a Merry CHRISTmas!  I love Christmas time, because it reminds me of the true meaning of life.  I am so thankful that Christ sent His son, Jesus, in a manger to redeem the world.  As a result of Jesus dying on the cross, each and every one of us has the opportunity to spend all of eternity with Him! How awesome is that?!  I am humbled when I think about how unworthy I am to receive this gift from God.  The great thing about it is, that it is free if we simply ask!

Well, that is it from me for now. We will keep you posted on how our games go over the weekend.  I hope you all have a great Christmas, remembering the TRUE reason for the season.

Megan

Originally written on Dec. 9, 2008

Hello from Moriah again! It is hard to believe that the semester is almost over.  Yesterday, I took one of my nursing cumulative finals, and I'm certainly glad to have that one behind me.  I have one more final today in philosophy and one more nursing final tomorrow in pharmacology. Then, I will be officially done for the semester.  I can't wait to have a break from school and be able to focus on basketball only. Yesterday, we had a day off practice, which we all appreciated. It was nice to be able to sleep in and not have to worry about basketball and just be able to study. 

On Sunday, we played Auburn and kept it a close game.  Going into the second half, we were leading by one point and kept it close for the majority of the second half, but ended up losing by 11. I was still impressed with our team, because right now we are currently playing with seven players and only two out of the seven are seniors. The rest are either freshmen or sophomores, excluding Amber Mays, who transferred in from a junior college this season.  I think we have been defeated these past few games because we lack depth on the bench and we can't keep people as fresh as we might like to.

We have had a rough start to our season, but I think God is building our team to be a much stronger team than what we would have been if we did not have as many injuries. It has given girls the opportunity to get quality minutes, who may not have gotten to play otherwise.  I think it will make our team much deeper going into the second half of the season.  This past week, we had another girl go out with an injury, but thankfully we will be starting to gain people back within a week or so.  I can't wait until we get people healthy and we will be an even stronger team. 

One thing I can say is that our team has done a great job of keeping our heads up, and I believe it has stemmed from Coach Green staying so positive.  He has done a great job of encouraging our team to keep pressing on.  One acronym that he sent to us in an email was P.U.S.H. It stands for Pray Until Something Happens.  I thought it was very encouraging. We have also had great support from our loyal fans, who are always so positive and encouraging.  Thank you so much. We all truly appreciate it!

This past Wednesday, I went to see the Virginia Christmas Spectacular (Living Christmas Tree) with my sisters and a couple of teammates.  For those of you who don't know what the Virginia Spectacular is, it is a Christmas performance put on by Thomas Road Baptist Church, here in Lynchburg.  In the program there is singing, which comes from two huge Christmas trees that have singers in them, as well as acting.  It was really good this year, and I know it will impact many lives for Christ.  For those of you who get a chance to go, I would recommend it. Well, I am studying for the rest of my finals, but here is a little glimpse of what I have done since the last time I wrote. I wish everyone a Merry CHRISTmas, since I don't think I'm scheduled to write to you before then!

Originally posted on Dec. 2, 2008

Hey, this is Molly again, and I am going to give you an update on how the Lady Flames performed this past weekend. We just finished up the George Washington Thanksgiving Classic, where we played Hartford on Friday and South Alabama on Saturday. We came into the tournament with a 1-2 record, but lost both games this weekend. However, I feel like our team is simply going through some growing pains right now.

Even though we have six seniors on the team, only two of them played this weekend. This forces the younger players to step up and play right away against tough competition, which I feel will only make us better in the long run. We played against two very good teams without our leading scorer, and it was neat to see others step up! I am excited to see what will happen when we get her back on the court!

We had two girls who are on staff with Athletes in Action do our pre-game devotionals at the tournament. The first one talked about the importance of being a window on the court rather than a wall. By being a window, we are reflecting the attitude of Christ! It was so neat to hear some of the girls remind each other before the game to be windows and not walls.

The second devotion was about realizing that when we play for the Lord, we can lay all the pressure that is easy to put on ourselves aside, because the Lord loves us, no matter what. It can be rather intimidating as a freshman to step out on the court among upperclassmen, but having going through it myself, and now being a senior, I have realized that all you are asked to do is to go out and play your best!

A lot of the girls' families came for the tournament. We had parents from Texas, Ohio, Georgia and Virginia in attendance. It was nice to have families here during the Thanksgiving holiday. We left for the tournament on Thursday, which was Thanksgiving Day! However, we had a tournament banquet, where they served us turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.

We will only be in Lynchburg for a day and a half before we hit the road again, to play James Madison. It is hard to believe we have only one last week of classes before finals. Then, Christmas break begins. It was nice having this last week off from school. I think all of the girls really needed it, and hopefully, we will come back refreshed and ready for finals.

Thanks for reading, and please come out and support the Lady Flames at our next home game against Auburn on December 7^th at 3 p.m.! Until next time, God Bless!


P.S. Check out this USA Today article if you get a chance: "Guided by unique unity, triplets help Liberty rule the Big South."