Lookout Mountain, GA – After battling back from being down 2-1 to force a deciding fifth set, the Piedmont College Lady Lions Volleyball team rallied to a 3-2 victory against Covenant Wednesday night. There were seven ties in the final set before Piedmont took the 15-13 win to seal the match.
Piedmont jumped out to a 25-22 first set victory marking their first set over the Scots since the final meeting in 2013. In the second set, Covenant opened on a 12-0 run, but the Lady Lions were able to pull back into the set dropping it 25-14. The Scots followed that up with a 25-19 win in the third to take a 2-1 advantage.
In the fourth set, the Lady Lions came back from being down by as many as seven to knot it up at 14, and eventually take a 25-21 win. The fifth set was a battle to the finish with Piedmont fighting from behind to tie it up five times including at 10-10 and 13-13 before taking the final points and winning the match.
“It’s the second huge with for us this year, the last one was Averett and now we have beaten Covenant,” Head Coach Sid Feldman said. Both matches were five set victories, the two five set matches the Lady Lions have played in this season.
Taylor Cramsey had a monster evening with a team high 18 kills in the match, her highest total of her career as a Lady Lion, and tallied a .333 attack percentage with 15 digs. Randee Harvel led the team with 25 digs while Kaitlin Normanand Xandy Green both added 17. Green had 19 assists while Kait Steele posted 15.
History repeated itself Wednesday as this marked the second straight season these two went to five sets in Lookout Mountain with Piedmont getting a win in both matches. The Lady Lions only tallied 42 kills in the match and a .117 attack percentage despite giving up 63 kills to the Scots.
The win puts the Lady Lions one game back of Covenant in the USA South standings with four conference matches remaining for Piedmont. All four contests will be inside Cave Arena and available on the Mane Event Broadcasting Network.
Piedmont will play host to a tri-match with Huntingdon College and Wesleyan College visiting Sunday with the Lady Lions taking on the Hawks at noon and the Wolves at 4 p.m.
I worked in international and domestic adoption and humanitarian aid for close to eleven years – a decade of emotions: joy, tears, fears, anxiety, hope and despair. There was one particular adoption which to this day I marvel at the presence of God and His abilities. In the beginning, the parents wanted a little girl – there were none to be found. It is hard to imagine a “shortage” of baby girls but such was the case. Looking back I realize we were blinded by God because within minutes of this family accepting a healthy 2 day old baby boy with the most beautiful lips we’d ever seen, four girls became available. When I told the adoptive Mom of the baby girl possibilities she said defiantly “No!” like a woman in the delivery room. She knew he was her baby. And this baby boy was special. I knew it the moment I saw him.
The process seemed smooth – everything in place; documents just the way they should be – the parents happy, the government happy, U.S. immigration happy – I honestly believed the obstacle in this adoption was Mom agreeing to a boy. Somewhere in between the fourth and fifth month, the last and final anticipated signature of the Birth Mom, days from a hearing and finality, Birth Mom disappeared, leaving no trace. All of our internal investigation proved it was her intent to “leave no trail” for it was as if she never existed. Suddenly, this simple adoption turned into a two year abandonment, heavily battled in court, huge expense, nightmare to bring a little boy home to his parents in the United States.
There is a story in the Bible about an Israelite who worked as a slave for King Artaxerxes of Persia. His brother came to visit him and when he asks about Judah, the news he hears upsets him. Jerusalem’s wall is broken down and the people are in a great amount of danger. During this time period, a city with no walls was vulnerable to attack. Nehemiah prays for several weeks wondering what he should do to help his family and people.
Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king. One evening when instructed to bring the king his wine, Artaxerxes notices that Nehemiah is sad.
“Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”(Nehemiah 2: 1)
Sometimes God answers our prayers by giving us windows of opportunities to respond when asked particular questions. (Nehemiah 2:2-6) “I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, ‘May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?’ The king said to me, ‘What is it you want?’ Then I prayed to the God of heaven…”
Courage comes when we least expect it. There are times when God puts us in the middle of something we cannot understand. Whether it is our own doing or the consequences of someone else’s mistake, trials come into our lives for reasons that do not make sense. I remember the day I received a call from one of my adoption team members, “We found her.” All of us knew who “her” was. We’d spent the last two years in pursuit of her. We’d battled the Guatemalan Government, the court, the records bureau. My breath left my body for we were days away from winning the case and bringing our paperwork to the United States Embassy to process for Immigration. “You found her?”
“She is sitting in my office now.”
I had made an unexpected trip to Guatemala that weekend with two of my children just to ‘get away’ from the issues that confronted me at home. A window of opportunity had opened and I was very much afraid. Her presence now could harm two years of effort and what if she had decided she wanted him back? Or wanted money in exchange for disappearing again? What if her plan was to once again mess things up? It was difficult to understand her motives.
My children and I walked from our apartment in Guatemala City the few blocks it took to get to our office. As we walked we prayed, for they had grown to love this baby boy, now toddler, as much as his parents and I did.
The king graciously provides a way for Nehemiah to return to his home and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 2: 8) “And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.”
When I walked into the office, I noticed her lips, beautiful and full, just like his. My heart sank for I knew she was his birth mother. As I sat and listened to her story, I felt the gracious hand of my God upon me. God can handle any problem in my life. She came because she was no longer going to run. She came to do what was right and sign over the baby she had birthed to his rightful parents.
I was very much afraid…then I prayed.
I keep a victory shout out list on paper and in my head. When evil attempts to cripple me, I voice the “wins” of my God. I verbalize the double-overtime, miraculous triumphs of my Father and King. When things seem “out of control” and there appears to be no possible way, I remember a little baby boy, with beautiful lips, born in Guatemala and his courageous parents who never gave up on bringing him home.
God has your solution. Wait for it to come in His time.
As for that precious baby boy with the beautiful lips? I talked with his Mom just yesterday. He is now seven years old and has the thickest Southern accent you could ever imagine.
This is a free event at the Habersham County Fairgrounds on Thursday, Oct. 23. Bring your kids and enjoy Trunk or Treat, helicopters, patrol cars, fire trucks, ambulances, games, hay rides, wrestling, a live Fire Department demonstration, animals, a K9 demonstration, HEMC live electrical demonstration, face painting, a dunking booth, and more! Halloween Costumes are welcome.
The dunking booth theme is “Dunk a Local Hero” where you will have the opportunity to submerge dispatchers, cops, firefighters, and emergency medical service personnel. Come out and join the fun!
Parking begins at 4:30 pm to the right of the fairground pavilion on the Little League side. Gates open at 5 pm
*All Attractions are subject to change due to availability and weather. Event is free, concessions will be available for purchase.* The Habersham County Fairgrounds are located at 4235 Toccoa Highway in Clarkesville.
Put your Halloween costumes to good use this year and help raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network.
This costume contest is open to girls ages newborn to 15. It will be held on Sunday, Oct. 26, at 4pm on the main stage in the Swanson Center on the Piedmont College campus in Demorest.
Registration fee is $10. Pay at the door. All winners will receive a tiara!
The Piedmont College a cappella group, Cantabile, will present “Now and Then,” a program of popular music from the 16th to the 20th century, in a free performance at 5 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 30. The concert will be held in Brooks Hall, located in the Center for Worship and Music in Demorest. Cantabile director Dr. Wallace Hinson said the group of 10 singers will perform works by composers ranging from Johannes Brahms to Billy Joel and Neil Young. The Piedmont Cantabile singers include, front from left, Chastin Dobbs, Cole Martin, and Kate Berardi; back: Mitchell Auger, Megan Holder, Elizabeth Parmer, Jennifer Pitt, Ben Rikeman, Albert Gerring, and Wallace Hinson.
Demorest Elementary students Madilyn Jones, Nathan Lawson, Nick McConnell, Charlie Mills, Mason Ruark, Sonny Satiphone and Sarah Beth Thomas received activity books that tell the story of Johnny Mize. (Back row L-R): City Manager Juanita Crumley, Councilman John Popham, Mayor Rick Austin and Demorest Elementary principal Dr. Connie Yearwood.
Lindsey Brown, seen here in her senior portrait, may be moved out of ICU in the next couple of days.
The Habersham Central High School senior who was critically injured in a wreck Monday in Lula is showing continued signs of improvement. Lindsey Brown’s aunt Laura Miller says Lindsey is off of sedation and is talking. “It’s just a miracle,” Miller says. And it is, considering where the 18-year old Brown was just two days ago.
She had left her mom’s house in Oakwood and was headed north to her job at Tim’s Pharmacy in Cornelia when she lost control of the truck she was driving, ran into the median and flipped across both southbound lanes of State Route 365. The truck landed in a ditch on the opposite side of the highway.
Two brothers driving behind Lindsey saw it happen. Jeremy Dills told her family the truck was still flipping when he got out of his truck to help. Lindsey’s mother Alice Roland Brewer met Dills today for the first time. He stopped by the hospital to check in on Lindsey.
“They were the first ones who came to her rescue. Before the truck even stopped turning they (the Dills brothers) were on the phone calling 911,” Brewer says. She credits the Dills and off-duty volunteer firefighters, Albert Walton and Jeff Gerrin of Habersham County with saving her daughter’s life.
Walton and Gerrin were on their way to their day job when they came up on the wreck. “Somebody who had checked her (Lindsey) said she didn’t have a pulse and they (Walton and Gerrin) checked her and felt a pulse. They immediately cut off her seat belt and opened up her airway which saved her,” Brewer says. Because of the extent of Lindsey’s injuries time was of the essence. “God worked it so that they were able to pull her out quickly.”
Word of the accident spread quickly. Back home in Habersham students and staff at Habersham Central High say they were stunned. “My heart stopped and I lost my breath for a minute,” says HCHS security guard Kristi Payne. “Then I began to pray and asked everyone that came through the gate to pray for my girl Lindsey, as well as her family and the medical team, too.”
After the accident Lindsey Brown was rushed by ambulance to Northeast Georgia Medical Center where she has remained in intensive care ever since. She suffered a fractured skull, lacerations to her head and tears to the carotid arteries on both sides of her brain. She’s on painkillers and is taking aspirin to prevent blood clots. More medical tests are scheduled to determine the full extent of her injuries, including x-rays to check for possible bone fractures.
Due to severe swelling on her brain Lindsey was put into a medically induced coma when she arrived at the hospital but her mom says she is now conscious and semi-alert. “After they took her off sedation the doctor told Lindsey to move her toes and she moved her fingers instead,” Brewer says with a lighthearted laugh.
There haven’t been many lighthearted moments for Brewer and her family over the past several days but she says things are looking up. Lindsey is able to move all her extremities and doctors have told the family she may be moved out of ICU into a regular room by Monday.
Not only is that good news for Lindsey and her family but also for the numerous friends, family members and strangers who have been touched by this young woman’s life and story. Brewer says the family is overwhelmed by the outpouring of community support they’ve received. “I pull my strength from God and from others. We have been blessed.”
Brewer, a Business and Computer Science teacher at Habersham Central High School and the Dual Enrollment Coordinator for Mountain Education Charter High School in Habersham, says her co-workers have been wonderful. “Teachers are stepping in to do my lesson plans and they’re picking up the pieces while I’m gone to make sure my students are getting what they need.”
A graduate of Habersham Central High School, Alice Roland Brewer has been a Raider most of her life but never has that meant more to her than now. “Just the whole Raider family is our support system right now.” She says administrators, faculty, staff and students from both HCHS and Mountain Ed have reached out to the family in “amazing ways.”
Students and faculty from North Georgia Technical College in Clarkesville are also reaching out to the family. Lindsey is a dually enrolled student at HCHS and NGTC and Brewer says her college classmates and teachers have been very supportive. “Classmates from the college have come and brought food and her English and math teachers have sent their love through the students.” Brewer says Lindsey wants to thank the students from Habersham Central and North Georgia Tech for all they are doing.
Sixteen students painted ‘The Rock’ on the HCHS school campus in a show of support for their injured classmate.
Monday night more than a dozen HCHS students painted ‘The Rock’ on the school campus in Mt. Airy to show their solidarity with Lindsey. They included the scripture verse, Isaiah 40:29-31:
He gives strength to the weary and
increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
“Those young people are just amazing. They were willing to publicly tell everybody that God’s in control. They’re bold. It’s just amazing what God is doing,” Brewer says. The family shared photos of the painted rock with Lindsey in her hospital room. “A tear actually rolled down her face and she smiled.”
A message of hope and comfort for the Brown family.
The verse on ‘The Rock’ is now printed on t-shirts. Local businesswoman Tammy Fleming of Wearhouse Printing is printing the shirts to raise money to help with Lindsey’s medical expenses.
God. Faith. Miracles. These are words you hear often when talking with people about Lindsey Brown. The 18-year old is an active member of the Bethlehem Baptist Church youth group in Clarkesville. Her family is among the founding members of Riverpoint Church in Cornelia. Those and many other churches in Habersham, along with Hopewell Baptist in Gainesville, have been a source of physical and emotional strength for the family since the accident. “People are bringing us food and hugs and love,” Brewer says. “Church members have come to pray with us.”
Students held a prayer vigil for Lindsey Brown on the HCHS campus Tuesday after school.
More prayers were lifted up Tuesday at Habersham Central as students gathered after school for a prayer vigil around the painted rock. Brewer says the prayers and love are being felt. “I have full faith that God is in this totally. He is going to work through her and I put my full faith in Him.”
Quick to praise God and so many others, Brewer says she wants the community to know how grateful she and her family are for all the prayers, acts of kindness and good wishes. “They’ve been wonderful here at the hospital. Law enforcement and the State Patrol…they’ve all been very professional and helpful. I want to make sure that the community knows how appreciateve we are for everything everyone’s doing. From the people who were right there on the scene with her and at the hospital, to all of her family and friends and people we don’t even know, thank you! We are so blessed by a community that has a desire to help each other,” Brewer says, her voice trembling with tears. “I haven’t done a thing. I’m just being blessed and watching miracles every day with her. God is working and listening. I think he’s on overload right now, but we are pulling our strength from them (the community) and the Lord to continue to work to bring Lindsey back to good health.”
Click here to order your “Prayers for Lindsey” t-shirt.
Rainbows fascinate me. I don’t know anyone who can ignore a rainbow in the sky. The mere existence of such invokes awe whether you are Christian or Hindu or Buddhist. In my faith it is a covenant between God and man based on the story of Noah from the book of Genesis.
Noah was a man of faith who loved God and because of this, he found favor in God’s eyes. The Bible states in Genesis 6:13, “So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark…”
What interests me the most about this story is the simplicity of Noah’s obedience. There was no burning bush. Angels did not appear with swords drawn. God did not come down and visit Noah’s home. The Bible states, “So God said to Noah…make yourself an ark…”
Would you build an ark?
I often contemplate what I would do in situations such as this. When I travel I imagine if I were separated from the ones I know could I find my hotel? Would I have helped slaves get to free territory during and before the civil war? When Jesus walked up the hill carrying His cross, would I have defended Him? And in the situation of Noah, would I have built the ark?
God reveals Himself to us in many ways – rainbows for example are God’s promise to us that He will never destroy the earth by flood again. But how many of us are asked to do a task but because it seems illogical, difficult, or out-of-line with the world, we shrug it off as too much pizza the night before or some hair-brained idea. How many of us are not willing to obey God because what He is asking does not make sense…to us?
The Bible tells us that “Noah walked with God,” (Genesis 6:9). It doesn’t say Noah talked to God. It implies a very quiet companionship where Noah listened to His Heavenly Father and obeyed. What an outrageous request to build an ark! Can you imagine the ridicule he received? 2 Peter 2:5 describes Noah as “a preacher of righteousness.” Noah didn’t hide what he was doing from his neighbors, he warned them. I can see him carrying a large, long cypress plank while the men of his village mocked him and Noah continued to preach despite them.
Several years ago someone told me they disliked (the word hated was actually used) the way I talked about God all the time. Because this person was special in my life, it hurt my heart. And although their statement brought a moment of insecurity, I remember God empowered me. I felt this boldness and my words were no longer my own. My response to him/her gave me strength. It was probably at that moment that I started talking about God even more and do not intend to stop.
The question to ask yourself is “Could you be Noah?” and if not, why not? In the end, wouldn’t you rather be Noah, on the boat? in the most horrific storm of the world’s history? And as the leader of his home, I think his family was probably very proud they were a part of his life and were with him.
God is calling you to do certain things.
Be a Noah!
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31
Clarkesville, GA – Last year, 353 students completed all parts of the GED® test and now bring that credential into the North Georgia workforce. For some, this may have taken only a few short months, but for others, it is the result of years of dedication and determination in the face of unimaginable barriers.
Ashton Mamula stayed in the top 40 of the Chick-Fil-A Collegiate hosted by Berry College as a pair of Lady Lion golfers wrapped up competition in the event and for the fall on Monday.
Junior Joseph Morris and the Piedmont men’s golf team posted their best finish in the last seven years at the Chick-Fil-A Collegiate earlier today climbing to 11th place as a team shaving eight strokes off their first round score at the event hosted by Berry College.
