Andi Jarvis our triple threat media threat– blogger, videographer and photographer–continues our blog theme this week of gratitude and appreciate for success in softball and elsewhere.

The senior catcher who attends Foothill High in Orange County, Calif. and plays for the Explosion – Morgan club team, has committed to Maryland along with her twin sister, Ari.

In today’s blog, talks about being home schooled up until high school and credits two special people for all that she and her sisters have accomplished on and off the field… three guesses as to who it is!

Be sure to see Andi and her teammates at her prom last spring in a special photo gallery!

Check out her recap of how she and twin sister Ari committed to Maryland

Click here to see one of her great video blogs, this one called “A Day in the Life of a Softballer”

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As most people know, the holidays are right around the corner and Thanksgiving is this week!

Now, if at all, is the time to appreciate what we have and what we’ve been fortunate to obtain. I personally have an endless amount of things to be grateful for.

Since I was three years old I have been involved with sports: soccer, dance, swim, gymnastics, and most importantly softball. I have become very successful due to the privileges I have been lucky to earn, all because of my parents.

My father and mother, Paul and Paula, have always been my No. 1 support system and have guided me down the path of God, which has molded me into a loving, caring, and driven young lady (or so I’ve been told).

In addition, all of my sisters and I were homeschooled first thru eighth grade, which is not an easy task, but with patience and love, my parents guided my sisters and me giving us an amazing education up until we started high school.

At that point, it was up to us to be independent and responsible for our education. Can you imagine how irritating it got for my parents to have three girls running around the house for eight-plus years?

During our elementary years, we didn’t want to do our work, we just wanted to eat goldfish crackers and watch our all-time favorite cartoon, Little Bill.

However, these treasured years have been such a blessing to the background of our family and our foundation as a whole. With regards to sports, look at where we are now.

Our older sister, Alex Jarvis, is a junior at Dartmouth College playing softball and Ari and I will be heading to the University of Maryland together as student-athletes next fall.

Words can’t describe how tough it was to reach this amazing point of our lives, yet everything has been worth it and the Jarvis family has stuck through every hardship known to man and is as strong as ever.

My sisters and I are eternally grateful to our amazing parents who’ve always put us first, before themselves, and taught us how to grow as mature students, athletes, sisters, daughters, and friends.

There is no doubt that we wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for our parents.

With that, I would like to speak for both my sisters and I and say: Thank you Mom and Dad! Thank you for pushing us, teaching us, loving us, attending nearly every game (even at 5 am), giving us more than we deserve, and just being there for us whenever we need it.

You are truly a gift from God and we are lucky to have the support system we have.

We love you guys.

­— Andi Jarvis