Monday, September 29th

Tim's gradmother ("G-Mom" to him) got to see him play soccer for the first time today... We put the ball in the net four times, but only one counted (Tim's volley off a cross from Blake Wright) and we ended up with a 1-1 tie even after 20 minutes of overtime against Christ School... We get another shot at them Saturday, October 11th @2:30 @ACA, for any of you who might be in the area. It promises to be a great game, and there is no admission charge!

Sunday, September 28th

Dennis Robinson sent me this picture taken at the conclusion of the ring-presentation ceremony Saturday afternoon... All but John Berger (now @East Carolina University) and Daniel Martin (Clemson) were able to attend.
(L2R): Tim, Harrison McGinnis, Jared Robinson, Stephen Carlson, Thomas George, Adam Coneys, Brad Guenguerich, Austin Smith, Matthew Justice, Zach Hines, Stephen Brown, Michael Moore, Lawson McDonald, Patrick James, Coach Eric Filipek, Coach Andy Ramsey.

Saturday, September 27th

The long-awaited State Championship rings were awarded to Tim and his baseball teammates at halftime of today's soccer game...

Must've gotten them in a championship mood... we beat our opponents 9-0 (Tim scored #'s 2, 3 & 5 all in the first 25 minutes of the game). We also received news that the team that beat us last week (Rabun Gap) was defeated 3-2 by our Monday opponent (Christ School)... looks like there will be a 4-team battle for the conference championship, and that we are very much in it!

My mom arrived this evening from Florida and will be with us through next Friday... she will be at three of her grandson's games this week.

Friday, September 26th

We are in the midst of the school's 50th Anniversary celebration. Today was 50's day in the high school, so our students looked like this...

One of our founders was Jim Elliott's roommate at Wheaton!

Tomorrow's schedule is packed with 5K runs, a carnival, soccer games, alumni functions, a Celebration dinner, and more.

Tim is most looking forward to the presentation of the baseball team's State Championship rings and the arrival of his "G-Mom" from Florida (she'll be staying with us for the week).

Thursday, September 25th

What does it look like when 500 students and teachers get together in the ACA gym for the fall sports pep rally? Here's one angle... Our terrific director of athletics, Joe Johnson, is on the "mike" with the pep-band behind him... Tim and one of his teammates (Jared Robinson) were asked to juggle soccer balls as part of the "show" and did a great job!

Wednesday, September 24th

It was "whacky-tacky" day in the middle school today (no, they don't always dress like that!)... small groups had a 30-minute service assignment at the end of the day. This is my crew... the same one pictured in last Friday's entry. Our job?... to clean the buslet inside and out! Front (L2R): Mikayla, Caroline, Ashlyn, Sarah Kreitzer (out sick last Friday), Emilee, Luke;
Middle: Carrie, Seth, Kristen, Stephen, Adam, Grant, Jacob;
Back (in the doorway): Austin

Tuesday, September 23rd

Tim (#11) and Blake Wright (#10) both scored in the second half of today's game (pictured here kicking off @Rabun Gap last Friday)
We've had a rough start to the season, with several games against state ranked teams in our division and the one above it (for larger schools), but this 2-0 victory puts us at .500 (6-6-1) and, more importantly 4-1 in our conference. Confidence is up; the boys are finding more creative ways to put the ball in the net (six different players scored in Monday's match); the defense is coming together, and our senior goalkeeper, Adam Johnson, played flawlessly in shutting out Asheville School.

Monday, September 22nd

The boys had fun out there today and things came together in front of the net... we jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first half against Spartanburg Day School and then coasted to a 6-1 victory on the strength of goals by six different players (with assists from five different players). I caught video of the third goal (Jared Robinson's); Tim scored #4, heading in a cross from Sam Feinberg. Up next is the team we beat 2-1 in the closing minutes last Wednesday (Asheville School)... tomorrow @4:30.

Sunday, September 21st

Kara and her "sister" Ashley Niklinski spent the weekend with us in Asheville... I think they'd find a way to have fun waiting in line at the DMV; this picture is one of 63 they took sitting at our kitchen table while dinner was in the oven...

Saturday, September 20th

My dad was born September 20, 1928... today would have been his 80th birthday. He and my mom were married February 11, 1956... they raised five kids and celebrated 51 anniversaries together before he left us last year... the grandkids and I miss you, dad! I've always been intrigued by this picture of dad... mom says it was taken a couple of years before they met, but that it is how she remembers her husband as a single man...

Friday, September 19th

Rabun Gap got the best of us 3-0; we are going to have to find an answer defensively for their outstanding center-midfielder and striker and to put away our chances on the other end to have any chance of beating them... on the positive side; it wasn't as bad as the score indicates.

Today was our middle school field day at Camp Rockmont; we have divided the 6th-8th graders into small groups and assigned them to a teacher or administrator... this is my group!


Back row (L2R): Seth, Jacob, Luke, Kristen, Mikayla, Carrie, GK
Front: Grant, Steven, Austin, Adam, Caroline, Emilee & Ashlyn

Thursday, September 18th

Coach Filipek (the varsity baseball coach) held a meeting today to present the idea of a Spring Break trip to Nicaragua (April 11-18). The idea is to take the defending state champs to play three games south-of-the-border and be involved in a variety of ministries during the week!
Tim & I look forward to seeing how God leads us... and especially to the possibility of seeing our "Nica family" again before next summer.

Wednesday, September17th

Well, we are still undefeated in our conference, but it was far from pretty... Knotted at one going into the last five minutes of the game, Blake Wright (#10) sent a gorgeous cross to Tim (#11) that he headed home for the 2-1 victory. In two days, we play a team that beat Asheville School 5-1... needless to say, we will need to take our "A-game" to Rabun Gap on Friday.

Tuesday, September 16th

Our game against Spartanburg Day was rained out and rescheduled for October 3rd... the kids can't wait until tomorrow and their 4:30 match-up with Asheville School!

Tomorrow we also have the first round of "small group chapels"... the upper school (grades 9-12) is divided into groups of 12 students (pictured above is my group, minus Cody Rhew, at last week's retreat). Together we'll be studying the Word, sharing testimonies, serving/praying for others, growing closer to God and to each other. You all did stuff like that with your principals, didn't you?

Monday, September 15th

I attended a college financial aid workshop this evening and then Tim and I spent a couple of hours exploring the CFNC website, which contains a wealth of resources for students and their parents to help them prepare for the former's post-secondary educations... At this point, Tim seems to be leaning toward Electrical Engineering as a major and schools that would offer him the opportunity to play soccer.

Sunday, September 14th

Curious as to what Tim does in his spare time? Check out the attached video of my son on our back porch after church this afternoon... just the latest in his "bag of tricks"!

Saturday, September 13th

We got back exhausted from our retreat and went straight to soccer practice yesterday afternoon in preparation for today's match against 3-time defending South Carolina 2-A independent school state champion, Hampton Park... With our senior goalkeeper taking the ACT, Joe Barker (pictured warming up) got his first varsity start...
From kick-off to the final whistle, it was our best game of the year... the boys and their fans were rewarded with a 2-0 victory!
We now enter the thick of our conference schedule (7 CAA matches in the next 15 days), which will determine whether we are given a spot in the 12-team state playoff.

Friday, September 12th

Tim's crew's project this morning was splitting and stacking logs for the lodge... we all had visions of swinging axes, but modern technology has given us a much more efficient (if less physically-invigorating) process.
Pictured are (L2R) Lawson McDonald, Grace George, Becca Clark, Eric Shuman, Tim, Angela Day & Shelby Cogburn

Thursday, September 11th

We spent the 7th anniversary of 9/11 in service to the community. The entire high school (teachers, students and administrators) was involved in a variety of projects in and around the city of Greeneville, Tennessee... Pictured are Mr. Stephen Owens, Tim & Matt Justice back in the bunk house after a long day in the sun.

Wednesday, September 10th

“We’re in REVIVAL!” (the text message I sent to our Head-of-School, Bill George, @10:59 the first night of our three day service retreat in Greeneville, TN)… his immediate response: “Praise the Lord!!!!”

Pictured are the students who led our worship in song the first night of the retreat: Craig Johnson, Samuel Fine, David Cate, William Brown, Katie Gustafson & Amy Fine.

Tuesday, September 9th

Three really exciting things to report:

1. As I was having lunch with two of our new sophomores (trying to get to know them a little better), I asked about a ring one was wearing (on the ring finger of her right hand)... she explained that it represented her commitment to purity in all her relationships, and that she plans to "save herself" for the man God has for her... I told her she made my day!


2. Just before school let out, Eric and Marilyn Loftsgard (some of our closest friends... family from Nicaragua), dropped by to say "Hi!"... they are taking their daughter, Jackie (a classmate of Tim's at NCA), on a tour of the colleges she is considering in this area. Fellowship doesn't get any sweeter!


3. As if the first two weren't enough, Tim scored the 2nd and 3rd goal for ACA in our 3-1 victory over our conference rivals (Carolina Day)... He figured his mom would be watching as she celebrates the completion of her 5th month in Heaven... That last goal may have "popped a button" on his old man's shirt!

Monday, September 8th

I love the way we start our school days @ACA. The entire faculty and staff gathers for devotions and prayer at 7:35 and then we all scatter to our assigned areas. All the 9th-12th graders then meet for a ten-minute "convo" at 8:00 run by the student government officers, who do a great job building "community" on our campus (Tim is seated on the floor in front of the drum with a big smile on his face... left-clicking on the picture should enlarge it).

Sunday, September 7th

I got to teach Steve Cooper's Bible class this morning on the subject of Creation. Anytime I am called on to teach from the Word, I am blessed, because it causes me to spend hours in prayer and preparation. Lana and I joined Steve's BFG last year, and have both drawn a great deal of strength from the fellowship and support it has afforded us.

Tim has been a little "under the weather" lately... I've got him soaking in a tub of hot water, and hopefully he'll feel like a new man tomorrow morning.

Saturday, September 6th

Baby Luke (son of our head coach, Terry Hughes) took in his first soccer game today... a scoreless tie, or as his dad described it "our first shut-out of the season". In truth, there was reason for optimism after today's double-header (the second of which we lost 3-1 to one of the top teams in our state). It is obvious that we are beginning to play as a team, and we feel that it is only a matter of time before the goals will start to come... good timing, too, because our first conference game is this coming Tuesday against our cross-town rival, Carolina Day School.

Friday, September 5th

Tim and I went to an Asheville Saints game tonight to see two of our seniors in action (Zac Cawthorn & Jordan Bell). The team is made up of high school aged students who are homeschooled or attend schools like ours that don't field football teams. Tim captured this video of Zac (#81) catching a touchdown pass. Jordan (#50) made an equally impressive reception in the end-zone on the previous possession, but Tim's dad had the camera at that time and didn't capture that one on film.

Thursday, September 4th

I'm a little late with this entry, because Tim had the computer tied up until after midnight last night working on a paper for his English class... It was a full day! I invited all the first and second-year teachers over to our house for dinner and a short meeting in preparation for Back-to-School night. Don't be too impressed; I cheated and had lasagna and cheesecake from Sam's... the only real "work" was chopping vegetables for the salad, and I even had help with that!

Wednesday, September 3rd

Years ago, Lana had a bumper sticker on her car that read "As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools". This is a snap-shot of part of our student body at this morning's all-school chapel... 600 teachers and students joined together in communication with God as one body. Now that is something this old public school teacher will never take for granted.

Tuesday, September 2nd

Both teams dropped tough games at Tuscola. The JV (pictured pre-game) by a 3-2 margin, and the varsity 2-0. Discouraging as it can be to lose, the coaching staff feels that these games give us reason to hope... our boys are playing hard and growing as a team; it is only a matter of time before the results start showing up on the scoreboard.

Monday, September 1st

We all rolled out of bed and onto the trail this morning... it has been GREAT having Kara with us this weekend, especially since we all had Labor Day off; she says she may be able to pull away from her duties in Atlanta every three weeks or so!

Sunday, August 31st

My brother-in-law, Mitch Wright (Lana's only sibling), proposed to Heather Brown last night at the Disney fireworks... she said "Yes!", and they are planning to "tie the knot" May 20th of next year (time and location TBA). Here they are earlier today with Mitch's daughter, Katie.