Friday, February 27th

Ignas Palaima (#5), our 6'10" senior from Lithuania, and his teammates have (by all reports) been playing exceptional basketball... they knocked off the #5 seeded team (52-50) in yesterday's quarterfinals, the #1 team (50-47) in today's semis and play for the state championship at high-noon tomorrow in Charlotte. I have committed my time to the Math Lab, but Tim plans to make the two-hour drive with friends right after his 7:00AM baseball practice...

Thursday, February 26th

Head Baseball Coach, Eric Filipek, working with Tim this afternoon on adjusting to pitches on the in and outside corners of the plate... he is a teacher of the game, who pays attention to all the "little" details that are so important for a team to compete at a championship level...
It's bound to be another exciting season!

Ash Wednesday

The 40 day countdown to Easter Sunday starts today... a call to take a spiritual inventory of our lives..."International Missions" was the theme of today's high school chapel. Students shared their experiences in Malawi, Kenya, Andros (Bahamas), China and the Dominican. Pictured at the podium are Claire Burlingham (sophomore) and Elizabeth Barker (junior) who represented the mission teams that spend two weeks every summer working with Haitian refugees in the DR!

Tuesday, February 24th

Hunter (the daughter of 6th grade teacher, Peter, and his wife, Kristen) Ripmaster was born December 18th... she took in her first high school basketball game tonight, a 73-64 "Sweet-16" thriller that saw the home team make up a 12-point deficit and pull away at the end.
Shortly thereafter, we received news that our girls team won their first playoff game on the road in overtime, against a school that had beaten them twice in the regular season. Both teams now play in the state quarterfinals on Thursday in Charlotte... Go Lions!

Monday, February 23rd

What does a man's desk say about him? Well, here's half of mine... The "blotter" is bordered by pictures of my son and daughter (the second one of Kara is actually her business card); the one in the bottom right corner is my favorite shot of Tim as a kid (on a building project during our first year in Nicaragua)... as you can see, I still have some of the articles from last year's baseball season... the girls are four of my 8 nieces (my brother, Steve's, daughters)...
The card files contain 3x5's of every student and staff member I have ever worked with at ACA... they're my "prayer cards" and help me keep track of requests they've made over the years, significant events and people in their lives... The little rock was a gift from Lana; it reads: "Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established" -Proverb 16:3

Sunday, February 22nd

Got to teach this morning's CG intro to the Book of Mark, with an emphasis on authentic discipleship... lots of fun! Speaking of fun; Tim's good friend, Philip Richardson, was over this afternoon to try out the quarter-pipe they've been working on... a couple of spills, but they're both still in one piece...

Saturday, February 21st

David Hopkins (owner of "A Cut Above" in Skyland) has been our barber since we moved to North Carolina; hair cuts have always been a father-son experience for Tim and me... in Nicaragua, barber shops are full-service; we never took advantage of the facials, manicures, nor massages, but it was nice to be able to get our shoes shined while getting our haircuts, even if at 60-cents-a-pair it was double the going rate on the street!...here he is freshly shorn, working on his "quarter pipe" this afternoon; as I type this, Tim is making a little progress on his English project, and Kara is headed home for a surprise visit... just to "hang out with her dad", since her brother will be at a party tonight!

Friday, February 20th

It's Lana's mom's birthday... I just read my 2/20 entry from last year in CaringBridge (still available on-line), where I praised my mother-in-law as "a devoted and loving wife to Lana's dad through the day he left this earth in '92, and a terrific mother and grandma"; the picture was taken on our way to Kara's first church service... "grandma" has always had a way of "being there" for us... there is no way to thank her enough for spending February-April of last year with us...
-------------------------We love you, mom/grandma!Mary Wright Brady (far right), with her daughter, sister and granddaughter (Kara), outside our first home in Gainesville, FL.

Thursday, February 19th

Frank William Kynast (my dad) left this earth ten minutes before midnight two years ago tonight. As I mentioned last week, he and my mom had just celebrated their 51st anniversary...
The first picture was taken in the 50's (when he was in his 20's)... the second in the mid-90's.

-----------------------Miss you, dad!(L2R) Jennifer Rahimitabar (my niece), Kara, Dad (holding grandchild #12?), Jason (Jennifer's brother) & Tim

Wednesday, February 18th

We had high school "chapel" in "small groups" today... this is mine (minus Zeb, who was out sick): (clockwise beginning @6:00) Natalie, Hannah, Claire, Maddie, Sydney, Sam, Cody, Jordan, Jesse, Christian & Kate. We meet in my office... today we talked about the images we project to others (often unwittingly), and how they become our platform for ministry to those in need (or a hindrance thereof); great discussion... even better group of young men and women!

Tuesday, February 17th

Girls soccer, fast-pitch softball and golf seasons all started today; with six basketball and a swim team still going, it is tough for a small school to field enough athletes, so many (like Tim) play more than one sport.

The expectations are high for this year's defending state champs; we do, however, have some big cleats to fill (having graduated our catcher and three infielders, all of whom also pitched); the shortstop, Stephen Carlson, was an all-american. I'm just hoping they'll have some fun and grow as players and young men!

Presidents' Day

First official baseball practice... coaches had them running the bases and learning routines. From there, we went to the Conference Swim Meet to see our three "do us proud"; Eric and HanSung both made all-conference, and Shaylee knocked more than two seconds off her personal best in the 200M breaststroke to win that event by 23/100ths of a second! Here are the swimmers and a few of their fans at dinner this evening...

Sunday, February 15th

Two of our teachers (Edgar Silva, Terry Hughes) and I signed on to play in the over-30 league; we had our first game this afternoon... a 4-0 win in which all three of us scored! Tim caught video of the last goal (scored by Edgar and assisted by his old man, #7) It's certainly not the highest level of play, but at 51 I'm thrilled to still be out there running around...

Sunday, February 15th

It's my in-laws' 12th anniversary!
Lana's dad left this earth the year after Tim was born, and her mom remarried the year after we moved to Nicaragua... hard to believe it has been twelve already...
May God continue to bless and grow you closer to each other (and to Himself), Laurie and Mom!

---------Love, Greg & the grandkids

Valentine's Day

There are precious few sports in which I can still best Tim regularly...
We only bowl four or five times a year, but as you can see from this score sheet, he's getting very competitive...
Here he is rolling his second frame strike!

Friday, the 13th

Teacher planning days are a fun change of pace; here, the middle school English department is doing a little curriculum work over lunch at the new Mexican restaurant in Swannanoa ("Pancho Gringo"). (L2R) Peter Ripmaster (6th grade), Scott Schroder (Assistant Principal), Mary Alice Frost (7th & 8th) & Portia White (who taught Peter's classes 1997-2007). Good food, great fellowship & an impressive group of professionals!

Thursday, February 12th

Just got home from our first evening open house of the year... a respectable turn-out in these economic times. I love talking to people about ACA; it truly is a great school and huge blessing to me as Tim's dad. I know that he is spending 7-10 hours a day under the instruction of godly men and women who are committed to preparing him (and all our students) to use his talents and abilities to honor God and build His kingdom on this earth.

Wednesday, February 11th

This would've been my parents' 53rd anniversary, but they only got to celebrate 51 of them together on this earth... he will have been gone two years next Thursday. Mom grew up on a dairy farm in New Hampshire, Dad was a "city slicker" from New York (who had also lived in Germany)... they met at a dance in Boston; versions always differed as to who made the first move, but of course that was "all in fun".

Their five kids were born in NY (Greg & Steve); Nashville, TN (Susie & Betsy) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (Mike); we live in four different states now (FL, NC, MT & CA) and always have a great time when we are together. I have a picture in my office of my parents, their 5 with spouses and grandkids (a total of 24) on their 50th Anniversary Cruise... Thanks for the memories, Mom and Dad, and Happy Anniversary!!

Tuesday, February 10th

We don't have cheerleaders at ACA, but these five gave it their best shot tonight during a time out as the pep-band played... that's Tim in the black shirt. Must've worked; the team came back from an 11 point deficit to win by eight against a game conference opponent (Rabun Gap).

Monday, February 9th

10 months to the day since Lana left...
The picture is dated March 10, 2007; we had a great time that day on Lake Lanier with our dear friends, John and Lynne Campen, and commented on a couple of occasions how peaceful and beautiful it was; just 13 months later, our girl was in Heaven...
My guess is she'd have a tough time explaining the peace and beauty she's experiencing there...
We look forward to seeing for ourselves when it's our turn to join her!

Sunday, February 8th

The sermon this morning (the third in a series on building a healthy home) was entitled "How 2 Fight Fair"... made me think about how all the conflicts Lana and I had in our 25-year marriage faded away in the backdrop of the circumstances faced in the last four.
Shame it so often takes a terminal illness to wake us up...

Kara is back in Atlanta, and it appears she is feeling led to stay this side of the Atlantic Ocean next year. Spain is not totally out yet, but it is looking more likely that she'll be looking for a job nearer to home when her current assignment is up in May.

Saturday, February 7th

Tim had baseball practice at 11:00; Kara wanted to see "Slumdog Millionaire", so we had a father/daughter movie & lunch date... hard to imagine a better day this side of where Lana is sitting...
Pictured are brother and sister digging into the homemade pizza dinner that has become our tradition on weekends she's with us...

Friday, February 6th

Tim (in shorts) and friends couldn't resist the opportunity for one more snowball fight before the white stuff is all gone. We did get in a full day of school today, and are ready for the weekend...

Kara is headed our way and should get in around 10:30; she's a competent driver (she'd have to be to have survived Atlanta traffic all these years), but I still worry when she's on the road, especially at night... helps me appreciate in very small measure the experience of those whose sons and daughters are dodging more than snowballs and drunk drivers in Iraq and Afghanistan...

Snow Day #3

I did have to put in a couple of hours at the office today (even though the kids had the day off), but got to spend an equal amount of time on the Mountains-to-Sea... so quiet and beautiful... practically had the trails all to myself!

Wednesday, February 4th

This was the view out our front door this morning... the second "snow day" of 2009!
Tim and I celebrated by sleeping in and having cheesy-eggs for brunch (a family favorite)... just a wonderfully relaxing day at home for the two of us!

Tuesday, February 3rd

We had a quorum at tonight's Education Committee meeting... barely! The roads get pretty slippery in these mountains with a little snow; even in my all-wheel-drive Honda I had some tense moments on the way home... here's a look at the car after our one-hour session.

Monday, February 2nd

Watching these guys play at lunch took me back to the days when Tim was that age (and height)... and on the field at the Nicaragua Christian Academy www.nca.edu.ni
He's now 6'2", 165 lbs. of muscle; he was up early this morning for his zero-hour SAT-prep class, then had weight-lifting after school... he has also gotten into a routine where he does 125 push-ups at night (in sets of 25); I look forward to seeing the effect all of that has on his baseball game when the season starts (officially) two weeks from today!

Sunday, February 1st

Glad to have spent a little time on the trail this afternoon... The Schroder's put out a feast for their Super Bowl Party. Tim opted for the Richardson version, and stayed for the one hour special episode of "The Office", so he'll be home late.

Saturday, January 31st

The day's activities included this trip to Lowe's (a hardware store the size of which is unimaginable in most of the world). Tim is working on a design for a skateboard ramp he wants to build in our driveway...