Sunday, May 30th

May have been our last Sunday at Biltmore Baptist Church for a while...
Next Saturday I'll be taking the Spanish Exam in Jax to have my Teaching Certificate reinstated, and our move-out-date is June 12th!

Graduation Day

Baccalaureate

The entire senior class has been taking turns being sick since mid-way through the trip to DC... just when I thought I may have built up enough immunities over the years, I too came down with "it." The photo shows Scott Schroder graciously covering for me at the mikeTim and 38 of his classmates each took one minute to share thoughts and words of appreciation with the packed auditorium. Tim did a great job honoring his mother, grandmothers, sister, teachers, classmates and even the guy who's been blessed to serve as his principal for the past 14 years!

Thursday, May 27th

The other two items on display in the hallways of the west building are the "coats of arms" students designed for themselves in their Brit Lit class and senior portraits

Wednesday, May 26th

Yesterday's activities included a tour of Tim's college campus with the grandmas...

Here are my two trying on the latest fashions at the UNCA bookstore...

The big events of the week are:
1. Friday evening's Baccalaureate (where Tim and 38 of his classmates will be delivering 60-second speeches) @7:00 in the ACA Auditorium; and
2. Saturday morning's Graduation Ceremony @10:00 in the same location.

Tuesday, May 25th

The families of our seniors are asked to display a poster in the lobby for Baccalaureate and Graduation... Jeri and Laura to the rescue! Didn't they do an incredible job?

Monday, May 24th

They made it in time for dinner at the Black Mountain Bistro!Tim raked it in at this evening's Spring Season Celebration, earning both the "Iron Man" from his off-season weightlifting coach and an "Excellence Award" from his baseball teammates!

Sunday, May 23rd

The seniors (Tim included) were all pretty wiped out last night... spent 10-12 hours in this position:They've since recovered and are back to trying to make the most of their last few days as high school students (they're at the movies tonight.) Tim's grandparents and sister arrive tomorrow night for the week of his graduation!!

Senior Trip - Day 6

...Way more importantly:
--------------------Tim's 19th birthday!
Timothy Aaron Kynast and sister Kara have been a great blessing to me throughout their lifetimes...

I realize that I'm not completely objective, but from my perspective, they're the best kids in this world!

Happy Birthday, Son!
Taking a few swings with "Grandma" looking on...Tim's first soccer team in Nicaragua with this blogger as "coach"...With cousins Jordan, Jason and Caitlyn...With Varsity Head Coach Eric Filipek...Trying on caps and gowns with good friend Shelby Cogburn...Baccalaureate Friday @7:00 - Graduation Saturday @10:00
(May 28-29 in the ACA Auditorium)

Senior Trip - Day 5

Two of the guys were sick this morning, so I got to spend a little time nursing them back to health... did join the rest by Metro for the evening tour of the Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean War Memorials...

Senior Trip - Day 4

Arlington Cemetery + Tomb of the Unknown Soldier + The National Cathedral + Ford's Theater - The White House + A Washington Nationals game + a ride home on the Metro = 1 LONG (but great) day!

Meeting with our Congressman

Heath Shuler represents North Carolina's 11th District and is therefore Asheville's congressional representative... he was very generous with his time, spending nearly an hour with us this morning!Tim has his back to the camera, and is wearing the T-shirt the ACA Class of 2010 designed for itself...

Senior Trip - Day 2

Our "bike-the-sights" tour was postponed to Friday due to rain; Plan-B was a tour of Mount Vernon... As impressive as Monticello was, most in our group expressed a preference for the Washington Estate... 44 students and 8 chaperones then took in the Capitol Building, Union Station, the Library of Congress and the World War II Memorial...

Senior Trip - Day 1

Our first stop was Monticello... the home of Thomas Jefferson. Our guide said our 3rd President was 6' 2 1/2", and that this was a life-sized statue, so how tall does that make Tim?

Sunday, May 16th

Our pastor's sermon this morning was his first in a series on the "End Times"... of course, no one knows the day or hour (of Christ's return), but it is time for the senior trip to Washington, DC!We'll be piling in a bus tomorrow morning and returning Saturday evening (Tim's birthday!)

Saturday, May 15th

These "five guys" spent the night at our place last night... caught them entertaining themselves with U-Tube videos this morning. They're all staying at Eric's tonight; gonna try to catch three different church services tomorrow morning... Seems they're trying to squeeze every ounce of fun out of their senior year before it's over (two weeks from today!)...

Friday, May 14th

This is where Tim and a few of his classmates were headed tonight before the storm hit... there will be other opportunities: Drum Circle in Downtown Asheville, North Carolina

Jordan's 20th

Don't know when this picture was taken of Kara and her cousin Jordan Kynast... the special occasion does mean that my brother Steve no longer has any teenagers on his auto insurance policy... four terrific twenty-something daughters!

P.S. Kara flies home from Australia in five days!!!!

Wednesday, May 12th

Got to speak at middle school chapel today (on the topic of "fitting in") using a couple of verses from the Book of Proverbs to encourage our 6th and 7th graders to be kind to each other, while sharing personal experiences from my own middle school years...Exactly one month from today is our "move out date"...
Tim and I will officially be homeless until I find a job in North Florida and rent an apartment near my new place of employment.

State Quarterfinal

SouthLake was the better team today... we did take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, when Michael Moore drove Tim home from second with two outs, but it was short-lived as they led off their half of the inning with a double and two homers... we never recovered losing 8-2. Great season nonetheless!
Our fifth consecutive as one of the top five teams in the state!Tim finished the season with a .333 batting average (23/69, with 6 doubles and a triple), scored 23 runs, had 21 RBI's and stole 10 bases (in 11 attempts)... not bad for a soccer player ;-)

Mothers' Day in Mexico

Somebody is always celebrating something somewhere...
Grace and I have had a great time together, but parting is never quite as much fun... even when it's "only" 18 days till her next visit...

Our state quarterfinal game is set to be played in Huntersville tomorrow @4:00. ACA takes on the #4 seeded team (SouthLake Christian) with a chance to take on #1 Westchester Academy in the semis on the line... Go Lions!

Mothers' Day

Here's a six-year-old picture of Mom with Dad (who left this earth in 2007) and the nine oldest of their twelve grandkids (including my two)... I realize I may be less than completely objective, but I do believe I have the greatest mother in the world!

Tomorrow is Mothers' Day

My kids have had a fantastic mother!

Even now that she's in Heaven, the memory of fun times together, things talked about and the ways she showered them in love serve to guide and strengthen Kara and Tim as they make their way through this life...
I will always be grateful to Lana for the ways she enriched my own life through her investment in and love for our children...

Happy Mother's Day, Lana!

State Playoffs Game One

This one went an extra inning! Pitching ace Matt Justice went the distance, striking out seven and scattering six hits over 8 innings...TK got credit for the game-winning run-batted-in (GWRBI) by legging out this infield single in the bottom of the eigth!
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Friday, May 7th

It has been 27 days since the last time I saw this little lady, and she's headed our way...
ETA approximately 11:00 p.m.
We'll be cheering Tim on tomorrow afternoon (1:00 @ACA)... they play Caldwell Academy in the opening round of the state play-offs, with a chance (most likely) to face SouthLake Christian in the quarterfinals next Tuesday... Grace will be back in Jacksonville for that one!

59th Annual National Day of Prayer

Apparently, a district judge has ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional and there is some chance that the observance begun by President Truman in 1951 may come to an end next year...
At ACA, we had an all-school chapel and then broke up into small groups like the one below where some of the older kids prayed with their younger counterparts... how cool is that?

Cinco de Mayo

The 148th anniversary of the "Battle of Puebla" in which the Mexican militia defeated a significantly-larger French army delegation...
...or more importantly: the 34th anniversary of Sharla Martínez’s entry into this world.
Sharla Hanson was a journeyman missionary straight out of college when we were blessed to have her serve as Tim's First Grade Teacher @Nicaragua Christian Academy. As you can see from this picture, God has since blessed her with a husband and four precious children (now residing in Kentucky)...
------------------------------------------Happy Birthday, Miss Sharla!

My 53rd Birthday

Since it was May 4th 12-hours earlier in Perth, Kara was the first to send me greetings on my birthday... she promised to hand-deliver her present on Tim's birthday (May 22nd); what she may not realize is that having her home will be gift enough for me!
Tim had a card, sweet message and present laid out for me this morning... he got me a nice pair of sunglasses, since I've been borrowing his and he says I'll need some in sunny Florida...
At school it was chocolate cake, a birthday salad, German-chocolate brownies, more cards... and then a ton of e-mails and FB messages from family and friends... all terrific!
Now I'm gonna call Grace and open the pile of presents and cards she sent (while on the phone with her)!

Monday, May 3rd

"Junior Marshalls" are the four students with the highest weighted grade-point averages through the third quarter of their junior year (who meet all other citizenship requirements.)
Guidance counselor (Joe Hagan) and I have the privilege of informing them of their honor and responsibilities over lunch!(Students L2R):
Lawson McDonald, Whitney Thornburg, Rachel Bishop & Evan Bruder.

Sunday, May 2nd

These five seniors were a part of the 2008 State Baseball Championship team as sophomores... we'll see how things go this week. Tuesday's 5:00 home game against Rabun Gap is for sole possession of the Conference Championship... we beat them 5-2 at their place, but both teams are 10-0 against the rest of the conference, so a win would give them a share of the title. The seeding meeting for the state playoffs is Wednesday, but we should be in the top 8 and would then host our Sweet-16 opener Friday or Saturday... at that point, it's win-or-go-home; state quarters are Tuesday (May 11), semis Friday (May 14), and the championship series (two-out-of-three) Friday-Saturday (May 14-15)

Saturday, May 1st

Two boxseat tickets to see the Asheville Tourists: $22
A funnel cake & a couple of lemonades: $11Spending the evening with my son and his friend Shelby: Priceless!

Senior Day - Shannon Forest Game 2

As you can see from the scoreboard it wasn't much of a game, but good times for all six of our Spring Season Seniors (the soccer team won 1-0)... State Playoffs begin next Friday, and both teams play for Conference Championships on this blogger's birthday (next Tuesday) at home against Rabun Gap @5:00(L2R) Zach Hines, Matt Justice, Anna Kendall, TK, Jared Robinson, Michael Moore