Month-of-Sundays +1

These two joined us for church, life-group and lunch before heading back to the mountains... great fun!

Asheville Company

Tim and Anna let us treat them to dinner at Al's Pizza and an evening-stroll on Neptune Beach!

Joshua Thomas Strickland

7 lbs., 4 oz. good thing for Bonnie he was a couple weeks early!

The little man has definitely captured all our hearts, and has already spent one night "at home" in his parents' apartment...
Grace has taken this week off to share the load of sleeplessness with Bonnie and Drew, who seem to be taking to their roles as parents swimmingly.

I'm back in Jax, ready to brave my first four nights without Grace since the wedding! :-(

Impending Grandparenthood

The proud father-to-be just posted this picture of his bride getting ready for the arrival of their first Joshua Thomas Strickland!

Grace and I are heading their way, praying for a safe, (medically-speaking) uneventful delivery...

News from Nicaragua

So nice to hear from the Nicaraguans who became so dear to us in our nine years in the "Land of Lakes and Volcanoes"!
Richard and Aurora have done a beautiful job working to provide opportunities for their children that they themselves never had growing up. Their oldest son and daughter graduated from NCA Nejapa and are now studying to be an engineer and teacher, respectively. Mateo is an 8th grader and I look forward to meeting Noemy when Grace and I visit in June!

(L2R) Erika, Richard, Mateo, Noemy, Richard & Aurora

Six Figures

This old gal hit a hundred-grand on the drive home from her owner's first day back-at-work... that's low mileage for a 12-year old... good thing since she's now working a 66-mile (roundtrip) commute!

Last Day of our Break

It's been on the to-do list a little too long...

trim the palms

I don't generally make "new year's resolutions", but I did resolve this morning to scratch this one off the list...

...believe it or not, the three trees in our yard represented roughly six hours of work!

Speaking of work... Grace and I go back to our day jobs tomorrow...
Can't imagine that 4:30 alarm will be a real welcome sound ;-)

First Day of 2012

After two days of driving (from Montana), sister-in-law Kim and her youngest popped in for a short visit before the last leg of their drive to Daytona Beach, where Jordan begins work on a Bachelor's in Aviation Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University this month ...it'll be fun having another Kynast nearby!

Last Day of 2011

Gorgeous day in north Florida... perfect chance for the two of us to spend a little time watching the UF Band warming up for Monday's Gator Bowl half-time show. The football team will be trying to avoid its first losing season in years.
I'm no prophet, but I'd say Ohio State has the greater incentive... having lost three consecutive national championship games to the Gators in basketball and football just three years ago... can't imagine they've forgotten ;-)