Tuesday, January 6th

Most of my readers know I spent 9 years in Nicaragua, but how many knew I lived in South America (Buenos Aires, Argentina) as a kid (1963-1969)? My classmates at St. Andrews Scots School recognized Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ; January 6th (Epiphany) was called "Three Kings Day", and they all put their shoes on the back porch (no chimney issues to deal with) on this night each year for the Magi to fill with gifts...

Monday, January 5th

First day back at work for me... good to see my colleagues (brothers and sisters-in-the-Lord) again... men like Tim Barnett, veteran Chemistry & Physics professor (caught on film at this fall's upper school retreat).

Last day of the break for my Tim... he spent part of it doing a little homework; must've inherited some of his dad's procrastination genes...

Sunday, January 4th

You may have noticed, I often go back and edit entries once I have posted them; usually those are grammatical or form "enhancements". Today, I'd like to make a content correction on yesterday's entry. I went back and watched the video of the goal Tim scored a dozen times; I wrote "it wasn't the most exciting of his goals", but now I believe it had an element of greatness in that like all talented goal-scorers, Tim made that tally look easy... he positioned himself blind-side of the defender, timed his break for the ball perfectly, and struck it as well as anyone playing the game today (it goes without saying that the serve from his teammate, Garrett Huntley, was equally "sweet")!

There is nothing ordinary about our new pastor, Bruce Frank (photo). Both Tim and I have been challenged and entertained by the messages God speaks to us through him each week. This morning's text was John 4:20-24; Pastor Bruce exhorted us to be "authentic" and "accurate" in our relationships with God... to worship Him "in spirit and in truth." Live video recordings are available at http://archive.biltmorebaptist.org/bbcsermonvideo.xml

Saturday, January 3rd

I tried all fall to catch video of Tim scoring; since he led the team in that category, you'd think it wouldn't have been that hard... this was not the most exciting of his four goals in our 9-1 victory this afternoon, but I'm finally able to share one with you!

Friday, January 2nd

Tim and I bought our tickets today to be in Managua June 5th for the NCA Class of 2009 Graduation. Here's that group as 7th graders with their Spanish teacher, Sonia Dávila (Tim is in the light blue t-shirt). Some were Tim's classmates for the first 9 years he was in school... of course, they've all stayed in touch through Facebook/e-mail and our summer visits.

New Year's Day

Tim and I pulled in at 12:36 a.m. Twelve hours of driving and three stops (Bushnell, Gainesville & Atlanta):

1. G-Mom took us to the Florida National Cemetery, where dad's ashes are buried... a special time for the four of us;
2. Extended lunch and fun at Grandma's;
3. Kara reporting for duty (she has a meeting tomorrow morning at 9:00).

New Year's Eve

Here we are minutes before midnight on 2008, bubbly grape juice at hand. We spent the last day of the calendar year poolside, and Kara has been learning to play bridge this evening. Tomorrow we head home to Atlanta and Asheville...

We will always remember 2008 as the year my wife, their mother/daughter/sister-in-law went to Heaven... we miss her and look forward to seeing her again!