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