Which Superhero are you?

My brother posted his results for the following survey on his blog and my obsessive curiosity couldn't resist filling it out.

Your results:
You are Green Lantern
Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Green Lantern		95%
Superman		70%
Spider-Man		65%
The Flash		55%
Hulk		55%

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Early Bird Extravaganza ( Day 3 )

Monday was a bummer as we had hoped to face a few teams that we saw playing on other courts that were very beatable. I don't know what tournament bracket those teams made it into, but they weren't in the Ruby Tournament where we hoped to meet them.

We lost the first match of the single elimination tournament, but the girls should be proud of their effort all weekend as mostly 15 year olds in a 16 year old tournament. The results are posted on the BAVA website: Match Results

The girls are improving and they have several tournaments to go. Carmen got a lot of good experience returning 16 year serves and that will help her much more than last year's experience on the 14-2 team.

Carmen views her volleyball experience as "character building" since the losing humbles her, but she has asked why God wants to develop her character instead of someone else.

The coach has goals of getting the girls to play together more as a team and I think she has focused on the right thing. They all need to be more vocal and assertive. By the end of the year, I am sure they will be clicking like clockwork.

Early Bird Extravaganza ( Day 2 )

Our second day in Columbus started out with a late lunch with Keith at Buca Di Beppo Italian Restaurant.

I rode 20 miles on an exercise bike to try to overcome the sluggishness hanging over from Day 1, but I easily recreated that sluggish feeling with single order of fresh salmon with pesto from the lunch menu.

We ate at this restaurant with the team last year but the staff at Keith's hotel encouraged him to go there for lunch today so we went again. The food was fair, like last year. The restaurant's best features are its Front Street location and the variety of entertaining Italian artwork, statues and photographs.

A light lunch of pasta is also good for athletes planning on a long day. It's really too bad that only one of us would be participating in the tournament.

Carmen's first match was at 4:00 and her team played very well again. Her second match at 5:00 was the most difficult of the weekend. After watching them play at 3:00, we really thought that might have been our first win of the weekend. We were wrong. This team won our pool and we lost our pool, so it was very disappointing.

The net of two days of pool play puts us in the Ruby tournament. While we were driving home, Carmen wondered if Ruby was the third level: Gold, Silver, then Ruby. Jackie explained that there were a few more between Silver and Ruby: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Diamond,Emerald, Sapphire, and then Ruby.

We've also been enjoying my brother Keith's observations and commentary on the weekend. Keith is a retired consultant with an open mind, a frank speaker and a great writer. His research on our family was definitely widened this weekend.

Early Bird Extravaganza ( Day 1 )

The BAVA 16-2 girls played well today at the Early Bird Extravaganza in Columbus, but they came up short on all the matches. The second game of the first match was probably the best game that they have ever played.

There were 28 courts of volleyball and most were busy all day long.

I could really see the improvement in Carmen's play since she has been working at the HIT center. She is playing with more confidence.

Keith was excited about the variety of people at the conference center: Volleyball, Cheerleaders, United Nations and 4H.

He spent most of his time dealing with Becca's energy. She doesn't pay much attention to the volleyball game.

We enjoyed a surprisingly good meal at really reasonable prices from the Thai restaurant at the food court for dinner.

The Gospel in Six Minutes

We made it to Columbus late last night and I got to play Euchre with some of the other volleyball parents.

This morning I slept in until 7:45 and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast. We are eagerly awaiting Uncle Keith's arrival and the start of Carmen's tournaments this afternoon.

I had a chance to talk to a couple this morning in the lobby that had driven to Columbus from Maryland to participate in an annual musical event. I also met two families that drove from Pittsburgh to attend a Harley convention.

Columbus is the place to be!

After returning to the room, I found this simple testimony from John Piper that hits the mark.

Simply Good News

I finished reading a book that my nephew gave to me. His family knows the author because they have worked together on mission trips.

Ben gave it to me at Thanksgiving and I didn't finish it until mid January. The whole book was an interesting testimony but I particularly enjoyed chapter 8.

Chapter 8 talks about Awe, Honor, Respect and Trust that are necessary parts of any loving relationship. He states that taking away trust from any relationship will cause respect, honor and awe to fall away. Soon, we will not place time and energy toward honoring the other party. Certainly not the time and energy that we first invested when Awe was at its peak.

Our relationship with the Lord is similar because it is a loving relationship, but very different because the Lord never fails and is always deserving of our awe, honor, respect and trust. Bob suggests that these four characteristics are summed up in the phrase "the fear of the Lord".

Today, society is trained to seek a doctor when we are sick, a lawyer when we are in trouble, a pastor when we need spiritual counsel, or your favorite search engine when we need information. Jesus told us to "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God".

Judgment Day

A week after Dare2Share, several of us got a chance to show Tatesbrook a shortened version of the Judgment Day drama. Later, the youth shared their testimonies and Kim led the body in a cell phone exercise. It was very good to have Kent's praise band from BCM there to follow the sharing.

I sure am glad that God's got everything in control. Sometimes it doesn't seem like anyone is in control from our earthly perspective.

Video credits: Josh Wilson.
Directors and producers: Matt and Kim Hind

Beyond the Ultimate

I just got an email from my college roommate pointing me to the following website: Beyond the Ultimate

At this website, I found a new book to put on my wish list.

It is amazing that the Super Bowl became a platform for two Christian men to Go, Fight, Win in sharing the superior leadership styles of Jesus Christ and how those styles can unify and motivate athletes at the top of their game.

Super Bowl XVI was the third most watched event in all of history. And these two coaches demonstrated great sportsmanship on the field and pointed to the most significant event in all of history. Be sure to listen to Tony Dungy's view of our heavenly Father's ultimate sacrifice by choice.

Quote from Tony Dungy: “Football is a profession that is judged by performance and results,” says Tony Dungy, head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. “However, those things come and go so quickly that, as a coach, I have to base my career on something more."

Nice job, Tony and Lovie!
Nice job, Athletes in Action.
Nice job, Campus Crusade for Christ.

Dare2Share a Success!

We had a great time at Dare2Share. 4,300 kids collected 9 tons of food for the Salvation Army while they canvassed Columbus. Four of the twenty one kids that traveled from Lexington accepted Christ. All were eternally impacted.

GO! FIGHT! WIN!

Here's a picture that we took at Beechwold Christian Church. We all slept in the youth room on Friday and Saturday nights. We worshiped with them on Sunday morning and got back just in time to head to the Super Bowl Party.

Heading to Dare2Share 2007

Game Day

As we prepared to leave for Columbus today to reinforce this message:

• God created us to be with him.
• Our sins separate us from God.
• Sins cannot be erased by good deeds.
• Paying the price for sin, Jesus died.
• Everyone who trusts in Him has eternal life.
• Life that's eternal means we will be with Jesus forever in heaven.

I was amazed at the timing of this YouTube news report that a friend sent to me. I don't know the Newscaster or the Atheist, but I dare to say that neither are great world renown thinkers, pioneers and leaders like Albert Einstein, George Washington, C.S. Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Galileo and Columbus ( just to name a few )

I told Carmen about this report on the way to school and she saw the folly of at all quickly. How smart can they be if they compare the greatest leader and thinker to ever walk this earth to Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. As Christians, we try to tell "the entire world" about Jesus Christ, but this guy is fighting an uphill battle recruiting from kids that don't appear to be very deep thinkers from the way they speak.



I can't help but wonder if this guy has read the book from which he quotes. Clearly, he doesn't know anything about the author or else he wouldn't have a smirk on his face about the attention that he is getting at the expense of teen age lives.

Ahhh! I look like Dad!

Not that long ago, Adam discovered that he could look like Carmen if he pulled his hair back and sucked in the sides of his face a little.
Ahhh! I look like Carmen!

A lot of people have been teasing Adam about his long hair, and others have asked me why I let him look like a hippie. "Can't you control your children". I usually tell them it is just a fad and it will pass. Given that he had a butch from the time he was six to the time he was 12, I think it is alright for him to have long hair.

At least it was not as bushy as mine was when I was in 7th grade. One the back of this photo, my mother had written "Playing Basket Ball now. doing real good."

Recently, Adam started playing basketball for Southern Middle School. He's learning the game very quickly.

Adam will not be shocked by this comparison, because people have compared our appearances before. Below you will find some pictures of both of us as 2 year olds in my father's work shoes.

He will be embarrassed, though. Adam is the one with his mouth open. He's always talking.

Carmen considering the IB Diploma Programme

Several teachers, community leaders and parents of Tates Creek High School have been pursuing a difficult goal of establishing TCHS as only the fifth high school in Kentucky to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

The program stresses how the student learns by thinking instead of repetition. It also has stringent requirements on course selection to ensure that the student is well rounded instead of advanced in his or her strengths.

Several of the teachers have already been inspired by the week long training at various locations throughout the world.

At one of the introduction meetings last week, there were several parents from private schools and magnet schools that were considering Tates Creek because of this IB programme.

There were several spokesman, but I was sold by the testimony of a product. This young lady was only 21 years old and had already graduated with two degrees from the University of Michigan because of the head start she received from her scores. She was very comfortable sharing a very small portion of her experiences. She sold me long before someone else disclosed that she had finished two degrees in three years at a major university.

It is hard to tell where Carmen will head to college, but knocking off a year of tuition will really help her stay out of debt:

• University of Louisville


• Purdue University


• University of Kentucky

I'd be interested in hearing any comments about the IB programme from educators, parents or students out there in blogdom.

BAVA Tournament Season begins

Carmen started out her club volleyball season with BAVA this last weekend in Indianapolis at the Central Zone tournament. The team did very well. They played four different teams and played well together against all four. After losing two matches to teams that were very beatable, they ran into a very tough team from Fort Wayne. They hung with that team very well, but were clearly under experienced as mostly 15 year olds in that game.

The crossover match against the #3 team from another pool was very exciting and a great way to end the long day with a win.

I think it is going to be a great season. I caught Carmen smiling a few times, so I know that she enjoyed playing with seven other players and a coach that want to play well, improve and win.

We started out the day with a huge scare as Julie, our setter, went down with an injured knee during warmups before the first game. One of the dad's is a physical therapist and had her all t taped up and ready to play for the game and kept her going all day.

Happy Birthday Kim!

For Dr. Kim's birthday, a group of us went riding in the mud. I had to get the bikes down from the ceiling of the garage, put air in the tires and oil the chains and derailures since we didn't ride very much in 2006.

In fact, I think that our ride today was longer than the total for 2006, so we're off to a good start for 2007.

It was good to have Kelly with us. Matt and Kim are great mountain bikers in terms of strength, stamina and technical riding skills, but Kelly throws in some additional entertainment by jumping his bike over things. It was really amazing to me that he could do that with a muddy bike. I have never been able to do it with a clean bike.

Carmen and Matt headed home after our first two loops and Kim, Kelly and I took a third loop. I told Matt that I wanted to take pictures of the muddy bikes and people so he was stuck with the assignment of keeping Carmen from washing her bike when she got home.

As you can see from the photos, Matt completed his mission.

Best Movies of 2006

After seeing a few lists of the Best and Worst of 2006, I've determined that our family is from another planet.

There were 15 movies that the Eby family decided to go see at the theater, rent or purchase a DVD in 2006 and I have ranked the top ten:

1. End of the Spear ( Dad's Favorite )
   
2. We are Marshall ( Adam's Favorite, Becca's Favorite )
   
3. Guardian
4. Invincible
5. Cars
6. Stealth
7. Mission Impossible III
8. Pursuit of Happyness
9. Over the Hedge
10. Walk the Line

Christmas in Wakarusa ( with Uncle Keith )

I write about the Etsinger traditions more often than the Eby traditions but after reading some of my brother's blogs about the Eby Family, I think that it is important to document some of my perspectives as well.

I wonder what Keith, Mom and Dad all think when every gift opening is followed by intense game playing.

Every year, at every age, the kids have amazed me at how intensely they compete with each other and with Uncle Keith. They normally are competitive, but somehow or the other, their view of Keith being the ultimate game player and their ability to win with him on their team is like adrenaline to their competitive spirit.

This year, Jackie got Cranium for Uncle Keith and we all dove into the game that afternoon. ( OK, Keith has an effect on me, too. And Jackie never needs a reason to play a game to its finish no matter who wins )

Keith only has a short time each year to influence the kids but he is very effective in that short period of time. I was really impressed this year at how he responded to Adam's comment to Carmen about getting a new and better iPod because he destroyed last year's model. Keith quickly pointed out that Carmen now had the chance to have an iPod AND a new gift.

Opening that new gift brought a smile to Carmen's face and provided yet another life lesson to Adam. Adam likes to collect life lessons from many sources....

Adam then proceeded to teach Uncle Keith how to shoot paintball guns at objects that would have grounded Keith for several weeks if he were Adam's age.

The target on the right side is a fungus that is growing on one of Dad's trees. This is a target that is marginally appropriate because it will be a constant reminder to Grandma and Grandpa that "Adam was here" ( Good ) but will also be a concern that it will damage the tree.

The target on the left side is one I never would have attempted as a child. Keith wisely claimed that he was not good enough to hit the post and that Adam was the only one who could.

All and all, it was a great Christmas for the Eby family.

I'm not sure why Carmen and I get a reputation of "not smiling", but I'll accept that it is true. Many people think that I look disappointed when I am just thinking and many people think that Carmen is deep in thought when she is just listening or observing. Carmen perfected the "furrowed brow" look at a very young age.

Christmas Card 2006

This is our 19th Christmas letter in 21 seasons of Christmas as husband and wife. Remembering our Savior and sharing our lives with each other is a great way to end every year.

This has been a difficult year for Jackie’s side of the family.

Early in the year, we learned that Jackie’s mother’s battle with cancer was not over. This year, her healing came in the form of a new body for Ruby. Much of Jackie and Becca’s summer was in Indiana spending precious time with Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of the family.

For a family that is steeped in traditions of laughter, activity, fellowship and helping others, this was a very different summer. One full of tears, comfort, pain, prayer and song. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of stress, but it was always balanced with promise and hope.

Over Thanksgiving, we continued on with the Etsinger traditions without Grandma with joy and sorrow. Each of the daughters helped Grandpa with the meal and Aunt Shirley brought balloons to send off with a message of thanks associated with the privilege of knowing Ruby as a wife, mother or grandmother.

The community response in Wakarusa and Nappanee brought back fond memories. We miss it dearly and have questioned our placement in Lexington more this year than ever before.

But now we look to the new. The new year, a new marriage Stephanie ( Jackie’s niece ) married Peter in the spring and new life as we take Ruby’s role of dropping subtle hints about finding suitable partners, getting married and starting families like hers and her children’s.

In this season of Christmas, we pray that you have the grace, peace and hope that Christ offers before, during and after death. ENJOY LIFE NOW!

Christmas Card 2006 - Kevin & Jackie

Old School: TRADITIONAL, RESOLVED, COMMITTED, DEDICATED, INSATIABLE, GROWING UP AN ACTIVE FAMILY

A few years ago, Jackie and I determined that we were going to take our first cruise together on our 20th anniversary.

Instead, God intended for us to spend our 20th in Wakarusa with family and we enjoyed a dinner at Cook’s Pizza. Several meals alone with Grandpa during this time taught me a lot about love and marriage. The cruise will have to wait. Maybe on our 25th anniversary.

I’ve been spending more time in fellowship at church playing Ultimate Frisbee and demonstrating my age by the number of recurring injuries that I can amass.

Jackie is looking forward to next year when she can cross elementary school off of her places to be active.

She will continue to help out at the Middle and High School wherever help is needed, but that is not as demanding as Elementary School.

Christmas Card 2006 - Carmen

High School: VOLLEYBALL, FCA, YOUTH, VOLLEYBALL, HOMEWORK, STUDYING, CLOSE FRIENDS, AIM

After graduation from Southern Middle School with all A’s, Carmen’s first semester at Tates Creek High School has gone very well. She is working very hard in several challenging classes (Geometry and Earth Space). She is also looking into an international diploma program that will keep the challenges coming.

The Freshmen Volleyball team at TCHS had only 6 players this year, so there were no substitutions, no absences, no excuses. Carmen received the defensive MVP award at the end of their 13-4 season. A growing experience.

Carmen is starting her third season in club volleyball and has accepted a position on the second team of a higher age level. We are excited about the competition and opportunity for development at that level.

Carmen remains active in her youth group at church. She had a great time at Dare2Share and at B.A.S.I.C. Training Camp.

Christmas Card 2006 - Adam

Middle School: BASEBALL, DRUMMING, YOUTH, ONE-WAY, FOOTBALL, CHEERING, DANCING, SOCIALIZING, PAINTBALL, TALKING, MYSPACE, TSA, AIM.

This was Adam’s final year of Cal Ripken baseball and he decided to accept a position on the all-star team. Had we known that Grandma would be heading to the hospital and hospice so quickly, we may have turned that down.

Adam graduated from Tide football to Southern Middle School football. He made the A team as a seventh grader and is looking forward to next year.

Adam has grown at least 6 inches in the last few months and is now taller than both his mother and his older sister, but not as tall as his feet.

Adam has grown socially in leaps and bounds. He relates to people of all ages and was really challenged by the Dare2Share conference at the beginning of 2006. He’s looking forward to another year of impacting lives for Christ.

Adam has played 10 different percussion instruments for 6 different crowds in 7 days this week. He is not afraid of anything.