August

Welcome to the new and improved version of our family blog!

August has been a little slower and a lot hotter!
The kids are back in school and life is a little more normal now. (The pics are enlargeable.)

On the 18th Molly and I ran in a local 5 mile race. We both did fine and had a lot of fun together.

This month I had the opportunity to meet Kentucky's governor. He is a very impressive person (fighter pilot, physician, congressman, and now governor) and I was impressed with what he had to say. I had a minute to talk to him and am convinced that all our Kentucky-resident-blog-readers need to get out and vote for Gov. Fletcher Nov. 6.

How do you beat the Aug. heat? Head for the lake!!! That's what we did on the 25th. We went to Jenny Wiley State Park where I pulled the kids in the tube, we picnicked on the shore, and then turned off the motor and jumped in!

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see a new addition to the blog.

Upcoming in Sept...Blake starts flag football, Molly's 1st soccer game of the year, and Keith goes to Tanzania and South Africa (9/12-25).
Until next time...take care and God bless,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

One Wild July!

We have had the busiest, funest, goingest month ever! I'd better get right to it! (all pics should be enlargeable - just click)

We began the month by going to Chattanooga to meet Annika and Jonas Bengtsson and their children. They are longtime friends of ours from Sweden and were in the States for a few weeks. While we were there we took in Ruby Falls. They are such good and fun people that we always have a great time with them. We spent half of our time in disbelief at 1) how well the kids get along even though they didn't really know each other or even speak the same language; and 2) how we all ended up with so many kids! It seems like yesterday when we went to their wedding and there was only Molly. Wow, everyone else sure is getting old!

We slowly made our way back from Chattanooga (the Bengtssons headed for Disney) stopping and goofing off. One highlight was going thru the Mayfield Dairy tour . Of course we had to top it off with some fresh ice cream! The kids thought it was very funny that I had to cover up to that point that it looked like I was wearing a burkha!

This month both Molly and Kyle attended Math and Science camp here at the college. They had a great time! (Apparently it's a lot more fun than it sounds!) This is Kyle competing in the egg drop. They had to design something to catch an egg from up to an 18' drop.

Again this year Blake participated in the Future Champions football camp. That's him going out for a pass.

One day my ole (and old) buddy Harlow and I took the kids to see some really neat antiques. Most of them were local things especially pertaining to coal mining. Here the kids are sitting in a really old buggy that Harlow helped restore. That Harlow can do anything!

The 26th-28th we all headed to Cinncinati for a mini-vacation. On Thursday we hit Kings Island where we had a perfect day! The threat of rain kept the temps perfect and the crowds low...and it didn't rain! On Friday we just goofed off. Meanwhile, back at the motel (it's a really big place - see for yourself www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1542&EM=VTY_SI_cincinnatinorth_1542_overview ) we were right smack dab in the middle of the biggest wedding party this side of Bombay! It's always fun and educational whenever we go anywhere! (no pics - sorry!)

On the way home we stopped by the Cinncinati Bengals training camp to take in some football and get some autographs. That's the back of Kyle's head. Go Bengals!!!...and stay out of jail this year!

Here you go Matt! Here's the much-anticipated pic (at least Matt wants to see it!) of the new ride I told you about in the last update. Shown sitting by her big brother.

We rounded out the month, and the summer, at West Virginia Christian Youth Camp just outside the thriving metropolis of Pennsboro, WV. The entire family got to go this year and we had a blast! There were 150 from 9 states and we couldn't have had a better week. To make it even better, my buddy Mike Reese and I biked the back roads every morning and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and wildlife.

Well, how's that for a full month?!

Until next time...love from,
Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

June update

BIG #7!!!

This month we celebrated Blake's 7th birthday! It's hard to believe but it's true... This year he wanted a "dog party" where every guest could bring thier dog. It was interesting! We had 15-20 kids and 6 dogs who got along just fine most of the time.

One game that involved whipped cream turned into an all-out whipped cream food fight! Everone had a great time.

BIG RACE!!!

A few months ago Molly decided she wanted to try competitive road racing so we signed up for a local 5K. Not only did she finish (in style I might add) but she won her age group! We must be the first father-daughter team in the history of Pikeville racing (???) to each win their age group. We are pictured here with my good buddy Mike Cecil.

BIG TRIP!!!

We ended the month with an anniversary (17th) trip to Culebra, Puerto Rico. Culebra has been home to Taino and Caribe indians, host to Columbus, and a hideout for pirates. But for us it was simply paradise! Can you imagine having either of these beaches to yourself?! We had both!

Every place and every time of day were beautiful!

One of the highlights of the trip was scuba diving, which neither of us had ever done before. It was incredible and I was bummed when I ran out of air and had to quit. What a unbelievable world it is down there.

In this pic we are a few feet from a sting ray who is buried in the sand. His eyes are in the center (in front of my knees) and his tail goes all the way out of the picture to the right. When he left he swam right past us. Click on the pic and you'll see that I'm trying to get closer and Kim is pulling me back!

Another highlight was the snorkeling. We were amazed at how much life lives in such shallow water. Pictured here is a school of fish that came near us that I swam up to. The entire school was at least 3 times what can be seen in the pic.

Well, that's our June in a nutshell. We hope everyone is having a great summer. Take care and God bless.

With love from,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

One busy May!

This may have been our busiest month ever! But it was much better than busy - it was great all the way around. Here's how it went.

3-5 Kim and I were invited to present a Marriage and Family seminar in Montreal, Canada. This is a place and people we know well and were happy to go there again. There were no field trips this time (inside joke) but it was good to see Guido again! (Another inside joke!) Thanks to Nana and Pawpaw for keeping the kiddos.

8 We entered the world of Teenhood! Molly turned 13 and was treated to a surprise party (does she look surprised?) to celebrate the special occasion.

9 We had another important birthday - Nana's! Happy birthday Mom!

10,11 I accompanied Kyle and a bunch of other students to Cinncinati for an overnight trip to the Newport Aquarium http://www.newportaquarium.com/ and King's Island http://www3.paramountparks.com/kingsisland/#actions. This was a reward to the select group of students who scored very high on last year's standardized tests. Way to go Kyle!

11 Blake was in his Kindergarten play starring as a stuntman. He is 2nd from the left in the pic. Blake had a great year and is rarin' to be in 1st grade. Well...not exactly rarin', but ready anyways.

13 We celebrated the love we have for our Mothers!

15-28 Keith Blackburn and I went on a mission trip to Zambia (via Johannesburg) and Ukraine. It was a very successful and completely uneventful trip. Quite amazing considering the "numbers". Here they are:

24,828 flight miles

14 days

12 flights
9 places in which I spent at least 1 night

8 airports (several more than once)

5 countries (US, Netherlands, S. Africa, Zambia, Ukraine)

4 currencies (Dollars, Rand, Kwacha, Gryvna)

3 languages (Bemba, English, Russian)

1 lucky guy!!! (Me)!

25 The last day of school!

26 Molly played her last soccer game of the season. They had a great year and, as usual, Molly played great!

29 I got my new car! It is an 81 Mercedes and only has 203K miles! She's a classy European gal who hopefully has many miles left to give. Blake likes it because it has a sunroof! Me too!

Until next time...love from Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

April update

April around here has been about as full and as good as it good be! This update actually begins with the final days of March when Kim and Becky Johnson met in Gatlinburg for a few well-deserved days without husbands, children, and responsibilities. From all accounts they had a blast. Molly probably best summed it up when she told me, "I'm glad I'm not there because I'm afraid they're acting a lot younger than they are!"

Then the kids and I met up with Kim in Lebanon, TN where I was to preach for several days. We had a great time seeing our old friends and catching up a little. Pictured here are the kids with there friends and our family with good friend and blog-watcher Beverly Newman.

Also, we were able to see my "cousin" Arusik as she just happened to be in Nashville at the same time. We all spent the day together and had a great time!

This is the 2007 version of the Easter morning picture. It's amazing how much the picture changes every year!

On April 21stI ran the Charlottesville Marathon. This is my first marathon and I was amazingly slow! But, it was a beautiful course (the entire area is incredibly beautiful), I had a perfect not-cloud-in-the-sky day to enjoy being outside, and I can say that I finished the most physically and mentally demanding thing I've ever undertaken. More pics can be viewed at http://www.brightroom.com/go.asp?19316055

This probably isn't the best thing for your body but I really enjoyed the discipline if the training regimen and the excitement of competition. I'll do it again (and faster)!

Many of you know that Molly enjoys writing poetry and I want to share a sampling with you.

The Soft Summer Nights

by Molly Kasarjian

The summer moon, so big, so bright

the lightening bugs glow, so alive in the still night.

The gentle summer breeze flowing freely through the trees

and a far off cry of a bird saying goodnight on the soft, sweet summer night.

That has me ready for summer evenings on the deck!!!

And I close with the latest Blakism: As he and I are riding down the road he asks, "Dad, if I throw an eye crusty on the ground, is that considered littering?" Now that's funny!

See you next month!

Love,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

March update

Hello everyone!

The past 2 months have been wild and wooly and an update is long overdue - so let's get right to it!

The first 2 weeks of February found me in Chimala, Tanzania, East Africa. This was my first time to visit this part of the country and I was surprised at the beauty. Having only been in the northern part of the country I had never seen such greenery before. We even saw gigantic waterfalls. Everywhere was green and beautiful.

We taught 18 students in the Chimala School of Preaching and enjoyed every minute of it. We were impressed with all the work going on there (schools from pre-K - 7th grade, a hospital and clinic that see 20K per year, etc.) It was a great trip all the way around!

NOTE: I've always taken old ties from here to give to the students there. A few years ago I began just wearing those ties before I gave them away. The benefits: I don't wrinkle and dirty my ties & I get a kick out of putting together classic combinations like the one in the picture!

On to the family:

Kim has been as busy as ever with pre-school as the year is coming to an end (That's hard to believe!)

Molly is continuing the have a great 7th grade year! She has been on the honor roll every grading period and recently competed on the Future Problems Solvers team (part of the Academic Team). They placed 2nd in the region and 3rd in the district. She also began soccer yesterday.

Kyle is also having a good school year and just finished a long basketball season. His team won the chamionship last night to complete an undefeated season. They never even had a close game! He's shown here sporting his rec specs and his brother's rabbit ears!

Speaking of... Blake has had by far the best year in his long and distinguished academic career! He's reading like a pro and has been busy learning his lines and songs for the kindergarten play.

So, all is well here. We think of you all often!

Love,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

Happy New Year!

We hope that everyone is off to a great new year already. There is something reflective about the ending of a year, which is good, and something exciting about the prospects of a brand new year, which is even better! Here's how we ended our '06.




We had a great Christmas holiday this past year. Both on our annual Alabama pilgrimage and our Xmas at home. Altogether we drove over 1200 miles, did Xmas 4 times, and ate ham so many different times that I'm singing "Blue Christmas" like Porky Pig!

As always, it was a great time of the year to enjoy our family.





























We have had such warm and beautiful weather this winter that I decided we had to do something that we've never done before in the winter: go camping!

So, I took the pop-up out of the garage and drove straight to the campground at Yatesville lake State Park. On Dec. 29, 30 the kids and I enjoyed not-a-cloud-in-the-sky weather, hiked trails, rode bikes, threw footballs, gathered firewood, cooked all our meals over the campfire, made s'mores, laughed around the campfire, played card games by flashlight, and made some memories that will last forever. I have a story on each of the boys that will make us laugh for years!
















That's all for now. Take care and God bless.
With love from,
Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we did something different - we left town and spent the holiday in Columbus, Ohio. On T'giving day, which was just a few days after I killed my first deer of the season (did you notice how subtle I was in mentioning that?!), we made the 4 hour drive to the heart of Buckeye land.

Just like Grandma always did, we ate our Thanksgiving meal at Golden Corral. Boy was it good! While we were there we went to a park, goofed off, shopped, ate, goofed off some more, shopped, ate, etc. But the main attraction was the Columbus Zoo; made famous by Jack Hanna.
















After spending most of the day at the zoo we came back at night to see the lights. There must have been a zillion!














But the best part was the the ice skating. The kids and I ice skated...outside...bundled up...while Christmas music played! It felt like we were in a Christmas movie! We had a blast!

There were a million laughs on the trip but here's one that stands out: I had been pronouning "Ohio" in a yankee-mocking sorta way (Long O - something caught in your throat- Long I - Long O). After a day Blake was imitating me perfectly...but was doing so very loudly in crowds of Buckeyes! Yikes!

A few days ago Kyle's basketball team got to play an exhibition game at the civic center. They played during halftime betweens from Long Beach, CA and Louisville.














For those we will see during Xmas, we'll see you soon! For those we won't, we hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Love,
Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

An overdue update...

My apologies to those who enjoy our family webpage for being so tardy with an update. I could make a million excuses (and a few of them would be true!!!) but I'll just get on with it.

I spent the last half of September in Africa. The time was divided almost evenly between Arusha, Tanzania and Johannesburg, South Africa. This wasn't my first time to either place but there were many "firsts". For starters, the outbound was the craziest trip I've ever been on. Due to delays, etc. it took me 5 flights, in 5 countries, on 5 different airlines to get to Tanzania! But when I finally arrived everything was outstanding, as usual.

In addition to the normal teaching, preaching, etc. I got to do a couple of incredible "firsts": hunt in TZ and golf in SA. The hunt: we hunted in the absolute middle of nowhere (more than 3 1/2 hrs. from town) and at the insistence of a Masaai family, we camped in their "yard". They told us there are lions in the area but that they wouldn't bother us. Good enough for me! We enjoyed fresh gazelle cooked over a fire and more stars than you could ever imagine. I've only seen the stars that beautiful one other time.

I'm pictured with some of my new freinds and our luxurious accomadations.















In South Africa I met people from 11 different African nations, preached to over 600, golfed on a course that had wildlife on every hole, and experienced an baptistry overflowing while I was preaching! Ever run from water while 600 people watch in laughter???

By the time I got home I had made at least one takeoff and/or landing at 10 different airports, including Zanzibar! It was just an incredible trip all the way around. It wasn't grueling; just exhilarating!

Meanwhile, back at home, we've had the most beautiful fall since moving here. All the stars lined up just right for the most colorful leaves we've seen. Mom and Dad K happened to be here during the peak and the whole family spent the day at The Breaks.

That morning I ran in my 2nd 10K. I took more than 6 minutes off my time from last year. At that pace I might be competitive in 2 years! :-)

This year's Trick-or-Treating brought in a mighty fine haul of goodies. Molly was a hippie, Kyle wore some freaky mask that bled, and Blake was Darth Vader (he calls it Dark Vader!).

This past Saturday the boys and I went to the UGA-UK game in Lexington. The score didn't end up in our favor (not many have this year, you know) but we had a great time. I promise: Kyle had been smiling! Really...I promise!






Until next time...
Love from Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

The latest from our house..

This past summer has been the fastest one on record at our house. So fast that we weren't even ready for the kids to go back to school! It flew by because it was busy, but not too busy and becasue we got to do a lot of fun things together as a family. This update is a brief recap.



Blake participated in the "Future Champions" football camp. It lasted for a week and he placed 2nd in the skills competition in his age group. He's shown here (on the right) taking a break.










Kim and the kids (I went once) helped out doing some farm chores for a place that uses horses as therapy for children with special needs. Their pay was to get to ride the horses. Here are the 3 Muskateers!








Off and on all summer we had access to friends' pools which we used for hours and hours. We swam, dived, jumped, and slid til our skin is brown and our toes are wrinkled! Molly and Kyle and I also made up goofy jumps and dives and Kim served as the official judge of our big splash competitions. (Kyle actually did get his hair wet!)






The first week of August, Kim and 7 kids from church (including our 3) went to West Virginia Christian Youth Camp and I spoke on a lectureship in Panama. I enjoyed my trip but nowhere near as much as they enjoyed camp . I don't beleive they could have enjoyed it any more than they did!






On my way home from Panama I picked up the pre-arranged (but still a surprise) newest member of our family. Everyone was pleasantly surprised to say the least. The first thought Kim had when she saw him was that he was a rascal...and that name has stuck. Her intuition has been proven accurate!Rascal is on the left and is pictured with his sister.






That's all for now...

With love,
Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake