Second Grade Person

TrackCoach,
I am wondering if you are talking about a girl whose name was Mary Ann O'Connell?? I remember her being in our room and don't know what happened to her. Anyway, that is it for my guess. How is every one?

Marty R.

Hey guys! I'm very excited about this blog as well. I plan to add pictures of me and my crew soon. Sometimes I wonder if I exist anymore, you wouldn't know by the pictures at my house. I know I got married, because I'm in those pictures. I know I have two children because there are pictures of me at two distinctly different baby showers sporting the big belly. But, somehow, there is no other photographic proof of my existence other than my drivers license. Funny how kids change things.

It sounds as though everyone is doing great. Me and mine are doing well. We stay busy like most families, work, kids and their activities and church. The kids are on spring break this week so I get a little extra shut eye in the morning. Goodness knows the last thing two teenagers want is to be "disturbed" early in the morning during spring break. I risk my life just by walking down the hall to their bedrooms.

Tanjie, thanks again for putting this together. Will blog soon!

You are close!!!

The contents are close or may be it is an ingredient of Red Bull who knows. The "cup" or "Mate cup" is actually a small gord that is cut and then covered with leather. There is normally a rim that is put on it as well. Some have it some don't. I've seen just a plain gord. some even use a glass. The straw or "Bombilla" has an spoon at the end of it with a screen. I'll post some photos later to illustrate. Which gives me an idea. I will photo jurnal the whole process. The contents is a type of tea leaf. It is called "yerba". This tea comes in different brands and flavors. It has many medicinal purposes. But really the drinking of or the action of "Matando"(drinking ma-tea)is a very cultural thing here. I'll post some more later on how and why. Now some have said it favors a water bong. For those that won't admit it, yes it is similar as well. When I get my photos in line, I'll got through the whole process of preparing and drinking "Mate".

Can't remember

Can anyone remember when we were in second grade and a girl (this is what I can't remember) came to Mrs. Berzett's class and she brought pictures of a car bomb that was supposedly in her dad's car. I was watching a special on TV about car bombing and it popped in my mind but I can't remember who it was. If you know could you let me know? I just remember seeing those pictures and they looked alot what they were showing on the special that day. Tanjie, I saw Mrs Lovell (4th grade) the other day and alot of memories came back. Do you remember when she fell over in that desk she was sitting in? She fell on my foot! Good times! (Mike is it Red Bull?)

You Asked for it!!!

I'm a pretty feller aren't I...
Ok, ok, ok... how many are going to ask me what is in my hand? Koodos to who can guess what it is and what is in it

Mike Browning Rocks!

I realize the adage "so -n- so rocks" is dated but I don't care. After all, this is an '80s blog!
Anyway...I think Mike rocks because he actually took the time to make a blog post!
Yea, Mike!
I can't wait to see the haircut photo!

(This is only going to work as a cool way to keep in touch if everyone, at least occasionally, posts!)

Hair Cuts?

Well I thought I would share a little of our day to day life. We normally all get up eat a little breakfast. The kids get started on school. Teresa is popping the wip and I am answering emails and preparing for a group we have coming down to hold a basketball camp next week.
Well during the day after I get back from a 50k training ride, I decide to go get my hair cut. Well... you say what is so special about that. Well...let me explain. While we (my barber who has cut my hair the last two years) are discussing a television program that he seems to be more interest in than my cutting my hair. He makes a wack through my hair with trimmers on a setting of 2. Well I have tried to take a proper picture but needless to say I will be wearing a hat for a while. Nothing is normal when you are living cross culturally. Day to day living is defined quiet differently. If you just got to see a photo, I'll get Teresa to take one if she can quit laughing long enough.
Till my next post which will be soon because I got to tell you about me installing a duchero in a church...I'll let you see if you can figure that word out first.
Later...

Who's Who

Our list of blog-team members is growing!

So far, we have (as noted in the list at right):

Sam -- Samantha Crouch Beyer, a 1986 classmate until about eighth or ninth grade when her family moved to Texas. She's been back in this area for quite a few years now. She and her husband have one daughter and one son.

Michael -- Mike Browning from the Class of 1985 and his wife Teresa Nails Browning from the Class of 1987. They have one son and one daughter. Visit the Browning Family blog.

EHStrackcoach -- Barry Pugh (1986) who is now a teacher at Elkmont High School. He and his wife, Leigh, have one daughter.

Kim Nugent Harbin -- Kimberly (1986) is married to Kasey Harbin (Tanner 198?) and is a stay-at-home wife and mother of two.

Tanjie -- Tanjie Nash Schrimsher (1986) That's me! I'm now working as Recycling Coordinator for Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful. I've been married to Brian Schrimsher (East Limestone 1981) for almost three years and we are the parents of a fabulously wonderful & rascally 20-month-old boy.

Marty R. -- Marty Adams (1986) Check out Marty's intro post for more info on his family or visit his photography blog.

Laura -- Laura Nails Reese (1986) Laura works at GE and is the mother of two boys. They enjoy traveling all over the world.

Gretta -- Gretta White Kilgore (1986) Gretta is married to Tom Kilgore (1985) and teaches high school science courses at our alma mater. She and Tom have two sons.

Who would have guessed?

I know, I know you are probably asking, "what is Michael Browning doing on our blog?". Well you'll have to talked to Laura and Tanjie. They invited me. No really I thank Tanjie for the invitation to share a little about what is going on with us. (Teresa, Garrett and CoraElizabeth[CoraBeth for short])
Wow, it was great to see some of the pixs on the slide show. Everyone is looking great! I haven't found a good family photo of us yet, when I do I will post it. When you get a chance you can check out my blog for some photos and video what we have done in the past.
Where to begin? Well first let me preface this by saying I will avoid politics and religion. I will refer to what we are doing as ministry. Because that is our life and I can't really separate the two just because how entwined it is.
Coming up in July we will have just about completed four years of living cross-culturally. The first year we lived in Costa Rica attending an Spanish speaking institute. After completing our time there we packed up and moved to Uruguay, South America. If you are wondering where is that? Look it up, to be specific we live in a small town called "Treinta y Tres" (33 is how is translates). I would go into the history of the name but I'll save for future post. For the past almost three years, we have been working in ministry and living in a very different culture. Learning a new language, eating different foods and making new friendships.
Our son Garrett is now sixteen years old. He is an avid cyclist. He races road bikes as well as mountain bikes. His most recent best finish was an international mountain bike race, where he placed third in his category.
Our daughter CoraBeth is now eleven. During the school year here she participates in a gymnastics class. She is very imaginative, she loves to draw, paint and what ever else that engages her imagination.
Teresa is busy daily taking care of us. I would try to explain but again not enough time or space for this post. She is as beautiful as always and I love her more each day that passes.
And for me, well I'm marching on. Still working with the language. That will be a life long process. Living cross culturally has it's ups and downs. But I'm thankful each day for the opportunity for being to live outside the box.