Kelly Carter, Personal

personal

I am a very proud father of three: Matthew Minter (stepson, grown up and married to Brandi), Drake (son, born 1991), and Grace (daughter, born 1995). Below are some photos that I happened to have on my computer the day I threw together this web page. I try to keep the comments up-to-date as best I can.

Matt and Brandi. Matt is a personal fitness trainer (Masters degree from Georgia Southern) and teaches self-defense. He holds a 3rd degree (San Dan) black belt in karate (Okinawan style, Shorin Ryu). Brandi is a graduate student in Mercer's Southern School of Pharmacy working on a doctorate in Pharmacy after having completed an MBA at Mercer's Stetson School of Business (cellphone photo, 2001).

Update 2006: Matt and Brandi are now the proud parents of a daughter, Helena Rachel Minter, born in November 2005.

Drake taking an airplane ride at the Thomaston/Upson County airport (2000?). He loves airplanes, trucks (especially firetrucks), NASCAR, top fuel dragsters, motorcycles, trains, videogames, movies (especially Spiderman), swimming, cheese, and Shania Twain and Avril Lavigne.

Drake has also gone for a helicopter ride at Macon's Cherry Blossom Festival.

Update 2006: Drake got to see Avril Lavigne in concert. I think he's in love.

Drake at home in our kitchen (blurry cellphone photo, 2001). Drake is the happiest, most loving kid in the world, despite having been challenged by serious medical problems his whole life.

Update 2006: Drake has been having new and different medical problems but is still hugely courageous, and I'm sure he'll come through like a champion.

Drake sitting in one of Jeff Gordon's race cars at Atlanta Motor Speedway (2003). Drake has gone for a ride in a Dale Earnhardt, Sr. race car (black #3) at AMS Open House 2004, reaching speeds of 135 mph.

This is not a cellphone photo but was resized for storage in my cellphone. That is true of some of the other small photos.

Grace at the playground (cellphone photo, 2001). She loves animals (especially horses and dinosaurs), riding horses, drawing and painting, movies (especially Lord of the Rings), music (especially Evanescence and Avril Lavigne), her LG ~~VX6000~~ VX8100 cellphone, and ice cream (well, anything sweet).

Grace is very artistic and can draw better than most adults. At present she especially likes drawing horses. Grace is very giving, caring, thoughtful, intelligent, articulate, and loves to laugh. For some reasons she currently does NOT like wearing dresses.

Update 2006: Grace's artwork is improving rapidly. Presently she and I are painting a mural on her largest bedroom wall: a scene of horses in the great American West.

Grace with Santa Claus (cellphone photo, 2004).

Update 2006: Grace no longer believes in Santa Claus.

Grace at my parents' house for Sunday lunch (2001?).

Grace at her horse riding lessons at Rockin' Loredo Ranch (cellphone photo, 2003). Her riding instructor, Donna Popp, says she's the best student she's ever had.

Update 2006: Grace is not taking lessons for now.

Grace's horse, Johnny (blurry cellphone photo 2005)--a 2005 Christmas present. Johnny is said to be a 10 year old registered Quarter Horse with Palomino coloration. He's extremely gentle and sweet but slightly stubborn at times. He is dirty in this picture, but he cleans up pretty well.

Buddy the cat. I have two other cats, Grady and Dixie.

This copyrighted photo was taken by Susan Myers of Mercer's Law School Library.

Two of my three chickens: Fuzzy, a Rhode Island Red hen; Duster, a Golden Polish rooster. Not shown is Les, another rooster. Roosters were adopted from Dr. John C. Wright of Mercer's Department of Psychology. Dr. Wright specializes in animal behavior.

This copyrighted photo was taken by Susan Myers of Mercer's Law School Library.

Update 2006: Chickens got eaten by a predator. :-(

Aerial photo of the farm that I live on in Lamar County. 65 acres with about 40 head of cattle and 1 horse (plus cats, chickens, birds, and many wild critters--squirrels, deer, foxes, coyotes, armadillos, wild turkeys, etc.).

[Check out Microsoft's TerraServer for maps and aerial photos.]

Nearby is the Country Kitchen restaurant that attracts people from all over middle Georgia (and beyond) who love to eat catfish.

To the north about 4 miles is Barnesville, GA (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), my original home town. Barnesville is known best for Gordon College, and the annual Buggy Days festival. To the south about 6 miles is Yatesville, GA (1, 2).

Up the road about a mile into Upson County is the church I belong to: Antioch Baptist Church. It's a small country church founded way back in 1823. The church was originally built and located a short distance away, but a few years later was disassembled and moved to the current location. The original building still remains as the church building's sanctuary.

my faith

Here at Mercer, students often like to know where faculty members stand with respect to values and faith. For many young people, college is a critical time when the values they were taught at home and church are challenged. As well, as part of maturing into an adult, many young people apparently must reject, or rebel against, the values of their parents and decide on their own values. Very often they end up adopting the very same ones they were taught, but at least it was a personal choice and not an indoctrination. There are many influences in this world today that can cause a young person to choose values that have not stood the test of time and human experience, nor are based on sound reasoning. If you are a student and reading this, please be assured that I and other Mercer faculty are willing to discuss these issues with you and help you "survive" this important time in your life. We have probably already made and learned from the same mistakes that you are at risk of making.

An important part of my life is my faith. I am a Christian. I am a member of Antioch Baptist Church (founded 1823) of Yatesville, Georgia and here at Mercer belong to the Faculty/Staff Christian Fellowship (FCF). My faith has really sustained me during some very difficult times in my life. (I should add that God sustained me even during times in life that my faith was virtually nonexistent.) For this reason--God's faithfulness to me--I am very willing to share my faith with you in person, if you will give me that opportunity.

What do I believe and why do I believe it? I believe that the Word of God as written in the Holy Bible (Old and New Testament) is true--either literally or figuratively (elaborating on that is beyond the scope of this web page). I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, the Suffering Servant, the King, that was prophesied (predicted) in the Old Testament. Somehow, God crossed the boundary of eternity and entered our realm of space and time in the form of a human--Jesus. His purpose was to reconcile (repair) the broken relationship between Himself and all mankind, to forgive us of all our sins, and to provide for us through His grace alone the gift of eternal life with Him. How He accomplished all this is a mystery. But I do know why He did all this: because of His infinite love for us.

Why do I believe what I do? Everything I've learned from reading and studying the Bible, and learned from others who have done the same (plus more than I have), has led me to the conclusion that the Bible contains nothing but TRUTH. It rings true in the deepest reaches of my intellect and soul. It provides answers that just can't be found in any other way. And I'm absolutely convinced that living out the truth of the Bible is the only way to assure peace and contentedness. There are competing worldviews and philosophies that are tremendously appealing and seductive. Be careful which you choose to live by.

This subject is vast and never-ending, so I'll have to end here. But the seeking of God is something that should never end. That is what He wants. That, and He, is what we need.