The day I’ve been eagerly anticipating (NOT) has arrived!

No solid food for the day. And I don’t get to eat until after my procedure Friday afternoon. The colonoscopy is scheduled for 12pm. Should go in around 12:30pm. Please pray for me!

Spent a couple of hours early this morning listening to Telemundo. That’s my language lab. I’m making progress! They speak super fast, but I’m getting more of it every day.

I went to the pharmacy to pick up this Colyte stuff that I have to drink. She put down this huge bag on the counter. Holy Moly! That’s a lot of stuff to drink!

I start with that this evening at 7pm. Then I have to drink the second half of it Friday morning around 7am. Wonderful.

I took Jesse out to eat a hamburger at Red Robin.

We love the Banzai Burger–teriyaki and a slice of pineapple. It wasn’t too bad watching him eat.

We spent some time at the bookstore. I’m always researching Costa Rica.

Then over to Best Buy. Ashley had an accident with her camera. I took it to BB to be repaired. It’s still under warranty. She’ll probably end up using my old SD880 camera, but I figured I had the warranty might as well use it!

I’m also checking out video projectors. It sure would be helpful to have one of those when I do presentations, but they’re kind of pricey so I haven’t decided whether it’s worth it yet.

Came on home to drop Jesse off. He and Ashley went to Azalea to help the kids. I’m just laying around the house. Don’t really feel up to my usual Tiger Tank self.

Kathy just cooked me up some chicken broth. Hardly hearty.

When I was at Red Robin, I saw a bunch of robins. That’s cool, but I also saw Cedar Wax Wings which I don’t see very often.

I liked this bumper sticker.

How exactly does food make you go insane?

J and I went to Chamblee this morning for our Chamblee-Doraville Property Manager’s Association meeting.

Overall, kind of a sad meeting. Crime is back on the increase, particularly violent gang related problems.

On the way to the meeting I made some phone calls. One situation in particular has me really upset. One of my partners has left his wife, shacked up with a woman and is now saying he’s not even a Christian any more. He was a strong church leader and missionary for years. It’s heart breaking. We’re left trying to pick up the pieces of shattered lives. With small children and infants involved it’s particularly sad.

I found out that one of the kids that came to our mission at Azalea from time to time was killed last weekend. He was caught in a shooting that was supposed to be for his older brother, a known gang banger.

Really shook up the kids at the mission. Chris was only in 6 grade. What a bummer. Man, what a day.

After our meeting in Chamblee, we went to Lawrenceville to meet up with a new partner from 12 Stone Church.

I took Emily over to Olde Salem to introduce her to the manager there and show her around the property.

I’m very excited that some wonderful ministry will start because of that meeting!

Then back to Chamblee to help the kids with their homework and a couple of the mom’s with their English.

Working on admin tasks now.

It’s a little after midnight now. I’m not supposed to have any solid food at all until noon on Friday. That’s when I’m scheduled for my colonoscopy procedure.

I think the prep is going to be worse than the procedure.

I’ve had a lot of headaches lately. I’m not looking forward to dealing with no food plus headache. Please pray for me.

I liked this glasses case of one of the mom’s I help with English.

Man! It was cold this morning! 22 outside.

I’m not an early morning guy, so getting up at 6:20am wasn’t my idea of fun. But it sure was a beautiful sunrise!

I picked up Bayo and we went to Perimeter for a meeting with the other ministry partners on the team.

I’m not much on meetings, but I always enjoy seeing my partners and everything Perimeter does is first class.

I always learn something!

Chip and Deborah are two of my favorites!

I liked this logo.

The conference went from 8am to 4:30pm. I took Bayo back to Huntington Terraces and helped him hook up his computer. His new computer got fried. Georgia Power had a transformer blow up that ruined all the electronics in 140 apartments! Bahd luck.

Ashley’s camera died this weekend, so I spent all my reward coupons and discount coupons from Best Buy to get my new camera a Canon S90. It’s truly a wonderful camera! I’m really looking forward to firing it up tomorrow! I’m getting it all charged up this evening and reading through the instruction manual.

Working on admin stuff now. I’m tired from my early morning. Kathy’s not feeling well. She threw up and left early from the mission today. I’m glad Jesse was there to help them!

Ever seen a license plate from Guam? First one today! Know where Guam is?

Kathy and I had a great weekend away! We sure did need it!

The weather was beautiful.

Snowed enough to make everything white, but not so much that it felt out of control dangerous.

We stayed at Alpine Lodge on Raccoon Mountain.

Shot a lot of pictures at Reflection Riding.

Practiced a lot with the new video equipment. It’s shooting awesome!

Did some shopping this weekend. Finally got me some boots.

My feet have been wet and freezing. Nice now!

Kathy also bought me some new cologne. She liked this big vault.

I got her a big balloon. She’s not much on getting gifts.

We liked this big chandelier.

Glad to be back home. I kept up with most of my work thanks to my iPhone.

Didn’t do my blog, as you could tell. Back in the saddle now.

Super busy week coming up, including my colonoscopy procedure on Friday.

Gotta be tough!

Reminds me of me.

Looks like this could be a cold seat!

Another cold morning. Frozen bird baths. Frozen water in the rain guage!

Notice anything unusual about the bird bath ice?

Woke up with a terrible headache. Bahd luck. Took some tylenol and laid back down, closed my eyes and listened to Telemundo for two hours.

Went back to Stone Mountain to shoot more video.

It’s all about practicing with your equipment: speed in set up, smooth zooms, pans, tilts and combination moves. I have a really great system with camera/tripod/remote control. Here’s some video I shot from a couple of days ago.

Just getting to know the camera. I didn’t edit the video. Just added a music track. Sort of reminds me of a station I get that’s called Sunrise Earth. No narration, just natural sound over long shots of beautiful scenes.

I like these shots from today. The clouds are beautiful with the sun behind them.

This evening Kathy and I went to the Women on Missions group meeting at McDonough Road Baptist Church. They were a lively group!

I enjoyed taking them to Cambodia and leading them on a guided visualization to share with Jesus in person!

After my presentation, I taught some of the ladies how to make balloon animals.

It was about an hour trip one way. About 140 miles on the car today. Long distance missions!

Please keep praying for my friend Fred Sorrells as he works in Haiti with the disaster victims.

I thought these con trails looked supa coo.

Mighty cold this morning! Bird baths were frozen solid.

This morning I had my initial meeting with new gastroenterologist, Dr. King.

I’m 51 now so I’m going in for my colonoscopy. If everything looks ok, they said I only have to do it every 10 years.

No food at all that you can’t see through the day before. Four liters of powerful laxatives. Any wonder I’ve put it off?

I’ll have the appointment next Friday the 19th. Pray for that!

On the way to that appointment the road was blocked by a fire. Had to go another way.

On the way back, I saw what had been burned. I’ve been in a couple of fires. Scary.

Had a great lunch with my brothers Tito and Lester Ruiz.

Don’t know if you’ve ever played in a band before, but I think it’s the closest thing to being married. There’s something about playing music together that really binds people.

We had a delicious Colombian meal at Reencuentro Colombiano. Great food. Great fellowship! We talked a lot about the missions at Gwinnett Crossings and The Falls in Duluth. Some amazing opportunities over there.

Came back home to pick up Jesse. We went over to Best Buy to pick up a copy of Windows 7. Jesse’s trial version was about to expire. He’s been using an early release beta version.

Then over to Azalea. Man was it a mad house!

We had making literature puzzles with Jimmy and Rebecca, spelling and writing sentences with Josie, Jocelyn and Sanjida, direct and indirect pronouns with Mustak plus kids that come by just to say hi.

We didn’t leave the mission till about 7:30pm. We normally leave around 6pm or so.

But if we don’t help them, they’ll make a 0. And a 0 is mighty hard to have and pass.

Admin work now.

Fun day with my brothers!

I thought this frost was cool.

Jesse and I had a special treat! Kathy came with us today!

I’m encouraging her to do less sub work for the school and focus more on ministry.

We had plenty to do at the mission. I helped Rebecca with a Literature project. We made an interlocking puzzle. It was harder than it looks.

K and J helped with math and reading.

I also went by the music store to get some new guitar strings for our students at Willow Branch.

Studied Spanish for a couple of hours this morning. Also went through all my email.

Jesse, Ashley and I climbed part way up Stone Mountain on the quarry (East) side of the mountain.

It’s incredibly beautiful up there. Many times I’ve seen deer in the area.

I love the shapes of the rocks and how the moss adapts to where the water is.



This afternoon J and I went to Willow Branch. We’ve split the class up. I’ve been working with Aziz teaching him how to read music and how that relates to guitar, and Jesse has been working with brand new students. Good stuff.

Admin work now.

I liked this tile. Hand painted from Mexico probably.

I wonder who smoked this pack of cigarettes?

K and I went to NE Baptist Church this morning.

I did my “Take them to Cambodia” presentation. Their church has been very community minded. We make a good partnership.

Came home and started working on admin duties. I’m going out now to climb Stone Mountain. Groovy!

It was awesome. K and I had a great time!

This made me hungry.

I wonder if they’re still together?

K and I went to NE Baptist Church this morning. I did my “Take them to Cambodia” presentation. Their church has been very community minded. We make a good partnership.

Came home and started working on admin duties. I’m going out now to climb Stone Mountain. Groovy!