For 5 years I was the Chief Photographer for WTOC-TV in Savannah, Georgie. I was back in “News Mode” today!

I had a great time doing a shoot for my partners Terry Earl and Cathy Palmer.

I enjoyed watching them work with two of their families in Clarkston. Great stuff! They teach English while also teaching “life skills” like cooking.
They also teach preschoolers the letters and sounds and read to them so they’ll have a head start before going into the school system.
I shot the video of the families and some sequences with Cathy and Terry.

Tomorrow, we’ll shoot the narration for the piece and I’ll also do a shoot with Tim Palmer and his ministry at Huntington Ridge. I’m actually producing two separate DVDs: one for the Palmers and another for the Clarkston ministry of Terry and Cathy. Tim Palmer also helped out at the after school program at Willow Branch.

We enjoyed Vietnamese food with Ashley and Kathy as well as Terry and Cathy!

Kathy and I watched the end of Cinema Paradiso–an Italian movie that I liked. It was all in Italian and shot in Sicily.

I’m checking out to see which camera looks best. In my previous post I used my Sony Vaio camera. This post will use the Logitech Notebook deluxe.

The first time is always the hardest! I’m working on figuring out how to do my video blogs again. I’m using my new Sony Vaio computer which has a built in camera with my Pinnacle software which I use for video editing. Hopefully, you’ll see a video under this!

I had a great day today with my Kathy. We went to Calvary Baptist Church in Lawrenceville to see my good friend Carl Barrington who is the interim music director for that church. His folks, Carl and Joyce Barrington, were in town from Marlow, Oklahoma. They came to see their granddaughter Michelle who had the lead in a play at Grayson High School. It was great to see the whole family again! After church we went over to Sake Gura for Japanese food. It was delicious! Thanks to the Barringtons for their continued love and support for our family!

I also wore my new suit which another supporter of our ministry the Miller family got for me. THANKS for that too! Think I look good?

This morning at about 4am I woke up thinking about a project that the Father gave me in a dream almost seven years ago. He woke me up with this idea for a new type of Bible which is called the “Alpha Bible.” Basically, it’s the Bible with its books in alphabetical order! Seems like a really simple idea that I think could help a lot of people find things more easily than in the traditional Bible. As I was looking at my One Year Bible this week, I noticed that the publisher was Tyndale. That’s the same publisher that Catherine Palmer has. You may remember that it’s her family that we’ve been working on the apartment at Huntington Ridge. My prayer is that Cathy can help Tyndale see the use in publishing something like that.

When the Father gives me an idea it’s my job to do my part. As long as I get the idea out there, to the right people, HE’ll take care of the rest! Think it’s a good idea?

K and I watched an Italian movie this evening called Cinema Paradiso. It’s been kind of cute. The little kid in the movie reminds me of one of the kids at the mission at Shallowford Gardens. I still can’t believe that I won’t see Bob Speer again until I get to Heaven. I’ll always associate him with that mission.

This Friday at 9am is when Jesse goes in for his bond hearing. Please pray that Judge Hamlin will see the need to getting him out into a hospital setting rather than the jail. If you’ve never prayed for me or my family before, PLEASE pray for this.

I still believe that God has his timing in all of this.

Sure do love you guys! Thanks for your prayers!

Kathy and I had a terrific bike ride today.
We rode from the Lamb’s house to Stone Mountain and then went the long way around. We made a stop at the graveyard near Walmart.

I liked these little fuchia flowers. Dig the digital zoom on my camera!

Total trip was over 15 miles! Most of it was great. It started raining. That was less than great. Worse thing about it is that the brakes don’t work that well. Check out the pollen coming down with the rain.

The carving on Stone Mountain is the largest in the world. Larger even than the Presidents on Mount Rushmore! Augustus Lukeman was the sculptor.

It is SO beautiful in Atlanta now. The dogwoods are starting to bloom and other flowering trees are just going crazy with color. It reminds me of Kenya!

K and I are looking forward to seeing Jesse this evening.

This morning I went to eat pizza with Ashley and Miles. That’s always fun!

I checked on my car and got my mail out of it. Later today I picked it up. Cost me over $800 in repairs. Ay caramba!

Went to our house to see how the clean up is going on . There were 5 ladies working hard. Things are getting cleaned up, little by little. Good to see progress.

Got a haircut. #2 all around. Ashley saw my driver’s license picture and said, “You looked really young!” As opposed to how I look now, I reckon. Hair makes a difference! I used to be uptight about it. Then I thought, if I had hair and looked younger what would that get me? Maybe I’d be more attractive to women? I’m happy with my wife of 22 years! This American culture puts so much emphasis and youth and beauty. Every morning I quote all of Isaiah 40. Part of it goes, “All flesh is grass and all it’s loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God, shall stand for ever.” So true! Focus on God, not flesh.

I got a call from Ian North today. He’s a great guy and really talented. I think of him like a son. I pray things go better every day for you, Ian & Ruthie! You’re part of the solution!

Went to Kevin Lamb’s house to help Edwin build a fence. I was glad I was able to lend a hand. It will look something like this when we’re done.

Kathy worked with the Special Ed kids today. Hard job. Takes a lot out of her.

Came home and ran 4 miles. Later K and I went for a walk. Atlanta is such a beautiful city! The trees are just incredible this time of year!

We watched a Spanish movie tonight. Perros Amores. Left me feeling sad. That’s all I need! More sadness!

Tomorrow K and I get to spend the day together. I’m looking forward to that. We hope to see Jesse tomorrow night. Today is the 28th, he was supposed to get into another section of the Detention Center with roommates. Pray that that goes well.

Pray that we can get him out on bond and into Peachford Hospital on Friday, April 4th. The judge will make the decision at 9am.

Thanks for being concerned for me!

Love you guys!

I’ve been working on the video project from last weekend. I have them up on your You Tube account. Here they are for you.

This one is First Baptist Church of Salado, Texas. They worked at the Palmer’s new apartment in the morning and at Huntington Terraces and Ridge, Azalea Place and Highland Gardens in the afternoon.

This video is from last Saturday, the 22nd at Greens at Hillcrest. Pure Fun was the main team with my partner Todd Harrison. I had some great churches help to including: Sweetwater Church, 12 Stone Church and Crosspointe Church. They did a fantastic job!

Enjoy!

Ashley day! Yeah!

We went by our house this morning to check on a cleaning crew. They were really going after it. I think this company is going to do a really good job on our house!

We wrote ALL the newsletters (about 230 this month) and put them in their envelopes. It took us over two hours. I think writing a little note to our supporters is worth the time.

I needed an oil change so I took my car into T&G on 78. I’m on a first name basis with the guys over there! Got a call later today that said my radiator had a leak and the bushings on my car were bad. Bottom line I’m looking at over $700 for repairs. I hope that includes the oil change!

For a treat we went to our favorite Indian food place–Vikhyat–which means “famous” in Gujarati. The Patel family lived in Nairobi, Kenya in the same era we did. We all know the same places and when I come in we always have a conversation in Swahili. It reminds me of home and is great fun for me. It’s located across the street from the McDonalds on LaVista road near Northlake Mall. It’s definitely one of my food faves.

After we finished writing the newsletters we went to Azalea and the kids helped us put the labels on the letters. I usually bring them donuts after that just to say “Thanks!”

This evening we went over to watch FBC Mountain Park play softball against Peace Baptist Church. It was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to be a good sport. I’ve seen some pretty bad attitudes on church teams! Tonight was a really pleasant change from that. Kevin Lamb, the son of the folks we’re staying with, hit a grand slam! Sweet!

Love you guys.

Running around town doing errands today.

Started out at Lowes to pick up more supplies for the apartment project.

Couple of hours at Walmart getting stuff to make the apartment liveable.

Had a crew at the apartment getting the carpets cleaned. I think they did a really good job.

Went by Azalea to check on the mission kids. No one was there, guess they’d come and gone by the time I got there. I’ll go earlier tomorrow.

Ashley and I went by to see Jesse tonight. Pray for him. We have a bond hearing on April 4th at 9am. He’s very confused with his relationship with God. Tonight he was saying he doesn’t believe in God. It’s so very sad for me. I believe over time he’ll understand how much God loves him. Pray that God will reveal Himself to Jesse.

This is the hardest time of my life.

And I think of all the people who love me and are praying for me. And I wonder how people who don’t believe in God can even face another day. And it makes me sad all over again. My poor little boy. His great intellect has pulled him from the Truth.

I really enjoy meeting new partners! Today Jason Pope, who has directed our work at Hamptons at Lenox for about three years, introduced me to a man I’d heard a lot about over the years, but had never met: Capt. Kelly Durant. He’s a super great guy. Has a tremendous heart for the Lord and really has done a lot for reaching into the Latino community in Chamblee. He’s got some terrific programs in their building including computer and music classes and food distribution. They also provide space for the Good Samaritan clinic in Doraville. I think that’s great.

I picked up some more supplies for the Palmer’s apartment project. Tomorrow I head to Walmart to get other odds and ends. Plus I’ll pick up the most high powered roach killer known to man. Or at least known to the bug killin’ specialists! Everything is super clean in the apartment so I know we have a good head start against bugs.

I went to Azalea to check on the kids at the mission. Everyone seems to be doing well for the most part. Jouvens has an appointment with the people who grant green cards/work permits on Thursday. Pray that that will go well.

I heard from our lawyer that Jesse was not approved to be bonded out to get into the hospital by the District Attorney. J needs to be in a hospital getting therapy. I’m really upset with this. I just have to believe that God has His timing in all this, but it’s not easy to be patient when it’s dealing with your child.

I met up with Captain Durant and Officer Ayala at Wynscape a new location where we’re trying to get some mission work started. The complex has given them a room to work out of. So far they are working with kids on how to resist drugs and gang activity. There is an emphasis on spiritual things so I like it. I’ll work on getting some computers over there for them soon and will get a hookup for the internet for them to use. Your support of our ministry helps make things like that possible.

I came home and ran 4 miles today. Needed it. I was still upset over the bond issue with Jesse. Please Lord, help us get him out of there on April 4th when we have the bond hearing.

Ashley is helping me work on the newsletter. It’s nearly midnight and she’s typing away. I dig Ashley!

Last night I stayed up till about 1:30am working on the DVDs. I need to crash out before then, but I get going and it’s hard for me to stop. I need to get the labels printed up, start uploading the videos onto YouTube and I’ll rest.

Love you guys!

I was up and at ’em early this morning. I installed the video editing software last night and I dove into the project full speed! Fortunately, the program was very similar to what I had used before, so everything went smoothly. I edited both stories (the Easter Outreach and the FBC Salado team), compressed them for You Tube distribution and started burning DVDS. I love it when a plan comes together!

The rest of the day I spent with Bill Hickey working on the Palmer’s apartment. We spent hours going back and forth to Lowe’s getting supplies for the repairs we’re working on. I think the place is really coming together. Hope Cathy and Tim think so! We got new curtains for the bathrooms, some new fixtures, new quarter round for the flooring and just a lot of other little stuff. Tomorrow or Wednesday we’ll go over to Walmart to pick up more of the housing stuff. Hopefully by then the construction stuff will pretty much be done.

I just knocked out my email. Nothing too hard to figure out!

I’m looking forward to a meeting with some Salvation Army partners tomorrow. I’ve heard so much about Capt. Durant. He’s got some terrific ministry in our area, in particular with sports! I also heard from my partners at FBC Bonifay, Florida who want to do some service projects like feeding the homeless and clothes closet ministry. I’d like them to be able to help my Army friends! I also pray that they’ll want to get involved with another of my missions on Buford Highway, Hamptons at Lenox. We’ll see. . . .

Our lawyer for Jesse said he’d tried to call the Assistant DA several times today to get an early bond out for Jesse into Peachford Hospital. No return calls so far. We have a bond hearing for April 4th if nothing else works. Pray that they will decide to let him go into the hospital asap.

Also just heard that my partners at 12 Stone Church gave a big offering to help us with our medical bills! Praise the Lord for their generosity. All of our supporters have been so GREAT to us. It is very humbling to see such love in action!

Sure love you guys!