Last night, J let me know that he was feeling what seemed like a bone sticking out of his gum line.  So this morning we went over to see the oral surgeon. Dr. Tucker made it sound like it wasn’t anything to worry about.  I reckon if he ain’t worried we shouldn’t be!

We’re working on upgrading some of our video gear.  We’ve heard some good things about some of these little cameras that actually shoot HD.  Ever heard of the Flip cam?  Cost about $150.  My Sony Handicam has been a real workhorse, but it doesn’t work with many computers.  Fortunately, my Sony VAIO can use it.

Then over to Ian North’s house. 

We shared with him what we found out about the cameras.  We’ll do more research before we buy anything.  Jesse also worked on Ian’s computer.  He had about 50 programs running in the background.  He just has dialup for internet at the mission.  It’s brutally slow.  When everyone had dialup, web developers built sites that loaded quickly.  NOW, there’s so much flash animation/video/audio going on that with dialup a lot of sites just take forever to load.

We also took over an amp for Ian’s brother Eric to use his guitar with.

Today we worked on prep for Impact Atlanta this weekend. 

Jesse and I went through all the grills that we have, cleaned them out and left them to dry over night. 

Ashley and J will load them over to First Baptist Atlanta tomorrow afternoon.  I’ll be speaking at a conference at the George Baptist Convention building.


Went to Azalea to check on the kids and make sure that Sayid’s computer was still working.  It was!  He’d been working on his math prep for the CRCT test.  Good job Jesse!

Came home and ran 4 miles.  Felt better than the other day.  Sure is beautiful weather to run in.  I love that it stays light so long.

Now my usual email/blog/pix!

Getting ready to speak at a conference in Michigan this Fri/Saturday.  Looking forward to it.  Be praying for that and for the 16 communities where we’ll have outreach on Saturday!

This morning J and I started out towards Clarkston when we got a phone call from Debbie Lamb, my partner from First Baptist Mountain Park.  She had nearly 100 Subway sandwiches for us!  They had had a big reception for Richard King, their youth director who has been at the church for 25 years!  We swung by the church to pick up about half of the sandwiches.  I called my partner Bennett Ekandem in Clarkston to pick up the rest of them. THANKS FBC Mountain Park for ALL you generosity!

We then went to FBC Doraville to put the sandwiches in the refrigerator and pick up our partner Bayo from Nigeria.  He’s a great guy.  We always enjoy hanging out with him.  We also picked up another computer to take over to Sayid’s house.

We met with Ian, Ruthie and Lesa (Ian’s sister) along with Jason Sullivan.

It was great to have some fellowship!  After lunch we went over to the North’s house to work on transferring video to his hard drive. No luck so far.

J and Bayo and I went to Azalea to help set up Sayid’s computer.

Then to Willow Branch to let Jesse teach his guitar classes with Rapha and Aziz. It was fun to listen to the children practice their music. They enjoyed the sandwiches from FBC Mountain Park!

I had a good meeting with Cathy Palmer and Kelly to talk about the Refugee Sewing Society.

Then back home to knock out email and computer stuff!

Good day!

Spooky Stoooory Tim from Savannah, GA–the most haunted city in America.

Always fun to hang out with my son!

This morning I went to Walmart to pick up some yarn for my partner Cathy Palmer and her Refugee Sewing Society.

It was great to see all the beautiful pieces they have going!

We ate lunch at Madina with Bennett Ekandem, my favorite partner!  It was fun to catch up and talk about what’s going on in Clarkston.

Then over to Huntington Station to pick up the PA system that I left for them to use.  I got some sad news from them.  The bank had foreclosed on them last week.  That means that the management there will be out of a job. Not good.  I have a partner running the mission at that location.  We’ve been working there for about seven years.  My prayer is that the new owner will see the worth of us working there. It’s always delicate when new owners are in the mix.  Pray for the continuation of the ministry!

Went to Walmart to pick up some supplies for the missions and then over to Azalea to check on the kids.  They don’t have any homework since this week they’ll be doing testing.  Mustak had a crash on his bike and smashed his nose and scraped up his arm.  Ouch!

I took some powdered donuts to the mission. Can you tell?

The kids were enjoying flying kites.  I’ll probably take them over a couple of new ones soon.

Came home and ran 2 miles.  I normally do 4 miles.  But my knees were killing me!  Yesterday, I spent about 3 1/2 hours standing up in front of my booth at the mission fair at FBC Atlanta.  I think it’s harder to just stand for that long than it is to actually RUN for an hour!  Weird, huh?

We had the matress guys set up Kathy’s new bed this evening.  I’m sure she’ll enjoy it!

Got my final flight information for my trip up to Detroit this weekend.  I’ll be speaking at a conference there on Friday evening and Saturday.

And now: Stoooory Tim! Where paramedics encourage a man to “Just keep breathing!”

Ashley and I had a fun day at one of my favorite churches:  First Baptist Atlanta!  We arrived at the church around 8:30am to man our booth.

We enjoyed getting to see our partners and meeting new friends at church.

After church, we met with the leaders of the teams hosting Impact Atlanta next weekend on April 25.  We’ll be covering 15 locations simultaneously.  I shared how to tell the groups about the Easter story as well as how to host a Great Candy Throw!  It’s always a hoot to describe what goes on when you start throwing pieces of candy to a hoard of children, and adults!

Good stuff!

And now. . . .more Stoooory Tim! Where I describe what’s it’s like to visit a post hurricane area. Hugo to be exact.

Having a peaceful day here in Stone Mountain!


Watched the birds this morning and read “Reality Check” by Guy Kawasaki.

Bought Kathy a new bed.  Her old mattress was worn out.

Made my phone calls and worked on email.

Jesse is still having problems with his computer.  Hard drive issues.  Not good.

I liked the smooth bark of this tree!

Watched the sunset from the top of Stone Mountain!

One of the silliest stories I ever covered for TV. Barney, the lost parrot!

I spent this morning working on logistics.

I called the 16 managers where we’ll be serving next weekend and gave them the same message:  “HOWDY!  This is Tim!  I’ve got GREAT news!  Next Saturday, the 25th, we’ll have a team come to your complex to have an Easter party for your kids!  They’ll have a cook out, with lots of games and then have an Easter Egg hunt.  This Sunday, I’ll have someone come by your complex to put up a couple of posters.  The residents are going to LOVE this!  Let me know if there’s ever anything I can do to help! Bye!”  Or something similar to that.  I’ve done the same conversation probably a thousand times over the last nearly 14 years!  There have probably been at least 2,000 people that have come to Jesus because of these simple events!

This afternoon I had the carpet cleaning guys come to our house.  I thought Germaine did a good job.

Took my sweet ol’ Sugar dog out for a 4 mile run.  I had neighbors call out, “Who’s pulling who?”  “It’s pretty even,” I’d reply.  Actually, I was doing most of the pulling today.

Normally we have pretty much the same pace.  Slow.  I’m really not into racing, just get in the mileage!

The flowers and blooming trees continue to impress me.  Even the tiniest flowers have such beauty!

The goldfinches have enjoyed coming to my birdfeeders.  I fed them all winter long.  The difference is a month ago they looked drab brown.

Now, they’re POW yellow!  Awesome!

Just finished watching “Fly Boys” a movie about WWI flyers with Kathy.  It was based on a true story.  We enjoyed it!

Every day (for the most part) I have three things I do:

I upload the pictures I’ve taken.

I write my blog (you’re reading it!)

I check on my Facebook account.

And submit a few one liners to Twitter.

People ask me, “How do you get all that done?” I tell them, “I sleep less.” True dat.

Fun day!

And now. . . you know you want it! Stoooory Tim! Where I share one of the most powerful events I ever covered: the soldiers arriving home from Desert Storm!

Today was a GREAT day because I had Jesse AND Ashley with me!  Woot!

It was also terrific because I got to see some of my best buds!

UNITE is a gathering of evangelical churches and ministries working together to help change our city.   Today we met to talk about the Compassion In Action outreach in the fall.  Never too early to start planning!

After the meeting, we went over to First Baptist Atlanta to set up the Whirlwind Missions display for the local Missions Fair this weekend.

We set up the exhibit and had some fun with one of the signs!

Then over to meet with another of my favorite partners:  Derrick Posten.  He’s the local missions director for the FBA.  He’s done a wonderful job of organizing Impact Atlanta.  This year we’re hosting two events, one on April 25 and another in the Fall.  We’ll be covering 15 apartment complexes around the metroplex.

Derrick and I worked on the master list of the materials we need for the event, then Jesse and Ashley and I went over to the local Kroger to place the order.  We have to get them the list early because the store doesn’t normally have hundreds of packs of hotdogs and buns!  The managers were real friendly and excited to help with the project.  I gave them the list of what we need with a buggy full of one of every item.  I’ve learned over time that that really helps them make sure everything is right.  We’ll pick up the stuff next Thursday and sort it out the following Friday.

I have to make sure everything is sitting on dead ready for the event because I’ll be speaking at a conference in Detroit that weekend.  It’s very important to me that I never become a “choke point.”  I want to make sure that if something ever happened to me, everything would keep running smoothly.  Weekends when I’m away are tests for me to see if what I’ve set up actually works.  I’m confident it will.

After setting up the supplies, we went over to the mall to look for some short pants for Jesse.  Ashley is good at getting her brother to accept new things. . . like shorts and flip flops! Otherwise he’d wear his blue jeans and black boots all year long.  That’s ok for most of the year, but in the summer you have to dress for the heat!  And let me tell you, they don’t call it Hot ‘Lanta for nothin’!

Went by the mission to check on the kids. They were all fine.

Came home and worked on my email on my iPhone outside.  It was beautiful.  Haven’t seen my doves.  Hope they’re ok.

My new case for my phone came in tonight.  It’s called a Clarifi case.  It has a little lens that goes over the lens on my phone so I can take close ups of things, in particular business cards.  I’m looking forward to working on that!  It’s all about having a system and being disciplined to actually use the systems you set up!

Ashley went to a Salsa Dance at her school tonight.  She covered it for the school newspaper.

She’s a beauty!

And now. . . I nearly get burned alive! Stooooory Tim!

This morning Jesse and I went over to the Kroger and Subway to pick up the supplies for the manager’s meeting this afternoon.

It was a good meeting!  Chuck Vogt, my partner from Metro Lawns, made a presentation.

Chuck helps refugees start their own business.  Also had Jouvens give out some fliers for his cleaning business.

It was good to see those guys in action.

Ian also came to the meeting to get to know the managers and the principals from the local schools. Groovy!
I liked this bumper sticker.

We went to FBC Doraville to check on the  grills and the order ready for the Spring Impact Atlanta on the 25th.  I need to get everything completely set up because I’ll be out of town that week speaking at a conference in Detroit.  Sure I’m glad to have Ashley and Jesse helping me with that!

J and I also got some wood glue and a clamp to repair a guitar for one of Jesse’s students.

We took the food that was left over from the meeting to the kids at Azalea.  J and I helped the kids with their homework.

Several of them had practice tests for the CRCT coming up.

We came home after we finished up with the kids.

Ran 4 miles.  Felt like I ran all the way to Savannah. The lighting on the trees and flowers was stunning!

Working on email and the financial report next! Up again till after midnight!

And now. . . .what you’ve been waiting for . . . Stoooooory Tim!

Where I’m nearly killed by a bottle. Silly intern. . .

Had a fun day with Jesse today!

This morning we went over to his oral surgeon to make sure his wisdom teeth surgery (he had them extracted on April Fools day–I still think that’s funny!) went fine.

Doctor said it looked great.  Excellente!

Then over to Walmart in Chamblee to pick up supplies for the manager’s meeting that I’m hosting tomorrow.

Also needed to pick up a new belt.  My old one was about to bust in half.  Actually 7/8ths.

We had lunch with Ian and Ruthie North.

Three of my favorite people on the planet, counting Jesse!  After lunch we went to the bank.  Money is tight at Whirlwind Missions.  We sure appreciate YOUR generous donations to keep up going!

To the office to check on mail.  No bills are good bills!

We had our quarterly meeting with Dr. Evans, Jesse’s psychiatrist today.  Dr. Evans if very happy with J’s progress.  It was very encouraging. The flowers outside the office were beautiful!

Then to Azalea to see how my kids were doing.

Mustak had some homework.  Mainly we just sat around and talked with the kids.  I’m encouraging Miguel to look into being a nursing assistant.  I think he’d be good at that. Hope he’ll get a chance to talk with my partner Cathy Wilson about that on Wednesday.

Jesse teaches his guitar class in Clarkston on Tuesday afternoons.

Normally I don’t have him with me, he works with Ashley on Tuesdays.   It was fun to see him working with his students. My kids and I are a lot alike.  We don’t do anything half way.  They work very hard at everything they’re interested in and their work is always excellent!  I’m very proud of having them on our team.

It was also fun to see the other music classes going on at the mission at Willow Branch.

Bennett Ekandem is one of my favorite missionaries.  I’m so glad we’re on the same team!  Pray for his mission as it’s in a transition time with a new owner coming on board.

Kathy is feeling better this evening.  She’s been running a fever.  I told her that she shouldn’t work with the refugee babies until she’s healed up.  She’ll probably work with them tomorrow.  I know she really misses working with “her” babies!

I did see one of my doves this morning.  He was in the garage sitting on my bicycle tire.  Hope he finds his mate and that they’ll be ok.  I have a lot of other wild doves in the area.  Plenty of food for the Ring Neck doves too.

And now, another wild rock ’em and sock ’em tale from my world of shooting news: PUNCHED!

It was great to have Jesse back as my wingman today!

We went for a haircut this morning.  Clean cut, all Americans!

Worked on email.

Checked out hard drives at Best Buy.

Took a check for our water bill at Hamptons at Lenox.  Also asked the manager how the team did last week. . . .GREAT!

Took our PA over to Huntington Station. Also picked up supplies for a block party and left the food there.

Over to FBC Doraville to check on the mail and plants at my office.

Then to Azalea where we helped the kids with their homework. 

Several didn’t go because of the extreme weather this morning. 

We got about an inch and a quarter of rain.  We need it!

My doves got out of my room today.  I hope they’ll hang around the yard.  I don’t think they were happy inside.  Hope they’ll be ok.

Here’s a story I covered in Savannah. One of the grossest ever. Be warned. This one really messed up my head.