Spent the morning doing errands.
Paid the bill to get Ashley’s truck fixed. Looks great! Glad the guy that hit her had insurance. Cost over three grand!

Good news was they fixed several other little things all for the same price.
Gas in the car.

Groceries.

The Slim Fast is for Jesse. Ironic, eh?

Then picked up Jesse and we went into Chamblee to check on the Norths.

Picked up a TV for the H. Creek apartment.  Best Buy only sold ONE regular TV.  Everything else was a flat screen: equals expensive.  PLUS I go the news that our Best Buy on 78 is closing down!  What a heart break.  I love that store.  Electronics, media. . . yummy.  Two years ago they closed down Media Play near us.  Double whammy.  The whole team over there is moving to Loganville.  I’m glad they’re not losing their jobs.

Took the TV to the mission at H. Creek.

Then J and I had a meeting with Tom and Barry who are our partners helping support Pastor Eduardo from Venezuela.  They’re great guys and I’m glad they’re on our team!

Over to Azalea to check on Bill who is repainting the mission at Azalea.  He’s doing his usual super job.

We also help Jolie who needed help with her report on the solar system.

We only let her in because the walls in the mission were wet and she had to have the info today.

Also went to Office Depot to pick up ink cartridges for the printer at Azalea.

Back home to work on writing newsletters.

K and I are going out of town for our weekend together.  Praise the Lord!  Need a break!

This morning I had a meeting with two of my favorite partners, Kevin Riley and Bennett Ekandem in Clarkston.  We got together with Ricky Thrasher who is the Community Minister for the Georgia Baptist Convention. 

Ricky wanted to know more about what we’re doing in Clarkston and how he might be able to help.  We shared with him a few things and I pray that we might be able to help him in the future.  I’m especially interested in a church he mentioned in Gainesville.

I met Marco Allen for lunch at Perimeter Mall. 

He’s the team leader for the group coming from First Baptist Atlanta in June.  This will be the first time they’ve organized a short term mission trip in our area.  It was a productive time and I pray that many people will be able to participate.

Went by Huntington Creek to check on the Norths.  It was their first night at the mission at Huntington Creek last night. 

Everything went fine!  They had one of the local police officers come by there yesterday and was shocked that there was anyone living on site.  I was glad that he didn’t totally scare them off.  The cops can really come on strong sometimes.  I know they’ve tried to scare me about the dangers of where we’re working plenty of times.  They’ll ask me, “What kind of weapon are you carrying when you go there?”  When I answer, “The Bible,” they normally get a confused look on their faces.  But it’s the truth.  Our God is a shield around us!

Met up with David and Beverly from Briarcliff BC this afternoon at Azalea. 

They’ll be bringing their youth group over on February 6th.  I showed them around the complex and introduced them to a bunch of my kids.  The kids were just going flat crazy, racing around and around the mission.  I’d send them out one door, they’d run around the building and shoot in the back.  Fortunately, I had Ian and Ruthie to help me corral them while I tried to help Saed with his homework. 

Anyone remember how to determine the domain and range in Algebra?  Not an easy task!

I took the Norths over to Lowes to pick up some other supplies we needed for the mission at H. Creek.  In particular we needed a new sink.  The other one was horrific, just about rusted all the way through.  I sure am glad that Bill Hickey is still around to help us with that stuff.  (Debbie, better let Edwin know I’ll probably have to start calling him again!)

I’m working on the newsletters.  Ashley got everything printed up this afternoon.  I worked till 1am on it last night.  Pooped now!  Midnight comes fast!

Jesse and I had a meeting with new partners from Christ Church of Metro Atlanta along with some of my favorite missionaries. 


I had a great time getting to know Chris Jordan and Jeramy Anderson from Christ Church.  They’re interested in working with internationals.  We certainly have plenty of them!

They’ll be helping Paul Reynolds at Northchase and Ian and Ruthie North who serve at Huntington Creek.  Bill Hickey who leads the work at H. Terraces was also there to show them around.  I got the word last night that Bill will be moving back to New Hampshire soon.  That’s a real loss for our ministry!

Paul introduced them to the Northchase property and showed them the clubhouse there.  We had a good prayer time blessing the community.

Jesse and I then went over to meet with Dr. Argarkhar.  The doctor was very impressed with J’s progress.  He seems optimistic that the state will drop the charges against him.  Praise the Lord for that! Pray that that will happen.

We met back up with Ian, Ruthie and Bill after the doctor appointment.  I took them to the bank so we could give them a love offering so they could get some food.  Missionaries gotta eat too!

Check out Ian’s iguana.

Then over to Azalea where we helped the kids with their homework.  We spent hours helping Maria in particular with her long division.  It’s hard to divide 29 into 830 when you really don’t know your times tables.  Jesse had the patience of Job to help her. She’s a really sweet kid.  I told her she really has to practice those times tables, cuz it’s only going to get harder!

The kids also helped us put the labels on our envelopes. Mikey got pretty enthusiastic about that!

We finally got home about 8:30pm.  Still need to work on finishing up the newsletter for this month.

Pray for our partners and new missionaries!

Great day!

I enjoyed being at one of my favorite churches today:  Peachtree Corners Baptist Church!

It was fun to meet with some of our supporters!

I spent the morning with the youth group.

This evening I was one of the speakers and had fun listening to Bennett Ekandem, a terrific partner of mine. 

He had his kids playing music for the group.  It was awesome. Mr. Champ led the kids. He had those kids really playing!

The best part was that I had my whole family together with me for the evening.  What a blessing!

Plus, Ian and Ruthie North–our missionary couple moving into Huntington Creek–were there to help me meet the congregation.

Fun!

Got a call from my partner Bill Hickey this evening.  Looks like he’s going to be going back to New Hampshire to help his brother for a while. That’s a loss for us!  Pray that Bill’s family will do well and that he’ll be coming back to our team soon.

Pray for our new missionaries!  And my family too!

This morning Kathy and I went to one of our new missions at Hampton Village.

Our partnering church at that locations is Dekalb United Pentecostal Church.  They did a great job of reaching out into the community and sharing with the folks there.  They’ll be starting an after school program and recreation over there soon.  I really enjoy working with them.

Pastor Wideman goes to Kenya regularly, so of course I love that!

This afternoon/evening I was at Peachtree Corners Baptist Church.


It’s their Missions Conference this weekend.  I wouldn’t be here in Atlanta if it wasn’t for this great church.  I set up my exhibit then enjoyed a great time of worship, prayer and listening to testimonies from several of the other missionaries.  My partner Matt Johns led the time.  He’s one of our North American Mission Board team.  I was really proud of the job he did!

Here’s a story from my Dad! Snakes in the bathtub! Yow!

Spent my morning tracking down stuff for the newsletter.

Got stamps, envelopes, labels. . .

This afternoon I had lunch with Ashley and then ran 4 miles.

Beauty weather!

Didn’t have to serve on the jury today and I just called the info line and they said “You have fulfilled your duty as a juror.”  Suh weet.

Went to the Post Office to pick up stamps.  Huge line, so I just got a few from the automated machine. 

I’ll have to go back next week to get the stamps for the mailout.

Ashley, Jesse and I went to Chamblee this afternoon.


We went to the office to check on the mail.  I was anticipating picking up the Bibles that I’d ordered on line.  Sure enough, the boxes were there–one loaded with Swahili Bibles, the other Amaharic. 

I enjoyed reading the Swahili Bible for my kids.  They got a kick out of that!

The kids at Azalea were doing well.  I helped Joi with his homework for about an hour.  Jesse helped Clinton.

Good day!

Spent the day at the courts.  The cases I was assigned to were plead out.  Hours and hours of waiting for nothing.

Went by the book store to look around for a while.

Jesse and I went to Walmart to pick up some equipment I needed for the house.

I’ll call again to see if I have to show up tomorrow.

This week I have jury duty, so I can’t set any appointments up.  I just called the number again and I have to show up at the Justice Center in Lawrenceville tomorrow at 8:30am.  Can’t wait.

This morning I worked on admin tasks and watched the Obama inagauration.  It was interesting!

Pray for the President!

This morning I worked on the Dove cage.  I installed a light and two handles so I can carry it.

I took Ashley and Miles out for lunch and we stopped at Pet Smart and I picked up some bowls for the doves.
We enjoyed visiting Yellow River Game Ranch this afternoon.  Miles and his sister Roxy and her daughter Izabella also came.

Sleepy sheep.

My favorite was feeding the squirrels peanuts from my hand.

I’m not sure, but I don’t think these burros floss.

Super cool.  It was $1 day a YRGR.  Lot of people there taking advantage of the discount.

Came home and cleaned up my room.  Sawdust and stuff on the floor that I wanted to get up.

Fun day!  And tomorrow–a new President!

Pray for him!