Went to Staples this morning.  I picked up a business card scanner.

I have hundreds of business cards.  Now that I have an IPhone I have space to put all that information.  Groovy.   I’m practicing typing on it with my left thumb.  Go thumb, go!

I had a fun day with Ashley today.

We spent some time shopping for scarfs and shoes at Target.  I always enjoy seeing her find something new she likes!

This evening I hosted Briarcliff Baptist Church who came to have a party for the kids at Azalea Place.

The kids were having an awesome time with all the new bikes.

The team did a craft where they made a paper ring where each link had someone they love.

Who do you love?  Have you told them recently?

We had a great time today hanging out with other partners!

I had some of our team get together to meet with Grant Haynes.  He’s a missionary with Global Frontiers Missions working in Oaxaca, Mexico. He’s looking to relocate with part of his team to Atlanta and work with our international population here. Welcome aboard, Grant!



Ian and Ruthie North, Bill Hickey, Toni Branyon, Bennett Ekandem, Kevin Riley, Ashley and Jesse and Grant and I talked about missions and our work around the community.  It was a lively group and we had a ton of fun!  I look foward to helping Grant get his group plugged in locally.  He does a lot of training with indigenous leaders.  I think that’s an element that would bring great value to our team.

Ashley, Jesse and I went over to Perimeter Mall to the Apple Store.  I needed to get a protective case for my new IPhone.  It’s been fun to start learning all that it can do.

We met Ian and Ruthie and Bill Hickey at Azalea at 4pm.  My nephew Jason Sullivan is the volunteer coordinator for Chris Kids a local non-profit doing a great job with kids.  They had some extra bikes and we enjoyed giving them to the kids at the missions.

I focused on the ones that had been doing particularly well on their school work.  But I also made them promise to share with their friends.  They were SO happy.  Thanks again, Jason!

We helped the kids with their homework and writing Thank You notes for the bikes!

Jesse also taught some of the kids guitar.  He got a small guitar so the kids could use it.  They were rocking out!  Jesse is really great with them.

Still mighty cold in Atlanta.  It was 20 degrees this morning.  Too cold to run.

J and I had a fun time with Derrick Poston, one of my favorite partners today!

He’s the Local Missions Director at First Baptist Atlanta, Dr. Charles Stanley’s church.  We worked together a lot when we had Impact Atlanta in October.  We’re putting together a local missions trip for people to have an immersion experience in the International Village.

Derrick turned out to know a lot about garment fabrication. He was a wealth of information about how we could help the Refugee Sewing Society.  I had no idea he knew about all that stuff!  We’ll get together in a couple of weeks to visit with the refugee ladies and talk with my partner Cathy Palmer.

We also went to the A1 Sewing Machine Company where we bought two serger sewing machines.

They’re a special kind of machine used in making clothes.  The folks were super nice to us and gave us a great deal.  They’ll also set up an instruction time where one of the ladies will teach our refugee women how to use the new equipment.  Excellent!

I also took the plunge into the IPhone world.  Ashley has had one for over a year and it has been awesome.  I’ve had an account with Verizon for years. It occured to me recently that if I dropped my Verizon account and added a line on our family plan with ATT we’d save at leas$50/month!  So they helped me port my number over to my new account, got a new IPhone AND save money!  Talk about a win/win!  I’m into all this new technology and I’m really looking forward to learning how to use it.

Brittney was a big help in getting me set up!

Derrick has an IPhone and he was showing some of the ways he uses his.  It’s an incredible device.

Went to Azalea to check on the kids.  They were all at their houses.  Still freezing cold.  Got down to 53 in my bedroom last night.  14 outside.  Plus the wind . . .  Brutal.

I took Bill Hickey out to eat supper.

Today I had such a great time meeting with new partners from Sunrise Baptist Church. 

I had a briefing with Amanda Nix who is the Outreach Director for the church and Mario Amoretti who is the Youth Director for the Spanish congregation. I was glad Angie Sturbridge and her baby could come too!

We also went for a visit to two of the missions near their church:  Cherokee Courts and Olde Salem. 

It’s always good to visit with old friends and make new ones.

Also went to see another of my favorite partners, Todd Harrison.

  He has some furniture for us.  I took pictures and will figure out who needs it.  Mario said he’d help me transport it since he has a truck.  Excellent!

Spent hours on the phone.  There’s a LOT of stuff going on.  Great stuff!

Ashley ran over a piece of metal at the mission in Kensington.  AAA came over to help her change the tire.  Then over to Tires Plus to get it swapped out.  Glad we have road hazard warranty.  It paid for most of it.  Those big truck tires are pricey.

Super cold tonight.  I feel sorry for the homeless folks living under the bridges.

This morning I had a fun time with a new partner:  Bruce Mewbourne from Eagle’s Landing Baptist Church in McDonough.

I’ve known Bruce for years but looks like we’ll finally have a chance to mobilize people together!

I picked him up from my office at FBC Doraville and we went over to meet with one of my favorite partners, Cathy Palmer. 

She’s been doing an awesome job with her Refugee Sewing Society. 

She needed some materials for her ministry so I wanted to see what was going on and what exactly I should pick up.

It’s always fun to go to Clarkston and see the world!  We met people from Nepal, Bhutan, Liberia and Somalia to mention just a few.  It’s cool to see all the different people God has us working with.


I took Bruce to eat roast goat at al Madina, my favorite East African restaurant.  Then we went for a tour of the International Village in Chamblee and Doraville.  I took him to see the Asian market, Phuc Loc Tho–where they sell idols, one of the Chinese herbal doctors (who took a real interest in Bruce!) and the Spanish market. 



I have a good time hosting guests through “my” neighborhood!

We went to check on Azalea to see how Bill was doing painting the mission. 

His work is always excellent.  It’s his last week with us.  It was rainy, so there weren’t many kids, which was fine since the paint was still wet!

Jesse and I also went over to Hamptons at Lenox to pay our water bill. I got a good report about our women’s work from the manager.  That’s awesome.

Thank the Lord for the rain!

Kathy and I had a terrific time this weekend.

We spent hours enjoying each other’s company.

Had fun out in the bush around Lookout Valley.  Reflection Riding is one of my favorite spots in the world. 

This morning I saw nine wild turkeys. Yesterday a River Otter.  Super cool.

On our way home we stopped at Calhoun Airport to see what I used to fly–Trikes! These are powered ultralights that can land in about 100 feet!

We’re glad to be back!