Met up with Ian & Ruthie North, Bayo Otiti and Paul Reynolds today for lunch. Always great to hang out with partners. Can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of the whole group. Bahd luck.

After our lunch, Paul, Jesse and I went over to Northchase apartments to talk with the new Manager and Ast. Mgr.

We’re trying to keep ministry going over there. We had a good talk, but I’m never particularly optimistic.

It’s like I was telling Paul, it’s all about timing. God’s in control. Period.

J and I went to Walmart to pick up supplies for the mission.

Weird, scalloped shaped clouds. They produced light sleet on my windshield.


Then over to Azalea to see how the kids are doing. Did I mention that the second Xbox we took there got ripped off? I’m still hoping that one of the older guys took it with them and will bring it back, but I’m not holding my breath. Fortunately, the Nintendo 64 works, now that we got the pieces it was missing (that were also stolen.)

Oh well. That’s why the call it missions. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Had some sad news today. My camera developed a speck on the lens. I took it over to Best Buy and they’re going to fix it. I had a warranty. But it’ll take 2 weeks. I looked at every other camera there and all the new “better” models are not as good. They may have more megapixels, but the viewscreen is much smaller.

Sometimes I really hate these “upgrades.” When they make a really good model, why do they feel they HAVE to change it?

Back to the archiving project. I’m on 2006.

Take a look at this wacky car. It looks like it was made out of tupperware.

Most of the morning I worked on admin tasks: email and calls.

This evening, Jesse and I hiked up Stone Mountain.

It sure was beautiful.

I loved the reflection of the golden sunlight on the water on the rock.

Back for another round of admin, then relax!

I’m interested in these ancient petroglyphs. Notice the writing on the rock?

Ashley, Jesse and I met Kathy for lunch then went over to a neighbor of Kathy’s sister’s.

They were clearing out the house and we went over to pick up a few things that might be useful at the missions.

Over to Azalea to have the kids help us with labeling and stuffing envelopes. We got the final edition of our newsletter for 2009 into the mail stream. Amen!

I took the kids out for Japanese food last night. I like the flames!

Don’t remember seeing an Indiana plate before. Do they still have Indians?

This morning I watched Joel Osteen on TV. We serve the God of Breakthroughs! Amen to that!

Worked out on the elliptical treadmill this afternoon at Stone Mountain.

Ran 5 miles.

Went to Staples to make the rest of the copies of the newsletters.

Checked out Barnes and Noble to look at books on Costa Rica. I’m still doing research on the places I want to visit. So far the two towns I really want to go to are Montezuma in the Nicoya penisula and Santa Elena near the Arenal Volcano. I think the planning is almost as fun as the trip!

Ate at Red Robin tonight. Enjoyed a Banzai Burger–had teriyaki and pineapple.

Yum. Last time I was there I posted a picture on this blog or a TV that people sitting on the toilet could watch. Never seen a TV in the floor before!

Working on admin stuff now. I still have three years of Outreach Updates to archive.

Beautiful clouds today.

Cirrus and cumulus forms merging.

Working on the archiving project! Scanning in all the newsletters since 2001 and putting them on line in PDF form.

Also produced the newsletter for next month.

Went to Staples to pick up supplies I need to finish the newsletter.

What exactly is Extra Virgin?

And how does a light pop out?

For the first time in seven years, our family stayed in Stone Mountain rather than going to Texas.

It was a rainy day yesterday, but today was mild.

I sure did miss seeing my parents and brother, but it was fun to spend time with the Doverspike clan!

It was fun to get together! We had delicious food and great company.

We had a gift distribution. K and I tried something different. She’d bought a bunch of tools that were on clearance from Ace Hardware. We put the box in the floor and people got to pick out the tools they wanted.

Seemed to be a popular gift. Seems like so much of the time we get gifts that we really don’t need or want.

While we were there, Debi Doverspike showed me a photo album that my mother in law Nell Doverspike had put together around 1947. I had fun taking pictures of pictures!

Came home to relax and work on admin stuff.

I have my computer hooked up through my TV so I’m able to work with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Sure beats having to sit in a chair for hours.

I enjoyed buying a few things for the the family today.

The stores were super crowded. I hope that’s good news for the economy.

We had fun opening gifts this evening! Not exactly sure why the Cummins’ family always opens gifts on Christmas Eve. Seems like my Mom told me it has something to do with our German ancestors.

Jesus’ birthday tomorrow!

Kathy and I have had a wonderful time together over the last week! We visited our new favorite place: Raccoon Mountain, TN. We stayed at Alpine Lodge.

Weather was mighty cold when we got there!

But over time it turned out to be awesome weather.

We enjoyed spending time at Reflection Riding at the base of Lookout Mountain.

Nature is fantastic!

This afternoon I explored Raccoon Mountain Cave.

Then climbed most of the way up the outside of the mountain!

Kathy was biking. She doesn’t like that cave stuff.

We had a super time, but sure do miss being with my Mom and Dad and brother Jim in Georgetown, TX.

Great to be with MY family!

Beautiful sunset this evening on our way home from TN.

This was in the front yard of the Tellus Science Museum. Great place!

Here are a few of the things I saw that made me stop and really look.

I like shooting geometric shapes with my photography.

Crummy weather today!

Rainy and freezing cold. We were thinking we might go out of town today, but I decided we’ll leave tomorrow. Didn’t want to face all that rainy, Friday driving.

Worked on redoing some audio recordings I made about 20 years ago. I’m trying to get all the connections I need in order to dub something from audio cassette tape (which comes out of the player RCA 2 channel mono) to go into my computer which is a 1/8th mono.

Takes thinking to figure out how to make that happen.

Jesse’s been thinking about his moving to New Hampshire in the Spring. It’s been a dream of his for years. He’s been reading a lot of budgeting and business books. Tough time to start. But there’s never a perfect time.

This afternoon Ashley, Jesse and I went to Azalea Place apartments in Chamblee to host our Christmas party.

We decorated Christmas cookies, sang, I told the Christmas story and we had gifts.

We had a Christmas store where the kids to pick a couple of items off of each table. They had fun. Special thanks to First Baptist Atlanta who helped with the funding for the gifts.

Working on admin stuff.

Hoping for Kathy and I to get out of town for a couple of days.