This morning I saw a Pileated Woodpecker in my yard.

They’re one of my favorite birds. That’s the kind that Woody Woodpecker is based on with the big red crest.

We went by Reboot today to pick up a couple more computers for the missions.

Helped the kids at Azalea. I cleaned up the mission.

Ashley helped Mustak’s mom with her English as a Second Language class.

The kids like the driving game. ATVs.

Jesse’s contact messed up on him today so I drove home.

Busy with Admin work now. I have the Christmas party at Azalea tomorrow. I’m looking forward to that.

Had a fun day today!

We had lunch with Bayo and Ian North as well as John Mark and his wife Cheryl.

And of course Ash and Jesse.

I enjoy getting partners together.

After lunch, we all worked together to set the playground back right side up.

We also repaired the basketball goal at the mission at Huntington Terraces.

I can’t believe how destructive some people are!

Helped the kids with their homework at Azalea.

Did you know that there are 132 islands in Hawaii?

This little boy’s name is Monkeybear. Kids say that’s his “school name,” which means his legal name. I need to see how he spells it.

I bought some games for them to try out on the Xbox. They sure were having fun!

I’m working on another archiving project: all the Whirlwind Missions newsletters in PDF form. I have the newsletters in a text form, but this is the way I originally created them, with color pictures. It’s been fun reading our history. It really has been an amazing trip!

My friends from Nebraska left this afternoon. Fun to have John Mark and Cheryl around.

Jesse had an awful night last night. Didn’t sleep well at all. Threw up three times. Bahd luck. He ate some canelope and felt better.

Ashley came with us today! Yeah! Jesse decided he felt well enough to come with us. Glad about that.

We met up with John Mark and his wife Cheryl this afternoon at FBC Doraville.

I gave him some ideas that might help him back in Nebraska.

Then they came over to help us at Azalea.

I mentioned we had our stuff ripped off from the mission last week. Today we went to Goodwill and I found a nice used TV for $50. Kids were happy about that.

The kids seemed to have a lot of homework. Surprised me.

It’s been super foggy all day long today.

Life in the clouds!

This morning I watched Dr. Stanley on TV. True peace only comes from trusting God. Amen to that!

Spent most of my day recording sessions of BetaPrayer. J and I are still working on the web site.

Enjoying a nice rest day.

This morning Jesse and I went to Lawrenceville to check out the team at Olde Salem led by my buddy Jon Lewis of 12 Stone Church. Great team!

Jesse and I went to lunch at Red Robin Hamburgers. Cool place!

Never seen a TV for the guy sitting on the toilet to watch.

I had the Banzai Burger with teriyaki sauce and a slice of pineapple. Yum!

This little plant reminded me of fireworks.

Ever been to any of these?

Rainy weather tonight. The roads are beautiful.

Most of the day I’ve been working on recording BetaPrayer sessions. This evening Jesse and I posted material to the server so BetaPrayer.org is officially open. I’m happy about that.

I feel it may the be most important project I’ve ever worked on. Prayer is THE strategy.

Took Jesse for his eye exam. Looks like everything is great! They dilated his eyes so he had to wear these really groovy shades.

Did you know one of my favorite sayings is “Sweet potato pie!!”?

Went over to Miles’ house to hook up a router for him. Took awhile. Glad J was there to figure it out.

Ashley is having a party.

Dig the cute cupcakes.

I thought this joker was creepy.

It was at Popeyes.

An under the topic “Things I Don’t want for Christmas”

Had an 1 1/2″ of rain yesterday. Excellente!

It was very windy. Blew down a dead tree in my back yard.

Ashley took her final in Political Systems this morning. I worked on office stuff and then J and I went out to eat with her for lunch. Never too much Ashley!

Went to First Baptist Doraville to check on the mail.

Then over to Azalea to help the kids with their homework.

Johan needed help with English and different verb tenses. Mohosana needed some guidance with fractions converted into decimals. Fun.

Jesse and I bought a used XBox for the kids at the mission to replace the one that was stolen. The kids hooked it up today and played the only game that the thieves didn’t steal: Prince of Persia.

Admin work now. Working on recording the BetaPrayer sessions again. Always room for improvement.

Beautiful sunset.

Great day today!

Jesse and I drove to Alpharetta so I could give my “5 Levels of Engagement” seminar to all the new North American Mission Board missionaries. They were a lively group!

Shot out from there and went to the Chamblee Doraville Property Managers Association Christmas party. It was good to see friends, in particular Sam Bandela who was my mentor here in Chamblee.

Went to Walmart to pick up some supplies for the mission as well as a wireless keyboard. I’m actually typing this while laying in my bed! My back starts hurting from sitting at the computer too long. I use my TV as a monitor for my laptop. Groovy!

I liked this license plate.

Then over to Azalea to help the kids with their homework.

I love this pattern of Cirrus clouds.

Can you see the colors? That’s called “opalescence.”

Beautiful sunset!

I saw these tiny seeds this morning on my driveway.

Our upstairs neighbor at the mission at Azalea has their lights up. Festive!

Old time friend day today!

This afternoon Jesse and I went to Lithonia.

He had a “walk up reservation” for 1pm. Even though it was raining he took the road test and did great!

I think being able to drive by yourself is a major step towards being a grown up.

We went to Chamblee to meet up with Tom Stickney and John Hewitt from Dallas, TX. I grew up with Tom in Nairobi, Kenya. Tom’s in the middle.

He was a “titchie” or little guy to me. It’s always great to see old friends!

I took them around Chamblee, then we went to Azalea to help the kids.

Came home in the rain, but the traffic wasn’t bad. Astonishing.

Back to admin work.

Kathy bought Sugar a new jacket.

Been working on my Board report for nearly a week now. Put the finishing touches on it this morning.

Took Ashley, Miles and Jesse out for lunch today. Always good to spend time with them.

Jesse and I went to Willow Branch so he could teach his guitar class.

I helped Samouka from Tanzania on her biology. It was also good to get to hang out with Bennett.

This afternoon Jesse and I went to my office at FBC Doraville where I had my annual meeting with my board of directors. Unfortunately, my treasurer had an emergency meeting at his office so he couldn’t be there. But Tito and Carl were able to make it!

Always a blessing to hang out with those two guys!

Lots of great things happened this year! Always good to review.

Back at home to to do my usual admin tasks.

Tuesday at 1pm Jesse is scheduled to take his road driving test. Pray for him. I’m sure he’ll do great!

Saw this poster tonight. I thought it was unusual that it was all in Spanish.

I saw these cranes yesterday. I thought they looked like dinosaurs.