It’s always good when I get to spend extra time with Kathy!

J, K and I walked the 4 miles to the park and back. I ran about 2 miles.

I haven’t been exercising much this month. Too cold.

We enjoyed hanging out with the geese.

I saw some interesting signs on our walk.

I liked the color of these leaves.

I think this came from a hornet’s nest.

This lock looked like it should be on the space shuttle.

On the way home, K’s feet hurt, so she walked on the cold pavement. She said it helped!

Took K out for Chinese food for lunch. Excellent.

Then over to Snellville to see Sherlock Holmes. It was ok. I was kind of disappointed.

Working on admin stuff this evening.

Ashley was doing a beauty treatment. She’s the only woman I know who could pull off this look.

Hasta manana!

Had a fun visionary day today!

Jesse and I went to my office at FBC Doraville to meet up with the team leaders for missions for FBC Powell, TN. I’ve worked with Steve Shipley for three years. They’ve brought some terrific teams to help us. Steve and Tim McGee are on staff doing missions in TN.

They’d like to take their partnership to the next level by helping to plant a church in the ethnic community.

We spent a few hours talking about what they’d like to see happen. We are really on the same page with this and I think there will be many people come to Jesus.

I invited Eduardo Zamora to meet with them so he could hear what they’d like to do as well. I believe Eduardo is a natural church planter with a real heart for reaching the lost.

We also went by Huntington Terraces to check on our great team from FBC Mountain Park. Praise the Lord for that good church!

I can always count on them to help me!

We met up with Sheila Zamora at Huntington Ridge. I took Steve and Tim from FBC Powell to check out the facilities and get to know the Zamora family.

J and I also went by Best Buy. I’ve been having problems with my camera. Focus issues. So I talked to the Photography Department head.

She agreed that there was a problem and encouraged me to send it back to Canon. Two more weeks without my camera. What a bummer.

I looked at other models to see if I’d like to upgrade. I like mine better than the more expensive ones. At least so far.

Back home to work on admin stuff.

I had a fun morning with an exuberant group of 4th graders from Providence Christian Academy.

I had them clean and organize the mission at Azalea and at Huntington Terraces. Great team!

Bayo and I went to the UNITE group meeting for lunch. The theme was the Public School System. That’s something I’m really interested in.

It’s fun to see good friends.

My camera has focus problems. I just got it back from Canon. They replaced the lens, but something is not quite right. I get really sad when my gear’s not working right. Too much attachment to things, I reckon.

Rainy old day today. Started getting colder too. Sure am glad I’ve got a warm house to go to.

Went to Azalea to help the kids with their homework. Sure missed Jesse today. Didn’t have the heart to wake him up that early.

I saw Monkey Bear today! I asked him to spell his name for me. Couldn’t believe anyone would name their child Monkey Bear. Here’s what it looks like.

The new episode of Burn Notice came out tonight. Smooth is smooth, baby! Love that show.

GREAT day today!

Jesse and I went to Reboot.

They are my partners that refurbish computers to be used by ministries and handicapped/poor folks.

We picked up three more computers to help the kids with their homework.

I stopped at Zaxby’s to get Jesse some chicken fingers. I’d eaten earlier. I thought this sign on the wall was funny.

Then back to Clarkston to meet up with more of the team that’s partnering together for the Clarkston Oaks project.

It was great to meet the owner as well as the main contractor for the project. It’ll be a lot of work but in an EXTREMELY needy are of Atlanta.

Went by my office at FBC Doraville to meet up with another partner, Frances Price. I always think of her as Santa Claus. She’s been a HUGE advocate for us at FBC Atlanta, collecting hundreds of gifts for the kids at the mission.

She’ll be helping Bayo at Huntington Terraces. We went by the mission to introduce her to Bayo and make sure she knew where the mission was. I think that is going to be be a terrific partnership. Bayo collected a bunch of clothes to give to the folks in the complex.

Looks like the great folks at FBC Mountain Park are going to come through for me again to get the tile floor repaired at Bayo’s mission. PTL for that great church!

J and I then went on over to Azalea to check on the kids.

I’ve been praying for one of my kid’s dad’s who’s been out of work. Found out today that he got a job! He told me, “My Dad’s been playing Jesus music all day long. He says it’s Jesus that got him the job!” Had to agree!

Back home now. Working on admin stuff. Already signing up teams to come help us during the summer.

Had a fun day today! I got to see my brother Tito Ruiz.

He had borrowed some chairs and tables from the mission. We had lunch and I also invited Ian and Ruthie North, Bayo, Charles Houghton (my friend from FBC Mountain Park who is helping me with a couple of construction projects) and of course good ol’ Jesse!

I enjoy getting some of the team together. We stir each other up!

Tito invited Ian to his church this Sunday to interview him in what he’s doing at his mission at Huntington Creek. A good example for his church members.

After lunch, we unloaded the chairs and tables at the mission then went to H. Terraces to check on the mission. We need to replace some tiles that were messed up in the flood. We also went to Lowes to pick up supplies then dropped them off back at the Terraces.

Jesse and I then led Charles over to our new mission at Post Oaks apartments in Clarkston.

We went over the plans for the rehab of that location. Lots of work for sure! Pray that Got will send us those volunteers that we need to get that going!

On our way back to Chamblee, J and I also stopped at Best Buy to drop off his computer.

It has a number of small issues with it. I have their best warranty, so we’re using it!

Helped the kids at the mission with their homework. We were kind of late. They were glad we showed up!

Came home to start on homework. Never ends!

Beautiful weather today. Nearly 70!

Look how vines have changed the shape of this tree! The vines have been removed but their effort has stayed the same.

How much money do you win with this?

What’s the point of putting a cone in front of your car?

Nearly 2 inches of rain yesterday. Excellente!

Spent most of my afternoon studying Spanish. Working on possessive adjectives.

Did some yard work. Fantastic 60 degree weather. What a blessing.

Gave myself a haircut.

Had a fun lunch with my sweet family.

Ruby Tuesday officially has the best salad bar!

Took care of my admin duties. EMail, calls, blog . . .

Looking forward to a busy week, lots of great things happening!

That time of year again. Weird outfits for tax companies. Whatever they’re paying this guy, it’s not enough. Nice makeup.

Drizzly day today.

Kathy and I went to Clarkston International Bible Church.

Music was good. Pastor Phil did a great job on serving the Lord with passion!

We enjoyed Vietnamese food then came on home.

We watched Hotel for Dogs this evening with Jesse. Cute dogs!

Census is getting ready to happen again. Always sounds Biblical to me!

Spent most of this drizzly day working on admin tasks. I finished my financial report and made sure all the bills, checkbook and letters were up to date.

Been studying Spanish. I’ve enjoyed having a workbook to go through.

I’m always happiest when I’m learning or creating something.

Ashley got back from her journalism conference in Knoxville, TN just fine.

Back to Telemundo!

Most of my friends know my background of growing up overseas. My extended family was made up of the missionaries that lived in East Africa.

Just as my parents were missionaries and my children work in ministry, many of the other MKs are also in ministry around the world.

Part of our extended missionary family lives in Haiti. We’ve been very concerned about Snyders. Here’s a report from my “Aunt” Peggy Hooten.

We praise God that our daughter and grandson, Dee Ann and James Snyder, were transported by Air Force Transport to Miami last night. James is flying today to Richmond to get into school in Lynchburg, VA, by Monday. Dee Ann is flying out to Detroit today where Rachel and Ashley, their two daughters, are living. Also, Dan’s Mom and brother. Dan drove out of Haiti in a mission vehicle with two other of their people. They are in Dominican Republic today trying to get flights to the states. Dee Ann and James were able to bring only one change of clothes that they could put in a garbage bag and carry on their laps.

They are emotionally torn up because of the missionaries of their group that were lost in the building that collapsed. They could only rescue two of the five people.

8888888888888888888888888

Please pray for the people of Haiti! And the missionaries that serve there.

Jesse and I hung out today.

We went to the bookstore. He’s studying another programming language called Rails. THICK text book! I picked up a Spanish Grammar workbook.

Went to Stone Mountain and ran 4 miles on the treadmill. Soaked in hot water after that!

The lake around Stone Mountain is frozen in spots.

Want to swim?

I think it’s incredibly beautiful, and rare! At least for us!