My back is feeling better today. Amen!

Glad I was able to take a break yesterday.

Worked on email and admin duties this morning.

Ate lunch with Jesse and Kathy. Always a good thing.

Also finished my financial report. That usually takes about two hours at least.

Took a good 4 mile run this afternoon. Didn’t take my hat. Now my poor ol’ bald head is a bit burned. Bahd luck.

Finished up the last of the Costa Rica video projects. I’m glad that’s done. I just kept chipping away at them . . . .

Also produced a couple of new episodes for my podcast. I’ve decided on a 10 minute time limit for them. I take a couple of my proverbs and as my Daddy would say, “I talk until I think of something to say!”
Don\'t Worry About What Others Think–mp3

I watched Swing Vote with Kathy this evening followed by an episode of Lie To Me–our favorite show with Tim Roth. New episodes next week!

This morning I woke up with a really sore back. I hurt it a couple of days ago when I was carrying this heavy box of detergent to the car. Doesn’t take much I reckon.

Kathy went to Clarkston International Bible Church, while I rested.

The kids took me out to eat a hamburger for lunch at Red Robin.

Yumbo!

I liked this old map of New Hampshire. That’s where Jesse will be moving soon.

This afternoon I worked on editing a piece I shot in Costa Rica about frogs.

The Frog Pond, Monteverde, Costa Rica
And took care of my regular admin duties.

About once a week I put myself in a creative writing mode and work on my proverbs which I post on Twitter. I call the exercise Verbal Surgery. Worked on that for a while too.

This morning I worked on figuring out the logistics of the 170+ people coming to work with us in two weeks.

Ate lunch with Ashley. What a blessing!

Enjoyed going to the book store, my favorite thing to do on a “me” day. I liked this book cover.

This caught my attention.

Ashley and Miles were planning to go to see Neil Young this evening with his parents. His mom got sick, freeing up two tickets, which Kathy and I got!

WOW! I’m a huge Neil Young fan, and the concert tonight was unbelievable! It was as the fabulous Fox Theatre. Which is truly Fabulous!

He played a completely solo performance and did many of his old classics like “My, My, Hey, Hey,” “Cinnamon Girl,” and “Helpless.”

Incredible performance. Definitely a top 10 lifetime concert experience.

Interestingly today in 1998 I saw Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zepplin play together. Another fantastic show, but not as good as when I saw Led Zep play in Dallas back in 1976!

Rock and Roll!

We ate at Zestos after the show. Great onion rings.

I thought these orchids were magnificent!

Think about it. 44 locations. 3 big buses. Multiple vans. Buses can’t take right turns well. Keep each bus as close to the 8 locations the cover as possible.

Make maps and options over and over again trying to figure out how’s the best way to cover the locations effectively, and which locations should we cover at all?

Perhaps there are five good locations in one area, should you add more or make the bus drive an extra 20 minutes?

These are just a few of the logistic questions I deal with when I have teams in town.

I thought I needed to cover 26 locations. Turned out to be 34!

I think I have it almost figured out. I went by two new properties today to verify with managers that the team can do a Back Yard Bible Club there. They’ll get back with me on Tuesday.

I have about eight other locations that I need to verify. Most of the missions where I have teams coming will be no problem, they host teams all the time. Others, not so much.

Takes hours to figure all this stuff out, and then you have to physically go to a bunch of them to look managers in the eye and convince them that it’s a great idea for them to host all these super fired up, evangelicals!

I went by Victory Trails and Southern Woods to start new work.

Fact of the matter is, it IS a good idea!

I took J and K to Zaxby’s for lunch. While we were there Kathy saw one of her kids from Clarkston, Senaud! GREAT to see old friends grown up.

Jesse gave me some good news today. He put in an order for his ol’ Dad to get an iPad! WOW! I was stunned. I ran around the parking lot jumping up and down so he knew I was properly pleased.

We also went shopping for groceries.

I’m enjoying watching some TV with Kathy now. I’m doing homework while she’s making us some sandwiches.

I thought this sticker was cool.

I liked this dog’s big ol’ tongue.

Today I worked on writing, copying and sending out my newsletter. That’s usually about a five hour job.

The kids and I went to Northlake Mall after I finished making the copies. Ashley and I went in this “Hurricane Simulator” It had about 80 mph wind. What a waste of two bucks.

They were taking the escalator apart by Best Buy. I thought this looked like a giant bike chain!

This is the first picture I took with my new camera. My guess is that I’ll probably take around 20,000 pictures with it before I wear it out.

Here are the steps!

Best Buy called me and let me know that the service center had decided it would cost more for them to repair my old camera than to give me money to replace it.

SO, I came home with a new camera! It’s another Canon Elph. This one is the SD 1400.

It’s better in some ways, more mega pixels, and not as good in others, not as big a view screen. That’s just the way it works out. I got the warranty on this camera too. Usually I get a warranty on anything that costs over $100. Best Buy is really good about getting the equipment repaired or replacing it. The only thing it doesn’t cover is theft. Which is what happened to my other camera new camera in Costa Rica. So everything turned out in the end. That’s always the way the Father works!

Ashley hadn’t seen the iPad before so J and I took her over to Perimeter Mall to see one. They are really a fantastic device.


Here’s a screen shot from our Photo Gallery on the ipad.

Came home and wrote all the letters. About 180 this month. Ashley took them over to the Post Office.

I enjoyed watching a movie with Kathy tonight, “Contract,” with John Cusak and Morgan Freeman. I thought it was pretty good. Not a chick movie, however.

Finishing up my admin work now.

Sugar likes to scratch her back in the leaves.
S

I liked this picture of K, J and me.

This morning I got over to Clarkston to meet up with one of my favorite partners, Cindy Hunnicut. This is a picture with her and her husband Darrell.

She’s leading a team of 5th-6th graders on a mission trip to Clarkston and Roswell. I took her by several locations to see some of the missions.

Had a great chat with Pastor Phil Kitchin. He had just heard that the ESL classes at Dekalb Tech are moving from their property. That’s a big blow financially for them. Also looked at a couple of houses that they bought. I’m trying to get the manpower to renovate one of them.

This afternoon I worked on printing up the labels for our newsletters. Jesse and Kathy took them over to Azalea to work on that project with the kids and the team from the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church North. Great team!

I went on to Mt. Paran Church of God North to do a briefing with the team before they come to Clarkston.

They were a lively group!

Got home around 10pm to start work on my other admin duties.

Tomorrow I’ll work on writing, copying and sending out the newsletters. Busy!

I love sunsets!

I liked this. Don’t know why!


And these flip flops.

And better gas prices! This is with my .10 off from Kroger.

104 mile day!

I’ve been down on Tybee Island for the last few days enjoying time away with my sweet wife!

What a blessing! Can you tell what we did?

I’ve come to learn that when there’s a break in the action, take a break!

It was fun to watch them play volleyball!

Savannah is one of my favorite cities in America. So beautiful! The birth place of my children!

I love St. John the Baptist cathedral.

Oglethorpe was the founder of Savannah and planned out the city. It’s cool to think about George Washingon and Ben Franklin wandering around the streets!

We biked over 12 miles along this path.

Went to Bonaventure Cemetery. My favorite!


I love the intricate carvings. Especially of the angels and of flowers and leaves.

Fortunately, my iPhone kept me in touch with everyone so I never really get behind, even in Costa Rica! I’d wait for K to take a nap and I’d go outside under a tree and make phone calls one after another.

I guess that means I love my work!

It was good to get away.

This moth was in my garage. Art by God!

How do you change a baby diaper when it’s strapped in?

Food for thought.

This morning I spent some time editing one more of my Costa Rica videos. This one was on bats! I talked with THE bat expert in the country, Dr. Richard Laval. I shot video with him and even went inside the bat cage with him. Cool. Except for the bat crap on my shirt.
The Bat Jungle

Ashley and I went to Kroger to pick up supplies for a party she was having with the kids at Kensington Station and for the big event going on at Huntington Village this weekend. FBC Mountain Park, Rockbridge BC and FBC Lilburn are helping put it on. Good to see churches working together!

It was good to spend some time with Claudia, the manager at H. Village!

J and I went to the mission at Azalea to help the kids. Hard to believe they still have homework! Or that SUMMER IS HERE! Had a good talk with my team from the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church. They’ll be living at the mission for ten days! Talk about immersion. The kids really love having them there.

Barbara is one of my favorites at the mission. She came to see me with this BIG medal! She’s the best reader! She told me she wants “to write books” when she grows up. Groovy! I had her help me write notes to some kids who sent cards to me from a church in NC.

The boys enjoy riding their bikes.

Milton is one of the new Bengali residents. He’s been in the States about 4 days. I’m helping him learn English.

Came home and ran 4 miles.

Looking forward to getting out of town with Kathy for a couple of days. I still work, just not all day long.

Jesse got some new shoes! Movin’ fast!

I had a good meeting with some partners from Crosspoint Church today. They have a new mission director over there. It’s a challenge to keep everyone in the loop!

Great to spend time with Mark and Cathy Wilson this morning too. They’re some of the best missionaries I work with. They’re really doing some phenomenal work.

Had lunch with a new partner of mine from Global Frontiers Missions. Jon Wheeler is a great guy. Enjoyed spending time with him and eating Indian food!

While there I ran into three other of my dear friends, all from my days in Kenya! Cathy Palmer and Tom and Nancy Jones! Sure was great to see them!

After our meeting, I worked on collecting supplies for the Outreach Event this weekend at Huntington Village. Got the balloons, pumps, face paint and went to my office to get the tracts in Spanish. Excellent!

I discovered a problem with my camera yesterday. No audio! So I took it back to Best Buy to get repaired. I’ve already had it repaired twice. I’m using it again since my other camera got ripped off in Costa Rica.

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

I worked on algebra today, along with spelling words.

I got the girls to sing again!

Girls sing \"La Bamba!\"

This catepillar looked like it should be from outer space. I stopped the car and put it on a bush. I figure it’d generate a super cool butterfly!

Got nearly 1/2″ of rain yesterday. Good to settle the dust. About choked me to death mowing yesterday.

This morning I went by to see my friends at FBC Mountain Park. Had a great talk with Josh Sutton who is the Worship Leader for the church. Also enjoyed catching up with Debbie Lamb and seeing all the great things her family is up to!

I invited Josh to come have lunch with me and a new partner, Michael Paxton.

He’s a missionary living in Clarkston. We have a number of mutual friends. It’s great to meet fellow soldiers! Josh also brought Jerry Councilman with him. Jerry’s one of the best missionaries I know and is doing phenomenal work in Mali. Always great to see him.

When I was talking to Michael today about Clarkston, we started sharing about the history of that place. I kept saying, “Yeah, I brought them over there.” “Yeah, I got him set up.” “Yeah, I helped him get started.” When I think about all the stuff that is going on because of me bringing people over there and getting them plugged in. . . . gotta admit makes me feel good about what the Lord has accomplished!

And you know what? We are still just barely scratching the surface of the needs in that area. It’s that realization that keeps me humble.

And that ain’t easy.

Jesse and I went to Azalea to help the kids.


The girls sang some songs for me from their presentation last week. Fun to hear them sing!

Kathy went on to Kensington Station to help her kids. Ashley was having a problem with her eye. Pray for her.

Got gas. Seems pricey. I have to run the midgrade.

This evening I got home and ran 4 miles. I’m pretty much back up to where I used to be after my long rest period. Good to be back on the road. Also been lifting weights, so I feel like a dad gum Tiger Tank, baby!

I’m looking forward to the season finales of House and Castle!

I’ve gotten really positive feedback from my partners in Costa Rica that I shot videos for. Hard to know the ripple effect of positive actions put into motion.

Did I mention that my report on the Children’s Rain Forest was used on CNN.com? I’m officially one of their “iReporters.” It was fun going back into news mode. I have nine Associated Press awards for my work with CBS. That and $1.75 will get you a bus pass.

I saw this decal on the back of a car at the Post Office this morning.

Welcome to Atlanta, baby!