Ashley and I hosted a team for a presite visit Thursday! We always enjoy taking people around and showing them the International Village. Jonathon, Mary Beth and Scott are great leaders!

They headed back to Birmingham and Ashley and I helped the kids at the mission!

We also made a key for my office for J. Actually, Ashley kept it. She loves those mustaches!

Also had a 23 Birthday Party for Jesse.





The kids sure love him!

This is Happy Birthday in Yiddish.

We went to Nagano’s for Hibachi for a special birthday treat.

Tomorrow we’ll go to 6 Flag for the Fright Fest. Groovy!

Started working on this tiny metal replica of the Chrysler building tonight. It’s unbelievable how tiny these little piece are.

It’s like working on a watch.I’m trying to put the tiny stairs in now. Hard.

Fun!

I love these smooth wavy clouds.

Stratus undulatus.

This morning I took my car over to get some new tires. They were starting to show tread. That’s never good. Also got an alignment on them.

Did some creative writing for my twitter account @timacummins while I was waiting. Also wrote a letter to Jesse for his birthday tomorrow.

While I was in Texas, I bought this mini replica of the Chrysler Building. It’s my favorite on the planet. It’s been laser etched.

Ashley made a big sign for Jesse at the mission. They sure do love him!

While I was in Georgetown, Texas I hiked down the San Gabriel river. I found these snail fossils there. I found the clam fossil outside a bank in Waco.

Whenever I see the sun through the trees like this it always reminds me of Africa.

I liked this sign at Zaxby’s.

Had a wonderful week! Jesse and I flew to Austin, Texas to spend time with our family and speak at one of our favorite churches in Texas, the Worship Place!

We enjoyed hanging out with my parents and my brother Jim’s family!

I also took a trip to Waco to fellowship with friends from my fraternity at Baylor, the Noble NoZe Brotherhood.

Always a fun time with those guys.

While in Waco I also had the privilege of performing the wedding for a dear friend of mine and his new wife Dan and Mary Smith! Dan is one of my all time favorite people and I really enjoyed getting to know Mary and her family.

We were all in the NoZe Brotherhood together.

Awesome time!

My other main goal in Texas was to work with one of our sponsoring churches, the Worship Place. The pastor let me share a few minutes in both services about what’s going on here in Atlanta as well as encouraging more people to come on a mission trip with their team in November.

Jesse also spoke to the group. He did a great job.

We also had a birthday party at my parent’s house for Jesse. Wonderful to spend time with them!

I love the Georgetown Square. One of the most beautiful I can remember.

Sad to say goodbye!

Jesse and I flew back to Atlanta this afternoon. It was an easy flight although some of the rough air scared me. Ever since my near crash in Johannesburg, S. Africa I’ve never been able to tolerate turbulence when I fly.

We saw two dogs sniffing for bombs in the airport.

Stopped at Azalea to check on the kids. Then on home! GREAT to be back!

Love these oak trees. Saw them when I ran 6.02 miles around the San Gabriel River.



The river was beautiful.

Cool pattern in this stump.

Lovely Texas flowers and bones.

The vultures watched me look for fossils.

Spooky boat.

This was sad for me. They’re building a house on the lot of my favorite look out.

Couldn’t get over the deer just laying in the yards.

Just a reminder.

I’m thinking about doing my hair like this.

Beautiful sunsets!

Worked on a new podcast today! I’ll be out of town until next Tuesday, so this one will release on Friday!

You’ll enjoy it. It’s called “New View!” You choose your perspective!

Went to Walmart to pick up some more pants and socks.

Picked up a balloon and an orchid for Jesse’s birthday. He’ll be 23 on the 24th!

Worked with the kids at the mission! We had a couple of new volunteers today. One from Providence Christian Academy and another from the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church North. Made me feel like our efforts speaking weren’t in vain!

Worked for hours trying to get files from the wedding I shot to work. Somehow the computer restarted and blanked out the SD card. What a loss. I’ve tried all the restore software I can think of and t5he files just won’t play.

Admin duties now.

I can’t believe this is someone’s spare tire!

If this is a restaurant it sounds gross.

Worked on a new podcast this morning!

One of my favorite things! “Father Figure!” Our parents have a huge effect on us. Did you know that you could be someone’s Father Figure and not even be related? Dive into this edition with both feet!

Went for a 8.98 mile bike ride and a 5.02 mile run today. Rode from my house to Stone Mountain and then ran around the mountain.

It was nice and cool, actually a little too cool when I shot down the big hills!

Pretty tired when I got home, but nothing like when I’d run in the summer.

Kathy visited some of her Bengali friends from Eid this afternoon. When she got home I went to Azalea and celebrated Eid with the rest of the family at Mohosana’s house. The food was delicious.






Admin duties now.

I thought this was interesting. It was on the side of the church building.

Ashley and I had an overnight trip to Moultrie, GA!

That’s south on 75 headed to Florida.

Big farming country down there. Lots of cotton.

The trees have moss in them like in Savannah.

I took a trip there a couple of years ago which resulted in five different churches getting involved in our work here in Atlanta. That’s great!

I spoke at FBC Moultrie on Sunday night and Ashley spoke to the Women on Mission group on Monday morning. Actually, we shared the time both services. Many of the kids wore their “Yeah, Baby!” t-shirts. Awesome!

Some of our favorite people are down there including Pastor Wayne Woods and his wife June.

We spent the night at their house last night. Great time.

It was also great to see Pastor Deon at the Chicfila this morning. Another one of my favorites.

Glad to be back home!

The engine light went on Saturday the day before the trip started. I was kind of worried about that. Made the trip fine. In fact, the check engine light went out and hasn’t come back on. Thank you, Jesus!

Finished working on my Whirligig. More cutting then put it all together.

Admin duties now. Watched the Voice with Kathy.

My biggest WOW! moment of the weekend? I got the hiccups while we were at McDonalds. I read this hiccup cure where you swallow a packet of sugar. Something about the granules doing down your throat resets the diaphragm.

By golly it WORKED! I mean immediately stopped completely.

Scary warning.

Had some good exercise today.

It’s amazing how precise this GPS is.

Always something interesting to see.

Did the grocery shopping.

I’ve had fun today working on my whirligig. It’s just a prototype. I think the materials are cool.

Lots of cutting.

And sticking to the rods.

And painting.

I figured out how to make it spin: use a fishing swivel!

This afternoon we went to Roxy Kendall and Justin Rose’s wedding. It was a fun time. I shot video for them.

Didn’t shoot many still pictures.

We also took our family picture.

Admin duties now. Getting ready to speak at FBC Moultrie Sunday evening. Ashley has a women’s meeting there on Monday morning.

One of my favorite things: PODCAST. A terrific episode called “DangerER!” The terrors of constant comparison which result in no satisfaction.


Enjoyed a fun lunch Jesse and Kathy at Metro Diner.



They have the most beautiful cakes.

Then we went to the fair near Walmart. Nothing was moving but I still thought it was interesting visually. I’d like to go back at night.

Jesse and I siphoned off the last of the gas from the van and put it in the Altima.


We filled his car all the way up. Score!

Worked on my whirligig. It’s pretty complicated. Figuring out the math to make 24 different sticks in a 52 inch length. That wasn’t hard. The hard part was figuring out how much of an inch to turn it clockwise to keep the spiral pattern.

It turned out to be 2 3/8″ between each hole and 3/8″ turned clockwise to get two complete 360 degree turns in 52″.

My work area.

I need to get the swivels and other material before I put it together and glue the rods.

The rods I made from cutting off the ends of reflector poles.

Lots of hack sawing and drilling.

Believe it or not, I think that picture of me drilling was the first time I’ve ever used my left hand to shoot.

I think it’ll look cool. I’m still figuring out the color scheme. Had an engineering break through. Instead of trying to find a stand and a gear to rotate in, I’ll just hang it from a wire and use a swivel. Easy and super cheap.

Watched the new Elementary with Kathy. My favorite show. That and the Mentalist.

Admin duties now.

I liked the look of this mustang.

I thought these handcuffs were funny.

Ashley and I spoke at Providence Christian Academy today!

We were the featured speakers for Dr. Carl Barrington’s missions class.

We ate Chinese food for lunch. It was delicious! I thought this sounded good.

Came home and rested briefly before going on to Azalea to work with the kids at the mission. Always a hoot!

Ashley told the Bible story today. She’s very dramatic! She really makes it come alive.

They had an underground leak at the apartment complex.

They’ve also been working on the iron railings and balcony.

I’m working on a new art project. I want to make a vertical wind mill with this PVC pipe and the plastic rods.

I’ll add metal to the ends to catch the wind. I want it to be in the shape of a spiral staircase. We’ll see what happens! I’m basing it on something I saw in a video game. Does that mean it was real?

Jesse and I ate supper together. Great food at Simply Thai.

Admin duties now. Watched Downton Abbey with K. That show is kind of a downer.

Not hard to figure out what happened here.

Clear, blue sky day today!

Kind of boring, actually.

Went to the dentist.

Had one tiny cavity that he filled. Great that I don’t have to come back. I went in because one of my crowns had come loose. I put it back in and it was pretty tight, but sometimes when I flossed it would come out.

He took it out, put new cement and refit the top. Good to have that figured out!

Checked on the mail and the plants at the office.

Went to the bank to deposit money. Saw these Tibetan Monks in line ahead of me.

Had some time before the mission started, so I went by an antique store in Chamblee. I’d never been there. Fascinating stuff, including a real tiger skull!

Picked up some decongestants for Kathy.

Enjoyed working with the kids at the mission.

I’m playing a video game called “Far Cry 3.” The graphics on the island are amazing. Here’s a weather vane I thought was cool looking.

The trees at Northlake Mall pushed up large sections of asphalt. Nearly half the car space!