This morning K and I drove to Lawrenceville.

We had a lunch meeting with one of my best buddies, Todd Harrison. He and his group Pure Fun have been huge supporters of our ministry.

Thank God for Todd!

It was also fun to see Andrei Palmer and his dad Tim at Pure Fun. They’re some of my favorite missionaries! Andrei is very creative! He made this model of a PF truck!

We had a fun lunch together at the Uptown Cafe in downtown Lawrenceville.

It was fun to catch up on missions activities going on around our area. I was especially interested in their new work in Ethiopia with orphanages! That’s a really critical need.

After lunch, K and I went around Lawrenceville checking on which of our missions fed into the Berkmar High School cluster. I talked with Randy Rainwater who is my main partner from Grace Fellowship about the decision of where to put the team in the Fall. We’ll get together again to make a final placement. We’re leaning towards Olde Salem which is where we started ESL classes a couple of months ago.

We came on home after the Lawrenceville trip to watch the World Cup game which we’d recorded.

I’m working on admin duties now. Always something.

Best news is that I’m feeling better. Amen for that!

Although I’m still feeling weak, I reckon I gotta jump on in there and get with the program!

This morning I worked on a new podcast. They’re short, and I enjoy producing them. Today I spoke about

Language is Power!

It’s important not only what we say to others, but also what we say to ourselves.

I went to the book store for a few minutes. That’s always my treat to myself. I saw this big book of MC Escher’s prints. He’s one of my favorites. Here’s a couple that I like the best.

I saw lots of beautiful flowers today. Art by God!

I saw these vinca while I was in the rain forest of Costa Rica!

The colors just pop!

And while I was at the mall, I noticed these soaps at Lush. Cool.

Then over to Azalea to check on the kids. K and I will be taking some of them swimming in the next few days. I’m trying to give them something to look forward to since the teams are finished for the summer except for one more in August.

They’re doing great! I

talked with Jesse today. Got him on the phone so he could talk to the kids over the speakerphone. They enjoyed that. I reckon J did too.

Checked on the mail at the office at FBC Doraville. More checks than bills today! Amen!

Came home to finish editing and working on my admin duties.

Had a rest day today. Feeling better, still kind of shaky.

Worked on podcasts. They’re based on my tweets which are motivational plus!

Had Mexican food for lunch. My best medicine.

I could tell they shot a lot of fireworks last night!

Rested again this afternoon.

Watched Tour de France.

Enjoyed watching a film in French this evening with Kathy, “Entre les murs.” about a teacher in Paris. It was a real documentary and very interesting. Fun to think in French again.

I had a good rest day today. Needed it. My throat feels a lot better. I just still feel tired. K went to Open Table church this morning. She seemed to enjoy it.

Late this afternoon we walked around the neighborhood. I thought the fresh air would do me good. I think it did.

Dog gets mighty scared with the fireworks!

We like looking at the flowers.

This evening K and I watched “Outsourced.” It’s a movie about a call center guy who gets moved to India. We really liked it. Reminded me of the old days in Kenya where many of my best friends are Patels or Shahs.

This could be correct. At least partially. . .

Slept in this morning. Still weak, but better. My throat feels a lot better.

K took me to Cicis for pizza.

We saw this canon in the parking lot.

I love this civil war stuff. I reckon they’ll be shooting it at Stone Mountain tomorrow. BOOOOM! Dig it, baby.

Watching World Cup now. Love me some soccer. Pulling for Spain. They’re playing brilliantly. Can’t believe how Germany totally owned Argentina.

And my favorite sporting event every year starts today: Tour de France. I love riding around France on a bicycle. Virtually!

I’ll work on editing some video and finish that project today.

Checked my blood pressure at Walmart.

Still not feeling my usual Tiger Tank self. Bahd luck.

Worked on my financial report today. Got that all done.

Went to the Post Office to mail it and by my treasurer’s house to take it to him.

Kathy took me to Red Robin for lunch. Made me feel better.

She spent the day in Clarkston working with refugees at Southern Place with another of our partners Mel Rhoden. She had a great time.

I’m back in bed. Working on editing video and resting.

I liked this map that shows Keene, NH where Jesse is.

I miss my wingman. He’s looking for a job up there right now. It’s been fun having K ride around with me!

I had a good lunch with my Angel Ashley today! Yeah!

Today I checked back on my team from FBC Hattiesburg. I had a fun time driving around shaking hands and shooting pictures and video.

It’s always especially meaningful to me on the last days they’re here because that’s when they really share the Gospel. Getting to see kids pray to accept Christ is always a very powerful thing!

My throat has been worse today. Didn’t sleep well last night.

I came on home early and went back to bed. I feel a little better now. I have a long day planned tomorrow, so I figured I’d better try and rest a bit before I really got worse.

Had a great day working with my team from Mississippi this afternoon! They’re doing a great job at the missions.

Then later in the day I went to meet up with my team from Princeton, Kentucky.

I gave them a briefing about the work and then took them over to the eight locations they covered in Avondale, Scottdale and Clarkston. Although this team has never done work like this before, they seemed to be really taking to it! PTL!

I’m back home now working on my admin duties.

My voice is still really rough. Been feeling a little weak. I’ve worked too many days in a row without a break I reckon.

Ever wondered why traffic suddenly will get bad for no apparent reason? Here’s why!

This morning I met the team from FBC HAttiesburg at FBC Doraville and gave them a briefing/introduction to the International Village. They’re an enthusiastic group!

Then we split the group into half and Kathy and I took them on a tour of the Muslim and Hindu sections of Atlanta. It’s always fun to take kids to different areas of the world, right here at home!

This afternoon K and I went from site to site to check on the teams and make sure everything was going well.

They seem to be a very organized group with a great attitude. They’re fun to work with.

Came on home to Stone Mountain and worked on getting Kathy’s phone working. Pretty simple problem: I didn’t know how to turn it on properly. Pretty embarrassing, but I’m glad it was easy to fix. We think she’ll inherit my old iPhone when I get my new one in about two weeks. Groovy!

I’m at home now working on my admin duties which means, email, phone calls and uploading pictures I took–about 220 today!

I also download all the video shot today onto my computer’s external hard drive. Then when the week is over, I edit all the video together. It’s a labor of love. But mainly labor. I do think it’s those extra effort things we do that makes people keep coming back to work with us year after year!

We’re looking forward to Lie to Me coming on tonight, our favorite TV show.

This morning I felt flat worn out. My throat was a mess after all the yelling I did at the Outreach Event trying to make myself heard. So I spent a quiet morning.

Also worked on knocking out all the videos for the four teams I had last week.

Got them all edited, burned DVDs and by this evening I’ll have all the videos uploaded to YouTube. Mission accomplished.

I watched England get clobbered by Germany. Ouch! Watched some of the Argentina vs Mexico game but fell asleep. Just tired.

Got up and went in to Doraville to meet with my team from FBC Hattiesburg, MS! They’re a terrific bunch!

Ian North and I took the two big buses around the cities where they’ll be serving to make sure they know where they’re going.

It’s always a stressful job when you’re dealing with those buses. But it all worked out great!

Then I took Ian and Ruthie out for supper. Always enjoy hanging out with that sweet couple. It’s their anniversary weekend: 6 years! I’m SO glad to have them back here in the ATL! They plan to go to Chattanooga for a couple of days to celebrate. I told them all my favorite places to stay and hang out. I hope they have half as good a time as K and I do up there!

Now I’m finishing up my admin work before I crash out. I’ll be back at FBC Doraville at 9:30am to do a briefing and then take them around the International Village.

My team from Kentucky arrives Tuesday evening. Ashley will be coordinating that team. Glad I have her!