4/23/06

It is rare for me to fly in one day and leave the next. I am directing a week of conference in Georgia and have never been to the site, so I am leaving in the morning with French to do a site visit. I will be home quickly and then have some time. I am so tired today. Chalk it up to the emotional “finishing” of a tour. The heat is slowly beginning to set in on Joplin. For the first time in our marriage and my career Jen and I can both say that my travels have really slowed down. It is not like it used to be at all. Since I have been flying in and out from the Believe weekends I have only been gone on Friday nights. It has been a blessing to our family. Julie (my sister) stopped by for lunch today with Jen and I after church. I am going to have to find some way to have a mini reprieve here before summer. I’m looking forward to a good two day trip here to Georgia; but it is very hard and Jen for me to leave again so suddenly. With summer coming up I am ready for some hiking with the family too! Jen is a couple of weeks from finishing up with breast feeding Finnley. We are going to do an Isagenix cleanse together. I did two last summer and loved them. America is one of the only cultures not have a systematic fast or cleansing of the body built into it’s structure. Americans will do this from time to time as a weight loss or for health concerns; but it is not like in other countries. With my schedule it is difficult to do the 9 day semi fast but the benefits are huge. I am excited for Jen to do it with me. I will be much more controlled and disciplined if she is on it too. I took a nap while Finnley was sleeping. Jen is outside with Lisa and Tina (two neighbor ladies) sitting in lawn chairs watching the kids play. We live on a cool street. It is nice to be home and especially on Sunday. Another visitor this weekend was Austin Faull. Austin will be with us on the road this summer. I need to get a syllabus to him so he can line his books up. Austin is the son of the preacher from my home church “Mount Gilead”. Jen’s dad is on staff their. It is nice to have faces like Amber and Austin on the road with me so I have others who share in the same taste of what “home” is. I am hoping that Austin has a great summer and clicks really well with people on the road. This could be a huge summer in his faith walk and career path. One of the first books I was going to send to Austin was Donald Miller’s ‘Blue like jazz’. I thought it would be perfect for a kid like me who grew up in the church to read. I was talking to Danny Bradley about it and he said to me, “just don’t send him “blue like jazz”, Jeff(Austin’s dad) doesn’t like Donald Miller”. Ha! I got a real kick out of that. I won’t send that to him first out of respect for Jeff; but I don’t think his summer would be complete without it. I was thinking about, “Velvet Elvis”, “The Barbarian Way” and “Heart of the Artist” as well. It is going to be a good summer . . . now I need to find something that resembles rest and take it in a pill form. “Jen, are my kakis clean?”