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Yes, I do realize that at this moment, it is no longer Monday. However, I will make do with what I have. I have tried unsuccessfully to sleep, thus it still appears to be Monday. And I have accomplished a great deal, so as far as sleep deprivation goes, this was a good one.

The weekend… It was Youth Weekend to the third power. Little did we know when we scheduled Youth Sunday for yesterday that it would end up as such a big weekend. Gayton has been working on the future of youth ministry since I was hired as “interim” back in September. Now it has come to fruition, and they hired us. Yes, that’s right: us. I will be one of two youth pastors on staff, which is pretty exciting. I’m looking forward to June 1 (his start date. I won’t name him so he can tell people himself) and working as a team!

With the hiring process came town halls, meet/greets and youth events on top of the previously scheduled Youth Sunday and the work of making that happen (it is strange to be both candidate and employee at the same time!). We made it, and they did great! Two seniors preached, youth taught every Sunday School class and handled everything except running the business meeting. Hopefully I’ll have audio online of Emily’s opening joke, because it was a good one.

To-do list this week… not get sick. That tends to happen a.) when you are absolutely, completely and totally exhausted and b.) when the yellow/green stuff starts falling out of the trees and covering my car. A double-doozy this time around, but hopefully I’ll avoid it. Sleep would help, though.

And it’s the next-to-last week of class. There is a lot of work to do, and seemingly not enough time to do it. Guess insomnia helped find time tonight.

And…well, I’ll leave the third task ’til later.

On the bookshelf… Ecclesiastes. No, seriously. It’s the topic of our youth Wednesday night Bible study and (hopefully) the topic of my final Old Testament paper. So I should probably read it, and as many books as I can find about it.

What’s new… my job!! And our 1st home. We don’t actually have it yet, but it — and the story of finding it — will come. Check back soon for the updates!

Coming soon… a quick 8-hour round trip drive to Red Springs, NC, this week. We still need a (replacement) site for our youth mission trip this summer, so we are scouting out this possibility. Off to the other possibility next week, and reevaluating after that. And counting down the days to the last class of the semester.

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The weekend… a quick sidetrip to Roanoke. We drove up after work on Thursday, I went to YS One Day on Friday, had a mini-photoshoot and then dinner with friends Friday night. A quick lunch with the fam on Saturday, and a long drive back home for church Sunday.

Kim’s Wednesday night kids group led in worship Sunday morning and Winn Collier preached. We had lunch with Winn, his family and the pastor and his wife. Then the youth hosted the Chili Cookoff fundraiser — it raised over $1,800 for this summer’s mission trip!

To-do list this week… not get sick. That’s really about it.

On the bookshelf… I started reading Cal Ripken’s Get In The Game — some great leadership insight! Then The Know It All (A.J. Jacobs). Hmm, not making it down the shelf very quickly.

What’s new… well, nothing really. But college baseball season has begun, which is very exciting. Now if it would just warm up, I might go watch somebody play.

Coming soon… ski trip Thursday night (it’s going to be 60 on Thursday. Is that a bad time to ski?), Charlottesville meeting Saturday morning and then a quiet afternoon. Not a whole lot…

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The weekend… nice Valentine’s Day movie outing and dinner at an old favorite, Calabash. Then church all day Sunday.

To-do list this week… I finally finished Outliers!! (hence the blog post with the review). Now I’ve got The Know It All (A.J. Jacobs) and Cal Ripken’s Get In The Game, on top of regular school reading.

What’s new… well, nothing really.

Coming soon… a side trip to Roanoke this week with dual purposes. YS One Day is in Roanoke, and we haven’t been to visit Kim’s parents since Christmas. It will be good to get out of town for a few days, but we’ll be heading right back for church on Sunday.

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It’s just been that kind of week so far…and now we’re halfway through and it’s time for an abbreviated mid-week rundown.

The weekend… the coldest weekend of the year, and we went to the beach. It was kind of amusing bundling up in our sweats to walk to the pool (indoor–nice and toasty). Had a great meal at our favorite VA Beach restaurant, Surf Rider. Stopped by the W’burg Outlets on the way back and then started the busyness all over again.

To-do list this week… Still have to finish Outliers. It’s not working out so well. And thank goodness I finished When Church Kids Go Bad last week. Boy, oh boy — sure needed it for this week.

What’s new… I was reading the paper Sunday morning and saw that Target, opening at 8AM, had Wii Fit on sale this week. Made it in time to pick one up, and now enjoying it every (well, almost every…) morning.

Coming soon… celebrating a quarter of a century on Friday. Fun times. Other than that, school is just around the corner. Ugh.

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The weekend… great date night on Friday, absolutely nothing most of the day Saturday, a visit with the grandparents and a dinner “holiday” party with church leadership, and capped it off with a busy Sunday.

To-do list this week… Read When Church Kids Go Bad and finish Outliers. Outliers has been on my list since the release date before Thanksgiving — and I’ve gotta review it for HJ. And Church Kids…well, some of our church kids (and their leaders!!) need some help through some tough times.

What’s new… new?

Coming soon… 48 hours at the beach. Found a great deal after days and days of agonizing over airfares, hotel costs, trying to find a cheap trip. We started with LA, worked around central/southern California, looked at Texas, Florida. And we end up less than 2 hours from home where it will be sub-40 degrees. At least the indoor pool will be warm. And hopefully get some quiet time in before and after the trip to read and relax before classes start in a couple weeks.

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the weekend… It’s mid-November, in Virginia. This weekend on our high school mini-retreat I jet skiied, went out on a boat, watched my kids go tubing. It was a blast. Then it turned cold, and it’s around 25 degrees at home now.

procrastinating? yes. paper’s due, discussion boards are due. internet is sparse, or $15/day. Panera is across the street, so I will be spending much of my week here. a stack of books to read, school work to finish before the end of the semester. it’s busy!

where I am… Nashville!!! Sitting a block off Broadway, enjoying the warmth of the southern sun. It’s probably 40 degrees here. We started setting up in the exhibit hall yesterday (Tuesday) and things get rolling tomorrow.

That’s all for now, too much to say, too little time. Now it’s back to work.

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