A Week (and a day) in June (20-27)

The best part of the week was a "Reunion" dinner was had a Litton's with the Gibsons, Hornes, Mathes', and Taylors. Wow, to think that some folks live their entire lives and never have a single true friend. How blessed we are to have many! I believe the seed was planted to take a mission trip to Nicaragua next summer. We'll see if that seed bears fruit or not.

Monday, 6/22, I met with ChildHelp's Hugh Nystrom. Hugh is the undesputed King of Puns and is the guy who knows everybody in town! We met for lunch at Pimentos and ran into Suzanne and her mom. Hugh is proving to be an invaluable asset to our Dream Team. He's also part of the 2009 Leadership Knoxville Class.

Our Dream Team meeting on Thursday was productive and inspiring. Anthony Ingram suggested I contact Grand Standifer at Compassion Coalition and now our team is booked to be on Grant's "Drive at Five" radio show on Joy 62. We're making progress, but it feels slow to me. I suppose because I'm preoccupied with finances. Most of our donors have stayed with us, but have cut back on their support. We're going to have to get creative this year. Of course, everytime I feel anxious I remind myself that it's not up to be to make this dream come true...not if I truly believe this is a vision that God has called us to share...then I feel the pressure diminish and excitement about HOW it's going to happen this year takes the place of my fear.

I met with John Dinkens again along with his friend and colleague, Nathan Zipper. I have to distinct feeling that this was another "divine appointment" on this journey. I love being with people who don't limit God and who have the courage to dream big dreams! Nathan suggested I check out "donorschoose.org" and offered to help set up a request for us. John, of course, contines to be as enthusiastic a supporter as we've ever had and has offered up his contacts to help spread the word about our mission. After we met, I jumped tables and joined Sherry, Angel and Suzanne for our Friday morning Panera session.

Saturday morning, I met my old friend, Bruce Bouldin, at the courts for a little butt-whooping. It was a blistering 95 degrees and I did well to stay on my feet. Bruce was merciful and allowed me the victory...this time. After tennis, we met at Wendy's to share the Reach Them dream along with the possibility of bringing the dream to Hickory, NC.

This morning, we joined the packed house at NorthStar for a little challenge for the men. After church, we had lunch at Lenny's with Tom, Chelcie, Delaney, Addie, Sam, Reed, Ed, Chris, and Justin. We ran into Mr. Roger and Emilee Bowles and the Hicks family. So much fun to live in a town where we see friends wherever we go!