June 23-29

Monday - Holly and I got up fairly early and started talking about what we wanted to do. We decided to take a quick trip to Austin to swim in Barton Springs and go to the Capitol and Texas Museum. We packed up quick and headed out by about 11am. Got to the hotel about 1:30pm, unpacked and headed right back out to Barton Springs (for the uninitiated, Barton Springs is a natural spring swimming hole not too far from downtown and UT). We ate our picnic lunch at the park and then headed into the water. It was sooo cooold! I thought the heat would make it feel good, but first it wasn't extremely hot and second the water was so cold that it hurt (constant 72 degrees).

We played for about an hour and Holly decided she wanted to go get her running in, so we got our hands stamped so we could come back in, and headed over to the running/walking/biking trail nearby. She took off running and the boys and I just meandered along the river looking at fish and turtles and people jumping off a bridge. Eventually Holly turned around and we met up with her. By then she was ready to get back in that cold water. I thought I would be too, but it was still too cold! I sat out on the grass and took a little nap.

We headed back to the hotel, got dressed and headed for dinner at Fuddruckers. Yumm!

Tuesday - We got up and packed up and then ate breakfast at a place called Cinnamons Bakery. Oh yeah...I'll eat just about anything with cinnamon & sugar on it! I had a sticky, pecan bun and everyone else had the cinnamon roll.

Then we headed on over to the Texas museum and spent about 3-4 hours there before heading back home. Holly had a women's ministry meeting at Cindy Seay's home with other staff wives

Wednesday - We had our last "Fisher's of Men" meeting and had about 12 or so guys. Larry did a great job with the bible study each week and the guys had a good time fishin' and fellowshippin'. Pictures here.

Saturday - Tyler had a friend over to spend the night and after they got up we decided to go the Soaring Club of Houston. It's a glider field and it's only about 15 min. away. The boys and I have been several times and we like to watch the gliders get towed up into the air and then land back on the field after "soaring" for sometimes hours on a good day.

Then the boys and I went to the KSBJ Share-a-Song concert which was outdoors in a mall parking lot and, most importantly, free! We went to see Season 6 American Idol Chris Sligh who has recently released his first CD. We have really enjoyed the CD and were looking forward to seeing him. He did a great job and we enjoyed ourselves. Pictures of the boys and Chris here.

Sunday - Holly and the boys left to spend 5 days with family in Burleson so I was a church bachelor. I took an older couple out to lunch because they want to start a Divorce Care group in our church. I'm really excited about it because they have been leading groups like this for a number of years and are really experienced. I made it home in time to take a short nap and then headed back to the church for worship team rehearsal.

June 16-22

Sunday - "Father's Day!" Holly fixed a big lunch and my favorite dessert. I don't know what it's called, but it has a layer of crushed Oreos, a layer of vanilla ice cream, a layer of chocolate yumminess (kinda thick hot fudgey stuff) and is topped with Cool Whip and then frozen. It didn't last long! Thinking about my dad today and his influence on me. I miss him, but know that he is where his heart was/is!

I had a good nap and then Austin and I went back to Wilderness Ridge to lead worship for the incoming campers - about 30 3rd-6th graders. Austin played the "djembe" (big bongo thing), tamborine and shaker while I led with my guitar. They loved it. And I love it that my boys are getting old enough to help me lead worship!

Monday - After getting home late Sunday night from Wilderness Ridge I slept in a little late. Holly decided to take the boys to the Children's Museum in Houston, so I stayed home and piddled around. The boys both went to different friend's houses to spend the night which meant Holly and I had an evening alone. What did we do? She worked on school stuff on her laptop and I piddled on the other computer.

Tuesday - Coaches bible study at 7am, but none of the coaches were able to come. We still had three of our "regulars" who have all been involved in coaching at some time or other, but now have different jobs. Tried to get back in the swing of office work, but it was hard after a week at camp! Holly brought Austin into town for an 8th grade boys Bible study and instead of going home and then having to go back and get Austin, I just stayed and worked at the office. Made for an even longer day, but he loves the bible study!

Wednesday - We didn't have staff meeting because most of the guys were on the mission trip. However Bro. Ed still took Larry and I to lunch! I worked on a new Worship Planning website that allows me to plan my services, assign volunteers (band, vocals, tech crew) and then it sends out emails to everyone involved in that service and gives them buttons to click that say "Accept", "Decline" and "View This Service". So they can let me know if they are going to be out of town so I can line up an alternate. They can also look at the website and see the order of worship with all the songs and charts for the band. They can also hear the song if I upload it. It's really neat and the worship team liked it too!

Went to "Fishers of Men" at Larry's house and enjoyed visiting with the guys and taking pictures of the fish they caught (pics here). Larry has done a great job with the bible study. Very encouraging.

Thursday - Spent most of the day "tweaking" the Worship Planning website. It took a lot of setup, but is worth the time spent.

Austin and I left about 6pm to go and lead worship at Wilderness Ridge for the closing night of the young campers. The camp director asked if I would come back some more. He offered to pay for my gas, so I will be going back July 6, 10, 13, 17, 20 & 24 (opening and closing of 3 other camp weeks). Whew! I'm tired already. I will definitely get to know the "trail" between home and Wilderness Ridge (all 116 miles of it!).

Friday - Spent the day wrapping up details for the Sunday service and tying up some other loose ends. Holly came by to get me about 4pm and we took the boys to stay with their friends Mason & Hudson (can't hear "Hudson" without thinking of "Upstairs, Downstairs") and "Aunt" Ashley. We took their parent's with us (Travis & Allison) and met up with other friends Paul and Jennifer at Churrascos downtown. Then we went to the Michael W Smith Worship concert at Lakewood church where he was video-taping for a new worship DVD. We got to sit on the third row and meet him after the concert. It was awesome! Can't believe I didn't get a picture with him! Went to Starbucks after with Travis and Allison. Lost track of time and didn't get home until almost 1am!

Saturday - Needless to say we slept in late and then we all went and had a late breakfast at the Magnolia Diner. Holly went back home and the boys and I went up to the church to practice for Sunday services (Austin was filling in on drums. Tyler played along on guitar for practice). We spent the rest of the evening at home relaxing.

Sunday - We had really good services and Austin did a great job playing drums. One of my "kids" from Jersey Village BC student ministry was in town with her husband and wanted to eat lunch with us, so they came out to the house for roast and potatoes. It was great visiting with her. She's one of my "trophies" (has kept the faith and continues to serve the Lord). I had to cut our visit short so I could get up to the church and prepare for rehearsal. Came home after and could barely keep my eyes open because I didn't get my Sunday nap!

WIlderness Ridge Camp June 8-13

The boys and I spent Sunday afternoon through Friday evening at Wilderness Ridge Camp. It's a boys camp that has all the outdoorsy stuff (fishing, canoeing, riflery, archery, low and high ropes course). I was the Servant Leader for a group of 10 boys (including Austin and Tyler) and we had a great week even without A/C!

Instead of blogging about the whole week, I'll just let you see the pictures I took.  www.twitpic.com/photos/sray61

By the way, the pictures are in reverse order and there are two pages worth. So if you want to see them in chronological order, go to the bottom of the page and click the "oldest" link and start about the middle of the page.

You can also read all of the updates that I sent to Twitter.com throughout the week at www.twitter.com/sray61

June 2 - June 8

Monday - Delivered soccer flyers to 6 elementary schools (my part as a parent of Fun, Fair, Positive Soccer). Went to church to check email. Got a call from the Pastor who was on call as hospital chaplain (but too far away) to visit a family at Tomball ER whose 4 year old son had drowned in a neighbor's pool. It was a first for me and not something I'd like to repeat.

Tuesday - Setup a new computer in our Sound/Video booth. Ate buffalo wings with buddy David.

Wednesday - We had our first ever "Fishers of Men" meeting at the home of our Assoc. Pastor of Outreach and Assimilation (Larry Edwards) who lives on a large pond. We'll meet each Weds in June. The men fished for 45 min, then we ate hot dogs and Bro. Larry is doing a bible study from passages of Jesus "by the sea." Pictures here.

Thursday - had a meeting with the president of 360hubs.com about church technology. It's some really exciting stuff! Had to rush away to pick up my family from Michigan at the airport. Picture here

Friday - made two hospital visits downtown. Austin helped me unload a trailer load of Easter set stuff in our storage unit. He is a hard worker and loves doing anything with his daddy! (The same can be said for Tyler actually). Then I worked on songs for Wilderness Ridge Camp.

Saturday - I had a leadership meeting at Wilderness Ridge camp at 3pm (1 hour 45 min drive). On the way home I happened upon a bad head-on collision outside Brenham at 10pm. I was the only car with a flashlight (no emergency vehicles yet) so I had to stop and render aid. One girl (20 years old) died on impact and a 55 year old woman (crossed over the median) died not long after the impact. I held my flashlight while the EMT worked on her. The second time in one week that I stared death in the face. Very sobering.

Sunday - great worship service with Jennifer Bacak (pastor's daughter) singing "Revelation Song". It was amazing. Rushed home after church with the boys to eat lunch and pack the car to leave for Wilderness Ridge. Arrived at Camp about 3pm and started greeting the boys who were in my cabin as they arrived. Here's a picture of the boys getting to know one another.

May 26-June 1

Monday - Holly was gone, so it was a lazy morning. But then we got busy and cleaned up around the house!

Tuesday - I had the usual Coaches study at 7am, but then went back home to get the boys so that they could meet some friends to go see Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia new movie). Meanwhile Holly arrived at home from being with her sister and parents.

Wednesday - Holly and the boys left to do SAT testing at MCA and after they were gone I realized that Holly had my only set of car keys. She couldn't answer her phone because there is no reception inside the school, so I was stuck at home. But I was able to do some church work from my computer, so it was not a total loss.

Thursday - I went in to work and at lunch time I drove to Tomball for the Grand opening of a new Arbys. Holly and the boys had been doing testing again at MCA and we all went to lunch together with several families from MCA.  Later that day the boys and I went to a concert to see our friends in the Robbie Seay Band (our pastor's son) & the Gatlin Elms Band in Tomball.

Friday - I had to move some Easter stage props and sets from one storage unit to another. I asked the boys and their friends the Cantus to help and they were great workers! Then I took them all to their makeup soccer game at 5pm.

Saturday - The boys and friends had their final soccer game at 10:30am and got their trophies. Then we (boys and Cantus) moved more storage stuff.  I had to get the Cantus and the boys home so they could finish packing for their trip to Michigan. They met over at the Cantus at 3:00 pm and headed out for the airport.  I became a bachelor for 5 days.

Sunday -  Sunday was Graduate recognition in our services, and then Meet the Pastor's Lunch.  I had a brief rest time at home before heading back up to Worship Team rehearsal.  Later I went to Montgomery to see the Gatlin Elms Band at a Steak house called Shanahans. They did a good job and the people there really liked them. I hung out with my good buddy and father of Gatlin, David Elms.