Wow What a Day (or do you count that as two?)

Back home, rather than doing Christmas presents, some friends and I decided to get a couple of hotel rooms at the Marriott, have dinner at the Emporium, swirl around in the whirlpool and just enjoy each other's company. There were eight of us, so it was a cool little party. We went to bed kind of late (at least for them :) ) at around 1 a.m. I proceeded to wake up bright-eyed at 4:30 a.m. thinking about one of my old Oasis students, Jami, who lost her dad two weeks ago. Thoughts were swirling around in my head on what we could do that might actually help ... even in a small sort of way. I thought, prayed and came up with a game plan (too many times I've thought and prayed and never followed through, lesson learned along time ago on that one). So I headed downstairs to begin to put the plan into action, adding it to an already busy day ... take a look.

6:45 a.m. Purchased stuff in the gift shop for some gifts and checked email in the lobby

7:30 Josh called and was puking his guts out. He had to leave the hospital to go home. Asked if I could get his van over to Elkhart General in case baby Sarah got released (she was a little dehydrated from the flu, which she proceeded to give Josh. All is good, she is home).

8:00 - 10:00 Got the keys, got the van, drove to and from EGH, watched the baby while Dee took a shower at the hospital, then dropped Loretta back off at the hotel

10:15 -11:45 Met with Seth and Sarah, got caught up and talked about what we think God's dream is in each of our worlds. Awesome friends, some of my favorite people to dream the dream with.

12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Met with Rhonda, Denise, Danielle, Jami (who lost her dad), Loretta, Bob and Karen for lunch at South Bend Chocolate Cafe. In the middle of it, took a time out to do a short call with Andy over at Simply Youth Ministry to talk about Jeanne's portion of youthministry.com stuff. Gave Jami different gifts God laid on my heart. It wasn't a ton, but I hope it helps in a couple of different areas. Great friends and great fun all around.

2:15 - 3:15 Checked out of the hotel, drove to vet to talk with her on Zach's diagnosis and picked up his medicine. I should of asked for a script for CVS; vet charged me $30 for 30 pills, could of got it for $18 at CVS. Lesson learned, don't get your animal medicine from the vet if they have the same stuff at the pharmacy (which we learned with Ben, vets can write a prescription for). Between vet bill and medicine, forked out $225 to find out that Zach has what I figured out from the internet ... a hyperthyroid. NOT great fun for me or Zach.

3:15 - 4:30 Met with Naomi and we talk about "knowing God's will for your life." Wonderful friend, fun discussion.

4:30 - 6:00 Met with Rachel from Arizona and talked about youth ministry, life in general and her first year in the Cadre. Once again, amazing friend, good times getting caught up.

6:00 - 7:00 Tossed all of my clothes and stuff at my sister's house into my car and picked up stuff for party at Chris' house. Forgot some stuff, but sister had my back.

7:00 - 12:30 a.m. Had a blast with 60-70 AMAZING friends. Mike, Scott and I aren't in town much, so we like to see people in masses when we come home.

12:30 - 1:30 Stopped at my mom's house to drop off Zach's medicine and some paperwork.

1:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Drove home to Atlanta, needed to be home by 3:00. Normally only an 11 hour trip, but needless to say took some naps along the journey

Ok, after all that ... can you say STUPID! What in the world was I thinking? I'm going to bed now. Oh, wait a minute, what about all that stuff in my car and, oh yeah, have to teach Sunday school in the morning. Oops, better get to work.