I’m sitting on my back deck, Will eating a late lunch because he fell asleep on the way home from church, Halle and Audrey are gleefully jumping into the kiddie-pool yelling “Cannon-Bal-timore” (yeah, I am asking the same question you are) and Elisabeth is out looking at bunk beds for the girls room.

Sunday afternoons are a great time to get grounded, think through the things we have going on in the week ahead and perhaps even prioritize a bit… so along those lines, here’s a glimpse into the mind of Brian and what I am thinking about as the week approaches.

Family:

• Starting Monday the girls are doing swim lessons for the next couple weeks!  Can’t wait to see their confidence grow as they hit the water.
• Elisabeth and I celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary on Monday, July 20th (and on Tuesday we actually get to celebrate it with a date!)  Quite sure you might guess who I might post about tomorrow…
• Warm weather will mean I will get up earlier and get work done earlier so I can get into the kiddie pool with the kids in the afternoons!

Ministry:

• Though Youthmark is “ministry” this little section is the stuff outside of Youthmark… On Wednesday evening I have the opportunity to speak at Family Camp at Lake Retreat; I will be doing an elective on Teen Relationships; get to bust out the chart!
• I look forward to scheduling a coffee or two to follow-up on the boys from my Young Life cabin who began a relationship with Jesus! Praise the Lord!
• I’m going to get some time with Alan Andersen as well; he is the Youth Pastor at Mars Hill West Seattle and is quickly becoming a good friend!  I classify this as “ministry” because he asked for the coffee to chat up youth ministry stuff.

Youthmark:

• Hope to jam out to the airport tonight (Sunday) to see the Burien Free Methodist and Grace Church teams return from the Gulf Coast.
• Look forward to reading the blogs of all the NorCal teams (as well as the team from Emmanuel Faith serving in New Orleans this week and Pass Christian next week).
• This week and next are the weeks set aside to write the Mission Prep Workbook for the 2010 training.  Please pray for this as I’m taking a little writing retreat.
• The Hawaii team gets into Kauai late Friday night; we will do their “launch” on Saturday and then their mission begins on Sunday morning.  I will be spending the evenings helping with the VBS and some of the outreach, but by day I’ll be able to do much of my writing.
• Some major decisions have to be made in the next 24-48 hours in regard to my “Scrambling” post last week.  God is opening and closing doors for us, so in many ways I am just waiting, and trusting!  Please pray for the right connections with the right people at the right time (I know, I’m vague, but need to be and appreciate your prayers).

Tasks:

• Have been able to get a few yard work things done the last couple of weeks, and believe it or not (okay, don’t), I plan to get a couple other things done this week.  We have completely abandoned the idea that our front grass is supposed to be green, in fact, gold can’t even describe the color anymore…However, the back yard has been loving the every-other day kiddie pool emptying!

Well, there ya go, my Sunday afternoon thoughts; and I hope you’re blessed with the second-take picture below!

Grace,
Brian

Sometimes thinking makes your head feel weird.