Jay Kelly - 3/26/2007

Great day today. Didn’t get up for a 4am QT and workout like Darin Ford probably did. Amen to that. Mondays are always a welcomed break from our weekends on the run. Dropped Chandler off at school at 7:35. Hit 7 Eleven for Pop Tarts and a Big Gulp (Diet Coke, not Pepsi) and went to my quiet time spot in the Rite Aid parking lot. The view of Puget Sound and the Olympics from the corner of this parking lot amazes and inspires me. I have a couple of readings to do in my 365 Chronological Bible to get caught up to today’s date. Lots to pray for including Lynne and Linda’s cancer, BMW driving single-guy converts, Seattle, South Sound and all of the NW churches. Back home Carol is having her time with God in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea as is her custom.

I run to the dump to get the junk I’ve been carrying around for days out of my pickup while Carol pays bills. We have our Discipleship Time at Pho Than Brothers Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch and plan out the week. We talk about how things are going for the ministry and the kids. We reflect on a GREAT marriage retreat in Bellingham and fuss over the details of the retreat budget. Thought we broke even, but the marrieds drank three times the gallons of coffee we’d budgeted for and now we’re over budget.

Monday is also DP times with Paige and Chandler. We haven’t always kept our commitment to this but recent family drama has humbled us and called us back to faithfulness with our Sunday night family devotionals and Monday afternoon DP times with the kids. I had Paige last Monday, so today is my time with Chandler. She had a better plan than me, so we went with hers. We baked cookies, studied John chapter 3 and read the first chapter of 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. We had a great talk and time of prayer. This was one of our best DP times ever.

At 7pm Carol and I met at Paul and Shelli Martin’s house for a Discipleship Group birthday party for Tina Robison. Todd and Casey Schoepflin, Scott and Lisa Lewis, Charles and Tina Robison, the Martins and Carol and I make up our Westside Marrieds D-Group. One birthday tradition is for each of us to pick a special song and Shelli burns the CD for them. We gathered in the Martins family room and took turns introducing our songs for Tina. Mine was "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman. It was one of our best CDs yet. We could market the D-Group Anthology CD set and finance our church buildings. After snacks, drinks and music we went back in time at the local roller rink; it was adult night. We skated for hours and crammed into the photo booth at closing time (sadly, Todd and Casey had to go early to relieve their babysitter and missed the photo op.). I felt like I was in Jr. High all over again in Jersey. Roller skating is like riding a bike no moderno roller blades for us. It all came back to some of us. Tina was the best by far. She always surprises our group with hidden talents that come out at random times. Go Trampolina!

Got home much later than usual, but happy that we made another great D-group memory and encouraged OLD Trampolina.