i noticed that kurt had a “friday randomness” post this morning, and thought it fit the bill. with that in mind…

– we had jeannie’s cousin and his family at our house for the night last night. they’re wycliffe missionaries, translating the bible into the niger (west african) language of manga. i grilled teriyaki kabobs and sweet corn. we talked around the fire pit until 11:30 — they were trying to find a way to put some words to the low-grade frustration they’re experiencing with their attractional, program-driven church (here in the states — they’re on furlough).

– i never got to talk to jeannie’s cousin about it, but every time they talked about the manga people or the manga language, i kept thinking, “do you guys know what ‘manga’ means to the rest of the world?”

– and this made me think about the first manga book we (YS) are publishing in our invert line of books for students. most “christian manga” has sucked eggs. hope ours is legit.

– i hosted an odd passing moment the other day: mike pilavachi (of soul survivor in the u.k.) was in our offices (with people from soul survivor, u.s.) to pick our brains. we had a wonderful lunch at casa de pico. during lunch, martin saunders and jim partridge, two more brits, drove into town to stay at my house for a couple days. martin is the editor of youthwork magazine (the u.k. youth ministry magazine), and jim is the former director of “youthwork, the conference” (the closest british equivilent to our nwyc). mike, martin and jim all know each other, but never see each other, even though they all live, roughly, in the greater london area. but they connected in the lobby of youth specialties in beeeeeautiful el cajon, california.

– today is max’s last day of 3rd grade, and liesl’s last day of 7th grade. when i see them later today, they will be officially 4th and 8th graders.

– we’re hosting max’s class for a pool party tomorrow from 1 – 4, and liesl’s class pool party from 5 – 9. i expect to be fried and frazzled by 9:30pm.

– went to max’s school yesterday to see him play pharaoh in a 3rd grade class play called “child of the nile” – the story of moses, from birth through the red sea. he was awesome. all the lines were in rhyme, and memorized. it sounded the story of moses as written by dr. seuss, with a few hebrew songs thrown in.

– discovered an amazing new adult beverage this week: patron xo cafe, a coffee liqueur made from high-end patron tequila. uh-freakin’-maze-ing.

that’s enough for the moment. gotta get to the mess on my desk.