the weekend that was: fun and full weekend, it was. friday night was the ys staff christmas party. we had a great time. the party was at the san diego museum of photographic art, and had a “black and white” theme. everyone wore black and white, and a costume competition was part of the night. crazy stuff, as one would expect from the ys staff. i’ll post some pics when i get access to them. we also had a surprise concert and carol singing time with kendall payne, which was totally cool. no one knew she was coming until i brought her on stage in the theater at our venue.

saturday was filled with running around (a bit of christmas shopping included), and then max’s 11 year-old birthday party. he had three of his buddies over, and in the evening, we all took the trolley to a nice mall, when i’d put together a mall scavenger hunt for them. dinner was a the cheesecake factory. then the boys spent the night.

sunday was a full day also: cinnamon roles for the boys in the morning, then cleaning up. jen and jay howver, and their girls noelle and chloe came over for lunch and the afternoon. then we had home church at our house in the evening, and it was a goodbye to one of our guys who’s been with us since the beginning. sadness and happiness both.

where i am at the moment: i’m flying to grand rapids, michigan today for a couple days at zondervan. lots of meetings, and two christmas parties (one for all zondervan staff, and one for the leadership team). i fly home wednesday morning.

on my to-do list this week: after the three days at z, i have a couple days in the office, which will be my last two days at ys this year. lots of catching up and wrapping up to do. and i have to keep making progress on the middle school ministry book.

procrastinating about: finances. there are some personal finances and ys finances i need to spend some time on, and i have no energy for it.

book i’m in the midst of: still plodding through the speed of trust by covey. great book — i just haven’t had much time to read.

music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: mostly christmas music. particularly, i’ve been diggin’ kendall payne‘s new christmas cd and alathea‘s new christmas cd. i have the two of them in a playlist, and listened to them quite a bit this week.

next trip: after i get home from z, my next trip is next monday, when my family flies to detroit for our annual christmas trek. i’ve never had a christmas that wasn’t in detroit. jeannie’s family and mine all live there, so we’re able to spend time with everyone quite easily. we’ll be there until january 3.

how i’m feeling about this week: a little stressed. i have a meeting with my boss this afternoon i hope will be good, but we have to talk about ys’ financial year, which isn’t exactly pretty. and i have much to do this week in prep for my own family’s christmas this coming saturday. just lots to do is all.