We have 2 cars in the garage - we did it! This weekend has been crazy, getting everything as in shape as it can get before the family comes. We did have some fun, too. Today, Memorial Day, our church had a big picnic in the park with tons of food and a creek where the kids caught tadpoles. It was great to get to spend another day with friends that otherwise would have been spent in the office!

Allen will be gone at a conference this week and so he is too stressed to comment today. He is giving two presentations while there and has caught the eye of several good-to-know people. He has accomplished so many great things in his job this past year - I am so proud of him!

Our family comes this week and we are so excited! Having them here will get us out of the house; we love to stay home and just hang out. Of course, that also means we never really go anywhere. So, having them here will be a great excuse to get out and about and enjoy time with them. The end of the week cannot come fast enough!

I have been going to our Thursday night Bible study by myself a lot recently as Allen has been traveling. They have been listening to my reports regarding the latest on the house. As they are all homeowners, they have lots of tips. I don't know how to do much more than hammer a nail into the wall to hang a picture and even if I did, we don't own a drill. Anything involving slightly more complicated actions means I have to call for help. Either my dad has come over for an afternoon on the weekend or my handyman comes by. That also means that Allen always gets out of the tough jobs. So last night we celebrated Allen's birthday at our Bible study. Guess what they gave him?? A drill! It was great, because we need one, but I thought it was even better because Allen now has no excuse for not being able to help me hang window treatments, etc.!

I am so excited. My handyman came this morning and installed the new showerhead in the guest bathroom making it fully functional, and helped me hang the roman shades I got for the large window behind the dining table. I did a full vacuum of the downstairs for the first time today! There has been junk all over for so long! The replacement piece to our desk also came today so Allen is putting the rest of it together. We intend to start putting away all the office stuff and Al's books from the garage this weekend. Our goal is to be able to park 2 cars in the garage by the end of the month! Hooray!

Ok, one more pic. Jeremy's mom, Virginia, just sent this to us guys.



From left to right:
Alan Beard, Jeremy Johnson, Allen, Peter Wilson, Chris Collins

Alan Beard is the director of Won by One and the guy who made it possible for me to afford Pepperdine.
Jeremy was my roommate for two years and sang in Won by One
Peter and I sang together for one year in WBO.
Chris Collins was an apartment mate for one year and now he's back at Pepp as well.

Sarah hasn't even seen these pics yet. Alan Beard took them at Kelli's wedding. We'll see if she lets me keep them up.

What's this about sending me harassing emails?? I do the best I can, y'all. Besides, not everything we do is worth writing about...

Lectures was great. Though I had my blackberry in hand during some of the talks, I still got to enjoy them. I am not one who likes to go and sit through the classes. I would much rather spend time with the people I do not see often. My mom was one of them and it was great to spend time with her in that setting. Annie was the director of childcare for ages 6 months - 2 years and came home with spit up and all sorts of yummy stuff on her shirt each night. I really enjoyed spending time with Emily Spivey and the Goldman Family. You know how you have those people who are treasures in your heart? That's how I feel about the Goldmans and I hate that we see them so seldom. Allen is trying to get Ashley (their oldest, a senior this coming year) to come to Pepperdine. Josh is already interested (he's 16). If we get them out here, we'll get to see their parents a lot more often!

It was also nice to spend time enjoying Pepperdine while not living there. On all the beautiful days that occurred while we had a home there, I stayed inside. You never take advantage of what is freely given to you. The weather on Friday was gorgeous and the ocean was beautiful so I sat outside and soaked up the sun for quite a while.

Mom left this morning. After church, we stayed for the ministry fair and the In 'N Out truck that the church brought to promote the ministry fair. This afternoon we intend to enjoy time working on the office. We finally have our grill back so we may run to Home Depot for a propane tank this afternoon. It feels SO good to have our own place!

Lectures wrapped up last night. It wore me out, but it was so good to see old friends. Today was the first Saturday in months that I did not have work or homework to do. I didn't sleep in too late because our guest bath tub was getting finished up. Sarah and Donna ran a few errands and I went to Best Buy to pick up a few things. I made an effort to do basically do nothing all day! I pretty much succeeded. The next couple of weeks will be spent getting things ready for my parents and the Emersons to visit. I've got office furniture to put together and boxes to empty. I've got quite a few books I want to knock out this summer. First on my list is to finish God's Politics by Jim Wallis.

Last night was the first night of the Pepperdine Bible Lectures. Sarah met me up here in time for the opening night keynote. This year's opening night speaker was my good friend Tim Spivey. You can check out his blog here www.timspivey.com . He did a great job and we hope to get to spend a little time with him and Emily before they leave.
We also got to see the Goldmans last night. Chris was the one who performed out wedding ceremony (almost 5 years ago). Chris will be the keynote speaker tonight!

Donna is flying in within the hour and Sarah will pick her up and they will head over here to campus tonight. This will be Donna's first time to come to the Lectures.

I've been in and out of the office today. We have been calling a few students to offer a spot for the fall freshman class. It has been fun to hear the excitement in some of their voices. I've had to introduce 3 speakers today and then I have an admission session tonight. Should keep me on campus until close to 11:00 tonight. Then, I turn around and help lead worship at 7:30 in the morning with a 6:(something) mic check! After all the talking tonight, I hope my bass will be kickin tomorrow morning :)

Sarah is taking off the next two days and will be enjoying the Lectures with her mom.

For those in Memphis, I saw Leanne Cookingham today, as well as Phillip Cummings and Charlie Fowler.
Katie, Sarah met Mark last night and he was talking about True Lift coming out for lectures this September. I hope it happens!

I (Allen) thought I would update this thing, since I'm sure people are checking it and waiting for new updates.
I have finally wrapped up my travel for the year . . . minus a conference at the end of May. The conference will be a valuable trip as I will get to be a part of two different presentations.

I have decided not to take any Summer School classes. I decided I wanted some time with no traveling and no studying. (Of course I'll still be reading a lot, but not what someone is making me read.) I'm REALLY looking forward to getting to come home every night and being able to relax or go out. Sarah and I haven't been out to a movie together in about 6 months or more. (It might have been Willy Wonka, ha! Sarah hates that movie - of course I love it.)

Pepperdine Bible Lectures is coming up this week! Its my favorite time of year at Pepperdine. There should be 5,000+ people on campus from all over the globe. Seeing as how our student body is only 3,000, the campus is definitely hoppin and a little crowded, but exciting. I've got a few responsibilities this week. First, I get to sing 3 times with True Lift. Zac got to take a week off from touring with Acappella to come back and sing with us! (Kelli, I know you are reading this and if you were going to be here, it would have been perfect! We were talking last night at rehearsal how much we wished you were going to be here.) I also get to introduce 4 speakers/teachers this year. I know each of the people I will be introducing and each of them are great people. Some of them are very special to me, like Scott Sager who is solely responsible for my return to Pepperdine, or Dan Jacoy who was one my most favorite people I met on the road in my Won by One days, or Ken Young who has been an encouragement for years.
On top of all of that I have to do a couple of admission events late at night. Thats the part I'm looking forward to the least.

Donna will be coming to stay with us for most of lectures. It will be her first time for Lectures and I know she will enjoy it. We will have a lot of old friends coming in town that we are really looking forward to seeing. I know Sarah is looking forward to seeing the Goldmans. Chris, who married us, is going to be a keynote speaker. Also, the Spiveys are coming and Tim is the Opening Night Keynote. I'm so excited for him and for everyone to get to hear him.

Ok, I guess that's enough of an update. I know people check this this frequently for updates, but rarely find new news. Well, just send Sarah harassing emails.

Tonight. . .24!!!