We had Elliot’s Birthday Party today.

A month ago, when I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted, he responeded,

“A Cowboy Johnny Cash party.”

Well that’s what he got…complete with a shirt bought at the cowboy/western store at mall of america. It was awesome.

Check out the pics…

Lately, I’ve just been way too busy to blog. I’ve got a lot going on.

Sunday, I leave for France where my wife and I will have vacation, and she’ll undergo life-changing back surgery. The kids are staying at home. For three weeks. Crazy. That takes some planning.

When we get home, our friends Corey and Betsy and their kids Jonathon and Lily will have moved in. To prepare, we have to clear out the playroom, to convert it back into a bedroom, and clear out my office to convert it into a bedroom. We’re purging our stuff, cleaning out the basement. Getting rid of our junk, and preparing to live in tighter corners with tighter community. This is a big step. One I’m both excited and apprehensive about. 

We’ve given the situation until the end of summer, then we’ll have an evaluation of how things are going…

Needless to say, all the stuff above, and the reality of handing my job over to 5-6 committed volunteers whom I’m very grateful for, has been a ton of planning and extremely time consuming…Not to mention that backyard landscaping project that i decided to start in the middle of the night a while back.

Anywho…I can’t wait to start blogging again, but It might not really come back until week 2 of France. I will probably have a lot of time on our hands while Sarah is cooped up in the hospital…

So I’ve added one more book. 

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

I heard this guy talk for an hour on NPR. He was fascinating, the book sounds incredible.

I think I have about 1100 pages scheduled for the next 4 weeks. Hope that goes well.

I should have a lot of coffee shop/cafe time on my hands.

I asked my twitter / facebook communities to give me some book suggestions for reading while I’m in France in a few weeks. Here’s the 3 that are going to make it into my carry-on bag:

Common Wealth by Jeffrey Sachs
I read the End of Poverty by Sachs last year. I expect equally great things. 

 

 

Un.Orthodox by Tommy Kyllonen (Urban D.)
Urban D. has been guest artist at Sanctuary a few times for Hip Hop Sunday. He’s equally impressive as a preacher, and I’m guessing equally impressive as a writer. (I’ve already started this one, not sure if it will make it to the plane.) 

John Adams by David McCullough
 I read McCullough’s 1776, last fall. A Brilliant read. What a great storyteller. I want to read it before I see the HBO Documentary.

 

Some recent photos at a friend’s birthday party, complete with pony rides…

Photo Gallery

I saw this software over at The Apple Blog.

Grab up is a Screen Shot software that allows you to take a screenshot, upload it to the grab up server and get a url within a matter of 3 seconds. I love this. 

Here’s my first screenshot as I was working on a refresh of the logo for our Youth Ministry:

This is incredible. I will start using this for customer proofs right away…I can’t believe how simple it is.

Today’s post from Seth Godin really sums up my approach to marketing.

Often times, in my business, we’re working with clients who may have never had any marketing strategy, save networking. When we come in to design or redesign their identity or collateral, we have an approach that says, your materials should look every bit as good and connect just as well as your programs. 

But in the end, it’s our hope that programs exceed the expectation that is hyped through the materials we produce. We hope you blow away potential expectations that your consumers come to the table with…

I love the way Seth sums it up…

Make Big Promises; Overdeliver.