Monday, May 11, 2026

Mother's Day Part Two

On Sunday morning I preached at Trinity UMC in Sarasota. And then in the evening the guys took me out for Mother's Day. My gift was a surprise sunset cruise around Siesta Key and Sarasota Bay. It was awesome to hang out in the Intercoastal and see the islands in a way that we usually don't get to. 







The dolphins were out to play a lot which was fun! 











Going under the north Siesta Key bridge. 


The white house on the left was owned by Andre Agassi. 


A view of the Ringling Bridge from Sarasota on the right to Bird Key and Lido Key on the left 


The house on the left was the childhood home of Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman). The house on the right belongs to Urban Meyer. 








 

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Mother's Day with Grandmommy

We spent time on Saturday with Grandmommy for Mother's Day. We took her to the new Mote SEA Aquarium in Sarasota by the mall. It's such a beautiful space! 






And then afterwards we went for lunch at Yard House nearby. 



 

Saturday, May 9, 2026

Here, There and Everywhere

This week I spent Monday in the office in Zoom meetings. Tuesday I was back at the Conference Office to work with the large church pastors who are moving this summer and teach about self-care in the midst of transition. The two pastors on the ends of this picture are leaving our district for other appointments and the pastor with the beard next to me is joining our district this summer. 

Wednesday involved a lot of Annual Conference planning meetings online and then Sandy and I set up two canvas labyrinths on the floor in the fellowship hall to take pictures. The district office bought these and is loaning them out to churches for special occasions. We needed the pictures to make up the fliers about them and type up the instructions. The large one was so big we could only assemble two of the sections. 



Thursday was out district clergy gathering, this time at Gulf Cove UMC in Port Charlotte. We had a great teaching time about the 6 Types of Working Genius. And their pastor made up some awesome AI graphics to welcome us and say goodbye. 







I finished the day up with a drive down to Pine Island for a meeting and then home again! 





 

Friday, May 8, 2026

St Leo Campus Visit - Round Two

We made a second campus visit to St. Leo University today with Wesley. This time to meet the jumps coach and tour the athletic facilities. They have some great spaces and we were very impressed with Coach Emily Olson. This next year will be St Leo's second year with a track and field team and they already invested 1.4 million in building a new track on campus. 


Weight Room - there is a specific lifts coach for the track team and specific work out time. The jumps coach works directly with them on the workouts. 



We also got to visit the Business Building because Wesley is thinking of majoring in business in college. 



It was a good day and Wesley is getting closer to a college decision everyday. 

Commitment Day is coming quick on May 20th. 
 

Thursday, May 7, 2026

Senior Night Pics

We finally got to see the official pictures from Senior Night at IMG. The first picture is all of the seniors on the track team. Wesley is in the back in the middle. 

Daryl and I are with Wesley, along with Coach Napier (the head of the track team) and Coach Iryna (the jumps coach). 

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

IMG Flight Night

Tonight was the last regular meet of the season and it was at home. It was IMG Academy's Flight Night for the jumps team. 

Wesley did great at high jump. He another new PR of 1.93m! This is two meets in a row that he has hit over 1.9m. So wonderful! 


 Then right after high jump he went over to long jump. He had six jumps total, ranging from 6.05 to 6.28m. That is slightly under his PR of 6.31m. 


We are so proud of him and all that he has worked to accomplish in this track season!

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Randomness

The flowers are all in bloom around our neighborhood, including the magnolia trees! 


Davis has been rehabbing from an ankle injury and doing PT - he's been weightlifting and also runnning a bit on the treadmill at home. 


Caspian loves to be in our shower if he can get into our bedroom. He thinks he is "hiding." 


 

 
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