Along with all the business travel, there have been some church things going on as well. If you get a chance, go to our church website and watch the sermons from today. Our pastor preached on “A Cross-less Calvary” on committment and sacrifice. Brother LJ preached from Micah 6 tonight on “God’s Requirements”. Both were excellent and worth a listen.
Our camp meeting was this week. I didn’t get to any of the evening services (see previous posts on travel) but I did get a chance to speak at camp on Thursday morning along with the other department heads and share my vision for Sunday School. Our superintendent preached on “The Manifest Destiny of the Church”. Go here and go forward to the seventh video for the Ohio Summit Service. Check out the other services as well.
Charity and I are beginning a home Bible study with some new friends at our church. I enjoy teaching Bible studies perhaps more than pulpit preaching because of the give and take nature of the intimate setting. I also feel like I learn more when studying for these sessions because there are questions that are asked and answered. I’m really looking forward to the Bible study on Tuesday.
Hopefully I haven’t overloaded your feed readers. We’ll be back to the one(ish) post a day starting tomorrow.
Kids at the Pittsburgh Zoo
Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv
As I mentioned, this past week has been full of travel. Three days after we got home from New York we took off for Pittsburgh for a few days. One thing that is terrific about my job is that my family can often travel with me (as they did on this trip). Thursday, after meeting with my client we had a late dinner at Six Penn Kitchen which is my favorite restaurant in Pittsburgh. They have not only great food all the way around but the best mac and cheese in the country. Just terrific!
As a side note, we stayed at the Doubletree in Pittsburgh which gives back packs to their guests under twelve. These contain crayons, coloring books, stress balls (I don’t know how stressed a twelve year old gets) and a frisbee. Friday, I had meetings and the kids played and swam at the hotel.
On Saturday, we visited the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. The zoo is very good but the aquarium really makes it worth the trip. My favorite animal in the whole zoo is the hammerhead shark- there are three at the aquarium. After a full day at the zoo we headed back home. We did stop at Cabela’s in Wheeling, West Virginia on the way home. This is the one store where Charity feels comfortable letting me roam with credit cards intact. Other than looking at dead, stuffed animals (which is like a zoo with no stench), I have no interest in hunting or fishing supplies. Like my mom said- my idea of roughing it is a hotel without room service. It should be noted that the Doubletree in Pittsburgh has wonderful room service.
Great three days but I’m glad to be home.
Don and Charity- Wall Street
Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv
After much fanfare and delay, I finally got the pictures loaded and can blog about this week’s travels. I mentioned the return trip from New York (not good times) but never got around to the actual trip (good times). My friend Reg is twittering from New York this weekend so I’m enjoying revisiting some of the fun.
Charity and I got up at 3 AM last Saturday (I wish I was kidding) and caught our 6:30 AM flight. We got to Newark without a hitch, called the car service and popped out on the other side of the Holland Tunnel in New York City. We decamped at the W Hotel where the service was incredible. Charity mentioned that she was hungry for diner food so we went to the New Yorker Hotel’s Tick Tock Diner. I ate here regularly when I was in the city in November. The entire menu is available 24/7. After breakfast, we caught a cab and went back to the hotel. I took the subway to visit my client (someone has to pay for these trips) and Charity took a nap. After work, we met back at the hotel and headed down to Greenwich Village to have lunch at Otto, a pizzeria owned by Mario Batali. After lunch, we walked across 8th Avenue to the East Village, down into Little Italy and Chinatown, and down to SoHo. I picked up some Black and White cookies (which I previously professed my love for) at Dean and Deluca on Prince Street.
We took the Subway back to the hotel, changed, and took a cab down to Bobby Van’s on Broad Street which is across from the New York Stock Exchange. Phenomenal food in a great setting (you can eat in the former bank’s vault). It was interesting to note how dead the Financial District is on Saturday night. We walked up to Wall and Broad Streets (where the NYSE and Federal Hall are) and there we no more than a dozen people there (not counting the always heavy police presence). From there, we walked down Broadway to Bowling Green and took the picture you see here with the Bull. We took a cab back to the hotel and had our early wake up to head home. You’ve already read the story from there.
I love going to New York but going with Charity makes it extra special.
