May always includes a lighter travel schedule for us. This allowed Joel and Ryan time to work on other projects. Ryan's most notable projects were his first few weeks of parenthood!
California
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Joel had an interesting trip to California for the 2nd time this school year. He was lucky enough to book a direct flight to LAX but unfortunately, the plane was delayed so he sat for five hours...in the Columbus airport! (This, of course, just killed me to know, as he was literally in town but not at home and it was kinda a rough night with the little ones!) Joel arrived at his hotel in LA at 2:30am and set his alarm for 6am. The next morning he gave four 1-hour speeches in a row. His reward was a dip in the Pacific ocean(just his feet).
That evening he met up with friend and former OSU teammate, David Patterson for dinner. Joel flew back early the next morning. He arrived on time to Minneapolis for his layover but his flight to Columbus was cancelled because half the airport was experiencing a power outage! He had to spend the night there, but it wasn't horrible because he was able to see the Mall of America and eat at a restaurant called Soul Daddy which we saw on the NBC show, "America's Next Great Restaurant!" Despite the travel woes, we were grateful for such a great ministry opportunity and a safe return home.
That evening he met up with friend and former OSU teammate, David Patterson for dinner. Joel flew back early the next morning. He arrived on time to Minneapolis for his layover but his flight to Columbus was cancelled because half the airport was experiencing a power outage! He had to spend the night there, but it wasn't horrible because he was able to see the Mall of America and eat at a restaurant called Soul Daddy which we saw on the NBC show, "America's Next Great Restaurant!" Despite the travel woes, we were grateful for such a great ministry opportunity and a safe return home.
Whitney Anne Holliday
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Ryan and Emily had their sweet baby girl, Whitney on May 10th. Emily's labor went extremely well and Whitney is just a beautiful baby! Whitney has very LONG fingers and arms and big feet. She is a great sleeper and eater and the Hollidays are pleased with how well things are going. Please pray for them during this transition time.
Message From Joel
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Teammates,
Bethany and I set aside some time in late May to finish the first full draft of my next book, "Seven Lies Almost Every Teen Believes." We secluded ourselves at home and went through the text line by line. We hoped to finish the project in two days. However, those two days turned into a full week of intense rewriting and editing. By the time we were finished, we both felt like our brains had turned to mush. However, I am happy to report that the manuscript is finished and in the hands of a 25 member review team. The team will give us extensive feedback so we can make some final changes before moving into the design and production aspect of the project.
Please pray for wisdom during this process with the book. We hope this book will play a big role in our ministry of proclaiming the gospel to students and getting them started down the road of a healthy walk with Jesus. This project has been so much more difficult than we ever imagined and we pray that God will bless our efforts and use them for His glory.
God Bless,
Joel
