I met Tutie!

It has been about a week since I made a blog entry. I was away at the Retailers show last week and on Friday and throughout the weekend I have been a bit under the weather. The show was great and I think we really accomplished a lot. We met with vendors and our bookstore designer and now I feel like we are on the same page and moving forward with the design. But the most exciting moment of the show was meeting Kim Fields, who played Tutie on The Facts of Life. Take a walk down memory lane and watch this clip of the show introduction. I know this is so corny but that show really did mean a lot to me. I grew up with those four girls. The topics presented in each episode were always meaningful, handled in a responsible way and in many ways prepared me for my teenage years. It is good to know that at least two of the cast members are now serving the Lord with their talents. Kim was at the show promoting an audio Bible on which does part of the reading. There were many other authors at the show doing book signings, including this guy, a George Bush impersonator. Yes, I did the cheesy thing and had my picture taken with him. I got there a little to late to stand in line to meet Chuck Colsen but I was standing just a few feet away when I took this picture. I was totally disappointed to find out that I missed an opportunity to meet Kirk Cameron. His latest movie (yes, he is still acting) Fireproof is due out the theaters on September 26. It is produced by the same people who made Facing the Giants. Besides meeting all kinds of interesting people I got tons of free stuff like books and music. from what I understand this year's show was not as well attended. Even Thomas Nelson, one of the largest religious publisher did not a have booth. The hard economic times, big box retailers and the on-line shopping have made it difficult for small, family or church run Christian bookstore to stay in business. Never-the-less innovation and creativity is alive and well among Christian retailers.

That's it for tonight. I do have other things to blog about, possibly even an adoption update. Although I am unsure if I want to discuss it this prematurely. So, I will sleep on it.

Not that this should be a side bar because it is major news but it is going to be a busy week since we got the vote to start up Christ Fellowship, Stuart Campus at Martin County High School. More on that later as well.