Both mother and son are healthy, thank God and thank you all for your prayers!

Update: Latest photos on flickr.  Videos on Vimeo.

Sherry started labor this morning, latest updates on my twitter feed.

Prayers appreciated.

I just got around to checking out our new library in downtown Fairfax, talk about a 5-star remote working joint! Quiet, comfortable and fast wi-fi! What more could you ask for?

No need to buy a drink just to hang out either…

• We are getting two new HP ML370 G5 servers, through an employee donation program, the first one arrived on Wednesday and the second will hopefully come in the next couple of weeks. We are now pricing out a second processor, RAM and hard drives to get them all souped up and ready for a new VMware environment.
• I am headed out on Tuesday for the Fall IT RoundTable in Leawood, KS.
• YouVersion.com, a new social enabled online bible, launched it’s first public beta.
• Our junior high kids managed to design and build their own site, loversofchrist.org, on Wordpress.com - pretty impressive.
• We have our annual young adult fellowship getaway this weekend at Smith Mountain Lake, please pray that God uses this weekend for His glory.

I have been out of touch for a few weeks as we just took possession of a church next door, completely renovated it and opened it as chapel for weekday services and a meeting room for weekend services.  Part of the renovation included running fiber from our main server room to a closet in the chapel and outfitting all the audiovisual equipment.  I’ll try to post details on the whole setup soon.

My father, Dr. Sameh A. Mitry, had the cross of Muliple Sclerosis (MS) to bear in his life. Likewise, a friend of mine, Mark Hanna lives with Multiple Sclerosis. Mark was diagnosed at the age of 27 (right after graduating Law School). The progression of the disease has been fast and brutal for Mark. In eight years, he has gone from normal walking to walking with a cane, then a walker, then being confined to a wheelchair. But Mark never complains and he always has a smile on his face (except when he is physically too fatigued to smile). He takes up his cross daily and follows his Master Jesus Christ. He is truly an inspiration and a role model to me and to everyone who knows him.

Mark’s sister, Mary Sarkis, on September 7-9, 2007, will walk 50 miles from Carlsbad to San Diego to raise money for the National MS Society in the MS Challenge Walk.

Please visit Mary’s site to donate online by July 31st. Any donation you can give will go towards research to find a cure,as well as services and treatment for people with MS. If you cannot make a donation at this time, please just pray for Mark and for Mary’s walk. May God bless you for all your support!

Today marks the one year anniversary for anchorite.org! My first post was on June 26, 2006 and I have written a total of 160 posts. I want to thank God for this amazing opportunity and thank you for all your encouragement and participation.

A few quick stats:
Posts: 160
Comments: 329
Technorati Rank: 74,435
Alexa Traffic Rank: 687,840

I don’t have accurate stats for the entire year because I have switched analytic tools several times but according to Google, anchorite.org did see 4,582 visits and 7,702 pageviews over the past 30 days. Also, I’m not using Feedburner so I don’t have a count on RSS subscribers. One of these days I’ll get around to installing Mint for better stats.

Special thanks to Brian, David, and Jason for inspiring me to start blogging and to John Basta for his constant encouragement.

Little Flock Christian School (Fairfax, VA) has a few openings for the 2007-2008 school year:
Kindergarten (K5) Teacher
K3 Teacher
Computer/PE Teacher

We are in the market for a used school bus, if anyone knows of a bus for sale or a good dealer not too far from metro DC, please leave a comment or contact me. We are looking for a relatively new bus (max 5 years old) that seats 60+ and can handle long distance (3 hour) highway trips.