October 16, 2004

Bank Mennonite Church Sunday was a gorgeous day in Virginia!  We attended church at Bank this morning.  It was good to see our different friends there.  Bro. Nathan Horst brought the message on the topic of "The Perfect Christian".  Mother Showalter fixed a tremendous spread for dinner which we shared with Uncle Lees & Ella Burkholder.  We headed out for South Carolina about 3:00 with a vanload of meat and a rocking chair for Brenda Groff.  We arrived back in good old Govan around 10:00.  A wonderful & productive trip but oh so good to be back home!
Dinner with Uncle Lees, and family We slept in a bit Monday morning then got down to our normal Monday routine.  Ina Sue finished unpacking and went through the clothes washing, drying, ironing etc.  I had a full day at work and came home home to a delicious supper of sausage (freshly butchered) and egg quiche.  After supper we took the rocking chair over to James & Brenda's and visited with them for a little.  Came home then and I worked on the webpage for a little while Carolina Sue enjoyed her new johnny jump-up seat that Ms. Nettie got for her.
Robert's Emily & Carolina Sue These fall days are just lovely!  I wish I could have been outdoors more on Tuesday rather than working in the shop all day.  Ina Sue got our four pans of ponhaus all sliced up and individually quick frozen.  She also did the ironing and made up a batch of pickled eggs.  For supper she fixed us a super chef's salad and baked a batch of soft pretzels with honey mustard dip.  Yumm.  After supper I used our digital camera to take some small video clips of Carolina Sue
Cotton, white for the harvest... I had an exceptionally busy day at work on Wednesday.  Ina Sue also stayed busy here at home making food, taking care of the baby, and getting our back entrance ready for painting.  When I got home we took a walk around the neighborhood with Carolina then came home and grilled catfish for supper.  Crystal Lee told us how to grill catfish and we think it is just about the best fish you can fix.  We sorta listened to the debate after supper.  It helped me remember why I am glad we don't get involved in politics....
Product of our work at the school Thursday I took off work on Thursday and helped out at the school.  Floyd Kauffman's are back from their time in Idaho and he helped us today.  We put about half of the metal on the back side of the school.  The only thing now that isn't enclosed is the section between the two roofs.  Click here for more pictures of the ongoing construction.  Ina Sue worked on painting our back entrance in between Carolina's cries for attention.  After I got home around 3:00 I mowed the front yard, dusted the garden, chopped down the weeds around the mailbox..... and just generally tried to look busy.  Oh, I also planted a couple of elephant garlics in the garden.  I'm anxious to see how they do.
Laura, Carolina Sue & Jesse Hobbs

Hendrick took most of the day off Friday so I was in the service department most of the day.  Ina Sue got everything ready and packed for our weekend then met me in at the shop around closing time.  I quickly dressed up a little and we drove over to Hephzibah for the opening session of our conference meetings.  Bro. Merle Burkholder brought the message on "My Brothers Keeper in the Church & Community"  A very challenging sermon.  After the visiting we went down to Dad's for the night.  We got so wrapped up in talking that we didn't get to bed until about 12:30.... 
Carolina Sue with Grandfather Strite We slept in Saturday morning until Mother had eggs a la golden rod ready for breakfast at 8:00.  Then we scurried around and got everybody ready for the 9:30 service.  Jesse & Jordan Hobbs are staying at Dad's while Milton & Karen are away on a 16 day expedition to Australia.   At the morning session of conference we went over & approved the conference reports, then began looking at revisions & clarifications of our statements on life insurance & fund-raisers.  Bro. Merle brought another sermon then on "My Brother's Keeper in the Broader World"  We broke for lunch at 12:00 then resumed the conference business in the afternoon.  The conference adjourned around 2:00
A walk along Augusta's Riverwalk I went down to dads then and worked on their computer for about an hour then we went over to Duane's  for the afternoon & supper.  Kari Hobbs is staying with them for a couple days.  After a little visiting we decided to make use of the beautiful day and go in to the Riverwalk for a picnic.  After strolling up and down the river, Duane & I went and picked up some subs for supper and we had a picnic on top of the levy.  We all enjoyed the time together for visiting & fresh air.  We left from there and drove home.  Ina Sue has been fixing some food for tomorrow while I work on this....