11-20-04 Journal

November 20, 2004

Ina Sue & Krista Yoder with Carolina	We got up and ready Sunday morning then met the rest of our family at Berea to go over our special singing before the service started at 10:00. This time the Heatwole family did something a bit different and had our own service at Berea. Uncle Willard moderated and said that the service was somewhat indicative of a passing on of leadership to the next generation. Oren Heatwole Jr. led a few joyful selections to open the service then Lyndon Risser shared a thoughtful devotional. Our family then sang two songs from Life Songs #1. Next, Steve & Cindy Brubaker had a children's meeting that was enjoyed by young and old alike. Part of the presentation involved guest speakers, Uncle Enos, Uncle Oren & Aunt Miriam describing how our forebears dealt with their pain & fears.
Carolina Sue reading/shredding the paper	Carl Heatwole then shared a sermon on the blessings of a Christian heritage and what our response should be to such a blessing . He had three points. Because of our spiritual heritage we should be above all #1. An Accountable Family, #2 A Humble Family and #3 A Responsible Family. We certainly have so much to be thankful for and the Bible is clear that he who has much is responsible for much. May we be found faithful! After the sermon we sang another song then had a closing prayer with Uncle Daniel singing the Lord's Prayer as a wonderful closing. A truly inspirational time together. After church everyone shared together in a carry-in meal. Sheldon Wenger (the BarBQ king of Shenandoah) fixed the meat while everyone else supplied the side dishes. After the meal we fellowshipped for a while. The aunts and uncles posed for a group picture then all the present cousins. Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead so I will have to depend on others for pictures of that.... We left around 3:00 and got back to SC right at 10:00.
Wendell Heatwole picking up pecans	We spent Monday catching up from the big weekend. Ina Sue had hordes of wash to do but it was a beautiful day for hanging out clothes. In the afternoon Ina Sue took Carolina and rode up to Columbia with Dorcas Byler. They ate at Burger King on the way home. I had a full day at work then came home and fixed myself supper of collards & bacon over rice. After the ladies got home Ina Sue found the cabinet light and flourescent light that I installed for her scrapbooking. She seemed to be pleased. Actually she says she is Delighted!
Wesley Heatwole milking in Gordon's new parlor.	Not much happened on Tuesday. I came home from work about an hour early and took care of the baby while Ina Sue fixed supper. Afterward I went in to the jail for Bible Study. There were five fellows out this time. The one seemed a little mixed up on whether he was a Christian or a Moslem. The one thing he was sure of though, was that George W. Bush was the Anti-Christ. He had written an entire treatise on the subject. :) After I got home we played a game or two of Quick Scrabble then headed to bed.
Douglas & John Carter Heatwole	I started the day off right Wednesday with soft-boiled eggs over English muffins. Unfortunately they got just a little bit harder than I like them. Ina Sue doesn't like soft eggs so I scrambled some for her and made her an egg mcmuffin. Ina Sue spent part of her day hemming up my old suit pants. I did some grocery shopping for her over dinner. She wanted me to get some chicken nuggets & vanilla wafers for her object lesson to the children tonight but I forgot them and left them in the fridge at work. :( So, we had to scurry around and go by McDonald's in Denmark on our way to church to pick up the nuggets. At prayer meeting she was responsible for teaching the children. She talked on thankfulness and part of her presentation involved the children of Israel eating manna & quail in the wilderness. (Hence the chicken nuggets & vanilla wafers). I think it went over pretty good.
Enjoyable evening with Douglas & Laura	I spent Thursday morning at work then came home in the afternoon. I finished putting the 2nd coat on the porch railings while Ina Sue started painting the porch floor. The plague of gnats soon began sticking in layers to the paint so we had to knock it off. I did finish the rails though. I spent a little bit of time helping Carl & Joshua move a shelf/cabinet into Duane's house for him. It was pretty heavy. Then I stopped by Wendell's pecan grove for a little and watched him picking up pecans. (He has a mechanical picker-upper) Then I dropped by Gordon's milking parlor to see how there new parallel milking system is working out. It seemed to be working real well. The only problem they said is that the parlor is set up for bigger Holsteins and since they are milking quite a few jerseys the bar doesn't quite push the cow back as far as good be desired. We grilled hamburgers for supper and decided to share them with Douglas & Laura Heatwole. We took the hamburgers, baked beans, homemade icecream & cookies over and enjoyed eating together with them and their new little boy John Carter. We played a little Rook but knocked off early. They were planning to drive to Virginia the next morning.
Carl, salivating over the citrus entries.	Poor Ina Sue woke up Friday morning with bad case of allergies/cold. She felt pretty miserable through the morning but improved enough in the afternoon to go over to Hephzibah in the evening for revival meetings. Bro. Jerrel Good is the evangelist and brought the message on "Privileges of the Redeemed". We headed home soon after the sermon and got home in good time.
Some of the beautiful fruit entered.	Saturday was full but very enjoyable. Ina Sue had a terrible time sleeping last night so I left her and the baby slumbering in bed and left at 8:30 to go with Carl to Columbia for a Southeastern Citrus Grower's Expo. We had an enjoyable drive up then sat through three lectures/demonstrations. The first was presented by a citrus grower in central Alabama and was on things you can do to protect citrus from the colder temperatures. The 2nd topic was on grafting and showed two different methods. The last topic was on cold-hardy varieties of citrus and was presented by a Mennonite man from Montezuma, GA. Numerous attendees had brought citrus from their homes as far north as Virginia to be judged. There was quite a variety of beautiful oranges, lemons, limes & many other varieties of citrus. After the awards they gave out a number of citrus plants as door prizes. Carl won a nice palm tree start. The presenter from Montezuma gave everyone starts of a cold hardy lemon that is supposed to be able to grow outside and not need to be protected in our climate. I'm anxious to see how it does. After we got home I made us a sausage quiche for supper and we prepared some pork for our dinner tomorrow.