February 18, 2006
| Gordon Amstutz (Extended Family) |
It seemed like forever since we had been at Barnwell for Sunday morning. I kept Carolina Sue this morning while Ina Sue taught her class. Our evangelist for the next week, Eli Yoder, brought a great message on "Changes, Good, Bad or Neutral". I thought it was a very thought provoking sermon to begin the week with. We came home and ate leftovers for dinner then went to bed for a while. Tried to take a walk with the munchkin in the afternoon but it was too cold & windy. Went to church for another sermon in the evening. |
| Tea party at Hendrick & Jordan's |
We got up and started in good time Monday morning. I made us sausage gravy & toast for breakfast. I was starting to make waffles but realized I didn't have any eggs.... Ina Sue got a big load of wash going then I headed off to work. It was a fairly cold day. Ina Sue made up some delicious cream cheese danishes for an evening party. We planned to go to prayer meeting this evening before church but somehow the battery had gone dead in the minivan so that didn't work out. Bro. Eli preached another challenging sermon on "Brokenness & Peace before God". After church we came home and then walked over to Jordan & Hendrick's for a snack & planning session. We took danishes & party mix. Jordan supplied party mix, chips & hot tea. We had a nice time visiting and planning food for a youth get-to-gether next week. |
| Eli & Ruth Yoder reading to Carolina
Sue. |
Tuesday was Valentines day but we didn't have much time to celebrate. I went to work at 5:30 while my valentines were still sleeping! Ina Sue spent the day finishing up the washing and preparing supper for the evening. I hoped to get home a little early but Bro. Eli & his wife Ruth were already here when I got home around 5:30. Thankfully, Ina Sue had everything all ready to go so we sat down to eat quickly. Ina Sue served chicken divan over rice, french beans with hollandaise, and a delicious two cheese salad recipe that she got from Karen. Then we finished up with cake & fruit slush for dessert. The message tonight was on "Love" taken from Rom. 13, I Cor. 13 & I John 13. |
|
Swing time with Carolina |
We decided to celebrate our Valentine's day one day late so I took off for the day on Wednesday. Ina Sue had an appointment for a sonogram with her doctor at 8:00 so I went along for that. We were thrilled to hear that everything seems to be progressing well on that front. We came home then and spent some time picking out the pecans that Dale had cracked for us. They are pretty small nuts but seem to taste very good. I had an appointment at 11:30 with my dentist. My normal policy is to avoid dentists like the plague but I have a tooth that the corner broke off of and I'm afraid it has my first cavity. It's been bothering me so I tried to setup an appointment to fill it. Well... they wouldn't even consider setting up an appointment to fill it without first doing their standard scrape & poke procedure. So, I had that to look forward to this morning. |
|
Carl brought us another load of dirt. |
The appointment actually went off fairly painless except for the hygienist trying to terrorize me into flossing morning, noon & night and of course, the lightening of the wallet.... They setup an appointment next Thursday to fill the cavity. I came home and spent some time hanging more wallpaper in the guest room. Carl brought a pan load of dirt over for us in the afternoon and dumped it out beside the house where I needed to built up a bit. It is so nice to have someone around with big equipment who is so willing to help out... Thanks Carl! |
|
I made Valentine's supper for Ina Sue. |
In the later afternoon I worked on making up a Valentine's supper for my ladies. I served Creamed Pimento Chicken in Puff Pastry Baskets, Basil Carrots & Zuchinni, & Crunchy Salad along with Raspberry Lemonade for the first course. We did not have room for dessert so we held off on my Lime Cream Torte until after church. The sermon tonight was on "The Home". After church we invited Danny Hege's to come over and help us eat our cake. We also served chips & nachos & hot tea along with it. A nice time visiting with them but it got kinda late... |
| In a cherubic moment... |
Ina Sue spent a fair amount of time on Thursday picking out the rest of our pecans. She also worked on studying to teach sunday school. I spent the day at work then rushed home for a quick supper and off to church. The sermon tonight was on "Loving Jesus First". |
| Duane & Janice after revival
meeting. |
Friday was a normal day. Ina Sue cleaned the house while I headed off to work. Ina Sue finished picking out the last of our pecans this morning. We got over 9 1/2 lbs. of picked out nuts off of the tree we didn't think we were going to get anything off of. So, we are very thankful. Tonight was the last evening for our revivals. Bro. Eli needs to get back to VA. for an ordination this weekend. He preached tonight on "Never Turning Back". Duane & Janice came over tonight for the service and were willing to drive on out here for a snack afterward. It was really good to spend some time with them again but I felt sorry for them having to leave so late and drive the long trip back to Hephzibah. |
| The mighty duo after our heroic
triumph! |
It got pretty cold overnight till Saturday morning. In the morning I kept Carolina Sue and worked outside on landscaping work. Ina Sue did a morning run to Bilo for groceries. I drove over to Wendell's & borrowed their chain to help me pull out some of the old shrubbery in front of the house. When my wife saw me chaining my little pickup to the shrubbery she scoffed and said I would never be able to pull them out with that truck... With a little fancy clutch work me & my Ranger yanked those things out one after another. I may have been bragging a little much so to save face she taunted me that if I "had such a tough truck, try pulling out the stump in the front yard". (We cut down an old dogwood tree in our front yard a couple years ago and the stump has been an eyesore ever since) |
| Hendrick & his friends were here for
supper. |
I told her I didn't think we would have any trouble yanking it out.
After a little debate she issued a challenge that if I yanked that stump
out with my pickup she would give me her whole month's Fun Fund. I
backed my truck up, wrapped the chain around the stump and proceeded to
yank that thing right up out of the ground. As I danced around in
jubilation she looked slightly crestfallen... :) (Perhaps it
wasn't fair that I failed to mention to her that cousin Carl had
"nudged" the stump a little bit with his tractor when he was here on
Wednesday)
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| We had planned a supper and an evening of Risk as a special evening to celebrate my birthday. I invited James Groffs, Hendrick & Richard Brubaker over for steaks and a game after supper. We spent a good bit of the afternoon getting supper all ready. Ina Sue made special stuffed potatoes, grean beans, pecan pie. I grilled the steaks, baked biscuits, made crunchy salad & iced tea. Unfortunately, James came down with a migraine headache around 5:00 and called to say he couldn't make it. Richard had something else going on and when my wife checked the water meter she noticed that Hendrick had some company with him. When I called Hendrick he said he wasn't going to make it either. This was already getting toward 6:00 and we were determined to have somebody there to share our meal with us. After calling what seemed to be half our acquantances to no avail we were beginning to feel like the man the Jesus told about who threw a feast but couldn't find guests... Finally Joe Byers agreed to come and Hendrick brought his company over with him for supper. We had a great time together, talking and doing puzzles. We were amazed how well the evening turned out in the end even though it wasn't what we expected. | |