April 29, 2006
| Visiting after the ordination service. |
Sunday was quite a day. At church in the morning, Bro. Keith Crider preached on "Contending for the Faith". We came home for a light dinner of BLTs then tried to rest for a while in the afternoon. I felt remarkably at peace with the situation. We had already made our decision about how we would respond if the church called us in this way. Now we are just waiting for God to make his will known this evening. I told Ina Sue that there is nothing for us to be stressed about. If God wants to choose us for this role, he will give grace and strength to fill it. If he chooses to call Mark & Norma instead, we will just continue to be open to his call as lay members. |
| Carolina helps me plant flowers. |
Ina Sue's family got here a little earlier in the afternoon than we had anticipated. I got up and made some mint tea while Ina Sue caught a few more minutes of nap. Papa & Mother Showalter, Keith, Jeanne & Andrew, Robert & Lori, and Davey & Paula Showalter all came down together in a van. We spent a little while visiting then they went over to Wendell's trailor to get ready and give us a little time to prepare. The church was packed out for the ordination service. Unfortunately, we really didn't get time to focus much on who all was there. Keith Crider preached "Take heed to thyself, and to the Flock". After the sermon the lot was cast and Mark Hochstetler's were chosen to be our new minister & wife. It is a relief to know God's will and we commit ourselves completely to support and pray for Mark & Norma in this new responsibility. We feel that God chose wisely. |
| Cleaning up the beater... |
After the service we were encouraged by all the people who came up and thanked us and wished us God's blessing for going through this experience. I was especially blessed that Bro. Larry Showalter drove the whole way from WV for the service. We have served together on the Puerto Rico board for the last number of years and I was humbled to see that he was willing to make the trip for me. After the service we came home and Mother Showalter put together a snack for us and our guests. Don Heatwoles also came over. It was a delicious snack and nice fellowship but it was almost 12:00 by the time people started to settle down and we were so tired! |
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Playing "Dynomite" together. (Quality time) |
Our guest got up and on their way early Monday morning. We had gotten word yesterday that Ina Sue's brother Sherman was in a motorcycle accident in Harrisonburg. He was very fortunate (or God was looking out for him) that he only broke his hand and scrapped up his leg pretty bad. Papa felt like he needed to get back to Virginia pretty quick so they left soon after 7:00. I went in to work while Ina Sue started on the washing. When I got home in the evening I worked for a while planting some double impatiens. Thomas & Bonnie Peachey stopped in for a visit and we ate a pretty late supper. |
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Proud of her new shoes |
I went in to work early on Tuesday while Ina Sue slept in a while. She worked then on finishing up the washing and ironing. She also made two fruit pizza crusts. I spent most of the day on service calls but was able to come home a little early. I planted more impatiens in our round flower bed in the back yard. For supper Ina Sue made us a big batch of rice & gandules (a Puerto Rican dish) Also kale & veggies with blue cheese dip. After supper I drove up to Denmark and played some tennis with William & Richard Brubaker & Joel Heatwole. |
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Mr. Terminex takes care of our termites. |
I headed off to work on Wednesday morning and Ina Sue took Carolina with her to Bamberg for a baby appointment. The nurse said she didn't gain any weight this last period. We wondered if last week's events had anything to do with it....? She stopped at the Denmark flea market on the way home and picked up two cute pairs of shoes for Carolina Sue at $1.00 apiece. They were kinda dirty but cleaned up really nice and Carolina Sue was quite proud of them. Then they both came in to Barnwell to pick strawberries then met me at Adam's Nursery to look at a Lace Leaf Maple. I had a very full day and wasn't able to make it home till around 6:00. Even then I had to meet a customer from Denmark here at our house to help him with his computer. We had been planning to have our small group from church here for the evening but the sudden rainstorm made us put it off until Friday evening. Ina Sue had made up a fruit pizza for the evening so we ended up sharing it with my customer for supper. |
| Our new flower bed. |
I took the day off on Thursday but had to do a service call to Grant Allendale first thing. My dear wife & daughter waited until about 11:00 before I got back home for breakfast. We spent a fair amount of time looking through the JC Penney catalog and trying to figure out what window treatment we wanted for our spare room. We finally made up our minds and ordered it. We hope it is what we want... Then we drove up to Denmark to The Jim Harrison Gallery where we looked over his prints then dropped by Grower's Choice and talked to Ruthie for a little before eating our dinner of hotdogs and ice cream cones from Nelson's Wee Bake. In the afternoon I planted peppers, mulched some more of the garden, and mowed some of the yard. Ina Sue made us a delicious tater-tot casserole for supper along with a spinach & egg salad. After supper we worked outside for a while, visited with Myron & Jane who had dropped by, and went for a walk up to Chad's new home. We found out tonight that Patrick Heatwole's have a new baby girl. Her name is Michaela Joy. |
| Michaela Joy Heatwole (pronounced with a short i and a
long a)
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I spent most of the day in the shop on Friday. Ina Sue cleaned the house and worked on making food for the evening. I got home around 4:30 and made up a batch of savory cheese bread and mint tea for the evening. Unfortunately, Duane Banges were not able to be with us due to a previous engagement. (He had however, very kindly already mowed most of our project for the evening) The rest of us met out at the end of our road for a community beautification project. We mowed, cleaned brush, pulled weeds, sprayed Round-up and spread pinestraw in Govan's town square and around the Govan sign. I thought we all had a good time working together and the place looks much nicer now. After our work everyone met back here for a snack on our back deck of tea, fruit pizza, savory bread, & veggies with dip. We really enjoy the times we have together with our group. Besides us and Duanes, our group consists of Hendrick & Jordan, and Mark Hochstetlers. Robin & Thomas Brubaker also joined us this time. |
| Snacking after our hard work. |
Saturday was a great day working together here at home. It got quite a bit cooler overnight so the yard took a little longer to dry off. I wasn't able to start my mowing until the afternoon. I made up a new recipe of rolls out of the "Taste of Home" for our dinner tomorrow. I also planted several rows of corn and cleaned all the old leaves and debris out of our landscaping pool in the back yard. Ina Sue worked on food for dinner tomorrow for most of the day. In the evening we took a walk around the community and visited with Mike Eppersons a little before dropping in on Patrick & Bethany to see their new baby. She is quite a cute little thing. It is hard to believe that Carolina Sue was once the same size. It was dark by the time we started walking home. After we got back and put Carolina Sue to bed we played a couple games of Boggle. Ina Sue is normally the champion at this game and tonight was not different... |
| Before.....
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and After!
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