July 1, 2006
| Carolina is "sewing" |
I taught Sunday school this morning on the subject of stewardship. A relevant and interesting text from I Corinthians. It was nice to have Tim Miller from Pantego, NC here at church with us. He is recently ordained and brought us a message based on the life of Noah. We came home for a small lunch of grilled hotdogs, potato salad, tomato sandwiches and rhubarb cake. Then we took our regular Sunday afternoon nap before heading to church for the evening service. The men's chorus gave three very nice selections then Bro. Charles told us about their time serving in Mississippi in the disaster relief. An interesting service! After I got home I got a notification that we were having internet problems at work. Since it was affecting access for all of our customers I went ahead and went in to check it out. It turned out to be a problem Sprint was having with a bad network switch in Atlanta. When I found out that it was a known problem for them I came on home. It came back up around 12:30. |
| Blueberry picking with Nelson Hochstetlers |
Monday was a very normal and busy day. I spent the day doing service calls at work while Ina Sue did wash & ironing. Unfortunately a heavy rain storm soaked some of her clothes after she has hung them on the line but we are very thankful for the rain. For supper tonight we ate our first sweet corn out of our garden. Delicious! |
| Picking blueberries... |
I went in to work early on Tuesday for our meeting. Ina Sue did some smocking and taught Carolina to "sew". She had gotten some cheap plastic animals at Walmart that were made to be strung together. Carolina was vastly entertained using a darning needle to string them up with yarn. After I got home from work we jumped in the van and went with Nelson Hochstetlers to a blueberry patch on the other side of Bamberg. It was a lovely evening and the berries were beautiful. After the picking we went together to Pizza Hut for supper and fellowship. A very nice evening! After we got home I left the ladies at the house and drove over to Nelson's to try and get them on the internet. Unfortunately the modem that I had with me did not seem to work on their computer so I had to put off our plans until I get a new modem. |
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Small group games at Duane B.'s |
Ina Sue had a baby doctor appointment on Wednesday at 9:00 so I stayed home from work for an hour and took care of Carolina until she got back. Everything still is looking good and the midwife said we can expect the new arrival at any time. After Ina Sue got back I went ahead and started on my service calls for the day. They did some shopping at Moore's then Ina Sue made up a batch of oatmeal rolls for the evening supper. For our small group meeting this month we all met at Duane B's for supper and planned to play some croquet. Unfortunately it had rained that afternoon so that didn't work out. We did have a really good supper and an enjoyable evening talking and playing "Spoons". Chad Brubaker & his new wife Kendra have been added to our small group. We are thrilled to have them with us. |
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Ina & Kendra were last in "Spoons" |
Thursday came and still no baby! I spent a busy day at work. I have been trying to get all my jobs fairly caught up so that I can take off when the baby comes. When I got home we ate a quick supper of sweet corn and tomato sandwiches then I hurried out and mowed our front and side yards before dark. Ina Sue made us our favorite dessert of strawberry shortcake for a bedtime snack. |
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The mother-to-be on Friday morning. |
The big day finally came on Friday. Ina Sue woke me up about 6:20 and asked me what time it was. About 7 minutes later she asked me again... The contractions were coming fairly regular but not too strong. We waited until about 7:00 then called the midwife. She said to come on in at 7:30 and she would check to see how things were progressing. We got everybody ready then dropped Carolina Sue off with Ms. Thelma on the way in. Anna checked her out and told us that if we wanted to we could probably go home for several hours yet. We went home then went back in at 11:00. This time they went ahead and sent us over to the hospital. |
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The latest edition... |
Landon Cole Strite was born at 3:30 pm after about 40 minutes of heavy labor. He weighed 6 lb.12 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long. We are so thankful that everything went as well as it did and that our new son is healthy and well. After things calmed down I left around 6:00 and came home to check the water meter and do misc. tasks. Then I picked Carolina Sue up on my way back in to the hospital so that she could see her new brother. She seemed happy to see him but perhaps even more happy to see her Mom. After spending some time in bed with Mommy & brother I thought that she was pretty reassured of her position... Unfortunately, after she and I left to come home she threw quite a fit. I could not get her calmed down for over an hour. Finally after much work and several stories I got her to go to bed with a smile on her face. The midwife wanted to keep Ina Sue and the baby in the hospital overnight just to keep an eye on them. |
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Holding her new brother... |
Saturday morning I got up around 7:00 and called in to the hospital. The wife and baby were doing fine so I got Carolina up and took quite a while trying to get her hair combed. I dropped her off with Ms. Thelma again and got in to the hospital around 9:00. After the paperwork and Rhogam shot we were discharged around 11:00. Carolina Sue is still having a little trouble adjusting to another member in the household but I think she will do fine. She is already acting like quite a little mother. Kent and Rhonda were celebrating their anniversary in Charleston the last two days so it worked out real nice for them to stop in for a short visit on their way home this afternoon. |
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My treasures! |
After they left, I spent some time mowing the Govan square. It had been too long since I had done it and the bahia grass was almost unmowable... Carl and Grace delivered a hot and delicious meal for us soon after 6:00 so I came home for that It was quite a spread with grilled chicken breasts, gourmet potatoes, english peas, homemade bread and cucumber salad. Then to finish things off, a wonderful peach pie. After supper and after getting the rest of the family settled down, I went back out and finished the mow job. Came home then and did up the dishes then bathed and put Carolina Sue to bed. Had a relaxing evening before going to bed. |
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Kent & Rhonda were our first baby visitors. |