September 9, 2006
| On the way to Sunday lunch... |
We went to church at Mt. Pleasant on Sunday. Bro. Elvin preached from John 15 on "Abiding in the Vine". After visiting at the church we hurried back to Papa's to feed the baby and change clothes. Then we headed down to Robert & Lori's for Keith's birthday party. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of taking I81 for the first leg of the drive. Normally it would have been no problem but on this Sunday the traffic came to a dead stop. After waiting with no movement for about 25 minutes I called down to Robert's and told them to go ahead and eat without us. By this time people were getting out of their cars and strolling down the interstate... |
| We got there halfway through the meal. |
After about 45 minutes of waiting the man in the lane beside us decided to try to get across the median. Where we were stopped there was a big berm in the middle of the median. Our neighbor drove down in the ditch and headed on down the interstate toward where the median was more leveled out. I decided to follow him. We both bounced across the wide median and spun our way up onto I81 northbound. By this time Rt. 11 was packed with the overflow traffic from 81 so we took back roads down to Weyer's Cave and then across to Rt. 11. We finally made it to Roberts about the time everyone else was starting on dessert. There was still food left though and we had a very nice afternoon visiting together. Mother had invited some of Keith's friends from Maryland down and it was nice to visit with them as well. |
| Keith was the guest of honor. |
We left Robert's around 6:30 and headed back to Papa's. As we drove north on I85 we saw that traffic was still blocked on I85 South. When we got to the scene of the accident we found a tractor trailor had laid over on its side and skidded into a overpass support. The cab had been completely severed from the chassis of the tractor. I did not see any way that the driver could have survived. However, after we got home Monday I looked the accident up on the internet and it said that the drvier was taken to a local hospital and released... His guardian angel must have been pulling double duty! We spent the evening at home playing several games and visiting with family. |
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Robert & little Adrien |
Monday was Labor Day so our store was closed. It made it very nice for us to be able to spend the extra night in Virginia. We got up to Mother's delicous breakfast of french toast then started packing up. After we had the van loaded we drove over to James Groff's new house to see their new residence. It looked very nice. Then on to Sharp Shopper for our regular grocery shopping list. By the time we stopped back at Ina Sue's home and packed up the last of our frozen goods it was about 11:30. We had a pretty leisurely trip home with numerous stops and traffic jams. It was about 8:30 before we got home. Good to be home again though. |
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Sara Lynn with her buggy. |
Tuesday was a busy day for both of us. I had to catch up on some of my work and Ina Sue had to do a huge load of laundry. I came home to a delicious supper of tortellini, kale & garlic bread. Then I went in to the jail for bible study but couldn't get anyone interested. So, I came home and spent time with my family. Landon was feeling kinda fussy this evening. |
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Papa started chopping Monday morning. |
Wednesday was a normal day of work for both of us. In the evening we went to prayer meeting. Wendell continued his series on the Holy Spirit. After church we drove in to Barnwell where I dropped Ina Sue off at Walmart for some shopping while I did a couple quick jobs at the shop. Then we picked her up and headed home. After we got home I helped put the children to bed then worked on updating our webpage. |
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Mother & Dad kept our little ones. |
I rushed around at work on Thursday trying to get everything caught up so that I could take off on Friday. Ina Sue vacuumed the van, made pasta salad & pear sauce and did some cleaning. Ina Sue brought the children in to the shop around 6:00 and helped me clean up and re-organize our bathroom/closet. Then she took Carolina Sue over to Walmart and shopped while I did accounting and took care of Landon. I wasn't quite done when she got back so she took the children on home while I finished up. On my way home I stopped in to help Uncle Howard with a little issue he had with the computer. |
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We stayed at the Renaisance Hotel. |
Unbelievably, Friday was our 5'th anniversary. I believe that makes it the "Wooden" anniversary. Somehow that doesn't have quite the ring to it that we feel. These have been a truly wonderful 5 years. God has blessed us in so many ways, not the least of which was bringing our lives together. Our two children are also a blessing for which we certainly are not worthy.... |
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After 5 years of wedded bliss... |
We have been planning a short anniversary trip to Biltmore Estates in Asheville, NC for some time. I surprised Ina Sue this morning by telling her that I was not planning to go into the shop at all today but was ready to leave whenever she was. We hurried around and got everything together then drove over to Hephzibah and dropped off our children with Grandfather & Grandmother Strite. Then we headed up Rt. 121 toward Newberry & I26. It was a beautiful drive up through the peach orchards and cotton fields. We got to Asheville around 4:30 and got settled in to our room at the Renaissance Hotel. Around 6:30 we went out exploring to find us a restaurant for our anniversary supper. We decided on Carabba's Italian Restaurant but when we saw the huge group of people waiting to get it we decided to settle for Outback. Ina Sue had a salad and grilled chicken over rice. I splurged on a big platter of BarBQ ribs. Delicious! Then back to the hotel for a relaxed evening and night. |
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Biltmore Gardens. |
We got up Saturday morning at 7:30 and were on our way to the Biltmore house by 9:00. We stopped at Burger King for a quick breakfast and at Starbucks to use up a gift certificate we have been carrying around. We purchased a biscotti & a large cup of pomegranate juice. That was definitely different! It was an absolutely lovely day for our activities. We took a self-guided audio tour of the house which took about 2 hours then strolled through the gardens for a while. Ina Sue said that she has never seen anything like it in her life... Then we drove over to the winery and took a tour of how they make their "Biltmore" wine. Although we did not care for their wine "tasting" we did enjoy the other samples they offered in their cooking & gift shop. |
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In front of the Biltmore castle. |
We headed home around 3:00 and stopped at a "Linens and Things" to buy us a new set of bed sheets. Our old set should have been replaced a long time ago. We decided to splurge a bit and bought a really nice set of white sheets. Then we stopped at a grocery store and bought our supper of vegetables, dip & pretzels. We got to Dad's around 7:30 and were happy to see our sweethearts again. Back to Govan by 9:30 where we unpacked all our stuff, put the kids to bed and tried out our new bed sheets.... |