March 17, 2007

At the "huge" Mall of Georgia	The time changed on us Sunday morning.  Ina Sue was rather perturbed that I had read about the change but didn't think to warn her about it.  We did still make it to church on time though so there was not real damage done.  Uncle Howard brought the message on "Quiet Time with God".  We came home and had tacos for dinner that we all took a short siesta.  When the children got us up about mid-afternoon we all went on a walk together.  In the evening we attended church at the Calvary congretation in Blackville for their ordination service.  Kenneth Kanagy was ordained.  The church was pretty packed out with many people having to sit in the basement.
Dad & Landon had "Bourbon Chicken"	As Ina Sue said,  "Monday was a hair-pullin day!"  Carolina Sue had some pretty major "potty" issues.  There was a huge batch of laundry to be done, and Landon didn't try to make things any easier...  I came home at 5:00 and we quickly packed up the children and drove over to Dad's for a finance meeting.  Carl, Uncle Enos & Charles Brubaker rode along with us.  The meeting went well and we had time for Mom's delicious refreshments before driving back across the river again.  Home by 11:30
We get tired of shopping pretty quick!	I went to work early on Tuesday while the wife and chillluns slept in.  Ina Sue finished up the washing & ironing then took a walk with the children.  She also finished cutting out her dress.  When I got home from work we ate a quick supper of grilled chicken strip salad then packaged up the children and drove over to the church to do the cleaning.  This was our week to clean it by ourselves and it was quite a job!  We finally got done around 9:30.
Our hotel for Friday night.	We got up and Ina Sue fixed us egg mcmuffins for breakfast on Wednesday.  Neither of us felt like we got much accomplished today.  I spent most of my day doing accounting work in the shop.  Ina Sue patched some pants for me, took a walk with the children, and made us a delicious supper.  She fixed a new pizza recipe with a garlic/chicken topping.  We also had a fresh batch of collard greens on the side.  After supper she cut my hair.  It was getting pretty dark by the time we got setup and she had to pretty much finish the job by our floodlight.  I had a number of phone calls to make so it was pretty late before I got to bed.
This cow seemed to be gaining on us...	Thursday was pretty ordinary.  I went to work and Ina Sue scurried around here cleaning and packing for our trip.  IN the evening, Mary Korver and her sister Miriam dropped by with the children for a visit.  Aunt Miriam also stopped in for a visit.  I left right after supper and went over to Duane Bange's to help them start moving some of their stuff up to their new house in Blackville.  Dale Bange and Lynette's brother also helped.  We loaded a trailor and a minivan pretty full and got it all distributed in the new house.  They are planning to do their main move on Saturday when we are planning to be in MS.  I got back home around 10:30 and we went straight to bed.
Seining catfish from the pond.	Ina Sue got up early on Friday to wash her hair and get all ready for our trip.  We left for Atlanta around 8:30 but needed to stop by the church and the shop for some misc. tasks.  We got to the "Mall of Georgia" just north of Atlanta around 1:00.  This trip is somewhat in celebration of Ina Sue's birthday so I thought it would be only fair to get in some of her favorite activity.  We all enjoyed strolling around this huge mall but by the end of the day Landon & I were happy just to curl up in a corner and take our naps....  It was very cold and windy so it was nice that we could stay inside through our shopping!  We drove to our motel room around 6:30.
Ready for takeoff....	I had a reserved a room at the Hyatt Regency Suites through Priceline and it turned out to be a wonderful motel.  It was really a quite spacious suite with separate sitting room and bedrooms.  Ina Sue had a little headache so Carolina & I drove out to find some supper.  We stopped at the "Boston Market" and picked up some soup and salad as well as a chicken potpie to take back.  A very relaxing evening and night with very comfortable beds.
Dwight & Crystal's farm from the air.	We were up and on our way to Mississippi by 8:30 Saturday morning.  We gained an unexpected hour of time by passing into Central Time Zone.  That allowed us to get to Jeff Lee's by 1:00pm.  Dwight & Crystal Lee met us there and the men took us out with them to the catfish pond where men were seining the fish.  It was quite interesting to see how the process is done!  We ate a delicious dinner of sloppy joes at Jeff Lees then went back out for a wider tour of the area.  Dwight has an airplane and a pilots license so he took me, Ina Sue & Carolina up for a bird's eye view of Macon, MS.  I had never flown in a small plane before so it was quite an enjoyable experience for me.  It was also amazing seeing all the catfish ponds from the air.  At places it looked like just pond after pond all grouped together.  I wasn't sure how Carolina Sue would do in the small and noisy airplane but id surely didn't seem to bother her.  In fact, by the time we landed, she had already sacked out (headset and all)
Joel & Sheila Graber	Jeff & Dwight took quite a bit of their time to show us a really nice time during the afternoon.  We got to see many of the Mennonite farms and homes from the air as well as seeing how catfish are fed, maintained & harvested.  Just before supper we drove over to Joel & Sheila Graber's new house to visit them.  Sheila is Ina Sue's 2nd cousin and friend from VA.  Joel is of course my cousin Julia's son.  We had a really nice time visiting with them then followed them over to Paul & Julia Graber's for supper.  What a fun and interesting evening!  We are having a great time down here.  It was pretty late before we got back to Dwight & Crystal's for the night.  We visited for a while and finally got to bed around 12:00.
Paul & Julia Graber & family.