May 12, 2007

Honeybees swarming on our crepe myrtle. We slept in a little on Sunday morning then had to really scramble around to get everyone ready and off in time.  Uncle Howard brought the message on "The Importance of Study".  It was a very large crowd (180+ people) there on account of Josh & Marcia's reception in the evening.   When we got home Andy Korver called and wondered if I had looked at our crepe myrtle that morning...?  Here there was a swarm of honeybees swarming on the trunk of our tree.  It was quite a sight.  They were gone by the evening though.   Ina Sue fixed us a delicious dinner of poor mans steak, stuffed potatoes, asparagus monay & strawberry shortcake.  Hendrick came over and helped us eat it.   After dinner Hendrick & I played a game of chess while Ina Sue did the dishes and put he children to bed.  He won. :(
The fair couple (Josh & Marcia Heatwole)  In the evening we went to Josh & Marcia's reception.  (The wedding was earlier out in Nevada)  They had chili soup and catfish stew along with assorted other goodies.  It was delicious but I think I put too much hot sauce in my stew and got a serious case of stomach burn...  It was a very good meal and a nice time visiting with friends.  We found out after we got home though that the doctors have found cancer in Ruth Ellen Dickerson's lymph nodes.  That put a bit of damper on our mood for the evening....  They will be going in for more tests over the next weeks to see how advanced the cancer is.  We will certainly be praying for her, Ralph and their family.
Reception at the school It cooled off quite a bit over the weekend and Monday's weather felt great.  My car had a flat tire when I went to leave this morning so I took it up and dropped it off with Ivan then took the minivan to work.  Ina Sue had lined up a fellow in Barnwell to give it a one-time wash, detailing and wax.  He barely had it done in time for me to pick it up after work.  It looks really nice though.  Ina Sue spent her day doing a big batch of laundry.  For supper we had country fried steak, potatoes, cooked carrots, and spinach salad.  After supper I mowed while Ina Sue cleaned up the kitchen.
Not sure what this outfit is about... Tuesday was a very ordinary day for me at work.  Ina Sue worked on finishing up the washing then took the children and went with Betty & Caroline Heatwole to Orangeburg to shop for wallpaper.  Betty is getting her kitchen re-done and wanted someone to bounce possibilities off of.  When I got home we had baked asparagus with ham & eggs for supper.  We went for a little drive after supper.  We drove back through Andy Korver's new lot and around the community.  The cooler weather really felt good.  We found out this evening that my nephew Todd (Kent & Rhonda's) was involved in an accident today.  His brothers were practicing their casting with their fishing rods and a heavy lead weight hit Todd in his one eye.  The doctors are telling them that there is a good chance he will lose his sight in that eye.  We are really sad for them and him.
Cameron Myers shows me his monkey. I went in to work early again on Wednesday.  Aunt Miriam came over for a while and helped Ina Sue on my new suit to finish things up.  After I got home from work we quickly got ready and went with Don & Betty up to Orangeburg for supper.  They treated us to a delicious meal and very enjoyable time with them.  We got home around 10:00 and got the children put to bed.  I worked for a while packing up and getting things ready for my trip to Puerto Rico tomorrow.
A coffee plant on Craig's plantation I got up soon after 3:00 Thursday morning and got ready and loaded up in time to leave for Charlotte by 3:45am.  The drive up went well and I was at the airport in plenty of time for my flight to Atlanta.  I met Ellis Beery there and we flew down together to San Juan.  After we picked up our luggage we rented a car and drove over to Barceloneta where we had a nice interview with Sam & Sarah.  The whole team at Barceloneta met together at Sams for supper then we went to prayer meeting in the evening.  After church we visited a while with the people there then met briefly with Norvan before driving down to Anasco.  Craigs had an apartment ready for us in their basement so we bedded down and got some sleep.  Ina Sue meanwhile was holding down the fort at home.  Betty & Caroline had taken Carolina Sue with them to Orangeburg.  She was thrilled and had a big time. 
Lunch together before flying out. Friday morning Ellis & I got up and ate breakfast with Craigs then met with Bro. Carl at 8:00 for a meeting.  We had numerous meetings through the day then in the afternoon Ellis had a headache so he laid down for a while.  I went with Craig over to his farm in the country and had him show me around.  He has coffee plants over quite a bit of his land and has been harvesting coffee off of them.  The coffee plants sure looked different then I would have guessed.  In the evening the whole team from Anasco met with us at Carls for a delicious supper and very nice time of fellowship out on the porch.  It was a lovely evening.  Ina Sue did her Friday cleaning, and took care of the children.  For supper she made spinach salad and Hendrick brought home pizza from Dominos.  Ina Sue and the children went over to Hendricks to eat together in my absence.
The Atlanta airport around 12:30am... :( Saturday morning Ellis, Carl, Craig and I drove up together to Barceloneta for a MAC meeting.  I thought we had a pretty good meeting with everybody being pretty much on the same page....  We ate a quick lunch together around 12:00 then Luke Anderson hurried me to the airport to catch my flight.  I flew out of SanJuan at 1:45 and arrived in Atlanta to thunderstorms.  Due to the storms we had to circle for a while and landed about 1/2 hr late.  It turned out though that this would not be a hold-up because the real wait was for the arrival of our plane to take us to Charlotte.  After several gate changes and many announcements of delays, our plane finally left for Charlotte at 12:30am.  This was 4 1/2 hrs after its scheduled departure. 
  Through all this hassle I had something else weighing heavily on my mind...  I had realized Friday night that my car keys were missing.  We had searched around and not been able to locate them.  (Kari finally found them in their sofa but after Luke and I were already in San Juan)  As my mind had turned over possibilities though, I thought I recalled that for some reason I had not locked up the doors on my car when I parked it in Charlotte.   I also thought that I perhaps had a spare key in the mid-seat console.  I was praying that all of these thoughts were true!  I arrived in Charlotte and by the time I picked up my luggage and made it out to the satellite parking it was almost 3:00am.  Praise God, the doors were unlocked and the key was there.  I started on my way with praise in my heart.  It really seems like a miracle because I never would park my car without locking it up tight.  This time when I parked, I never once thought about locking up....
  Meanwhile, back in Govan, Ina Sue took the children and went to the "End of Year" program at the school.  They had the normal carry-in meal afterward then the ball game.  Ina Sue brought the children home around 3:00 for their naps and was able to mow our side yard while they slept.  She also got the car washed up for us.