June 2, 2007

Sunday evening with Ms. Mary, Melvin & Ina	Wendell preached a message Sunday morning on "Is it Worth It?"  It was an inspiring message that pointed to the rewards of the Christian life, not only in the future but also in the present life.  We came home to a dinner of chicken cordon bleu casserole, pickled beets, fresh cabbage salad, and coconut/pineapple pudding.  We got the children all in bed by around 2:00 and got in a short nap.  In the evening we took strawberry shortcake and popcorn over to Ms. Mary for an evening visit.  We have not been to see her since she fell and broke her hip.  It was terribly overdue..  Melvin & Ina Shrock came over and Uncle Howards also dropped in while we visited on her deck.  It was a lovely evening!  Carolina Sue had a great time playing with Noah and Landon just enjoyed crawling around in the dirt.. :(
Carolina & Noah had fun together.	Monday was Memorial Day so I was off from work.  We had a fairly lazy morning with Ina Sue starting on the wash.  I made eggs a la golden rod with spinach over toast for breakfast.  I spent some of the day studying to teach the adult class at our upcoming Bible School.  They have asked me to teach from the book of II Thessalonians.  I've decided that it is only by God's help that I will have any hope of putting everything together....   For a break in the afternoon I took the children with me for a grocery run to Bilo in Denmark for the wife.  We left around 4:00 and drove over to Georgia for a Strite supper at Dads.  They had an outdoor party in the backyard with BarBQ, rice & hash, broccoli salad and lots of other goodies.  It was really nice to be with my family again.  It seems like we haven't seen much of each other lately.  We got home around 11:00.
Ina Sue fixing chicken-cordon-bleu casseroles for family.	I had a busy day on Tuesday with lots of service calls.  Ina Sue finished up the laundry & ironing.  She baked a beef roast and served it for supper along with potatoes and browned butter, and asparagus casserole.  After supper Andy's were down for a little working in the garden.  We played a game or two of Amish horseshoes then I went in and spent time making Puerto Rico phone calls.
New cousin, Stuart Bradley Strite (Duanes)	Wednesday was a normal day with me at work and Ina Sue taking care of children & housework.  In the evening I kept the children while Ina Sue went to Julie Heatwole's bridal shower.  It was held over at Josh & Marcia Heatwole's.   I am feel slightly cheated that our lady folks have all these parties (birthday, tea, bridal, baby etc.) and I hardly remember us guys ever having a party.  I guess we just never plan them for us...
Kent making bubbles	We got up at 6:00 on Thursday and I helped get the children ready and took them with me to drop off with Cheryl Bange on my way to work.  Ina Sue left at 8:00 to pick up Aunt Miriam and Laura Heatwole.  They met the rest of their group of ladies at Byers Tire and drove on up to the ladies prison in Columbia to go through orientation for next year.  Basically, the presenter was just going through all the rules for ministering in a maximum security prison.  The ladies are not supposed to wear anything metal.  Even hairpins and covering pins are supposed to be plastic.  The ate lunch at Hardees and got back home around 2:00.
Ina Sue is holding Wade (Nevin's boy)	I was on a service call when Ina Sue called me with the news that somehow the keys had gotten locked in the minivan when she was picking up the children from Cheryl Bange.  Unfortunately, that is the only set of keys that we have for the van.  I wasn't sure who to call to help but someone suggested Barnwell Service Center.  I called over there and Mark very kindly said that he would drive out and see what he could do.  According to Ina Sue, by the time she found out he was there and came out to the van, he already had the door open.  (We hope he never takes a more criminal bent.. :)  For super Ina Sue fixed us a sausage/egg quiche.
Sibylle & Soren Kristensen from Germany (Sibylle was my classmate in senior year)	Ina Sue cleaned house on Friday while I headed in to work.  She also baked a cake for Carolina's birthday and made a shrimp dip to take tonight.  We were both running behind all day long and were rushed to get left for Georgia by 6:15.  During my senior year of high school there was a foreign exchange student in my grade from Germany.  Her name was Sybille Kintzi.  She has since married a charming fellow from Denmark and had two boys.  They were all back here in GA for a visit and there was a drop-in at the Waynesboro school for everyone that wanted to see them again.  We got there around 7:30 (late) but had time to see a slide show they had put together of their life in Germany.  After the slide show I had a chance to visit with Soren (her husband) and Sybille.  They are a very nice couple and quite interesting to talk to.
Carolina holding Stuart.	After we left from there we stopped in at Duane & Janice's for a little while to see their new baby boy Stuart.  He is quite a cutie.  Carolina Sue and Jenna had a big time playing together and "cleaning" the bathroom. :)    From there we stopped in at Dad's for a little visit....  It was after 1:00 am before we finally got home to Govan.  Too tired!
Carolina with her 3'rd birthday cake.	Saturday was Carolina Sue's 3'rd birthday.  I can hardly believe that she is already that old and that Landon is already almost one.  Life does fly when you are having fun!   Ina Sue made us a new and delicious recipe of an Asparagus Puff Pancake for breakfast.  Then she started working on decorating Carolina's birthday cake.  I rushed to mow as much of the yard as I good before it started raining.  It rained nearly all day (Praise God!)  We gave Carolina Sue a little wading/swimming pool for her birthday.  She wanted to try it out badly so I put it out on the deck and filled it with warm water so that she and Landon could swim in the rain.  They had quite a time together.
and with her birthday present.	Ina Sue left Landon's diaper on to start with and he soon looked extremely bottom heavy.  He enjoyed climbing in and out of the pool and it soon began to seem that his very water logged diaper might just push his head under when he dove in head first.  After Ina Sue relieved him of this impediment he seemed to enjoy himself more.  Don Heatwole's whole family came over in the evening for Carolina's birthday party.  We had pizza, relish & dip, chips, cake & ice cream.  Unfortunately, we didn't realize that the Enos Heatwole family had already had a big pizza party at the mule barn for dinner.  They still seemed to enjoy the party though and we had a nice time together.