July 7, 2007

Landon playing with his birthday present.	We were lazy and slept in for a while on Sunday morning.  We just barely heard Manny slip out around 7:00 for their drive back to Pa.  We got into a bit of a rush getting all our food & children ready to take to church.  Consequently, I was driving a bit like Jehu to get their on time.  I braked too hard at one corner and our dishes slid up into the back of the seat and broke the casserole/baking dish.  We had to turn around and come home to move the food into another vessel.  We got to  church about 10 minutes late and it was packed out because of the wedding yesterday.  We ended up standing in the back until Sunday School started.  Ina Sue taught the ladies class and said she felt a little frazzled after our morning...  Nathan Good from South Boston, VA preached a good message on "The Beauty of the Church".  Afterward we had a fellowship meal together down in the school.  A good time visiting with home folks & visitors.  Since this was the 1'st Sunday of the month we didn't have church in the evening and enjoyed a restful evening with just us and the children.
Our old deck before demolition.	Ina Sue started the wash on Monday morning while I made ponhaus & eggs for breakfast.  It drizzled lightly through most of the day so she had to dry the wash in the dryer instead of hanging it out.  We really need the rain badly though so we certainly didn't complain.  Nathan Goods dropped by for a little to look at our house.  Nathan & Mildren were good friends with John & Patti Stanbrook (the previous owners of our house)when they lived here in Govan quite a few years ago.  I spent most of the day on a surveillance system installation up in Orangeburg.  At one point I was up on the top of an extension ladder when I nearly brained myself with a short piece of 2x4.  I came very close to blacking out but was thankfully able to hold on to the ladder...   We heard this evening about the accident in Virginia where Ina Sue's 2'nd cousin, Scott & Phyllis Showalter, along with their two daughters & a hired man were all killed by methane gas in their manure pit.  How tragic....
The Demolition...	We got up early on Tuesday morning and I helped get Ina Sue and the children off at 7:45 to meet with Jane Brubaker and drive to Hephzibah.  Jane needed to meet with Coleen Barnhart to finish planning for this year's women's seminar and she invited Ina Sue to ride along.  Ina Sue took her sewing machine and spent the day sewing with K. Kay.  It was good for Carolina Sue to be able to play with her little boy cousins.  I spent a regular day in at work and picked up subs for supper since Ina Sue didn't get home until about 5:30.
....And after.	We have found in the past that there is not much reason to stay open on July 4'th  (nobody comes in), so we were closed on Wednesday and I got to spend the whole day at home.  I was planning to mow the yard and spend several hours tearing up the old decking on our back deck.  I got the yard mowed but he deck demolition turned out to be a much bigger job than anticipated.  Whoever built the deck used 16 penny screwshank nails to fasten the decking and they did not want to pull out.  It finally came down to me using a nailpuller and crowbar to individually put out each nail.  Very slow and hard work.  I think I got about 1/3 of the deck demolished.  Ina Sue took care of the children and worked on getting our finances caught back up in the computer.  In the evening we went to church for prayer meeting.  Dr. James Riley Hill talked about "How to Comfort the Bereaved"  He had quite a bit of very practical and helpful advice in what to do in this difficult time.
Lancaster Children's Choir arrived Thursday evening.	I went in to work at regular time on Thursday but needed to come home mid-morning to pick up something I forgot.  Jonas Mast came by around 10:00 to re-plumb our kitchen sink.  It has been draining into a grease-trap under our deck.  Since we are planning to concrete the deck we wanted to get that waste-water re-routed.  He said that it was a good thing we had him out because he figured we would have soon had trouble with it anyway.  While he was down working under the floor Ina Sue forgot one time and ran water down through the sink drain on top of him... :)  She made two batches of cinnamon rolls for our company this weekend and a delicious stroganoff loaf for our supper.
Playing Bop-It with Sammy & Mario	After supper we cleaned up a bit then I rushed in to pick up our company.  The Lancaster Children's Choir is going to be here through Sunday morning.  We have agreed to host one group of boys & their chaperone.  Another larger group of girls will be staying down the road in Myron Brubaker's rented house along with a married couple.  Several of the families in the Govan area have agreed to help in providing food for the group down the road.  We will all get together then on Saturday evening for a picnic at Myron's pond.  The bus was originally supposed to get to Barnwell at 9:00 but as I was leaving work I got a call saying that they were going to be their at 8:00.  I rushed in to meet with them but it turned out they were eating supper at McDonalds.  We didn't get organized and left from Barnwell until after 10:00.  We got the other group settled in down the road then came home and got everyone settled in for the night.  It turned out that we are hosting two boys and their chaperone instead of three.
Fishing at Myron's pond.	I got up on Friday morning and made breakfast for our guests.  Marvin Beiler is the chaperone for the two youngest boys on the tour.  Sammy & Mario are both 11 and seem to have all the energy in the world... :)  We had waffles & sausage for breakfast then I took them in to Barnwell at 8:30 to meet with the rest of their group.  Ina Sue spent most of her day cleaning house and I actually had some time at work to do some cleaning up of my own in the accounting office.  It looks much better now.  We had a squash quiche and BLT's for supper then went to church to hear the children's choir.
Andy & Gordon throw Amish horseshoes	They gave a very nice and energetic program.  After the program Steve King gave an overview and slide show of their program in Lancaster and also challenged us in reaching out to the hurting and needy around us.  We came home then and had a snack of Orange Julius's, potato chips and fruit then the boys played until bedtime around 11:30.
Marvin takes a group of 7 for a ride...	Our guests were supposed to be in at Barnwell by 8:00 but they really didn't feel like getting up, so we had a quick breakfast of cereal & toaster strudels.   Hendrick kindly took the boys in to Barnwell for us.  We met with a landscape designer in the morning to get some advice on how to handle some problem areas in our yard.  We were almost more confused when he left.  I have decided that each lawn & landscape specialist has his own ideas and that they seldom line up with the next one...  I worked for a couple hours on pulling out more nails from our deck.  Ina Sue worked on getting food ready for this evening.  I drove in to Barnwell around 4:00 to pick up our guests but it took quite a while before we got everybody around and ready to go.  We got back to Govan at 5:30.
Michael Beiler (the tour leader) & wife Darlene.	Sammy & Mario have been looking forward to going fishing this evening so they helped me dig for earthworms.  We found about 10 nice juicy ones then we loaded up the van and headed over to Myron's pond.  The group of girls from down the road were there with Michael & Darlene Beiler. (their chaperone and also the tour leader).  Myron and Chad Brubakers, Gordon Amstutz', Don Heatwoles, and Andy Korvers were also there to help with the food and fellowship.  Myron and his boys helped the children get started fishing and they very quickly pulled in several small bream.  This got them pretty enthused and the evening only improved when they saw Jane come in on their Gator/four wheeler.  We had grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for supper and the time afterward was spent visiting, riding four wheeler, fishing, playing Amish horseshoes etc.  A fun evening together.  When it got dark we came on home and the boys played until about 12:00.  We were really tired and I left them in Marvin's care and went to bed myself around 11:30.