August 18, 2007

Carolina & Gavin eathing "pops"	Ina Sue didn't sleep well at all Sunday morning so she felt pretty tired all day.  Gary Hege preached at Barnwell on "What is Gained When Young People Go Right"  The superintendents asked Ina Sue to teach ladies Sunday School for the 2nd quarter this coming year and I am supposed to teach the intermediates for the first half of the year.  It is sometimes hard to accept these tasks as the blessing that they are... :)  We had ham, cabbage casserole, zipper peas, and lemon lush for dinner then the rest of the family laid down for their naps while I drove over to Uncle Enoses to go over some pictures with him.  In the evening some of the youth fellows had topics on different character traits seen in the life of Peter.  They did really well.  After church we had Gordon Amstutz's over for a snack and fellowship.  A very nice evening!
And building a house...	Monday was a normal Monday.  I made breakfast of pancakes and sausage gravy while Ina Sue started scrubbing the laundry.  Beth Dueck dropped off Gavin here for a while in the morning while she went to a doctors appointment.  Carolina Sue had a really good time playing with her friend.  It is still extremely hot outside tu it did help the wash to dry quickly on the line.  A had a busy day at work then in the evening we ate supper then drove up to Denmark to check on some possible activities for our youth group to do community service in.  The one yard that we were supposed to be mowing and cleaning up has already been taken care of... We did stop at McDonalds and celebrated with ice cream cones.
Youth Service activity.  Carrying logs...	We slept in a little on Tuesday then I hurried off to work.  Ina Sue spent much of the day finishing up the laundry and ironing.  My poison ivy on my arms is really bothering me.  It has become large pussy blisters on top of blisters and is bleeding in places.  I actually came home from work over lunch to soak my arms in hopes that it would help with healing....  In the evening we fed our children a quick supper then Ina Sue dropped them off with Nelson & Deb while I went out to the Govan Square and started the youth with their tasks.  Some of the guys started mowing, spraying round-up and weed-eating.  Other started working to cut down a big dead pecan tree.  The girls volunteered to work on the litter pickup crew so Ina Sue dropped them off around town with plastic bags.
Mowing the Govan Square	Everyone worked really hard and we were really pleased with what all we got done.  After we finished up and everyone got back we had a little snack of Doritos, ice cream pops & sandwiches, and iced tea.  They stayed around and talked for quite a while.  Mayor Ganus stopped in for a little and voiced his appreciation for what they had done to beautify the town.
The girls were the litter experts	We ate cereal for breakfast on Wednesday then I headed in to work.  Ina Sue had me help her move the dresser in the children's bedroom before I left then she spent the day housecleaning their room.  She made us a delicious stromboli for supper along with salad.  My arms were oozing and bothering me so much that I stayed home from prayer meeting and soaked them for about 2 hours...  Ina Sue took the children with her to prayer meeting.  Carl had a talk on manners after the prayer time.  Ina Sue had a little meeting with some of the other ladies to plan a bridal shower so they didn't get home until about 10:00.
Some pictures from our recent photo session at Sears...   Landon Cole 1yr.	Ina Sue was still on her housecleaning binge on Thursday.  She finished up the children's room then tore up the foyer and washed our entire bedroom ceiling.  She is Mrs Clean!  I try to convince her that a little dust never hurt any body but she has a secret paranoia of the little dust balls that congregate under furniture and on fan blades....  I will admit that I would rather her err on the side of cleanliness then on the other extreme.  And she did take time to make us a delicious supper of sweet & sour chicken over rice with a side of spaghetti squash.  Scrumptious!  After supper I worked for most of the evening on the deck.
Carolina Sue - 3 years	I went in to work early on Friday.  Ina Sue housecleaned the master bath and did the regular Friday cleaning of the rest of the house.  In the afternoon she even mowed the yard with the children out playing on the deck.  On a day as hot as it was today, that was a labor that I doubly appreciated!  She was a little stressed to get a summons for jury duty today.  Since we believe that the bible teaches us not to use the courts to settle our disputes and since we believe that our primary allegience is to our heavenly kingdom, we do not feel that judging others through the jury process is our prerogative.   We ask that we be excused from this duty.  Sometimes we are excused and other times the judge requires us to sit through the trial.  Fortunately, the judges have never forced anyone in our church to actually serve as a juror.  Anyhow, Ina Sue was a little stressed to receive this summons.
Michael Strite Family - After 6 years.	I needed to work at the shop on Saturday.  With Adam & William both gone now it puts quite a bit more of a burden on Hendrick & I.  Hendrick had a presentation he was to give in Maryland this weekend so I took his place at work.  Ina Sue kept the children, wrote up her paper on jury duty to send to the clerk of court, and washed & vacuumed the van.  She also washed windows, picked up sticks and sprayed Round-Up.  We close the store at 3:00 on Saturdays so I got home soon after 3:30 and worked on finishing up the mowing.  Our neighbor from down the road (Ivan Skrivseth) was mowing some of the other yards in Govan and stopped in for a little to help me finish up.  I fixed us a big pizza for supper then we spent a relaxed evening getting ready for Sunday.