September 15, 2007

After six wonderful years together! We were able to get everyone ready in time Sunday morning to take a few 6'th anniversary pictures.  Then off to church together.  My wife still looks quite a picture in her wedding dress! :)  Mark Hochstetler preached the message on "How to Be in God's Will".  Very good & practical.  We came home for a dinner of left-overs then napped in the afternoon before going to church in the evening.  Aden Diem had a Bible Quiz on Jesus' miracles for the main event. 

Keith & Jeanne welcomed our newest nephew into their family today.  He weighed 7lb, 4oz and is named Adam Michael

Our newest nephew, Adam Michael Martin I got up at 6:00 Monday morning and exercised while Ina Sue got an early start on the laundry.   On top of the normal washing duties she also baked several batches of bars.   I had a really full day at work and ended up working until after 9:30.  Then I stopped at Reids and picked up a few groceries for Ina Sue.
Landy loves driving his "car" Tuesday was 6 years from the 9-11 tragedy.  Ina Sue & I flew from Washington D.C. to San Francisco the evening of 9-10-01 on our honeymoon.  We got to our hotel after 2:00 in the morning and when we awoke the next morning we saw live video footage of the first tower collapsing.  It was quite an experience to see national guard troops deployed around government buildings with their weapons ready and to see the fighter planes circling the city.  Since much of the city was shut down we had to change our plans a bit and ended up driving north into the Redwoods for the first part of our trip.  We did come back to San Francisco later in the week and were able to do some sightseeing...  Anyway, it hardly seems possible that it has been six full years since that day....  Times does move on!
Ina Sue helped put on a bridal shower for Jennifer Heatwole Tuesday evening. On this 9-11 though, instead of getting up to tragic news and hotel room service, Ina Sue made our little family breakfast casserole then I headed off for a full day of work at the shop.  Ina Sue worked most of the day getting her sandwiches ready for the evening.  I came home from work at 5:00 and kept the children while Ina Sue went over to Aunt Miriam's to help Norma H., Deb H. & Audrey D. get things ready for Jennifer Heatwole's bridal shower.  From the pictures and the leftovers it looked like a beautiful party.  They did something a little different for the gifts this time.  In the shower invitations each person was given a time of the day as a theme for their gifts.  Then a round table was setup for the gifts with a clock face laid out on it.  Thus a "Round the Clock" shower....
Some of the snacks I had to leave around 6:00 Wednesday morning to go with Tom to an Alltel meeting in Columbia.  This was a yearly meeting that Alltel requires all owner/managers to attend.  I thought that this year it was very worthwhile with some very good motivational and informational speeches.  We got back around 4:30 and I went on in to the shop to work on some projects.  Ina Sue dropped the children off with Mary K. while she went for a back appointment.  Then she did some quick shopping and got home in time to put the children down for their naps.  I spent all evening until pretty late working on finalizing the bookkeeping for the Conference fiscal year..
While Daddy and the children made a family & home out of Legos. I got up and fixed us a breakfast of cornbread & sausage gravy Thursday morning, then headed off to work.  Ina Sue kept Erica & Gilbert Korver for a while in the morning.  She also made up a huge batch of pecan bars to take to the family work day at Duane's on Saturday.  I got home from work about 7:30 then took Carolina Sue along with me to Charles Brubaker's for a little while.  We needed to go over some conference finances for last year.  He was able to point me in the right direction at least.
Workday at Duane & Janice's new house. I went in to work early on Friday morning to work on accounting.  Ina Sue spent the day cleaning.  She scrubbed up the upholstery on the seats of our dining room chairs and made them look so much better.  We've been skipping supper all this week.  After I got home I helped Ina Sue get her tasks caught up (including cleaning out the oven...) then after she and the children went to bed, I worked another hour or toe on the conference finance report then drove in to work to try and finish up some jobs there.
We even got the potential in-law in on the project.  (Sheldon Keller is dating my sister Laura, for those out of the know) I didn't get home from work until after 3:00 am Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, after I got home it seemed like Ina Sue could not get back to sleep...  Neither of us felt very rested in the morning.  We did get up got the children ready in time to leave for Hephzibah at 8:00.  Most of the Strite family was there at Duane's new house to help them work on trim, painting, yard work etc.  Dad & Mom were up in Virginia at my Great-aunt Naomi's funeral, and Nevin stayed home sick.  All the other family members (including kidlings) were there.  Even Laura's new "best friend" was there to help.  We worked through the morning then shared a delicious dinner together before getting back to work in the pm. 
Dinner & fellowship before getting back to work. We headed back to SC around 4:00 and made a quick stop at Lowes to pick up some needs.  We got back to Govan at 6:30 and I worked for an hour or two mowing the yard while Ina Sue cleaned out the car and got the children in bed.  After dark I went over and met with Carl to go over the conference finance report.