September 22, 2007

Carolina dreams of "American Girl" dolls... Bro. Carl preached a sermon Sunday morning that was directed primarily at the children.  He even had them come up front to sit.  His topic of selfishness (taken from the story of Nabal & Abigail) was certainly applicable to the rest of us.  Sometimes I think that we as adults have more trouble with selfishness than children.  We've just learned what is considered acceptable and what isn't....  Landon did not behave very well during the service and Ina Sue spent much of the sermon out with him.  We came home to a dinner of fried chicken, rice & green beans.  Our naps were unfortunately abbreviated due to a certain youngster not wanting to sleep.  It was a lovely fall day with the leaves beginning to fall.  For supper Ina Sue made us a batch of soft pretzels and a variety of dips.  Daniel Brubaker came over to eat supper with us and to help plan the next series of youth service activities.  The service in the evening was on the topic of "Grandparents".  For one part of the service all the grandparents were asked to give special singing.  Unfortunately quite a few of the grandparents were away this Sunday and it left a fairly small crowd.  They did fine though.
Landy loves "controlling" the stereo. We got up early and I exercised Monday morning while Ina Sue started on the washing.  It was a lovely day to hang out wash with it sunny but nice and cool.  They children really enjoyed playing outside but we have learned that you really have to keep an eye on Landon.  He as learned to walk a number of months earlier than Carolina but seems to have absolutely no inhibitions.  He will head out into the field, over to Hendricks, or worst of all, out to the road before you even realize he is gone.  I had a pretty regular day at work.  After supper in the evening we went for a little walk in the community then after we got home Glendon Eshleman stopped in for a short visit.  (He had been over at Wendell's for a minister's meeting)  After he left I worked for a while finalizing the finance sheets for the conference papers.
Cleaning out the storage shed/shop. Tuesday morning I stayed home for a while in the morning to tie up some finishing touches on the conference finances then headed in to work.  Ina Sue finished up the ironing from yesterday then began working on housecleaning the living room & dining room.  We had spaghetti pie & zipper peas for supper then Ina Sue cut out a new jumper for Carolina Sue while I rested.

Ina Sue made us pancakes for breakfast Wednesday then I went off to work.  Ina Sue finished her housecleaning project then got in a little mowing while the children slept.  In the evening we went to the school for the annual Don Heatwole / Charles Brubaker grilled chicken supper.  Tonight also doubled as a church farewell to Charles & Liz Brubaker and Richard.  We will really miss their presence here in SC.
Ina Sue does battle with trumpet vine. It drizzled most of the day on Thursday.  I spent almost all of the day on service calls.  Ina Sue did a variety of household chores and spent a little time in the morning visiting Mary Korver.  She made us sausage potato quiche and creamed carrots for supper.  I unfortunately (and much to my wife's displeasure) ran out of gas on the way home.  Thankfully I was only about 2 miles from home so she didn't have to drive too far.  But she did have to get the children all loaded up etc.  She was very nice about it.  We had a nice restful evening at home together.
Sunset over cotton I blearily wished my wife adieu Friday morning at 4:00am.  She headed out with five other ladies to the Hartwell Ladies Seminar.  They got there in time for the first session at 9:00.  It sounded like a full day with interesting talks.  Joy Coates (from "A Song for your Honor") was there to give several of the addresses.  They left right before the tea party to head back.  She was pretty tired by the time they got here around midnight.  I was the designated baby-sitter but since all my computer employees had other plans for the morning, I had to take them with me to the shop.  Hendrick got in around 11:30 and allowed me to come back home with them.  I decided this morning that work and 1 year-olds do not mix!  We had a nice time together for a while over lunch then I dropped the children off with Ann Marie Diem for just a little while I drove up to Denmark for a service call.  Then back home for the rest of the day.  We had a good time together.
  We slept in a little on Saturday morning.  It was kinda drizzling for the first while so we took the opportunity to clean out our small building.  For some reason this task always leads to marital discord... :(  This time though, Ina Sue wrote in her diary that "We didn't have a total falling out..."  Actually we got along pretty good and Carolina Sue even wrote us a "Thank-you" note for cleaning it out.   I had a short service call to take care of in the morning then came home and worked on getting our flower bed ready out by the front walk.  Ina Sue pulled vines and weeds from our flowers.  It was extremely warm today.  We finished the day by starting staining/sealing the deck.  We didn't have enough sealer to finish though.  We had chicken salad sandwiches for supper the I ran into Denmark to pick up some groceries.