November 24, 2007

Our Thanksgiving Pilgrims...	Tim Myers brought us a very good sermon Sunday morning on "Thankfulness" He emphasized that our thanksgiving should not be dependent on the amount of outward goods that we have but on the relationship that we have with God.  Very challenging!  We came home from church and had a dinner of poor mans steak, biscuits, canned potatoes, California blend, and bars for dessert.  Had a restful afternoon then went to church in the evening for a testimony meeting of Thanksgiving.  After church we had Korwin Schrock's & Uncle Howards over for a snack and fellowship.  Good time but almost 12:00 before we got to bed.
Picking up pecans on the Square	I made us an off the cuff hash brown breakfast casserole Monday morning.  While I made breakfast Ina Sue got an early start on the weekly laundry.   I headed off to work.  It was a lovely sunny day and Ina Sue took a break from the laundry to pick up some pecans with the children.  When I got home from work we had a quick supper of taco salad then I worked outside on the screen porch while Ina Sue took care of the children.
The results of our labor	I had a long day at work on Tuesday.  I went in a little early and planned to stay in the evening to catch up accounting and get some IP addresses switched over to our new T1 line.  Well, the accounting went fine but the IP switchover hit a serious snag.  I got home around 2:00 am but still had not accomplished my main goal for the evening.  Oh well, that's the way some days go.  Ina Sue spent her day with the children.  They scrubbed and painted part of the screen porch, picked up pecans, and made Cranberry Crunch bars.  Carter Pest Control came today and sprayed all around and under the house for termites and vermin.   We've been very happy with their work and their prices.
A wonderful Thanksgiving spread at the Mule Barn.	I got home at 2:00 Wednesday morning so I slept in a little.  Ina Sue made us a delicious breakfast of sausage gravy & hash browns.  I headed in to work around 9:00 and Ina Sue spent almost the whole day picking up pecans with the children.   She said she enjoyed it but her back feels pretty shot!  I went straight to church from work while Ina Sue brought the minivan and the children.  Uncle Enos continued his discussion on "The Christian and Ecology"  After the service I brought the children home, fixed them milkshakes & put them to bed.  Ina Sue took my car in to Walmart and did some shopping.
With no less than EIGHT pies!	Thursday was a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.  Since my family is getting together in a couple weeks for my Dad's birthday celebration, we decided to forego a family Thanksgiving.  Instead Ina Sue & I took our children over to Uncle Enos's Mule Barn for a celebration with whoever else wanted to come.  We had a really nice size group to visit with and plenty of good food.  The children also had a great time playing together.  We visited until about 3:00 then headed home so the children could take naps.
Young buddies	Lloyd & Emma Oberholtzer came over around 5:00 to make up a template for our new counter-tops.  We were glad that they agreed to stay for supper and a visit.  We had a small supper of ham biscuit roll-ups with cheese sauce and veggies on the side.  They left around 7:00 and we rushed down to Andy & Mary's for a late evening cheesecake party.  Gordon & Gwen were also there with their children.  Good fellowship and delicious food.  What a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving.  We certainly have so much to thank our Lord for!
Govan goes to the dogs...  Randy builds his dog kennel next door.	Our store opened its doors at 6:00am on Black Friday.  I didn't go in until about 7:30 and it had slacked off a little by then.  The day as a whole though was very busy and we did close to $10,000 worth of sales.  Unfortunately, because of the steep price reductions that Radioshack ran on the Sale items, we actually just barely broke even on actual profit.  Oh well, we did get rid of some inventory that we needed to move.
Lloyd Oberholtzer measures for our new countertops.	Ina Sue didn't feel very well when she got up this morning but recovered enough to get the cleaning done and some painting done on the screen porch in the afternoon.  She said that Landon acted like a grouchy old bear all afternoon.  He is cutting lots of teeth and has a runny nose/cold.  For supper she fixed us grilled reuben sandwiches and chicken rice soup.  After supper I took care of the children while Ina Sue made up some food for our carry-in snack on Sunday.
A stroller flat tire at the mall	We got up in pretty good time Saturday morning and ate a quick breakfast before heading over to Augusta.  We needed to pick up a screen door for our back porch and to pick up some material for my suit at S&K menswear.  We stopped at Lowes first, then Walmart,  then did some Holiday browsing at the mall.  Our children love to see the Christmas sights.  They were especially enthralled by all the Christmas yard ornaments that Lowes had on display. :)  We ate our lunch in the food court at the mall then dropped by S&K and were finally able to get the material we had been waiting for so that Ina Sue can change over my other suit.  We got back to Govan a little after 4:00 and I worked at cleaning up inside & outside while the rest of my family took naps.
Ms Netties shows Fritz off to the children.	In the evening we were invited over to Ms. Nettie's for a Low Country Boil.  Gerald & Deanne Knicely from Dayton, VA were down visiting Deanne's grandmother (Ms. Nettie)  Gerald very kindly supplied the shrimp for the meal and invited us to come share it with them.  Deanne's parents, Dennis & Vi Miller from Mississippi were also there.  We had a wonderful time visiting with many reminiscences of old Virginia times.  We got left around 9:30 and brought our children home for their much needed bedtimes.