December 8, 2007

The children burn off extra energy...	Uncle Howard preached on "Sin" Sunday morning.  I was reminded of the time that Calvin Coolidge came home from church and was asked by his wife what the preacher preached about.  The close mouthed Coolidge replied that the preacher preached about sin.  His wife, wanting more details asked what he had to say about sin.  Coolidge merely replied, "He was against it".  :)  I think I could easily say that Uncle Howard too was "against it".   We came home from church and grilled up some chicken breasts to eat on top of a delicious salad.  We took naps in the afternoon then had Leon & Beth Dueck, & Duane & Glenda Stover over for supper and the evening.  Ina Sue made soft pretzels, cheese, pineapple & ham skewers, and Beth brought some delicious Apple Dapple cake for dessert.  A very nice evening of eating and visiting together.
as the adults play a friendly game of SCUM	Monday was very normal.  I made us a quick breakfast of pancakes & gravy then headed off to work.  Ina Sue started on the washing.  Later in the day she dropped the children off with Mary K. while she ran in to town for a grocery run.  When I got home from work we ate a quick supper then I helped her get the laundry finished and the house cleaned up.
Ina Sue's unique winter center piece	It was cooler on Tuesday but still a lovely day.  Ina Sue finished up the ironing, made cookies, and grilled some hamburger steak.  Gilbert & Erica Korver were down for a while and enjoyed playing with Carolina Sue in our dirt pile.  I left in the morning for Columbia.  My car wouldn't start so I ended up having to take our minivan.  I am working for an oil company, hooking up their numerous convenience stores to the main office over a VPN.  I worked on one station in Chapin and one in Lexington today.  I was hoping to get two other stores done but ran in to complications...  It was after 7:00 before I got home and ate supper.  We played numerous games with the children after supper then after the children went to bed Ina Sue worked on our quicken while I drove in to the shop and worked on accounting there until about 2:30am.
Helping Mommy make cookies	My car still wouldn't start on Wednesday so I asked Ivan Skrivseth to come down and take a look at it.   I drove our old minivan again.  Ina Sue spent much of the morning cooking in the kitchen then worked outside caulking the back porch for a while.  He and Carolina Sue made some Christmas cookies and candy.  When I got home from work we had a quick supper of chili soup & cornbread then went to prayer meeting.  Carl Heatwole gave a talk challenging us on how we use our leisure time.  Very good.  Came home, cleaned up and put the children to bed.
A favorite play place...	We got up at 6:00 Thursday morning and Ina Sue put her stromboli in the oven to cook so that it would be ready for their dinner.   Contrary to my hopes, the car still wouldn't start this morning so I had to send Ina Sue & the children to the caroling with Mary K.    The church ladies got together at the church for their Christmas cookie get together and caroling.  They sang at the local nursing homes and gave out cookies then met back at the church for a delicious lunch.  Soup and lots of other good things she said...  I worked late in the evening and got home just as the children were ready for bed.  I'm getting tired of long hours....
The poor guy drew poop duty.... :)	Friday was very ordinary with the normal work for me and weekly cleaning for Ina Sue.  We had cold sandwiches for supper then dropped the children off with Joshua and Marcia while we went in to Barnwell for a date night...
Abraham the camel and his handler	We slept in a while Saturday morning.  Lloyd Oberholtzer came by in the morning to finish up a few details in our kitchen.  We left around 12:00 and drove up to Columbia/Lexington for a Christmas Passion Play there called "This Man Called Jesus".  We have been to it several times before and always feel inspired.  The play used over 400 actors as well as live animals to play out the life of Christ in a way that really makes you feel like you are there.   Nevin & Kay K. had agreed to meet us there at 1:30.  The play started at 2:30 and we thought that an hour ahead of time would be plenty.  Unfortunately we got held up in traffic and didn't get to the church until 1:45.  The car parkers started turning away traffic about 3 cars ahead of us.  We were very disappointed.  Nevins had already parked and were waiting to get into the building.  When they got in they realized that there were no chairs to be had anymore so they had to leave as well.  We decided to stay around there in Lexington and wait for the 6:30 performance.   We thought, and Nevin agreed, that it was worth the wait.  I had tried to get the children to sleep in the afternoon while we were waiting but didn't have much success.  By the time the 2 hour play was over they were getting very tired.  It was close to 11:00 before we got home.