May 31, 2008

Practicing our "Special" singing.	Ina Sue felt quite jubilant Sunday morning after she taught the last Sunday school class of her quarter.  I think she recognizes the blessing she got from her effort but will still be glad to relax a bit more in Sunday school now.  Gary preached on the subject of "God Working Behind the Scenes".  We had packed a picnic lunch of sandwiches and chips so after we got done visiting at church we brought in our lunch and ate in the church kitchen.  From there we drove straight over to Nevins where Ina Sue and the children took naps.  Around 4:00 the rest of my brothers and Dad came over and we practices for some special singing in the evening.
Memorial Day supper at Toms	Kay K. fed us a delicious deli sandwich supper then we headed down to Burkeland for the evening service.  The service was made up almost entirely of special singing groups.  Very enjoyable.  The chorus from Hephzibah & Burkeland had just gotten back from a tour so they sang two numbers at the end of the service.  Dwight Martin had just gotten back from the funeral of his Dad (Ray Martin) and had some very nice and touching remarks to share about his Father.  A very nice day but wasn't looking forward to the long drive home.  It actually didn't turn out too bad.  We turned into our road at Govan right at 11:00pm.
Ralph & Ruth Ellen relaxing	Monday was Memorial Day.  We have found that it really doesn't pay to be open this day because no one expects you to be open.  So, we got a wonderful day off.  We started off with a breakfast of French toast then spent most of the day working outside on the shrubbery beds.  We raked up 3 big truckloads of pine straw from over in Carl's pines and spread them on the beds.  The pine straw was pretty sticky but it looks pretty good after we picked out all the branches.  In the evening we were invited to Tom Peachys for supper and the evening.  They served us grilled hamburgers & hotdogs along with potato salad, baked beans, and strawberry dessert.  A wonderful evening with Toms and Ralphs Dickersons!  The weather was perfect for a supper outside.
Helping taste the mud pies.	Since we worked outside all day Monday, Ina Sue had to do her regular laundry on Tuesday.  I had a good day at work and came home to supper of fried catfish, fresh onion rings, fresh garden potatoes, and sweet corn.  After playing a while with the children I drove back down to Low Country Healthcare in Fairfax, SC and worked for several hours getting updates loaded on their computers.  Home around 2:00am.
Strawberry shortcake while playing on the computer.	I was beat Wednesday morning from my late night.  Ina Sue made us waffles and sausage for breakfast and I headed in to work at the normal time.  Spent the day running from fire to fire...  Ina Sue dug up the onions from our garden and did some cleaning in the kitchen.  For supper we had stromboli.  A lovely cool evening so we spent a little time relaxing outside.  The evening ended with a lovely slow rain.  We went to bed early to help me catch up on sleep.
We're all "pretending" to take a nap	Ina Sue had a pretty rough night and we slept in a bit Thursday morning.  I left for work and left the family to sleep in a bit more.  When they got up Ina Sue made the children pancakes.  Landon was really fussy and clingy today.  Ina Sue thinks he has another eye tooth coming in??  She reorganized the childrens clothes and packed some of them away.  She got the baby clothes down off the attic and started going through them to get ready for the next one.  For supper we had chicken salad sandwiches then Ina Sue took the children with her to Roses and Piggly Wiggly.   A very nice break for me and I was able to get a couple webpages finished.  After they got back we whipped up a batch of homemade peach icecream with kettle cooked chips on the side.
Fun in the fish pond	We got up at 6:00 Friday to get around in good time.  Ina Sue had a baby appointment at 9:00.  She took the children along with her this time.  She said they did really good until Landon was playing with her car keys and hit the "Panic" button.  She had to rush out of the room and shut the van down.  They said everything is still going great with only 8 weeks to go.  She came home and cleaned the house then made us country fried ham, new potatoes, zipper peas, peppers & broccoli for supper.  After supper I worked outside for a while then came in and studied to teach the Youth Sunday school class this week.  After I put the children to bed around 9:00 I went back in to the shop and worked until about 12:30.
Laura's bridal shower.	Landon got us up at 6:30 Saturday morning so we didn't have much chance to sleep in.  I made pancakes then we waved to Mommy as she left for Hephzibah.  Ina Sue drove over to the church for my sister Laura's bridal shower.  It was held outside the Hephzibah church on a really sunny day.  Thankfully they were pretty much in the shade so it wasn't too bad.  The shower was actually a double shower for Laura and for Emily Heatwole (soon to be Brunk).  Ina Sue said it was a really nice shower.  She drove home through Aiken and stopped to do a little shopping.  She got home around 4:30
All the Strite ladies.	Meanwhile, back at home, the children & I were getting some work done.  We mowed all the grass, cleaned all the crud & leaves from our fish pond, refilled it with clean water, and did some weeding in the garden.  Actually, I did most of the mowing and cleaning out while the children played in the sprinkler then made good use of the freshly cleaned fish pond.  I got them to bed around 2:00 and worked on making some old fashioned ham potpie for supper.  After Ina Sue got home and we ate supper, she watched the children while I went down and mowed the Govan square.  Good exercise!