August 2, 2008

Big Sister, Little Sister... I taught the youth Sunday School class again.  It takes a bit more work to have my studying all done in time Sunday morning to be able to get the children dressed and ready.  Wendell H. preached on "For me to Live is Christ".   We were invited to Nelson Hochstetlers for dinner along with Aden Diems.  Debbie had a scrumptious dinner of rolls, grilled chicken tenders, rice, peas, salad and dessert.  After visiting a while we came home for our short afternoon naps.  We stayed home from church in order to be here when Mother Showalter arrived.  She got here around 8:15 along with Hilda Barnhart who rode down with here.  Phillip Barnhart dropped in to pick up his wife and stayed to visit for a little before they left. 
Playing with fun toys at Nelson Hochstetlers It was great to have Mother Showalter here to help out for several days.  I got up Monday morning and made us sausage gravy and corn bread for breakfast then headed off to work.  Ina Sue and Mother made 14 pints of spaghetti sauce and 4 quarts of tomato juice.  It was a very hot day so the children went "Swimming" in the fish pool and with the garden sprinkler.  Mother made us a great supper of creamy chicken, potatoes, and green beans.  Savannah was pretty grumpy this evening with tummy trouble.  We had a snack of slush floats before we went to bed.
Aden Diem holding Savannah Breakfast on Tuesday was sausage gravy over pancakes.  Then it was off to work for me.  Mother mixed up a big batch of doughnuts and fried them up for us.  She had them all done by 1:30.  She took a batch of them along with her and went for a visit with Don & Betty Heatwole.  In the evening she kept the children while Ina Sue and I took a date night out on the town.  We drove up to Orangeburg and at supper at the Chestnut Grille.  It was a delicious dinner and so nice to be able to enjoy a meal with just us and no interruptions.  We love our children dearly but a break can be so nice!  Savannah had her first taste of a bottle this evening when Mother fed her out of it.  Mother said she just gulped it down!  We had a heavy rain in the later evening/night.
Riding Nelsons battery powered Jeep I left early Wednesday morning to drive to Gaston, SC for what I thought was a service call at a new Starbucks store.  It turned out to be about 10 miles east of Gaston, right along I26 and was in actuality a new Starbucks roasting plant.  They are building their newest and highest tech roasting facility there and wanted me to help with switching over their T1 lines to a new setup.  Unfortunately, they only needed me there to swap cards as needed.  I did my work in about 10 minutes then held on the phone for about 3 hrs while they wrangled through the configuration on the lines before they finally released me.  They were paying for all my time but I have seldom had a more boring morning...
Mother brought us a Viginia rock for a step. Meanwhile, back at home, Ina Sue and Mother Showalter cut out and sewed together a new red checkered dress for Carolina Sue.  Mother also made us two delicious peach custard pies.  After I got home from work we rushed to get things ready for our Youth Service evening.  The youth met here at the Govan town square and worked to cut up and haul burn all the big limbs that had broken out of the pecan trees in the big storm. 
Cutting out the doughnuts. The one pecan had a huge section break out of the tree but a big part of the truck was still hanging from the rest of the tree.   I was pretty concerned that it might break completely loose at anytime so we were really careful in cutting the limbs away from it.  We ended up leaving the big section of trunk hanging there...  Some of the youth also mowed the yard and helped clean up.  For supper we had a wiener roast over the fire and spent the rest of the evening visiting.
Frying them up... Mother Showalter left Thursday morning at 7:00.  It was so nice to have her here the last several days.  She was a huge help.  She even washed and waxed our floors this morning before she left...  I headed in to work.  Ina Sue says that she can stay completely busy just taking care of the children.  She did get some laundry done today and cut out another dress for Carolina.  I came home for a quick supper of leftovers then went back into work at 8:30.  We had a big thunderstorm today and it seems to have hit our Govan water supply.  Our pressure has been dwindling down all day.
And enjoying the results. Not much happened Friday.  I spent the day on service calls and Ina Sue did the normal Friday cleaning.  It was a hot and humid day.  For supper she fixed us spaghetti and meatballs.  After supper she finished sewing the dress for Carolina.
The youth help clean up the town square. Saturday was another very hot and muggy day.  We did enjoy having a day that we could spend together but had to spend most of the time working hard.  I mowed the whole yard and picked up lots of sticks.  Ina Sue did a lot of cleanup in the house.  Dad and Mom were at the Barnwell church today.  Our youth group was hosting the groups from Hephzibah, Burkeland and Lighthouse congregations.  Dad & Mom are youth sponsors at Hephzibah.  We were eagerly anticipating them dropping in for a visit after the event but my nephew Scott broke his wrist riding a unicycle and they had to take him back to Augusta to get it worked on.  Thankfully the doctors think that it will heal OK.  Ina Sue made us white sauce pizza and peach ice cream for supper.  After supper we drove over to look at Andy's new house and to get milk.
Mother S. has been a huge help...