January 10, 2009

Conrad Stovers & Wesley Heatwoles joined us for supper.	It was a rainy day on Sunday.  We went to church at Barnwell.  Bro. Gary preached on "Origins" from the book of Genesis.  When we got home I made us dinner of waffles and sausage gravy.  We all took naps in the afternoon then I got up and started making supper.  We invited Conrad Stovers and Wesley Heatwoles to share the evening with us.  I made up a big batch of shrimp and grits for supper and Ina Sue made a salad and gingerbread with lemon sauce for dessert.  We had a very enjoyable evening visiting while the children had a big time playing together.
Conrad reads "Idiot Letters"....	It seemed to be clearing off a bit on Monday.  Ina Sue started on the wash and I headed off to work.  Unfortunately, after Ina Sue already had the wash hung out on the line to dry, it started raining again so she had to bring it in and use the dryer.  I was fasting today again so that always makes a day somewhat less joyful for me...  After I got home I helped Ina Sue finish folding and putting away the clothes.  We took a walk down the road then came home and read the children stories before their bedtime.
....while the children demolish our gingerbread house.	I went to work on Tuesday.  Ina Sue hauled her tribe to sewing circle in the morning.  She didn't take her sewing machine this time but helped to baby blankets instead.  She said it went well.  She and the children met me at Burger King for dinner.  We had coupons so we all got our dinner for about $7.  The children enjoyed the indoor playground.  They went on home and I went back to work.  I was waiting anxiously for the phone system to come in that I had ordered for Hartwell.  It finally came in around 4:00 so I started working immediately to get it programmed.  I got as much as I could done at the shop before leaving for Hartwell around 5:30.
Landon sorts the laundry for Mommy.	I got up to Hartwell around 9:00 and immediately started hooking up the phones and getting more of the programming done.  I worked until about 2:30am getting everything programmed and connected up then laid down on a sofa in the lobby and slept for several hours.
Savannah is ready for the day.	Wednesday morning I woke up to the Bible School wakeup bell at 6:30.  As soon as it got light outside I started working on making sure all the extensions worked.  I ran into two extensions that wouldn't work.  Bro. Levi Mast is there at bible school and is helping with maintenance this term.  He helped me as we tried to figure out what was wrong with those two extensions.  We finally figured out that at some time during the previous year the phone company had been called out for some problem and had rewired those extensions to bypass the phone system...  After we got that going we worked on getting a telephone wired up for Levi's camper.  His wife Anna is the secretary this year and needed a phone in their camper so that she could answer the phone at night.   By the time we got some other little jobs finished and some basic training in, it was about 3:00.
Some of the ladies at Sewing Circle on Tuesday.	I headed home and got back to Govan around 6:00 in the evening.  Meanwhile Ina Sue had a normal day with the children at home.  She made us a broccoli/ham/swiss quiche for supper.  After supper we went to church for prayer meeting.  Leon Dueck led the discussion on "Contentment".
Ina Sue kept Bethany's children on Thursday.	We slept in a little on Thursday morning.  Ina Sue kept Caroline & Michaela for the day to give Bethany a break while she had a baby doctor visit and Patrick had PTA meetings.  I spent a very full day at the shop.  With Hendrick gone it adds to our work load.  Thankfully, John Still is still coming in part time and that has really helped.  Ina Sue tried a new recipe for supper.  It was a pizza rice casserole with rice and cheese as the bottom and the meat/tomatoe sauce on top.  Very good.  After supper I helped with the dishes then polished both pairs of my work shoes and two pairs for Ina Sue.  Wesley & Lois Heatwole came over and brought a fresh batch of guacamole for a snack.  Had a nice time visiting and played a couple games of "Take One".
Landon & Michaela	Friday was pretty ordinary.  I was at work again and Ina Sue did the cleaning.  I stopped and picked up groceries on the way home.  Ina Sue fixed us a sausage brunch braid and zipper peas for supper.  After supper I went out to the garden and picked 4 cabbages and started to boil them.  We needed the cabbage leaves to make sarmales (a Romanian cabbage roll recipe that Laura brought back from her time there.)  It was a big job but we ended up with over 200 of them made up.  Sometime I'll post the recipe with pictures here but don't have time now....
Wesley & Lois brought a batch of fresh guacamole over to share with us Thursday evening.	I felt rather queegly on Saturday.  My gastro-intestinal track definitely had some issues....  Neeley Appliance delivered our new small freezer in the morning.  The lid on our old one was bet up and would not seal anymore.  We were losing way too much energy with it.  Unfortunately, in the process of bringing it through our screen door they put a big 7" scratch down the front of it.  We touched it up with some appliance paint and they gave us a $50 discount.  Oh well....
Making sarmales was a family affair...	I did a little bit of work outside and helped with the children but didn't get much else done.  Ina Sue had a really bad day with her allergies so we just kinda laid around all day.  We did spend a little time in the late afternoon gettting ready for supper.  Grace Heatwole is in Canada visiting her mother so we invited Carl & Aaron over to share supper with us.  Ina Sue fixed a dish of the sarmales, baked corn & onions, and cream puff dessert.