May 10, 2009

A rainy morning for church at Bethany.	Sunday was Mother Showalter's birthday.  Ina Sue and I went to Bethany for church with Roberts.  Cousin Davey preached on "Lo Children are a Heritage of the Lord".  We were happy to hear it announced that cousin Rebecca Rhodes and Dallas Beery are engaged.  We went to the Berea school for a carry-in lunch with friends.  Ina Sue's best friend Beverly Gingrich was down visiting the valley with her three boys so the dinner was in her honor.  After lunch and visiting I brought the children home for their naps while Ina Sue stayed and visited for a while.  In the evening we all went down to Robert & Lori's for supper and the evening.  Bev and her boys, Uncle Lees and the entire Kenny Showalter clan were there for the bash.  11:00 before we got back for bed.
A carry-in dinner with friends afterward.	Savannah didn't sleep very well during the night.  Mother made us cheesy egg back for breakfast on Monday then Papa & I took the children with us for a shopping expedition to Sharp Shopper and Costco.  Ina Sue, Marsha and Mother cleaned the house.  All of Mother's sisters and nieces came over and brought a big spread to help Mother celebrate her birthday.  Quite a bash!  It gave Ina Sue a really nice opportunity to see all her female cousins and aunts again.  After that party broke up we started packing and got left for SC around 5:00.  It was rainy most of the way down.  We stopped at Taco Bell for supper and got home at 1:00.
Uncle Lee & Savannah.	We were tired bunnies Tuesday morning... I hooked up the new dryer that finally got delivered then headed in to work.  It was rainy all day so Ina Sue could really give her washer and dryer the test.  She loves them.  The washer does a so much better job getting the water squeezed out that the dryer doesn't need to run nearly as long as it did before.  Landon is cutting his eye teeth so he was pretty grumpy.  We had tomato soup and ham & cheese wraps for supper then I helped finish folding the clothes and then worked out in the garden while Ina Sue did the ironing.
Beverly Gingrich and her three boys.	Wednesday was a very normal day with me at work and Ina Sue doing odd jobs around the house.  She washed two loads of rugs, cleaned the back porch, cut out a dress for Carolina, and still found time to make us chicken cordon bleu casserole and green beans for supper.  Went to prayer meeting in the evening.  Daryl Brubaker shared that his cancer is definitely back and the doctors don't have much to offer...  We are praying hard for a miracle on his behalf.  We also found out that the doctors think that Kendra Brubaker has a rare condition called Susac Syndrome.  It sounds pretty serious as well.  After church we came home for a snack and played several games of Goblet before bed.
Landon & Adrian share a puppy.	Off to work again on Thursday.  Ina Sue spent most of the day doing odd work and taking care of the children.  She brought the children in to Barnwell and dropped them off with Bethany then did some quick shopping before meeting me back at home for our "date" night.  We decided to do something different this time so we stayed home and worked outside.  We mowed the yard and got the garden all weeded and cleaned up.  Everything looks so much better.  After dark, Ina Sue went in to pick up the children.  I had a customer with a very urgent problem bring her computer by for me to work with her on it.  It was getting late before we got everything resolved and she got on her way.
Papa and the children helping me shop at Sharp Shopper.	I left for work early on Friday but took Carolina Sue and Landon along with me on the call down to Walterboro to give Ina Sue a break.  She worked on cleaning the house while we were gone.  I dropped them off on my way back to the shop.  After I got home from work we ate a quick supper of asparagus wraps and french fries then got everyone packed up and left for Hephzibah.  It was the evening of the yearly sleep-out with Grandpa & Grandma.  Only grandchildren above 4 are allowed to participate so this was Carolina's first year.  It looked like quite a shindig with 15 cousins ranging from 4 - 16 years old and more bikes than you could count...
The annual sleep-over and breakfast at Grandpa's.	We took the other children with us down to Nevin & K K's for the night.  Nevin was working today driving truck for Uncle Byard's harvesting operation and didn't get home until about 10:30.  He is really having a hard time with his allergies and the rye dust.
Helping Dad replace the cornice on the back of the house.	We slept in a little on Saturday then got up to a delicious breakfast around K K's table.  I left around 8:00 and drove up to Dad's to begin work.  Nevin had to work down with Uncle Byard and Milton wasn't feeling good but the rest of the family was all there to help Dad with some more vinyl work on his cornice in the back of his house.  The ladies sewed and visited.  Dad grilled us hamburgers for dinner.  We made pretty good progress and we got left soon after 3:00.  Ina Sue wanted to shop a little so we dropped her off at Joann's fabrics while we circled the parking lot.
While Landon watches Dad grill the hamburgers.	After we got home I mowed the front yard while Ina Sue cooked for tomorrow.  After giving the children their baths I drove over to the school to check out their telephone line.  They've been having trouble with it ever since a lightning strike earlier in the week.  The repairman supposedly fixed it but I still could not get a dial tone on their jack so they will have to come out again.