August 22, 2009

Leon captivates the children & Beth... To church Sunday morning.  The children are starting to do better at sitting still.  Landon in particular is doing so much better.  Mark Hochstetler preached on "The Responsibility to Live a Sanctified Life".  We came home for a delicious dinner of sarmalles, zipper peas, and jello salad.  The others took naps while I studied for a devotional in the evening.  The service in the evening was on mission experiences.  Thomas Brubaker shared about his time teaching Bible School in Romania, and Joel talked about his time with WATER in Nicaragua.  The both had interesting talks with nice slides.  After church we had Leon Duecks over for a snack and fellowship.
Our wonderful hosts: Don & Marilyn Showalter. Monday was pretty normal with laundry for Ina Sue and regular work for me.  It started out kinda drippy but the sun came out and turned it into a beautiful day.  Ina Sue made us zucchini pizza for supper.  You may think I would get tired of zucchini and squash but my wife has found scads of delicious recipes.  I think I have liked them all.  The pizza tonight was a big hit with the zucchini slawed up and served as the pizza crust.  After supper I cleaned up our tomato patch then spent time crawling back under our house in order to fix our icemaker into the new water lines that I ran last week.  Ina Sue of course took the opportunity while the fridge was pulled out to "clean" behind it.
The mid-meeting snack. I went in to work again on Tuesday.  Ina Sue finished up her new dress.  We had grilled hotdogs with saurkraut, onions and chili for supper.  After supper we made up a batch of homemade icecream and took it over to Daryl Brubakers along with some fresh apple goody.  Daryl is still recuperating from his last chemo treatment but we were glad that he seemed to be able to enjoy the food.  We got a tour of their new house while we were there and enjoyed a short visit together.  Daryl is such a blessing to us and to our church!
While the rest of the family chows down on boiled peanuts. I left at 8:00 Wednesday morning with Carl to drive out to Plain City, OH.  He was appointed as Selective Service coordinator for our conference and he wanted to attend a workshop/meeting put on by CAM for their program that they have come up with to certify possible Service Opportunities for our young people.  He invited me to go along for some company and and extra driver.  We had a good trip and a nice time visiting.  We got to our hosts, Don & Marilyn Showalters around 8:00.  They were very gracious hosts and fed us a snack along with an enjoyable visit before showing us our beds.  Meanwhile in Govan, Ina Sue studied to teach Sunday school while taking care of the children.  They all went to prayer meeting in the evening.  Wendell had a talk on "The Age of Accountability.
Daniel gives one final curtain call as men's choir director. Carl & I got up and around in time to get to the meeting by 8:00 on Thursday.  There was quite a variety of folks there.  Many of them were representing conferences that already had programs certified by CAM in place.  We were just gathering information.  It was a very well planned and informative meeting.  Carl & I both felt like the program that CAM has implemented is a bit more than our conference could implement at this point.  We got left for SC around 1:00 and got back to Govan around 11:00pm.  Ina Sue spent the day housecleaning the kitchen.  In the afternoon she made Carolina Sue a dress for her doll baby. 
The happy couple. It was good to be back home again on Friday.  Ina Sue made us breakfast casserole for breakfast then I went in to work.  Ina Sue cleaned the house, finished the doll dress, and kept the children.  After I got home we quickly got the children ready and went to the school for Daniel & Becky Brubaker's southern reception.  A delicious supper of grilled chicken strip salad and an assorted dessert bar.  Daniel led the men's chorus in two songs for the last time as director.  Daniel & Becky also sang a very nice duet for us.  We wish them the very best in their married life.  We will miss you Daniel.
Kenneth & Audrey brought their family for a evening snack We spent most of the day Saturday at home together.  I mowed the square in the morning.  Ina Sue spent most of the morning cooking and cleaning.  In the afternoon Ina Sue did some shopping in Barnwell while I kept the children and washed the car.  I also mowed part of our yard that needed it.  In the evening Kenneth & Audrey Martin dropped in for a snack and visit.  Good conversation over boiled peanuts, homemade ice cream and cookies.