October 3, 2009

Church at Bank on Sunday morning. Our nights here in Virginia are not very restful.  For some reason, Savannah seems to have a terrible time sleeping in a strange place.  Since she needs to be here in the same bedroom as us it means that any little crying wakes us and the children up....  I spent a good proportion of the night holding her down in the dining room...  We went to Bank for church in the morning.  Bro. Jonathon Burkholder preached a message on the Parable of the Talents.  We had a nice time visiting and I was very happy to see an old Bible school friend (Veldyn Miller) there.  He happened to be visiting his sister this weekend.  We went home to the Showalters for a big Sunday dinner of chicken cordon bleu, baked rice, green beans, salad and raspberry cheesecake.  Wow!  After lunch we quickly packed up and got on the road by 2:00.  A good trip home and back in Govan by 9:15.
A wonderful big load of bark mulch. Monday was a cooler fall day.  We slept in a little.  I headed in to work and Ina Sue started on a big batch of laundry.  A busy day for both of us.  Ina Sue fixed us BBQ, potatoes with brown butter, spinach dip, corn and salad for supper.  After supper I did the dishes and kept the children while Ina Sue took a break and ran in to Barnwell for some errands and shopping.
Kevin & Brenda tearing out waterlogged sheetrock On Tuesday I took off work and borrowed Don Heatwole's big dump truck for the morning.  I drove down to Kearse Manufacturing in Olar and picked up a big load of shredded bark mulch for our shrubbery beds.  Ina Sue spent most of her day housecleaning.  After I returned the truck I took Carolina Sue & Landon along with me on a service call down to Hampton.  We got back home around 3:00 and I borrowed Nelson's mower to do my yearly leaf pickup and shredding on the yard.  His mower has a bagger behind it and can make such quick work of raking up leaves.  I took a short break to eat Ina Sue's delicious supper of fried ham, baked macaronis, and field peas then was able to get the yard all finished up and the mower returned.  Afterward I took the children along with me to get milk and to do a quick service call in Denmark.
The shovel crew... I left at 3:30 on Wednesday morning to head to Atlanta with our high school students for a day of volunteer flood cleanup work.  We got to the CAM site around 7:00.  By the time they got us organized and working it was around 8:00.  We divided into three groups with each group taking a home.  The flooding had completed covered the first floor and gotten into the 2nd floor on some of the homes.  We had to carry out all the waterlogged furniture,  tear out the carpet, the sheetrock, the insulation, the heat ducts etc. and carry-in that out.  Lastly we pulled all the nails from the wood and swept out the trash.  A big job but we got the three homes pretty much done by the time we left.  I was quite impressed with how well our young people worked!  We stopped outside Atlanta for supper and made it home to Govan around 10:00. 
Our hard working crew Meanwhile in Govan, Ina Sue spent her day cleaning in our guest bedroom and reorganizing our storage closets in there.  She packed a picnic supper for her and the children and they met Betty and Carolyn Heatwole over at their pond for a picnic.  They had a nice time but said it got dark too quick.

Thursday was a beautiful day with cooler weather.  I spent the day at work.  Ina Sue worked outside cleaning out our small freezer, trimming the ivy and sweeping down the porch.  She made us taco salad and stuffed peppers for supper.  Leons dropped their boys off for the evening.  We piled them and ours in the minivan and went to check the water meters.  Our bill was about $150.  We are not happy!

We piled the trash from each home in the front yard. I spent the day Friday at work.  Ina Sue cleaned the house.  She kept Caroline & Michaela Heatwole over lunch while Bethany took Isaiah to the doctor.  We had chicken enchiladas, squash casserole & mandarin salad for supper.  After supper I cleaned out the car and played with the children.
Eating supper with Daddy at work. I left at 4:00 Saturday morning and drove up to Jonesville, NC for a PRMC meeting.  I met Royal Barnhart in Columbia and he rode the rest of the way with me.  We started the meeting at 8:00 instead of the normal time because the folks from Virginia needed to be back for a funeral in the evening.  We had a good meeting and were able to leave for home around 12:00.  I got back to Govan at 4:00.  We took the children with us to Barnwell for a supper of Dominos pizza and some after-supper shopping.