February 20, 2010

All that was left of the snow by Sunday morning.	Sunday was Valentine's Day.  I celebrated by getting up at 5:00 to study to teach Sunday School.  Ina Sue had a terrible time with Landon's behavior this morning while I was teaching and ended up having to bring him to me....  Gary Hege preached on "Love is More than a Feeling" from Romans 12.  After church we came home to a lunch of stuffed pasta shells, green beans and beets.  The others took naps while I worked to finish up my PR presentation.  Tonight is Ellis & Jennifer Riehl's commissioning service at Whispering Pines and I was asked to have about a 40 minute presentation on the work of the mission.  We left our house around 3:00 and thought we were in plenty of time to get there and get setup before the service started at 6:00.
All ready for church.	Well.... after a whole comedy of errors including forgotten keys, a malfunctioning laptop, empty gas tank, miscommunication and several missed directions, we ended up getting to Whispering Pines around 6:15.  I had the pleasure of going in and setting up the projector while everyone was sitting there waiting on me.  It was not a pleasant experience!  But once I got started the evening went fairly well and they seemed to appreciate having an overview of the mission and the work that Ellis & Jennifer will be helping with.  After the service they had a carry-in supper/snack with lots of good food.  We left around 9:00 and got home at 12:00.  A tiring day!
Taking their naps in Daddy's bed.	Monday was very ordinary.  Ina did laundry and I did service calls at work.  It rained most of the day so Ina Sue had to use the drying instead of the clothes line.  We had a supper of leftovers then I typed up the minutes of our last Puerto Rico meeting.  We played a couple hands of Dutch Blitz and read the children stories.
Robert, Lori, Emily, Adrian and Erica Showalter	We had pancakes for breakfast on Tuesday then I was off to work.  Ina Sue finished the ironing and did some cleaning.  The children are all suffering from coughs and colds.  Bethany Heatwole dropped her children off with us at 3:00 for the afternoon.  I knew that Ina Sue had her hands full so I brought home pizza from Dominos for supper.  We had a nice evening and the children always enjoy playing with Patrick's children.
Robert & Erica help me fill ditches.	I had a really busy day at work on Wednesday.  Ina Sue had to spend much of her time nursing her sick children.  She made cream cheese danishes and cleaned the guest room.  Tenderloin, gravy, hominy and zipper peas for supper then I kept the children here at home while Ina Sue went to prayer meeting.  After she got home and we got the children in bed I went back in to work and worked until 5:00am....
while Adrian & Landon play in the dirt.	I was hoping to take off on Thursday but had to go in for several hours in the morning.  I came home then and the children and I made up a batch of gum drop cookies.  We also worked on covering up some more of our ditches.  That is a big job!  Ina Sue had an appointment with the back doctor in the afternoon so I kept the children while she went to that.  She did some shopping at Walmart too.
Playing Dutch Blitz with the girls.	We got up early on Friday and I took the trash over to the dumpsters then Ina Sue cut my hair quick before I went in to work.  Adrienne Leeds (our new midwife) came in the morning for a prenatal visit.  Ina Sue worked hard at cleaning during the afternoon then fixed us an asparagus quiche for supper.  Her brother Robert and his family got here at 10:00 from Virginia to visit for several days.  It has been quite a while since they've been down so we are very happy to have them here.
Saturday marked two more months until the expected arrival of our new baby...  Ina Sue is ready for time to get here!  I made a breakfast casserole for breakfast then Robert and I worked for a while outside covering ditches while the children enjoyed the beautiful day outside.  Landon is still acting a bit sick and Ina Sue had a really bad headache/cold when she got up this morning.  The ladies took a walk in the afternoon and Robert went over to see Don's milk for a while in the afternoon while I washed the car.  In the evening we got the children all bathed then played games with them.