Bye Bye

Our company left about 5:00 this afternoon. I finished composing the next episode of Tribman and got it published. Took a walk and reviewed the sermon for Sunday while Janie worked on her lesson for Sunday and washed clothes. All in all it was a good day. We had breakfast at 11:30 this morning and Lunch about 4:00 this afternoon. We made us a BLT for supper at 10:30 so now it is time to head for bed. I am not sure which sermon I will preach Sunday night so will have to make that choice tomorrow. I preach at the nursing home on Monday morning and have a funeral Monday afternoon after which I plan to work on my thesis. Tuesday we have Bible study and will go down to Lorena for services Tuesday night. Wednesday should be quiet and Thursday I plan to visit with Bro. Davis and with my mother on Friday. Its back to Hillsboro Friday night with a stop in to see the lights at Athens. Hope you all have a great Sunday. The picture is of the praying at the children's table at our Thanksgiving meal at Janie's parents. God bless you.

Thanksgiving day 2

We had a good time today with our family. Jason called and reported that all went well with their Thanksgiving in France. He said they had 14 guests and they loved the skit that the kids put on. The pictures below are some I took today. God bless you.

Thanksgiving Day

We had a great Thanksgiving even if we did spend six hours of it driving. We Arrived about 11:30 this morning and there was a massive amount of food there. I fixed my father-in-law's plate and took it to him back at his easy chair. I returned to the kitchen and fixed my own plate then went back to eat with my father-in-law. We were joined by five others for there just was not enough room in the kitchen and dinning area for all 21 of us. I enlisted the help of my two oldest grandchildren to clean up the kitchen. With the help of others we got the kitchen back in order. We took a long walk with my son-in-law and the grandchildren. It was a beautiful day as you can see from the picture above. We returned to Hillsboro and are waiting for my oldest daughter and her family to arrive. They should be here shortly. I am making chicken and dressing for tomorrow's lunch. Our youngest daughter and her husband will be here in the morning. It will be a good time and would really be great if Jason and his family could be with us also. Perhaps through skype they will be able to be a part of the action. This second picture is of my mother-in-law and her brother (Janie's uncle Trenton) enjoying the Thanksgiving meal together. God bless you.

Thanksgiving services

We had a special Thanksgiving service tonight at church. I consisted of a testimonial time and then a short lesson from the book of Ezekiel. I took the kids for a walk this afternoon and got this picture of them standing by what we call the horse nursery. Little Jonathan, whom I have taken to calling Joe, took to the game "where's that hand" really well. He gave it a new twist which my children and other grandchildren ever did. He would jerk his hand away from mine, stand still as I kept walking and say "Hand?" We have really enjoyed their stay with us.

The plumber came back again today and worked. He put a new valve outside so we can cut the water off during the night and when we are away. He also took out the hot water heater and cut a hole in the wall behind it to see if he could determine which pipe was leaking. He could not tell for sure but is leaning toward it being the main line coming from the street. If that is so it will be a big project to fix and take two days and about $2000.00. He will be back on Monday to tear into the job.

We will rise at 7:00 in the morning and head for Henderson about 8:00. I made rolls this afternoon and they look good. It was tough to have the house smell of homemade rolls and could not eat them. Janie is in the kitchen now making a cake for tomorrow and I had better head for bed. This second picture is of the kids eating supper which consisted of salmon patties, broccoli and cheese, and sliced tomato. God bless you.

Leak

We have a water pipe leaking under the slab of the parsonage here in Hillsboro. I called the plumber and he took a look at it this morning. He was able to narrow it down to the cold water and that it is somewhere near the hot water heater. Which line it is will have to be determined and then bypassed. If it is the main line it will take two days to repair. He is going to start on it Monday. We will shut the water off at night and when we are away.

The picture is of a game I was playing last night with my grandchildren. It was fun. Hannah the youngest granddaughter did not have the patience for the game like her older siblings so she gave up and went to play with Jonathan. Joshua won and Ruth (pictured) came in second.

I have been nominated and elected to make homemade rolls for Thanksgiving at Janie's parents house. These were always made by her mother before and I would never have dreamed that making them would fall to me. I enjoy making them and so tomorrow night I will get them ready to go. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and hope each of you who read this blog have a great one as well. God bless you.

Grandkids Visit

We had a really good day with the grandkids today. They are older now and take care of themselves very well. The older two help take care of the younger two. They were a big help today cleaning up after themselves. They helped clean up the kitchen including sweeping the floor. They actually seem to enjoy working. I am going to miss them when they leave. My daughter and Son-in-law have raised them very well. They have just about worn out the words "Thank You." I don't remember my kids saying "Sir" and "Mam" as much as they do. Joshua did not cook breakfast this morning as planned but did cook supper for us. We had some leftover vegetable lasagna and a salad. Joshua put the lasagna in the oven for 30 minutes and it was ready to go. The picture is of Joshua and Ruth doing the dishes.

I went to the Church office this afternoon for an appointment there. I received a phone call shortly afterward saying that at least part of our pray had been answered. I should not be so shocked every time God answers prayer. He does it all the time but it still fills me with joy. I have another appointment tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 and another at 5:00. God is really working at our church people are being saved and baptised becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.

The kids are in bed and Janie is in our room changing the sheets on our bed. She went to Curves today while the kids and I watched "Horton Hears a Who" and "The Grinch That Stole Christmas." We took a walk (pictured) this afternoon while Janie worked. A neighbor pointed out a water leak in our yard and I have called the plumber in our church to come and take a look at it. He will be here tomorrow to check it out. Our bill has been high but the only sign of water is that which is trickling down the neighbor's driveway coming from our side. Well I had better get ready for bed myself. God bless you.

Seven Years

I have been pastor of Walnut Street Missionary Baptist Church for Seven years as of today. We had a fellowship meal right after our morning services. I got to eat anything I wanted to which means I had lots of corn on my plate. The food was outstanding. The services were great and well attended. The grandkids gave us no problems at all. They are very, very well behaved. We could not be prouder of them. This picture is of our granddaughter, Ruth, fixing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for supper last night. She is quite the cook. She made breakfast for us this morning. She put the frozen biscuits on the pan and put them in the oven. Joshua, our oldest grandson, wants to fix breakfast in the morning. I think we will try waffles in the morning and I will try to get picture of that.

We have a busy week and I may not blog as much because we have the grandkids until Thursday and then we will have them and their parents at our house on Friday and Saturday. Tomorrow I have to do some counseling and again on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday I need to make a trip to Waco to help a church member and that should not take over two hours. Thursday morning we plan to head over to Henderson and then back to Hillsboro Thursday night.

I really enjoyed playing with the 2 youngest grandkids tonight before bed. They just laughed and laughed. They sure are sweet. The second picture was taken at the recent syrup festival in Henderson. It is the blue grass group in which my brother-in-law and sister-in-law sing. They are the two on the right. God bless you.

Friday

Janie's uncle did not and has not felt like getting out and going for a ride. We had a good visit. One of the phone jacks in his house quit working so I called the phone company and they sent a man out to fix it. He must have been in the neighborhood cause he showed up within 10 minutes of my phone call. His physical therapist showed up and put him through his exercises and then left. The phone man had the jack repaired in short order and also left. Since I could not talk him into taking a ride I left him to eat his lunch and headed for Bro. Davis' house.

Bro. Davis was not doing well. He was not physically able to take his Chemo treatment Wednesday. His legs are swelling but not from a blood clot according to the doctor. He is very weak. His wife had a doctor's appointment so I stayed with him while she was gone. I preached my Sunday sermon to him and it met with his approval. It is a Thanksgiving sermon and while I preached it to Bro. Davis it caused me to weep. It took me several minutes to get control of my emotions and I hope that Sunday I will not run into that problem. God has done so much for me and I have done so little for Him.

Janie's parents are doing very well. We will spend the night with them again tonight and then head for home in the morning. You can expect to see on this blog in the next few days some pictures of my adventures with the grand kids. I am going to sign off now and work on the next episode of Tribman. The pictures are ones I took of Janie working on our way to Henderson Wednesday night. She is able to go on line via a cell phone modem and do her work for Sullivan Supply. The back lit keyboard on my laptop comes in handy at night. God bless you.