It has been about four days since my last blog post. Thursday last week we went over to Henderson and I left Janie with her parents while I met up with my older brother. We visited for a few minutes with mother and then headed for Tyler State Park. My youngest brother met us there and already had his tent setup. We soon had a campfire going and were enjoying our supper. I had chili and crackers, Steve had chicken and noodles, Ralph had beef stew. The food was good and conversation was stimulating. The topics of our conversations varied greatly. We talked about our memories of Dad and of our childhood days. We talked about the bride and the second coming of Christ. Ralph walked us through the years of his life and answered questions about life on an aircraft carrier. When the fire died down we went to our tents for a rough nights sleep. Friday morning we had oatmeal and bananas for breakfast and then hit the trail. The temperature was perfect and my new hiking shoes gave me no problems at all. I really like them. When we got back to camp after walking 8.6 miles we sat down in our lawn chairs and propped our feet up. We had lunch then took a short nap. Before dark we took a two mile walk around the lake and then returned to the camp site where Steve cooked our supper of rice and chow mien. While he cooked, Ralph and I started the campfire. We agreed to break camp in the morning and head for IHOP. Breakfast was wonderful and we all wanted to do this again soon.

Janie had somewhat of an ordeal with her parents on Friday but they got through it. I felt bad for her and wished I had been there to help. We headed back to Hillsboro about noon and it was good to sleep on a bed after two nights on the ground.

Our services today were very good. Jack Story, the travel and logistics expert for the American Baptist Association visited our services to thank us for our support. We took him and his wife out to lunch and got to visit a little more before parting ways. We have worked most of the afternoon on Jason's booth for the State meeting which we will be attending this week. I am going to run over to the Church to pick up something for her and then will head for bed after packing a box of goodies for Jason and his family. I will be helping in the services at the nursing home in the morning and afterward we will pack and head off to the meeting.

The first picture is of me taking a break right before I got stung by a bumble bee. The second is of Steve standing amid our tents, the closest is Ralph's, Steve's is next, and mine is in the distance. The third is of my brothers leading the way to the trail. The fourth is a creek we crossed and followed along the way. The last is of my brothers taking a break along side the trail. God bless you.