Visit Mother

Me and my mother earlier this evening.

New Years Day was uneventful as far as days go.  Spent the day working on various chores and getting ready for the midweek services.  Our attendance was down but we did have a visitor in our early class.  A Jewish lady stopped needing some gas money and she stayed for the class.  Janie and I took her to get gas after the services and bid her farewell.  We have 3 classes on Wednesday nights at our church and this Wednesday night we had 3 teachers and each had 1 student.  When we got home from church I stayed up until well after midnight finishing the task of entering all of the church letter forms for the MBA of Texas.  I am glad to have that chore done.  Janie helped me with the last 5 of them.

Janie and Cole in class Wednesday night

We got up this morning and got to work.  I prepared an article for the Baptist Monitor and got that sent off.  I did some work for Sullivansupply.com then fed and watered the chickens who are really liking their new home.  We left Hillsboro around 2:00 and went strait to Longview to visit with my mother.  She is doing well.  They had put her in the secure wing of the facility thinking she might be a flight risk after she told the nurses station that she was leaving, but after a couple of days they decided she was not a risk so let her go back to her room.  She has no memory of this at all and though she has had visitors she swears no one has been to see her at all.  My sister, Jean, gave mother a fruitcake for Christmas and it was on her dresser with on piece missing.  When I asked her about it she did not remember getting it from her.  She did not know who gave her the puzzle or the cookies either both of which I am sure came from my brother, Ralph.
We are now at my mother-in-law's house spending the night and will head back to Hillsboro on Saturday.  God bless you.

Happy New Year

My sweet wife reading to three of our 13 grandchildren Christmas 2013

Janie and I started our new year off with a kiss and a prayer for a happy new year.   God was so good to us in 2013.  We started that year off having to live in our living room due to the house being leveled.  I was sick for the first 2 months of 2013 and lost a lot of weight.  Except for an occasional migraine headache the rest of 2013 went well as far as our health was concerned.  We traveled to Denver to see my sister, Jean, in December and from there to Lake Tahoe to preform a wedding.  It was a really enjoyable time.   I made 3 chicken tractors in 2013.  Installed a door on my shop in Henderson.  Was given 6 chickens which now inhabit our backyard in Hillsboro. 
We are looking forward to a good year.  God bless you.

New Blog

This blog has moved....bookmark the link below:
http://janielovespaul.blogspot.com

So Its Been A Month Since...

It has been a month since I last blogged. I plan to do much better next year.  This year my doctoral thesis took up most of my time the first five months.  My son and his family came in for the summer June through August and that took up the next three months.  By the time September arrived I was out of the habit of blogging.  October and November my clerking responsibilities for both our local Baptist association and our State Association required my undivided attention.  Now Christmas is upon us and all the activities which it brings keeps me busy.  I shall get back into blogging in January if the Lord be willing.  God bless you.

Scrivener

Fall colors at the church Tuesday this week

Scrivener is basically a book writing software.  I am using it to help me write my book on the Song of Songs.  I like the way it helps to organize things.  It can output the resulting work to e-books or Kindle as well as any format used or required by major publishers.  I spent about 5 hours today on that project.  I am also going to use it for the Missionary Baptist Association of Texas minute book.  I plan to produce a Kindle and e-book version of the minute book.  I worked on that project for a couple of hours today. The rest of my work time was spent on Revelation chapter six for our two Wednesday night classes.  We elected to move our 5:00 class to 4:30 just to be sure that everyone can get home before dark. Both classes today were well attended though 2 couples were out.

Our speaker for the evening at Taco Tuesday, outstanding!

A young lady who plans to start college in January here in Hillsboro has been attending our church's Taco Tuesday college outreach program very faithfully.  She is autistic and gave a speech to the group about her life dealing with being on the spectrum.  It was outstanding and very moving.  She showed a clip from a movie which I had never heard of called "Temple Grandin."  I have ordered the movie and am looking forward to seeing it. 
My mother called me yesterday and seemed to be in such good spirits.  She had made a baby blanket and wanted us to give it to one of our grandbabies.  We plan to go by and see her tomorrow or maybe Friday.  It is always good to hear her sounding happy and upbeat.  God bless you.

Time Change

The roof and siding have worked! No leaks!

The ending and beginning of day light savings time seems to cause a problem.  The mind and body seem to have trouble adjusting to laying down and rising one hour differently. Such a small change in time should really be no big deal.  But the body and mind had trouble going to bed an hour early and sleeping an hour later.  This sort of mini jet lag should end by tonight.

This picture makes me want to get Janie a cat.

The day began before sun up with the composing of the church bulletin.  With that task done a phone call from Sarah was a refreshing break.  The phone was passed to Janie and then it was back to the computer to get some more work done.  The sermon text for Sunday is established and a new sermon is in the works from Psalm 30.  Work on a special project that has been underway for several days now is finished.  The detailed journal of the hike with Steve on the PCT is off to a good start.  Some pictures still need to be gathered for that project.  Steve has a lot of pictures that will help make the journal more interesting.  Mowed the yard today, a thing it has been needing for weeks now.  The floor of the shower is hard to scrub but it sure is good exercise.  Went to Braum's for a scoop of eggnog ice cream.  It has been a good day.
Tomorrow is election day and though we have already voted we will watch the news with great anticipation.  We have an outreach program for college students on Tuesday nights and it usually finishes by 7:00 so after that we will start our election day TV marathon.  God bless you.

A Decade

2 benches for Stacie, painted by Janie

It was the last Sunday of October a decade ago when I first came to Walnut Street Baptist Church.  It was the first Sunday in November a decade ago that Walnut Street voted to ask me to be their pastor.  A decade has gone by so fast.  We had only 3 grandchildren back then and we now have 13.  I was working on my bachelor's degree a decade ago and I now have my doctorate.  This decade has seen the death of my father, father-in-law, and my mentor in the ministry Bro. Harold Davis.  I wore contact lenses a decade ago and now wear bi-focal glasses.  Windows 98, a decade ago, was my OS of choice and now it is Mac OS X.  The Song of Solomon had me completely baffled a decade ago but it is almost crystal clear now.  A decade is not a long time to me anymore.  I wonder if the Lord will return before the next decade comes to a close. 

We stopped by Canton on our way to see mother

Janie painted two benches today.  Our oldest daughter asked me to make her a bench for her kitchen table.  It seems her family of 8 are a bit crowed around the table.  I had enough material to make 2 so I did.  They may not look like much but they are sturdy.  I started making another picnic table today and hope to have it finished by next week.  Our next wood project is going to be another 3 tier bunk bed for our Maness granddaughters.  I will paint it pink per Ruth's request and I told Hannah that when Ruth moves out she can paint it orange and black and then when she moves out Elisabeth can paint it her favorite color. 

Our Wed. 5:00 class studying the book of Revelation

The cottage addition is not finished as yet.  Plumbing problems had to be fixed today at the cottage.  I had to replace the flush valve in the water closet and fix a toilet seat.  It was a good reminder of why I quit the plumbing trade. 
The sermon I will preach in the morning is from Psalm 128 on the subject of "The Fear of The LORD."  I love to preach the Word of God!  The clocks have been turned back and I am using the extra hour to blog. 
I visited my mother on Thursday and she was doing very well.  She was a bit disturbed about the nursing home people fussing at her about going for a walk down the road.  They told her she was not to leave the nursing home property by herself.  Mother does not like to be fussed at or even be told what to do.  I suppose, to some extent, that is true of us all. 

Mother having supper at Ralph's trailer house

My mother-in-law walked almost the full length of her house on Friday.  The therapy she is taking is really doing her good.  I was very impressed.
Our church has 2 adult classes on Wednesday nights now.  We started a new class at 5:00 for those who do not like to get out after dark.  Both classes have been very well attended and studying through the book of Revelation is always exciting.  

God bless you.

GIVE

Mother's lap quilt

There is a part of me that longs for the good old days.  This begs the question how old?  I do not want to return to the days of out houses and no electricity but simpler times with modern day toys would  be nice.  Cable TV, computers, smart phones, and the Internet are all things that help to keep one in touch with the happenings of the world, friends, and family.  This almost instantaneous access to news as it happens is nice and I really don't want to give it up. 

My Mother (picture taken today)

Mother was making a lap quilt today.  It was good to see her working at something she loves to do.  She complains about being bored and needing something to do.  I am not sure where she got the materials but I am glad she had them and the sewing machine.  She was very happy today.  She told me that she would most likely give the blanket away when she was through with it.  
I told mother all about my hiking trip with Steve and then took her out for lunch.  I gave her a tour of Kilgore showing her where I went to college and where she went to church the Sunday that Peggy came to see her.  I think she likes going for a ride.  When I said good bye I gave her a hug and I could tell she really wanted to get back to that quilt.  I love it when mother gives me a smile.

Janie plying her skills baby sitting while I plied mine plumbing

Our number 11 grandchild took her first steps today.  We baby set Naomi on Thursday while Sarah went for a check up at the doctor's.  Naomi will have a baby brother by the end of January.  She needs to get as much of a head start as she can to stay ahead of baby brother.  While we were there I hooked up Sarah's dishwasher.  It needed a few things from the hardware store and so a quick trip into town and a few minutes of work it was ready to go.  It seemed to make Sarah very happy.  Justin is going to build her a new set of kitchen cabinets and I can't wait to see them.  Justin is very good at making cabinets!
Janie and I find that it is often the case that our projects take a back seat to those of others.  We have much work to do at the cottage and at the parsonage yet it just seems right to put the needs of others ahead of our own.  My father criticized me once for not finishing projects that I started.  I pointed out to him the things that I had done instead of finishing my projects all of which were things to help someone else.  He called me later and apologized for being so critical of me.  It was the first time in my life that he ever apologized to me.  He had never had the need before.  I think that he realized that I was doing what he had taught me to do.  Our yard, our house, our car may not be as finished, clean, and nice as everyone else but I am content knowing that it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive.  God bless you. 

Pictures of my trip to California

At the bus Station in Dallas



A rest stop along the way



Palm Trees in California



The bus stop in Palm Springs



Steve and his friend Dave at the trail head



One of many stops on the trail to rest and take care of our feet



One of many incredible views along the trail



Taking pictures becomes less of a priority the more tired you get



Heading to the mountain peak you see in the distance.



I laid down for a while to rest while Steve went off trail to refill our water bottles.



We stopped after 8 miles for our first camp. The food was good.



We slept out under the stars the first night. The bugs were not a big problem. The temperature was about 55.



Steve posed for a picture Sunday
Morning.



My turn to pose. We were feeling great this our second day on the trail. By the end of this day we were both badly dehydrated and I drank throughout the night 1 liter of Gatorade and 2 liters of water.



12 miles from where we had started 4 miles from where we had camped.



More vista pictures before I run low on battery. I took my solar charger and it worked very well charging the battery while I walked.



I was in bad shape here and did not know it. Dehydration was setting in.


4 more miles all up hill to water. By the time we got there my bottles were empty.



Steve pointing the direction home. We got water and camped at Apache Spring were we had to filter water from the spring.



Back on the trail and rehydrated Monday found us hiking through the trees. Still a lot of steep climbs.



I only took pictures when I was feeling good. The shade of the trees help.



One more of many stops to rest from a steep climb.



A real pretty section of the hike.



We are going around that rock.



At Cedar Spring to refill our water and drink plenty. We did not filter this spring water it was clear and cold. Our next water would be from a creek which we did filter.



Here is where we exited the trail to hike down to Idyllwild.



We spent the night in this cabin. A hot shower after 35 miles and 3 days on the trail was wonderful.



These two young ladies gave us a ride to our hotel. We had no cell phone signal at all. The hotel would come and pick us up but we could not call them.


Nice cabin



Very comfortable.



The tree next to our cabin. I slept very soundly that night!



Out front of the hotel.



We had pizza for supper and for breakfast the next morning. This picture is of fried pickles I had with my hamburger at lunch.



Waiting for Dave to pick us up. We enjoyed walking around Idyllwild visiting the shops and stores.



Dave and his wife whom we took out to eat in Banning where they live. A real sweet couple!



The view on our way to Dave's house.



We ate brunch with Dave then he waited with us for the bus to arrive. This windmill farm is at the station in Palm Springs.