The Sucharski family (a family in our church) invited us over for their Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. Talk about a huge spread! Oh my! They served turkey, fish, ham, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, rolls, and dessert was pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, apple jack, and chocolate chip cookie bars. I am thinking there was something else but I can't remember. Oh yeah! We brought cheesy potato casserole and salad. I guess it really isn't that much more (except for there were three meats!) than we had on Thursday. It just seemed like more maybe because it was spread out all over the place. :)
There were about thirty people there. We were all tripping over each other but it was fun. Poor Kevin (one of the guests) washed all of the dishes. Every time he would think he was finally finished we would empty an other pan. :) He said "My hands used to look manly..."
We spent the evening playings games. We played Hand and Foot for a while. We play that game every time we get together. My sisters have decided it is about the most fun game they have ever played. I enjoy it but I can think of better ones. But I am in the minority so my voice doesn't count. :) After most of the people had gone home last night we did play a game that I wanted to play. We didn't get to finish though because it was getting too late. At least they know now how to play so if we ever decide to play it again they will know how.

No Interesting Title... Just stuff

Who is crazy enough to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving??? I guess we were. Friday morning Beckisue, Amanda, Stephanie, Mom, and I went shopping. We didn't go until late morning. There are no deals worth getting up at 4 AM! We didn't go to many stores. We did go to the mall first. That was NOT my choice. Way too many people there. I wanted to go to Jo-Ann's. That is my store! :) We did go there. We spent about 45 minutes there. When we left I had a zipper. All those sales and all that time and that is all I found that I really needed. :) But hey, I got a good deal on the zipper. :)
When we got home we hurried and got lunch on the table. It was late and everyone was hungry. While we were sitting there eating one thing lead to an other and suddenly Dad decided that we should take Stephanie's birthday dinner (Small little detail that I forgot to mention... it was Steph's birthday) and go over and see Will Robbins. We all decided that was a great idea, so Dad called Will. He has a weekend pass and he was at his sister's house with no one there. All of the rest of his family had gone one place or an other. He was just there babysitting his two year old niece and the two dogs.
We got there about 5:45. We talked, played music, ate supper, had birthday cake, cleaned the kitchen (I hope Will's sister can actually find her dishes when she gets home), played an other song and then played spoons. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the above! Spoons was especially fun. Will had never played which made it hilarious. We didn't get to finish the game so there wasn't a winner. The first round, which everyone declared as a "practice round," I lost. But! Everyone said it didn't count so... Other than that the only two people who lost were Will and Beckisue. We all had to tease them it was because they were the oldest of the bunch and couldn't move fast enough. :) Beckisue says next time we have to play at a table. :)
So that was Friday. I will have to post about today (Saturday) later. More big events. Of course, what is new around here. There is ALWAYS something going on. My poor music teachers! It is a wonder that they put up with me as little as I practice. I am never home!

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

Last Spring, Amanda and I listened to Robinson Crusoe on CD while we were working on a quilt. I really enjoyed it. If anyone ever needs a lesson in thankfulness - just read that book. Here is one part that stood out to me especially:

"Evil: I am cast upon a horrible, desolate island, void of all hope of recovery.

Good: But I am alive; and not drowned, as all my ship's company were.

Evil: I am singled out and separated, as it were, from all the world, to be miserable.

Good: But I am singled out, too, from all the ship's crew, to be spared from death; and He that miraculously saved me from death can deliver me from this condition.

Evil: I am divided from mankind - a solitaire; one banished from human society.

Good: But I am not starved, and perishing on a barren place, affording no sustenance.

Evil: I have no clothes to cover me.

Good: But I am in a hot climate, where, if I had clothes, I could hardly wear them.

Evil: I am without any defence, or means to resist any violence of man or beast.

Good: But I am cast on an island where I see no wild beasts to hurt me, as I saw on the coast of Africa; and what if I had been shipwrecked there?

Evil: I have no soul to speak to or relieve me.

Good: But God wonderfully sent the ship in near enough to the shore, that I have got out as many necessary things as will either supply my wants or enable me to supply myself, even as long as I live."

With that I would just like to say that there is something to be thankful for in EVERY situation. After all, giving thanks is the will of God.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, my friends. Many of you are more dear to me than I could express. I am so thankful for you.

Let us never cease to be thankful.

Attack of the Vampires (and we are still smiling)

A few months ago a man took our picture while we were giving blood. He said he would email it to us. Every time we would go in he would look at us and say "I still haven't sent that picture, have I?" Tonight he finally sent it. Can you tell it was still summer?? I had a tan. Now I am back to being pale. :) Of course, I was probably pale a few minutes after the picture was taken... After they finished taking a pint of blood from me!

The Supremacy of Christ

This is a longer clip from the sermon. The shorter clip is just the end. I recommend watching the whole ten minutes.

A Baptist Visits the Popes

Last week my sister in law called to say that Dale was working in Lexington, KY this week and wanted to know if I wanted to visit my friend Tiffany. It took a lot of effort for them to get me talked into going (tongue firmly planted in cheek).
Dale and I left Monday afternoon. We arrived at the Pope's about 6:30. The kids were all excited to see me. Christian (3) was all ready for his usual kisses. :) Of course, I was more than willing to give them.
After dinner the four kids, ages 6, 5, 3, and 3, quoted Exodus 20 for us. That is quite an accomplishment! I always enjoy hearing them quote Scripture. After the children went to bed we just visited the rest of the evening.
Nothing exceptionally special happened the next day. I just enjoyed being there with them. We talked and laughed and did this and that. It is always such a joy to be able to spend time with her. Watching Tiffany's walk with the Lord is always a blessing and a challenge.
Dale's finished his work and was back to pick me up at 6:00. Saying good bye is always sad. But I just have to remember that in order to say "good bye" I had to have said "hello" so I have to be thankful for the time I had no matter how long it was.

Happenings

Here I go again - Letting far too much time go between posts. Remember last summer when I actually posted every day for a week? Well, those days have been gone for a while.
Life keeps marching on.

Last Sunday my mom, sisters, and I got to go to Union City for my friend's bridal shower. We were all so happy we got to go. I didn't think I would be able to attend Lora's bridal shower, but when I found out she was going to have one so much closer... We were all excited. We also enjoyed getting to see our friends at Cornerstone. When the party was over we went over to the Shepherd's house so we could say a quick hello to Pastor Shepherd.

Early this week, I don't remember the day for sure, our washer stopped working. Mom started looking right away for an other one. We got one today. There are a lot of details that go into how we got it, but for once I don't feel like telling every detail to a story. :) I'll just say that Mom found a 2009 model on sale at Sears for less than the 2008 models and it has two extra features that the others didn't! The salesman said that washers are coming down in price. That was good to hear!

I finished my quilt top today. I am thankful to finally have that finished. Actually, it didn't take me very long at all, I was just hoping to have it done a couple of days ago. I would have had it finished but the machine suddenly stopped working. I couldn't figure out what in the world was wrong with it. A couple of days later I showed it to my mom to see if she could figured it out. At first she gave an obvious thing to try that I had already done. Then she said "What color thread do you have on there?" I told her it was navy on top and khaki for the bobbin. Then she told me that was my problem. I looked at her like she was nuts! How in the world could the color of thread be my problem?!?!?! She said she has been told there is some sort of difference in the weight of the thread. I changed the navy thread over to khaki. Guess what?? It worked! I couldn't believe after all that the only thing that was wrong was the color of the thread! Anyway, back to the quilt. I got it basted this evening and hopefully I can start quilting it on Monday.

Last Saturday night Will came down for my Dad's class. That was an exciting time. Will gave his testimony. My dad's office was crowded! Here is the funny part. Just before the class started our electricity went out. It wasn't storming or anything. My mom gathered candles and lanterns. We all met in Dad's office by lantern light. Just after Dad and Will left the electricity came back on. It was out for two and a half hours I think.

Insulation and Other Delights

Today's big project was putting insulation in the ceiling of my grandma's living room and bedroom. I can think of jobs I have enjoyed more in my life.  Of course, there are worse too. Amanda, Mom and I worked on putting a new kind of insulation under the rolled in insulation that was already there. That was a challenge. The ceiling is 4'x2' tiles. We had to cut each piece to fit on the tiles and then either slide them under the fiberglass insulation from an open space where we had removed a tile or attach them to a tile once it was out and replace the tile. Needless to say we were all very itchy by the time we were done. But thankfully it is DONE. Hopefully it will be warmer this winter!

I started teaching violin lessons again. Today was the first lesson. I haven't taught in a long time. I never really liked teaching. I wasn't confident or skilled enough I don't think. A friend asked me a few weeks ago if I would teach her so I said I would. We will see how it goes. It was kind of funny though because when she came I asked her if she had ever had violin lessons before. She said she had taken lessons from me when she was about 8 years old (which was about 7 years ago)!!! I had totally forgotten! Yikes! That is bad. She did very well. I was surprised at how well she site read! Maybe teaching will stretch my skills. That is always good.

Monica and I gave blood again tonight. It never seems like 8 weeks between times, but it is. The same thing happened tonight as happened last time. She put the needle in my arm and was like "Were'd it go?" That is NOT a good thing to hear when you have a needle sticking out of your arm!! Once it is in they aren't allowed to pull it out and try again. Once it is out, it is out for good. So she wiggled it around trying to find the vein. But no such luck. She had to call an other lady over (which again is the same thing that happened last time) and she moved it and found the vein immediately. (don't get too squeamish Pastor Townsend, it wasn't that bad) :)

I have several events that I need to post about. But I decided that since it has been a while since I just posted about a day's events I would do that tonight. Not to mention the fact I am too lazy to work on a real post. :)

The Sound of Music

Many months ago Beckisue started telling us that The Sound of Music was going to be at Beef and Boards in Indianapolis. She decided that we should all go for her birthday since it was in November. We were all excited about it and Beckisue put together a whole group of people. There were 24 all together.
Today was the day. Michelle, one of the ladies in our church (not my sister-in-law) came to our house this morning and rode as far Logansport with us and then we met an other friend and rode down with her. It was fun to be able to spend the time going and coming with friends.
We visited a while before we started eating. The buffet was good. There was a salad bar (with basically no veggies! which was no fun), pasta, broccoli and cheese, potatoes (which were very unique and very good) chicken, fish sticks, and roast beef. The roast beef was not anywhere near being fully cooked, and I don't like fish, so I stuck with chicken, which is my favorite most of the time anyway! :)
At first I wasn't sure I was going to like the seats we had but after it started I realized I was really going to like them. We were sitting straight across (but below) the room from the balcany where the musicians were. We could see the pianist and the drummer a little bit. That was probably one of my favorite parts. I love watching musicians! It is such a different experience than just hearing the music. You seem to comprehend more when you can see them play.
Plays are neat to watch. They are so much different than movies. There were things about this play that were very different than the movie and things that were very much the same. I was a little dissapointed with some of the voices. Of course, when you are used to hearing Julie Andrews sing those songs most voices are a step backwards! However the man who played Captin von Trapp had a beautiful voice. I was dissapointed that he didn't sing anymore than he did!
It was a fun day. We are already making plans to watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers next year! :)